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Well, I'm not sure how well Dwight Powell would either. The point of small ball is not to match up with those guys.

Personally, I wouldn't try small ball against Denver anyway. Against Philly, sure? But that would be in the Finals, and the Mavs aren't getting that far. This is all about playing Utah to me.
 
Taking the field is always a wise choice, but I think Dallas is playing the best of any Western Conference team right now. We'll have to see what Denver and Phoenix look like healthwise come Playoff time.
 
The backlash to the Perkins tweet comparing Tatum and Paul Pierce is wild. I mean it’s pretty clear at this point that Tatum is better now than Pierce ever was, certainly at the same age. And this was probably true a year ago. He’s hoping to try and close the gap on Bird one day, not Pierce.

Like Tatum couldn’t win this year with prime Garnett and Ray Allen next to him, and the other NBA starters the Celtics were bringing off the bench.

“Oldhead” derangement syndrome
 
Tatum has been so good on both ends. It's fun to watch how polished his offensive game is. I thought it was interesting that 538 has the Celtics as title favorites now. They don't really have any great shooters, but they've at least got guys who can space the floor, and their defense has been elite.

The Nets remain one of the favorites in betting markets while 538 has them at a .3% chance (somehow the same as the Pelicans). They've got a lot of things working against them right now. If they finish in 9th, where they are currently, they would need to win two single game eliminations to make the playoffs. Kyrie might not be eligible for one of those games if they play at Toronto. There still doesn't seem to be a clear picture on when Kyrie might be eligible for home games. The road out of the east, especially as a low seed, looks tougher this year than it has in the recent past. They've had significant roster changes with little time to "gel."

You always have to account for the possibility of Durant and Irving getting hot and carrying them to a championship, but it certainly won't be easy for them. The eastern conference playoffs should be exciting from the start this year.
 
The Nets are done, imo. I would be far less surprised if the Celtics come out of the East. According to point differential, they're the best team in the East, seeding be damned.

Because I'm fully back on the Celtics bandwagon, here's a good video about them.

 
From that video: Since December 1st, Tatum is scoring 29 points per 75 possessions on 59% TS.

For those who don't dive into nerdy analytics podcasts, per 75 numbers have become increasingly popular as a way to measure production. It equates to roughly 36 minutes of playing time while also adjusting for pace.
 
By the way, all credit to Udoka for getting the ball movement to improve. That was my biggest complaint about Stevens as a coach. But a lot of the credit also goes to the players. Grant Williams has gone from unplayable to a legit 3 and D piece. He's shooting 44% from three and 51% from the corners. Robert Williams has fully tapped into his potential to be one of the best defenders in the league. Having Horford back is huge. And Derrick White has been a good addition.
 
rome8180 said:
The Nets are done, imo. I would be far less surprised if the Celtics come out of the East. According to point differential, they're the best team in the East, seeding be damned.

Because I'm fully back on the Celtics bandwagon, here's a good video about them.

Click to expand...

Great video. Thinking Basketball has to be my favorite NBA media.

I loved Tatum's pass to the corner out of the double on his spin move. Such a quick reaction against a defensive play that often leads to turnovers.
 


Highest negative-impact volume player in league history. It’ll never not bother me he won the MVP over Harden that one year
 



Lakers should’ve traded everyone at the deadline. The value of each piece is so much more than the sum, that they could’ve probably gotten an overall decent return on LeBron and Davis. Wouldn’t Kuminga, Wiseman, Wiggins, high paid bodies and 3 heavily protected 1sts been enough for LeBron?
 
LeBron is as good as ever from a raw stats perspective. Both his FG% and 3pt% are slightly above his career averages. He's averaging the most points he has since 2009. He's shooting the second best 2pt percentage of his career. He's shooting 48% freaking percent on turnaround fadeaways.

The big difference is that for whatever reason his on-court impact is not the same. He's a +1.8 after being around +10 the previous two years. It's not just that his team is bad. Last year's team was bad. His early Cleveland teams were bad.
 
Grit said:
Jazz are annihilating the Trailblazers tonight. Beloved former Pelican Josh Hart is -51 in 26 minutes. If that holds, it would be the fourth worst all time.
Click to expand...
That's good to hear since the Pelicans lost Ingram the other night. He'll probably be out a couple weeks. They're awful without him. Got destroyed by the Grizzlies and just lost to the Magic at home. With him they're a .500 team or so.
 
rome8180 said:
The big difference is that for whatever reason his on-court impact is not the same. He's a +1.8 after being around +10 the previous two years. It's not just that his team is bad. Last year's team was bad. His early Cleveland teams were bad.
Click to expand...
It's the defense. Opponents are scoring 5 more points per 100 when LeBron's on the court than when he's off.

For the past 13 years or so, that's almost always gone the other way, from Lebron having a +2 to a +5 impact on defense. The only exceptions since 2008: His last year in Miami (2014), and his last year in Cleveland (2018).

Coincidence, or a deficit of fucks?
 
It's hard to parse out how much of that is LeBron just not trying, and how much of it is him playing in lineups with abysmal-to-bad defenders like Russ, Melo, and Monk.

The evidence for LeBron not trying comes when you look at AD's stats. He's still managed to be a big positive on defense despite playing with the same bad defenders. So has Dwight. And oddly, Melo's defensive impact is only slightly negative by the on/off numbers. And Monk's is actually a slight positive.
 
I think some of it is not trying, and another part of it is it may be legitimately hard to carry an offense and have any energy to bust your ass on defense on legs that have logged 52,000 NBA minutes (+11,000 more Playoff minutes).

As you broke down so well above, I don't think it's lineups.
 
LeBron knows winning games is immaterial, that this is a lost season. All that matters is continuing to output points in the race to beat Kareem's record.
 
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