The Official NBA Season Thread: NBA Cup Night

Bron had a bad game but supposed MVP caliber player MVP has been ghost in the 4th quarter. Again.
 
As the Chairman of the OKC Haters Club, I know how SGA ended up there, and it is very annoying to watch.
 
I say this as somebody that know the Timberwolves suck. Like they’re absolutely dreadful internally, and on the court.

I want the NBA Cup because finally the NBA embraces “something weird”, god knows they went bland on the jerseys the last 15 years and pretty white collar on everything.

But idk whether to lol at the Cavs, who started 15-0*, and can’t even make it out of the group, or to laugh at the concept of the NBA Cup and their courts? Again, I love the weirdness of the cup and the Wolves are ******* terrible right now.
 
I say this as somebody that know the Timberwolves suck. Like they’re absolutely dreadful internally, and on the court.

I want the NBA Cup because finally the NBA embraces “something weird”, god knows they went bland on the jerseys the last 15 years and pretty white collar on everything.

But idk whether to lol at the Cavs, who started 13-0, and can’t even make it out of the group, or to laugh at the concept of the NBA Cup and their courts? Again, I love the weirdness of the cup and the Wolves are ******* terrible right now.

Honestly, the Cup has injected a different energy into the traditionally forgettable first two months of the season. The NBA has done a great job making it feel meaningful in some way, and teams are playing harder in these games. A lot of people are still passing it off as a gimmick, but there is a different energy in the games. They aren't on random nights. They have dedicated Friday nights, with two featured games on Tuesdays.

The Cavs will be fine going forward. The 1996 Bulls lost to the expansion Raptors. The 1986 Celtics lost most of their games to sub-.500 teams. Did that hurt them?

Edit: I meant to reply to multiple comments, so jpzx jpzx this was not directed at your comment alone.
 
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David Aldridge has a really great chapter in the book about the history of the shot clock. Simmons touched on it in his book, but Aldridge does a deep dive. I've been bouncing around the book so far, and it's really great essays on everyone. Some rankings make no sense, but they had a formula. I wish Simmons had the energy (and not hundreds of millions of dollars not to do so) to update his pyramid, which had no formula.
 
The Kings lost to the Blazers?
It turns out the Kings need more than just Malik Monk back. They’re having an identity crisis and just don’t know how to put together a complete game. They won the boards, made more 3s, and (finally) held their opponents to under 40% from the arc…but they had 20 turnovers, gave up more 2nd chance points, and were (-30) in the paint.
 
It turns out the Kings need more than just Malik Monk back. They’re having an identity crisis and just don’t know how to put together a complete game. They won the boards, made more 3s, and (finally) held their opponents to under 40% from the arc…but they had 20 turnovers, gave up more 2nd chance points, and were (-30) in the paint.

I kinda feel like that 2023 Kings team was a bit of an anomaly. Bit of a down year for the west (#1 seed only had 53 wins, which is second-fewest since the merger). The teams were separated by four games. I just didn't think they'd go from 3-seed to one and done in one season.
 
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