2021-22 Regular Season Thread

**pwaldo** · 02-26-2022, 10:02 PM

Originally Posted by WilyWestbrook0 View Post

Season is back after the All-Star break period, which featured a classic game but a terrible dunk contest. I watched a little bit of the Cavs and Thunder games last night in between feeds with the baby. Cavs aren't very good without Darius Garland. Giddey is now giving Mobley a run at rookie of the year with his recent triple doubles and Mobley's offensive slump.

I know they will NEVER do it but if the players aren't going to do anything about the Dunk Contest the NBA should just get the best non NBA dunkers in the world to showoff and compete in the thing. They won't do it because we are suppose to believe the best dunkers are in the NBA but it would be way more entertaining than anything the NBA has done in the dunk contest in a long time.

**WilyWestbrook0** · 03-04-2022, 01:29 PM

Some interesting NBA trends:

Warriors have lost 7 of 9 and are looking weak without Draymond.

Ja Morant has been on an epic tear and is the most exciting player to watch in the league, IMO (overtook Luka). However, the Grizz lost to the Celtics last night, who themselves have locked in and finally found the chemistry amid all that talent. The Celtics' defense in particular has been absolutely stifling lately. They keep rising the standings in the East.

The Lakers, meanwhile, have become the laughingstock of the league. They were down 32-6 at one point in the 3rd quarter against the Clippers last night. Footage of the players (LeBron and Ariza) arguing with fans has been making the social media rounds, as well as a pass by since-waived Laker DeAndre Jordan throwing a pass into the fans from the backcourt.

**pwaldo** · 03-06-2022, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by WilyWestbrook0 View Post

Some interesting NBA trends:

Warriors have lost 7 of 9 and are looking weak without Draymond.

Ja Morant has been on an epic tear and is the most exciting player to watch in the league, IMO (overtook Luka). However, the Grizz lost to the Celtics last night, who themselves have locked in and finally found the chemistry amid all that talent. The Celtics' defense in particular has been absolutely stifling lately. They keep rising the standings in the East.

The Lakers, meanwhile, have become the laughingstock of the league. They were down 32-6 at one point in the 3rd quarter against the Clippers last night. Footage of the players (LeBron and Ariza) arguing with fans has been making the social media rounds, as well as a pass by since-waived Laker DeAndre Jordan throwing a pass into the fans from the backcourt.

Yeah IMO the playoff picture looks a lot murkier than it did at the start of the season when the Warriors were destroying everyone (though they oddly played a ton of games in California early on) but now the leaders of the pack have kind of come down to the rest and a few teams (mostly in the East) have improved and are playing better where I see it as very difficult to predict an NBA Finals match up now. The East is going to be a total bloodbath as you have six really good teams when only four can make it to the next round. Could be a load of terrific matchups in the East while we get snoozers in the West for the first round.

**WilyWestbrook0** · 03-17-2022, 12:17 AM

It's definitely staying tense in the East. The Raptors are on a roll and will probably overtake the Cavaliers soon for #6. The Cavs are now without All-Star C Jarrett Allen for awhile, and teams have largely figured out the Darius Garland freelancing offense, while the Cavs' defense has been slipping in the last month. Rookie Evan Mobley is still playing great, but the team itself isn't what it once was, and Cavs fans on RealCavsFans.com are skeptical they can hold onto the 6th spot, acquiescing to the idea of the play-in already. The Bulls have also been cold, but are a couple games ahead of Cleveland still. The playoff picture in the East will really come down to the final couple of games. Ten teams in the conference are at .500 or better with all ten showing a positive point differential for the season.

Out West, meanwhile, there's a large drop-off after #7. The Timberwolves are well above .500 and have a positive point differential, but every other team in the West after them has a negative point differential. The Clippers at #8 are 5 full games behind the Wolves and barely ahead of .500, yet they are still 6 games ahead their embarrassing LA counterpart, the Lakers. There are simply more bad teams out West. I saw this trend earlier in the season, and it's largely stayed that way. This is the most competitive I can remember the East being in quite some time. The West has been the better conference in most seasons throughout much of my lifetime, so this change is interesting for me to observe.

**pwaldo** · 03-24-2022, 09:04 PM

I think the East probably has a much more balanced 1-8 (probably not much separation from 2-8 honestly) but the top 4 or 5 teams in the West would still beat around the East teams this year. The East is closing the gap with more depth but at full strength I think the West is still > the East for now. The one hindrance this year I think to an East team taking home the title is that the West teams will have a much easier route where the East should be a blood bath in almost every match up. Honestly the West has multiple teams that shouldn't be making the post season this year and when was the last time that happened? Usually the East loads up spots 6-8 with stinker teams aka first round byes but now that seems to have flipped to the West this year IMO.

**WilyWestbrook0** · 03-24-2022, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by pwaldo View Post

I think the East probably has a much more balanced 1-8 (probably not much separation from 2-8 honestly) but the top 4 or 5 teams in the West would still beat around the East teams this year. The East is closing the gap with more depth but at full strength I think the West is still > the East for now. The one hindrance this year I think to an East team taking home the title is that the West teams will have a much easier route where the East should be a blood bath in almost every match up. Honestly the West has multiple teams that shouldn't be making the post season this year and when was the last time that happened? Usually the East loads up spots 6-8 with stinker teams aka first round byes but now that seems to have flipped to the West this year IMO.

Valid points. There's a strong possibility we see a repeat of last year's Finals matchup, but this year, I'd think the Suns have the advantage over the Bucks.