2023/24 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "THANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

turner crossed so far out of the play he went and guarded someone else

Tatum put Turner on ice skates 😳
pic.twitter.com/EZMQCyalQu

— 𝐽𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑦 (@CelticsValid) January 7, 2024

Embiids never get his eyes on the (right) prize

Very glad that he played in the fourth quarter of a blowout last night to extend the 30-10 streak despite injuring his knee and ankle earlier in the game. Great stuff all around. https://t.co/uWodGnu0ih

— Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) January 7, 2024

Weird that Al Horford's career game-high is only 34 points.

weird al horford

this game is kinda nuts guys flying around and whatnot

good tatum game

Embiids never get his eyes on the (right) prize

― infinite wiggles (Spottie), Saturday, January 6, 2024 8:36 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

does he know if he keeps missing games hell be ineligible for the mvp

bucks down 20 to the rockets at the half

Nesmith tweaked his ankle last night, hope he doesn't try to go too hard against the Celtics.

― ヽ（´ー｀）┌ (CompuPost), Saturday, January 6, 2024 7:05 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

nesmith only knows how to go hard

― lag∞n, Saturday, January 6, 2024 7:10 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

he did go too hard

Sixers 3P shooting has been abysmal lately. Even Maxey has come back to earth.

harder without the big man playing

bucks giving off losing in the first round to the knicks energy

8th game embiid’s missed out of 35

he's on pace to become mvp ineligible

Not just Embiid; their starting 5 were:

Maxey
Oubre
Morris
Batum
Reed

first game hali was out kinda meaningless, tho it was i think the biggest blowout of the year, celtics were playing rugged yesterday real physical getting after it, a playoff style game, lot of indys fastbreak opps got taken away, there can be a bit of an illusion with great offensive teams that do a lot of running

The Indiana Pacers have the best offense in NBA history.

Only twice in 35 games this year have they been held to 1 point per possession or less.

You guessed it...it's been Boston both times. pic.twitter.com/lLlOunFdNC

— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) January 7, 2024

top offensive teams from threes and dunks, celtics and nugs play slow, built for the offs

https://i.imgur.com/Oixoyzk.png

Pacers need to try and avoid Boston in the playoffs at all costs

east is gonna be tough this year, feel like theres seven or eight teams that are second round quality, guess thats the new parity nba, good stuff tbh

pacers ultimately, i think everyone know this its obvious, need a second star, doesnt need to happen this year but they do need to get another guy

what we need is a pacers-bucks series

bucks have the shortest defensive possession length, yikes

i think i understand now why indy went 4-1 against them

top offensive teams from threes and dunks, celtics and nugs play slow, built for the offs

https://i.imgur.com/Oixoyzk.png

― lag∞n, Sunday, January 7, 2024 2:55 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also neither offense relies on free throw shooting

i would like to retire the "greatest offense in nba history" line, its wack

yeah its absurd

also neither offense relies on free throw shooting

― truly humbled underdog (k3vin k.), Sunday, January 7, 2024 3:25 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ya good point

the nuggets offensive infrastructure is super interesting in particular, they’re bottom 5 in free throw rate AND free throw percentage, bottom 5 in three point rate…they just pass a lot, never turn it over, and make shots

passing a lot and never turning it over is a trick for sure

celtics just take a lot of threes lol

have a hard time believing that anything the nuggets do on the floor this season matters at all, i think they showed the other night vs the warriors that they're in total switch flipping mode this whole year

the nuggets are providing the NBA a great gift this season in not caring enough that people can have conversations about "west contenders" that carry enough of a veneer of plausibility that you don't immediately tune it out. but who are we kidding

imo theyd be wise to flip the switch before too long considering personnel changes from last year, they need to get their reserves up to speed, but theyre playing pretty good anyway, especially when theyve had all their guys

agreed that theyre far and away the west faves tho

can peyton watson hit threes when completely ungaurded is like the one even remotely interesting question w/ them but even still he's going to be unguarded in the playoffs by default so we'll see what happens when the time comes i guess

yeah on paper theyre prob not as good as last year due to said bench turnover, but might make up for it in championship rizz

the warriors were putting up a vintage chase center game arena rocking here we come we're back on track and the nuggets main guys were like "ok we care about this game now" and erased like a 16 point lead in 3 mins, it was just a stark reminder to me that they can push that button w/ ease and i don't think any other team in the west will be able to do much about it

saw a stat that was like the warriors didnt hit a shot closer than ten feet in the 4 quarter

Hence the weirdness about Kerr not playing Kuminga

its true that he is much better at dunking than chris paul

As things stand right now the only west conference teams with a chance to push the nuggets during the 'offs are the wolves and maybe OKC, though it would be pretty crazy if the nuggs duplicated their playoff run from last year. That run was incredible.

the only team that matches up decently w/ denver on paper is the t wolves and they're the t wolves. so like...

would like to see joker torture rudy for a series

okc should pick up a center imo, kind of a weird sitch tho cause playing chet at center most of the time is the right move but youd like a bigger guy for playing vs other big guys, but then youre gonna what get a starting quality center but not start him most of the time

they could definitely do with another bench big with a bit more size

i wouldnt be quite so bullish about the nuggets, the roster downgrade from last season is real. could be an issue if gordon forgets how to shoot again

i think i feel the opposite way. the roster downgrade amounts to bruce brown & jeff green and nothing that happened in the playoffs last year indicated that any team was the subtraction of bruce brown & jeff green away from beating them

okc has approximately one kazillion draft picks they could use as trade bait for a bench upgrade. i wonder if they'll use some of them this season before the deadline

https://i.imgur.com/kepemjP.png

if you don't have a big 4 who can guard aaron gordon in the post you can't beat denver but also if that 4 can't shoot or otherwise fucks your offense you can't beat them either. aka i don't think you can actually try and find a second center. not a lot of players out there who fit the bill