NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

bubble wasnt normal and this season isnt normal

true

bubble was excusable even admirable tbh but this year giving teams less time to practice before and during the season is not great, they really were just trying to get it over with which from a business perspective fine, but the basketball has suffered

i wldnt really blame the celtics struggles on that tho, they lost hayward and have had a bunch of injuries, and their depth was very poor before all that

There was some officiating in the past two Nuggets games that was kind of embarrassing. Not like biased or anything but just incompetent. The whole season has this loose feel.

yeah it does

im sure the players are generally not performing at their very highest level what with *gestures* all this

good year for some team to fuck around and win. like the league-leading jazz.

yeah if i were them id go ahead and win, great opportunity

kinda funny theyre clicking what with having the big virus drama

right now i’m not sure we have any reason to believe this year is more “real” than the bubble & honestly i might argue the opposite

i’m wondering how much the lack of offseason is affecting those three teams

right now i’m not sure we have any reason to believe this year is more “real” than the bubble & honestly i might argue the opposite

― J0rdan S., Thursday, February 18, 2021 11:40 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

agree w/this

i’m wondering how much the lack of offseason is affecting those three teams

― J0rdan S., Thursday, February 18, 2021 11:41 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

im sure the answer isnt not at all

also bubble had a compressed schedule and this season has a compressed schedule so its a short offseason with more games than usual on either side

true

also anthony davis is having some sort of achilles issue...

i haven’t watched the celtics or nuggets as closely but the heat have just looked raggedy and kinda out of it all season

i have watched the celtics and nuggets and raggedy and kinda out of it pretty much captures it

most notably the celtics have been at least a good defensive team the whole brad stevens era and they are just a mess on that end this year

Bucks are another one, they haven't looked like themselves since the bubble started really

feel like the bucks are experimenting a bit this season? probably a good idea.

new players, good chance to explore the studio space

Cam Reddish on the ASG coming to Atlanta: "I don't know if it's the greatest thing on the planet, but can't hurt. Good luck."

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) February 18, 2021

lmao

somehow the banged-up Blazers are three full games ahead of the Nuggets. Dame has been ripping it up lately.

dame gonna murder luka next time they meet up

crazy it went to the fan vote on the tie instead of like... team wins

Luka has been better tbh

Luka has been better tbh

What you're calling honesty is just another ILH opinion. It's not an easy comparison. The Mavs aren't very good and Luka handles the ball constantly, carrying nearly the whole load of their offense. Even with Nurkic and McCollum hurt, Dame has still run the Blazer offense very smoothly and efficiently and he gives up the ball early and often.

imo, Dame asserts control over games in ways Luka doesn't -- or should I say, tbh?

their stats are pretty close except dame shoots significantly better from three and the line, dame leads the league in game winning shots, dallas sucks ass while portland is good despite missing their 2 best players who aren't dame, tbh

guess we know the answer as to whether a euro can be a nba celebrity now

There are growing indications that if you remove Ant Davis from the current Lakers roster, they may regress to become rather similar to the playoff-evading Lakers of Lebron's first season.

funny how taking a top 10 player off a team will do that

Which is why the hot take I've seen expressed, that the Lakers should just sit AD for the rest of the season and wait for the playoffs seems bad to me.

i don't think that is horrible take, the Lakers have proven they can win on the road so home court is not super important to them in the offs.

match ups matter but if you don't have a healthy AD at that point it won't make a difference

they should rest him for as long as it takes to get healthy

Max and I will continue our discussion of the NBA's 20-21 "asterisk season" tonight, but as Celtic fans freak about the 14-14 record, this is noteworthy;

17 of the league's 30 teams are within 5 games of .500

Last year at this exact point of the season?

There were only 4.

— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) February 19, 2021

they should rest him for as long as it takes to get healthy

that seems like the most sensible 'take', compared to just putting him on a shelf until the offs, without reference to his recovery.

the year of living normally

Rockets-Pacers game Saturday in Houston is being postponed due to continued government shutdown because of severe weather conditions, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 19, 2021

One of those Jamal Murray nights holy shit

Has a guard ever gone 18/21 from the field?

As of a couple minutes ago Philly had 63 total points. Embiid had 30 of them.

20/23!!!

Murray has attempted... 0 free throws.

Feel like 3 or 4 records of note just got set by murray

Basketball reference doesn’t let us do these searches anymore right? I mean how many times has this happened

Most points ever without a ft attempt

This is the best I've ever seen Embiid look. So much power and footwork. This stepback to ice the game late was pretty sweet:

Joel Embiid with a ridiculous stepback jumper -- and potential dagger -- to give him 49 points, tying a career-high. 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/TuApQabvHK

— The Comeback (@thecomeback) February 20, 2021