*~*~* 2022 PLAY-IN GAMES THREAD *~*~*

Play-In Tournament Schedule

Tuesday, April 12

Game 1: (8) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets (7 ET, TNT)
Game 2: (8) LA Clippers vs. (7) Minnesota Timberwolves (9:30 ET, TNT)
Winners earn 7th seeds and advance to NBA playoffs

Wednesday, April 13

Game 3: (10) Charlotte Hornets vs. (9) Atlanta Hawks (7 ET, ESPN)
Game 4: (10) San Antonio Spurs vs. (9) New Orleans Pelicans (9:30 ET, ESPN)

Friday, April 15

Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 1 (TBD*, ESPN)
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 2 (TBD*, TNT)
Winners earn 8th seeds and advance to NBA playoffs

* – Game times for Friday, April 15 will be ESPN 7:30 p.m. ET & TNT 10 p.m. ET if LA Clippers host or ESPN 7 p.m. ET & TNT 9:30 p.m. ET if Minnesota hosts

Go Cavs!!!

is j allen going to be available?

no decision on j allen yet

Cavaliers All-Star center Jarrett Allen is out for Play-In Tournament game vs. Nets on Tuesday night. Allen has been rehabbing a fractured left finger that he suffered March 6.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 11, 2022

aw bummer.

12 Hours pic.twitter.com/vANN8XlBAs

— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 12, 2022

I have no idea what the john collins injury situation is, but i think the hawks can get the 8 seed without him, esp with Allen out

yeh cavs are kinda limping into the playoffs here.

it seems like allen might be able to play in the second game? but maybe not. i read on the athletic today that the hawks are 1-11 on the road since jan 1 against playoff bound teams in either conference. i think the cavs might have a better chance in that one than ppl give them credit for

The hawks defense is bad enough this year that if either her team is hot from 3 the hawks could lose

suit up, then

Nets players have been challenging Ben Simmons in practice and Simmons’ confidence is at ‘an all-time high,’ per @ScoopB

“He walks around like he’s Jordan.” pic.twitter.com/SW1h8uTyA3

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 12, 2022

Cannot wait for the How it's Going response to that tweet.

post season basketball baby. sick block by durant

preoffs

apparently the cavs keep their pick from the lavert trade if they lose both these games, perhaps we'll see the first ever play in tank

lol...

nets hitting everything gross

welp

garlands gonna need to drop like 40-10 for the cavs to even have a shot

my understanding is there's another game later well that is good to hear

rondo sighting

maybe playoff rondo will make his yearly appearance

seems like rondos been in the league longer than lebron

nets not as good when kd sits

ben simmons wearing leather shorts to the game

TNT sideline reporter saying that when he asked simmons if he was wearing leather he said no that his clothes are made out of lamb

these are lamb chop shorts

cavs missing a lot of shots/layups by a lot

caris lavert is allegedly on the court

hes not looking too sharp out there

lavert is a very inefficient player who has a great stretch for about 6 weeks every season that brings his averages up to semi-respectable levels.

nets have stepped out like 5 times so far

and again lol

Maybe vaccines are bad for playing basketball

jeez kyrie is insane

maybe taking more than half of the season off is good for playing important basketball games

Good point

Nut hunting

dragic was called for “unnecessary contact to the groin” which does beg the question of what is necessary contact to the groin

Lol

Cavs within 7

nets trying to duck the celtics

garland is gonna be a good playoff player, can break down the defense and make tough shots

thinking the celtics don’t have a ton to be worried about

kd playing pretty passive, weird

or not lol

cleveland mightve won with game if they werent spazzing out for most of the first half

very well

there's now a loud "we want boston" chant inside barclays

— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) April 13, 2022

Kevin Durant: "There’s going to be problems for the Boston Celtics this year!"

Jayson Tatum: "F*ck outta here!"

Ime Udoka: "We know how to lock Patty [Mills'] ass up."

Celtics and Nets will face off in the first round of the 2022 playoffs 🍿pic.twitter.com/qbRBOotjXs

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 13, 2022

perfectly flaky kyrie post game interview

congratulations to kevin durant, kyrie irving, and the brooklyn nets on making the nba playoffs

plucky brooklyn startup defies the odds

clippers are beating the shit out of KAT already

its the obvious move

need to see pat bev lose tonight

need to see pat bev lose tonight

pat bev picking up three fouls in the first quarter you do love to see it

Dude is the Westbrook of defense. Just has no self awareness or ability to adapt.

nightmare start for KAT sheesh

Can only go up from here

it hasn't gone that bad for them considering. threes have kept them in it

shoutout to gerson rosas for picking anthony edwards before embarking on a sex scandal

KAT playing like he snorted 3 lines of amphetamines before the game

chris finch letting KAT pick up 4 first half fouls... prob not the best coaching decision he's ever made

shout out to the glue lady

she should've tried to make it further out onto the court

if you're gonna glue yourself to the court it's gotta be at halfcourt

That glue thing was so weird, no one in the building knew wtf was going on

It's really amazing we are only down one

paul george quietly working on a pandemic p classic...

pic.twitter.com/zbK9ancPRK

— Mark Herzog (@runner_dude) April 13, 2022

KAT with 2-1-1 on 0-7 shooting and picked up 4 fouls, hard to imagine he's played a worse half of basketball in his life

How in the world did we leave this half up?

Holy shit Red Panda rules

lol

lmao that bev Morris double tech rescinded specifically bc the game matters

classic moment in the history of refereeing

kat out here committing multiple egregious offensive fouls on one play

what is kat…doing

some not great reffing

KAT is playing like he’s filming a jackass sketch where he purposefully bowls over johnny knoxville and steve o

crazy play

Terance Mann with the rejection!

(via @ActionNetworkHQ)pic.twitter.com/3d8gQ1RYOG

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 13, 2022

it’s terrance mann time

KAT is a fascinating, if tragic, figure

kat wow man

He always bitches about his respect blah blah blah but these are the moments that people remember, embarrassing for KAT

this game has a lot of classic weird dude energy

got some real chaosball goin on out there. lookin like a good college game

lad

It was so loud in here after that dunk

damn they airballed a wide open dagger 3

good game

awesome game. bad night for the “play in is bad” crowd

Clips really taking some bad shots in the clutch

excessive amounts of pat bev happening

awesome game. bad night for the “play in is bad” crowd

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, April 13, 2022 12:20 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I mean to be fair these are the 7 and 8 seeds

to be fair we got an awesome playoff game that otherwise wouldn’t have happened

It was so loud in here after that dunk

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, April 13, 2022 12:14 AM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

crowd was great all night kudos minneapolis

climbing on the scorers table for winning the play in game… lol

man you gotta hand it to pat bev

climbing on the scorers table for winning the play in game… lol

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, April 12, 2022 11:30 PM (twenty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is minny we're talking about here, it's warranted

lol pat bev is an actual lunatic

we really got robbed of the pat bev postgame interview

maybe the FCC called in and said you cannot let this man speak on TV right now

inside the NBA crew spending the entire opening segment roasting the wolves for over celebrating this is why i stan this show

Oof gonna have a sore throat from yelling, unreal night of good

ALL HAIL THE LAD!

Xpost could you let us have fun for one night please

everyone is having fun

pat bev lmao, dude out here acting like they just won the world championship. but he really balled so gotta let him release in his own way.

damn they airballed a wide open dagger 3

― frogbs, Tuesday, April 12, 2022 9:18 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is probably the thing i hate the most about the modern game. they had a 4 on 1 fastbreak to seal the game and all three of the off ball guys ran to the three point line.

really good game, i love the actual play-in games! the good probably outweighs the bad

ant seems to be a gamer which is cool

i appreciate the wolves passion but lol

The @NBAonTNT crew put 'We Are The Champions' over the TWolves celebrating their play-in W 🤣💀 pic.twitter.com/nHbgUKFIdw

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2022

i’m sorry but it’s really funny

so funny lol

you kinda just need to ignore the rest of the box score but it’s scary when edwards has the ball in his hands. confident and efficient, you have no hope of staying in front of him but also can’t sag off of him

yeah the key is the outside shot for him cos if its falling yikes

KAT was really pouting during the celebration, he ends up looking almost worse than if they lost

he got in a nice sweet kiss with his girl

“Weak ass Clippers! Beat they mf ass!”

- Pat Bev on IG live 🤣 pic.twitter.com/pD9jLB91iq

— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) April 13, 2022

KAT was -14
naz reid was +17

reid was exactly what they needed tonight. super solid backup

wolves/bev getting roasted hard on twitter lol

kat looked like he had no idea what was going on out there, hes so lucky they won everyone would be killing him right now

he played like he had suffered a severe head injury right before the game

i love that the wolves celebrated like that tbh. mlb teams do it when they win the one and done game. but it was also hilarious and over the top.

i love them celebrating like that, i love people making fun of them for it. i’m taking no sides. great entertainment all around

pretty awesome game to be at for m@tt

definitely, one experience I’ve never had (will never have!) is being at a home game series clincher. this isn’t a series but the feeling’s probably similar!

Was amazing, we had great seats, def the loudest crowd I've ever seen at the Wolves...exciting night of hoops

It wasn't a playoff game for real but in terms of the crowd and atmosphere it totally was, obv we don't take anything for granted

it’s not technically a playoff game by the letter of the law but by atmospheric measures it certainly is

ESPN Analysts' Nets-Cavs Predictions:

Kendra Andrews: Nets

Jamal Collier: Nets

Nick DePaula: Nets

Nick Friedell: Nets

Kirk Goldsberry: Nets

Israel Gutierrez: Nets

Richard Jefferson: Cavs

Tim Legler: Nets

Andrew Lopez: Nets

Tim MacMahon: Nets

Bobby Marks: Nets

Dave McMenamin: Nets

Kevin Pelton: Nets

Kendrick Perkins: Cavs

Omar Raja: Nets

Jorge Sedano: Nets

Ramona Shelburne: Nets

André Snellings: Nets

Marc J. Spears: Nets

Ohm Youngmisuk: Nets

I think celebrating is warranted, it’s a win and you’re in game

old one got deleted

Inside The NBA played WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS over the Timberwolves Play-in celebration 😂pic.twitter.com/CjTs1BhBsD

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 13, 2022

what was up with the announcing team repeating over and over that pat bev is "the most impactful player" on the wolves, as if it's inarguable? i give him big credit for a culture and intensity shift and obv he came up big last night but cmon

and congrats ums, mustve been amazing to be there!

i love them celebrating like that, i love people making fun of them for it. i’m taking no sides. great entertainment all around

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, April 13, 2022 12:38 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

same. kinda hate when players get clowned on for celebrating as though their entire lives don't culminate in whatever you do during your 25 minutes on the court during exactly those kinds of games. at the same time lol it's a play-in vs. the Clippers

Lavator Shemmelpennick
Posted: April 13, 2022 at 9:46:18 AM
what was up with the announcing team repeating over and over that pat bev is "the most impactful player" on the wolves, as if it's inarguable? i give him big credit for a culture and intensity shift and obv he came up big last night but cmon

the impact situation is such a mess in the nba rn on one hand you have impact metrics which are good faith if often flawed stats that attempt to quantify winningness then you have the mostly unrelated side of impacting winning and the awful word impactful which ties into all sorts of corporate motivational speech like shifting the narrative winning culture and so forth which then leads to the mythology of pat bev turning the wolves around purely by force of personality which prob somewhat explains the wolves celebrating a playin win like they just got gold medals

pat bev was even yelling about narrative and culture during his post game revery lol, true heads know he just runs around doing nothing

and of course all this selling of impact and culture is revealed as farce by the fact that the wolves are a 7 seed who won a single gave vs the 8 seed

their culture and narrative are middling at best

ultimately the reason this pat bev story is so appealing is because the wolves generally as a team are soft, tuxedo guys

yeah their best player apparently melted as soon as someone touched him so not sure where that fits into the culture

yeah some of the wovles elation was prob at surviving kats total meltdown which they were all prob a lil worried about ahead of time

kat was trying to follow the new narrative and play physical but he just ended up fouling out in 24 mins lol sometimes even when the prevailing culture is pressuring you its better to be yourself

ultimately the reason this pat bev story is so appealing is because the wolves generally as a team are soft, tuxedo guys

― lag∞n, Wednesday, April 13, 2022 9:39 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is close to it, I think the Pat Bev thing is sort of overrated and underrated at the same time? I mean, when you say impactful I don't think setting a locker room vibe is on par with what happens on the court, as frustrating as KAT is (last night being a great example) he's the most impactful player, love Edwards but night in, night out KAT produces and is the #1 reason we had a good season so far.

However, to lagoon's point, I think Wolves fans have embraced Pat Bev so much because goddamn we have just seen (aside from being shitty basketball) the most passive, least aggressive, least passionate teams...Wiggins is obviously the classic example of this

KAT is our most talented player but he's not a leader, and he's kind of a nerd and a bitch overall, so there's a weird vacuum there that Bev has filled

And you do have to give him credit, many people on and around the team have talked about a preseason meeting he held where he talked to the team about setting a standard and understanding their roles. Also, frankly, he can yell at the stars in a way that gets through with them, but at the same time they really have an affection for him (something Butler tried to do in his psychotic way but he generally seemed to hate KAT and Wigs, whereas Pat always talks about their talent, always gushes about them.)

also, I think his effort on defense (something that has been sorely lacking for a long time) was an example, most of our players, including KAT, aren't naturally great defenders, but particularly Ant this year has shown hustle and is athletic enough to stay in front of guys and has active hands.

But ultimately he had 7 points last night and was a -5 so people need to relax

plus he's just kind of the classic "hate him when he's not on your team, love him when he's on your team" kinda guy.

yeah all reasonable points tho i dont think pat bev is quite the culture guy he sells himself as hes too unhinged and unpleasant and also not that good at basketball, i actually dont think id like him on my team hes way too chaotic, marcus smart for instance is the real deal as far as that kind of guy still super passonate and fiesty too the extreme but much more focused and skilled, draymond is maybe the ultimate, tho if you look at where hes got himself in trouble its the more pat bev aspects of his personality coming out

xp that makes sense, this team desperately needs someone to kick them in the ass and he is capable of doing it.

the other thing to remember is that the media LOVES pat bev because he's always a good quote and seems like he's happy to play ball with them so they're going to overrate what he does probably no matter what.

xpost

oh for sure i would never suggest he's on the same planet as smart or draymond, i will push back on this a bit:

i dont think pat bev is quite the culture guy he sells himself as hes too unhinged and unpleasant

because honestly in all the local and beat coverage people on the team and the org (and finch) seem to genuinely like the guy! i don't know if that's not been the case elsewhere, but don't think he's as unpleasant as butler was at all

.....but I agree w.your overall points, and I'm fearing a playoff game where he takes the schtick too far. (and as much as I love him and Vando - I LOVE Vando - it's tough to have 2 of your starters be so limited on offense despite all the D and "little things" they do)

i guess the best way to say it is that he's a very flawed and weird player but the wolves are a very flawed and weird franchise and for whatever reasons in this particular circumstance he's had a positive impact. but it feels like a one in a million confluence of things.

lol maybe honestly the whole thing is "this guy can yell at KAT and get away with it"

i dont know if hes well liked or not but he just seems like he would get old fast

jimmy butler is periodically psychotic and tries to fight his own coach but hes cool and will make you coffee

pat bev is not cool tho idk i just dont like his whole thing hes too proud of being a maniac

not shit on the wolves first good season in forever tho! all this talk of impactful culture narrative just got me going

its important to have guys that arent afraid of the bigger games. tuxedo teams 100% need a goon and pat bev is the perfect goon for the wolves. when your best three players are guys who've had 'does he even like basketball?' questions circling around them you need a psycho to kinda force them to care night in night out... to manufacture beef and infuse some bravado. jimmy didnt embrace the role to lift them up and instead shit on them, bounced and found an organization that embodies it vs pat bev whos embracing trying to lift the teammates/franchise up. ie he was on JJs pod he said ants gonna be as good as jordan lol. i think bev was a good signing by them and i dont think they win that game last night without him.

m@tt made some of those points i see. sorry hadnt refreshed

idk his shtick didnt prevent kat from having maybe all things considered the worst game ive ever seen from a guy whos about to make an all nba team, the idea that it should when framed that way seems kind of ridiculous, ultimately imo what tuxedo teams need is just fewer tuxedo guys

pat bev is an 8th man on a good team people are asking too much of him

i dont disagree but maybe his schtick helped lift up other guys. this stuff is basically impossible to quantify.

i liked D Los game last night, pretty unique player

thats the thing culture narrative impactfulness are all very abstract terms which have their uses when you want to you know be abstract but then people try to solidify that into some lil chunk of convenient meaning, your and matts posts were more getting at how constituent parts of these big ideas might actually function in basketball terms which i appreciate, but i do think the analysis has to include the not as good pat bev stuff too which is basically that hes a loose cannon whos not that good at basketball lol, so i think its reasonable to say that he functions as "the spark plug" for them but that in the hierarchy of basketball culture thats a relatively minor role when compared to guys like "the professional" and "the difference maker"

dlo can def do some stuff but hes pretty soft too maybe not the best fit with kat, and you worry about edwards development too

so i think its reasonable to say that he functions as "the spark plug" for them but that in the hierarchy of basketball culture thats a relatively minor role when compared to guys like "the professional" and "the difference maker"

yah otm spark plug.. not the engine that makes a lot of it work ie dray/smart. borderline starter. but hes a good fit with those three scorers.

i do think that aside from the culture impactfulness man stuff pat bev does have an actual role on a team whose three best players are, to put it mildly, far from the most enthusiastic and skilled defensive players in the league. we’ll see how it all goes in a 7 game series when the grizzlies can plan repeatedly to not even pretend to guard him when he’s on the floor. the reason he stopped getting minutes for the clippers is because you end up playing 4 on 5 when you have the ball w/ him on the floor

i think russell’s game could play up in the playoffs where individual scoring matters more. his ability to hit pull up jumpers off the pick and roll makes them hard to guard when he’s on the ball, he was walking into shots in the fourth last night and drilling them

the thing that concerns me is just that he’s a FA after next season and already making $30m per year & i shudder at what that next contract is going to look like for him. if they’re gonna commit huge money to him to play next to towns & edwards they’re gonna need to have a really nice run of GMing and development to put the right pieces around them.

the west was down this year which i think will change, the clippers and nuggets are gonna be much better, you’d have to think the lakers will be too. zion coming back as well. there’s gonna be a morass of teams with real expectations going into next year the majority of which aren’t even gonna get out of round 1

nets are favored over the celtics rn, wonder if the smart money is gonna come in, i have a lil money in an old poker account i was just gonna put on it but they separated out their sportsbook into a different operation wtf, they do have virtual sports you can bet on some sort of simulation lol

xpost
ultimately the fact is we have 2 of our starting lineup (pat bev and and vando) who just aren't starting caliber NBA players, our roster isn't good enough to compete with the real deal teams in the playoffs, i'll be happy to be surprised if they take memphis in the series

i agree, i worry about the D-lo conundrum, he's player way better than expected this year which raises his value but at the same time i don't think he has much more potential to get better than he is now and he doesn't feel like a max player...but losing him would hurt as well if you can't replace him with someone of equal talent

if they could trade him as part of a deal for more general guys it might be good considering they already have their 1-2 scorers in place, they would need to give up picks tho too as not sure theres too much market for dlo at $30m

d lo a guy whos gonna make too much money to contribute on a contendor. unless wolves brass are willing to go wild over the tax like wiggins/warriors (not likely). they might be stuck tho since he and kat are buds? all their hopes really rely on ants development tho. if he turns into an all-nba guy then youve got two of those and roster construction becomes a little easier

idg why the nets are favored

they didn't look particularly convincing last night other than one stretch in the first quarter

public money, baby

my hunch is that the nets are favored in order to juice action on both sides. i think if they were underdogs everyone would be betting them just bcuz the odds would be too favorable

they have the biggest name therefore they must be the better team
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bf/aa/d8/bfaad899053d6a3c1bf0bbc8487f1fea.gif

the 2 biggest names even

actually their name is so small it is inside another team's name

pat bev is not cool

this is the core difficulty. he constantly plays right up to lines that should not be crossed, but sometimes he crosses the line and that is not cool.

I forgot that Kyrie does fasting

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/kyrie-irving-explains-how-he-is-able-to-play-for-nets-while-fasting-during-ramadan/amp/

kenny was saying hakeem used to do that and it made him play better

what sort of odds are we looking at as far as kyrie lying about fasting

its only sunrise to sundown, not that hard imo. he can eat before night games or during. harder for a pro athlete that eats like 7k calories a day or whatever tho im sure.

fasting all daylight is pretty hard idk im sure people cheat a lot

been reported that he converted to islam but that quote of him talking about fasting was from his post game interview and the way he was talking was pure new age, ive never heard islam brought into that mix tho it would make sense that itd be a more common element in the black new age mix than for whitey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkAbP616uYQ

ew he is so grody

eric rahill vibes

God save the queen and god bless London pic.twitter.com/Z7lEAY9WGZ

— Eric Rahill (@ericrahill) April 13, 2022

pretty good piece yesterday on the nets and the current status of the super team concept in todays nba btw https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/33719050/lessons-brooklyn-nets-controversy-filled-season-superteam-era-over

Yet talent comes with cost, especially with Irving. League sources say executives, coaches and players who were present during Irving's time in Cleveland and Boston shared with the Nets negative intel -- his unresponsiveness and truculence with coaches, his lack of self-awareness with teammates, his constant defiance of offensive game plans, his disinterest in playing off the ball. But the Nets, multiple sources say, knew that bringing Irving aboard was the cost of doing business: No Irving, No Kevin Durant.

...

Admire him, loathe him, pity him or be confounded by him, Irving has been a very complicated piece in that composition. One Nets source says it's not so much one single act that weighs on the team or organization, but rather Irving in the aggregate: "It's always something," irrespective of how productive he is when he suits up.

iow, irving is exactly what we all knew him to be

Nets Post game drama!

-Bruce brown says that with Robert Williams out, the Nets can go at #celtics bigs Al Horford and D. Theis.
-Durant finds out, doesn't like it.
-Kyrie says 'I love you.'
KD says it's Brown's "caffeine pride talking."
Then Durant explains why he was mad. pic.twitter.com/9A5bPeAf6l

— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) April 13, 2022

kd is pretty funny

giving the other team locker room bulletin board material is never good

bruce brown thinking hes just gonna waltz into the lane and loft floaters like he did vs cleveland is very silly! generally people are overrating how much losing rob is going to hurt the celtics all the guys soaking up his minutes are good players

having said that should the celtics play the bucks in round two it would be very nice to have him back

well, yeah

the beautiful game... lamelo/trae/rozier combined 8/36 fg in the 1st half.

i seriously cannot believe isiah thomas gets minutes for the hornets. sadly he looks like one of the worst players in the NBA, like just strictly negative plays

the most interesting thing that’s happened in this game is me learning that ted turner has a “jersey” hanging in the rafters of the hawks arena

gotta give the rich man his propers

When Ted Turner bought the Hawks, his basketball men asked what their first move should be. Turner just smiled and said "Get someone who looks like me only a lot bigger." The men laughed. "Do I look like I'm fucking joking?" said Turner. pic.twitter.com/Wt5y3yRQL1

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) October 8, 2018

tweet i've never been able to get out of my head

i have a weird soft spot for ted as i live near and honestly enjoy one of the only northeast location's of ted's montana grill (tm)

good riddance to the hornets. please learn how to play something that resembles defense

they need a lot of re-engineering to be a serious team and i'm not sure how it happens

this is why i circle back to them finding a new coach. it’s the easiest potential fix. no idea if it’s barrego’s fault or not but they prob need to try something else. the hayward contract has ended up playing out like we thought it would

it's too soon and i am sorry but free lamelo

re: firing the coach, you know it's not going to fix anything, right? who on this roster is ever going to play defense?

like they will move on from borrego and that's fine but their incredibly passive approach to team building is what created this.

they need more guys

i know i said it the other day but it still amazes me--there is no principle or point of view about what they're trying to be. they've found a completely random assortment of ok players.

I know it's dumb to have these sub-.400 teams in the playoffs but watching them play this hard & constantly panicked is fun, like a mini-March Madness before the real playoffs start.

they don’t have any good defensive players on their roster but their guys could also… try? maybe a different coach gets through to them, or gets them more organized on that side of the floor? i don’t think it’s a crazy thought. barrego seems like a fine coach but he might just be mismatched with this roster. their offense barely needs coaching meanwhile they need a massive effort on the defensive end. there’s prob someone who could squeeze more out of them

or now what if, just hear me out, mike dan tony

i hear thibs may be available soon

xp i'm sure there is but effort and organization is like 20% of the problem and personnel is like 80%. as usual it comes down to what the teams goals are and i'm not sure the hornets really have any.

Clint Capela’s been quietly bringing a lot recently. Glad to see Hunter have a game but yeah this was mostly cringing at the hornets

idk, on defense i’m not sure the split is necessarily 80% talent and 20% effort. on offense, sure. but there’s plenty of guys with defensive potential who don’t try or aren’t on teams that promote good defense. maybe not on the hornets (tho i might put bridges in that bucket) but i just find it hard to believe that this group of guys couldn’t get somewhat better on that end. they were by a significant measure worse than orlando and OKC, for instance. that’s not a personnel issue that’s a coaching (and by extension an organizational) issue.

last year dallas was 21st in defense, minnesota was 28th. this year those teams were 7th and 13th, without making significant roster changes or having any noteworthy defensive players on either roster, barring arguably finney smith but it’s not like anyone mentions him in all defense discussions. the one thing both those teams did was change coaches. i don’t think you just look at your roster and go “well we don’t have any good defensive players on here so we just gotta wait 3 more years until we can change this team over and then maybe we will play defense”

i understand that point (as much as i think it might speak to high variability in defensive rating year to year) but in the case of the hornets, they've cast their lot with so many veterans who are known quantities that i do think the talent is doing a lot of work here--they play herrell and plumlee at center, neither of whom have ever played effective defense. rozier hasn't played defense for a few years. hayward can't be expected to be impactful there going forward.

their cornerstone players are lamelo, who isn't playing defense anytime soon, and bridges, who could play some defense but he's had such an explosion on the offensive end that i'm going to assume his effort is weighted there in the future.

i do agree that a different coach could improve defensive performance, but the structural problems in the roster are real.

the crowd in NOLA has been bringing it tonight

mccollum 25 points in the first half

McCollum with the heat check

CJ is just roasting these guys sheesh

spurs havent been a very good defensive team this year. murray being dislined with foul trouble isnt ideal. keldon having one of the worst games ive ever seen from him, just totally lost in the sauce.

cj woulda been perfect for the the 76ers but morey had to have his guy

cj believes in the pelicans hes going out to dinner with zion trying to make it work

cj isn't my favorite player but he is too good for the 9/10 play in, and is rightfully destroying this

i think the flaw in the play in game might be that the 10 seeds are just non competitive. been pretty grizzly both years now

no the grizzlies are the 2 seed

they were the 8 seed last year, i teed that one up for you

hope Zion can come back for the next game

it wouldve been funnier to watch the lakers lose a playin game to the pelicans

spurs denying the lakers the play-in was our highlight of the year besides pop's wi record

you mean highlight of the year so far

this new orleans team is cool. they could really use some zion in that jaxson hayes slot. cj/herb/ingram/zion/valencunias is a pretty sweet starting 5.

feels like the west is gonna be back loaded next year. houston & OKC will be the only teams not trying to make the playoffs. dame back in portland, full season of sabonis in sacramento, zion back and full season of CJ there, kawhi back, murray back, lakers can’t possibly be worse. utah is the one team where it feels like it could go either way depending on how the next month plays out

re: hornets there have been persistent rumours that they are interested in myles turner. just finding any top level rim protector would go a long way to improving their defense, at least in the regular season.

haywards contract sucks but he has two fewer years left than gobert so maybe that would make some sort of sense for the jazz if they blow it up

People dumping on the hornets too much, they’ve got a lot of talent and were 4 games over .500

i like them a lot but theyve def got some work to do filling out the roster

lamelo and bridges are like 2/3 of a very good core. a non-plumlee big would go a long way

the hornets were 4 games over .500 but have also lost play in games by 29 points and 27 points in back to back years. doesn't speak very highly of their chances to make noise in the playoffs should they actually get there one day. idk if you can win anything of substance if you play defense like that.

i'm not sure they have "a lot of talent" ... they have two great core young pieces, which is definitely something. it should give them a certain floor for the next half decade. the hurdle is that they're gonna be drafting in the middle of the first round at best moving forward, they aren't a FA destination unless they wildly overpay, and they're not a franchise that is exactly known for its shrewd GMing around the margins of its roster. i would love to see them cycle out the rozier/oubre/washington part of their roster for guys who better balance out lamelo and bridges.

myles turner is a great idea for them. maybe the hayward-indiana reunion finally happens?

New for @TheAthleticNBA - No, Charlotte's train isn't stuck on the tracks, but are we sure it's moving in the right direction?https://t.co/6qqzAVUdb0

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) April 14, 2022

guess the worst case scenario for them is lamelo future laker

they should have lamelo there for a while... feel like the worst case scenario is that it's an anthony davis, karl towns situation where the transcendent talent can't actually transcend the historical shittiness of the franchise

welp

Luka Doncic is expected to miss Game 1 of the Mavs vs. Jazz series on Saturday due to a strained calf.

(via @ShamsCharania) pic.twitter.com/e1HSDg71RJ

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 14, 2022

BREAKING: Ben Simmons is targeting Game 4,5 and 6 of series with Celtics for his Nets debut, via ESPN.

Here we go. 👀 pic.twitter.com/An7jRxOTdt

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 14, 2022

thats cool hell be able to play one game this year

why is there no hoop ball tonight again the nba messed up with this scheduling

yeah they couldve staggered the conferences

wonder if there'll at some point be a player who plays their only nba minutes in the play-in games and thus has no record of ever existing

this simmons stuff is just a disaster what the hell man

a complete mess

its funny to me an avid follower of "the nets" basketball team

I want Simmons to play long enough this series to shatter whatever false bravado he built up the last 12 months.

Like maybe KD grabbing the ball angrily from him following a late Gm 7 FT miss and pointing to the bench.

i've heard ppl on podcasts be like "well even if he can't do anything on offense, you can at least put him out there for 15 mins a game to guard tatum" and i'm like..... are we sure about that? the guy hasn't played competitive basketball in a full year

it makes no sense to me at all. someone is trying to save face.

yeah doesnt make sense bet he doesnt play

maybe if they get down bad in the series they throw him out there cos why not

“no pressure, simmo”

love the idea that theyre just gonna throw him at tatum he hasnt played in a year hes never played for this team he got an injection into his spine a month ago

my unbiased opinion is they should do it

if i remember nothing else from my time with musecage it's that all bends to The Arc and thus simmo must play

$30k swear jar lol

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33737982/minnesota-timberwolves-patrick-beverley-fined-30k-egregious-use-profanity

how minnesotan of them

RIP clippers

Clippers star Paul George has entered health and safety protocols and will miss tonight's Play-in game vs. New Orleans, sources tell @TimBontemps and me.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 15, 2022

Aw that sucks.

altho i guess lue is used to this team withouth pg. still woudnt be surprised by a clippers win

Dude is the “Belichick” of bball coaches apparently 😀

Sources: 2x Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard is unlikely to play in the NBA Playoffs. Kawhi’s camp and the Clippers’ brass are in disagreement as to Leonard’s availability for the playoffs. This has led to growing frustration from both sides. pic.twitter.com/XHeNvIDmiC

— Jack Settleman (@jacksettleman) April 15, 2022

I'm in a quandry. I can't root for the Clips, because they are so unlikable. I like the Pellies, but can't root for them because if they win then the Blazers don't get the Pellies' lottery pick in this year's draft. I just have to sit on my hands.

i guess it's different when you can see the medicals or whatever but the clippers are insane if they ever thought that kawhi was going to play this year incl the playoffs. we've already seen him go thru this and we know what his deal is

Ugh if any Wolves come down with Covid

idk who the fuck jack settleman is

haha i didnt even check the source i had just seen wojs tweet about PG and figured it was legit

jack settleman will tell you and anybody else who'll listen that he is "CEO and founder of #snapback_sports"!!!

Nash with the Simmons update:

Was Simmons able to do any more today?

Nash: "He hasn't done anything yet, so no."

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 15, 2022

Major return: Cavaliers All-Star Jarrett Allen (fractured finger) will play tonight vs. Hawks in elimination Play-In Tournament game, barring setback in warmups, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 15, 2022

i wonder if he's even shot a basketball in the last 10 months xp

there was footage of him playing pickup in some gym during the season

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESn9JYEWsAESUyj

I have that here:

Umm... Why is there a little brother on the floor while my kid is shooting a free throw? Lol pic.twitter.com/qsGSReT1nn

— Nicky Nurse (@RyanJHTurvey) March 8, 2020

cavs hoisting and hitting

not one of these threes has been contested tho lol

if the hawks give up 144 points i predict they will lose

NEWS: Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver will be retiring as executive chairman from Western Alliance Bancorporation in June, ending a two-decade tenure with the nearly $56 billion asset company. https://t.co/ak10gWEXSy

— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) April 16, 2022

friday night play in game news dump!

de’andre hunter is playing an absolutely awful game

great sequence there by the cavs. lauri makes so much more sense with allen healthy

and when he’s shooting 60% from three

Never seen a guy get injured and a tech at the same time

clint capela just sprained his own knee by dragging evan mobley into him

it seems like the cavs size is really giving trae problems. he just hasn’t gotten in a rhythm at all, his jumpers have all been really long threes or contested fadeaways

the flagrant + knee detonation combo has gotta hurt

that was a remarkably dumb foul by clint

pauses to see if the ball is going in or not and wrecks his knee

i love when the refs describe what they see and it’s like they have just viewed an entire different representation of reality than the rest of the world

you know it's rough if i'm nodding along with mark jackson

the energy in the arena is always deflated after halftime, i think the hawks needs to go on a quick 8-2 run or something right off the break to stabilize this. the three shooting should probably even out… probably

big shootout over here

I just turned this on to see back to back insane 3s and it's tied going into the 4th. Nice.

DG gotta call who he wants into the p&r and make every play. Get Caris a couple touches in the p&r. That’s your 4th. Gotta test Gorgui puppies. Also can call Gallo up and see what his puppies talking about.

— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) April 16, 2022

puppies?

I just turned this on to see back to back insane 3s and it's tied going into the 4th. Nice.

― we only steal from the greatest books (PBKR), Friday, April 15, 2022 9:35 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

And then it just turned into a college game, lol.

the cavs offense has died

gonna guess puppies is feet bc those guys are old/slow

see what his puppies talking about

my dogs are barking

bow -- and i cant stress this enough -- wow

trae played easily one of the worst games i’ve ever seen him play in the first half but has been the best player on the floor in the second half and it’s not even really close

some great playoff basketball here

yeah this is awesome

trae:steph::kobe:mj

believe it or not repeatedly switching markannen onto trae young has not worked out for the cavs

crazy half by trae

Brutal!

Those back to back steals were nuts.

oh man if the cavs had been able to control the ball off that steal....

Okongwu played his ass off 2nite

cavs had 36 points in the first quarter, 65 the rest of the way

thats about as cleveland a result as you could draw up

LMFAO - “party rock anthem” blaring into a dead silent arena as the season’s final seconds painfully bleed away

i don't get why kevin love didn't play more when the cavs desperately needed something on offense

i’d guess lauri was shooting so well that bickerstaff just rolled with him. love certainly wouldn’t have helped any when it came to defending trae. them not having a single wing worth playing really showed up in the second half once lauri’s shooting cooled off, they stayed with that three big lineup and trae just shredded it over and over

on the bright side for the cavs they don’t have to send a first round pick for caris levert now

Rondo was awful. They really could have used Rubio.

xp yeah, i would have just tried something else in the second half when the offense was dying.

they have some work to do and who knows if they can do it but garland and mobley is a really exciting duo to build around.

Rondo was awful. They really could have used Rubio.

Awesome 1st q from b ingram

That zion footage… dude looks huge

Ha

Sorry just finished

The hawks have had an awful season but Trae has just been ridiculous all year long

man I care a lot less about this game than I thought I would, fuck a pellie and/or clipper

Much love to Delon Wright

The hawks have had an awful season but Trae has just been ridiculous all year long

Reggie Jackson (lebron James kid voice)

Huge nance game

Murphy!

Game is good

pins and needles here for the 11th pick lmao

Imagine if the Pelicans add a 27 point per game scorer unstoppable near the rim who can pass, handle the ball, run the offense, screen and roll, and rebound all at a high level. And he’s only 21. When Zion Williamson returns and if he stays healthy New Orleans will soon contend.

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) April 16, 2022

pelicans fever baby

zion tbf is maybe the biggest wildcard in the history of the game at this point

Now that the 'ins are over, we need an 'offs thread.

The 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs Thread