Flotsam and Jetsam Around the League 2019-2020

Interesting PHI could not out shoot WAS last night.  This sets up a very interesting game with DEN v. BOS and LAC v. MIL tonight.  If we are fortunate enough to win and the real LAC shows up and ends MIL's streak, we will move a gratuitous game closer to MIL and be just one game back in the loss column.  Not expecting WAS to pull another rabbit out of their hat and beat the Heat tonight.  But if all the ifs and buts come true tonight, we will be all alone in 2nd with all those below us at least two games back and staring MIL in the face and they have already won 42 in a row this season.  Oh yeah.  I almost forgot...GH and MS are still out!  WTH, Bo?!!

db

P.S.  Just a benchmark but last year's team would have lost tonight's game.

tardust wrote:They should just change the name of NBA Jump and First Take to Laker Jump and Laker Take.   That's all either one of these shows talk about every day.  I don't mind a little but today was 15 minutes of Lakers by Rachel Nichols.  Disgusting.

Last year the Lakers were a non stop story for different reasons.
The haters were out in full force mocking the Lakers.

The Lakers are good for ratings on the radio or TV, whether you hate them or love them.

dbrown4 wrote:Agreed.  Give it a little more time, tardust.  The wheels are about to come off soon.  ESPN and Co will soon be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  That's the BEST part of all!

db

The Lakers don't look like a team like Minnesota or Phoenix who started off hot but we knew they would come back to earth.
The Lakers defense and offense are strong.
On paper (statistics) and on the court, they have been the best team in their conference and the 2nd best in the league.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-cavaliers-rebelling-against-john-183441258.html



Report: Cavaliers rebelling against John Beilein treating them like college players






Dan Feldman, NBC Sports

1 hour 30 minutes ago



Cavaliers coach John Beilein can help players develop, equipping them to win and secure bigger contracts. He also came to Cleveland after a lengthy career in college basketball, where he was always in charge and never had a player on a clear NBA track from the moment he enrolled.

The question was always: Which would happen first – Beilein convincing the Cavs players he’d help them or them pouncing amid his lack of experience with players who carried themselves as professionals?

Just 20 games into his Cavaliers tenure, Beilein appears to be losing the battle.

Joe Vardon and Shams Charania of The Athletic:

"Cavaliers players are bristling at new coach John Beilein because he’s treating this season like they, and he, are still in college, numerous sources told The Athletic.It’s already gotten to the point where players are looking past Beilein to his lead assistant, J.B. Bickerstaff, for guidance, those sources said."

Grievances include his nitpicking over basic fundamentals, too much harping in lengthy film sessions, not enough versatility on offense, and a broader lack of understanding of the NBA game and opposing players
The article quotes multiple unnamed players. The most damning: “Our assistants are definitely more prepared for the NBA.”

Cleveland has lost 10 of 11. Losing almost certainly contributes to the frustration. But it goes both ways. Issues with Beilein almost certainly contribute to the losing.

The problems aren’t disappearing soon. The Cavs have a bad roster and must figure this out while likely continuing to struggle in games.

Beilein is not good at quickly getting new teams up to speed. His worst seasons, by far, at Canisius, West Virginia and Michigan were his first seasons. All three programs blossomed from there, surely drawing on the lessons Beilein imparted those first years.

But Beilein never had to deal with NBA players who are more empowered to gripe. College seasons are also much shorter. Harping on the fundamentals over a long NBA season will be exhausting for everyone involved.

This was a complication of hiring Bickerstaff as lead assistant. He previously served as head coach of the Rockets and Grizzlies, bringing valuable understanding of the NBA. The problem: Players know that. They can turn to Bickerstaff, undermining Beilein’s authority.

We’ve seen this before in Cleveland. Cavs players scoffed at David Blatt, an NBA newcomer from Europe. Soon enough, lead assistant Tyronn Lue – who played in the NBA and had extensive experience as an NBA assistant – became head coach.

Without the pressure of trying to win immediately with LeBron James, Beilein has a better chance of weathering this storm. But for all his experience, this is a brand-new challenge.


bob



.

You are correct TJ. Everyone loves the glamour and glitz of the Lakers and all that LA Proper brings with it. But what also makes it so intriguing for all the rest of the world is behind all of those few spectacular success stories are the uncountable, infinite horrific train wrecks that are always, without fail just around the corner. EVERYONE loves a train wreck. That's sad.

This is almost easier to predict than Magic's demise and eventual exit. You fought me vehemently on that one initially to the point the board had to get involved to put the fire out. What should make it even more frustrating is that even with a math and statistics background, very seldom do I resort to statistics to prove any of my points on this site. The reason being is the further I delved into those areas, I learned you can always twist the numbers to say exactly what you want them to say to "prove" your point. I just say stuff that comes true based on feel and a lot of thought. I study and use some basic statistics but not much beyond that.

Prediction? LAL finishes no higher than 4th and only if there are no significant injuries to the starting 5 and top 3 off the bench going forward. And that's being generous.

Hunches? Nowhere to go from the top but down and it usually has a whistling sound attached to it. Close to if not the easiest schedule for the top teams (let's go with +.700) in the league coming into December. You have do that because obviously GSW have the most difficult schedule, NYK have the most difficult schedule, etc. but they have absolutely no chance of winning the title this year. Everyone they play has a better record than they do. But they are losing to almost everyone. The more I look at SOS it's a moving target with lots of assumptions...that keep moving. Hard to hit a moving target.

The Hinge for LA? AD. Can he make his mid-range jumper consistently? Will his shoulder get the best of him? That's asking a lot. Then you have to ask even at full strength can they realistically beat LAC in a 7-game series? HOU? DEN? OK, DEN is out. They continue to not be able to find their asses with both hands. Then after going 7 with them take out either MIL or a fully operational Death Star Boston (which we have only been able to see for about 3 games so far this season)? LAL has been dancing steadily with no interruptions for close to two months. Same could be said for MIL. Help a brother out. Which teams in NBA history have won the championship with 2 guys scoring 25 points apiece and the rest gibberish? I'm going to guess zero, because it's just too easy to shut that one person or two people down no matter how great thou art. Certainly not a majority or even small minority.

Obviously there is more than one way to skin a cat. The league has now gone from a Big 3 to a Big 2. And by Big 2, I mean those two guys are in the Top 10 of the league. Really only 2 teams have that currently and they are both from LA.

With the Clips, you can really argue they still have a Big 3 but they let him come off the bench for his 25 points and 6 assists. Oh, and I left off Harrell. He's almost @ 20 points a night.

Boston, however, is not going that route. None of our guys are in the Top 10, and you can even argue probably not even in the Top 20. Yet somehow, they are in 2nd in the East and 3rd in the league and nowhere near fully operational. But when they are, you will have 4 guys averaging 20 points a night.

The Lakers have 2 guys scoring 50+points a game. And that's it. You can actually say they have a true Big 2. The top tier teams first and later the rest in the league later will figure out how to shut down at least one of them and probably both. That's old news. And that's good enough for 4th out West at best given the level of competition out there.

LAL has put their bet down on 2 guys. LAC and BOS create way more match up problems than the Lakers do. Stockton and Malone played real well together. No rings.

The good news for LAL? They only have to really get through LAC, then MIL or BOS. But with only two guys scoring, they just aren't going to make it against any of those teams. Everybody has good defense at that point. That's assuming they make it past the first two rounds and there's no match up problems that Frank Vogel can't figure out.

Finally, let's get this out. No one on this site or any other Celtic fan for that matter hates the Lakers. Not only is this just a tremendous amount of completely wasted energy, it's preposterous. Nobody hates a basketball team that has absolutely no influence on their lives or their well being. It sounds stupid to even type it out.

Now, there may be a few on this site who would prefer the Lakers never win another game lest another championship especially at the Celtic's expense. While just as irrational, at least one can hope this from game to game, series to series, etc. And that's enough to keep them sane.

Respect the Lakers? Pretty much everyone on this site does. Highly. To not to would be futile. Why? Because both franchises have accomplished just about the same if it's all about championships. And in bunches. No one else is even close. Mutual respect.

Rivals? Still? After all these years? Absolutely. Now the Lakers may actually and legitimately hate the Celtics because BOS has robbed/dominated them 9-3 over the years in head-to-head finals. That in and of itself is not a rivalry. That's domination. The rivalry comes with the franchises and the total number of championships. That's a rivalry. 17-16. That's rational. That's like Duke and Carolina down here. It's something ridiculous like 243-242 over the last 50 years. That's a rivalry.

I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong and have done so on this site and will continue to do so. And at season end, I will find this thread and admit I was wrong if I am. But again, I'm more sure on this one than the Magic prediction.

db

dbrown4 wrote:You are correct TJ.  Everyone loves the glamour and glitz of the Lakers and all that LA Proper brings with it.  But what also makes it so intriguing for all the rest of the world is behind all of those few spectacular success stories are the uncountable, infinite horrific train wrecks that are always, without fail just around the corner.  EVERYONE loves a train wreck.  That's sad.      

This is almost easier to predict than Magic's demise and eventual exit.  You fought me vehemently on that one initially to the point the board had to get involved to put the fire out.  What should make it even more frustrating is that even with a math and statistics background, very seldom do I resort to statistics to prove any of my points on this site.  The reason being is the further I delved into those areas, I learned you can always twist the numbers to say exactly what you want them to say to "prove" your point.  I just say stuff that comes true based on feel and a lot of thought.  I study and use some basic statistics but not much beyond that.  

Prediction?  LAL finishes no higher than 4th and only if there are no significant injuries to the starting 5 and top 3 off the bench going forward.  And that's being generous.  

Hunches?  Nowhere to go from the top but down and it usually has a whistling sound attached to it.  Close to if not the easiest schedule for the top teams (let's go with +.700) in the league coming into December.  You have do that because obviously GSW have the most difficult schedule, NYK have the most difficult schedule, etc. but they have absolutely no chance of winning the title this year.  Everyone they play has a better record than they do.  But they are losing to almost everyone.  The more I look at SOS it's a moving target with lots of assumptions...that keep moving.  Hard to hit a moving target.      

The Hinge for LA?  AD.  Can he make his mid-range jumper consistently?  Will his shoulder get the best of him?  That's asking a lot.  Then you have to ask even at full strength can they realistically beat LAC in a 7-game series? HOU? DEN?  OK, DEN is out.  They continue to not be able to find their asses with both hands.  Then after going 7 with them take out either MIL or a fully operational Death Star Boston (which we have only been able to see for about 3 games so far this season)?  LAL has been dancing steadily with no interruptions for close to two months.  Same could be said for MIL.  Help a brother out.  Which teams in NBA history have won the championship with 2 guys scoring 25 points apiece and the rest gibberish?  I'm going to guess zero, because it's just too easy to shut that one person or two people down no matter how great thou art.  Certainly not a majority or even small minority.    

Obviously there is more than one way to skin a cat.  The league has now gone from a Big 3 to a Big 2.  And by Big 2, I mean those two guys are in the Top 10 of the league.  Really only 2 teams have that currently and they are both from LA.  

With the Clips, you can really argue they still have a Big 3 but they let him come off the bench for his 25 points and 6 assists.  Oh, and I left off Harrell.  He's almost @ 20 points a night.    

Boston, however, is not going that route.  None of our guys are in the Top 10, and you can even argue probably not even in the Top 20.  Yet somehow, they are in 2nd in the East and 3rd in the league and nowhere near fully operational.  But when they are, you will have 4 guys averaging 20 points a night.  

The Lakers have 2 guys scoring 50+points a game.  And that's it.  You can actually say they have a true Big 2.  The top tier teams first and later the rest in the league later will figure out how to shut down at least one of them and probably both.  That's old news.  And that's good enough for 4th out West at best given the level of competition out there.

LAL has put their bet down on 2 guys.  LAC and BOS create way more match up problems than the Lakers do.  Stockton and Malone played real well together.  No rings.

The good news for LAL?  They only have to really get through LAC, then MIL or BOS.  But with only two guys scoring, they just aren't going to make it against any of those teams.  Everybody has good defense at that point.  That's assuming they make it past the first two rounds and there's no match up problems that Frank Vogel can't figure out.  

Finally, let's get this out.  No one on this site or any other Celtic fan for that matter hates the Lakers.  Not only is this just a tremendous amount of completely wasted energy, it's preposterous.  Nobody hates a basketball team that has absolutely no influence on their lives or their well being.  It sounds stupid to even type it out.    

Now, there may be a few on this site who would prefer the Lakers never win another game lest another championship especially at the Celtic's expense.  While just as irrational, at least one can hope this from game to game, series to series, etc.  And that's enough to keep them sane.  

Respect the Lakers?  Pretty much everyone on this site does.  Highly.  To not to would be futile.  Why?  Because both franchises have accomplished just about the same if it's all about championships.  And in bunches.  No one else is even close.  Mutual respect.  

Rivals?  Still?  After all these years?  Absolutely.  Now the Lakers may actually and legitimately hate the Celtics because BOS has robbed/dominated them 9-3 over the years in head-to-head finals.  That in and of itself is not a rivalry.  That's domination.  The rivalry comes with the franchises and the total number of championships.  That's a rivalry.  17-16.  That's rational.  That's like Duke and Carolina down here.  It's something ridiculous like 243-242 over the last 50 years.  That's a rivalry.  

I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong and have done so on this site and will continue to do so.  And at season end, I will find this thread and admit I was wrong if I am.  But again, I'm more sure on this one than the Magic prediction.

db

                               

db,

Thanks for taking the time to write all of that.

I am not overly concerned about what place the Lakers finish in the West.
Its' all about the playoffs.
I think the Lakers have a very good chance to finish 1st or 2nd in the West. Could they finish 4th or 5th? Sure. Who knows.
Could they beat Dallas as a 5th seed in the first round of the playoffs? Absolutely. The would most likely be the favorite.
Dallas is this years new shiny toy. We have to remember that they have also lost to the Knicks two times.

You make it sound like the Lakers have nothing besides Lebron and AD.
Their other players are scoring over 61 ppg.
Do you think it's so easy for a team to figure out a way to shut down Lebron and AD?
How's that working out so far this year?
Lebron is still Lebron and when I watch AD, I can't believe how much talent he has on offense and defense.
Rondo is doing a great job of leading the Lakers when Lebron is on the bench and sometimes playing along side Lebron.
The Lakers are +16 over 100 possessions when Lebron and Rondo are on the floor together.

You took the term hate too seriously.
If a person can love a team, they can also hate another team.
Not love/hate in a relationship meaning.
In the sports love/hate meaning, many or most here probably hate the Lakers more than any other team in any sport.
I have no issues with that of course.

I am not even sure of what Magic predeiction you were referring to.
Did I enjoy Magic as the President of Basketball Operations? Not so much. Was I glad Jimmy and Mitch were gone? Yes.
I always wanted Rob Pelinka to speak for the Lakers and to be the brains of the operation.
Magic embarrassed the Lakers and himself by the way he left the team and roasted them on TV.
Good riddance to Magic.

Other than maybe Curry and Durant, how many times has a team had two top 5 players on the same team?
I can't think of any.
Not even your Malone and Stockton and Malone comparison. Not even close.
The Jazz had to play against a historic player (Jordan) and team (Bulls).
If not for an uncalled push-off, the Jazz would have at least 1 title.

The Clippers are going to be hard for any team to beat.
As of right now, the Lakers top 2 are playing much better than the Clippers top 2.
Three games ago in a loss to San Antonio, Paul George had 5 points on 2-11 shooting and 5 turnovers.
If that was Lebron or AD who had a game like that, it would have been the top story on ESPN.
Kawhi's numbers are significantly worse than last year and he seems slower at times.
How much is his injured knee effecting his play?
Since Kawhi is probably not playing back to back this year, how many losses will that be for the Clippers?

LAL have been excellent on D. Size matters and that big front line can dominate a lot of teams.

Offensively they are imbalanced as LJ and AD swallow up the offense. That may be their Achilles Heel

tjmakz wrote:

dbrown4 wrote:Agreed.  Give it a little more time, tardust.  The wheels are about to come off soon.  ESPN and Co will soon be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  That's the BEST part of all!

db

The Lakers don't look like a team like Minnesota or Phoenix who started off hot but we knew they would come back to earth.
The Lakers defense and offense are strong.
On paper (statistics) and on the court, they have been the best team in their conference and the 2nd best in the league.

As bad as I hate it you are correct. They haven't played the toughest schedule but they have taken care of business. Right now they got people like Rondo hitting shots like he never has and Howard has came of out retirement. Their size is what is going to be hard for teams to overcome, along with a lot of calls their superstars get. The traveling no call on Lebron wasn't even the worst I have seen him get. Kudos for your team though.

I think maybe the East is a little better than the "experts" give them credit for. There are some bad teams but there are some bad teams out west as well. Boston has beaten all the good teams in the east except the Sixers which was first game of season. The Clipper game we got hosed by the refs and the Clippers found out what the Bucks could do tonight.
We are force feeding the two J's with the absence of Gordon which is going to help out later in the year with depth and the quality of play from the youngsters.
The main problem I see is what I brought up at the start of the season, Size up front. The way the Joker lit us up tonight is concerning. No answer at all.

tjmakz wrote:

Three games ago in a loss to San Antonio, Paul George had 5 points on 2-11 shooting and 5 turnovers.
If that was Lebron or AD who had a game like that, it would have been the top story on ESPN.
Kawhi's numbers are significantly worse than last year and he seems slower at times.
How much is his injured knee effecting his play?
Since Kawhi is probably not playing back to back this year, how many losses will that be for the Clippers?

Hate to tell you this but Lebron and Davis are the top story on ESPN EVERYDAY. First Take and NBA Jump probably spend 1/4 of their show talking about them.

Bucks with a statement game vs Clippers, who had 2 days off before the game. Kawhi in his previous game shot 3-15, superstars usually comeback strong after off games, he was insignificant vs Bucks....Clippers have no rim protection from their bigs, nobody could stop Giannis. With Siakim and Ibaka, Kawhi had better big defenders to help him last year.

Growing up in Raleigh in the 70's it was all about NC State and David Thompson. Being 10 years old in 1973 I got hooked on basketball. Very impressionable age.

You were either a State fan or a Carolina fan. Sure you "hated" the Tar Heels! Dean Smith, too!

But it took years to learn to respect them. As the years continued to go by and State's next and only title since then came magically in 1983 while I was in college, State wasn't keeping pace with the Carolina's and soon to be Duke's (with some coach you couldn't even pronounce or spell his name!) of the ACC World.

I learned to respect Carolina because they just kept continuing to win. And did it with class. That was all from Dean Smith. They were always in these games and would only occasionally lose. And State continued to trade out coaches, win some but lose more. They didn't look as shiny as they did growing up.

You have to look back to the 80's to see when the Lakers finally began to turn the corner against the Celtics. After going 0-8 in the 60's, the 80's saw the Magic/Bird era save the NBA but also saw the Lakers go 2-1 against Larry and the boys and finally stop the bleeding.

In the sports world, you learn respect for the opposition by losing to them. And losing to them some more. And then losing to them some more until you "hate" them. You earn respect by the reverse. Actually, love/hate and respect/disrespect are different sides of the same coin.

The Lakers earned 5 titles in THAT decade. Two were at Boston's expense WITH Larry Legend. That decade had the Lakers, the Celtics or both in the finals every year. That will never happen again.

That's respect. The Lakers have earned mine. Do I want them to never win another game? Well, it would be nice if they didn't! But that's unrealistic. Would I want LeBron in Celtic green in his prime? It's taken me a while but absolutely. I had to learn to respect him via Boston losing to him for the last 16 seasons.

Do I want to see them against us in the Finals in the future? Yes if this was the 1960's! And the 80's as well since that was where I got hooked on the Celtics. The 2000's saw a split and most if not all of us on this site still argue if Kendrick had not gone down we would have won the second head-to-head. And yes, I'd still want to play them now in the Finals. It's what the NBA is all about. The Celtics and Lakers have dominated and just have the legend, lore and hardware to back it all up.

For the Lakers, the NBA would not be what it is without Boston and for Boston, the NBA would not be what it is without the Lakers. It is only fitting that Magic and Bird pulled the NBA from guaranteed extinction and they both happened to play for these two storied franchises. Then they catapulted it enough to lay gold at Michael's feet, who in turn, smartly invested it back in the league to provide the salaries we see now.

db

P.S. From last night's performance, LAC are not even close to being ready for Prime Time against any of the top brass. Talk about folding up like a cheap suit! So, LAL getting to the Finals this year should not be a problem at all. All LAL has to figure out is how to get past MIL. Maybe BOS, but probably MIL!

I heard Lebron in an interview later that year saying how now you can see how important toughness is and saying that if Perk hadn’t gone down, Boston would have won another title that year. Perk and Bron we’re friends from their AAU days together. In 12 if we hadn’t traded Perk in 11, we could have also won one as Jeff Green was even out that whole year and we had the Heat and they knew it and refs stole a key game when Rondo definitely got fouled/raked across the face and no flip* call....at a key moment.

Brook Lopez has really transformed his game, he’s a really great defender right now, he blocks shots and battles in that paint, his defense with Giannis defense and manic energy really helped crush the Clippers last night, watching a replay of the game on NBA TV right now. Wonder if Kelly O is ever gonna change/transform his defense for Riley like Brook has...???

Lakers look like the most unbalanced team I have ever seen that has a winning record.

Their configuration is top 2 heavy. I do not see that as a sustaining formula.

Not enough guys playing starter minutes and not enough opportunities throughout the roster. Kyle Kuzma is Jaylen Brown 2018.

Raptors vs Sixers today.

Damn.  Which one do I root against?  Toronto is only 1 game behind us, so it'd be nice to put a 1/2 game, and another loss, between us and them but, damn, it's hard to root for the Sixers.

Who's the bigger threat to us?  Toronto, even with the rise of Siakem, is not the same team as last year.  Philly, however, is loaded for bear and they are BIG.  Their struggles to-date might be ironed out in 4-5 months, maybe with a trade for a shooter at the deadline, but Toronto? They might be as good as they ever will be this year. Who would we want to meet in the 2nd round?

Questions, questions, questions...


bob



.

bobheckler wrote:Raptors vs Sixers today.

Damn.  Which one do I root against?  Toronto is only 1 game behind us, so it'd be nice to put a 1/2 game, and another loss, between us and them but, damn, it's hard to root for the Sixers.

Who's the bigger threat to us?  Toronto, even with the rise of Siakem, is not the same team as last year.  Philly, however, is loaded for bear and they are BIG.  Their struggles to-date might be ironed out in 4-5 months, maybe with a trade for a shooter at the deadline, but Toronto?  They might be as good as they ever will be this year.  Who would we want to meet in the 2nd round?

Questions, questions, questions...


bob



.

I really do not see either one as a threat. They are both solid teams at both ends. There is no easy path. Everybody in the East has to play everybody in the East. Boston needs to beat Philly and Indiana to establish their ability to beat all the top competitors in the East.

I might add that both Philly and Indy have played meatball schedules.

Not as meatballish as LAL to date.

db

dbrown4 wrote:Not as meatballish as LAL to date.  

db

Indy has played the easiest schedule. 30th hardest.
Philly has played 28th hardest.
The Lakers 19th and Boston 14th.

We're still trying to figure out how that is calculated and exactly how relevant it is. I'd like it calculated as how many teams above/below .500 have you played. What's that record? Is it grossly above/below .500? What happens when you both are above/below .500? But it's a moving target. When does the clock start ticking? It also appears to be a weaker statistic taken from football where you only play each other once during the season.

It looks like this has RPI attached to it and that figures in to make it more complex.

Once the season is completed, isn't/shouldn't everyone be @ .500? SOS is only relevant in short bunches early in the season it appears.

db

dbrown4 wrote:We're still trying to figure out how that is calculated and exactly how relevant it is.  I'd like it calculated as how many teams above/below .500 have you played.  What's that record?  Is it grossly above/below .500?  What happens when you both are above/below .500?  But it's a moving target.  When does the clock start ticking?  It also appears to be a weaker statistic taken from football where you only play each other once during the season.  

It looks like this has RPI attached to it and that figures in to make it more complex.

Once the season is completed, isn't/shouldn't everyone  be @ .500?  SOS is only relevant in short bunches early in the season it appears.  

db  

It is relevant like the 8 straight wins last year.  It does matter who you play.  That winning streak led many fans including many posters on this board to entertain that all was good.  That bringing JB off the bench in favor of MS was good.  That the Celtics were for real.

If you consistently beat good teams you are a good team.  If you consistently win on the road you are a good team.  And if you are a dominant team at home you are a good team.

That's what I'm getting at. Keep it simple. As I delved further into definitions, it involves weighted averages, opponent's opponents records...my head started swimming. Let's do a check.

Are we consistently beating good teams?...Yes

Are we winning consistently on the road or are in all those games with a chance to win regardless of our play?...Yes

Are we dominant at home? Hell Yeah! Whatever and zero. Not to shabby!

I think that's enough for me to dump the SOS stat. Thank you, dboss!

db

dboss wrote:

dbrown4 wrote:We're still trying to figure out how that is calculated and exactly how relevant it is.  I'd like it calculated as how many teams above/below .500 have you played.  What's that record?  Is it grossly above/below .500?  What happens when you both are above/below .500?  But it's a moving target.  When does the clock start ticking?  It also appears to be a weaker statistic taken from football where you only play each other once during the season.  

It looks like this has RPI attached to it and that figures in to make it more complex.

Once the season is completed, isn't/shouldn't everyone  be @ .500?  SOS is only relevant in short bunches early in the season it appears.  

db  

It is relevant like the 8 straight wins last year.  It does matter who you play.  That winning streak led many fans including many posters on this board to entertain that all was good.  That bringing JB off the bench in favor of MS was good.  That the Celtics were for real.

If you consistently beat good teams you are a good team.  If you consistently win on the road you are a good team.  And if you are a dominant team at home you are a good team.

Very well put, I might add one more item for a good team, if a team beat you earlier you beat them next time, and maybe a more convincing fashion. We need to do to Philly just what we did to Denver.

It is true that most things even out or close to it.  However 20-21 games into the season does give statistical value to your strength of schedule.  The Celtics longest winning streak last year was 8 games and every single team was a freakin dog.

Good teams are suppose to beat bad teams and when they do there should be no particular inference drawn from that result other than they were suppose to win.

However if you knock off 5 top 10 teams then you are a good team against high level competiton.

The Celtics have been a good team against high level competition.