2022/3 season thread

They beat the Grizzlies, yeah

Look I don’t know what to tell you really. If they make the playoffs they’ll be the first ever team to do it off a 2 - 10 start. They took 74 games to get to .500. That tells me they were a poor basketball team for most of the season but something has changed, and we know what that something is:

they’re healthy

they got better at the trade deadline

Any team with the King on a 13 - 6 run since the break will have pundits taking note. So the original whining about that has a clear response.

Nobody is saying any more than that. They will be dogs in the 1st round if they’re playing in it.

I don’t feel for Irving, the front office, Cuban or Kidd, but I do feel for the rest of the team.

The expectations and comments they have to deal with are extra, but that’s what being a professional sports person is about I guess!

I’d love to see Doncic excel and dominate for years, but afraid he’ll burn out too soon.

He was second in transition scoring on the year (only to Giannis) before his injury. At 38. It’s stupid stuff. He’s falling off his peak, no question. But it’s been such a graceful decline to date.

But yeah, he’s been running the floor all year. He’s taking less shots outside (6.7 3PA vs 8 last year) and making less (.303 average on the season, the worst since his rookie season) this year on his highest offensive usage since 2010. So he’s been taking it to the hoop much more than we’ve seen in years.

The Lakers right now this moment are the best they’ve been since the bubble. LeBron has arguably had his worst overall season since his rookie year but he’s doing things physically that bode well for playoff ball, in the context of a more complete lineup.

Hard to see them winning a back to back tonight against the Clippers, so I think they’ll be playing in for the 7th seed to face the Grizzlies. If no injuries to LeBron or AD that is a mouth watering round one series. Can’t wait.

How are you getting that?

Dallas can’t catch the Lakers or New Orleans at this point so can’t get in the 7th / 8th game

If the Lakers win one of their last two games they can’t be overtaken by both of the Wolves / Pelicans

So I think it’s a very remote possibility they play in the 9th / 10th game

Lakers would have to lose out, Wolves would have to win out, New Orleans win their other game and Dallas would also need to overtake the Thunder

my mistake , I thought it was a straight knockout, not the loser of 7th vs 8th getting a second chance !!

pity , would have been nice seeing them having to face off in a one match knockout

Sixers getting thumped in Philly by the Heat. 4.30ish left in the game and it's 118-87.

Giving up assets for Kyrie and finishing 11th is a terrible outcome, no question

Deebo and Zach out as well so Bulls offense is fucked. Zach has really balled out since all Star weekend and Bulls really picked up since Pat Bev came on board. Vuc needs to take over for us to stand a chance against Luka.

Luka went 0-5 3's before taking himself out of the game at the start of the second quarter. Mavs leading most of it and the Bulls scraped it back too barely win. Dunno why mavs wouldn't make the effort to make the play in and gave up so easy.

I think they decided they couldn’t win a championship with the current team so would rather have top 4 lottery pick equity.

They were 6th in the West when they traded two starters and an unprotected 1st for Kyrie. Losing record with Kyrie on the court. Kyrie needs the right stuff around him and Doncic and co ain’t it.

A disastrous trade but I also don’t hate the call to end the season now. If the players and the coaching staff don’t see a route to a championship it’s all a pointless endeavour. There is no magic in the NBA playoffs. You can’t win a seven game series if your team isn’t it.

Doncic needs to improve himself physically to become a championship player imo, and he needs much more around him.

Yeah, It's been a disaster since Kyrie came onboard but I still think they could put on a playoff run but like you said, if they're not in it, might as well go for a lottery pick. There's a clip of Cuban smirking when they bricked that 3 to tie the game and then the 3 threes in the last 15, seconds were a block, airball and the other only hit the backboard, gas stuff.

So I reckon the final word on Dallas is this: losing last night was the difference between having a 1st round pick or not having one, as they owe New York a top 10 protected pick. It’s a critical offseason and they need all the assets they can have.

Playing the Bulls sealed the deal, as losing there locked up top 10.

I actually think this is a great move - they are refusing to throw good money after bad. The Kyrie stuff wasn’t working, they have limited athleticism and D outside and nothing inside. I would go so far as to say they had <1% championship equity with this roster. The worst move would be running it into a play in for an 8th seed where they would be massive dogs to Denver - just to justify the Kyrie trade.

The nba are how investigating Mavs for losing but they're the ones who created the system that encourages tanking.

I think each of the Clippers and Warriors will just win today, but ending up as the 7th seed is arguably a more attractive prospect than the 6th or 5th - particularly the latter.

Things getting heated at the end of the season.