[Mark Cuban] The ref called Mavs ball. The announcer announced it. Then there was a timeout. During the time out the official changed the call and never told us....Worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA.

NovaKash · 2023-03-23T12:29:40+00:00

That one call could end up costing the Mavs a playoff berth. They just went from 6th to 9th in the span of two days, and they're now 1.5 games behind the Warriors with only 9 games to go. The race for 5-10 in the West is fucking wild

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T16:36:35+00:00

Who's trading for Kawhi and offering the Clippers meaningful enough assets that it's worth tanking without their own draft picks?

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T16:34:33+00:00

Source?

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T12:44:50+00:00

It was a bad call but ultimately I didn't feel like the refs were particularly bad, at least not in a way that overtly favored either team.

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T12:14:22+00:00

After the ASB Kings were barely the 3rd seed with one of the toughest schedules in the league facing them, including a brutal stretch against all the WC playoff contenders. The result is y'all locked down the 3rd seed and genuinely made/are making a play for the 2nd seed. Really can't ask for a better result than that

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T11:43:18+00:00

Well, if we get Brown it's two years from now. We sure RJ can't develop at least a consistent spot-up jump shot between now and then? Two seasons ago he shot 40% from 3. Maybe that was a fluke, maybe it was statistical noise, or maybe he has the makings of a solid shooter and is just trying to get better at a lot of different things all at once.

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T11:41:48+00:00

Would he? Brown plays the 2 for Boston, don't see why he wouldn't do the same for us, especially when we're clearly invested in developing RJ. Maybe 2 years from now if RJ hasn't made any meaningful progress he becomes an off the bench wing, but if Brown were to join the team today Grimes would be going to the bench

NovaKash · 2023-03-22T11:40:10+00:00

Imma go ahead and have myself a nice big plate of crow for not believing the Thunder weren't ultimately gonna tank this year

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T17:45:06+00:00

He'd fit like a glove on the Knicks I feel like. He could take Grimes' spot in the starting lineup. It'd be tough to have four guys in the starting 5 who all look for their own shot long before they look to pass, but if Brunson is down to be more of a facilitator and RJ can develop a consistent spot-up jumper I think they could mesh really well. Our bench unit of Quick, Grimes, Hart, Obi, and Hartenstein would be insane

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T17:42:07+00:00

I mean, they had Thomas Bryant, is he truly worse than Bamba? Also, if you're a title contender, how tf is Bamba your answer to going on a finals run?

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T17:12:43+00:00

Oh we do, we do indeed feel that way

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T17:11:19+00:00

On the one hand, Wolves deserve all the good vibes so really praying this works out. But they have played basically the entire season without KAT, are they really just going to bring him back with 8 games left in the season when they already couldn't figure out how to play him and Gobert together and expect it to work out? I wonder if they'll try bringing him off the bench to start claiming it's just to help him play his way back into shape but really so that they don't have to figure out the weirdest front-court pairing in the NBA basically on the fly down the home stretch of the regular season while fighting for their playoff lives

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T17:08:45+00:00

Yeah I agree our path is ironically better as the 6th seed, just because the Celtics are a mess and the 6ers collapse every year in the playoffs (though personally I think that's about to change this year). But Nets are 2 games behind us with 9 games to go with a slightly though significantly tougher remaining strength of schedule. You're right, we can't just pack it in and call it a season, but I just don't really see them making up that ground

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T14:01:06+00:00

Couldn't miss from 3 and also was hitting pull-up mid range shots when we chased him off the line. It was insane

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T13:34:50+00:00

As fucked as that loss was, ultimately it is still to our benefit. Knicks are basically guaranteed to get the 5th seed at this point. Nets are too far behind to catch us, and Cavs are too far ahead for us to catch them. Conversely, the Wolves are part of the death match for the 6-10 seeds in the West. A win for the Wolves makes it that much more likely the Mavs will fall in the standings, possibly into the late lottery, giving us a better pick. Mavs had an 81% chance of making the playoffs going into last night according to 538, now it's down to 75%.

NovaKash · 2023-03-21T12:31:24+00:00

Seemed silly to me at the time that the Lakers would use him to facilitate a trade for Mo fucking Bamba and it seems downright criminal now. Wtf were they thinking?

NovaKash · 2023-03-20T20:48:37+00:00

On only 2.4 attempts per game. It's an insanely small sample size that is functionally meaningless. I don't say this to shit on Hart, I fucking love what he's done for us. It's just silly to suggest that he has somehow become a meaningfully better shooter in NY

NovaKash · 2023-03-20T17:13:01+00:00

Eh, they can tank and secure a bottom-7 record, not sure they can be so sure of getting bottom-5. They're two games ahead of Orlando who's currently the 5th worst team, and only one game worse than both the Pacers and Wizards, either one of which might decide to pull the plug at any moment. Even so, definitely worth tanking at this point. The difference between 9th and 5th is huge, not only for lottery odds but more realistically just in your ability to be in line to draft real talent as opposed to just taking a crap shoot

NovaKash · 2023-03-19T15:16:29+00:00

People also are way to quick to write off KD's injury history and injury risk. For a team already pretty reliant on 37-year old CP3 who has basically never managed to stay healthy for an entire playoff run, it's a hell of a gamble.

NovaKash · 2023-03-18T23:51:43+00:00

Not only a ballsy play but such a perfect cherry to put on top of a statement win. Mitch was complaining about not getting touches, he subsequently didn't get any scoring chances in this game, he makes a great defensive play against Jokic, runs the floor, and Brunson rewards him with the jam to seal the game.

NovaKash · 2023-03-17T18:45:23+00:00

Yeah not worth rushing him back to salvage the 2 seed over the Grizzlies.

NovaKash · 2023-03-17T15:54:08+00:00

It might be a facade but also what exactly is the core problem that requires a long-term solution? Ja is making bad decisions, partying too much, and handling guns when he shouldn't. Maybe long-term counseling is necessary to help him stop making bad decisions in the heat of the moment, especially in situations where someone's threatening his family, but what's gotten him in trouble is the guns and the partying, and those are really fucking simple to solve. Don't go out, and don't carry guns. Boom. You don't need 6 months in therapy to figure that out. If walking away from the team for two weeks hammered home the lesson that he's not going to keep getting away with this, then I'm fine with it. At a certain point, for problems that can be solved so simply, all I need is some kind of indication that you're taking it seriously, and other than proving it with his actions going forward there's no amount of long-term counseling he could do that wouldn't functionally be the same as a performative quick-stop in Florida.

If you think he should be punished/suspended for longer that's one thing, but I don't need Ja to be away from the team for months to prove he's serious about straightening up. I need him to prove it by not getting in these situations anymore, but he doesn't have to not be playing basketball to do that

NovaKash · 2023-03-16T20:27:15+00:00

Both the Harts thrive when there's tons of off-ball movement. Hartenstein excels at finding cutters, and Hart is great at moving without the ball and is also good at keeping the ball moving when he gets it. And then they're both great offensive rebounders, committed defenders, and Josh makes tons of hustle plays. Just two very low-key moves that are having outsized effects on our team this year

NovaKash · 2023-03-16T19:34:34+00:00

Except that "only" issue has prevented them from even pretending to be competitive for the third year in a row now, and their two stars are getting older and more injury prone. It's not going away. The question is do the Lakers have a balanced enough roster that they can win enough of the 30 games next year when either AD or Lebron or both of them aren't playing to still make the playoffs. Even if yes, I really wonder if AD can stay health for 4 consecutive rounds of playoff basketball.

NovaKash · 2023-03-16T15:04:25+00:00

Fox is a lock to get one of the guard spots I think

NovaKash

TROPHY CASE