2021-22 NBA "REGULAR" SEASON THREAD

love october basketball

oh dear. pic.twitter.com/rtLnVvx6Ey

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 28, 2021

Love that they’re all getting a kick out of it tho

beals whole existence in dc is so chill

Nate Duncan added two more harden plays to that tweet. Yikessss

gonna take him a minute to unlearn that stuff lol

This is the greatest call in NBA history. https://t.co/OD7YxpHGc4

— Ben Taylor (@ElGee35) October 28, 2021

beautiful

Bless

that’s a bad call imo

what on earth pic.twitter.com/jpz8BsAdnu

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 28, 2021

melo never retire friend

Another one

Harden has Bam beat, tries to draw the foul instead of making a play. Refs ain't biting. At least the 4th time tonight. pic.twitter.com/c6gtIK4mF1

— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) October 28, 2021

dame is 33% from the floor and 17% from three 4 games in they should've traded dame

feel like we should just circle back to the lakers losing to OKC

zach lowe kinda mentioned this in his recent podcast but man it really does feel like the nets need kyrie. patty mills was a good signing but there’s a lot to be desired with the bulk of their rotation. even joe harris just kinda floats through games a lot of the time

Having harden play like himself would help in the interim

I am loving the FUCK out of this Cavs team. Sexton has been absolutely balling out, Mobley looks to be for real, and J.B. Biggerdick is the best coach we’ve ever had. I can’t believe there was serious chatter at the end of last season about possibly canning him.

let’s revisit this post in 2 months

anfernee simons looking pretty good this year

Nets lose, Clippers lose (to Cavs), Lakers lose (to Thunder). You love to see it

Just put Jaden McDaniels on an All-Defensive team now. Absurdly special solo weak side defense. pic.twitter.com/wsABxTKWpI

— Tyler Metcalf (@tmetcalf11) October 28, 2021

Feel like things have changed for the cavs because of this guy. Amazing talent

Evan Mobley was incredibly dominant on defense tonight. He deterred and affect so many shots.

A sampling I promise is worth the watch: pic.twitter.com/Qs82fdYKGT

— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) October 28, 2021

I like how bickerstaff has gotten the team to buy into the markannen small forward thing. It’s not optimal and they are just doing it because Love has two years left on his deal but they’re making it work.

you have to admire the triple towers if nothing else

That video is great. Dude just waits and waits and never over commits which is rare for a rookie.

yeah mobley is incredible

The rare rookie big who’s immediately impactful

I've seen Harden get his dribble picked out top multiple times this year after it happened roughly zero times in the previous decade. https://t.co/mnyXrNuc3D

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) October 28, 2021

he looks broken

in 5 games, harden's numbers so far:

16.6/7/8 on .359/.333/.933 splits with 4.6 turnovers a game

i know hes got a lot of shotmaking ability, but ive never seen someone go down to rule changes this bad

broken feels strong to me but he does seem to be lacking explosiveness... his first step is still quick enough where he can get by guys most of the time on the perimeter but he doesn't feel incredibly threatening once that happens. have to assume he's easing his way into the season but who knows. i feel like given what we know about what harden gets up to in the offseason maybe being on a team where everyone just knows going into the season that the first like 5 months or whatever essentially don't matter plays into his bad habits...

there's as many or more instances per game of harden scoring like james harden as there are him baiting for a foul and not getting it, it's all the in between stuff that is more puzzling, like you just haven't really feel his presence out there all that much. i think he needs to shoot more

prob some combination of rust being out of shape/coming off of injury and adjusting to the new rules, not a great place to start tho could easily spiral into being banged up and out of rhythm all year, feel like were also seeing a lot of guys struggling to care as much as they used to which of course is also a larger cultural phenomenon a lot of people are going through

excpet the heat who have come out vs the bucks and nets like they're in game 7 of the finals lmao

heat got embarrassed last year they seem hungry

adding lowry and tucker to jimmy and bam is like nuclear levels of “culture”

James Harden is 32 and his off court lifestyle is pretty debauched so maybe that’s part of what’s going on here

yeah. i don’t think he looks out of shape exactly just kinda sluggish and unengaged. i feel like they should involve him more as a shooter off the ball

lol harden moving without the ball... in 2021? not happening

he shot a catch and shoot three the other day for the first time in probably years

yeah i’m not even talking about him flying off screens but just like… spacing and shooting. but i guess if he’s doing that then what’s the point of joe harris

I have to say that as someone who thought harden would be a 6th man I do feel that there’s some evidence that the whole “James Harden thing” was mostly the corruption of NBA rules

thought he as supposed to be the best scorer of our generation

James Harden is 32 and his off court lifestyle is pretty debauched so maybe that’s part of what’s going on here

there's definitely a pattern in pro sports where great players suddenly turn mediocre in their early 30s and every time it happens people are shocked

not saying that's what's happening here, for all we know Harden is just using these early season games to see what he can and can't do anymore, but it wouldn't be unprecedented

in basketball at least barring injury it tends to be more of a slow decline for stars, like if harden was this bad all year it would be an unprecedented drop off

yeah this is a purely anecdotal theory but i feel like if you’re an all time level NBA guard who hasn’t suffered any sort of career altering injury you have a really good shot at being useful into your 30s. moreso than prob any other group of pro athletes just in terms of wear and tear, physical strain on the body

the suns look like they are on a finals hangover. but they arent old and proven enough to have that last very long. bucks are now in the zone where they turn it on only if they have to and some nights theyll get steamrolled outta nowhere. clippers are off to a very weird start... are they even a playoff team without kawhi?

the bulls start is cuet but theyre about to embark on a hellish three-week schedule

suns kings was a cool game and harry bs game winner was cold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8aIEfTnWJo

nice shot