First in with Samson and Zoyd sittin' in a tree ..... JK!! .... good chance @KareemtheGreat33 would have though.
Day before T-Giv, the Hawks (7-11) went into CLE (17-1) and put up 135 and handed the Cavs their 2nd loss of the season. Trae was cold from tre (3-13), but finished with 20 with 22 dimes. It's not like Mobley, Spiderman, Jarrett Allen or Darius were injured or anything, either. I figured this was a freak game. Today, in a "matinee" game between the two teams in ATL, it was time for CLE to show everyone that last game was an anomaly. But they just lost again to the Hawks. The mighty Cavs go from 17-1 to 17-3 after BTB losses to...the Hawks? Puzzle out that jit. Everyone be studying what the Hawks did to handle CLE, but I suspect the Cavs are on a lull, really. Emotional energy is down currently with them and ATL just happened to hit them at the right time. CLE just not up to avenge that loss in CLE: they entered the 4th today down 18, cut the deficit to 12 - I actually thought they might come back from 18 down and win, but naw. Suddenly the Cavs look very mortal.
LOL! "Yo! Samson and Zoyd! It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." - one of my favorite lines from dummies when I was growin' up. (Still not finished growin', but more like growin' "out" than up now.) Seriously: homophobia is a drag. And, as I stand at this podium and look out at the sea of kindly faces that make up Lakersball.com, I'd like to quote one Rodney King, when he said...
During Nikola Jokic’s free throws, a Clippers fan on the wall has a horse mask on and a sign that reads, “Dad, I Miss You
BTW … was curious as to whether Zu still had his “hot 5 years older GF” and just did a search. He does not. Married her 3 years ago. https://www.whosdatedwho.com/dating/ivica-zubac
Rough year to be a Pels fan. Yesterday they went into MSG 4-16, but hey: they got CJ back! Dejounte had come back, only to call out his teammates' effort. Against the Knicks, they got out-rebounded 60-42, shot 4 for 27 from deep (15%), and were down 23 at the end of the 1st Q, after putting up a whopping 10 points. They had a total of 28 points at halftime. They've lost 14 of 15. Ingram is injured, and of course Zion is still out, as is Herb Jones and a couple other guys. With 7 secs left in the 3rd Q, Josh Hart hit a little shot to put the Knicks up 93-56. Once again: this season's been brutal for Pels fans. They're now 4-17 and the NBA cup is a distant thought for them. Who's gonna grumble and ask out? It's not like they're last year's Pistons. They have some real ballers, but the injuries have decimated them. Herb Jones is their Vando, but at least Herb's expected back soon. Zion out "indefinitely" with hammy.
the injuries are a huge part of the story, but they weren't set up for success even ahead of that. name their center, injured or not. they let valanciunas walk and they let naji marshall walk. they should have kept both and traded ingram for salary relief, imo. now they're going to have to sell even lower on ingram or just watch him walk in the summer. i really haven't understood their plan. and honestly, at this point--they should go full in on the tank. if everyone gets healthy and they play their absolute best, they're a 50-win team, max. pare that down for 60 games and that would get them back to about .500 on the year, probably good for 11th place in the west and a late lotto pick. they need to tank and tank hard. i'd trade zion and ingram for salary relief and picks or prospects ASAP.
I think they wanted to go full wingspan with Zion at the 5, Ingram, Herb, CJ and Dejounte. Trey Murphy from the bench. That's an interesting proposition. Very switchable, so long and physical. Just didn't get healthy at the start I like that these teams outside of the big franchises try to come up with out of the box ideas. Orlando is doing it, Houston did it, and so on. They have to try something different to beat the superstars. They have Missi at center, the #21 pick. He should have a Capela-like career in the league. But yeah they are in a rough spot, not sure what I would do
Good game tonight: GSW@DEN. GSW led by 8 with 4:03 left in the game. DEN finished the game after that: 14-2 run. GSW turned it over, fouled and missed shots. Moody missed a 3 FGA with 7 secs left and GSW down 4 and in the struggle for the board the ball gets knocked out toward halfcourt, where Braun dives and gains possession. At least one Warrior is immediately on him as he's on the floor and Braun signals for a timeout, but DEN had no timeouts left. The refs disregarded Braun's TO call and honored the call of jump ball (with 5 secs left), and Kerr was livid. We saw Spoelstra blow a game against DET about 3 weeks ago for this very reason: he called a TO when they didn't have one, got T'd up for it, and it cost MIA a win. I mean: let's say Braun gets called for the technical there, like Spo did. One shot: Curry or Hield hits it: 3 point game. With 5 secs left GSW has to hit a 3 to force OT. It was all possible but (I think) unlikely yet I still think Kerr had a point there, and it'll be interesting what the League says about this non-call. But man: they were up 8 with 4 mins left and lost. GSW was up 12 in the 2nd; about 80 secs into the 3rd DEN was up 7. Here's how close the game was, really: 1st Q: DEN wins by 2 2nd Q: GSW wins by 2 3rd Q: DEN wins by 5 4th Q: GSW wins by 1 Joker: 38/10/6 with 5 steals Steph: 24/7/11 but only shot 8 for 23 Both teams would wax us, given the way we've been playing the last 2 weeks.
i think you can kill that healthy team with any kind of size. missi's a 19 year old rookie, right? that's not a serious plan, imo. good to see not only we get steamrolled by denver in crunch time. interesting that lebron, AD, and curry all started off nicely and hit a wall around the same time...
Yeah they would struggle rebounding and Jokic/AD types would feast inside. But they probably beat the record for steals. It's like a different version of the Rockets small ball, would have been nice to watch for pure entertainment Yeah yeah Missi is for the future. I totally agree with you that their moves were not consistent in letting Valanciunas and Nani walk and then spend picks on Dejounte. Probably did it just out of spite against us
Misery Love Company Dept: as the Lakers look like a jayvee team in getting their a**** kicked from Miami to Key West and back, the Clips managed 50 points through 3 quarters and stunk up Ballmer's Intuit Dome, losing by 38 to the T-Wolves. Beardie was 1-10 from the field and 5/3/3 in 25 mins. He and Bones combined for 10 turnovers. Cam Christie got some minutes (18) and went 2 for 7 from the field. Max had a better night than his bro, but they can definitely commiserate after a day like this, when the Lakers and Clips combined to lose by 79 points to their opponents.
lots of buzz about the warriors trading for a star, and it made me think back a few months to when they were pursuing markkanen. the word was they refused to include podziemski in the deal. now, who knows if that was true, but if it was really a sticking point...yikes.
Having Wiggins return to looking like he belongs out there has helped whether that's as a chip or allowing them to move someone else. Moving Dray to the bench is interesting. Not sure what star could even be out there for them. BI, LaVine, Kuz?
i know everyone here would strongly disagree, but wiggins is like their dlo (it's no coincidence those guys were once traded for each other straight up, imo). he's more valuable to them than he is in trade. like, wiggins for kuz...do you win? wiggins for BI...maybe, but is NO interested in that? they could aim higher than those guys if they included kuminga and/or moody, though neither has jumped out as a potential star and kuminga is FA next summer.
People questioned this pick at #2, I think I was confused by it as well, but it was clearly the right call, averaging just under 22ppg in his 2nd year and doing stuff like this
DEN goes into ATL - the Hawks the hottest team in the NBA for the past 2 weeks - and Nugs won by 30, 141-111. Joker 48/14/8 with 3 steals. DEN was on a BTB on the road, too. The day before they laid an egg in DC and lost by 10 to the Wiz: no one could hit the 3 for DEN. The starters other than Jokic were 0-10. Strawther came off the bench and hit 2 treys. Only he and Jokic made a 3. In a loss, Joker: 56/16/8. So: 104 points, 30 boards and 11 dimes in a 48 hour period. According to some guys names Elias, Joker's only keeping company with one guy there, and his name rhymed with Stilt. Jeeeeez.
