Flotsam and Jetsam Around the League 2019-2020

My head is spinning. What's up with TNT this year? Why are they on Tuesdays now and only showing one game?!! Will they eventually switch back to Thursdays and two games a night?

Confused in NC,

db

Also, sleeper game of of the night...Denver @ PHI...I'm just sayin'! 8:00pm

db

Not sure if anyone noticed but the Sixers were below .500 on the road last year and are below .500 this year.

I'm hoping it's not too much to ask for ATL to show up and take the Heat down another notch.

db

It's still mid-2nd quarter but the Nuggets are getting revealed by the Sixers.  It's looking like that powerhouse Western Conference we were told about preseason is looking only 2 teams deep, both in LA, while the weak Eastern Conference is 4 deep.


bob


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Charles Barkley critiquing 76ers saying they don’t really have an identity or effective strategy, saying Embid likes to float around and take jumpers and Ben Simmons is not aggressive enough. Then he said when you see the Lakers, Bucks, Celtics play you know what your getting, that those teams play to win. Who woulda thought Barkley would be praising us this early...??? Guess we do play with purpose and we definitely have some talent....

bobheckler wrote:It's still mid-2nd quarter but the Nuggets are getting revealed by the Sixers.  It's looking like that powerhouse Western Conference we were told about preseason is looking only 2 teams deep, both in LA, while the weak Eastern Conference is 4 deep.


bob


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Good point, East has some very good teams this year, Heat have surprised me and Pacers will get Olidipo back.

This game has tightened up, Denver up 3 on 10-0 run....

Not a bad game. We're going to clean their clock Thursday in spite of a B2B.
I don't want to say tonight and tomorrow are must wins, but we are back on the radar media-wise.

I don't know who watches Inside The NBA, but if you don't have it on auto-record, do it. For the novice to the most sophisticated basketball connoisseur, this show has it. Last night was no exception.

Shaq, Kenny and Charles were talking about Embiid and how he's in it for the sizzle and not the hard work/journey. (And hopefully Thursday, Boston will show him what they were talking about) Brilliant commentary.

They were also talking about when Shaw and Charles speak on INBA, they are not criticizing these players, in particular Big Men. They are telling them what they need to do to be great. Again, priceless.

That show has the right amount of silliness and true insight, great balance, in any show I have ever seen. They talk about the national/syndicated radio talk shows and compare...those are criticisms. Not meant to help. Charles and Shaq are using their pulpit to help these top players get to the next level. Listen to them. They know what they are talking about and have the experience, HOF inductions and championships to back it up. Great, great show.

db

Jamal Murray left the game after playing only 5 minutes with what has been diagnosed as a "trunk contusion". A what? He bruised his ribs? That's all it took to knock him out of a playoff-level game?!

Sorry, not impressed. Murray's averaging 17.4 ppg, that's a big loss, and the Sixers only won by 5 @ home. Whether we win on Thursday, on our SEGABABA, or not I am not impressed with Philly. If you look at their roster they should be monsters. They're not.


bob



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bob
While the Sixers appear to be underachieving now - -do you expect them to be a real serious contender come the playoffs ?

swish

swish wrote:bob
 While the Sixers appear to be underachieving now - -do you expect them to be a real serious contender come the playoffs ?

 swish

Swish,

I could take the easy way out and say "See Me In April" but the reality is I'm not sure one can say one way or another.

Here's my reasoning:  

If the standings stay the same they will be playing the Raptors in the 1st round.  Philly plays very well at home, as does Toronto, so if Philly is still the 4th seed come playoff time they will have the home court and the advantage.  However, Toronto is 7-5 on the road so far, while Philly is 5-7.  So the chances of Toronto stealing a win in Philly is better than Philly winning one in Toronto.  Furthermore, Philly has played more games at home so far, 13 vs 11.  Philly has played 2 more games than Toronto overall, which means that Philly has 2 more games away to play than Toronto, and Philly hasn't been a .500 road team so far this season.  If Philly loses 1 of those road games then they would switch playoff seeds with Toronto and I do not see Philly stealing a win in Toronto.

Caveats and Disclaimers:

This is all based upon standings-to-date, we're only at the quarter pole and I don't know what their relative strength of schedule has been so far.  My lack of respect for Philly stemmed from, what I felt, was an underwhelming performance last night against a team we blowtorched just earlier this week, despite losing their point guard.  Also, good teams have .500 road records, and they don't.


bob


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Charles Barkley is about to jump ship on them making the finals as he predicted. They talked extensively about that last night. Very important game tomorrow.

Bobh, I'm going to guess trunk=a$$! I love the SEGABABA. Regardless we really need to win both convincingly. I'm sure everyone will be elated to finally be back at full strength and ready to show what we've been missing for the last month and adrenaline will be pumping high through the veins.

db

Actually, and I can't believe I'm typing this, but a win by LAL vs. MIA on ESPN tonight would be helpful while we're taking the next week off and the League is passing us by. Losses by those above us will help!

db

Nets beat 76ers tonite because Embid needed a rest day or he’s injured and I didn’t hear about it. Al shot 5-15, 0-5 from 3, I don’t think he can carry the team without Embid and both will need a lot of rest days to have a strong playoff....we are younger and deeper, I think as season gets longer we get stronger.

I like Al he was good when he was here, I can’t believe he got that 4 year deal from Philly, he had too many non impact games with us last year....

cowens/oldschool,

My memory must be really bad but back in the Bird Era, you had to be ejected from the game not to play. (Ala Kevin McHale and Kurt Rambis) I don't remember anyone being injured and if they were, they played anyway.

So PHI dialed one in last night? And Embiid sat out? Well I guess we can't complain. Doncic is out for a couple of weeks just in time for us to roll through there Wednesday. Heat should have blown them out by 40. Started to. This is the lesson these teams with one or two superstars need to learn. Where they go from contender to pretender in one injury. Boston? Not so much. Our whole starting line up has been jacked up almost from Day 1 yet we're tied for 2nd in the loss column. Thank you, Danny.

More lessons to follow.

db

P.S. Now is it asking too much to FINALLY have ALL our players ready come Wednesday after the week off?!!! I say, Come on, Man!!

dbrown agreed, thought about how much talented young depth that we have that haven’t hit their stride yet, sooner or later the light bulb will go on on some of the talented younger players, when that happens and we’re fully healthy, look out.....

With the Celtics hopefully, finally at full strength and DAL down Doncic, this seriously should be an unmitigated 40-point blow out.

Cowens/oldschool, over the more recent years, the injury bug has both hindered and helped us. Kendrick Perkins comes to mind on the former and Kyrie on the latter. But looking at what is above us barring significant opposition injury, nothing less than full strength is even going to be in the ballpark. And also, those were playoff-driven results, not regular season.

db

And evidently with the news today about Robert Williams, it is indeed too much to ask to have all of our team present and accounted for on Wednesday. WTH!!

db

Suddenly not feeling very good about tomorrow night in DAL.  Especially since they handed it to MIL.  All sans Doncic.  

Someone please talk me from the ledge!

db

dbrown4 wrote:Suddenly not feeling very good about tomorrow night in DAL.  Especially since they handed it to MIL.  All sans Doncic.  

Someone please talk me from the ledge!

db

The Celtics should be well rested and hungry for a win.  I expect a win.

With both Jaylen and Smart missing games due to infections I wonder if there is something going on at their facilities.

dboss,

Is Jaylen out for tonight? I can't find anything that says he's not playing yet. Going to need him although we've found that we can temporarily do without a GH and still win, but there is no replacement/interchangeable piece for MS.

db

Strange but fun fact:

Come Thursday night around 10:30pm EST, one of the top two teams in the league will have lost two in a row! Wouldn't it be nice if both could lose?! Couldn't happen to two more deserving teams IMHBAO.

db

Wow. Reading the ESPN article on Irving today. Not tooo gooood. Danny, how do you do it?!! Add in his whackadoodle personality, Durant nowhere in sight and the Nets are quickly discovering the proverbial Flaming Bag O' Poo in which is now in their possession. What's worse for Irving? Seeing our success and turnaround without him.

db