Flotsam and Jetsam Around the League 2019-2020

Heat lost to Clippers last night.

When we play them on Tuesday they will be on the 2nd game of a B2B.

Good

Wow Sixers on a 15-2 run to start the 3rd quarter against Lakers, up 22 now and blowing game open just by getting every 50-50 ball and playing harder. Lakers having big trouble against the elite teams, was actually hoping for a Laker win to help us....

Don't expect the Lakers to sit still for the trade deadline. IMHBAO, they are looking very ordinary/pedestrian. That team, as it stands will finish in 4th.
I'm guessing Kuzma going to be shown the exit from all the noise. I just don't know who they are targeting to bring in. Anyone have any ideas?

db

Kobe.

Kobe ain't walking through that door.

Neither is NBA title #17 for LA.

Very funny! Just looking for the next chemistry buster. Make or break.

db

Lakers have no shutdown wing defender, AB and Green too small, Simmons was defensively on Lebron and did as good a job as possible, but they are saving Brons energy for offense, he doesn’t try to shutdown the top scoring wings like 2 J’s always do. Simmons was too big and fast for any match up and Lebron was hardly ever on him.

The Bucks score 88 points in the first half without the Freak?

Amazing!

We're still going to beat them.

db

Middleton has really improved, didn’t know he could have a game like that....

Only one team in NBA with a .500 - .600 winning percentage, OKC 28-20 .585 winning percentage. Closest anyone else is to .500 is Magic at 21-27 .438 winning percentage. About half the teams are pretty good and the other half are pretty bad, not much in between. This is on of the reasons the ratings are so low this year. A bunch of really bad teams out there.

Victor Oladipo returns after more than 1-year absence to spark Pacers.


https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28595815/victor-oladipo-returns-more-1-year-absence-spark-pacers


It will take him a while to get back in the flow but this is good news for Indy and bad news for the EC

Both Morris and Payton said they didn’t have an issue with Crowder’s steal, but the three-pointer was “disrespectful.” Morris made his feelings clear. “I think the dude plays the game a different way,” Morris said. “He has a lot of female tendencies on the court, flopping and throwing his head back the entire game. It’s a man’s game. You just get tired of it. Obviously at the end, that was very unprofessional. …He got the steal, it is what it is. But when you step back and shoot a three and rub it in that they’re winning, it’s just unprofessional. It’s soft. His game is soft. He’s soft. It’s just very woman-like.” – via Chris Iseman @ USA Today Sports

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sorry Morris, but I'd take the soft Crowder over you now any day. You DESERVE to be on the shitty Knicks with their sorry assed owner. Enjoy the cash while you can.

kdp59 wrote:Both Morris and Payton said they didn’t have an issue with Crowder’s steal, but the three-pointer was “disrespectful.” Morris made his feelings clear. “I think the dude plays the game a different way,” Morris said. “He has a lot of female tendencies on the court, flopping and throwing his head back the entire game. It’s a man’s game. You just get tired of it. Obviously at the end, that was very unprofessional. …He got the steal, it is what it is. But when you step back and shoot a three and rub it in that they’re winning, it’s just unprofessional. It’s soft. His game is soft. He’s soft. It’s just very woman-like.” – via Chris Iseman @ USA Today Sports

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sorry Morris, but I'd take the soft Crowder over you now any day. You DESERVE to be on the shitty Knicks with their sorry assed owner. Enjoy the cash while you can.

Stealing the ball and shooting a 3 like Crowder did was bush league. Very unprofessional.
Payton will probably get a suspension for his violent shove of Crowder.

I and most people would take Morris all day over Crowder. He’s a much better player.
Hopefully Morris is traded to a contender in the next week so he can get away from the Knicks who are a dumpster fire of an organization.

Morris is one of my least favorite players and Crowder was one of my most favorite players with the Celtics.

You are suppose to play for 48 minutes and maybe if the Knicks and Morris played the right way they would not have a record of 13-36.

When you team gets their ass kicked on a regular basis there is nothing you can say other than we suck.

There is nothing about the Knicks that would remotely coincide with professionalism.

I never got the allure of MSG and the Knicks. It's the press capital of the world so they have to report on something I guess. This is as good as it gets.

db

dboss wrote:Morris is one of my least favorite players and Crowder was one of my most favorite players with the Celtics.

You are suppose to play for 48 minutes and maybe if the Knicks and Morris played the right way they would not have a record of 13-36.

When you team gets their ass kicked on a regular basis there is nothing you can say other than we suck.

There is nothing about the Knicks that would remotely coincide with professionalism.

Morris has been one of the few bright spots for the Knicks.
You can't put the Knicks lack of success on Morris.
He plays hard every night.
The Knicks sucked long before Morris got there and will suck after he leaves.
Morris leads the team in scoring, is 5th in the league in 3 point shooting and is shooting 81.5% from the FT line.
He's not a superstar, but he's having a very solid and productive year for the Knicks.
Jae Crowder is having a terrible year shooting the ball.
Under 37% from the field and 30% in 3PT percentage.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/elfrid-payton-jae-crowder-knicks-sell-team-033212640.html



Skirmish between Elfrid Payton and Jae Crowder sparks 'Sell the team!' chants at Knicks game



Jack Baer, Yahoo Sports

January 29, 2020, 7:32 PM PST





Elfrid Payton didn't take kindly to Jae Crowder's 3-pointer at the end of a blowout loss. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)




It takes a lot to find new low points for the New York Knicks, but a fight at the end of a blowout loss to another rebuilding team might just do it.

The Knicks’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies ended in heated fashion on Wednesday, starting with Grizzlies forward Jae Crowder stealing an inbounds pass and taking the ball out to the 3-point line. At that point, the Grizzlies were up 18 points with less than a minute left.

Let’s just say Knicks guard Elfrid Payton made his thoughts known on Crowder’s steal and shot.


Yahoo Sports

@YahooSports
Elfrid Payton and Jae Crowder got into it at the end of the game.

https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1222717709487468544

7:06 PM - Jan 29, 2020


That fracas led to ejections for Payton, Crowder and Knicks forward Marcus Morris, with Knicks guard Damyean Dotson and Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas also receiving technical fouls. Given that multiple players left the bench during the incident, you can expect suspensions to be coming.

Of course, that wasn’t the low point for the Knicks. Instead, it was the crystal clear chants of “Sell the team!’ that rang out as the clock ticked down on another Knicks loss, lowering their record to 13-36.


Mike Vorkunov

@MikeVorkunov
A loud "Sell the team" chant rises up at MSG with Knicks down 18 and a fracas on the court just broken up. MSG starts piping in loud music to break it up. Things are not going well in New York tonight.

https://twitter.com/MikeVorkunov/status/1222716433190346752

7:01 PM - Jan 29, 2020


But wait, there’s more. Once both teams were done getting into it, they went back to their locker rooms, where cold, pressure-less showers awaited the Grizzlies.


Kristian Winfield

@Krisplashed
Ja Morant says there’s no hot water and only 3 drops of water coming out of the Knicks visitor showers.

“This is beyond me,” he said.

The Grizzlies are actively trying to get both hot water and water pressure to take showers right now.

7:34 PM - Jan 29, 2020 · Manhattan, NY


And then Morris started talking with reporters about how Crowder has some of those dreaded female characteristics, because one more Knicks fight apparently triggered a time warp back to the 1990s. Actually, warping back to that decade might be exactly what the Knicks are hoping for at this point.

Morris would apologize on Twitter less than an hour later.


Knicks Videos

@sny_knicks
"He's got a lot of female tendencies on the court, flopping and throwing his head back...he's soft, very woman-like"

- Marcus Morris on Jae Crowder

https://twitter.com/sny_knicks/status/1222726689454723075

7:42 PM - Jan 29, 2020


It continues to be that kind of season for the Knicks, who have already fired head coach David Fizdale and will be entering the trade deadline firmly as sellers.


bob
MY NOTE:  There is no excuse for the NY Knicks.  I'm not talking about this incident specifically, I'm talking about the franchise since the mid-70s.  Players have come and gone including some great ones like Patrick Ewing, coaches have come and gone too but the ownership has been the same since 1994.  They have been in the playoffs 10 years in those 25 years, 40%.  More than half the league makes the playoffs (16 out of 30), to not make the playoffs in 15 out of 25 years is disgraceful.  It's even worse when you consider the Knicks were a good team when James Dolan bought them in 1994.  They made 7 straight playoff appearances before he bought the team, and made 7 straight playoff appearances after he bought them.  Once that team aged and had to be rebuilt after the 2000-2001 season the Knicks have made the playoffs only 4X.  4X in 19 years is worse than 40%.  I was a Knick fan, growing up in NY during the Reed/DeBusschere/Bradley/Clyde/Monroe era and became a Celtic fan when I moved to Boston after college, which was before the Dolan Era.  Thank you, God.


.

Ben Rohrbach @brohrbach
about 3 hours ago
I like how the Knicks remind us once a month or so that they’re not actually at rock bottom, that they passed through the piping hot lava below into the fiery depths of hell.


bob
MY NOTE: EXACTLY!!


.

Bob, Nice switch of allegiances! I used to live in New York and went to Knick games for work entertainment purposes...love the Garden, beautiful basketball arena. Dolan has obviously killed the franchise.

The Knicks were not able to keep Porzingis.  If they were able to do that they would at least have 2 young rebuilding pillars.

They spent all their FA cash on 4 power forwards.  Luckily no long term contracts in the mix.  But that was plan F as no FA of substance wants to play for the Knicks.  Their franchise has lost its' way.  They will need to build through the draft, make trades and shine up the old puddle jumper in hopes it catches the eye of some free agents.  Look see...all highway miles...take it for a spin.

Big game once again tomorrow @ home vs. PHI. Like it or not, agree or disagree, this is a must win for several reasons.

1) Being swept pretty much seals our fate if we run into them in the playoffs. We couldn't beat them even without Embiid. At that point, they would be in our heads, full deck or not. Full deck would give us a game or maybe two, but we just don't match up well with them. While we are probably safe from them as we just need to assure we finish in 2nd or 3rd, the best it looks like PHI can do at this point before the trade deadline is 4th. MIL will have to take them out if they get out of 1st safely.

2) Celtic Pride on the line. Nobody sweeps the Celtics especially if your on of the elite teams in the league.

3) A win here keeps us a couple of games above .500 against the elite teams. Really need to grow this gap.

4) Momentum builder (if there is such a thing. My old argument that momentum is a continuous function. Basketball game to game is discrete function. You can argue during a game at certain points game is continuous AND discrete) going into the All Star Break and stretch run.

5) Helps build case for full deck and their results. Which BTW, what is are full deck record this season? Do you count last nights game as one as far as the starting 5 goes or not since Kanter was out? Just curious.

Anyway, I'm dubbing this a must, must win. A blowout wouldn't hurt. Kanter hovering/hobbling doesn't help but they are going to have to find a way to win.

db

Just a heads up. PHI @ MIA tonight 8PM on NBATV might be interesting since we pissed off PHI last and they may heighten their game to knock off the Heat and give us a solid 3rd if we follow suit in ATL.

db