I'm no expert on the NBA, but 38 minutes in an ultra early season game (and being road underdogs to boot) seems like a lot...five DNPs for the Pels, plus two other guys who only played 9 and 3 minutes.
Even Tatum only played 33 minutes in the one point loss to the Bucks...
Pels aren’t going to win anything playing defense like that. They all sag to the middle and repeatedly leave 3pt shooters wide open. I realize there was little preseason prep time but no excuse for Pels failing Defense 101. Thought SVG would have them better prepared.
Mmmmm, eggnog.
Gotta take a break, though, to post that this Nets-Celtics game is awesome. High-quality basketball entertainment for anyone interested.
FYI, Kyrie is like trying again on defense. He does this every couple of years, haha. He looks great on both ends of the court.
Happy to see Kyrie (and Durant) killing it with the Nets. Will quiet some of the pawns.
Without a doubt. Heat were moving the ball around well. Good offense vs bad defense is how the Heat went on a 52-21 run in the first half.
The great news is that Zion is looking like his old self and also is playing smarter in terms of preserving his body. He's still bullying the paint but is choosing layups over the monstrous highlight dunks. If he stays healthy he is going to have an absolutely monstrous season offensively. But they aren't going to win many games unless the team learns to play defense.
Allen and Jones getting some burn for Memphis tonight. I haven't heard any updates on Winslow since he tweaked his hip (I think) a few months ago and he doesn't appear to be on the active roster.
Cassius gets the first points of his career. He tried to grab a couple more in garbage time, but was denied.
Well, this is annoying. Trae Young went after Grayson for allegedly tripping him. I guess the two have history but Young is being ridiculous here. The video doesn't show anything that looks remotely intentional. Grayson responds well and hopefully this is nothing more than a silly media blip for him.
Obviously Grayson has a history and is never going to get the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, it's crazy for Trae Young, a rising All-Star in the NBA to do this. It's just beneath him. They were aggressively trying to trap Young at the end of the game. Dillon Brooks (who literally stomped on someone in college, I might add) gives an aggressive hip check. It's just a super minor thing that Allen's foot is involved in this. This is like his senior year when every play of the season was slowed down to make it seem like it was some long-planned hit job when the reality was the NBA players' feet get tangled up in every game. It's a cheap shot and Young is beyond bizarre for wanting to go after a borderline starter like Allen. Never punch down.
Marques got the garbage time minutes instead of coming in cold as the designated free throw shooter so he was actually able to get his first basket.
Hey, I remember tripping from my college days, and that there isn't tripping!
if you mean that feet got tangled, yes. Trae's assertion that it was somehow intentional is stupid a.f.
Hey man! Dock Ellis threw a complete-game no-hitter while tripping, so who's to say that none of those guys involved weren't?
Also, i don't know how to write code to do this, but has anybody set up a Duke alumni box score for this year? It has been a very helpful tool in the past and would love to see it again this year!
We don't really know Kyrie that well, though, (close to not at all) and so it makes sense to ignore the weird things he says to the media and enjoy his basketball. I like Kyrie despite the silly things that come from his mouth because his job is to entertain me, and he does it very, very successfully. I don't care about the other stuff. This goes for all entertainers, not just basketball players, too. I figure that in 80% of cases, if I got to know a singer, actor, bball player, what-have-you, really well, got to know his or her personality traits, his or her opinions about the world, I would be aghast. Luckily I don't know any entertainers really well, including Kyrie. Keeping in mind that the image entertainers present to the media is usually not what they are really like in private (and I think this goes for Kyrie, too), I just try to focus on their work product and whether it delivers.
Sound advice. I have to admit in this age of the Internet I have unintentionally come to learn things about actors and other entertainers that I wish I had not discovered about them, because it has definitely changed my perception about them.
In the case of how much we know about those that entertain us, ignorance is bliss.