Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 723. (Read 916118 times)

Intense! Brooklyn Nets win the game with only 1 point lead. 111-110

Unfortunate result for the Utah Jazz as they are close to stealing that game providing the effort they did on that comeback.

That lose is a big deal for the Jazz for the attempt to even make it to the play-in tournament.

Didn't saw that coming too.
I was rooting for the Cavaliers on that game because for obvious reasons that Randle will not play and the Cavs are too strong for them to win.
Brunson might have felt better as all eyes are on him instead of being divided when Randle is around who loves ball hogging too. Now they are playing against the Wizards, I am waiting for Brunson to explode one more time and seal that 5th spot in the East and safe passage to the playoffs.

Great memory.  Allen Iverson is without a doubt a monster offensive player in his time.
But I am thinking about one player in this era. Still playing. I think Steph Curry is next to the smallest player who can score like Brunson and then there's Ja Morant and Trae Young.

They throw too much to get Kyrie and they left their defense wide open. No one is left in the Mavs to do the defense for them. They are now mostly offensive teams and we know in NBA that defense is very important and mostly, a defensive team has a better chance of winning than a mostly offensive team.


They still have a chance to join the Play-in tournament but they have to win most of the 4 games left they have. It is hard to do but it is still doable. Maybe not for Jazz since they have 2 Lakers games and a Nugget game ahead of them. I do not think they will make the play-in but Mavs still has a chance to get in. They have Hawks, Kings, Bulls and Spurs as their remaining games in the season.

And there's this now rumor made by how good Knicks are this season and that's to acquire Luka on them. Well, I don't think that it will ever happen and I do agree that Knicks did the right thing by acquiring Brunson.
No one wouldn't want to face them in the playoffs because of how good they are and they are not overrated while we're saying this. It's just common that they're noticeably good and that's why.

We've talk about Luka's frustration even before Kyrie gets on-board though, but right now it's more evident as they might not go to the playoff because it seems that Luka doesn't have control of the team right now. Unlike before when he was just the focal point and everyone is waiting for him to give them the ball. Maybe it's because him and Kyrie are too dominant players? Now sure, but something is not right with the team, the attitude and maybe there were issues in the locker room that we are not aware of.


Jazz is still fighting it right now against the Nets, they made a massive comeback in the fourth quarter and they are just down by 5 right now, with a minute to go. So there is still a good chance for them to upset the Nets and maybe made it to the play-in.

Yeah, the Jazz used to be one of the top team in the West, and Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson was just taking over the new Jazz team. However, when Clarkson got injured, it was very difficult for the Jazz to win games, and their losses are very close.

As compare to the faith of the Mavs, who also did have a good start and then they acquire Kyrie thinking that they are going to improved.

But that is the not the case, not blaming Kyrie though, but it disrupt the chemistry of the team, in my opinion.

It seems to me that both teams have almost no chance of even making the play-in tournament. The Jazz has one less win than the Mavs, and it's unlikely they will be able to beat all of their opponents in the remaining games of this season. Same thing with the Mavs, and I don't really believe they can be ahead of the Thunder in the battle for the last play-in tournament spot. Honestly, I don't know the exact reason why the Mavs have performed so poorly, but it's obvious their management made a big mistake as the Luka-Irving duo proved ineffective.

Yes, it was really evident. We can see that it wasn't his confidence to shoot that was impaired, it was his performance, and they got a massive pressure from the management to create a better outcome because they are looking forward to seeing the opposite way because they acquired Kyrie to help Luka. I don't know what's with the management, but I'm sure they know that they aren't that good in defense anymore and that is the consequence for getting an All-star caliber.

With their loss earlier against the Clippers against the Heat, their tunnel to participate in the play-in becomes more and more smaller as days goes by. I'd choose the Jazz over the Dallas right now to participate in the post-season games because they certainly got more chances to reach further and it's not impossible to happen.

Iverson was one of the best players ever at that height and being a scorer.  The dude always seemed to be crashing the paint no matter who was in the middle.  I loved watching him play.  Even as a knick fan I couldn't but love the dude.  Was the best mix of street ball and pro and he changed the game.

I actually didn't saw that coming because that specific game was hard to imagine for the Knicks, without Randle who tries to force his way through the opposing team's defense, they will really have a hard time. But, that's not what happened and I was surprised because Brunson proved that he can still give the team another win without Randle. For him, it seems that it's no biggy, really.

Allen Iverson? The man is rumored to be 5'11 even if he was listed to be 6 flat.

And Bookies are wrong and most likely those who love to bet on the underdog had their money for the winner, Miami Heat. Just good to see the despite being snub by the NBA and not getting into the All Star this year or even in 1st or 2nd selection, Jimmy Butler proves everyone wrong when he had a monster game against the Dallas team which might not make it to this year because of their poor performance in the last stretch of the season.

While Lakers, Pelicans and Timberwolves and OKC are going to fight it out till the last game to see who will be in the play-off or who will be in the play-in.

So still a lot of good games ahead of us.

Slowly the discussion will come up if Kyrie is actually a winner.

Before lebron returned to the Cavs they were really bad ( obviously without Kyrie they wouldn’t have won that chip though), in Boston he didn’t win anything, we all know what happened in Brooklyn also.

No doubt he is super talented but it seems that’s not enough.

Teams pay him a lot or trade previous assets for him just to get disappointed, this rental ( I doubt he will sign with the Mavs) was one of the worst deals for them in this era. Front office panicked to get Luka a co star and it totally failed .

Jimmy Butler performance though, and just like any other superstar, he rose again to the occasion and lead the team in both offense and defense, shooting high percentage and the didn't eve had any turnovers.

Unfortunately, there's no more Luka magic in the second half of the season.

They will have to take about it, the management and Luka on what to do on the current lineup and see where their weak spots are and try to patch it up next year.

But it was a loss for Mavs. Luka did the usual numbers but was unable to carry his team for a win. Not sure what's happening with them after the trade but seems that they are not blending well, (Kyrie and Luka)

On the other side, Butler's performance comes out knowing that his co-superstar Bam is not around, him and the rest
of the Heat bring the fight up to the last seconds, didn't allow the Mavs to snatch the game away from them!

I think at this point, they won't gonna let their spot be taken and will continue to hold it until the play-in tournament because at that rank they only need to win one game and will gonna enter the NBA playoff this season. It's gonna be hard for the Lakers to race against them in these remaining games and it will be more intense games in these last few matchups because anything can still happen and if they messed up, they will find themselves in the spot of the Mavs and lose their chance to compete I'm the playoffs series.

Right now, the Miami Heat are the lowest with only 108.7 however, they scored 129 points on this one against the Mavericks.
With this, it shows how atrocious the defense of Mavericks are. They allowed a low-scoring team like the Heat to score 129 points. I mean that's awful if you will ask me.

I put my bet on the Mavericks because Adebayo will not play, and I expect Kyrie and Luka to step up offensively. Well, Luka step up as he scored 42 points, but Irving only scored 23 points, and yes Hardaway stepped up offensively and scored 31 points, but still their defense is one of the worst. I will never put my bet on the Mavericks from now on at least on their remaining games whether it will be on their home, or on the road.

I wonder what the Mavericks are feeling right now that they let Brunson out, they let Dorian Finney-Smith, and Spencer Dinwiddie out as well, and let Kyrie Irving in. As to what you said, I can't remember any trade that happened in the last 10 years that are far better than this one, but I guess you're right. Many doubted the Knicks as well because of this trade, and I hope those bashers will stop bashing the Knicks right now.

Best steal! No doubt about that! It could've been a better Mavericks if they just gave him the contract, now I bet they are regretting what they have done.
But, this may be the best place for Brunson too, because I doubt his skills will be magnified at this level if he is still in the shadow of Luka Doncic.

Crucial games will happen in the Western Conference as every win or lose might change their positions for a play off spot or the play-in tournament.

The Pelicans winning against the Clippers is a big one! Brandon Ingram's monster game came out just when they needed a hero. But, it gets harder on their next 4 games left.
Kings, Grizzlies, Knicks, and last but not least Timberwolves, who are also forcing their way in after losing twice.

The Warriors, on the other hand, might see themselves standing in the safe spot at 5th if ever the Nuggets will just rest Jokic and their stars.
Next to it is the Thunder and then the Kings which I think will be given by Coach Brown as a thank-you for Steve Kerr. 
We are getting near the playoffs, expect a more intense game especially if both teams are in vital positions.

TBH, I didn't expect Zeller to play like that. He's very efficient with 20 points on 9/13 shooting, and the Heat won against the struggling Mavericks on their home.

Like many of us think, the Mavericks really is a good team in terms of offense, but what will you do with offense if you have that kind of defense. Luka had 42, Hardaway Jr. had 31, and Irving had 23, but it doesn't matter because 5 players on the Heat scored more than 15 points, and that's without Bam Adebayo as well.

They lost 7 on their last 10 games. After the trade deadline, the young Thunder team are playing better than them. Just imagine how awful they really are in terms of their performance in every game after acquiring Kyrie. A team like the Thunder who doesn't have any all-star aside from SGA are now in the last spot in the play-in tournament. I don't know if it's only me, but the Thunder exceeded my expectations for them this season. Though the Mavericks on the other is only 1 game behind them, with 4 games left for the Mavericks, I will not be surprised anymore if they will not clinch even the play-ins anymore. If they will, they will be eliminated immediately.

As for the Heat, there is a high chance that they might secure the 7th seed because they are 3 games above the 8th seeded Hawks, and they might try and go to 6th spot and put Nets to 7th if they will play better in their final games since they're only 1.5 games behind.

There were a lot of empty seats, I guess ticketholders in Miami have better things to do at Saturday night.
Strong game from Heat. Butler was perfect. Zeller made extra contribution to the game. Mavs have big problems in defense and backcourt rotation. Heat won after three losses in a row and secure their seventh place but Mavs risked their play-in chance. They didn't commit a foul at the end of the match when there was a 6-point difference and that shows the psychological disintegration of the team. They need miracles now even if they won all last four games.

Probably total will be under 229 for me to see the game as low scoring.

So far though, the Heat is leading at the end of the 3rd quarter, 102-96, so I guess in my book this won't be a low scoring game. But it might get interesting in the 4th quarter as the Heat is leading throughout the entire game and Mavs doing the catching up again.

Luka might end up in another triple double, but what's important is for them to win this game.