The Porkchop Express said:

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I expect them to lose a whole lot, but just playing good basketball, making the extra pass, and hustling on defense is going to win back my fandom.

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Yep. 100%. Last year was the first time in many many years that I did not attend at least one game in person. I am excited to get to TC soon to watch this team.

Taking my son to the game tonight. I haven't been since the McHale days.

maca1028 said:

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Taking my son to the game tonight. I haven't been since the McHale days.

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Solid call skipping the entire Silas era.

Bickerstaff years were rough too, but Coach Pringles was solid.

Yea, that 17-18 team was a blast and so close to the ultimate prize.

Debuting the city edition jerseys tonight. They look good.

Another great half.

Very encouraging to see Jalen playing well

3B Paul 97 said:

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Johnsy3 said:

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Lakers-Rockets is going to be star studded tonight, I hear.

Beyond C.J. Stroud and honoring the Rockets legends, I’ve heard a number of athletes in other sports (NFL, MLB), rappers, etc. coming tonight.

Tons of buzz for this game

— Ari Alexander (@AriA1exander) November 8, 2023

Everyone showing out tonight

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I just saw LeBron in a court side seat.

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Okay, that's funny.

Players playing with purpose… so refreshing.

Feels good, man.

Not sure what Coach Udoka did on Nov 2nd/3rd, but the guys have been playing incredible D since then. Jalen green is competing on the perimeter, Sengun is boxing out, Jabari is staying grounded and Tate is fouling less. You see tons of great secondary effort and unselfish play. Impressive transformation after that sluggish start.

We've been a bit lucky with injury match ups. We also clearly play better at home, so I'm trying to control my excitement. That said, I don't think you can fluke your way into 3 excellent defensive efforts after 2 years of garbage.

Regardless, I really like this team and I'm incredibly excited to watch the next game, which is a feeling I haven't experienced in a long time.

Holy **** our schedule the next month is brutal. How is that possible?

mAgnoliAg said:

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Holy **** our schedule the next month is brutal. How is that possible?

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Part of is in the BS Mid-season tournament. Since we have sucked ass for years, we got put in a murderer's row group with the Pelicans, Clippers, Nuggets, and Mavericks, which means extra games with all 4.

It might not be that bad. We play 13 straight games against the western conference. Only 5 of those games will be against opponents above us in the standings....and 3 of those are the nuggets.

The Porkchop Express said:

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mAgnoliAg said:

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Holy **** our schedule the next month is brutal. How is that possible?

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Part of is in the BS Mid-season tournament. Since we have sucked ass for years, we got put in a murderer's row group with the Pelicans, Clippers, Nuggets, and Mavericks, which means extra games with all 4.

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Opposite of nfl where the bad teams get easier schedule?

mAgnoliAg said:

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The Porkchop Express said:

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mAgnoliAg said:

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Holy **** our schedule the next month is brutal. How is that possible?

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Part of is in the BS Mid-season tournament. Since we have sucked ass for years, we got put in a murderer's row group with the Pelicans, Clippers, Nuggets, and Mavericks, which means extra games with all 4.

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Opposite of nfl where the bad teams get easier schedule?

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You know I thought about this for a bit today. Obviously, the $500,000 price money is going to motivate players, but it seems like there might be some 4-D chess involved for the bigger prize of the NBA title.

Each team is in a group of 5, which means they play 4 group games. There are 6 groups, and the 6 winners advance to the Knockout rounds, along with 1 wild card from each conference, which is the team with the best record in Group play that finished second in its group. There are a bunch of tie-breakers like point differential and total points.

So then there are quarterfinals, semifinals, and the tournament championship game although for some reason the championship game doesn't count as a regular season game, but the losers of those other games play each other in consolation matchups that are real games.

Meanwhile the other 22 teams that didn't make it play 2 regular season games against other teams that didn't make it.

So my very long winded point is that if you were a team that knew every win really mattered to you getting a good draw in the playoffs, couldn't you conceivably start 3-0 in your group and then tank the last game to miss out on the tournament, ensuring yourself that you'd play 2 not so good teams that also didn't make the tournament instead of 2 other really good teams?

Like say I'm the Pacers. I know Philly, Boston and Milwaukee are all better than me. If I go 3-0 in my group, tank the last game by 50 points to assure I can't be in the Tournament, then get to play Detroit and Charlotte in the other two games, I'm awarding myself 2 wins and maybe a 5-1 stretch instead of getting beat up by the big boys in the tournament.

Just kicking it around.

4 IN A ROW 🚀🚀🚀🚀
pic.twitter.com/uh67haJhfb

— Coy 🚀 (@WickedCoy) November 9, 2023

The D said:

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Rockets coach Ime Udoka reminded Jalen Green that Austin Reaves made Team USA over him to motivate him for tonight’s game.

(via @JTGatlin) pic.twitter.com/xMOftPZzBo

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 9, 2023

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That's awesome. Reaves has been dog**** this year. Finally got his FG% to 41% after a few hot nights. Then went 2-9 and 0-4 against the Rockets.

What did they do to the floor?!?!