Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 698. (Read 915347 times)

It is strange that a fine has been handed out to a team in the NBA. They would have lost intentionally, so that they would be among the weakest teams in the upcoming season. And the advantage of this is that you know if one of the first can take your picks at Drafts day. Still weird really. But I have read that this rule was created to ensure that the differences between the top and the bottom of the competition can be reduced. So now you get this kind of thing, that you deliberately lose matches in order to get priority picks.

Honestly, they were not the same as the Miami Heat team who were competing in the Finals with the Lakers but since they were able to keep hold of their position and earned the spot to play in the NBA playoffs, let's see what they can do right now and yes! they can really do well and give their opponent a hard time since the key players are all healthy and can play well. I wonder if their plan will work to beat the Bucks in the first game of this series and if that happens, then the Bucks is in trouble because it will be hard to bounce back though.

Miami Heat literally proved to me again that they are not that easy to defeat especially in the intense games because they've got more exposure and experience compared to the Chicago Bulls. I totally forgot that they were the ones who battled the Celtics in the conference finals last season, anyway, I was just hoping that it will be a different outcome because the Heat wasn't showing any good signs in the regular season as they just barely get a seat in the play-in.

New York Knicks successfully defeated the home team, the Cleveland Cavaliers on their 1st game. Been predicting what would be the outcome of this series and in the 1st game, I favored the Knicks being the underdog and took the advantage of the sweet ML. But I honestly can't deny that I also had some doubts before the game commenced because the Cavs is just hard to defeat too because they got a lot of good pieces compared to the Knicks where everything is just volume. Fortunately, my bet went through as the Knicks weathered the Cavs.

I might focus on watching the Phoenix Suns against the Los Angeles Clippers later. But the Grizzlies and the Lakers are today's closest game as per the betting odds. I prefer betting on Denver and the Bucks but due to the large spreads and game 1, I just opted for Memphis at -4.5. I know the Lakers are not to be underestimated because both Lebron and AD are well-experienced at this level but maybe the tenacity of Memphis might be too hot to handle especially since this is only game 1 and they might not feel that pressured and they are also playing at home.

Fun fact : Bulls have 1.7% chance for NR1 pick ...and it's the same percentage when they got Derrick Rose   ( a fan like myself can hope )

Very intense game today in play-offs with Grizzlies taking on Lakers and this game could go either way even if the bookies are currently giving Grizzlies as favorites. I'm saying this because Lakers in play-offs are really a different team and they should never be underestimated, especially when they have a fully recovered LeBron who looks kinda hungry for performance in this end of the overall season.

Yeah, but I like to see Steph Curry hitting that last shot. I don't doubt Wiggins but this is the 2nd crucial time where Curry didn't receive the ball for the last crucial shot. He did with the 2.9 seconds but that's not enough room for him to have a clear shot.
It's all good though, it's just the 1st game of the series. I bet the Warriors will be back stronger and would have some time to change their strategies as they now know how the Kings will attack.
Defend Monk, Fox, and Sabonis. That is all they have to be focused on.
Whoever is defending the rest of the Kings like Barnes and Lyles must be also aggressive at disabling them to score in any way possible. The deep roster of the Warriors today may have drowned Steve Kerr as I see him rotating his players without thinking ahead.

Steve Kerr have a lot of thinking to do so they could contain the explosiveness of the Kings. It will be interesting to see the next round's player match ups. I don't know if he could still rely on Green for defensive duties.

No doubt about that one. Majority of their players may have not won a ring yet but they are battle tested so they are certainly not pushovers.

I will say the Golden State Warriors are in a good position right now.  they have been playing well in the last 10 games. It was also a very close game between Kings and Golden State Warriors. But in the end, the Golden State Warriors were not able to win by a very close margin. And again Stephen Curry was the one doing most of the work for Golden State Warriors. The other players will have to contribute more. Otherwise, he will not be able to carry the team on his back alone.

The game is very close though, if Wiggins just hit that corner 3, the complexion of the game could have been different as the Warriors will have the lead by that time. But let's give credit to the Kings, Monk and Fox combine for 71 big points for them. Monk started hot and then Fox takes over in the 3rd quarter and he is the one who get them into the game after trailing the Warriors. So this series is going to be tight, but the Warriors are still very much in the game, as you can see in the post game interview, Curry looks relax.

Fox and Monk did really spoiled the three point party of the Warriors. I mean the Warriors shot 50 attempts, and 16 went it. Not that good if you will ask me, but I guess the Warriors will go with the "Live on three, or die by three" mode where they will focus more on threes like what they used to. Anyway, they have many players who are capable of shooting threes.

Sabonis didn't play very well tonight, scored only 12 points, and shot only 29% from the field. In the whole regular season, Sabonis didn't have a field goal percentage of lesser than 30% until this game. This just shows how good Looney, Kuminga and Green is defensively. Now the problem that they need to solve Monk. I mean they need a way to stop him because him and Fox really stepped up to get their first playoff win in 17 years. On the other hand, the Warriors had as high as 10 point lead in the 3rd quarter, but didn't held strong on it, and ended that quarter with the Kings with 1 point lead.

As expected, this is a high scoring ball game because they're the top 2 offensive teams right now. Expect some adjustments from both teams in Game 2. It's very entertaining to watch, and TBH, you can feel the intensity around the arena as they are very loud to the point that you can barely hear any whistle. It just shows how the Kings' fans really wanted their team to go to playoffs. I'll include a trivia that Malik Monk tied the current record for most number of free throws without any misses in their playoffs debut with 14 free throws.

Knicks! Indeed!  They are all over the trend today. They are also the only upset that happened today when we talk about homecourt advantage basis.

I love the game in Sacramento though. Light the Beam!
De'Aaron Fox playoff debut with an awesome 38 points. I love his humble answers during the post-game interview. He always gives credit to the Kings' bench saying they helped ignite the fire that gave them a run and contributed to winning the game against the defending champion Warriors.
It's their offensive rebounding and 2nd chance points that made the difference. 17 offensive rebounds for them against 9 of the Warriors. The reason why Coach Kerr put Kuminga in the 4th quarter but it didn't help much.
The Kings would need to keep this kind of pace if they want to win the next game on their turf.

Knicks!!

Just going to say this, jalen brunsen can't be covered in this series.  The only way clevland can cover him is with this double.  He will bully Garland and Mitchell all series long.  Then they threw osman on him lol.  Guaranteed they double him next game.  Knicks will be dependent on the 2nd 3rd and 4th guys hitting open shots.  No way they let JB cook them all series long.  Gonna be a good one.

Sad to say for the Chicago Bulls they are doing to much until Zach LeVine isn't consistent anymore, but I don't really blame him the pressure is on him, I think what the Bulls need in the next season is a good team mates that can have a rotation with the offense the Bulls right now has a good defense actually they are rank 7 in the defense department, if I googled it correctly, I think they just need to spread the points more and have a good rotation getting ready for the next season, while the Miami Heat will surley have a hard time with what is in front of them the Milwaukee Bucks is proven from time to time that they are number 1 in the east, so good luck to them,


I surely agree, right now they are in a good position agaisnt the Sacramento Kings, that are making a great noice in the West, this could be a tough match for the Golden State Warriors and their 1st game is also a loss but for me, it was a close game and right now they have a returning Andrew Wiggins that is just starting to heat up I really think this game was just the warm-up for sure the 2nd game will be the real one for the Warriors, and this will be a great match to look forward to,

Our prediction seems to be accurate, I’ve got a sweet profit on this bet and I hope that you place bet too. I’m surprised how the bookmaker give Knicks so high oddsmdespite Cavs can’t beat them on regular season on multiple matches. Mitchelsl scores a lot for Cavs but the rest of the team is not helping a lot which is a clear indication that Cavs is not working as a team compared to Knicks that have a balance points distribution among the players including the bench.

I think we might not gonna see same sweet odds for Knicks on game 2 even if the favor is still on Cavs due to home court advantage.

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Who's watching GSW vs Kings. The game is very solid because Kings can rival GSW on clutch time.

Donovan Mitchell has another gear when it comes to the playoffs. If they ever manage to get a good roster around him he’ll be able to do some damage. He almost got them the win in the last two minutes but NY just has a WAY deeper roster.

Harrison Barnes looking like he’s out for blood against the Warriors. This is going to be a great series.

Knicks win their first playoff road game in 24 years! Brunsen vs Mitchell match up was great in the end and they both showed up. However, Knicks had the better offensive rebounds at clutch time. It's also the first team to win a playoff road game, this season.

Inconsistency, injuries, age, inexperience.

The Lakers are one of the best defensive teams post-trade deadline, but they are very inconsistent. Though they played better after the trade deadline, there are many times where their supposed shooters are playing awfully in one game, and in another, and in another. Injuries are a big factor when it comes to playoffs, and we know that their 2 all-star players Lebron and AD are injury prone. Both of them need to stay healthy if they want to have a chance to beat the Grizzlies. I said age because that affects the stamina, and endurance of a player. Grizzlies' roster are way younger than that of the Lakers thus, they have more stamina to play 7 games compare to the Lakers. I also included inexperience because even though Lebron and AD has playoff experience already, their coach doesn't have one, and I believe it affects the whole team.

Even before, many believe that this will be a hard series for both teams, but I will pick the Grizzlies to win on this one maybe in 6 games.

I just don't know why he requested a trade where he is already playing better when he is in the Lakers.
Obviously, his performance jumped when he was the back-up center for the Lakers, and he played very well as the Lakers' starting center when AD is out because of injury. I don't know why he requested a trade, but whatever reason it is, it's a wrong move coming from him. He must've have a better season if he stayed on the Lakers. Maybe personal reason.

No doubt, there would be Los Angeles Lakers facing the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs now if that trade didn't happen as the previous line up they had was just a total mess. I know they can win some games but probably play-in will be too much for them, luckily, that's not their situation now because the additional they've received was a lot more useful than the players they had before the trade.

Just one thing though, Thomas Bryant should be a big help for the team but he requested a trade that's why he is now in the Nuggets playing less than 6 minutes per game or mostly, just sitting on the bench. He could have been a good substitute for AD if he's resting as without AD the Lakers are struggling in the paint.

I tend to agree with you but more because I’m not sure how the Cavs have been winning at all with their roster. Still, their first playoff appearance without LeBron on the team in ~25 years. Pretty crazy, they must be doing something right.

No surprises in the early games but I have a feeling these next 2 games today are going to be a little closer.