Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 374. (Read 920569 times)

Honestly, I think Celtics has a better lineup, even though they do not have a superstar of LeBron and AD's stature. Lakers do need to make a few trades to get their starting lineup and a deeper, more competent bench. I had my money on Celtics, was a gamble as its Christmas game, Don't really know who's motivated to win and who's not. It worked out, luckily.

Home-court advantage + distributed offense is what the Knicks have that's why they won against the Bucks. It's a close one though, but 6 players are in double digits with the Knicks, and 4 got 20+ points.
I already predicted that the Celtics would win against the Lakers. The Lakers have been playing very bad ever since they won the In-season tournament. I don't know their record, but they are playing pretty badly. I don't want to say it, but it seems like they already ran out of gas.

Ever since Wiggins didn't play for them, that's when the win streak continues, so I guess as a coach, you will stick to a starting line-up that gives you more chances of winning right?
On the other hand, I guess it doesn't matter for them if they will come off the bench as long as they will be contributing to the team. I mean it's just me but even though Wiggins came off the bench, he's their leading scorer. It's a close game even though Curry only scored 18 points with an awful shooting as well.

What's good right now with the Warriors is that they have good bench players that can step up offensively. They might have a 15-15 record currently, but they still have one of the best bench players this season.

Horrible game for the Lakers except for AD who has 40 pts and grabbed 13 boards just like what he needs to be, but that doesn't really matter if the whole team was sloppy on the defensive end. Though the Celtics had a good off and on ball movement, but the Lakers could have done a better defense, turns out the other way around as the Celtics have made too many open shots in different angles. They even let the whole Celtics squad shoot a 3s.
Now, finally LeBron admits they are not in a good condition to compete against top teams, seems like they are stating an obvious fact that they needed an adjustments. Not gonna be surprised if they'll pull another trade and this will involve DLo, Rui, Vando, and even Reaves. Let's see what happens next for the Lakers.

The outcome of that game shows that Nuggets is really good playing at home, though Warriors maintained that short distance but they
fell short, Splash bros productions are not quite impressive.

While on the Nugget's side, Jokic and Murray as always, they are the leading scorers, and they got the help that they need from their role players.

Like what you said, it's a different Nuggets after winning the world title, still have that winning attitude.

Same.
Especially considering how the Bucks beat the Knicks just 2 days ago. But I guess a christmas game is more special so the home team has something to prove.

Anyway, the christmas lineup of games is quite nice. Miami vs Philly right now is a really close one as well, so it's fun to watch. The last game with the Suns and Mavs is promising as well. Phoenix didn't look very convincing recently so let's see what they have in store for Luka and company.

I was a bit surprised to see the Knicks beat the Bucks, especially with Giannis and Dame having good games. Was also a little surprised to see LeBron have a bad game on Christmas, but he almost managed a triple double in the loss so it wasn’t horrible.

Why is Andrew Wiggins coming off the bench for the Warriors now? He’s arguably their second best player.

Gabe Vincent won't be able to play for around 6-8 weeks because of the knee surgery that he's going to have. Always a tragic moment when a player goes through an injury and will need to have a surgery. Too many playing time will be gone and missed.

--> https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2023/12/23/24013638/lakers-gabe-vincent-injury-report-rumors

I even think Luka is a bit better than Durant his whole career, as Luka is a more complete player with high IQ and ability to lead a team. While on the other hand, Durant is an offensive weapon who can score any way he want efficiently. But, I'd always take someone who can carry and lead the team.


Yep, the Suns are a better team than the Mavs If they are all healthy. In a 7 game playoff match I'd take the Suns to win the series as long as they are all healthy, but If not, the Mavs would most likely going to beat them.

They've got a steal on him and he's the other JJJ but the triple J that I am talking about is Jaime Jaquez Jr or Miami Heat and making his name for himself.

A rookie that has got confidence inside the ring. Incomparable with Chet and Wemby because they've got their own height advantages but Jaime has got his moves as if he's been a pro for so long but just stepped to NBA this season.

I like how Coach Spo is giving the guy playing time and he's able to see the growth of this young man and one day he'll also be their superstar.

If it was just him then yeah he could have done that, but we are talking about a whole team versus whole team. If you ask me which one is better player, Luka or Booker, then I would say Luka is the better player without a question, it is not even close in my mind, Luka is just a beast and he could be better than even Durant at this point because Durant had so many injuries and got older.

However, if you ask me is Mavs better than Suns? Then I would have to say no, because that's not the case and I do not think that we could consider that as an option. We need to consider the situation to be a little bit different, we need to consider this as something that would be a bit more realistic than that if we could achieve it.

For sure all of the games will be interesting in the game against the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors, the defending champion is a great team with both offense and defense Nikola Jokic is providing the team play and offense for the team while his defense is also wide and can not be underestimated, Jamal Murray is providing good distance offense for the team for sure he is all full on offense,

While the Golden State Warriors now is a very different team without Draymond Green their defense is really crucial but because of their deep bench players they will have a chance of succeeding when the game goes into overtime, but that is not all because number 32 Trayce Jackson-Davis is providing them with great defense when Green is not around and also he can read a great offense for sure because of him the paint is clearly guarded, even Dario Saric can also  do such things so the Warriors now have big defender and their number 2 Brandin Podziemski is becoming an interesting player indeed and providing the team with real depth,


Gregg Popovich should retire he can not contain the team anymore but even so, I surely respect him for who he is and for scolding his home court for booing Kawhi Leonard that is something I really respecting however his team performance is not advancing but for sure he is having a hard time I don't like to say it is because of his old age but apparently Victor Wembanyama is not enough,

Luka would slay Booker + Durant, LOL.. I mean, Luka has been carrying his team effortlessly, even without Kyrie Irving who suffered from injury, he is still making the Dallas Mavericks an interesting team to watch. This game, I'm expecting another triple double from Luka Magic, and it will be more entertaining if once again the Dallas will embarrass the Phoenix Suns on their own home court.

They are the best rivals in today's NBA because they always make the games exciting by throwing words against each other every time they have hype and scoring more points against each other. I hope to see more of these games in the future because that is what makes it more entertaining to watch unlike the game where they hurt other players physically like how Green does to the rising NBA players, his envy is making him bad and changes the game of NBA to some fighting match between players. that is not exciting anymore when you want to hurt the other players selfishly just to win the NBA title.

That's a +7 if you will go with the handicap, if the Warriors will lose, there's still a chance for them to cover the spread.
For awhile, maybe forget how good the Denver are. Instead, try to look at the other side, and that is by looking at the win streak of the Warriors which is already at 5. IMO, that's already enough to consider in taking the points if you aren't too confident with the moneyline.



At least it's not only Trayce Jackson-Davis that can guard him, there's still looney and other big guys who could guard him. Warriors needs to have a good 3 piont shooting, that way, they'll probably make it a close game. I'd love to bet on the Warriors but I won't be able to see this since it's stoo early in my timezone, so I'll just watch the replay and pass on betting.

I'm still tore though, I wanted to put a bet on the Warriors as they seems to found a second wind without Draymond Green. But it's true they are struggling in the road and with one of the best team in the West in Nuggets, it's hard to imagine them winning or maybe that point spread is not going to be huge.

Let's see, it's hard to guard Jokic, although they have this kid Trayce Jackson-Davis who might be a good match against Jokic.

But I'm seeing that Jokic will just bring this kid into school if ever the Warriors are going to to put him against Jokic.

We are seeing a different GSW and Denver Nuggets, if before the Warriors can dominate the Nuggets, not this after they won the championship as they already have a deep line up with the Warriors have been inconsistent despite of their win streak. It's a road game for the Warriors, they normally struggle on this situation and they'll challenge the Nuggets who are 11-2 at home, so good luck to them. I don't want myself to be hype with what the Warriors had achieve recently as I'm with the real deal here and that is the Nuggets.

Jokic and Gordon inside that's really a headache for the Warriors, knowing how good Jokic in terms of passing the ball or finishing the basket,
the only chance Warriors have is the firepower that they've got, but the next question is how they will execute.

Knowing how good also the Nuggets in terms of protecting the basket and they've got players who can rotate to tail both Curry and Klay.

We can only conclude once they are already playing, the way they will execute both offense and defense will be the key factor here.

The Golden State Warriors finally winning most of their games. They are now on their 5th winning streak but later it will be a problem if they will continue that winning streak. They will be up against the strong Denver Nuggets which are also on their 4th winning streak. My worry is who will be defending Nikola Jokic, it could become an easy score for the Nuggets if no one can stop him. I doubt Saric could do the job, he is too small to stop the skillful big and I bet Coach Malone would take advantage of that, without any doubt.

I am amazed at how the Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics days ago but that's because they played fire with fire. Considering how good the defense of the Nuggets is, it will be a different fight.
Klay Thompson is on his 6th game 20+ points per game. I think he will be the key for the Warriors to win one more time and continue their streak. It would be a good confidence booster if they did. Still, I am betting for the Nuggets on this game.

Probably it's part of the play of Pop did planned and told the boys. But with all the visibility and we're not ignorants in basketball although it's different when you're inside the court but it just can't go unnotice when you watch the entire plays during those times. I guess that they're showing who are the ones with tenure on the team and Wemby is still just a kid, a rookie that shouldn't boss around. I mean all of them want to get some wins right? It should be like that and have a winning mentality. Look at the players with this type of mentality, they are the ones staying longer in the league, right?

I agree, someone who's veteran and can see all of the players who are free and not. A real team player, many fans suggests Ben Simmons that can help the team next season. There are veteran and better point guards there that will show what these young calibers can do. Even the bench players, they'll for sure going to lit the fire when given the opportunity and playing time. How much more if someone can accompany Wemby with a good play maker who's been around and help them around with his experience.

But can we really attribute the success to the PG alone? I mean, they have a new coach, and not only Vanvleet who are playing well for the team, even Brooks are playing great basketball. The thing is, if Vanvleet joined the Spurs, he might also struggle as his teammates are young, doesn't have the experience in the playoffs, unlike with some of his teammates now, maybe Brooks to be safe which has plenty of playoffs already.

Spurs doesn't expect to be a playoff team with their current line up, they are still in the rebuilding process, so they need to be patient and make everyone play according to their rule, that's what we called great chemistry.