( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

They've been terrible at the end of games for years (thinking of the especially painful Game 2 v. the Celtics a couple years ago). Some of it is construction in that they don't have a guy who can create his own shot off the dribble, which is what you want. But some of it is just terrible execution and/or coaching.

I am just so stunned how good Toronto is this year.

their defense is sick and offense good enough

to start the second half of the spurs game they ran a bunch of postups for embiid, and he scored on a few of them and i think passed out once for a 3. san antonio couldn't do anything against it.

then they got away from it and the spurs got back in the game and almost won. they'll be a tough out for boston if embiid is the best players for 5 or 6 games in a row. but what are the odds of that happening?

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, August 4, 2020 12:31 PM (thirty-four minutes ago)

yeah i'll take the under on that

the plan also goes out the window in any game where you can put fouls on embiid early

6' 6" nose tackles play at like 325-330... i think zion can hold 280-300 and jump around and be fine. he just needs to trade fat for muscle and get in better shape conditioning wise. i would be worried if we knew a. there were off court concerns about his work ethic or mentality b. he had something structurally or medically wrong w/ his knees. otherwise i'm willing to roll the dice on him making his body work in the longterm

The thing about being 300 pounds is that your knee ligaments don’t become bigger. This is why the only 300+ nba player who didn’t have a shortened career (or play himself out of the league) was Shaq

Here’s a question about his work ethic: there was a 4 month quarantine and he showed up out of shape
― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, August 4, 2020 1:34 PM (thirty-one minutes ago)

eh... he also missed most of "training camp" for some personal matter. i'm not going to judge him too harshly for being out of shape right now. people are really hysterical about him... i was just listening to the 1 day old windhorst/marks/goldsberry podcast and they're all talking about how zion shouldn't even be playing, he looks awful... meanwhile the same night he goes out and puts up 23-7-5 in 25 mins

you might be right about zion, he also levitates in the air unlike anyone who has ever carried that weight. the dude is not tractor traylor

On a summer camp field trip to NYC in 1998 a friend and I saw Tractor Traylor in the Nike store and exchanged "What's up"s. Our camp then went to see improv group Chicago City Limits that night and they based a long form sketch around it.

40 year old jamal crawford played 6 mins today before pulling his hammy ._.

Here’s a question about his work ethic: there was a 4 month quarantine and he showed up out of shape
― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, August 4, 2020 1:34 PM (thirty-one minutes ago)

eh... he also missed most of "training camp" for some personal matter. i'm not going to judge him too harshly for being out of shape right now. people are really hysterical about him... i was just listening to the 1 day old windhorst/marks/goldsberry podcast and they're all talking about how zion shouldn't even be playing, he looks awful... meanwhile the same night he goes out and puts up 23-7-5 in 25 mins

you might be right about zion, he also levitates in the air unlike anyone who has ever carried that weight. the dude is not tractor traylor

The reason Zion looks awful is the defense btw. Out of breath, zero effort

Bucks are gonna get roasted for this performance

You seem to have this idea that vertical leaping ability is correlated with longevity. I don’t think that’s true.
― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, August 4, 2020 3:17 PM (eight minutes ago)

no but i am saying that zion specifically leaps in a way that to me is totally unique... it's violent bcuz he's so big but also graceful and he appears light in the air. i dunno maybe his knees will become turkey meat but i'm just going with "zion is a 1 of 1 human"

Bucks are gonna get roasted for this performance

― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, August 4, 2020 3:18 PM (eight minutes ago)

i've been internally debating for 20 mins how concerned we should be by the bucks losing to the nets d league squad... even their second unit is getting played to even

i created a poll

2020 east bubble playoffs: bucks vs. the field

You ever just stop and think about Marvin bagley being picked over Doncic

lol its v v v funny and sad, wasnt it bc vlade had beef???

Yeah Vlade hates Luka’s dad

hahahahahahah

honestly, as soon as that story came out, they should have immediately fired vlade for letting his petty personal bullshit get in the way of saving their bum ass franchise. imagine fox and luka, good lord.

i feel bad for bagley, not only did he get sent to the nba development graveyard but he has to carry the burden of having been picked before luka. odds are really stacked against him

34-20-12-2 for luka

seems good

derrick white is avging 20-5-5 in the bubble, could be helpful for the spurs

guards playing a little more freely without LMA maybe?

a lot of that, a lot of pop prioritizing the development of their young guys. their starting lineup has been white-murray-lw4-demar-poeltl which is v small ball but is kinda working with keldon johnson as the 6th man. demar has actually played really well in this setup. tons of driving and kicking on O, lots of switching on perimeter D. poeltl is the perfect pick n roll complement for derrick as well.

spurs fans have been clamoring for this all year. no amount of losing seemed to dissuade pop but the pandemic + injuries to lyles, forbes, and aldridge have kinda forced his hand. and it's working.

feels a little like the fabled EWING THEORY

so many of these games have been awesome it's kind of insane

suns and clips throwing blows in crunch time rn

gonna finally watch a basketball game

devin booker buzzer beater fatality

TJ Warren is doing it again!!!

how do you get to be one of these virtual fans

family and friends of the team & team office from what i can tell

some virtual fan lady let her titties air out the other day

yikes

Grizzlies: Memphis F Jaren Jackson Jr., suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2020

this suns team is good. this shot was crazy.. reverse pivot over kawhi and pg and got fouled

DEVIN BOOKER FOR THE WIN.

pic.twitter.com/cuYWMiYvu7

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) August 4, 2020

heat looking crispy without jimmy butler this evening

xxp

shit thats pretty bad for the grizzlies playoff hopes. they have a 2 game lead over the competition, but they could easily lose it in the 6 games left.

that lead is meaningless anyway because 9 only needs to be w/in 4 games to trigger the play in

yeah true

from what i've seen of the griz losing jjj is it for them

for sure, he's amazing. that eighth seed is wide open

lol gordon hayward has been feisty inside the bubble

awesome bam game tonight

another incredibly competitive game overall

too many fouls

Yeah, Griz are done. I will lol eternally if someone other than NOP get in and the NBA diapers become soiled.

i wonder if the refs are getting psyched out by no fans