2018-19 NBA Thread

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Socnorb11
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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Honestly, I think NO gained some fans and respect by telling the Lakers to kick rocks. I didn't give the Pelicans much thought before last week, but now I'm wishing good things for them.

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lukethedrifter
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

Post by lukethedrifter »

And that’s a win for the Pels.

Socnorb11
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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Thanks for your valuable input again, luke! Enjoy your weekend!

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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Socnorb11 wrote:Hey 3....... what do you make of the James Harden thing. Impressive? Gross? Flukey?

I look at the box scores, and he's pretty regularly a negative (which isn't always a good indicator, I know). The guy's an incredible scorer, but I can't help but think that his team would be better if he'd just score within the flow of the game.
I feel about Harden the way Saigon feels about KD: I think he's the first villain in NBA history to win MVP and that he's likely to win another one this year. You know how Americans say they don't like soccer because their perception is that soccer players are a bunch of flopping crybabies? Or how some people (often, hilariously, Kobe/Lakers fans) say LeBron's not that great because he cries foul all the time? Harden blows both those arguments out of the water. He has the best step-back shot in NBA history, it's really remarkable, but I HATE that he leverages that to often jump into defenders in order to get foul calls. The most fun I had watching the NBA this year (aside from SAC-DEN this week) was the Lakers-Rox game in which LeBron, Lonzo played D with their hands behind their backs to make a point and still got called for fouls against Harden.

When Harden comes down the lane, lunges, and jerks his head back like he just got punched in the nose, despite there being no contact? That's a no-call, every time, or it's BS.

When Harden comes down the lane, gets cut off by a good defensive play, then armbars the defender and jumps so it looks like the defender is pulling him down? That's a no-call if we're being generous, but an offensive foul is most reasonable.

When a defender gets aggressive on a pick and slides in front of the pick-setter (usually Capela, when healthy) to cut Harden off from going left, and Harden just jumps into the defender in a faux-shooting motion? No-call at most generous, should be an offensive foul.

When Harden pump fakes a defender, or lures him in with the step-back, then jumps--not toward the basket, but to his right or left to make sure there is contact--that is a mothergrabbing offensive foul 100% of the time, and that shouldn't even be open for debate. When Harden is the instigator of contact that does not need to happen, and it's contact that is being drawn just for the sake of contact, the refs need to call that on Harden 1000 times out of 999. It's ridiculous that he goes to the line for those.

Take all that away from Harden. Take away the armbar, all the times he instigates contact and gets a foul called on his opponent instead, take away the generosity of calls when he jerks his head back like he's being punched, and not only does he not get the benefit of shooting all those bloody free throws, he also does not get to play with impunity the way the refs currently allow and his scoring and assists go down.

I [expletive] can't stand watching James Harden. He's the ugliest, lousiest, most BS great player in history. I think of his streak as uninteresting, flukey, and the kind of thing that puts him in a conversation with players he doesn't deserve to be mentioned with.

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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

Post by Socnorb11 »

Good take. I tend to agree.

The other thing is that he doesn't spend one ounce of energy playing defense (which is one reason why his team comes up short so often). If you don't defend AT ALL, you're going to have energy to do what you want to on the other end.

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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Socnorb11 wrote:Good take. I tend to agree.

The other thing is that he doesn't spend one ounce of energy playing defense (which is one reason why his team comes up short so often). If you don't defend AT ALL, you're going to have energy to do what you want to on the other end.
Yeah, I agree completely. The thing I like about basketball is the need to constantly switch gears athletically. You gotta get back on offense, get back on defense, get back on offense, and make plays on both ends. I love guys like Pascal Siakam of the Raptors and Motrezl Harrell of the Clippers and dozens of other guys who do that. Even three-and-D guys like PJ Tucker and Danny Green who, it's like, your job is to defend the opposing 2 or 3, then stand in a corner and knock down threes. They're not offensively outstanding but they're good enough on D and good enough at the one thing they have to do on O that I enjoy them. Someone like Harden, Carmelo even in his prime, Kobe, I don't really enjoy watching much. Those guys might as well have played football so they could just play half a game.

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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AD telling the media a bit ago that the Celtics are "on my list" and that he'd be intrigued about playing in New York for the Knicks completely opens up this whole scenario, and I'm kinda glad because while I'm all for the players having autonomy over their careers I'm not a huge fan of the whole thing with the tampering from Magic and Lebron and this supposed allure of Los Angeles that so far has only drawn....LeBron. Paul George talks were going for a while for Indy to ship him to Denver, but George said he wouldn't re-sign there so George went to OKC, the single [expletive] city in the NBA (ok, maybe it's Orlando) and then re-signed in OKC. If PG13 goes to Denver he might get the same bug there he got in OKC and stick around. He'd be awesome with Jokic and Blue Arrow. Anything that is salt in a Lakers wound I'm ok with.

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MrCrowesGarden
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

Post by MrCrowesGarden »

Hamidou Diallo GOT DAMN

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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Dennis Smith Jr. is shooting like 7.2% in his dunk contest career. What's the deal? Are his hands too small to hold on to the ball?

Diallo was awesome. That dunk over Shaq with his elbow hanging through the rim with the Superman undershirt was awesome. Just awesome.

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Thread

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Probably the most fun thing about all of Harden's antics is the history--recent but rich--of Harden and Joe Ingles.



See him snap his head back like he took a shot to the face from Ingles at the 0:04 mark, even though his face is many inches from Ingles and he's standing behind Ingles on D (a position Harden is frequently in on D)? [expletive] faker. No call from the ref, good job ref. See him then take the outlet pass and try to throw a hip into Jonas Jerebko? Cheap. Ref again no-calls it, wisely. See Harden then act like a petulant little beeyotch on the other end after the kick-ball call? See Harden then get tee-d up, pointing down the court pleading his case, possibly in reference to the non-punch to the face that he wanted a call for? Good job by the refs on every bit of this sequence, exactly what they should do. You get to see Harden say "don't F with me" to Ingles, who is full-on F-ing with Harden here, probably in part because....

Ingles was the victim of the most BS of all BS pro-Harden foul calls.

And Harden has a history of talking to Ingles on the floor.

And we will always have the time that Ingles brought Harden into the Jazz huddle and Harden walked away looking put out and kinda foolish/childish.

I set reminders for Jazz-Rox games on LeaguePass because I just want one little moment in every one when Joe Ingles gets under Harden's skin.
Last edited by 33anda3rd on February 17 19, 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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