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

beginning to think the clippers curse is real

i think the competitiveness of this series is in the eyes of the beholder. the nuggets have shown well but at no point has the clippers spot in the west finals felt threatened to me.

― J0rdan S., Sunday, September 13, 2020 1:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

what do u have 2 say 4 urself friend

that this series is bordering on reflecting very poorly on the clippers!

I think it’s a sign that the nuggets are close to contending, personally

they don’t hand out trophies for winning second round series, even if the opponent is kawhi leonard

if the nuggets win this series my takeaway is that it's an enormous disaster for the clippers given what they gave up to put this team together. if the nuggets then lose 4-1 to the lakers i wouldn't judge them to be much closer to contention than before. i would certainly judge the clippers to be much further away tho.

i feel the nuggs actually matchup better with the lakers than the clips bc of their size, altho they dont have a "lebron stopper"

across their 13 playoff games in the bubble, the nuggets have a -36 scoring differential. like i said, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

beating the clippers in this series would be a great win for the franchise no doubt. my opinion is that it would reflect more poorly on the clippers overall but whatever. regardless, two insane 7 game series w/ a negative point differential (which they will have barring a 37 point game 7 win) makes for some memories but doesn't usually scream "contention," if my understanding of sports analytics is correct. but we shall see, that's why they play the games folks

as far as next year goes, the west will have lakers, clippers, warriors, nuggets, rockets, mavs, jazz, blazers, suns, grizz (i'm assuming okc drops off). could the nuggets make it to the west finals out of that group? it's conceivable. i also think it's conceivable they lose in the first round. so idk how closer i think they are to contention than i did 6 hours ago or before the bubble even began.

performance in the bubble may or may not be predictive of next season. it is a strange anomaly in many ways. but it is the best predictor we have to look at.

well we have no idea if that last part is true at all

lolclippers

if the nuggets win this series my takeaway is that it's an enormous disaster for the clippers given what they gave up to put this team together. if the nuggets then lose 4-1 to the lakers i wouldn't judge them to be much closer to contention than before. i would certainly judge the clippers to be much further away tho.

Guys, instead of butting heads about the current prospects of the Clippers, shouldn't we be figuring out how the Nuggets match up with the Celtics or Heat?

lol

it probably matters a little bit that of the clippers #3-#6 best guys, 3 of them haven't looked close to right in the bubble.

This has been a very evenly matched series between the best roster in the NBA and the denver nuggets.
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, September 13, 2020 5:14 PM (one hour ago)

i think we can agree on this point as it's a 3-3 series but come away w/ different conclusions about what it means for the future

you: the nuggets might have the best roster in the nba

me: oh my god the clippers might have like the 6th best roster in the nba

What

it probably matters a little bit that of the clippers #3-#6 best guys, 3 of them haven't looked close to right in the bubble.

harrell was never going to be able to guard jokic but i would attribute the fact that he’s sucked in general to showing up late and being out of shape.

even if you believe the nuggets to be on a relatively equal plane to the clippers, lakers, warriors -- which i don't -- you could still look at the west over the next 2-3 seasons and reasonably argue that the nuggets may never get as close to "contention" as they are right now heading into game 7 of the second round vs a wounded opponent on a neutral court. everyone just assumes linear progression w/ young teams.

sure you can argue against progression for the nugs but you can make a great argument for regression of many established stars e.g. lebron/kawhi/steph

lakers should have found a way to hang on to zubac imo

you can but by how much over the next few years? history tells us players of lebron, kawhi, steph's caliber are relevant in the title race into their mid 30s. and which other teams are also progressing along a linear timeline along w/ the nuggets? this is my problem w/ matt's contention that the nuggets are closer to being in contention (beyond the bubble). they can still get better and not really be all that much closer to contention. the west only projects to get more difficult.

warriors and blazers will be operating closer to full strength net season. this warriors season was pure loss, but steph and klay will rise again. these blazers are not title contenders, but they will win games and cause problems for other teams, albeit unevenly.

printing out all jordan’s posts about the nuggets from
the last two days on my toilet paper

jk love you boo
the nuggets will win the nba playoffs

I'm not sold on the Warriors bouncing back. Feel like they might miss the playoffs again next year

I am biased of course and I do think that the nuggs have probably played a little worse than their record in the playoffs (which is only 7-6), but I’m not sure I see jordan’s point that they see themselves in the same spot as other contenders in the west. they’re knocking at the door right now and their core is really young (and locked in), MPJ in particular seems poised to take a leap and I’m not sure another contender can really say the same about one of their young players? they seem to have more room to grow than the other upper-middle class teams

Jamal Murray is 23

porter jr. does change things for them a bit if he pans out. that would be unique for a team constructed like this.

it's great that murray is young age-wise but he's been in the league for 4 full years now. outside of going on insane heaters against favorable matchups i'm not sure there's *tons* of room for him to improve.i guess he could shoot better on a consistent basis. i don't think he's suddenly going to become more of a point guard.

If Murray shot the 3 better he’d be an elite scorer tho

he def still has room to grow

Murray seems motivated enough to put in the work and athletic enough that the work will pay off in expanding and sharpening his skills. He's not hit his ceiling, yet.

Number of minutes Heat's starting lineup of Dragic/Butler/DRob/Crowder/Adebayo vs. Celtics this season:

Zero.

Number of minutes Celtics' starting lineup of Walker/Smart/Brown/Tatum/Theis vs. Heat this season:

Zero.

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) September 14, 2020

Nuggets are +54 in this series with the Murray/grant/porter/Jokic lineups.

yeah it’s clear as day

no hoops tonight :(

season is winding down and we may not get it again til february...

winding down? when we still await the exciting, climactic NBA Finals where the Denver Nuggets hoopsters prevail in seven games over whoever comes out of the east?

celtics v nuggets would be the ilh bowl we deserve this

538 has the Celts at 59% to win the Finals...pretty wild, idk what’s driving that probability

prob cause they have marcus smart

did some digging on nba.com’s lineup data and in 87 minutes of torrey craig and paul millsap playing together, they’re -17.6 pts/100 possessions. if malone can’t figure this out it’ll be a shame

big night for ball

setting aside some time, yes

538 has the Celts at 59% to win the Finals...pretty wild, idk what’s driving that probability

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Monday, September 14, 2020 6:29 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

prob cause they have marcus smart

― lag∞n, Monday, September 14, 2020 7:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

nvm he just forced a few bad shots straight