2023-2024 Regular Season

[Jeffx]

TBH, I didn't watch much of that silly in-season tournament. It's a gimmick the league doesn't need.

Lot of early season surprises...Minnesota, Orlando, OKC and how about the 12-9 Rockets?

As for my Knicks, they're right where I expect them to be - a mid-level team. They're on a tough west coast trip. Lost to Utah, playing Phoenix in a couple of hours.

[Jeffx]

Season-ending injury for Ja Morant....awful...

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ja-m ... ine-games/

[Jeffx]

You can't make this stuff up, lol. My prediction....Doc will coach Milwaukee to a 3-1 lead against Boston in the conference finals, then choke it away.

https://www.aol.com/sports/reports-buck ... 14728.html

[Andrew]

Yeah, the In-Season Tournament feels incredibly pointless. I can't say it hurt the league or anything, but it's still silly and unnecessary. So, not good, but could be worse, I guess?

Doc taking over the Bucks midseason with their record is wild. It's not unprecedented as David Blatt was forced out of Cleveland with an even better record, but it's still highly unusual. Then again, if you've lost the locker room and you want to be a contender and not just a good regular season team, better to make a change sooner rather than later. Of course, when the replacement is a guy whose great coaching accomplishment has looked more and more like a fluke as the years have gone by...well, I wouldn't be shocked if your prediction came true, Jeffx!

[Jeffx]

Yeah, the In-Season Tournament feels incredibly pointless. I can't say it hurt the league or anything, but it's still silly and unnecessary. So, not good, but could be worse, I guess?

Doc taking over the Bucks midseason with their record is wild. It's not unprecedented as David Blatt was forced out of Cleveland with an even better record, but it's still highly unusual. Then again, if you've lost the locker room and you want to be a contender and not just a good regular season team, better to make a change sooner rather than later. Of course, when the replacement is a guy whose great coaching accomplishment has looked more and more like a fluke as the years have gone by...well, I wouldn't be shocked if your prediction came true, Jeffx!

Andrew, the Bucks biggest problem is on defense. Losing Drew Holiday was a mistake. Dame just doesn't bring it on the defensive end. Now they can get by with average 'D' in the regular season, but not in the playoffs when strengths & weaknesses are magnified, and you have to buckle down and get a crucial stop.

Man, that All Star game was a travesty. I shut it off after during the 2nd quarter. It wasn't even basketball. I remember games from the 70s, 80s, 90s when players actually gave effort, like that 135-132 OT thriller from 1993.

[Andrew]

Yep. It's like we've been saying for a long time now, it used to be a great combination of competitive spirit and showmanship. Now it's an embarrassing exhibition. Highlights mean nothing if no one is trying on D.

[shadowgrin]

The in-season tournament served its purpose well, it was supposed to make the players care about the early regular season games and they did, the players played hard and competitive for that $500k pocket money prize for each player of the winning team in the tourney.

[Andrew]

Used to be that getting out to a strong start and securing a top seed/homecourt advantage was all the incentive players needed. Then again, now you've still got a chance to get into the postseason if you finish in 10th place with a record of 27-55, so I guess that's out the window.

[Andrew]

The Celtics' 140-88 victory over the Warriors today produced one of the weirdest box scores I've ever seen: https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/golden-sta ... 024030302/

I mean, there's...

• The utterly lopsided score that looks like a MyCAREER game with a maxed out player.
• Boston holding an 82-38 lead at halftime.
• No one in the Warriors' starting five playing over 20 minutes.
• Steph Curry scoring four points in 16 minutes on 2/13 shooting (0/9 from three).
• Klay Thompson scoring six points on a two, three, and free throw (2/4, 1/3, and 1/1 shooting respectively).
• Golden State's leading scorer being Lester Quinones - 4.6 ppg in around 12 mpg this season - with 17.
• Jayson Tatum matching his season average of 27 ppg (9/13 FG) and Jaylen Brown besting his 22 ppg with 29 (11/19 FG), both in less than 24 minutes.
• Everyone who was available got into the game, scored, and played at least ten minutes.
• Boston's lead increased through the first three quarters, until Golden State got a point back in the fourth.
• The Celtics shot 55% from the field, 51% from downtown, and around 82% from the line as a team. Conversely, the Warriors shot 39%, 17%, and 69% respectively.
• Somehow, the Warriors still totalled 24 assists, Chris Paul leading the way with seven. The Celtics had 35, topped by Derrick White's eight.

That is a crazy, lopsided box score out of a blowout in a video game; some wild, dominant MyCAREER performance when your player is maxed out, or a franchise mode game on Rookie difficulty.

[Jeffx]

After everything the Knicks went through, to get the #2 seed is a testament to how tough and gritty this team is. I don't know how far they can go without Randle, but we'll see. In the playoffs, defenses tighten, so they'll need more scoring from "the others" to take the load off Brunson. Philly with a healthy Embed is a problem...I'd prefer to face Miami.