Jim Mora playoffs thread

[60WinTim]

Wolves had a klunker, everyone else did what they were suppose to do (well, except for the Nuggets!). This drops the Wolves down to a tie for the 8th spot with the Pelicans, and the cushion shrinks against the three bottom teams.

As Cam says, Buckle Up!

The Wolves are suppose to lose their next two games. A surprise win would be helpful..

[FNG]

Tim, this was actually a double klunker for me, because I've also adjusted my spreadsheet to give the Wolves a loss in Brooklyn later in the season...they are so much better than I thought after the trades. So, my cushion over 11th place Portland is down to one game with Portland currently holding the tiebreaker (although a home win against the Blazers later in the season will give us the tiebreaker, and we never lose at home ;) ). I also have them losing the next two games in Atlanta and home to Boston, so a surprise win in one of those games will make me feel a lot better, as would a Blazers loss Tuesday to the hot Knicks.

[kekgeek]

The two 5-man lineup combinations with the BEST Defensive Rating in the ENTIRE NBA this season (min 250 minutes):

1. 101.7 DRTG--Russell-Edwards-Anderson-McDaniels-Gobert

2. 104.2 DRTG--Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-KAT-Gobert

Interesting defensive trio...

Per NBA University.

I know we gave up a ton for Gobert, he really is elite on that end. (So is Mcdaniels and Ant)

[FNG]

Last night's upset win in Atlanta restored the 2-game cushion I have in my spreadsheet over the 3 teams I don't see making the playoffs. There are several game tonight involving teams we want to lose:

We want the Bucks to beat the Suns (they are favored by 1 1/2)
We want the Knicks to beat the Trailblazers (they are favored by 2 1/2)
We want the Nets to beat OkC (Thunder is favored by a point).

OkC and Portland losses would be Klunkers on my spreadsheet (using Tim's vernacular) and would increase our cushion to 3 games, making the playoffs almost a certainty...that would be a very good night!

The Pels/Lakers game is a little more complicated. New Orleans is favored by 1 1/2 and I also have them winning on my spreadsheet. I currently have the Pels tied with the Wolves at 41 wins, and the Lakers with 42. A Pels win doesn't change anything in terms of projected wins, but a Lakers' win moves us one win ahead of NO and drops us 2 games behind the Lakers. Who do we cheer for? I think I'm going to cheer for the Pels and no change in my spreadsheet...I'm more afraid of the Lakers (with LeBron returning at some point) than I am with the Pels.

So, go Pelicans?

[FNG]

So I rip Vando and Beas for their poor play recently, and Beas and DLo go 6-10 on threes in the first quarter and Vando has 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal!

[Monster]

So I rip Vando and Beas for their poor play recently, and Beas and DLo go 6-10 on threes in the first quarter and Vando has 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal!

What about Austin Reaves? Dude is low key ballin the last couple months. March he is averaging almost 15 points and over 5 assists.

[FNG]

So I rip Vando and Beas for their poor play recently, and Beas and DLo go 6-10 on threes in the first quarter and Vando has 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal!

What about Austin Reaves? Dude is low key ballin the last couple months. March he is averaging almost 15 points and over 5 assists.

I love the Hillbilly Kobe, monster...both as a guy and as a player! When Russell was out, Reaves had to play backup PG, and he was miscast there and struggled. But he's been terrific as a scoring SG off the bench!

The Lakers win in NO dropped us two games behind them in my projection, but also moved us ahead of the Pels with sole possession of 9th place. OkC held serve and sits only a game behind NO for the final play in spot, but Portland's home loss to the Knicks really hurt their chances of catching NO. OkC may look good currently sitting in a tie for 8th place in the standings, but they are about to embark on a brutal stretch where I see them losing 5 out of 6 games.

The Wolves can move into a 3-way tie with GS and the Mavs in my projection with an upset win over Boston tonight. Boston is favored by 5, but they have lost 4 out of their last 6 (including the last game in Houston) since Robert (the Time Lord) Williams got hurt. This is a winnable game without him. It's going to be fun to see what J-DEE and Ant can do on Tatum and Brown. Let's win this one!

[Monster]

So I rip Vando and Beas for their poor play recently, and Beas and DLo go 6-10 on threes in the first quarter and Vando has 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal!

What about Austin Reaves? Dude is low key ballin the last couple months. March he is averaging almost 15 points and over 5 assists.

I love the Hillbilly Kobe, monster...both as a guy and as a player! When Russell was out, Reaves had to play backup PG, and he was miscast there and struggled. But he's been terrific as a scoring SG off the bench!

The Lakers win in NO dropped us two games behind them in my projection, but also moved us ahead of the Pels with sole possession of 9th place. OkC held serve and sits only a game behind NO for the final play in spot, but Portland's home loss to the Knicks really hurt their chances of catching NO. OkC may look good currently sitting in a tie for 8th place in the standings, but they are about to embark on a brutal stretch where I see them losing 5 out of 6 games.

The Wolves can move into a 3-way tie with GS and the Mavs in my projection with an upset win over Boston tonight. Boston is favored by 5, but they have lost 4 out of their last 6 (including the last game in Houston) since Robert (the Time Lord) Williams got hurt. This is a winnable game without him. It's going to be fun to see what J-DEE and Ant can do on Tatum and Brown. Let's win this one!

What exactly did Reaves struggle with during the time that Russell was out? He shot the hell out of the ball, averaged over 5 assists a game and less than 2 turnovers and the Lakers went 4-2 during that time. Sure maybe he isn't a PG but he put up some pretty nice numbers and they were winning. Are you watching all the Lakers games ? :)

[FNG]

So I rip Vando and Beas for their poor play recently, and Beas and DLo go 6-10 on threes in the first quarter and Vando has 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal!

What about Austin Reaves? Dude is low key ballin the last couple months. March he is averaging almost 15 points and over 5 assists.

I love the Hillbilly Kobe, monster...both as a guy and as a player! When Russell was out, Reaves had to play backup PG, and he was miscast there and struggled. But he's been terrific as a scoring SG off the bench!

The Lakers win in NO dropped us two games behind them in my projection, but also moved us ahead of the Pels with sole possession of 9th place. OkC held serve and sits only a game behind NO for the final play in spot, but Portland's home loss to the Knicks really hurt their chances of catching NO. OkC may look good currently sitting in a tie for 8th place in the standings, but they are about to embark on a brutal stretch where I see them losing 5 out of 6 games.

The Wolves can move into a 3-way tie with GS and the Mavs in my projection with an upset win over Boston tonight. Boston is favored by 5, but they have lost 4 out of their last 6 (including the last game in Houston) since Robert (the Time Lord) Williams got hurt. This is a winnable game without him. It's going to be fun to see what J-DEE and Ant can do on Tatum and Brown. Let's win this one!

What exactly did Reaves struggle with during the time that Russell was out? He shot the hell out of the ball, averaged over 5 assists a game and less than 2 turnovers and the Lakers went 4-2 during that time. Sure maybe he isn't a PG but he put up some pretty nice numbers and they were winning. Are you watching all the Lakers games ? :)

Some of them, monster, but not all. I love Reaves, but he looks out of position to me at PG. But I'm mostly going on what Dane Moore tweeted about the Lakers. He said it was imperative that we dominate the minutes that Reaves had to come in for Schroeder in order to win the game. And sure enough, he looked really bad running the Lakers offense that night...JMac was mostly matched up with Reaves, and he was a +11 while Reaves was a -10. To me that was pretty much the main factor in our win, because Reaves has been a solid on/off guy all year while playing SG.

[Monster]

So I rip Vando and Beas for their poor play recently, and Beas and DLo go 6-10 on threes in the first quarter and Vando has 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal!

What about Austin Reaves? Dude is low key ballin the last couple months. March he is averaging almost 15 points and over 5 assists.

I love the Hillbilly Kobe, monster...both as a guy and as a player! When Russell was out, Reaves had to play backup PG, and he was miscast there and struggled. But he's been terrific as a scoring SG off the bench!

The Lakers win in NO dropped us two games behind them in my projection, but also moved us ahead of the Pels with sole possession of 9th place. OkC held serve and sits only a game behind NO for the final play in spot, but Portland's home loss to the Knicks really hurt their chances of catching NO. OkC may look good currently sitting in a tie for 8th place in the standings, but they are about to embark on a brutal stretch where I see them losing 5 out of 6 games.

The Wolves can move into a 3-way tie with GS and the Mavs in my projection with an upset win over Boston tonight. Boston is favored by 5, but they have lost 4 out of their last 6 (including the last game in Houston) since Robert (the Time Lord) Williams got hurt. This is a winnable game without him. It's going to be fun to see what J-DEE and Ant can do on Tatum and Brown. Let's win this one!

What exactly did Reaves struggle with during the time that Russell was out? He shot the hell out of the ball, averaged over 5 assists a game and less than 2 turnovers and the Lakers went 4-2 during that time. Sure maybe he isn't a PG but he put up some pretty nice numbers and they were winning. Are you watching all the Lakers games ? :)

Some of them, monster, but not all. I love Reaves, but he looks out of position to me at PG. But I'm mostly going on what Dane Moore tweeted about the Lakers. He said it was imperative that we dominate the minutes that Reaves had to come in for Schroeder in order to win the game. And sure enough, he looked really bad running the Lakers offense that night...JMac was mostly matched up with Reaves, and he was a +11 while Reaves was a -10. To me that was pretty much the main factor in our win, because Reaves has been a solid on/off guy all year while playing SG.

That's the only game since the trade he has shot under 50% from the floor. It's also worth asking if he is better or equally valuable in that role than if Beverly or Kendrick Nunn was playing backup PG. Lebron didn't play most of those games either and he is basically a PG himself. I simply have a hard time saying a 2nd year undrafted guy is "struggling" over a stretch of games when he is putting up 15 points on way over 50% shooting from everywhere and 5 assists and again the Lakers went 4-2 in those games and won the Warriors game after Russell went down after playing 9 minutes. He is an example of why every roster spot matters.

Edit: I can think of at least 4 perimeter players on the Wolves that if they were putting up Austin Reaves numbers since the Russell trade we would be THRILLED to live with his struggles. Lol