Approaching the final 2 weeks of the season, with damn-near every team in the western conf making a mad dash for the finish line.

What say you?



*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

But tonight is especially important. The Lakers blowing the Rockets and Mavs games pretty much means that they've got to create some separation in that logjam in the standings.

I feel like they go 6-3 in their last 9, going 42-40 for an 8th seed.

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17x NBA Champions

is it any worse than any other year?

was it the racial bias topic that made folks feel like we have somehow reached new uncharted waters for the lack of civility in award debates?

its kinda funny that when jokic was looking like the overwhelming frontrunner to win mvp...the mvp discourse was apparently perfectly healthy and wholesome.

now that the script has flipped and embiid is looking like the solid favorite...nba media members are saying the mvp discourse is nasty, dark, toxic, etc.

one subtle narrative i see out there too...

embiid (who has sat several 4th quarters in dominant blowout wins) is apparently 'desperate' to win his 1st mvp...

meanwhile jokic (who is still in games up 20 points in garbage time) apparently 'doesnt care about stats or individual awards'...

this shit is a trip fam.

You'd think that journalists who spend so much of their lives as close to an unfiltered experience with the league wouldn't generate and follow such stale, cliched narratives.

But I guess it's like artisan trades that vote on awards like The Grammys or The Oscars who can't seem to separate the artwork from stereotypes or tired tropes about the art.

TL;DR - even smart people are dumb

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

so they get stuck in a constant feedback loop.

all it takes is one influential media member to get others to herd towards the same narrative.

A few folks calling out the clear double standards Jokic has benefitted from...Embid pulls ahead...and shit goes sideways.

I don't think its that even smart people are dumb...its that a lot of people are fucking racist...even if they don't necessarily realize it.

EVERYONE MUST GO. AD. I WANT HIM GONE

THIS SEASON IS OVER. CLEAN THE SLATE.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

still cant believe they went the entire season without adding any size inside and chose to waste 2 rosters spots on andre iguodala and anthony lamb.

Okc got no bigs so it would’ve been embarrassing if he didn’t

<--- Big Baller World Order

Let’s go. Get out of the play in.

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17x NBA Champions

after being banished to the bench for whatever reason, Dennis had a nice game too

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

https://twitter.com/sixfivelando/status/1639484763516858371

seems like hes alluding to something in his personal life but the media will prolly blame it on kyrie lol.

either way...kyrie is outta there after this season and prolly luka too before his contract is up.

Offensively they click.

However, they have no defense in the paint….no true rim protectors or
Shot blockers, and Christian Wood is absolutely terrible on defense. He is
Chris Kaman.

Also Luka is flat out slow and awful on defense.

Their main problem is defense. It’s actually worse when Luka plays. This
is why Dallas looks better with just Kyrie playing…When Luka is out, Josh
Green usually gets the start, and he provides better perimeter defense.

Kidd has nothing else on that bench to give them better defense.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

With him and Caruso on the floor, Zach doesn’t have to worry about defense,
and can just do what he only cares about and that’s offense.

It’s a poor man’s version of Ball and Caruso, but it works.

We have better defense along the perimeter to slow down ball
penetration.

Ball just had a third surgery and will be out for next season, so we can keep
Beverly for another year, and see if Ball can return to the court…If he can’t, buy
him out and move on.

Let Vooch walk…please don’t bring him back!

Let’s go after AD by offering Lavine..

AD-Williams-Derozan-Caruso-Beverly…I’ll take that for one season.

Mgt. saved face with the Bev move, because up until that they had been
horrible….hopefully, it continues to work.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

What a disaster.

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17x NBA Champions

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

------------------------------

17x NBA Champions

https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1639728646306029568

2-3 more months turned into just in time to get his legs for the playoffs.

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17x NBA Champions

People talk about the Nets as the greatest superteam dud of all time, but the Clippers have done literally nothing with this squad they assembled. Bunch of injuries and load management. Thats about it.

---------------------------------------

"The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." - James Baldwin

>People talk about the Nets as the greatest superteam dud of
>all time, but the Clippers have done literally nothing with
>this squad they assembled. Bunch of injuries and load
>management. Thats about it.

And technically we can’t really say their window is closed until they dismantle the team, but it feels like Kawhi and PG have just accepted that they’re on a disappointing team and they’re gonna ride it out/hope things change?

Definitely a parallel with a fun, youngish team that people really enjoyed becoming an unfun superstar team in one offseason.

Badoom-chick

Crossrown Beef (c) aside

This team seems to have some sort of basketball curse on it
Like the ghost of Elgin Baylor is out here fucking with them on some revenge shit

I don’t even believe in shit like that. But the point is they just can’t seem to get it right even with top tier talent.

I’m happy to see it continue as long as the Lakers are floundering.

Just wanted to force y’all to engage with that.

wouldnt be surprised if the mavs play better with him out next game (assuming the tech isnt rescinded).

https://twitter.com/CallieCaplan/status/1640045862406504450

looks like this jason kidd prediction didnt play out.
https://twitter.com/CallieCaplan/status/1640017249783226377

now they might not even make the play-in.

whatever degree of blame you think kyrie deserves for the mavs performance (they have other major issues for sure)...hes got 2 of the biggest disasters in recent memory on his resume. back to back too.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1640079842917117953

We can’t get a stop for shit

Bulls shitted on the Lakers.

Moving Zach to the 3, and putting Pat Bev and Caruso in the backcourt was a
genius movement…

Stopping all ball penetration….

And Zach, Vuch and Derozan can just focus on offense!

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

What was the currency for Elton Brand? A bag of schlongs?

------------------
One Hundred.

To people like US, a record is a piece of history. A moment in time.
Most people don't get it.

..that's the difference btwn wins & losses in an ugly game.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

someone in the playoffs.

A playoff game is generally won and lost in the half court and the Bulls can certainly play and defend in the half court. Got two of the better bucket getters out there in addition to coby white finally coming into his own. not to mention vuc still being one of the more skilled offensive bigs in the game. and now the pat bev/caruso backcourt has the defense on a string. billy has been preaching the point of attack stuff and it seems like we finally have the players to make that happen (it was definitely working with lonzo as well).

The top ranked defense since the all star break is a wild revelation. Add that to zach playing all-nba ball and coby proving to be a solid 3rd/4th option and you have the makings of a team that should annoy the hell out of whoever they play.

We can make some noise and come out of the PI for sure.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

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17x NBA Champions

Even Bev walked over Lebron…

LOL

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

------------------------------

17x NBA Champions

Not a playoff series win
Not a playoff game

But a game. One game.

Which is funny, since the Bulls have one more loss, one less win, and a lower seed right today than the Lakers.

But by all means, tell us more about "tasty Ls"

You really are a reactionary buffoon

That's not an insult
That's not petty name calling

That's a ready and accurate observation

10th place?

TENTH FUCKING PLACE?

That’s “mastery”?

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I think we bring back this core group.

I think Rui might be the odd man out though. I don't think he comes back.

I think DLo and Reaves are locks to return. I think we need a better backup center and Bamba might still get a look for that given his age.

I'd rather bring back TB or LW4 than Rui though.

But yeah. Chi caught fire and we couldn't rebound for shit, plus too many turnovers.

But I still like this group. Whatever happens the rest of this season will be a bonus. I think Rob put together a far better group than anyone thought was possible, without giving up every last asset in the chest.

I still think AD is overdue for a return to When Healthy status, but so far he's proven me wrong. I hope that continues. But we now have a group that looks worth going all in on, and i think we do that. I wouldn't be shocked if they swung something on draft night with this year's pick plus the remaining 1st and a couple seconds, and one of the team option cats.

bron is gonna force them to.

prolly a sign and trade with dallas so kyrie can get the most money possible. and they hand over a lot of their young depth to get the big/flashy name.

theyll be a talent top heavy team with bron, ad, and kyrie...and we will be in march again with lakers fans praying for 2 of the top 3 to be healthy so they can push for a play-in spot.

>bron is gonna force them to.
>
>prolly a sign and trade with dallas so kyrie can get the most
>money possible. and they hand over a lot of their young depth
>to get the big/flashy name.
>
>theyll be a talent top heavy team with bron, ad, and
>kyrie...and we will be in march again with lakers fans praying
>for 2 of the top 3 to be healthy so they can push for a
>play-in spot.

God I hope not.

But I can’t argue that shit either.

I’m hoping they’ve learned their lesson regarding depth.

cat for another 20-25 games.

<--- Big Baller World Order

But I do think they will be able to weather a few smallish storms

Like, sure...Kyrie may be on the table but given the nightmare of the last few years I just HAVE to hope that the front office doesn't just look at names to move tickets.

That's mostly just...optimism, I guess.

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17x NBA Champions

I genuinely believe that.

literally just stares at the cutter with his mouth open and the ball cocked waiting to make the pass.

defenders pick him off by just getting their arms up in the passing lane. he will throw the ball right into them.

with steph in the game.

everyone knows that. it's about who you want taking the shot at the end.

do you want Steph w/ the rock (who will get doubled and have to pass to a less desirable option), or do you want Poole trying to find Steph (or Klay) for the game winner when Steph is running around breaking down the opposition defense w/ his off ball movement (or the movement allows for Poole to use his quickness to get to the rim to score).

i mean, it's easy to pick on Poole in these situations, obviously, but that IS the answer to your question.

Klay and Poole are suitable catch and shoot options when the double happens and Steph can also beat the double

<--- Big Baller World Order

>Klay and Poole are suitable catch and shoot options when the
>double happens and Steph can also beat the double

Steph still THE guy and should and wants to take that shot.

it is what it is.

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

kerr seems to like having poole handle the rock with the 3g curry-klay-poole lineup and it never pays off the way they think it will.

including last year lol.

this jordan poole initiating the offense is some new shit this year and we have seen the results.

i mean...down the stretch last night with poole controlling the rock...2 costly turnovers from him...an ill advised deep 3 with like 16 secs left on the shot clock...and then couldnt even get the ball *to* steph to attempt a game winner.

theres a reason kerr finally took poole out the closing lineup and the warriors started winning close games more.

steph 'causing chaos' off the ball doesnt supersede the actual real life results of having jordan poole handle the ball in crunch time. it leads to terrible possessions and ultimately losses.

poole had one good game closing with the starters (dallas) and kerr went back to the experiment. and we see what happened.

shot POORLY.

if either of them performed up to par? we're not even talking about this loss.

i mean, you'd be complaining about Poole's turnovers cuz you always do and i get it - they are annoying, but it'd have at least been a W.

.

where it actually might on the table for them to tank due to the fact they are outside of the play-ins as of today. To be clear, the article was for a New York online newspaper, so the article was slanted from the perspective of the Knicks potentially not getting a draft pick from them.

Pretty wild how terrible a position they are in; outside of the play-ins, but their record isn't terrible enough to seemingly land a high enough draft pick to help out their squad. Pretty much in purgatory.

When on earth are national mainstream media going to fry Luka? Only makes sense since he was given all the glory for how talented he is; it only makes sense to fry the man if his team isn't performing up expectations. Doesn't make sense for the dude to get all the glory yet none of the blame for the Mavericks' current failures.

To be clear, Cuban does deserve a grip of blame for how terrible the roster as been, plus the huge about the changes within the past two seasons can't amount for a decent amount of consistency as well. But I still need to hear media folks fry Luka. Westbrook was called Westbrick and the man was a former MVP winner.

Their offseason is going to be very very interesting. I have to assume Kidd knows he's going to get the axe after the 82nd game in April.

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

Like, okay - do I think they're MUCH better in an alternate timeline where they keep Brunson and never get Kyrie? Not really.

But I think Luka's flaws are too big to ignore at this point. That WCF last year did a *LOT* for the narrative that he was about to make the jump. Then, he didn't.

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17x NBA Champions

but if they had signed Brunson, they would at least had him and Luka to build around for the next 3 or so seasons, regardless of how this season went. What foundation do they have to build around now outside of Luka?

That Mavs front office screwed up majorly. Dunno if Cuban is the sole decision maker in that regard, but they aren't the sharpest knives in the shed. Competition being what it is in the West is only going to make it even harder for the Mavs to improve I would imagine.

I'm very curious how they're going to salvage this Kyrie situation, assuming they aren't going to resign him.

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

Which is more why I think letting Brunson go was a huge mistake.

Would he have taken the near-all star step this year WITH Luka? I mean, Randle is a pretty ball dominant dude to play with. Who's to say he couldn't have been a really nice running mate for Luka?

Again with regards to Kyrie - I think they've only played like 12ish games together, but the record with the two of them is yikes. Luka is quickly reaching, "CAN he play with another star" status.

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17x NBA Champions

Oh well, I'm sure that if we busted their ass plenty of people would be in here acknowledging it.

Just like they did Saturday when we did that to MIL.

Oh wait.

you're just gonna have to deal w/ that.

it'll never happen.

I don't know what the Jazz have to do with anything... must not have factored in accuracy while trying as hard as you were to be cool and dismissive.

Anyway, I'll bet I can go back in every NBA thread on this board and find slick talk when the Nuggs took a high profile L this year. Especially as pertains to a certain all-time great who is having his best season ever.

So, yeah, I'll go ahead and talk some shit when we're winning. And laugh at all the "iono fam, 2nd round exit" dweebs who haven't had a lot to say since Saturday.