Bean Town

WES2006AG said:

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I have to imagine they keep the 1 seed in the West even with no KD.

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I feel like 1, 2, & 3 have been set since Christmas. With 20 games left, there will continue to be no movement at the top of the West.

4-7 are all within 1.5 games of each other, but the Clippers will most likely stay in either the 4 or 5 spot, barring them not faking any more injuries. They only have 8 more remaining games vs. teams over .500, with 2 of those games against the Spurs and Rockets, both of who will be on the 2nd night of a B2B at the end of the season when they play the Clips, so could be resting players.

Denver has a 3 game lead now for 8th spot.


Games remaining vs. teams over .500/remaining

GSW 10/22
Spurs 13/23
Rockets 8/20


Jazz 10/21
Floppers 8/22
Grizzlies 10/21
Thunder 7/24


Nuggets 10/21

Kings 11/21
T'Wolves 11/21
Blazers 9/21

Nice breakdown.

Iowaggie said:

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WES2006AG said:

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I have to imagine they keep the 1 seed in the West even with no KD.

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I feel like 1, 2, & 3 have been set since Christmas. With 20 games left, there will continue to be no movement at the top of the West.

4-7 are all within 1.5 games of each other, but the Clippers will most likely stay in either the 4 or 5 spot, barring them not faking any more injuries. They only have 8 more remaining games vs. teams over .500, with 2 of those games against the Spurs and Rockets, both of who will be on the 2nd night of a B2B at the end of the season when they play the Clips, so could be resting players.

Denver has a 3 game lead now for 8th spot.


Games remaining vs. teams over .500/remaining

GSW 10/22
Spurs 13/23
Rockets 8/20


Jazz 10/21
Floppers 8/22
Grizzlies 10/21
Thunder 7/24


Nuggets 10/21

Kings 11/21
T'Wolves 11/21
Blazers 9/21

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Mavericks 13/22

Quote:

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Thunder 7/24

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There is your 4 seed right there

Pahdz said:

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Quote:

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Thunder 7/24

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There is your 4 seed right there

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The transformation of the second unit has been amazing.

A few weeks ago, we ran out Payne, Morrow, Abrines, Grant, Lauvergne as our 2s. No lead was safe with that combination.

Now, if we stick with Abrines in the starting lineup, we've got Cole, Oladipo, McBuckets, Gibson and Kanter + Grant who as been playing well.

Upside is still probably limited to the second round, but it's been fun to watch some competent role players develop around Russ. And it's nice to have a roster that can handle the 8-10 minutes per game that he sits.

I am torn on keeping Abrines starting. He will get shelled on the other end. Oladipo could play a Ginobli type role and still take starters minutes, but it's obvious Abrines shines when on the floor with Russ.

Norris Cole should provide decent minutes backing up at PG. I am excited to watch them finish the season out.

Absolutely dismal call giving the dubs back the ball there

36 2nd half points for the warriors

After watching last night, I think you're right about Abrines. We needed Oladipo on defense last night against Portland's guards.

I think Abrines will be a very solid starter down the road, but he's not quite there yet (on defense anyway). I'd be good with running him out there with the second team to help space the floor for Kanter and Gibson.

And man, it was a tough loss, but it's fun watching this team start to gel with all the new faces. The bench last night was very very good after the first unit got off to a slow start. Excited to see the rotations/recipes Donovan whips up over the next month.

They are gonna have to get better on the road.

That Taj Gibson heave was impressive....lucky, but impressive!

Warriors with their first back-to-back losses since early 2015. Now only 3 games up on the Spurs. I guess we will see if Pop is interested in going all out for the number 1 seed or not.

Definitely. I think these next two games are important if we're going to contend for the 4 seed.

YESSIR!

It was funny watching it in real time. He threw it so high that it left the screen for a second, then SPLASH

Pahdz said:

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Quote:

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Thunder 7/24

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There is your 4 seed right there

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What's deceptive about the OKC remaining schedule is that of the 17 (now 16) games remaining against teams below .500 is that 8 of those games are against teams fighting for a playoff spot, including Dallas.
(Mavs x 2, Blazers, Kings, Charlotte, Bucks, Nuggets x 2)

While those games are not nearly the difficulty of playing Spurs, GSW, or Houston, those teams should be bringing the effort, like Portland last night.

Yep, agree 100%

The other aspect to look at is the number of B2B that remain for some of these teams, and who they play on those 2nd nights. I still don't think there is going to be any change in 1-3, especially the way the B2Bs stack up.

Here is the updated list, which is corrected for OKC.

Games remaining vs. teams over .500/remaining (B2B info)

GSW 10/21 (4 sets of B2B remaining, including one with 2nd night against Spurs)
Spurs 13/23 (5 sets of B2B, including a 4 in 5 nights which is part of a 6 games in 9 nights near end of season)
Rockets 9/20 (3 sets of B2B, with @ Denver, @ GSW, and @ LAC as the beneficiaries of the 2nd night game)


Jazz 11/21 (3 sets of B2B, with NOP, @ CLE, and @POR as the beneficiaries of the 2nd night game)
Floppers 9/22 (6 sets of B2B)
Grizzlies 11/21 (4 sets of B2B, with @Hou, @ATL, @SAC, and OKC as the beneficiaries of the 2nd night game)
Thunder 7/21 (corrected from before) (3 sets of B2B, with @DAL, @ MEM, and Deb as the beneficiaries of the 2nd night game)


Nuggets 10/21 (3 sets of B2B)

Blazers 8/22 (5 sets of B2B)

Kings 11/21
T'Wolves 11/21
Mavs 11/22
Pels 9/21

I show up, express some optimism and we lose two ugly games in a row.

I'll show myself out.

To be fair, it's not your fault. I would blame Pahdz for his Karma killing post. (4th seed).


Never post anything on texags with the slight bit of optimism or joy before something is over.

I learned this during the Sherman era, and feel it was my fault for all those blown leads.

Haha

I've had similar experiences through the years. You'd think I'd learn by now.

But thanks for letting me off the hook. And yes, this is definitely Pahdz's fault .

I don't believe in that kinda stuff, but it sure would be nice to get our second best guard back healthy

Iowaggie said:

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4-7 are all within 1.5 games of each other, but the Clippers will most likely stay in either the 4 or 5 spot, barring them not faking any more injuries.
Denver has a 3 game lead now for 8th spot.

Jazz 10/21
Floppers 8/22
Grizzlies 10/21
Thunder 7/24

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Since that post (3/2)

Jazz 2-0 (Nets & Kings)
LAC 1-1 (Bucks - L & Bulls)
Grizzlies 0-2 (Rockets, Mavs)
Thunder 0-3 (Blazers, Suns, Mavs)


A sinking to the 7 seed.

Flashbacks to the mascots doing that on 2k literally the same exact move in the middle of play. I bet that's where he got his inspiration.

Make that 0-4 for the Thunder! Could be a long losing streak unless Popp bails us out on Thursday night by resting some starters.

Deluxe said:

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Make that 0-4 for the Thunder! Could be a long losing streak unless Popp bails us out on Thursday night by resting some starters.

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If only Westbrook would do more to help out his team.

The Grizz and Thunder have now gone a combined 0-7, and the two teams face the Clippers and Spurs, respectfully. It really could be 0-9 since Pahdz made his comment.


On Saturday the two teams then face playoff bound Hawks and Jazz, so 0-11 is not out of the question, and all I'm doing with that sentence is trying to undo one man's powerful Karma killing statement.

In watching that last Grizzlies loss to the Nets, it felt like they would never win another game this season.

While obviously there still be some changes, I feel the Jazz & Clippers have now been firmly entrenched in the 4/5 spot.

Iowaggie said:

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The Grizz and Thunder have now gone a combined 0-7, and the two teams face the Clippers and Spurs, respectfully. It really could be 0-9 since Pahdz made his comment.


On Saturday the two teams then face playoff bound Hawks and Jazz, so 0-11 is not out of the question, and all I'm doing with that sentence is trying to undo one man's powerful Karma killing statement.

In watching that last Grizzlies loss to the Nets, it felt like they would never win another game this season.

While obviously there still be some changes, I feel the Jazz & Clippers have now been firmly entrenched in the 4/5 spot.

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I still don't believe in karma, but what I do believe in is OKC is playing zero defense right now.

Yep. I do think Portland is an especially bad matchup for us with three very good/athletic guards that can shoot/penetrate. Abrines and McDermott didn't stand a chance against any of them. But agree that we have been LOUSY on defense recently. Phoenix and Dallas had their way with us as well.

It should be time for Donovan to start trimming the rotation a bit:

Westbrook
Oladipo - Billy needs to design more opportunities for him to create, should be backup PG when Russ sits
Roberson
Gibson - time for Taj to start and play the bulk of the minutes at the 4
Adams

Kanter
Grant - backup minutes at the 3/4

Abrines - backup minutes at the 2 when we can hide him on defense
Criston - backup minutes at the 2 when we can't hide Abrines on defense
McDermott - backup minutes at the 2/3 when we can hide him on defense (unless we can sneak him some minutes as a small-ball 4)
Sabonis - backup minutes at the 4/5 if two of Kanter/Adams/Gibson in foul trouble
Cole - infrequent microwave scorer

Also saw a stat that the Thunder are 4-8 when Russ takes 30+ shots. Maybe he needs to be more of a facilitator/distributor, even when he's hot?

Lots of analysis of an average basketball team right there!

Who do you guys think should be MVP?

Rockets fans will say Harden. SA fans will say Kawhi. Dallas and OKC fans will say Westbrook.

Personally, I think it's Westbrook. His team would be bottom 5 in the league without him. I think the Rockets and Spurs would both be somewhere in the 7-10 range if they lost Harden and Kawhi respectively. The numbers also overwhelmingly support Westbrook, but Kawhi is the better all around player since he is still a lights out defender.

Tough choice this year, but Westbrook is the definition of MVP.

Guiding his team to 4 straight losses against sub 500 teams.

Enzo The Baker said:

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Guiding his team to 4 straight losses against sub 500 teams.

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Mavs are best team in the West with KD out though.

It's such a close race this year. There are arguments for everyone. LeBron and Kawhi are the best two way candidates. Harden is putting up incredible numbers this year, totally turning around the franchise with a nice record. Personally, I think these are the only three candidates that should even be in the discussion.

Westbrook's team currently has the 11th best record in the league...and falling. IMO, this takes him out of the discussion. The triple double numbers are great, but don't mean much if you're a lock to get bumped out of the first round. Also, his assist numbers are dropping. If he falls to 9.9 at the end of the season, there is no way he gets it. It's silly that 0.10 of anything would drop you out of the discussion, but it would.

My top three.

1. Kawhi
2. Harden
3. Lebron (I would have Lebron at 2, but he has Kyrie.)


I'm a homer, but Kawhi is just doing things on both ends that no one else is doing with a chance to end the season with the league's best record.