NBA 2015/16 thread
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="canefan" data-cid="554329" data-time="1453792969">
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<p>GS pump SA by 30 points with Tim Duncan sitting the game out</p>
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<p>I watched the 1st half. The Spurs were still in it after the 1st quarter despite 8 turnovers but it only got worse after that. A classic Pop interview on ESPN. I'll wait for the return match in SA before drawing too many conclusions. </p> -
<p>Nah I'm calling it. Barring a serious injury to Curry or Green, Warriors are winning the title. And they will do it easily.</p>
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<p>We keep sitting back and going 'hmmm let's not call this too early' as they pump all the title contenders by 25+, as if something magical will happen over the course of the next 40 or so games to bring them back to the pack. It won't.</p>
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<p>The Warriors are quite simply the best team, and now have big playoff experience as well. I can't see them losing to anyone.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="barbarian" data-cid="554373" data-time="1453808091">
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<p>Nah I'm calling it. Barring a serious injury to Curry or Green, Warriors are winning the title. And they will do it easily.</p>
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<p>They are certainly at short odds to win back-to-back titles but I'm keen to see them face the Spurs at home with Duncan back in the lineup. The Warriors have one major weakness - interior defence. The Cavs exploited it in the first few games of the finals but once it became an up tempo game the Warriors were never going to lose. If the Spurs can go to Duncan and West inside, and make it a half-court game they will make it interesting.</p>
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<p>It's a shame that the 3 best teams are all in the West (GSW, SA and OKC).</p> -
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<p> </p>Calipari says Wynyard can help Cats this year <div><span><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.courier-journal.com/staff/17567/kyle-tucker/'><img height="26" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/3418587842069836ed36a096da5231962256da4b/c=0-31-454-485&r=1024x1024&r=26&c=26x26/local/-/media/Louisville/USATODAY/2014/06/26/1403811745000-lcjdc5-6ec9uu4aug914q68taa2-original.jpg" width="26" alt="1403811745000-lcjdc5-6ec9uu4aug914q68taa"> Kyle Tucker</a>, @KyleTucker_CJ </span><span>5:23 p.m. EST January 11, 2016</span></div> <div><div>
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<div><img src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/c7ecf40a5399a49d0ee24447e386b0934cd94b7b/c=0-167-2580-3607&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/2016/01/06/Louisville/Louisville/635876904536979440-Tai-Wynyard-4.jpg" alt="635876904536979440-Tai-Wynyard-4.jpg"></div>
<p class=""><span><span>(Photo: Matt Stone/The Courier-Journal)</span></span></p> </div></div>
<p>LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tai Wynyard does not much care for the current, frigid weather on the University of Kentucky’s campus, but the freshman power forward from New Zealand does like the food, perhaps a bit too much.</p>
<p>“Since I’ve been here, I haven’t been eating very well at all, I’m going to be honest with you,†he said Monday in his first meeting with local media since joining the team midseason on Dec. 17. “American food, it kind of gets me. When I was home, I was eating well, and then as soon as I get over here, I’m just eating fried chicken.â€</p>
<p>Maybe that’s the only reason anxious Wildcats fans have still not seen the 6-foot-11, 255-pound Wynyard make his college debut despite early reports that he is a rugged post presence who has been pummeling his teammates in practice. That’s just what this UK team lacks, but coaches insist the newcomer – a lover of hot wings – is simply not yet in game shape.</p>
<p>That does not, however, mean John Calipari plans to redshirt Wynyard.</p>
<p>“I don’t think so. We haven’t talked about it. I think he’s going to be able to help our team,†the coach said. “He’s just now getting in shape. You gotta understand, he’s only been here a couple weeks now, and I’m still trying to work Skal (Labissiere) into where he needs to be, which means I can’t just take those minutes and give them to Tai.</p>
<p>“But he’s practicing hard. He’s doing some great stuff. There are times we look at each other like, ‘We just gotta put him in.’â€</p>
<p>Fourteenth-ranked Kentucky (12-3, 2-1 SEC), which hosts Mississippi State (7-7, 0-2) and formidable forward Gavin Ware on Tuesday night, still has 16 regular-season and as many as nine postseason games left to work Wynyard into the rotation.</p>
<p>The Cats have played five games since he joined the team, although the first one was in Brooklyn two days after he stepped off a 12-hour flight from New Zealand to Lexington. He hopped right back on a plane to make that trip to New York with UK and life hasn’t really slowed down since.</p>
<p>“It was a whirlwind for him,†assistant coach John Robic said. “But he hit the ground running. He’s working hard. He’s getting better. He’s getting in better shape. He’s a physical presence, and it’s helping us in practice a lot. He’s been able to push our other big guys to a physical limit.</p>
<p>“He has made us a better screening team because of what he does. He sets terrific screens. Our players like it because it’s getting them open.â€</p>
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<p>Wynyard admits that, in addition to needing to get in shape, the combination of learning the Cats’ offensive and defensive schemes with all new teammates has been “really mucking me up,†but he feels more comfortable every day. The son of a world-class wood chopper – he estimates his father has felled more than 1,000 trees – Wynyard is quite clear on his role at UK.</p>
<p>Having wielded an ax plenty himself, the freshman showed up on campus already stronger than just about everyone else on the roster. So how he plans to help is simple:</p>
<p>“Pushing everyone around and just trying to assert my dominance,†Wynyard said. “I’ll be ready whenever he calls upon me. I guess I’ve been really strong my whole life, growing up around a strong family, genes. My dad was a big sports person, being a lumberjack, he is. I probably got a lot of that from him.â€</p>
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<p>His father also taught him an important lesson about strength that will surely make Calipari smile, as it’s a tenant he preaches regularly.</p>
<p>“It’s all in the mind,†Wynyard said. “It’s not really how you look. Someone could have all the muscles and everything, but if they’re not strong in the mind, then they’re not gonna really be strong.â€</p>
<p>To look at him, to listen to him, to hear how he’s performing in practice, it’s hard to imagine Wynyard can’t help Kentucky in an area where it is currently weak. But when might that be? And what will it be like for the teenager from half a world away?</p>
<p>“Depends where it is,†he said. “If it’s at Rupp, it’s going to be crazy, because it’s what, 25,000 or something crazy fans? Back home, I’m used to what, 4,000 at most, you know? So it’ll be an eye-opener.â€</p>
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<p>Here comes Steven Adams Mk2</p> -
Kentucky is a great basketball program, but if Wynyard went to a smaller school he would get consistent playing time.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="ACT Crusader" data-cid="554874" data-time="1454012390">
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<p>Kentucky is a great basketball program, but if Wynyard went to a smaller school he would get consistent playing time.</p>
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<p>But he wouldn't have the same profile. Kentucky has a reputation of having "one and done" players so he'll get plenty of opportunities next season as well.</p>
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<p>Interesting comments about his strength relative to the other Wildcats players, but not surprising.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bovidae" data-cid="554881" data-time="1454014940">
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<p>Interesting comments about his strength relative to the other Wildcats players, but not surprising.</p>
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<p>Makes sense. The kid has great genes and is used to playing a physical brand of basketball, just like Adams</p> -
Watching the Spurs close out the thunder for another home win. <br><br>
Strange watching them in a close game against a good opponent with Duncan and ginobli on the bench and parker only playing the very end. -
<p>Fuck Aldridge.</p>
<p>This Spurs team was supposed to decline.. and he has reinvented them.</p> -
<p>Aldridge and Leanard are the boys. One more ring for Duncan coming up....</p>
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<p>(yea, i know, there's that other team who are a bit good)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="564461" data-time="1457911510">
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<p>Aldridge and Leanard are the boys. One more ring for Duncan coming up....</p>
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<p>(yea, i know, there's that other team who are a bit good)</p>
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<p>Win or lose the Spurs, as usual have done a great job retooling on the fly, and set themselves up for a post-Duncan future</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="564348" data-time="1457841426"><p>Watching the Spurs close out the thunder for another home win. <br><br>
Strange watching them in a close game against a good opponent with Duncan and ginobli on the bench and parker only playing the very end.</p></blockquote>
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And Parker was pretty poor last night. Mills was very effective running the two man game with Aldridge and West. <br><br>
There was a great stat I read the other day about the Spurs, 10 guys average 14 minutes or more per game. That tells you that the whole squad buys into the system and checks the egos at the door. Having a massive season. -
<p>Golden State Warriors look like they'll fall short of the record of the 95/96 Chicago Bulls. Just lost to the Timberwolves to be 69-9.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Sneakdefreak" data-cid="570105" data-time="1459920785">
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<p>Golden State Warriors look like they'll fall short of the record of the 95/96 Chicago Bulls. Just lost to the Timberwolves to be 69-9.</p>
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<p>I wonder if they are running out of gas. Interesting to see if the strain of the chase sees them come up short in the playoffs too. They will need to beat the Spurs (?) to get the record, which is doable if Pop carries out his threat to rest his best players</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Sneakdefreak" data-cid="570105" data-time="1459920785"><p>
Golden State Warriors look like they'll fall short of the record of the 95/96 Chicago Bulls. Just lost to the Timberwolves to be 69-9.</p></blockquote>
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Jeez low scoring game! They don't deserve the record after that effort. -
<p>GSW just equalled the Bulls win record.... and broke the Spurs unbeaten home stand.</p>
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<p>Pretty amazing.</p>
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<p>For some reason I was hoping they wouldn't.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Baron Silas Greenback" data-cid="571526" data-time="1460342791"><p>GSW just equalled the Bulls win record.... and broke the Spurs unbeaten home stand.<br><br>
Pretty amazing.<br><br>
For some reason I was hoping they wouldn't.</p></blockquote>
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I thought they would drop the game but somehow Curry would not let it happen. He was big for them today. <br><br>
Feel for Spurs who could've gone unbeaten at home for the whole season. <br><br>
Final game against the Mavs to break the Bulls record. Mavs beat them earlier in the season, and are still playing to clinch a playoff spot, so who knows. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="ACT Crusader" data-cid="571586" data-time="1460360390">
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<p>I thought they would drop the game but somehow Curry would not let it happen. He was big for them today.<br><br>
Feel for Spurs who could've gone unbeaten at home for the whole season.<br><br>
Final game against the Mavs to break the Bulls record. Mavs beat them earlier in the season, and are still playing to clinch a playoff spot, so who knows.</p>
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<p>They are playing the Memphis Grizzlies I think.</p>
