f***ing horford makes that team special: his ability to switch onto guys like Garland on defense and then also space the floor with 3's is such a backbreaker when you have to deal with Tatum/Brown.
They’ve got a couple of those really important players. Horford: can switch on defence quite well, can hit the 3, can score inside and also has good interior defence Porzingis: legitimately good rim protection with great shooting range, allows them to play 5-0 Jrue: one of the best guard/wing defenders and can playmake and score decently White: just super super smart, defensively and offensively. Just a dream 4th or 5th option to have They’ve really constructed that team well. It would be like us having another premier 3&D wing and a premier 3&D center. Think Myles Turner and Mikal Bridges.
they capitalized on brown's first extension being lower, imo. bill comes due next year, as the outgoing owner clarified recently. the holiday trade was pretty lucky, too--having the two teams chasing you create a bidding war that shakes loose a key player for one of them that fits your needs exactly, lol. beyond that, i agree with pioneer that the real coup continues to be horford. he makes 9 million per year and plays like a 30 million per player. and their other moves were good, but that one was luck. they got him in a salary dump when everyone thought he was a corpse (including them, i'm certain). they thought he was going to be like dwight powell for the mavs (veteran glue guy who can give you some decent minutes off the bench sometimes). instead, he's like, their most important player, lol. if horford goes down, they don't win a ring. last year, this year, next year, whenever. even if zinger is there. doesn't matter. horford is the linchpin. their move for white was quite shrewd, and in that case i'll buy that they knew something others obviously didn't (i was worried white was another one of pop's success stories that couldn't hack it elsewhere). they also drafted tatum when he was definitely not the obvious choice at the time to anyone but them. so lots of props for those two moves in particular. anyway, despite all that i still think whenever horford's done, so are they as a powerhouse. conversely, as long as he's doing this, they're my title favorite.
and for some reason I was convinced he announced his retirement after winning it all .. I was very surprised when I saw him on the court at the start of the season
He can still contribute, obviously. Honestly, if it wasn't for the history between our two teams, I would actually like Boston -- they did everything right. Drafted great players, were successful in trades, the team is balanced, well-coached, they just play the right way. Still, if we don't get to the finals and OKC does, I will obviously root for the Thunder. They also have a very nice, young team, plus Bald Eagle plays for them.
yeah, pretty much all the things i actually hate about boston aren't there right now. when ainge left, they became basically nothing of what i always disliked. so, as paula poundstone once said, it's really about laundry at this point. if this C Bags team was like, the wizards, i'd be happy they were in contention, sort of like i am for cleveland right now.
The Wolves are in serious trouble now. They are going to be in the play-in for sure, but fortunately for them, the competition there is going to be relatively weak. The real question now is who is going to be 5 and who is going to be 6? GSW @ MEM tonight, should be good.
We still need to go at least 4-3 in our remaining games. Do not wanna fall to 6th & face DEN in the 1st round again.
I think we can beat Denver now, but I want to win 4 more games to cement the 4 spot regardless. I want home court for at least one round of the playoffs.
Minnesota has easiest schedule I don't think they going to play in Lakers just need to win 2 games to avoid playin completely,they have tiebreaker over everybody except for Houston and they will play them in last home regular season . But yeah,I want avoid Denver in potential 1 st round P.S.And don't want any of California teams, because price for playoffs would be through the roof and I want to get to some games
Realistically this is how I see the final standings: Houston - has 5 HUGE games to end the season. UTA - W OKC - L @GSW - 50/50 @LAC - 50/50 @LAL - 50/50 DEN - 50/50 I don't know if they can afford to rest anyone due to seeding. So I think they go 3-3 to finish the season. Leaves them at 52-30 Denver - has 2 big games and another 3 difficult ones MIN - W SAS - W @GSW - L IND - 50/50 @SAC - 50/50 MEM - 50/50 @HOU - 50/50 Maybe they pick up 3 out of the 4 games to end and go 5-2? 52-30 Lakers - we have 4 tough games left GSW - 50/50 NOP - W @OKC - 50/50 @OKC- 50/50 @DAL - W HOU - 50/50 POR - W We may be able to win one vs OKC and we really need one against either GSW or HOU - preferably both. If we go 6-1, we are 52-30 and the 2nd seed (assuming HOU and DEN finish 52-30). If we go 5-2, we are 51-30 and pretty much the 4th seed (most likely scenario). If we go 4-3, we are 95% locked in at 4th at 50-32 (due to tiebreakers, unless MEM and GSW goes 7-0 and 8-0 which they won't). Assuming we go 3-4, there is a higher chance that one of the 4 teams trailing us can catch us and push us down to the 5th or 6th seed, MEM would have to go 6-1, GSW would have to go 7-1, MIN and LAC would have to go 7-0. I don't see a scenario where we drop into the play-in, if we go 3-4 to close. If we go 2-5 or 1-6 or lose all 7, then maybe that happens. TL/DR: We most likely finish 4th or 5th, with an outside chance at 2nd if we play well and a smaller chance of the playin if we play terrible.
The Warriors won, barely, behind Curry's 50. So, they and the Grizzlies have identical records right now. Warriors with the tiebreaker, currently facing us in the 1st round.
Not only did they lose (thanks Russ), but Joker went ALL out and they play again tomorrow against SA. I know they're really bad, but I've also seen the Nuggets without Joker. There's no way they have anything left for that one. Joker played 53 minutes, including the final 40 minutes straight through. Gordon played 47. Braun 53. They did sit MPJ and Murray, maybe they're back and fresh enough but that's a big maybe.
