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Post by chopper31 on Dec 23, 2020 5:59:04 GMT -7
Well...at least the Lakers were the 3rd Best Team on opening night.
I guess they get a pass, because it can’t be easy to have the ring ceremony and pre-ceremony Dinner, just prior to having to play a game.
I could only stay up for the 1st Half, how did Gasol work out ?
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Post by moekid on Dec 23, 2020 9:08:59 GMT -7
Lakers are a different team. Gonna take a bit I would think for all the new guys to get used to each other and the short turn around doesn’t help. Gasol didn’t do much.
Clippers got a great showing from PG.
Meanwhile, looks like Brooklyn will rule the east.
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Post by chopper31 on Dec 23, 2020 17:26:01 GMT -7
Lakers are a different team. Gonna take a bit I would think for all the new guys to get used to each other and the short turn around doesn’t help. Gasol didn’t do much. Clippers got a great showing from PG. Meanwhile, looks like Brooklyn will rule the east. I see Gasol racked up 5 personal fouls, in only 12 minutes of playing. Zero points and 1 rebound otherwise. They seriously brought him in to be the starter ? He hasn’t been able to score for 2 years now, and he can’t even defend anymore (hence the fouls). Brooklyn has a great situation, which goes well beyond their 2 stars. But even with all their depth, what they don’t have is a leader. Kyrie & KD have both proven that while they are very talented, they are not leaders (in fact they both have a history of actually causing problems in the locker room). We also don’t know how long they both stay healthy. It wouldn’t be a smart bet to assume both get through the entire season without injuries. In other words, I think it’s gonna take a hell of a lot for Brooklyn to rule the East. I won’t make the mistake of making too much of them beating up on a Warriors team that will be fighting just to make the playoffs.
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Post by moekid on Dec 23, 2020 18:56:52 GMT -7
Lakers are a different team. Gonna take a bit I would think for all the new guys to get used to each other and the short turn around doesn’t help. Gasol didn’t do much. Clippers got a great showing from PG. Meanwhile, looks like Brooklyn will rule the east. I see Gasol racked up 5 personal fouls, in only 12 minutes of playing. Zero points and 1 rebound otherwise. They seriously brought him in to be the starter ? He hasn’t been able to score for 2 years now, and he can’t even defend anymore (hence the fouls). Brooklyn has a great situation, which goes well beyond their 2 stars. But even with all their depth, what they don’t have is a leader. Kyrie & KD have both proven that while they are very talented, they are not leaders (in fact they both have a history of actually causing problems in the locker room). We also don’t know how long they both stay healthy. It wouldn’t be a smart bet to assume both get through the entire season without injuries. In other words, I think it’s gonna take a hell of a lot for Brooklyn to rule the East. I won’t make the mistake of making too much of them beating up on a Warriors team that will be fighting just to make the playoffs. KD is a top 5 player and aside from his Achilles hasn’t been injured in his career. Kyrie does seem to get banged up with nagging injuries. He’s a weird dude and a wild card who would be the locker room issue but that’s a great 1-2 tandem. We haven’t mentioned the Heat who should be a year better. Celtics are really the team that lacks a leader |
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Post by chopper31 on Dec 23, 2020 20:09:37 GMT -7
I see Gasol racked up 5 personal fouls, in only 12 minutes of playing. Zero points and 1 rebound otherwise. They seriously brought him in to be the starter ? He hasn’t been able to score for 2 years now, and he can’t even defend anymore (hence the fouls). Brooklyn has a great situation, which goes well beyond their 2 stars. But even with all their depth, what they don’t have is a leader. Kyrie & KD have both proven that while they are very talented, they are not leaders (in fact they both have a history of actually causing problems in the locker room). We also don’t know how long they both stay healthy. It wouldn’t be a smart bet to assume both get through the entire season without injuries. In other words, I think it’s gonna take a hell of a lot for Brooklyn to rule the East. I won’t make the mistake of making too much of them beating up on a Warriors team that will be fighting just to make the playoffs. KD is a top 5 player and aside from his Achilles hasn’t been injured in his career. Kyrie does seem to get banged up with nagging injuries. He’s a weird dude and a wild card who would be the locker room issue but that’s a great 1-2 tandem. We haven’t mentioned the Heat who should be a year better. Celtics are really the team that lacks a leader If you go by time missed, KD is way up there on loss to injury. It was almost 600 days in between yesterday and his last game played. He’s not young either. Seeing what happened to Klay Thompson, they’d better be very cautious with him. Jaylen Brown is not only the leader of the Celtics, but is a leader amongst all NBA Players. He is a Vice President of the Players Union, and was also a leader amongst all NBA players in the social justice movement earlier this year. Kemba is also a well respected multi-time All Star, who would fit the leader role on many teams, but he clearly can’t perform in the playoffs. The Heat I actually don’t see improving. They did nothing to upgrade their roster, and actually lost a key starter (Crowder) in free agency. I don’t even know what their plan is to fill the void that Crowder leaves at Power Forward, they probably need to pull off a trade at some point. Tonight they had Mo Harkless play that spot, and lost to the Magic. I also saw the bubble as a huge golden opportunity for them (possibly one time). They certainly won’t suck, but I wouldn’t even bet Freak’s money on them making the Conference Finals this season. Two teams that have great talent but no leadership are the Clippers and Bucks. Kawhi gets it done on the court but was tragically born without a personality, therefore is no leader, and George is even farther from a leader. Then Giannis despite being a back to back MVP is no leader either, I’ll never forget in the final minute of the elimination game against the Raptors how he checked himself out of the game. We’ve seen the Bucks & Clippers crash & burn in the playoffs, with no leadership. Why should I expect the Nets, who also have an inexperienced Rookie HC to be any different ?
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Post by cthommes on Dec 23, 2020 20:14:31 GMT -7
Ooohhh, ninja edit just in the nick of time...
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Post by chargerfreak on Dec 27, 2020 1:58:11 GMT -7
KD is a top 5 player and aside from his Achilles hasn’t been injured in his career. Kyrie does seem to get banged up with nagging injuries. He’s a weird dude and a wild card who would be the locker room issue but that’s a great 1-2 tandem. We haven’t mentioned the Heat who should be a year better. Celtics are really the team that lacks a leader If you go by time missed, KD is way up there on loss to injury. It was almost 600 days in between yesterday and his last game played. He’s not young either. Seeing what happened to Klay Thompson, they’d better be very cautious with him. Jaylen Brown is not only the leader of the Celtics, but is a leader amongst all NBA Players. He is a Vice President of the Players Union, and was also a leader amongst all NBA players in the social justice movement earlier this year. Kemba is also a well respected multi-time All Star, who would fit the leader role on many teams, but he clearly can’t perform in the playoffs. The Heat I actually don’t see improving. They did nothing to upgrade their roster, and actually lost a key starter (Crowder) in free agency. I don’t even know what their plan is to fill the void that Crowder leaves at Power Forward, they probably need to pull off a trade at some point. Tonight they had Mo Harkless play that spot, and lost to the Magic. I also saw the bubble as a huge golden opportunity for them (possibly one time). They certainly won’t suck, but I wouldn’t even bet Freak’s money on them making the Conference Finals this season.
Hey !!! Its a little freakin' late for that isn't it ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
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Post by chopper31 on Dec 28, 2020 17:44:42 GMT -7
Brooklyn already suffers they first major blow.
Spencer Dinwittie, their 3rd Best Player and a required asset if they were to trade for Harden, has a torn ACL and is ruled out for the rest of the season.
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Post by chopper31 on Dec 30, 2020 4:44:47 GMT -7
Well the Raptors can’t manage to win a game, but this was a pretty sweet moment from last night:
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Post by moekid on Dec 30, 2020 17:40:54 GMT -7
Well the Raptors can’t manage to win a game, but this was a pretty sweet moment from last night: Oh yes, the Raptors. I thought you’d moved your bandwagon ass on by now |
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Post by chopper31 on Dec 30, 2020 20:41:23 GMT -7
Well the Raptors can’t manage to win a game, but this was a pretty sweet moment from last night: Oh yes, the Raptors. I thought you’d moved your bandwagon ass on by now When they didn’t bring Gasol back, it took every bit of strength I had, not to walk away. So I’m just taking things one quarter at a time...
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Post by chargerfreak on Dec 31, 2020 10:20:23 GMT -7
As soon as Leonard left, the slide down began.
0-3
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Post by chopper31 on Dec 31, 2020 12:13:38 GMT -7
As soon as Leonard left, the slide down began. 0-3 Right...which is exactly why their first season without Kawhi actually had a better winning percentage, than their season with him. Because the slide started as soon as he left. Compare that to the Cavs, who went from the NBA Finals to a 19-63, as soon as LeBron left.
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Post by chargerfreak on Jan 1, 2021 3:13:15 GMT -7
As soon as Leonard left, the slide down began. 0-3 Right...which is exactly why their first season without Kawhi actually had a better winning percentage, than their season with him. Because the slide started as soon as he left. Compare that to the Cavs, who went from the NBA Finals to a 19-63, as soon as LeBron left. Right......no repeat now this. Slide.
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Post by chopper31 on Jan 1, 2021 4:51:03 GMT -7
Right...which is exactly why their first season without Kawhi actually had a better winning percentage, than their season with him. Because the slide started as soon as he left. Compare that to the Cavs, who went from the NBA Finals to a 19-63, as soon as LeBron left. Right......no repeat now this. Slide. Great points...not repeating as Champs and then having 3 losses at a time when 24 of the 30 teams have at least 2 losses, should certainly not be overlooked or taken lightly. I would also make a very big deal of the 6 teams that only have 1 loss at this time, as one of them surely is the next NBA Champion (suggestion - put your money on a Magic/Suns Finals matchup now !) What should be overlooked: * The improvement in the Raptors record, the season after Kawhi left * The same number of Raptor All-Star & All-NBA selections, the season after Kawhi left * Nick Nurse winning the Coach of the Year, the season after Kawhi left (Ty Lue made it a whole 6 games in Cleveland, before getting fired, the season after LeBron left) * The fact that in the season where the Raptors quest to repeat as Champs was happening, there was a 4 month break before the playoffs started, and the entire playoffs were played in a neutral environment for the first time ever. I’m sure that without these unprecedented factors, that the entire playoffs would have played out the exact same way, so it’s not something even worth mentioning. * The fact that the Raptors are the only team in the NBA this season, that won’t be playing a home game. Because if they still had Kawhi, they wouldn’t actually need any home games.
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