Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 760. (Read 918255 times)

But it seems to me that the Memphis Grizzlies management is not yet ready to give a warm welcome for Ja Morant, amidst the issue, the Grizzlies are not yet over with it because Ja Morant is the face of the franchise yet he failed to deliver the teams expectation towards him and wasn't professional enough to know what should he do and what's not.

https://clutchpoints.com/grizzlies-news-ja-morant-return-vs-luka-doncic-mavs-not-happening

And Klay Thompson was just 2 minutes shy from Steph Curry's playing time yet he just scored 15 points with a very low stats (37.5 FG, 37.5 3P%), 15 points is pretty much decent if you're an ordinary player on the league but we are talking about Klay here who is the other half of Curry, hence why they are called Splash Brothers. I guess he was just having a bad night, it's just too sad for their part because Curry's 50 points was wasted. Other than that, they are really bad on the road.

Significantly better is something different. Knicks were 20:14 away and Lakers 18:15 before the game, come on man .
Still it was a back to back on the road with basically the best player missing.

Anyway, the Lakers inconsistency continued today with a loss at the worst team in the league. Even without AD that's a must win. Lucky for them, the race for the POs and PIs is so close this year, they can still go anywhere from 4th to 12th/13th .

When they are about to build momentum to make a winning streak, they are hit by this unlucky turn of events which will gonna jeopardized their chance to get to the NBA playoffs. that's just another hit of worse luck against them and it might not gonna be the best for the Lakers if they still gonna lose their next game without AD. However, if they can still get to the Number 8 spot with the remaining games, that would have been good and they will gonna have a chance to enter the NBA playoffs.

And, the struggle continues to the defending champions as they are now on a 9-game road losing streak.
Curry is a monster on this game especially in the 3rd quarter where he single-handedly carried the team, but lost steam in the 4th quarter.

Overall, the Warriors are in a trouble right now. Take note that this is only the first road game for them, and there's still 4 more to go. If they lose all of those 5 games, they will go down really hard and knowing how close the Western Conference standings are, a mere 3 game losing streak will cause a huge problem to the team.

I don't know if the Lakers really don't want to be on the .500, or whatever the reason it is.

I mean in their game against the Rockets, they didn't even take the lead the whole game (aside from that 1-0 from Russell's free throw). If they wanted to clinch the playoffs then at least play better even without their all-stars Davis and Lebron. They are up against a bottom seeded team in Rockets, and they can't even beat them.

And I think this is a waste opportunity for the Lakers to improved their position, Imagine if they won today and couple of Wolves and GSW lost, they could have been closer to the standing again.

Maybe they think that they can just overwhelm this young team, but they are all wrong. And they give them so much confidence in the 1st quarter alone that they have to make a huge comeback but then fell short of it.

Steph Curry has a monster game of 50 points against the Clippers.

But was not enough to pull a win for them, and as what we have been discussing, they played on the road and they have a bad record on it. Kahwi and PG combine for 54 points to offset Curry's game. Klay Thompson, after a explosive game just chip in with 15 points.

So around 13 more games left before the regular season ends. These might be the best days to bet during the regular season on the games that involve from rank 4 to 13 in the west. Injuries are a sucker, Phoenix Suns is on a 3 game losing streak now and it is not that far from them falling below the top 8 as many teams are battling for a playoff spot. At Laker land, Lebron James can return but it may be too late if his team cannot hold its position. Personally, I would love to see Damian Lillard and the Utah Jazz inside the top 10.

That was some game in Chicago!
At the last seconds of the game, Sacramento Kings had a 4-point lead, not until DeMar DeRozan made a 3-point shot with an and 1. Coach Mike Brown tried to challenge the foul but was unsuccessful. DeRozan made the shot and tied the game. That was the first time I saw a big mistake like that. Barnes touched the elbow of DeRozan which is a positive foul. Most of the time they will make the foul so the opponent will shoot only 2.
Thankfully, DeAaron Fox was still hot and made a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to give the Kings a W.
Sacramento! light the beam!  Bulls did fight well. Their three stars combined with 78 points.

Well, the Rockers got momentum too, they just beat the Boston Celtics who have all their key players played the game. They are just young but pretty much talented and could pretty much upset any teams in the regular season.
On the other end, it's just so noticeable that the Lakers wont be as strong and effective without AD on the floor. It's very evident how AD had a huge impact when he plays.
Man, it's pretty tough for the Lakers, they just wasted a lot of opportunities, resting a healthy AD to prevent a trigger to his existing foot condition, that's just soft IMO.
AD really wanted to play that game, but his doctor advised the management to let him sit and prevent a back to back, so...

NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver really is a softie. He takes these serious crimes very lightly. 8 game suspension? What's even worse is within that 8 game suspension, he included the 5 games where he is out so he is suitable to return on the 20th against the Mavericks.

Well, for the Grizzlies fans, they loved what they saw, but for other NBA fans (like me), 8 game is kind of not enough for what he did. I mean he is the face of the Grizzlies, the face of Powerade as he has an advertisement there and has a contract with Nike. He must've face more game suspension.

On the flip side, I just hope that he will come back stronger, and will not do what he did last time. I mean that incident alone almost caused him almost a $200 Million Contract. Doing it or at least the same might have some bad problems with regards to his NBA career. Good that he's back even though the Grizzlies aren't struggling really even he's out.

Lakers having a rough start against Houston, and there's no Davis, so it seems that the field is even although the Lakers should have the experience in this game. But so far the young Houston team are dictating the game, with a huge lead in the first quarter.

Lakers need this one pretty much, and if they lost to a low team like Houston, it will hurt their momentum.

D'Lo and Malik doesn't have the same start as their last game wherein they just blasted with a 14-0 run start in the first quarter.

Lots of talk in the media about Andrew Wiggins today. Apparently a teammate came out and said he is going through some “real shit” so who knows what it is. He did say he was taking a leave of absence for some family concerns so I assume someone in his family is going through a hard time. They are saying he’ll be out for the season though, so I can only imagine what it is.

The NBA is now over with their investigation on Ja Morant's case and found out something that will be much helpful to the Grizzlies situation in the upcoming days.

Here's more about Ja Morant's situation:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10068147-ja-morant-suspended-8-games-nba-says-gun-in-video-didnt-belong-to-grizzlies-star

In contrary for the most speculations of Ja Morant regarding that live he did while holding a gun in a club somewhere in Denver, the NBA found Ja Morant not guilty for bringing a gun in the aircraft towards Denver as NBA prohibits carrying deadly firearms and drugs to any NBA property. Well, I cannot say that I'm glad for Morant because even if he's not guilty, he should know by now that any selfish deeds always will result into a heavy consequence especially if it's proven guilty.

Suns (4th) and Pelicans (12th) have only 4 win difference, that's super close. I don't remember any season like that recently.
Let me show you how close it is with an example. Mavericks were almost certain to make the playoffs but they've taken 3 losses in a row and are currently out of the play-off table. If Lakers match with Mavericks there's really no point to be in play-in tournament. But if they match with Thunder or Twolves they have a fairly good chance. That doesn't change the fact that they would be swept by Nuggets or Grizzlies anyway.

Right, I thought that the Suns might pull some upset win as they try to fight and make a comeback in the 4th, even taking a 3 point lead with 10 minutes to go. Booker is hot, but when they inserted Ayton and that 2 crucial misses of him, very easy shot, the Bucks took their chances and score quick 4 points and that's it. The Suns was not able to recover from that and the Bucks steadily increase their lead with Giannis having a mismatch, same with Brook Lopez inside the paint. And they solidify their number 1 position in the NBA right now with their 50 games win this season.

For Ja, Powerade has pulled its ads featuring him, but we are not sure if Coca-Cola has severed their tie with Morant. Maybe they just have to pull it out right now because of the controversy surrounding him.

That extra spot at 9th and 10th is not really that big of a deal. Could someone replace the 8th? or even 7th? Sure why not, I am not saying that's impossible, but at the same time, do you think that team would see second round? I highly doubt that it could happen, we are going to end up with the first and second seed destroying them, possibly sweeping them so it doesn't even matter if Lakers goes to playoffs, because they will lose. The very best case being a first round exit, the worst being play-in loss is not really the way Lebron should have his last years, Lakers either needs to do something, or at least let him go to a good team.

At this point after 20 years I wouldn't really be against him joining Warriors, that would be super fun, it would have soooooo much drama, him playing against them all those years, having a 3-1 comeback, losing many times, and then suddenly joining them and getting a ring with them? That would be a narrative we will talk for decades without a doubt. And that's all NBA is about, entertainment, you could love it, or hate that move, but you would talk about it without a doubt and that's what matters, getting viewership, even if it is out of hate. People hated Kobe all his career, but we still rank him high, possibly third behind lebron and mj, just because someone is hated, doesn't mean its not good for the sport.

I guess we can really say that the Lakers have won the recent trade and adding D'Lo, Vanderbilt and Beasley to their current roster was indeed beneficial to the team's offense and defense. We can see it on their stats and it's really incomparable because the disparity before and after the trade is just so evident. And for the Lakers who have AD on a healthy level gives them much hope that they can participate the upcoming playoffs and might get as far as 6th seed before the season will end.

When his name pumped up not just because of his statements but through his performances, he really made his way to the top by getting that attention he deserved but not coming to this point that he's into a controversial strip clubbing since this is just like anyone's attitude and activities there. Well, he probably have forgotten that he's got a household name in the league and sponsors want him to represent him as he is like what he's inside the court and not outside the court. The damage has been done and aside from those companies that have a contract with him, probably there have been potential deals that were cancelled after the news broke out about him.

He ended up only getting 8 games 6 of which already passed.  So he is eligible to play starting Monday night against Dallas.  Unsure if Memphis will throw him out there.  But make no mistake losing ja means losing money for the NBA, he is one of the new faces and makes the sport entertaining.  They won't push down one of theor cash cows unless it's something really bad.