2022-2023 Regular Season: A New Power Rises in the East

[Triplethreat]

Sexton with a nice 16 in 19 minutes and a Jazz W

 

[All4One1ForAll]

Mitchell was awesome. Allen was a force on defense. But pretty much everyone else disappointed me. Even Cedi who had a good game, I mean we’ve seen him get hot before, but I know how this story goes. He’s just not consistently playable.

 

[shoes22]

Sexton with a nice 16 in 19 minutes and a Jazz W

Good for him. Have no problem with him thriving in Utah, we have the superstar.

 

[B Mac]

Mitchell was awesome. Allen was a force on defense. But pretty much everyone else disappointed me. Even Cedi who had a good game, I mean we’ve seen him get hot before, but I know how this story goes. He’s just not consistently playable.

But yet, if we would have had Garland not get his eye clawed at, I think we would have smoked them.

It’s tough when you lose your allstar PG. The signature lobs for easy points just weren’t there, which is a large part of our offense.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

But yet, if we would have had Garland not get his eye clawed at, I think we would have smoked them.

It’s tough when you lose your allstar PG. The signature lobs for easy points just weren’t there, which is a large part of our offense.

It's possible, but tbh Garland was ass out there when he played. On offense they attacked him by getting him switched on guys like Siakam over and over, and then on defense they played him so physically and tipped or stole virtually every pass he made. Toronto is a really tough matchup for him because of their length and ball pressure. They just swallowed him up.

Honestly, tonight's game made it really clear how much we needed a guy like Mitchell. Without him, and even with a healthy Garland, we would've put up like 80 points in tonight's game. Mitchell is sooo much more physical and explosive going downhill than DG is. And this is coming from someone who's incredibly high on Garland. But in certain matchups like this, Garland can be taken out of a game to a degree Mitchell can't, especially when our screen setting isn't freeing Garland up. Mitchell brushes off all the reaching and the contact from defenders, and just attacks the paint.

 

[red.]

 

[Futuredome]

Garland was struggling but that doesn't mean he wouldn't put together a nice stretch. Neto was atrocious.

 

[Adam]

Garland was struggling but that doesn't mean he wouldn't put together a nice stretch. Neto was atrocious.

Agreed. We have seen garland play a weak half and then dominate the second. Hope his eye is ok. Such a shame for those kind of pointless plays to hurt players. I like Trent and how hard he plays but that's reckless given the completely pointless situation it was. If he was driving to the basket it would have been excusable

 

[bleedwineandgold03]

This loss was due to officiating plain and simple. Terrible game by officials one lopsided calls.

 

[Cement]

You will not convince me that Neto is the best that Altman could do for a backup PG until Rubio comes back.

 

[dms]

Sexton with a nice 16 in 19 minutes and a Jazz W

He actually had 20 in 20 minutes. I like Mitchell and the way his outside game opens up the offense, but Utah got a pirates bounty for Mitchell if Sexton is healthy. I wish Sexton had had a full season with Mobley.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Utah is supposed to be tanking but they beat Denver by 21 last night. Markkanen had 17 and Sexton had 20 in 21 minutes off the bench. Agbaji got one minute at the end.

Rudy Gay, age 36, was a +24 in 26 minutes off the bench. The guy is ageless - he went 4 of 6 from deep.

Jokic is wasted on that Nuggets team. He might be the best player on the worst team in the NBA. He had 27 points and 6 assists to no avail.

Brooklyn got hammered by the Pelicans. Four of the five Pelican starters were +23 to +34; Zion was only a +13. Durant was -23, Kyrie -18, and Ben Simmons -26. Simmons, playing his first NBA game since the 20-21 season, fouled out in just 23 minutes. The Pelis were up 20 points after three quarters.

Maybe the Nets figure out how to play Durant, Kyrie, and Simmons together effectively, but the first act was a disaster.

DeMar DeRozan had 37 points in 36 minutes as the Bulls beat Miami in Miami by 8. Kyle Lowry, age 36, had 2 points in 35 minutes as Miami's starting point guard. Really, Miami?

Jimmy Butler, age 33, played 37 minutes. Are they going to play Butler 37 minutes the whole season? They may have to.

Tiny samples, of course, but it appears Miami and Brooklyn may have some cracks. The Bulls beat Miami on the road without Lonzo Ball or Zach LaVine. Whoa.

 

[shoes22]

It's possible, but tbh Garland was ass out there when he played. On offense they attacked him by getting him switched on guys like Siakam over and over, and then on defense they played him so physically and tipped or stole virtually every pass he made. Toronto is a really tough matchup for him because of their length and ball pressure. They just swallowed him up.

Honestly, tonight's game made it really clear how much we needed a guy like Mitchell. Without him, and even with a healthy Garland, we would've put up like 80 points in tonight's game. Mitchell is sooo much more physical and explosive going downhill than DG is. And this is coming from someone who's incredibly high on Garland. But in certain matchups like this, Garland can be taken out of a game to a degree Mitchell can't, especially when our screen setting isn't freeing Garland up. Mitchell brushes off all the reaching and the contact from defenders, and just attacks the paint.

You’re reading too much into a small sample size, IMO. I would have been willing to bet Garland would have adjusted and looked much better in the second half had he not gotten his eye poked out last night.

 

[dms]

Utah is supposed to be tanking but they beat Denver by 21 last night. Markkanen had 17 and Sexton had 20 in 21 minutes off the bench. Agbaji got one minute at the end.

Rudy Gay, age 36, was a +24 in 26 minutes off the bench. The guy is ageless - he went 4 of 6 from deep.

Jokic is wasted on that Nuggets team. He might be the best player on the worst team in the NBA. He had 27 points and 6 assists to no avail.

Brooklyn got hammered by the Pelicans. Four of the five Pelican starters were +23 to +34; Zion was only a +13. Durant was -23, Kyrie -18, and Ben Simmons -26. Simmons, playing his first NBA game since the 20-21 season, fouled out in just 23 minutes. The Pelis were up 20 points after three quarters.

Maybe the Nets figure out how to play Durant, Kyrie, and Simmons together effectively, but the first act was a disaster.

DeMar DeRozan had 37 points in 36 minutes as the Bulls beat Miami in Miami by 8. Kyle Lowry, age 36, had 2 points in 35 minutes as Miami's starting point guard. Really, Miami?

Jimmy Butler, age 33, played 37 minutes. Are they going to play Butler 37 minutes the whole season? They may have to.

Tiny samples, of course, but it appears Miami and Brooklyn may have some cracks. The Bulls beat Miami on the road without Lonzo Ball or Zach LaVine. Whoa.

You know to ignore the first week or two as results are always bizarre. I remember the first time LBJ left we were a game or 2 over .500 and the nuts were really believing we were still a playoff team. Eventually reality set in and we won a handful of games the rest of the way. Some guys still are not in shape and some veteran teams just don't care until January.

 

[artimusprime]

Agreed. We have seen garland play a weak half and then dominate the second. Hope his eye is ok. Such a shame for those kind of pointless plays to hurt players. I like Trent and how hard he plays but that's reckless given the completely pointless situation it was. If he was driving to the basket it would have been excusable

this is why it should have been a flagrant IMO. it was reckless.