2016-2017 NBA Thread

[bergmann620]

Alright, seriously, I know there will be analysis and crap coming out tomorrow but what happened? How did they choke a 26(?) point lead?

They had a 26-point lead because they were shooting out of their minds and Kyrie was taking terrible shots rather than running the offense.

They lost their 26-point lead because they're the Pacers and they're not a '60% from deep' team, so eventually the basket dried up. And because LeBron.

[anakin57]

Cleveland is back to looking pretty unbeatable again

[Blueobelisk]

Go Bucks! Great game to be at!

Show pictures.

Tonight:
BOS @ CHI. 7 PM. ESPN.
HOU @ OKC. 9:30 PM. ESPN.
LAC @ UTA. 10 PM. ESPN2.

Wow you Utah people are getting treated like second class citizens, going on the alternate channel. And that's a good series lol. To be fair, the other two games are more important though.

If Chicago wins (at their home) Boston is doomed to be losers.

If OKC loses at their home, they'll have lost the series and at this point we'd have to subtract points away from Westbrook. Sort of.

[Stommped]

Hawks swept, Rondo done probably for the year, and I just broke up with my GF.... Just end my shit fam

[Blueobelisk]

Hawks swept, Rondo done probably for the year, and I just broke up with my GF.... Just end my shit fam

Isn't that first one a good thing?

[Stommped]

Isn't that first one a good thing?

Hawks got swept... not did the sweeping

[Blueobelisk]

Hawks got swept... not did the sweeping

Oh. Hmmm maybe I should not watch basketball and support the Rangers tomorrow...

Hold on when I get to desktop ill post about the Rondo thing.

[Velky]

I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but it's Lebron.

Cavs outscore opponents by 7.7 points per 100 possessions when Lebron's on the court and get outscored by 8.5 when he's off it. In the regular season he played 71% of available minutes. In the playoffs he's played 91% of available minutes. Assuming the ratings stay the same, that shift is enough to push the Cavs from outscoring the average team by 3.0 points per 100 possessions (about equal to the Celtics), to 6.3 points (ahead of the Rockets, good for 3rd in the league).

Now, other teams shorten their benches too, but it doesn't make nearly the difference for them that Lebron does (the Rockets with Harden have a net rating of 6.3, without him they're still at 2.8). So just playing Lebron more explains a big shift in performance.

The second factor is that LeBron is the only star who's able to maintain his level of performance against better competition in the playoffs, presumably because he "flips the switch". Almost every superstar's stats get worse playing against superior competition in the playoffs. For example, Durant's efficiency rating over the past 5 years is 28.5 in the regular season, 24.1 in the playoffs. Curry goes from 25.8 to 22.1, Harden from 25.2 to 22.9. So when everyone else's efficiency is dropping, Lebron's efficiency actually increases slightly, from 28.4 to 28.6. Even more amazing, LeBron's performance tends to get better as he's playing against better competition too. Last year, he had an average gamescore of 19.7 in the first round and 20.7 in the second round in two relatively easy sweeps, then up to 25.0 in the 6 games against the Raptors, and 26.9 in the 7 game series against the Warriors (to put that in perspective, Westbrook's game score in the current series is 23.8).

So three things happen:

1. LeBron plays more.
2. LeBron plays better.
3. As the competition gets tougher, LeBron plays even better.

That's how a 50 win team turns into a legit contender in the playoffs. Of course he's 32 now, so he's slowed down a bit, but so far he's been able to make up for that by picking his spots and savvy. In 2009 he was able to go this hard every game and his efficiency rating was an unheard of 37 over the course of the entire postseason, which is insane (Jordan's best postseason PER was 32). Now he saves it all for the big moments. At some point soon it won't be enough anymore.

Your post was so fun to read.

I could read stuff like that all day. More please.

[jregz]

Hawks swept, Rondo done probably for the year, and I just broke up with my GF.... Just end my shit fam

Godspeed Stommped.

Rondo sourcing:

The Bulls say guard Rajon Rondo has a right thumb fracture. Surgery is not required for this injury, and he is out indefinitely.

https://twitter.com/MarcJSpearsESPN/...36447482077185

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Westbrook to win MVP it looks like?

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2017/4/...-vote-tracking

[jregz]

I Only took two pics. They both look like this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTIHIHsA...vrED1xXe4EDo0/

Your Canadian brother?

http://news.nationalpost.com/author/ekoreen

EDIT: "Look like". I is retard.

[-aiko-]

Not surprised that Westbrook is leading the MVP voting but I'm disappointed

So no Rudy Gobert tonight, not that anyone expected it. I hope we can figure out the paint.

[Blueobelisk]

Rondo sourcing:

The Bulls say guard Rajon Rondo has a right thumb fracture. Surgery is not required for this injury, and he is out indefinitely.

https://twitter.com/MarcJSpearsESPN/...36447482077185

Ya so last night on TNT the crew was talking about what Cavs should do now that they have a 3-0 lead, when really Pacers could have been up 2-1 if they didn't fuck up so badly. And Shaq and Kenny were saying that Cleveland has to step on Indiana's throat and not even let them get to game 5, because even though no team has come back from 0-3 and it's unlikely Pacers could win at this point, Cleveland still has to think about the future and make sure shit doesn't happen like people getting injured, etc.

They referenced the Finals last year where GS was winning and then Draymond Green got his techs and Bogut, their center, got injured and it ended up being a completely new ball game for the rest of the series in which Cleveland was able to win.

This really strikes most true with this 0-2 Boston team; Stommped is right to be concerned. (I mean, I actually think Chicago could have snuck into the Finals with the way the rest of East looks. There's no dominant power.) But Rondo getting injured is actually big enough not only to affect future series, but even at home in Chicago I think there's a good possibility that Boston can make a comeback. Rondo was actually a really pro Chicago player that helped them get to beating Boston so much.

'Tis a shame. Injuries and other shit do affect series. It's not even like CHicago slept at the wheel, it's a matter of staying healthy. Which we all know affects teams but even affects series that look like no-brainer wins.

[Berndorf]

That's how a 50 win team turns into a legit contender in the playoffs. Of course he's 32 now, so he's slowed down a bit, but so far he's been able to make up for that by picking his spots and savvy. In 2009 he was able to go this hard every game and his efficiency rating was an unheard of 37 over the course of the entire postseason, which is insane (Jordan's best postseason PER was 32). Now he saves it all for the big moments. At some point soon it won't be enough anymore.

I actually don't think he's slowed down much. He doesn't put quite as much energy into defense but overall he is a smarter and more efficient player and can take command of a game better than he used to because his overall bb iq has only gotten higher. He's seen it all and basically done it all and he just seems much more relaxed in big games whereas back in 07-12 he had the pressure of the world on him to win his first ring and would get frustrated when things weren't going well and sometimes try to do too much and take bad shots late in games.

[Blueobelisk]

I Only took two pics. They both look like this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTIHIHsA...vrED1xXe4EDo0/

Hmmmm? You're Eric? Should I call you that instead of Lakers01?

Looks pretty cool I guess. Nice seats. I mean, you should have taken a pic of the court though. As you said, I don't think there will be a game 6 for you to go back too...

[-aiko-]

^^ Agreed. What I saw last night was I think one of the best Lebron James I've ever seen. Calm, calculated, playing every position. Feeding his teammates, picking his shots, getting back on defense. It was fucking beautiful...

[Blueobelisk]

Hmmm I thought you were closer based on your friend's pic. What's all that glowing? People's phones? Lighters? It's been like 5 years since I went to a basketball game.

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I feel like im constantly criticizing ESPN but Goddamn I keep coming back every like 2 minutes and they're always playing commercials. To be fair, TNT has commercials too but they have bridge segments where the TNT crew says what's up every like 3 commercials so we dont lose interest.

[-aiko-]

So I haven't been able to watch much of the game, only brief glimpses during my breaks. Did the Celtics finally come together or is the loss of Rondo the bigger factor to the current lead?

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lulz. I know the game has been over for a while but this home crowd is dead.

[Blueobelisk]

Boston easily wins. It was never close.

[-aiko-]

Hahahahaha never seen that before. They only gave Harden 2 free throws when he was fouled on a 3. then they were like oops and gave him the last ft.

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Hayward with 16 in the first already. Beautiful. This is shaping up to be a great game

[Pendulous]

Holy fuck beans.

Hayward has as many points as...the Clippers.

Lose our defensive star? Ok. We'll just score more than we ever have. 34 points in one quarter is unheard of for a team that plays the longest play clocks on offense.