Around The League 2023-2024 Season

Bucks are made to order for teams with good wings, they have among the weakest wing and perimeter defenders in the league now that Holiday is gone. That’s why even Pacers were beating them down.

Sunday Morning Standings - Bonus Top 20:




https://www.espn.com/nba/standings/_/group/league

If you didn't record and/or watch the GSW vs. LAL game last night, do yourself a favor and watch it before all the football today gets started.  In particular the 3rd & 4th Quarters plus the two OT's.  Much more spectacular game than ours.  

Draymond Green was brilliant throughout.  I know some of you will want to ban me after I type this but at times, I felt like I was watching Larry Bird sans the points.  Crazy passes, assists out the waazoo, rebounding, blocking shots, everything but significant scoring which ends the comparison.  In the end, the Warriors wind up losing by 1 in Double OT.  

And you know it's coming....BUT, there were a couple of key plays that shows that Draymond's career is just about done.  

First, still jawing with the refs.  This becomes more prevalent the tighter the games of course and since the announcers were saying tight games are all GSW has been in this season, this is not going to help Draymond keep his cool.  So his definition of antics as far as jawing with the refs can bee officially thrown off the table.  

We're 4 games in now.  In the 3rd, and I should have written down the time mark for you.  AD is going up for what should be a lay up/dunk and Draymond goes pretty much straight up with him except Draymond's knee mysteriously finds the inside groin area of AD.  Draymond feigns concern knowing this ain't looking good, AD hobbles off the court to the locker room for a few minutes but eventually returns, playing through the injury.  Have to admire that, but I'm sure there will be some test results today or tomorrow.  Definitely hobbled.  We'll see.

Second of all, a play where Draymond and an LAL player, get tangled up and kind of do the original LeBron/Draymond playoff tangle, legs all intertwined rolling around on the floor deal.  Not too offensive but definitely brings those memories back up if you recall the original incident.  

LeBron also gets raked across the face by Draymond in the second half, but they play on.  Maybe no biggie.  

Finally, in the 4th Draymond winds up and rakes AD on the head and arms, refs "miss" the call or don't review it.  Even the Announcer (Burke) says this is at least a Flagrant 1 with the wind up and everything.  

Come on, people.  Draymond said it best.  I'm not changing my stripes.  Not only won't he, he can't, at least not with a few Zoom meetings over doughnuts and coffee.  4 games in and we're pretty much back to the way things were.  Happening a little faster than I was thinking but on the schedule.  

Here's the problem.  The refs should know better.  They just got slapped in the face.  That's why they "missed" the call.  They were stunned honestly.  They were hoping he had "changed".  They don't want to be remembered as the ref that started the Final Call, even though Draymond is going to end his career this year through his own "antics".  The players have been told to be on guard.  AD reacted about as great as you possibly could to the nut rack and wind up onslaught within ripping Draymond's head off.  Kudos to him.  They don't want to be the player involved in the call that ends Draymond's career.  You know Adam's not going to get involved until it's too late.    

I'm not a psychiatrist but I play one on TV, yet that game for Draymond looks so much like a textbook definition of a split personality that Draymond's picture is beside it.  And despite everyone, Paul George, Steven A., et al saying he's fine, you can't look at that game and not see the cracks forming all over again.  But play on, Adam, play on.    

db

I knew preseason OKC would be an improved team with Chet and would be fun to watch, but I had no idea they would be this good. Tied for second place now in the second half of the season is quite impressive!

Except for Celtics and Bucks, I would not have guessed the top 5 at this point, mid-season, correctly.

The big surprise for me is OKC.  No funny money there.  Last year they were eliminated in the play in portion of the playoffs.  The other team out West that is really solid is Minnesota.

In the East, Indiana did not make the playoffs last year and neither did Orlando.  I would say those would be my surprise teams.

The knicks are making some noise in the East after posting 8 wins in a row.  They are 9-1 over their past 10 games and have leap frogged over Silly Philly and are now in 3rd place (31-17)  However sometimes you just have to look a little closer.  The Knicks have feasted on the destitute.  They bully soft teams and have posted a 22-1 record against teams BELOW .500

Their record against .500 or better teams is only 9-16.  I am waiting to see their record vs the iron move closer to 1:1

2nrd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the East only has a 2 game spread.

As you wish, dboss.  Opportunity awaits.  Checkout/Record Thursday for IND @ NYK while we battle the Lakers.  IND should be significantly PO'ed since they went all-in on us and came up short.  But your gut is correct.  It is the Knicks.  The most overrated, somehow overvalued franchise of our lifetimes.  Somehow, some way, they will find a way to shoot themselves in the foot.

db

Bucks now 0-2 under the tutelage of Doc papa Rivers

By the time things get figured out they will be burried with Boston up 10 games.

Embid got hurt Tuesday at GS. Kuminga landed on his knee. The Sixers lost that game and have now dropped 4 in a row, all on the road. By the way they have fallen into 5th place in the East.

The Cavs are in 4th and have been playing pretty well having won 11 out of 12. 4 quality wins in that run including 2 wins vs the Bucks and wins against the Magic and the Clippers. The often injured Garland is back (that kid is injury prone having only played in 21 games this year)

LAL will be in Boston tonight. They are a miserable group and one game below .500. Why? because they give up more PPG than they score. They sit 10.5 games back. I would like to assume that they will play hard tonight given The Matchup with The Boston Celtics and the sting from their Xmas day embarrassment at home.

Sunday Morning Standings:




https://www.espn.com/nba/standings

Sunday Morning Standings - Bonus Top 20:




https://www.espn.com/nba/standings/_/group/league

John Karalis @John_Karalis
about 31 minutes ago
Sixers announce Embiid had surgery and will be reevaluated in four weeks. Will be interesting to see how that impacts the trade deadline


Bob


.

Looks like Young and Scotty Barnes will replace Embid and Randle.

The Bucks are now in 3rd place as the 14/15 streak of the Cavs has put them directly behind Boston.

The mid-season coaching change for the Bucks was probably not their best course of action. Yes they were struggling to defend after moving Jrue. Maybe you go out there and identify a defensive addition for your roster. Bad results have a starting point. For the Bucks it was the pipe dream of paring Giannis with Dame at the expense of an all defensive player in Jrue. Then turning Coach Griffin into the scapegoat for their struggles only complicated the situation without really addressing roster construction. I would think that the Bucks have to be in the market for defender by the trade deadline. Giannis and Dame can play the part of the cat that ate the canary. They did not support their 1st year head coach and now they have been rewarded with Doc 'the yoyo master' Rivers.

Milwaukee, Minny and OKC all lost last night.


The playoff seedings, as of 2/7/24, are:


Rank......Team................................Record.........Games Back in Loss Column
1...........Boston Celtics....................38-12............-
2...........LA Clippers........................34-15...........3
3...........Oklahoma Thunder..............35-16..........4
4...........Cleveland Cavaliers.............32-16..........4
5...........Minnesota Timberwolves......35-16..........4
6...........Denver Nuggets.................35-16...........4
7...........Milwaukee Bucks................33-18..........6
8...........New York Knicks.................33-18..........6


We have decent leads over everybody, which is a good thing considering the troubles we've had with 2-6.  Home court advantage may be what we need to earn #18, even though the Clips, Thunder and Nuggets have beaten us at home already.


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:Milwaukee, Minny and OKC all lost last night.


The playoff seedings, as of 2/7/24, are:


Rank......Team................................Record.........Games Back in Loss Column
1...........Boston Celtics....................38-12............-
2...........LA Clippers........................34-15...........3
3...........Oklahoma Thunder..............35-16..........4
4...........Cleveland Cavaliers.............32-16..........4
5...........Minnesota Timberwolves......35-16..........4
6...........Denver Nuggets.................35-16...........4
7...........Milwaukee Bucks................33-18..........6
8...........New York Knicks.................33-18..........6


We have decent leads over everybody, which is a good thing considering the troubles we've had with 2-6.  Home court advantage may be what we need to earn #18, even though the Clips, Thunder and Nuggets have beaten us at home already.


Bob


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The Clips beat us at home as did the Nuggets. The OKC game was on the road. We beat the clippers on the road and still have a home game vs the Thunder to even up the score. We have a road game vs Denver. I agree 100% that home court should give us an advantage. Quality depth however may be an even bigger factor.

Last night the Bucks lost at home to MN and are now 7 games back in the loss column.  The Knicks also lost and are 7 back.  Sixers are 8 games back.  The Cavs who have been coming on strong are now in 2nd place but still 4 games back in the loss column.

On Feb 8th 2023 the Celtics record was 39-16 so at 39-12 the Celtics are better this year.  The difference is that the Celtics have only lost 2 games in a row just once all season.  Last season the Celtics had already posted 3 two game losing streaks and 2 three game losing streaks.  

I have little to no interest in what is happening in the West.  We get out of the East and then I will ...

We are 40-12.  52 games into an 82 game season.  63% done.

Our record at home is 25-3.  That's 28 games out of 41, only 13 left.  Our record on the road is 15-9.  That's 24 out of 41, 17 left.  In this respect our remaining schedule is a little tough, there are more road games than home games.  Our road record, .625, is  is pretty good though.  There are only 7 other teams in the NBA that have better overall records than .625, so our road record is better than 22 NBA teams' season records.

All-Star weekend is next weekend.  As Sam used to say, I plan on "flossing my teeth" that weekend.

We play @ Miami tomorrow, we play a b2b @ Brooklyn on Tuesday and then in Boston on Wednesday.  That's it, 3 games until the ASG.  Miami's tough, especially at home, but Brooklyn should be wins.  The two Brooklyn games in Brooklyn are b2bs.

Our remaining games, post ASG, are (b2bs in bold):

February
@ Bulls
@ Knicks
vs Sixers

March
vs Mavericks
vs GSW
@ Cavaliers
@ Nuggets
@ Suns
@ Trailblazers
@ Jazz
vs Suns
@ Wizards
vs Pistons
vs Bucks
@ Pistons
@ Bulls
@ Hawks
@ Hawks
@ Pelicans

April
@ Hornets
vs Thunder
vs Kings


In summation:

1.  B2Bs.  We have 4 b2bs, 8 games total, left.  Three of those b2bs, 6 games, are all road b2bs.  One is a home/away b2b.  Neither the Jazz nor Portland are .500 teams, Jazz is the #10 seed.  So that's not bad.  @Wizards/Pistons should be easy.  @Pistons/@Bulls should be easy too even though they're both away.  So, overall, we've got fairly easy teams for our remaining b2bs.  The problem is the scheduling.  Those b2bs are all between 3/11-3/23.  There's also two games vs Suns and vs Bucks.  So that's 8 games in 12 days with 5 out of 8 away.  That's exhausting, especially since the first b2b is the tail end of a 5 games road trip with 4 of them vs western opponents.  The pre-ASG all road b2b @ Brooklyn should be easy but the middle of March is going to tell the tale.

2.  Overall records.  Eight of our 30 games are vs teams that aren't even in the play-in.  Seven games are vs Play-in teams.  So, half our games are against teams that are mediocre at best.  The remaining 15 are vs Cavs and Bucks (very good teams), Knicks (wtf knows with them?!), Sixers (a mess until Embiid comes back which might not be until April), Nuggets and Suns (good teams), Kings (marginally good), and the very good OKC Thunder.

3.  Home/Away vs Rivals.  So, given our schedule and having more road games than home, including an extended west coast swing, what about our rivals' remaining schedule?  If we falter can they catch us and snag home court advantage throughout the playoffs because their schedules are easier than ours?  

Cleveland (34-16) - 18-8 home, 16-8 road.  15 home games left and 17 road.  So, without looking at their opponents they're in the same boat as us, but they have more games to play in the remaining season.

Milwaukee (34-19) - 22-6 home, 12-13 road.  13 home games left, 16 road.  They aren't a good road team, so we have an edge as far as them catching us.

Knicks - (34-19) - 19-7 home, 14-12 road.  15 home games left, 15 road.  They just had a BIG trade season, so who knows how well that will work.

Timberwolves (36-16) - 19-5 home, 17-11 road.  17 home games left, 13 road.  Easier schedule.  We are 1-1 in H2H and have a 4 game lead.

Thunder (35-16) - 20-6 home, 15-10 road.  15 home games left, 16 road.  We play them in OKC, that might make a difference if we have a losing streak.

Clippers (34-16) - 19-5 home, 15-11 road.  17 home games left, 16 road.  Same as OKC.  Don't want to have a losing streak.

Nuggets (36-17) - 21-4 home, 15-13 road.  16 home games left, 13 road.  Easy.


We are looking at an absolutely grueling March, which might decide our fate.  I do not want to lose home court advantage against either OKC or mile-high Denver.


Bob


.

Bobh the real tough part of that schedule will be the 12 out of 15 that we play on the road.

Our rotation guys will have a big impact on getting us through that mean stretch of games. The Celtics will need to take it one game at a time. KP and AH will not be overused because we have enough center depth. I am a bit more concerned about our other starters. It just appears that the wear and tear of the season is starting to catch up with them. If I was CJ I would look to play deeper into the rotation to unleash some of the energy that is readily available.

Reports are that Spencer Didwiddie plans to sign with the Lakers.


Bob


.

One more factor to consider is our remaining strength of schedule.  The Celtics are 29 out of 30 teams with the easiest remaining schedule (.464)  All of our East competitors have a more difficult remaining schedules.

https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

#4 Bucks .528, #11 Sixers .509, #13 Knicks .506 and #16 Cavs .496

At 19-2 the Celtics are better against sub .500 teams (90% win rate) Last season, they were also good at 27-7 (79% win rate) but this season, we are not dropping games to the Wizards of the world.

I like our prospects.

dboss wrote:One more factor to consider is our remaining strength of schedule.  The Celtics are  29 out of 30 teams with the easiest remaining schedule (.464)  All of our East competitors have a more difficult remaining schedules.

https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

#4 Bucks .528, #11 Sixers .509, #13 Knicks .506 and #16 Cavs .496

At 19-2 the Celtics are better against sub .500 teams (90% win rate) Last season, they were also good at 27-7 (79% win rate) but this season, we are not dropping games to the Wizards of the world.

I like our prospects.

Good to see this one.

I think the Bucks and Knicks may be among our biggest challengers to take the East. Happy to see them at 4th and 13th toughest schedules respectively.