Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 768. (Read 918338 times)

Anything can happen, though. Although the Denver Nuggets are a good team, the Spurs are a team that knows how to win. They have a winning culture under Coach Gregg Popovich but only lack talent because they are composed of young guns who, at the same time, play hard.

They may have a very bad record now, but as I said, they know how to win, and upsets are normal in sports.

It's just sad that the media are trying to hype a good team, which means an underdog team is underrated.

Well, the Blazers choked again.
The first one is against the Warriors where they are leading by around 20+ at the 1st half then got beaten in the 2nd half and losing by almost 20 points. Now they are leading as many as 21 points on that game, and they let the Sixers made some runs, chipping away the lead until Embiid made a fadeaway shot to take their first lead in the whole game.

If only Lillard manage to hold that ball, there might be a chance that they might've won knowing how deadly he is beyond the arc. Anyway, it's good to see Nurkic and Simons playing again. Well, they almost defeated one of the top teams, so maybe there is still a chance that they can enter at least the play-in tournament as long as all of their key players are healthy. They are only 1.5 games behind the 10th seeded Pelicans, so they might still have a chance.

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Now the streak of Jokic is over as the Spurs made an upset and won against the top seeded Nuggets. 2nd to the last seed won against the top seed? That's more upsetting than Hornets beating the Knicks on the road. First they lost against the Bulls on their home, and now they lost on the road against the Spurs. I have nothing to say, but just an upset.

Jokic had a triple double on this game, but since he lost, his streak of winning every game when he got a triple-double has ended now.

Yes, it is quite personal for the Grizzlies because their last match-up was not that good and they got embarrassed as well. And we have Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green's issue that is so evident in the game, I think Brooks was fined because he took their issues to the next level and texted Draymond Green with some harsh words.
I'm still trying to find where I can see that because that specific text that I was talking about was showed live in the Warriors @ Grizzlies game.

For Ja Morant, he is not expected to play in the next four games because the NBA is not yet done with their investigation but even if the NBA can't find any evidence just like the police in Denver, I think Ja Morant will still take his time to get some help before he returns to his team. And that could mean that the Grizzlies are still Morant-less in the playoffs but we never know though, their might be a sudden turn of events.

What a great game! Philadelphia 76ers versus Portland Trail Blazers.
Joel Embiid hit the almost buzzer-beater mid-range shot to claim the win at their homecourt. 1.1 second left for Lillard to take the last shot but that was not enough as he was also distracted by his defender.
The largest lead that Portland got was 21 points and the 76ers just chip it out as the game flows especially in the 4th quarter where the Blazers are in an offensive drought, Nurkic missed 4 freaking free throws. (that's a lot of chickens for the 76ers fans)
The first lead of the 76ers was also their win. Truly amazing.

And probably it was a revenge time for the Memphis Grizzlies last night. They were treated with disrespect when they were beaten by the Warriors at home and there were some words after that.

So I believed that they really pushed themselves against the defending champ here.

Yes, with KD out, Grizzlies could be safe in 3rd place and make the playoffs for this year. But it's better if they will have Morant, but there's not time table for his return.

Philadelphia 76ers - Portland Trail Blazers

Philadelphia arrives for this game with 43 wins and 22 losses, this is a good campaign, and in the last 10 games they managed to get 7 wins and only 3 losses, they have 3 consecutive wins, they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers . meanwhile their opponent the Blazers comes to this game with 35 losses and 31 wins, and in the last 10 games they had 4 wins and 6 losses, in their last game they lost against the Boston Celtics, honestly, in my opinion this will be a game in which Philadelphia has better conditions to win the game

Washington Wizards - Atlanta Hawks

Washington Wizards comes to this game with 35 losses and 31 wins, and in the last 10 games they managed to get 5 wins and 5 losses, they have been oscillating a lot, they are a very unstable team. on the other hand, their opponent has 33 wins and 33 losses, and in the last 10 games they also managed to get 5 wins and 5 losses. both teams have fluctuated a lot, but the Hawks managed to beat the Wizards with a very small difference in points, which shows that both teams are balanced, and it will be very difficult to predict who will win in this game

Miami Heat - Cleveland Cavaliers

Miami Heat comes to this game with 32 losses and 35 wins, and in the last 10 games they managed to get 7 losses and only 3 wins, they lost in their last game against the Cavaliers, The Heat are not performing well and will play against the Cleveland Cavaliers who are performing well. Cleveland Cavaliers comes into this game with 42 wins and 26 losses and in the last 10 games they managed to win in 6 games and lost in 4 games, they have a sequence of 3 wins, they managed to defeat teams like the Celtics, Pistons and Heat, well in the game against the heat the Cavaliers won a little tight, the difference in points was only 4 points, this shows that despite the Heat being a team with an unstable performance, they are a great danger for the Cavaliers and should not be underestimated

Minnesota Timberwolves - Brooklyn Nets

Wolves come into this game with 34 wins and 33 losses, and in the last 10 games they managed to get 5 wins and 5 losses, and to make their situation even worse, in their last game they lost against the Philadelphia 76ers, so that's not It's a good thing, Wolves' performance is not good and they have Jaylen Nowell and Karl-Anthony Towns missing. on the other hand, their opponent the Brooklyn Nets comes into this game with 37 wins and 29 losses, and in the last 10 games they managed to get 4 wins and 6 losses, they also lost in their last game, looking at the performance of these two teams i I see that this is a very difficult game to predict who will win

Warriors had too many turnovers and simple mistakes in first half. Grizzlies made a lot of 3's and controlled the lead. Even without Morant, Grizzlies is a stacked team. Tyus Jones is playing like they don't need Morant at all. With Brooks, Jackson and Bane they are a complete team. They probably hold on to second or third place in the West. After the loss of Durant I believe Suns can't catch them.

What an unfortunate turn of events for the Phoenix Suns. From becoming a heavy favorites to win the chip this year instantly after the Durant acquisition, down to being doubtful to make it to the finals after the Durant injury lol.
The most crazy part is that, Durant got injured to a pre-game warm up, and that actually looks like it hurts like hell. Though he managed to walk it off after he falls, but the was really something serious. If he misses the playoffs, I doubt the Suns would even make it to the finals, that's my thought as well.

Chris Paul is not a known choker.  He has typically not been surrounded by players in his career that can go deep into the playoffs.  With the Suns it was much more than just him of why they haven't made it to the finals.  Just because someone never wins a championship doesn't mean they are a choker.

Brooks acting as if he is a thug, Morant acting as if he is a thug, and then Adams missing so much of the season, probably all of it. It looks like Memphis will not be doing as well as people hoped that they would, I know that there is a situation where they are going to get some of them back if they are looking alright, but if punishments come quickly and they all get in trouble, that won't be easy.

Brooks may get away with it, it was nothing, but Adams is definitely gone, and I would be shocked if Morant gets anything other than sitting down this year. Warriors on the other hand could still end up winning if they play well in playoffs, they have the roster for it.

If only reaching the playoffs, I'm sure they can do it without Kevin Durant.

It's already proven that Booker, Ayton, and CP3 can bring the Suns to the playoffs even before without the help of any big superstar. But in the playoffs, they need Kevin Durant here to boost their offensive phase. It's also always a known habit by Chris Paul to choke at the playoffs and to cover that usual behavior of him every playoff, that's the time Booker needs something as consistent as Durant.

Kevin Durant won't likely sit out for months. He will surely return to the playoffs.

Playoffs will start on April 15th. The Suns do have 16 games remaining this season. Still over a month to go and more time for Durant's rehabilitation process. Even without Durant, the chances for them to avoid the play-in tournament are possible. It's not that it's a painful blow for the Suns already where in fact, we are not even in the playoffs.

Although, the question is if Durant will be in his 100% once able to play again. But knowing Durant, still explosive as always even after coming back from an injury. Don't worry about the Suns this remaining of the season as they can manage without KD. The real problem is if Durant will be out during playoffs.

As a young kid watching Kemp I won't ever forget him and the sonics.  Not to mention the countless amounts of Kemp rookies during the junk card era.  I haven't read too much into it but I hope it really was in self defense, too many people falling from the Graces after they leave the sport.  Just reminded me of Payton and how hard that team played.  Hated when the Knicks had to play them out west.

They still have Booker and CP3 and Ayton, it's just the question if this trio is enough. They used to have Bridges playing point as well and then Cam as sort of their defensive specialist and in which they exchange to get KD. And to be fair, KD doesn't want to get injured again, not in this way.

But it's an accident, no one wanted to see it happen, it's a big blow to the Suns, but they have to accept it now and then move forward, re-assessed the team and make adjustments again.

Yes, that is the good news, the it's self defense on his part as it was reported that he shot to retrieved what has been stolen from him, so he was released and no prison time.

Of course who will forget him as Supersonics, very athletic during his prime, unfortunately, just like the best players of the 90's him and Gary Payton will have to face Michael Jordan in that era and we all know that the GOAT is 6/6 in the finals.

Yeah, Shawn Kemp was a very athletic player in his prime. By the way, the article on the NBA site says he shot in self-defense because someone stole his stuff and shot at him. Also, it states that he has already been released from jail without charges. So even though the investigation is not over yet, I think Kemp can avoid serious consequences because of this shooting incident.

Absolutely. There is always a chance of a player getting injured regardless of whether him being a really good one or not.
The point I am trying to make is when the player is a big one, a team generally tends to spend a lot of money or resources to get him in.

So, when any team tries to bring in a really good player the stakes are high.

I do have high hopes for the Suns. I believe they should be able to do it without Kevin Durant. At least they can get to the playoffs.

Yes, the management already done with assessment before acquiring or trading any players, they understand well if what contributions
and how the fans will embrace the new asset that they will acquire.

In regard to Durant, we all know how impacting this player for the team and how they will benefit when Durant is healthy.

The contributions and how good the player can help in chasing the world title.

The Suns have benefited from the trade because Durant is a superstar and that will make their team more popular.

Every team wants to make the playoffs and have a chance to win a championship, and in the case of the Suns, they were embarrassed by the Mavericks in the last playoffs when they lost in game 7 by a blowout. This is their chance to improve their team. They took a risk by trading some of their role players, and it's just unfortunate that Durant got injured. Of course, no one can see the future, which is why we call it a 'risk'.

Today's latest update on the injury of Kevin Durant. It says that he will be out for 2 to 3 weeks since he needs to get into the rehabilitation process. A re-evaluation of his injury will be updated after 2 weeks. So here we go, Durant seems possible to play in the closing games of the regular season and worst case scenario, he can still play in the playoffs. The current active roster of the Suns is still good although we cannot deny how competitive the western conference is now. Even Utah Jazz and Portland are capable of entering the playoffs so if a string of bad performances by the Suns can eliminate or send them into a play-in.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-kevin-durant-injury-timetable-revealed-after-rolling-ankle-before-phoenix-home-debut