41 Comments

Playoff ready?

This team is totally unpredictable.

Almost nothing they do will surprise me.

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lol Amen...

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KLAY's 2 clutch FTs last night, with 6.7 secs left, secures MAVS' 120-119 win over/at BULLS and 9th play-in place. SPLASH BROTHER led MAVS balanced attack in scoring with 20 pts in 30 mins PT, while shooting 46-50-100; 6/13 FG, 5/10 3PT, 3/3 FTs.

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For whatever reason the Warriors almost never seem to be ready to play when the game starts. In the past, it never mattered as a 20 pt deficit was no big deal, but they don't have that margin for error anymore. Looking at the start of the Pelicans game I see

Butler 3: Missed

Curry 3: Missed

Moody Jumper: Missed

Moody 3: Missed

Butler 3: Missed.

Curry 3: Missed.

Green 3: Missed.

Throw in a couple of turnovers, and you are down 12 to pretty much any team. Maybe it is as simple as starting the game out just running PnR to try to get some easy buckets at the rim instead of jacking up 3s.

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Maybe it is a simple as we have not filled KLAY'S shooting void from the perimeter, in spite of numerous personnel and tactical iterations tried. Holding on to hope we solve it with simplest solution, be getting KLAY BACK, at least for the next two seasons...

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If they have to start by gunning from outside, I wish they'd switch to trying to attack the rim once they miss a couple. We've got guys that can do that now; tell them to be aggressive.

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They were getting good looks, just bricking them. I'd prefer they start making the shots they were getting rather than changing the way they are playing to compensate.

Post was a great example - missed his first 4 threes but kept firing away and made three of his last five.

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Great write up playoff ready requires kuminga offense and other players confident shooting. Not at all there right now. Could get there

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r/nba

19 min. ago

nellylovesny

emoji:lal-1:

Lakers

Lakers now own the season series over every team 3-10 in the west

The Lakers have now secured the season series over every team ranked 3rd to 10th in the Western Conference. With a 33-12 record against Western Conference opponents (73.3% win rate), they trail only the Oklahoma City Thunder, who hold a 33-11 record. This dominance positions the Lakers favorably as the playoffs approach.

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That is a crazy statistic. But good for them. Wish it were true of the Ws.

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If they’re so “dominant” why are they 14-16 against the sorry East? And why do they have the #8 net rating in the conference, less than a point better than their opponents?

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The amazing stat to me is the records of the Lakers and Thunder against the East:

Lakers 14-16

Thunder 27-1

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Thunders only loss in the East is vs the Thunder. I mean Cavs.

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Thunder has lost more games against the Dubs than against the entire Eastern Conference

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Hope that holds for the playoffs. It would be sweet to knock them off -- if ever the Dubs get that far.

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If the Warriors win their next 2 games, they are guaranteed to move up to 6th. If Clippers lose to Cavs, they'd move up to 5th.

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I think the Grizzlies would need to lose to the Celtics first in order for that to happen. But that does seem probable.

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Yes, you're right

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Yuck.

"The Thunder have now won 48 Games by double-digits, tying the 2017 Warriors for 2nd All Time"

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1jn2zni/the_thunder_have_now_won_48_games_by_doubledigits/

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Not worried about those obscure records. I'll be more concerned if they actually win a championship. If we knock them out in the playoffs, no one will be talking about that 'record.'

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Also the Warriors did it without a free throw merchant (if anything, if fouling Steph was actually called like it is for other players, the Warriors would've had more than 48 such games)

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Maluach isn’t a big leaper but he moves he’s really well and is a big time active screener, dribble hand off guy. He looks a little like a 7’2 Looney.

I’d be real real interested in Sion James in the 2nd round or as a UDFA. Could be the next GP2. That guy is a house

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To me, this was a better Kuminga game than the last few.

His three point shot doesn't look good, but he only took two of them. 16 points on 63% TS is a very efficient 23 minutes, in my book.

Defense ... couldn't say. There were a few negative remarks in the game thread.

He was rebounding and not taking any wild shots. 1 TO, 3PF ... not doing much (if anything) negative.

I thought it was a really good sign. If he can focus on rebounding, defense, and running the floor, he'll be a net plus. I enjoyed his game last night ... hope to see more of it.

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4dEdited

I think defense has to be taken with a grain of salt. This is the first game where GP2 was out, and JK was asked to take on the POA attack duties that GP2 typically covers. That changes his role from the previous few games. Furthermore, it looked like a lot of his errors were errors of aggression. I'm much more willing to pardon errors of aggression on defense. Certainly, he _really_ _really_ needs to work on his angles, and that's been a concern for his defense for a couple seasons now. But, I'd give him a bit of a pass on being overly-aggressive in his first stint trying to take over greater POA duties. He did a great job rebounding, staying aggressive (especially in a passive Jimmy game), in contrast, so I'd give him an overall grade of B+/A-, perhaps the best since he's been back.

His defense is something to keep a close eye on, though. Last night's defense was bad for the whole team - all around. And it wasn't playoff ready. Not only JK, but also everyone will have to play better in the playoffs.

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I agree I think this was his best game since he has been back. Vs the Kings he was also effective.

some good scoring, passing and some rebounds. Efficient on offense. Defense is harder to say but did not look as good - though not for lack of effort.

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I toss out the Kings game because they were doubling Curry all game long. For everyone else (including Kuminga), they were working 4 on 3 for a huge percentage of the possessions.

So, for me, this Pels game was his best game. And, more to the point, he was fulfilling the roles we really need from him, so even if he scored a little less, it was a better sign for the team.

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Oh also:

- Miami wins again, increasing the likelihood the Dubs will get their lovely 2nd round pick.

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Looking good. MIA 6 games up on TOR with 8 to play. MIA would also have to outtank POR and SAS. POR and SAS are very close so they might have some incentive to outtank each other

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- Kangz Kangzing. Check.

- Spurs play their starters a lot and tire them out before playing the Dubs tomorrow. Check.

- Klay leads the Mavs with 50% 3 point shooting and nails the FTs in the final seconds to keep the Mavs 4 points ahead and seal the victory. Mavs still deep in the play-in, though. Check.

- Lakers and Grizzlies play 7 OTs and weep from exhaustion. NBA calls the game and gives both teams a L. Check.

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Had AD lost yet as a Mav? Maybe Nico isn't so dumb.

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Glad to see that AD is contributing for them. Nico should have gotten a lot more (Knecht, Reeves?) regardless.

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Wish we had gotten that last.

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"Are the Dubs looking playoff ready to you?"

Let's call it a hot maybe.

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For me, a no, but I'm not even sure I expect them to look playoff ready by the playoffs.

Integrating Butler and JK are both huge changes.

I'd be happy if we just survive the play-in and work into playoff-ready form during the 1st round.

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A definite 'no!'

If they're going to try and win by making 3s, and expecting Steph to save them every game, then The Dubs are going nowhere.

I know that percentages tend to even out, but when you're missing 75% of your 3s, it seems like 'insanity' to keep shooting them, and not moving the ball and bodies to get better shots closer to the hoop. And yes it's certainly easier to get those when the long ball is falling, but we got to get Draymond and Jimmy more involved in running the offense. Settling for 3s early in the shot clock just isn't working.

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The team is hitting 36% of its threes, which is league average. Shooting a lot of threes has proven to be a recipe for success, as it not only scores but stretches the defense.

I'm not sure what you mean by "we got to get" Draymond and Jimmy involved in running the offense. That seems like something we already do.

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We shot 35.4% from 3 in our past 20 games but we've been wildly erratic. The past 2 games we couldn't throw the ball in the ocean. The three games before that, we shot really well from 3. The two games before that, we were bad from 3.

Our shooting is like the little girl with the little curl that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote about: "When she was good, She was very, very good / But when she was bad she was horrid."

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Which is an extreme reason to avoid the play in.

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Ok, I put perplexity to work. Standard deviation is a statistic that helps understand amount of deviation from an average. Apparently the Warriors are middle of the pack in the NBA on this. Timberwolves and Cavs are among the best, Thunder and Nuggets among the worst. This doesn’t take into account shooting volume. Also very possible that I asked the question wrong, or Perplexity screwed up.

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I bet ChatGPT could figure out the 3 point shooting variance (or some other appropriate stat to help understand this) for every NBA team. When the Dubs vary team shooting wildly, though, it’s still insanely frustrating.

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