Five NBA Things I may or may not have Liked: C’est LeStreak, Challengers, Buck-le Up, Brooks Banner, Cup Thoughts
My favorite and least least favorite things from the NBA
LeSacrificial Streak
By now, I’m sure you’ve all seen it. Since January 6, 2007, LeBron James, over the course of 1,297 consecutive games, had reached double-figures in scoring. You might say, scoring ten points isn’t that much, and you’d be right, but scoring ten points in every game for almost two decades defies belief. The next three closest streaks are Michael Jordan with 866, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 787, and Karl Malone at 575. Of all the records that are within the realm of possibility of breaking, this one seems almost untouchable.
Well, the streak is now over, and it ended in the quintessential LeBron James fashion. With the game knotted at 120, the Lakers had the ball with the shot clock off, as LeBron sat on eight points. If he was going to keep his streak alive, it was almost assuredly going to have to be a game-winner, or a miss, which would give him five extra minutes to get one lone bucket. Due to the 44 points he had already scored, the Raptors decided they needed to get the ball out of Austin Reaves’s hands at all costs. Their hard trap of Reaves with 4.0 seconds left resulted in LeBron James, unguarded, with a full head of steam into the paint.
For 20 years, that’s been an autobucket, but in year 21, LeBron is feeling his age. Instead of bulldozing his way to the cup, winning the game, and extending his scoring streak, or at least attempting to, LeBron did the thing that so many fucking idiots people have bemoaned– he kicked it to the corner for a wide open three. Rui Hachimura, uncovered and unbothered, lined up his shot and drilled the walkoff three.
LeBron’s secret superpower has always been his ability to read the temperature of the game. He knows when heroball is the only play, but he also knows when an unselfish kickout is the right decision. In this moment, no one would have faulted him for taking the shot. It wouldn’t have lost the Lakers the game; it was a chance for him to add another game-winning shot to his ledger, and it could have kept his streak alive. Instead, he kicked to the corner, like he has so many times, and his team was better off for it.
NBA Challenge Data is Publicly Available
This is more of a PSA than anything, but the NBA releases the results and circumstances of all of the coaches’ challenges. If you’re interested in using this for any data work, or just interested out of morbid curiosity, then here is the link. Unfortunately, the data comes in PDF format, but fear not. If you want to throw it into a spreadsheet, all you need to do, if you have a Google account, is import the PDF to your drive, open the PDF with Docs, and then copy and paste it into Sheets/Excel. That’s more steps than I’d like, but it’s far fewer steps than it should take to get to your fridge.
The Bucks Stop Here
On the one hand, you’ve got to hand it to the Bucks for doing everything in their power to try and keep Giannis Antetokounmpo happy. But on the other hand, this ending was so obvious that you have to wonder if their front office is naive, delusional, or, most likely, just that desperate. The Bucks are mired in mediocrity at 10-13, and reporting is out in full force that one of the two sides may be ready for a split. Giannis wants to compete for a championship, and this roster, even with him playing at a superhuman level, cannot. What makes this all so silly is that everyone could see this from a mile away.
Over the summer, the Bucks, reportedly, believed that this roster, with Giannis at the center, was strong enough to compete in the Eastern Conference. And while that has sort of been true, as they have a +8.23 net rating with him on the court, there’s the whole problem of their team collapsing to -8.86 net rating without him. To make matters worse, they waived and stretched the remaining $103 million on Damian Lillard’s deal to sign Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract in the hopes of appeasing Giannis. The Bucks are all-in on this roster, and Giannis is clearly mostly-out, which was the most obvious outcome in history.
I don’t blame the Bucks for doing whatever it takes to try and keep the best player in franchise history, but at the same time, when that player basically says, “I want to compete for championships,” and your response is this offseason, then I kind of think you’re a fool. The Bucks should have traded Giannis in the offseason, eaten the two years left on Lillard’s contract, and started building for a brighter future. Instead, they’ve let Giannis trade value decline just a tad, are even more underwater financially than before, and will have an awkward next three months.
Dillon Brooks Mid-Range Assassin
When the Houston Rockets signed Dillon Brooks to a four-year, $86 million contract, I thought they had just flushed money down the drain. Sure, he was a tough tone setting defender, but he was also a poor 3-point shooter, inefficient within the arc, and took far too many ill-advised shots. To my surprise, in Houston, he mostly stuck to the things he was good at. He defended, turned down his shooting volume, and hit threes at a solid clip. As part of the Kevin Durant trade, he was shipped to the Phoenix Suns, and he has reverted back to his old ways, but this time, it’s working.
Over 16 games, Brooks is averaging 22.3 points per game on 32% 3-point shooting and a career-best 57.1% on twos. As of today, Brooks is shooting a career high across every region within the arc, and a mighty impressive 53.3% on shots 10-16 feet and 52% on shots 16 feet to the 3-point arc. I’m dubious this will last, but for now, enjoy Dillon the Villain, the Mid-Range Assassin.
An NBA Cup Proposal
In my opinion, the NBA Cup has been a good addition to the NBA calendar. The games have an added intensity, and the courts are hilarious. The combination of competitiveness and comedy makes it feel like a minor college football bowl. Sure, no one cares about the Bad Boys Mowers Pinstripe Bowl outside of the fans of the teams, but they do, which is what matters. However, the one major tweak I would make is in the group stage.
The NBA uses the previous season’s win-loss record to seed and then build groups. While that makes total sense, the problem is that sometimes the previous season has little bearing on the next. For instance, Group C contained the Nuggets, Rockets, Spurs, Warriors, and Trail Blazers, while Group B was comprised of the Lakers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Pelicans, and Mavericks. One group currently has a combined 64 wins, while the other has 42. Instead of creating groups of death and groups of dopes, the NBA should simply factor in the current season standings. Whether it’s the only thing they use, or there is a 50-50 split between the previous and current season win percentage, I don’t care. All I know is that the fortunes of NBA teams can change so dramatically that we ought to use the most current evidence when possible.
For any inquiries about work, discussion, and the like, you can email me at nevin.l.brown@gmail.com.