NBA Thread

[Zlinedavid]

11 hours ago, BADGERVOL said:

Let’s flip this tangent convo...what would the increased offensive rules mean to some of the players of that past if they got to play in them? What could Magic do when almost no one can physically touch him? Jordan? Thomas? Omg...Thomas...Dominique?!

"Guys can barely touch me and I'll see a zone half the time? Sign me the hell up." - Reggie Miller

[BADGERVOL]

20 minutes ago, Zlinedavid said:

"Guys can barely touch me and I'll see a zone half the time? Sign me the hell up." - Reggie Miller

Did he say that? If he didn’t that would fit perfect for him. It’s SO true.

[Zlinedavid]

1 minute ago, BADGERVOL said:

Did he say that? If he didn’t that would fit perfect for him. It’s SO true.

Haha...no, totally made up, but I have a feeling he wouldn't disagree. He'd have Curry's shooting numbers.

[Zlinedavid]

1 hour ago, BADGERVOL said:

I love the Bucks calm and business like demeanor. If you watch the press conferences every guy is on the same page. They really believe it’s all about them focusing on themselves and each doing what their job is. And their bench seems to all have an edge to them.

Budenholzer spent nearly 2 decades under Popovich. It shows. In more than one way.

[BADGERVOL]

2 minutes ago, Zlinedavid said:

Budenholzer spent nearly 2 decades under Popovich. It shows. In more than one way.

Are you thinking, in game adjustments, team assembly, and player development to name three?

i agree the Bucks are DO fortunate...plus being from a small market team he is not afraid to compete with the big boys from some place like Milwaukee 

[Zlinedavid]

1 minute ago, BADGERVOL said:

Are you thinking, in game adjustments, team assembly, and player development to name three?

i agree the Bucks are DO fortunate...plus being from a small market team he is not afraid to compete with the big boys from some place like Milwaukee 

And just overall approach and attitude. Nothing flashy, nothing superfluous.

Giannis has a little more natural sizzle than Duncan, but part of that is just personality. He could play as a hell of a lot bigger showboat than he does.

Only thing missing is Pop's occasional sarcastic but valid barbs at the media...lol.

[milehiiu]

The Denver Nuggets went four overtimes on the road Friday night against Portland. Game ended after midnight,  Denver time, before Portland pulled it out by two. So, I doubt many of you watched the game. And you are better for it.  If it were not the Nuggets, I would have turned the game off long before any of the overtimes. Both teams played crappy.  Lousy passing.  Poor shot selection.  And I don't think either team ever hear of the word..... defense !

[IU Scott]

52 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

The Denver Nuggets went four overtimes on the road Friday night against Portland. Game ended after midnight,  Denver time, before Portland pulled it out by two. So, I doubt many of you watched the game. And you are better for it.  If it were not the Nuggets, I would have turned the game off long before any of the overtimes. Both teams played crappy.  Lousy passing.  Poor shot selection.  And I don't think either team ever hear of the word..... defense !

I watched all of the OT's and that was the only part f the game I watched.

[BADGERVOL]

1 hour ago, milehiiu said:

The Denver Nuggets went four overtimes on the road Friday night against Portland. Game ended after midnight,  Denver time, before Portland pulled it out by two. So, I doubt many of you watched the game. And you are better for it.  If it were not the Nuggets, I would have turned the game off long before any of the overtimes. Both teams played crappy.  Lousy passing.  Poor shot selection.  And I don't think either team ever hear of the word..... defense !

I watched it. Ironically everyone is talking as though it was such an epic game and the only thing epic about it was the 4 OT’s

[Hoosierhoopster]

3 hours ago, Zlinedavid said:

Budenholzer spent nearly 2 decades under Popovich. It shows. In more than one way.

Agree, and that was a very good hire 

[milehiiu]

57 minutes ago, BADGERVOL said:

I watched it. Ironically everyone is talking as though it was such an epic game and the only thing epic about it was the 4 OT’s

You are correct. If it was not for the fact that it was a Denver team.... I would have turned the game off much earlier than it ended.  It really was horrible.  And to think these guys get paid millions to put on an exhibition like that.

One other thing.  Jokic recorded the most minutes played in an NBA game by a seven footer... I think it was over 61 minutes.  Did I mention poor coaching also ?  With 7 minutes left in regulation... I told my son the "Joker" was gassed, and Plumlee needed to come in for him... instead "Joker" stayed in all four over times, and only scored two points. 

Hey Vol.... you deserve a medal for lasting through that nightmare, on Friday night.... that some called epic.  Epic ?  Only in that is was horrible basketball.

[BADGERVOL]

40 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

You are correct. If it was not for the fact that it was a Denver team.... I would have turned the game off much earlier than it ended.  It really was horrible.  And to think these guys get paid millions to put on an exhibition like that.

One other thing.  Jokic recorded the most minutes played in an NBA game by a seven footer... I think it was over 61 minutes.  Did I mention poor coaching also ?  With 7 minutes left in regulation... I told my son the "Joker" was gassed, and Plumlee needed to come in for him... instead "Joker" stayed in all four over times, and only scored two points. 

Hey Vol.... you deserve a medal for lasting through that nightmare, on Friday night.... that some called epic.  Epic ?  Only in that is was horrible basketball.

It was pure comedy. My 14 year old son and I stayed up for two reasons...to see how long this tragedy would go and to just enjoy keeping track of the number of boneheaded passes, shots and decisions by players and coaches. Lol

[BADGERVOL]

44 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

You are correct. If it was not for the fact that it was a Denver team.... I would have turned the game off much earlier than it ended.  It really was horrible.  And to think these guys get paid millions to put on an exhibition like that.

One other thing.  Jokic recorded the most minutes played in an NBA game by a seven footer... I think it was over 61 minutes.  Did I mention poor coaching also ?  With 7 minutes left in regulation... I told my son the "Joker" was gassed, and Plumlee needed to come in for him... instead "Joker" stayed in all four over times, and only scored two points. 

Hey Vol.... you deserve a medal for lasting through that nightmare, on Friday night.... that some called epic.  Epic ?  Only in that is was horrible basketball.

Hey I also got a kick out of ESPN this morning (almost never watch that network, but wanted to see the Bucks highlights again), and they led with this “amazing game that was four OT’s and it was an intense battle from a slow start in the first quarter then picked up.” One gal said “if you watched the intensity in the four OT’s and missed the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters it was the same.”

it was at that point I realized how fake all the news even was. The ONLY thing memorable of that game was four OT’s. It was such bad basketball being played by BOTH teams on BOTH ends and that’s part of the reason it went to four OT’s. 

[milehiiu]

5 minutes ago, BADGERVOL said:

It was pure comedy. My 14 year old son and I stayed up for two reasons...to see how long this tragedy would go and to just enjoy keeping track of the number of boneheaded passes, shots and decisions by players and coaches. Lol

The passes in the game by both teams were consistent.... just bad.  I have attended 8th grade bb games in Colorado, which does not compare to Indiana grade school basketball...

where the execution on the court was better than what was displayed by both Denver an Portland on the floor Friday night.  If this is the best of  NBA playoff basketball... heaven help us

[milehiiu]

2 minutes ago, BADGERVOL said:

Hey I also got a kick out of ESPN this morning (almost never watch that network, but wanted to see the Bucks highlights again), and they led with this “amazing game that was four OT’s and it was an intense battle from a slow start in the first quarter then picked up.” One gal said “if you watched the intensity in the four OT’s and missed the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters it was the same.”

it was at that point I realized how fake all the news even was. The ONLY thing memorable of that game was four OT’s. It was such bad basketball being played by BOTH teams on BOTH ends and that’s part of the reason it went to four OT’s. 

Intensity ? My rear end. 

Both teams were equally bad, in execution.  That's the only reason the game went to 4 over times.
 

YOU are correct. Both teams, as much as I hate to say it (in terms of Denver).... were equally bad.

[BADGERVOL]

1 minute ago, milehiiu said:

The passes in the game by both teams were consistent.... just bad.  I have attended 8th grade bb games in Colorado, which does not compare to Indiana grade school basketball...

where the execution on the court was better than what was displayed by both Denver an Portland on the floor Friday night.  If this is the best of  NBA playoff basketball... heaven help us

Couple air balled layups/floaters, there were attempted put backs as offensive rebounds where I SWEAR they were releasing the ball without even looking at the basket. You had two passes by that center that about went into the 12th row, at the end of one OT out of a Time Out that guard for Denver was dribble AWAY from the three point line with 4 seconds to go, turns and jacks a 32-34ft three partially fading away when he had just been 7 feet close two seconds earlier. What the HECK?!

these are just plays frozen in my mind...at one point I looked at my son and said “do either of these teams want to win the game? There’s not a drop of sensible concentration going on.”

[BADGERVOL]

We’re piling on at this point but it really was that bad. 😂 

[milehiiu]

1 minute ago, BADGERVOL said:

Couple air balled layups/floaters, there were attempted put backs as offensive rebounds where I SWEAR they were releasing the ball without even looking at the basket. You had two passes by that center that about went into the 12th row, at the end of one OT out of a Time Out that guard for Denver was dribble AWAY from the three point line with 4 seconds to go, turns and jacks a 32-34ft three partially fading away when he had just been 7 feet close two seconds earlier. What the HECK?!

these are just plays frozen in my mind...at one point I looked at my son and said “do either of these teams want to win the game? There’s not a drop of sensible concentration going on.”

All I have got is.....YEP !

[milehiiu]

1 minute ago, BADGERVOL said:

We’re piling on at this point but it really was that bad. 😂 

Can't call it piling on... when it's the truth.

The  only saving grace is that the game ran so long that most people living  in  the  Eastern half of the nation most likely went to bed before this abortion to the game of basketball finished.

[Zlinedavid]

2 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Agree, and that was a very good hire 

And a very dumb firing by Atlanta.

[Hoosierhoopster]

As a sort of aside, these first playoffs without LeBron have been as interesting, dramatic, and compelling as ever. 

In the East, do we know who will win it and move on to the Finals? I mean, at this point it seriously looks like it could be ANY of the Bucks, Toronto, Boston or Philly. There's no shoe in, by any stretch. And each of those series has been compelling, close, hard fought and with underlying story lines. Kawhii looking like the MVP again. Giannis as the MVP to be. Embiid, dominant, then sick but playing, but unable to take over. Boston's internal on again off again struggles, loaded but not firing on all cylinders, Kyrie playing hero ball instead of making his team better, but still lurking and capable. And btw Smart is back for the next game.

In the West, man that Blazers - Nuggets series is a battle of hard-playing, fighting teams. To come back after a quadruple OT loss on the road and win the next one, on the road, down the stretch against Lillard? Hats off. Nuggets won't advance to the Finals, but I think they will pull this series out -- but am by no means sure, another battle series. Rockets - GS is a drama fest. GS will likely pull this out and maybe in short order from here on out, but not sure, Curry is bothered by the left hand finger injury and he's not separating himself for his shot like he usually does. Is he slowing down? So GS will probably -- probably --pull off another championship, but I can't say I'm certain of that either.

[NotIThatLives]

16 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

As a sort of aside, these first playoffs without LeBron have been as interesting, dramatic, and compelling as ever. 

In the East, do we know who will win it and move on to the Finals? I mean, at this point it seriously looks like it could be ANY of the Bucks, Toronto, Boston or Philly. There's no shoe in, by any stretch. And each of those series has been compelling, close, hard fought and with underlying story lines. Kawhii looking like the MVP again. Giannis as the MVP to be. Embiid, dominant, then sick but playing, but unable to take over. Boston's internal on again off again struggles, loaded but not firing on all cylinders, Kyrie playing hero ball instead of making his team better, but still lurking and capable. And btw Smart is back for the next game.

In the West, man that Blazers - Nuggets series is a battle of hard-playing, fighting teams. To come back after a quadruple OT loss on the road and win the next one, on the road, down the stretch against Lillard? Hats off. Nuggets won't advance to the Finals, but I think they will pull this series out -- but am by no means sure, another battle series. Rockets - GS is a drama fest. GS will likely pull this out and maybe in short order from here on out, but not sure, Curry is bothered by the left hand finger injury and he's not separating himself for his shot like he usually does. Is he slowing down? So GS will probably -- probably --pull off another championship, but I can't say I'm certain of that either.

And Cousins may return before seasons end.  OG, 4 days ago, " not close at all."

[BGleas]

2 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

As a sort of aside, these first playoffs without LeBron have been as interesting, dramatic, and compelling as ever. 

In the East, do we know who will win it and move on to the Finals? I mean, at this point it seriously looks like it could be ANY of the Bucks, Toronto, Boston or Philly. There's no shoe in, by any stretch. And each of those series has been compelling, close, hard fought and with underlying story lines. Kawhii looking like the MVP again. Giannis as the MVP to be. Embiid, dominant, then sick but playing, but unable to take over. Boston's internal on again off again struggles, loaded but not firing on all cylinders, Kyrie playing hero ball instead of making his team better, but still lurking and capable. And btw Smart is back for the next game.

In the West, man that Blazers - Nuggets series is a battle of hard-playing, fighting teams. To come back after a quadruple OT loss on the road and win the next one, on the road, down the stretch against Lillard? Hats off. Nuggets won't advance to the Finals, but I think they will pull this series out -- but am by no means sure, another battle series. Rockets - GS is a drama fest. GS will likely pull this out and maybe in short order from here on out, but not sure, Curry is bothered by the left hand finger injury and he's not separating himself for his shot like he usually does. Is he slowing down? So GS will probably -- probably --pull off another championship, but I can't say I'm certain of that either.

I'll never understand people that love basketball but don't like the NBA? Honestly, the last 10-12 years or so, the NBA playoffs for the most part have been phenomenal in terms of both story-lines and drama. I know it seems like LeBron (Heat/Cavs) and the Warriors have dominated as forgone conclusions, but both the Pacers and Celtics took LeBron's Heat and Cavs teams to 7-game series in the East and GS was taken 7 by OKC and Houston in recent years. We've had 3 7-game NBA Finals over the last 9 years, plus the drama that was the Mavs and Spurs beating LeBron's Heat, as well as a little mini renewal of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry as they met twice in the Finals. 

I grew up on the Celtics/Lakers of the 80's and the beauty at which those teams executed offensively, but I still say that if someone asked me to show them an example of how basketball should be played I'm throwing in the tape of the Spurs beating the Heat 4-1 in 2014. It was just an amazing display of team basketball by the Spurs. 

I don't love all the 3 attempts in the game now, so I understand that criticism, but otherwise the NBA has largely been awesome for the past 12 or so years. 

Edited May 6, 2019 by BGleas

[Hoosierhoopster]

56 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I'll never understand people that love basketball but don't like the NBA? Honestly, the last 10-12 years or so, the NBA playoffs for the most part have been phenomenal in terms of both story-lines and drama. I know it seems like LeBron (Heat/Cavs) and the Warriors have dominated as forgone conclusions, but both the Pacers and Celtics took LeBron's Heat and Cavs teams to 7-game series in the East and GS was taken 7 by OKC and Houston in recent years. We've had 3 7-game NBA Finals over the last 9 years, plus the drama that was the Mavs and Spurs beating LeBron's Heat, as well as a little mini renewal of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry as they met twice in the Finals. 

I grew up on the Celtics/Lakers of the 80's and the beauty at which those teams executed offensively, but I still say that if someone asked me to show them an example of how basketball should be played I'm throwing in the tape of the Spurs beating the Heat 4-1 in 2014. It was just an amazing display of team basketball by the Spurs. 

I don't love all the 3 attempts in the game now, so I understand that criticism, but otherwise the NBA has largely been awesome for the past 12 or so years. 

Couldn't like this enough. 

And this season's playoffs is off the charts with the competitive play and underlying story lines -- and all without LeBron, which is kind of wild.

[BobSaccamanno]

2 hours ago, BGleas said:

I'll never understand people that love basketball but don't like the NBA? Honestly, the last 10-12 years or so, the NBA playoffs for the most part have been phenomenal in terms of both story-lines and drama. I know it seems like LeBron (Heat/Cavs) and the Warriors have dominated as forgone conclusions, but both the Pacers and Celtics took LeBron's Heat and Cavs teams to 7-game series in the East and GS was taken 7 by OKC and Houston in recent years. We've had 3 7-game NBA Finals over the last 9 years, plus the drama that was the Mavs and Spurs beating LeBron's Heat, as well as a little mini renewal of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry as they met twice in the Finals. 

I grew up on the Celtics/Lakers of the 80's and the beauty at which those teams executed offensively, but I still say that if someone asked me to show them an example of how basketball should be played I'm throwing in the tape of the Spurs beating the Heat 4-1 in 2014. It was just an amazing display of team basketball by the Spurs. 

I don't love all the 3 attempts in the game now, so I understand that criticism, but otherwise the NBA has largely been awesome for the past 12 or so years. 

Excellent post.  From a time perspective, I don't have time to watch both college and NBA intently. I choose IU basketball as a muscle memory passion that hooked me decades ago. I read about the NBA but only spot watch it during the regular season.  In the playoffs, I have more time for it with college and NFL gone.    Having said all that, if I were 15 years old now, there's a good chance I would get hooked on pro hoops over college.  

IMO, the respective pro and college products have gone in different directions.  The college game has fallen dramatically behind college football.  Unlike football, you don't have many top teams staying together at an elite level and coalescing over time.  I don't mean teams like the 1976 Hoosiers. I mean, in any given year, do you have wars between 10 or 12 damn good teams with veteran rosters with future pros clubbing each other?

Meanwhile, the NBA game has excellent coaching and teams that play tremendous team ball.  I have no problem with the three ball.  Look at all the extra passes, plus all the excellent coaching when you look at guys like Pop, Kerr, Budenholzer, Stevens and others.  Any of those guys could just kill it in college.  We aren't talking about Shaka Smart.

The NBA product is incredibly lucrative now with teams worth north of $2 billion.  That's not happening because it is a crap product.  Quite the opposite.

Edited May 6, 2019 by BobSaccamanno