The Basketball Thread

[Vesper 27,389]

9 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

New season starting tonight. 

I think Lakers are favourites again but interesting to see Nets with Durant. They may challenge them. 

 

[Vesper 27,389]

this is my favourite young player

Luka Dončić

just an insane passer and scorer, and he is only 21yo

 

[Johnnyeye 7,415]

Golden State Warriors are really bad, without Klay Thompson they lack shooting power, they lack proper shooters, Curry simply can't carry this team on his own.

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

I feel Nets will win it this season. They are so good now with Harden. They just beat two LA teams without Durant. 

Edited February 22, 2021 by NikkiCFC

[chippy 342]

I couldn't give a toss about Basketball, but just watched something on YouTube about Lebron James and what he said about another incident in Ohio. What a truly vile, hateful,  dangerous, race baiting, cop hating piece excriment he really is. Putting the life of a police officer at risk after the officer saved the life of a black woman about to be stabbed in the fucking head. 

So sad to see that country being torn apart like iit is.

 

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

On 02/01/2021 at 08:17, Johnnyeye said:

Golden State Warriors are really bad, without Klay Thompson they lack shooting power, they lack proper shooters, Curry simply can't carry this team on his own.

14th best score (8th on west) after regular season is good result for them I think. Lets see what they do now. Play off time!

[Johnnyeye 7,415]

11 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

14th best score (8th on west) after regular season is good result for them I think. Lets see what they do now. Play off time!

i admit i really underestimated Curry this season, i really like him, but i tought it would be too much for him this season, regardless of how great he is, because of his supporting cast without Klay. He did tear it up this season, he is playing at an mvp level, he just finished as the scoring champ of this regular season and carried the Warriors to the 8th seed, without him the Warriors would be a lottery team right now, that’s how good he is. Props to him ⛹🏻‍♂️🏀💪🔥

Edited May 18, 2021 by Johnnyeye

[nyikolajevics 2,440]

GSW got their shit together.. Not only curry but Andy Wiggins also. Lakers-Warriors will be tough.

 

Very interested where this season going. If everyone(especially Harden) is healthy and in form I think Nets is unstoppable, but Phoenix, Phila and Jazz also very good this year.

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

Will Harden be back this season?

[Vesper 27,389]

running the road 👊🏽

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

Only thing that could stop Nets from title are injuries. And now first Harden, and last night Irving down 😟

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

Hoping for LAC : Nets final with Leonard and Harden back. Would be fabulous. 

[Strike 6,985]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Hoping for LAC : Nets final with Leonard and Harden back. Would be fabulous. 

Same. Brilliant comeback yesterday

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

If Giannis plays I think Bucks should win this final.

[Vesper 27,389]

4 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

If Giannis plays I think Bucks should win this final.

Paul carries Suns past Giannis, Bucks in NBA Finals opener

https://www.espn.co.uk/nba/recap?gameId=401344135

PHOENIX -- — Chris Paul delivered an NBA Finals debut that was well worth his lengthy wait.

A few more games like this one, and the Suns might finally bring the championship to Phoenix.

Paul had 32 points and nine assists, Devin Booker scored 27 points and the Suns beat the returning Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks 118-105 on Tuesday night in Game 1.

Paul scored 16 points during a sensational third quarter that had Phoenix fans who waited 28 years to see the NBA Finals again screaming in delight.

“We’ve been building all season long for these moments,” Paul said. "We’re going to keep playing. This is just one game. We’ve got to stay locked in.”

Finally playing for the title in his 16th season, the star point guard has the Suns in the NBA Finals for only the third time, and it sure looked as if they could make this ending different than the other two.

 

Deandre Ayton added 22 points and 19 rebounds to continue his breakout stretch of play in his first postseason.

Antetokounmpo had 20 points and 17 rebounds after missing two games with a hyperextended left knee. Khris Middleton scored 29 points, but the Bucks will have to play from behind again after dropping Game 1 for the third straight series.

The series opener was the first NBA Finals game in Phoenix since Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls won their third straight championship here in Game 6 in 1993. The Suns, who came into the NBA with the Bucks in 1968, made their only other finals appearance in 1976.

They hadn’t even made the playoffs since 2010 and just two years ago were last in the Western Conference with a 19-63 record.

But Booker was already headed for stardom by then, and 2018 No. 1 pick Ayton has played at that level in the postseason. Paul has been steady as always since his arrival in an offseason trade.

Now 36 and a 10-time All-NBA selection, he is on the list of best players to never win a championship. It appeared he might never even get to play for one until Oklahoma City dealt him to a team of Suns on the rise, and he might be the final piece that takes them all the way to the top.

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

Congrats to Bucks!

[Vesper 27,389]

Luka Doncic puts 48 on the board for Slovenia.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/26/sports/luka-doncic-puts-48-on-the-board-for-slovenia.html

SAITAMA, Japan — Luka Doncic made his Olympic debut for Slovenia on Monday. He also made sure it was memorable.

Doncic, a two-time N.B.A. All-Star with the Dallas Mavericks, erupted for 48 points as Slovenia blew past Argentina, 118-100, in the first game of men’s basketball group play for both teams.

“He just destroyed us,” said Sergio Hernandez, the Argentina coach.

Doncic’s scoring binge tied him for the second most points ever in a game at the Olympics (Ed Palubinskas scored 48 points for Australia in 1976), and he probably would have broken the single-game record of 55 points, set by Oscar Schmidt of Brazil in 1988, had the game not been so lopsided.

In an act of benevolence, Doncic grabbed a seat on the bench when Slovenia was ahead by 26 points in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t care about the records,” Doncic said. “We had a win, and that’s what we came here for.”

Doncic, 22, is one of the game’s prodigies — he finished sixth in voting for the N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Award this season, one year after he finished fourth — and he has steadily gone about the business of lifting Slovenia into the global basketball conversation.

In late June, just a few weeks after the Mavericks closed out their season with a first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Doncic decamped to Lithuania to join his Slovenian teammates for an Olympic qualifying tournament. Slovenia won all four games to earn its first Olympic berth, and Doncic was dominant, averaging 21.3 points, 11.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds.

On Monday, he scored 31 points before halftime and shot 18 of 29 from the field overall. He also had 11 rebounds and 5 assists, though Hernandez seemed surprised when he glanced at the box score afterward: He could have sworn Doncic had finished with more assists. It was cold comfort.

It should be noted that Argentina is pretty good at basketball: The team claimed silver at the most recent world championships, in 2019, and won gold at the 2004 Olympics. Hernandez threw a smorgasbord of defenders at Doncic: some tall, some quick, some athletic. He turned them all into traffic cones.

“We tried everything we would’ve tried with a normal player, but he is not a normal player,” Hernandez said, adding: “He is the best player in the world, including the N.B.A. If there was any doubt in my mind, it is there no more.”

Asked about that assessment, Aleksander Sekulic, the Slovenian coach, said: “I fully agree.”

[NikkiCFC 7,607]

Good trade for both teams imo.