The "Alpha" thing is really messageboard claptrap with a lot of players. He is one of them. He was the best player on a team that took the Vaunted Heat team to Game 7 in a Conference Finals. Guarded LeBron the entire series and didn't really blink until Game 7.

Gutless players don't do that. He isn't a particular emotional and demonstrative guy on the floor and sometimes that sort of thing is misread. I've never thought he was a scary player though. He competes and gets after it.

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Agree he’s not demonstrative and emotional. He’s a very passive great player.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

11 Turnovers in any game is terrible. He struggled early but he picked it after the first quarter. He played well overall though.

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He was i believe 3rd in MVP voting just last season. Guys like that aren't really considered passive.

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3 out of 4 games were very good. Not bad

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5 points and 6 turnovers in Game 6 of rookie Donovan Mitchell eliminating him from the playoffs in 2018

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

42 points in playoff debut...pretty damn good

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Kawhi Leonard told the Clippers that he wasn't coming unless Paul George came. Lebron James tried desperately to swing him with the Lakers. Tim Legler just referred to him as a,"pressure player". The guy is a stud and has been for awhile. He had a bad game. It happens and never forget he was playing alongside one of the more selfish and undisciplined great players in NBA history.

He has carried a mediocre team to the Conf Finals before and just last season he was No. 3 in MVP voting. He was the deciding factor in the game tonight too. Guy is a killer.

I know you had guys like Jimmy Butler and Oladipo over him. I know yoi want to make good on that one. No one besides you thinks that either is better. It might be best to take the L and move on from that one.

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I don't think it's as simple as saying there's no defense in the NBA. I believe playing in the bubble without travel fatigue, no fans screaming, tiny arena's without large backdrops...all of that has combined to make shooting much easier for players which has led to more efficient offense.

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he's right. Court neutrality is definitely making the games more competitive and giving the underdogs a chance.

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yea I don't blame Luka at all. 2 straight possessions with under 1:30 left in the game and he doesn't touch the ball? Name another all world player who wouldn't be pissed about that as well? Unless you are on a breakaway the ball should be given to Luka on EVERY offensive possession at that stage of the game.

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In today's Amy Lawrence CBS/Radio.com Sports Minute, she talked about how great the first games of NBA playoffs were last night, and said they were "worth the wait." Ok Amy, the games might have been very good or even great, but worth the wait?

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Hardly great. I don't get the hot takes of the day to call everything great or an "instant classic". It was a fairly blah day of NBA playoff basketball.

But another thrilling day of Phil Leotardo posts on CFMB

Orlanso is putting up a great deal of fight this game.

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What the hell?

I didn't even think to put this game on in the middle of a workday as I assumed it would be a snoozefest. Props to Orlando

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Walling up on Giannis and daring the others to beat them and thus far they haven't been able to do it. For an Elite team Milwaukee's overall talent is quite underwhelming. When Khris Middleton is your 2nd best player you definitely don't have top end talent.

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#1 seeds to lose by double digits to a #8 seed in Game 1:

1998 Jazz (won series 3-2)
1999 Heat (lost 3-2)
2007 Mavericks (lost 4-2)
2020 Bucks (???)

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I love Jimmy.

+1

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Love OKC's strategy on those Harden step back 3's. Wish more would do it.

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That's right, Shakes. FF still hasn't waken up from his quarantine slumber. It's no surprise on this list that the top 5 teams all play in the west coast, with the ones with noted altitude issues (Utah and Denver) comprising the top 2. This is a quick analysis from a betting angle on which teams have the best chance at home.

https://www.boydsbets.com/nba-home-court-advantage/Q

Also, we already know about the importance of circadian rhythms for all professional sports leagues, and how it's harder to win when flying west than it is flying east.

I'll post it here for FF's edification: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 133619.htm

And again from the first list we already know 6 out of the top 10 home court advantage teams from one sample size play in the west.

Here's a more scientific article on whether or not air altitude gives home teams in high altitudes an advantage over visiting team. The cliff notes version of this is as follows: yes, it does.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... tcomes.pdf


Finally, here's an independent analysis of home court advantage. Trends are changing but more or less what he's saying is well-known, even if we can quibble about the exact numbers:

Several compelling data points support the hypothesis that a large portion of the home edge is due to officiating bias in favor of the home team in the form of subjective calls.

For example, in basketball, the number of fouls charged to a team – and consequently the number of free throws awarded – are subject to referee bias. I analyzed the data from the 2018-19 NBA season and found that the home team is awarded on average approximately 0.8 more free throws, or 0.6 points per game.

Given that the home court advantage in the NBA was approximately 2.7 points last year, these extra shots from the charity line account for approximately 22% of the home edge. Other subjective violations, such as traveling, also break in favor of the home team, with visiting teams being whistled for about half a violation more each game. This is essentially one-half less possession, which is worth approximately another 0.6 points, explaining another sizable part of the home edge.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/11/01/ ... e-decline/

So, in the end, home court matters, and since it doesn't exist in the bubble, the games are of a different quality.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Ignoring the DiCaro grammar, the bolded part is what I was referring to. I never said there wasn't more neutrality, but you tend to phrase your posts as facts when it's basically you just guessing about would have happened in a hypothetical game that will never happen. Sure the Mavs might have gotten blown out, or maybe they end up winning the game. Or do upsets not happen in this hypothetical universe you've created in which you know everything that will happen?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

If the Rockets were at their home court they would be up by 40 instead of 17.

-veganfan, probably

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Okay if you want to be pedantic, it's my spelling you're referring to, not my grammar. That aside, do you mean to say you'd feel better if I threw in the word "probably"? Is that all we're talking about? Of course it's impossible to speak factually about a hypothetical. I speculate you have no real good reason for calling me out and that's why you're making up this whole "you phrase your posts as facts" thing when people tend to give someone the benefit of the doubt on these things. If I were to say Luka is "on fire" in a post, would you demand that I include "metaphorically" after it?

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

OKC has played like shit since they beat the Lakers a few weeks back.

_________________

Lines from A Few Good Men, re-done to fit FF's requirements for speech:

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Yea this has certainly been disappointing so far

Barkley took the Thunder to win the series in the pregame

Still, I can see Rockets going cold and letting OKC back in it in the second half

It's going to be really weird seeing a team clinch the final series in front of..nobody, really.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Yea

The NBA fake fans are even creepier than the baseball ones