NBA season 2019/20
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@Bovidae oh they're dead man. Houston were a debacle tonight. Rusty shot 7-30 (!!!) and Harden was 11-38 . A combined 5-36 for 3.
Wow
While Rusty might be making a habit of this, I think it's an aberration for Harden (reg season only)
The NBA is so shit right now. So many good players, so much shit basketball.
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@Bovidae yeah, what annoys me is people relating stats now to 10/15/20 + years ago.
It's just so different
As you say, D is optional. Add to that the realisation that the 3 is a weapon, the pace of the game, the different rules (illegal D, zones, hand checking etc).
Stats have become incomparable. Like, MJ could actually shoot. Imagine he had a licence to shoot 6-8+ 3's per game (he never took more than 3.6pg) and he managed c. 35-38% of them (not inconceivable given his career ave)? Imagine what that additional threat would have added to his rim attacking?
It's just a different game now.
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OKC is my team and although it makes for pretty tough watching this season I am happy we don't have Russ. He went 7/30 yesterday...
Harden dropped one of the least efficient 50pt games in the history of the NBA. 11/38(28%) and 4/20(20%) from the 3pt line. This is the lowest fg % recorded.
WHo'd wanna play on the Rockets with these 2 lol.
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@raznomore Harden had 22 free throws!!!
There are more than a few rumblings this year that the NBA product has some serious issues. Harden and the Rockets are that the core of those. People are starting to hate the way the game is played.
But, if you take that shit away, it is an intriguing season (albeit very early in a sport that doesn't really kick in to gear until the playoffs these days).
Not sure many expected the Lakers to have that record. Not sure many expected the Raptors to still be this good. Not sure anyone expected Miami to be the 2 seed in the East.
The West is wide open.
There are legitimately half a dozen teams right now who think "we could win this", and a few more who are thinking they are close to being a chance. It's been a while since we said that.
But yea, the Spurs are done mate. We'll still pop the odd surprise, but the playoff streak is over, and the team needs a rebuild, and that sadly probably means a new coach.
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@mariner4life He is clever at what he does, but James Harden plays anti-basketball IMHO. It is not the way I want to see it played
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@canefan said in NBA season 2019/20:
@mariner4life He is clever at what he does, but James Harden plays anti-basketball IMHO. It is not the way I want to see it played
and you are not alone there.
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Harden / Houston ball isn't that pretty but it's pretty efficient and it's here to stay. The math of the 3 ball and FT's is irresistible. Best we can hope for is teams like GSW getting those 3's off in a prettier way, but they were a unicorn.
I personally hate the amount of 3's being taken, but that's probably mostly because I was an undersized forward my whole playing life who still gets a woody watching a Kevin McHale up-and-under. I guess we should be careful what we wish for though, we certainly dont want a return to the days of consistent 80 point outings.
One thing I think has become more and more pronounced recently is the gap between reg season and playoffs. The reg season is barely worth paying attention to now, we see teams happily give up seedings and home court to maintain a healthy roster in May/June. And that's also when we find out if teams can actually defend or not, because it's sure hard to tell right now.
Strange days.
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@voodoo They need to dramatically cut the season to make it more interesting. The era of "load management" is putting off viewers and even worse for ticket holders.
30 teams, play everyone home and away once = 58 games. Much better than 82. Every game matters. Do away with the division rubbish and have straight East/West playoffs , 8 teams each. I'd go back to first 2 rounds being 5 games, then conf finals and finals being 7.
Tie break for playoff spots is head to head record, if 1-1 then go total away wins, then points diff, (then 3s made in homage to the cricket world cup).
Will never happen as fewer games = less sponsorship $$$m = players only get $15m/season rather than $25m, how would they ever cope?
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Adam Silver is proposing some radical changes to the NBA season and playoff formats. Some may have merit, others not so.
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OKC on a 3 game run. Starting to trust each other and have some fun. Chris Paul seems to have finally turned up to play. Schoeder, Gallinari and the rookie Gilgeous-Alexander have been trying all season but now that Paul and Adams are chiming in they seem to be a legit team. Early days but they are currently an interesting team to watch. Looks like Roberson is one step closer to early retirement as well. His knee is still super painful and he has been given a change of scenery, an LA based rehab facility, in a last stitch attempt to heal his leg. Was a great defender but I think he's done.
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@voodoo said in NBA season 2019/20:
@Bovidae yeah, what annoys me is people relating stats now to 10/15/20 + years ago.
It's just so different
As you say, D is optional. Add to that the realisation that the 3 is a weapon, the pace of the game, the different rules (illegal D, zones, hand checking etc).
Stats have become incomparable. Like, MJ could actually shoot. Imagine he had a licence to shoot 6-8+ 3's per game (he never took more than 3.6pg) and he managed c. 35-38% of them (not inconceivable given his career ave)? Imagine what that additional threat would have added to his rim attacking?
It's just a different game now.
Listened to an interview the other day with Andrew Gaze and he was talking NBL and NBA. Was quite funny talking about Glen Rice Jnr and also his dad Glen Rice Snr.
But the interesting thing he said was if Larry Bird was playing today he’d average 60 😀
The defence overall is deplorable and without hand checking guys just blow by most defenders. And so with the superior athleticism of the modern NBA player we see so many dunks and high flying plays that the young ones love. But in terms of quality ball it is a bit lacking.
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@ACT-Crusader I agree re Bird. He never shot more than 3.5 triples pg, yet he had 4 or so seasons shooting them at >40%. In today's game he would take 8-10 per game! And his career would have been 3-4 seasons longer! Just the pace of the game would see his points and rebounds and assists all go up, they have so many more possessions now.
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Bird was a phenomenal player and his shot making and IQ would be unreal in today’s game.
Gaze was funny talking about that 89 NCAA final. He said “I locked down Glen Rice for 31 points, if I hadn’t been playing D on him he would’ve gone for 50”.
That is still one of my all time favourite NCAA final games.
