The Official Around the NBA: March 2019 edition

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Grizz almost blew it, but they pulled it off. Good night for Portland, with the Rockets, Spurs and (likely) the Thunder all going down.

LOL at HOU fans on RealGM bitching about the NBA being rigged - in MEM's favor. Their offense is dependent on their star player leading the league in FT attempts*. Yet they constantly bitch about the officiating and the league being rigged against them.

* Harden 747 FTA, Giannis 611 FTA, Embiid 576 FTA, no one else at more than 500 FTA.
 
Between Toronto's stupidity and the refs being ....refs....Toronto blows it's lead. Wrong guys taking the big shots is never a good idea.This game is in OT too
 
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LOL at HOU fans on RealGM bitching about the NBA being rigged - in MEM's favor. Their offense is dependent on their star player leading the league in FT attempts*. Yet they constantly bitch about the officiating and the league being rigged against them.

* Harden 747 FTA, Giannis 611 FTA, Embiid 576 FTA, no one else at more than 500 FTA.
Its amazing to me Embiid is that high it seems like he’s missed quite a bit of time.
 
So, they are intentionally forfeiting HCA and risking slipping to 8th and facing FSW. Wow, they must REALLY want to play DEN in the first round.

BNM
Personally I think their schedule got tough and RW can't keep his attitude in check, kind of the same ol' OKC, lots of talent but you're never quite sure what's going on in their heads.
 
Personally I think their schedule got tough and RW can't keep his attitude in check, kind of the same ol' OKC, lots of talent but you're never quite sure what's going on in their heads.

Actually, this is an even worse version of the same ol' OKC. Westbrook's decision making and shooting are worse than ever. He used to thrive on contact. Now, he settles for jump shots (never his strength) because he's lost all confidence in his FT shooting. Two years ago, he attempted 10.4 FT/G and made 8.8. This year, he's down to 6.4 and 4.2. He's actually averaging career highs in both REB/G and AST/G, but his PER is down almost 10 points - all because of his poor shooting.

That was masked earlier in the season because Paul George carried them to a great record against an incredibly weak schedule and Russ was averaging his usual triple-double. Now that the competition has gotten tougher and PG13 has come back down to earth, we are seeing the real OKC. I predicted this back in December and Russ has proven me right - yet again.

BNM
 
Actually, this is an even worse version of the same ol' OKC. Westbrook's decision making and shooting are worse than ever. He used to thrive on contact. Now, he settles for jump shots (never his strength) because he's lost all confidence in his FT shooting. Two years ago, he attempted 10.4 FT/G and made 8.8. This year, he's down to 6.4 and 4.2. He's actually averaging career highs in both REB/G and AST/G, but his PER is down almost 10 points - all because of his poor shooting.

That was masked earlier in the season because Paul George carried them to a great record against an incredibly weak schedule and Russ was averaging his usual triple-double. Now that the competition has gotten tougher and PG13 has come back down to earth, we are seeing the real OKC. I predicted this back in December and Russ has proven me right - yet again.

BNM
Great post, but you should tag @ThePosterFormerlyKnownAsTheHCP in it. Every time he posts about Westbrook he says something about that "Boob guy" not being around to tell him why Westbrook isn't good.
 
Great post, but you should tag @ThePosterFormerlyKnownAsTheHCP in it. Every time he posts about Westbrook he says something about that "Boob guy" not being around to tell him why Westbrook isn't good.

I told him back in December this was going to happen. He didn't listen to me then, why would he listen to me now?

I also told him the Blazers would have a better record than his Lakers. Again he failed to see the light and kept predicting #40wins for the Blazers. The Blazers are sitting on 44 wins (with 11 games to go) and 13 games head of his Lakers.

I tried, but there is just no educating some people.

BNM
 
OKC dropped down to 8th in standings

and it was a little over a week ago some on here said we were facing doom and gloom by losing to OKC. Guess that sure turned around quickly.
 
and it was a little over a week ago some on here said we were facing doom and gloom by losing to OKC. Guess that sure turned around quickly.
Not necessarily because of where we stand in relation to OKC, however. More because of how that loss affects our record in relation to Denver, Houston, Utah, and even San Antonio.
 
and it was a little over a week ago some on here said we were facing doom and gloom by losing to OKC. Guess that sure turned around quickly.
My problem is and it might not even be reality is that I feel like the Blazers have struggled to win close games and make plays in the clutch to win those type of games. Maybe the numbers don't pan out, but it seems like the Blazers have lost a lot of games like that OKC game, close down to the wire just need to make a few plays at the end of the game to win it. Could just be that those losses are magnified I don't know.
 
Not necessarily because of where we stand in relation to OKC, however. More because of how that loss affects our record in relation to Denver, Houston, Utah, and even San Antonio.

Unless you expected the Blazers to win out at that time, it was simply one loss to a team that has now sunk to the bottom of the playoff pool. Houston lost to Memphis last night and is facing some tough games coming up as well. Anyone with common sense should realize that there would be some losses. The main goal is to have less losses than the other teams so can't put too much emphasis on one game.
 
My problem is and it might not even be reality is that I feel like the Blazers have struggled to win close games and make plays in the clutch to win those type of games. Maybe the numbers don't pan out, but it seems like the Blazers have lost a lot of games like that OKC game, close down to the wire just need to make a few plays at the end of the game to win it. Could just be that those losses are magnified I don't know.

According to the NBA, POR is 19-16 with a +0.1 point differential in "clutch" games (games within 5 points with under 5 minutes to play).

They haven't been good at coming from behind in close games, but on the other hand, the previous DAL game was the only time all season they blew a 4th quarter lead and lost the game. When it comes to the 4th quarter, POR has been more consistent than any team in NBA history. Basically, what they do in the 4th quarter is consistent with what they did in the first 3.

I think the lack of come from behind wins makes it seem like they are losing more close games than they actually are.

BNM
 
According to the NBA, POR is 19-16 with a +0.1 point differential in "clutch" games (games within 5 points with under 5 minutes to play).

They haven't been good at coming from behind in close games, but on the other hand, the previous DAL game was the only time all season they blew a 4th quarter lead and lost the game. When it comes to the 4th quarter, POR has been more consistent than any team in NBA history. Basically, what they do in the 4th quarter is consistent with what they did in the first 3.

I think the lack of come from behind wins makes it seem like they are losing more close games than they actually are.

BNM
That's a good point they do almost always win if they have the lead coming into the 4th.
 
and it was a little over a week ago some on here said we were facing doom and gloom by losing to OKC. Guess that sure turned around quickly.

They swept the series against us this season. That's the doomiest and gloomiest scenerio possible.
 
Also calling OKC a true 8th seed is a misnomer. They're a half game behind being tied for 5th.
 
They swept the series against us this season. That's the doomiest and gloomiest scenerio possible.

and it's looking to be irrelevant right now as they look to be hugging that 8th seed. Love to see them face GSW in the first round.
 
That's a good point they do almost always win if they have the lead coming into the 4th.

It's annoying that the 3rd stringers seem to allow opponents in game where the Blazers are up by 20+ points, but at least POR seems to hold on in win those games, even if it hurts their margin of victory rating.

I still get nervous when an opponent goes on a run and starts to mount a 4th quarter comeback, but I also miss those exciting come from behind Blazers victories. As a whole, the Blazers have made the 4th quarter largely irrelevant this season, which has made for some boring end of game situations.
 
According to the NBA, POR is 19-16 with a +0.1 point differential in "clutch" games (games within 5 points with under 5 minutes to play).

They haven't been good at coming from behind in close games, but on the other hand, the previous DAL game was the only time all season they blew a 4th quarter lead and lost the game. When it comes to the 4th quarter, POR has been more consistent than any team in NBA history. Basically, what they do in the 4th quarter is consistent with what they did in the first 3.

I think the lack of come from behind wins makes it seem like they are losing more close games than they actually are.

BNM

Another factor is that in today's NBA and all the 3 point shooting close games can break open into a 10 point margin rather quickly with a few key makes as well as the trips to the free throw line in a close game that can stretch out to 8-10 points so it doesn't look like a close game and sometimes happens in reverse where a team closes the gap with a couple made threes that takes a 10 point win down to 3-4 points so it looks like a close game. It would really take some dissecting to really know how teams compare in close games.
 
It's annoying that the 3rd stringers seem to allow opponents in game where the Blazers are up by 20+ points, but at least POR seems to hold on in win those games, even if it hurts their margin of victory rating.

I still get nervous when an opponent goes on a run and starts to mount a 4th quarter comeback, but I also miss those exciting come from behind Blazers victories. As a whole, the Blazers have made the 4th quarter largely irrelevant this season, which has made for some boring end of game situations.
This is perfectly fine by me. This is what good teams do.

BTW, a reflective stat for this has been Dame and Nurk's on/off +/- currently at +16 per 100 possessions for both of them. Which is ridiculous and in the MVP territory. It's also an indication of how crappy our bench has been even while putting up good raw numbers. Dame/Nurk build leads, the bench gives it away.
 

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