Thanks, ERIC. A break for me overseas with a 1030 PM start. We may need a platoon defense on TATUM-BROWN....MOODY/PAYTON/KLAY, my guess...don't know PODZ's STATUS....
Let me be clear, so there are no misunderstandings. We don't fear the Boston Celtics. In fact, they fear us. Gaudy regular season records and some shiny new personnel do not tell me that we are no longer owners of their brains. You put Kuminga on Tatum, he has historically defended him well. You put Moody on Jaylen Brown, I like my chances. You put Draymond as roaming and on Porzingis, because he can do all of that. Or you ask TJD and Looney to pitch in. You ask Steph to not let Jrue bully him. You get CP and GPII and Klay coming off the most lethal bench in the league.
I didn't fly all the way to New York, then get stuck on the tarmac before the Toronto game for seven hours, then barely nap and beat those guys, only to lose to some leprechauns. I am not remotely satisfied with this road trip. I am here for the win and if you are not, then do not get on this bus with me. Because if you get on the bus, then we are going all the way. Can we count on you? Are you too lethargic from your Saturday night merriment to give your team the manic support energy it needs? Let's go. Saddle your horses people.
I'm not sure if you are aware, but there was an episode where Dave Cowens stood up in the Celtics bus and told the team he couldn't play any more and was going to retire.
Somebody yelled at him to get off the bus (apparently not seriously).
I was referring to Steph’s speech before game 7 of the Sacto playoff series last year when he apparently made the same point. At the time I found it tacky and insulting to teammates to imply that they hadn’t been trying, but no one else thought as I did
It was also faux rah rah which we never see from Steph. It’s also absurd because then they play the Lakers and Steph didn’t have that speech in the bag and himself wasn’t playing all that well. All he had to say before the Sacto game was I’m pumped I’m looking forward to this let’s go get this win. Same point without weird threats
No Zinger, and no Queta either. Celtics are probably going to play some small ball, let's show them how it's done. Hoping Steph and Podz can tough it out, but Rick tends to be very conservative and probably won't give them a chance. It would be hilarious if we sweep the Cs with no DG one game and no 30 the other game.
Great E1P. I need to brush up on my own celebration gestures. Only one I ever get right consistently is flexing on a Dray and-one. (That and bursting into spontaneous laughter whenever Steph pulls off something truly and ridiculously awesome.)
E1P genius. It’s not just breaking down some interesting plays, but looking past the (Dray - Moody) moment to secondary points. Steph screening is a good example. I don’t ‘see’ these too often in games because I’m too busy ball watching. But this break-down shows me how huge Step’s screen action is. Sophisticated, subtle, deft, powerful, masterful. Words don’t do Steph justice. But also so very team oriented in a sport that can be excessively selfish. His teammates must adore playing with him.
It’s not just the Steph gravity that causes opponents to spin around him helplessly, but also his bright shining star power that energizes his teammates. Twofer!
Fun fact: while it’s pretty safe to assume Steph ain’t gonna hit 40K points in his career, he‘s already got LeBron by “most points scored with one team”: 23,254 to LeBron’s 23,119 with Cleveland.
Given Steph's bursitis issues, I'm kind of hoping he sits (if it's a 50-50 situation), and we just make this a scheduled L.
We can't really hold out Paul or Draymond as well, because of those league rules ... but there's nothing saying they can't play 5 minutes, sit down and let the youngsters take it the rest of the way.
Santos is listed as probable in the injury report, which I take to mean that he will play. Podz is still questionable.
If this were a typical season and Kerr and Co were willing to write off today as a scheduled loss, then, yes, it would be fine to sit Steph. But it's the Celtics, the Dubs can't take a game off, and they don't play again until Wednesday. I'm expecting Steph to play unless he's hurt a lot worse than "Game Time Decision" would dictate.
I get it. Hate it though. They are on a roll and, like I was hoping with Denver, they need to knock off a top team for it to seem real. I’m hoping the BP sit was enough for him and the Steph ? is a head fake. Beating a healthy Boston team in Boston is a very dubs thing to do. Moody on Brown and JK on Kuminga. Even without Wiggs, our adjusted bench is better than theirs.
you can rest older players on one end of a back to back, but there is no general rule allowing them to sit for any game. And, teams are required to make their stars available for nationally televised games.
I was vaguely aware that the league was trying to restrict players being out of nationally televised games. This is as good a writeup as I've found.
Dray has been getting light minutes so like you said they can play him a few minutes and pull him if the game gets out of hand. Also, if Steph is sitting, they pretty much need CP, and he should be pretty well rested, so I don't see him sitting this one out.
Would be nice if they can get Podz back, otherwise, we have CP and ... Lester I guess? Pat Spencer time? Or if Dray is playing, just let him play point center.
GREAT STUFF, ERIC! You have no idea how much I ENJOY your inimitable play breakdowns! Even an idiot can follow them and justifiably be a ball savant; the biggest one sits 10,000 miles away, in Greece, LMAO, alone, "celebrating" in the wee hours of the morning. On another note, thanks to the Joker-Murray Tsunami that drowned the Lolakers 4gm-win-streak, and hung another loss on them, with a grateful second-place appreciation award to Houston for longer-term DUB objectives-assistance as ROCKETS admirably succeeded in eclipsing the SUNS, in PHOENIX...
As for the KERR observation/GREEN MOODY apology, it was spot-on. I only wish KERR had made a similar observation during the 1st half of the season- -with GREEN out injury/suspended; WIGGS injured/struggling; PAYTON out/KLAY STRUGGLING/KERR EXPERIMENTING--to CHRIS PAUL/TEAM, to wit: "YOU KNOW, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ALL SARIC and CURRY, KLAY is open for a KICK OUT/CATCH-N-SHOOT AFTER ROLL, and he can win you/TURNAROUND A GAME IN MINUTES''. We will need BEST/EXPERIENCED KLAY GRAVITY RIGHT, if we want to RUN TO/THE PLAYOFFS TABLE, BOTH, AS A STARTER, AND, CLOSER, PARTICULARLY WITH WIGGS OUT... I do not buy into KERR prematurely giving up on him in those roles after the SPECIAL CHALLENGES team FACED 1st HALF THIS SEASON...KLAY'S GAME/RHYTHM/A CAREER SLOW-STARTER, were the most-affected by the PACE/FAMILIARITY/PERSONNEL INSTABILITY, though even STEPH was showing its affects right before GREEN RETURNED. I also know it is not a popular observation...Frankly, I HOPE I AM PROVEN WRONG, but, for THIS SEASON, I think it is a HUGE MISTAKE.
FYI game thread scheduled for 11:30am Pacific, one hour before ultra early game time.
Thanks, ERIC. A break for me overseas with a 1030 PM start. We may need a platoon defense on TATUM-BROWN....MOODY/PAYTON/KLAY, my guess...don't know PODZ's STATUS....
We’re not supposed to reply to pinned posts.
That game is going to be over soon at this rate
76ers losing lead rapidly. hang on!
BEAT BOSTON!
Cmon Philly - please beat Dallas and do us a favor
Thank you Philly - they beat Dallas 117-113 - kyrie went crazy last few minutes but not enough for the Mavs
Mavs down 13…would be awesome to catch them in the loss column.
Maxey just hurt himself and off locker room - darn it
Mavs down 5 at the half. Let’s hope the can hold on for the loss. Go Philly!
wait. other games are already playing? What is this morning NBA madness?
Just got home from a quick weekend trip in time for the game! Lets go warriors! Also.... I may need a nap during the game 🤣
I'm in this line. got back at 6am.
Let me be clear, so there are no misunderstandings. We don't fear the Boston Celtics. In fact, they fear us. Gaudy regular season records and some shiny new personnel do not tell me that we are no longer owners of their brains. You put Kuminga on Tatum, he has historically defended him well. You put Moody on Jaylen Brown, I like my chances. You put Draymond as roaming and on Porzingis, because he can do all of that. Or you ask TJD and Looney to pitch in. You ask Steph to not let Jrue bully him. You get CP and GPII and Klay coming off the most lethal bench in the league.
I didn't fly all the way to New York, then get stuck on the tarmac before the Toronto game for seven hours, then barely nap and beat those guys, only to lose to some leprechauns. I am not remotely satisfied with this road trip. I am here for the win and if you are not, then do not get on this bus with me. Because if you get on the bus, then we are going all the way. Can we count on you? Are you too lethargic from your Saturday night merriment to give your team the manic support energy it needs? Let's go. Saddle your horses people.
I'm not sure if you are aware, but there was an episode where Dave Cowens stood up in the Celtics bus and told the team he couldn't play any more and was going to retire.
Somebody yelled at him to get off the bus (apparently not seriously).
So your metaphor is quite apt.
I was referring to Steph’s speech before game 7 of the Sacto playoff series last year when he apparently made the same point. At the time I found it tacky and insulting to teammates to imply that they hadn’t been trying, but no one else thought as I did
I forgot about that!
Yeah, I agree that speech was pretty weird and unfortunate. Seemed like another case of targeting Poole.
It was also faux rah rah which we never see from Steph. It’s also absurd because then they play the Lakers and Steph didn’t have that speech in the bag and himself wasn’t playing all that well. All he had to say before the Sacto game was I’m pumped I’m looking forward to this let’s go get this win. Same point without weird threats
I imagine Dray put him up to it.
Steph is a pretty atrocious motivational speaker, I suspect. It's not really his personality.
No Zinger, and no Queta either. Celtics are probably going to play some small ball, let's show them how it's done. Hoping Steph and Podz can tough it out, but Rick tends to be very conservative and probably won't give them a chance. It would be hilarious if we sweep the Cs with no DG one game and no 30 the other game.
The locker room champagne smell should be enough to help them get motivated today :)
Might be time for Luke Kornet and his crazy jumping to disrupt three point shots he has no ability to block
The most interesting new strategy in years, it fascinates me
If it were Wemby, he actually would be blocking them. Not sure he'd even need to jump, though.
Kuminga has held Tatum to 2/15 since he's entered the league. I'm excited for that matchup.
In Bjelica’s memory
Couple that with 6 TOs from Jaylen Brown and I think we'll be OK
Brilliant and as always a super enjoyable E1P. The celebration audit as usual extremely funny 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
“Mom can we get TJD and Podz”
“We already have TJD and Podz at home”
TJD and Podz at home: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHtbFjJa0AAShkb?format=jpg&name=small
I had totally forgotten about NM.
The math is pretty simple: 1 + 48 < 19 + 57
HAHAHAHAHA!
Great E1P. I need to brush up on my own celebration gestures. Only one I ever get right consistently is flexing on a Dray and-one. (That and bursting into spontaneous laughter whenever Steph pulls off something truly and ridiculously awesome.)
And scratching my head on a GP2 dunk.
E1P genius. It’s not just breaking down some interesting plays, but looking past the (Dray - Moody) moment to secondary points. Steph screening is a good example. I don’t ‘see’ these too often in games because I’m too busy ball watching. But this break-down shows me how huge Step’s screen action is. Sophisticated, subtle, deft, powerful, masterful. Words don’t do Steph justice. But also so very team oriented in a sport that can be excessively selfish. His teammates must adore playing with him.
It’s not just the Steph gravity that causes opponents to spin around him helplessly, but also his bright shining star power that energizes his teammates. Twofer!
yah - i can only catchhh those screening moments when I replay watch.
Fun fact: while it’s pretty safe to assume Steph ain’t gonna hit 40K points in his career, he‘s already got LeBron by “most points scored with one team”: 23,254 to LeBron’s 23,119 with Cleveland.
Don’t quit on the idea of LBJ returning to Cleveland or Miami for another run.
Even if he does that, he’s probably not catching Steph (certainly not in Miami, where he put up just shy of 8,000 points).
Honestly Cleveland swapping Lebron for one of Allen or Mobley would be a very scary team
True
Given Steph's bursitis issues, I'm kind of hoping he sits (if it's a 50-50 situation), and we just make this a scheduled L.
We can't really hold out Paul or Draymond as well, because of those league rules ... but there's nothing saying they can't play 5 minutes, sit down and let the youngsters take it the rest of the way.
Santos is listed as probable in the injury report, which I take to mean that he will play. Podz is still questionable.
If this were a typical season and Kerr and Co were willing to write off today as a scheduled loss, then, yes, it would be fine to sit Steph. But it's the Celtics, the Dubs can't take a game off, and they don't play again until Wednesday. I'm expecting Steph to play unless he's hurt a lot worse than "Game Time Decision" would dictate.
I get it. Hate it though. They are on a roll and, like I was hoping with Denver, they need to knock off a top team for it to seem real. I’m hoping the BP sit was enough for him and the Steph ? is a head fake. Beating a healthy Boston team in Boston is a very dubs thing to do. Moody on Brown and JK on Kuminga. Even without Wiggs, our adjusted bench is better than theirs.
Just do it - please.
We can hold all the old guys out if we wanted. Steph and CP3 are over the age limit, so they can sit with Dray and not trip any rules afaik
According to this:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38386013/how-nba-new-rules-resting-stars-work
you can rest older players on one end of a back to back, but there is no general rule allowing them to sit for any game. And, teams are required to make their stars available for nationally televised games.
I was vaguely aware that the league was trying to restrict players being out of nationally televised games. This is as good a writeup as I've found.
And if people complain we can just say that we don't give afaik.
Dray has been getting light minutes so like you said they can play him a few minutes and pull him if the game gets out of hand. Also, if Steph is sitting, they pretty much need CP, and he should be pretty well rested, so I don't see him sitting this one out.
Would be nice if they can get Podz back, otherwise, we have CP and ... Lester I guess? Pat Spencer time? Or if Dray is playing, just let him play point center.
Now, let's snap a CELTIC 10-GAME WIN-STREAK!!!!!!
GREAT STUFF, ERIC! You have no idea how much I ENJOY your inimitable play breakdowns! Even an idiot can follow them and justifiably be a ball savant; the biggest one sits 10,000 miles away, in Greece, LMAO, alone, "celebrating" in the wee hours of the morning. On another note, thanks to the Joker-Murray Tsunami that drowned the Lolakers 4gm-win-streak, and hung another loss on them, with a grateful second-place appreciation award to Houston for longer-term DUB objectives-assistance as ROCKETS admirably succeeded in eclipsing the SUNS, in PHOENIX...
As for the KERR observation/GREEN MOODY apology, it was spot-on. I only wish KERR had made a similar observation during the 1st half of the season- -with GREEN out injury/suspended; WIGGS injured/struggling; PAYTON out/KLAY STRUGGLING/KERR EXPERIMENTING--to CHRIS PAUL/TEAM, to wit: "YOU KNOW, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ALL SARIC and CURRY, KLAY is open for a KICK OUT/CATCH-N-SHOOT AFTER ROLL, and he can win you/TURNAROUND A GAME IN MINUTES''. We will need BEST/EXPERIENCED KLAY GRAVITY RIGHT, if we want to RUN TO/THE PLAYOFFS TABLE, BOTH, AS A STARTER, AND, CLOSER, PARTICULARLY WITH WIGGS OUT... I do not buy into KERR prematurely giving up on him in those roles after the SPECIAL CHALLENGES team FACED 1st HALF THIS SEASON...KLAY'S GAME/RHYTHM/A CAREER SLOW-STARTER, were the most-affected by the PACE/FAMILIARITY/PERSONNEL INSTABILITY, though even STEPH was showing its affects right before GREEN RETURNED. I also know it is not a popular observation...Frankly, I HOPE I AM PROVEN WRONG, but, for THIS SEASON, I think it is a HUGE MISTAKE.