Basketball Intelligence For 12/5/24
Lakers get scorched by Heat, power rankings galore, ever-ailing Sixers help Orlando regain their magic, and more...
LEAGUE NEWS
The First-Quarter NBA Efficiency Landscape
Kirk Goldsberry, The Ringer
10 Bench Players Every Team Would Love To Have In 2024-25
Fran Leiva, Fadeawy World
NBA quarter-season grades for every East team: Celtics and Cavaliers earn best marks, one squad gets an 'F'
James Herbert, Jasmyn Wimbish, & Jack Maloney, CBS Sports
NBA Power Rankings: A reason for optimism for every team
the Score Staff, the Score
NBA power rankings 2024-25: Cavaliers move back on top while Rockets, Magic keep climbing
Kurt Helin, NBC Sports
NBA Power Rankings: Bucks bounce back, Rockets rise in the West
NBA Insiders, ESPN
Is The NBA Cup Exciting?
Owen Phillips, The F5
Curiously, the average margin of victory has been closer in Cup games than in non-Cup games. That’s surprising given that teams have an incentive to run up the score during the group stages since point differential is one of the first tiebreakers for advancing to the knockout rounds. This could suggest that teams haven’t optimized their strategies for advancing out of the group stages — or maybe they just don’t care.
The Lakers have some flashing red lights
Tom Ziller, Good Morning It’s Basketball
The Whiteboard: James Harden is still a system
Christopher Kline, Fansided
TEAM NEWS
BOS: Observations from Celtics/Pistons
Adam Taylor, The Celtics Chronicle
BOS: Six eye-popping numbers from Payton Pritchard's hot start
Chris Forsberg, NBC Sports Boston
BOS: Boston Celtics withstand hot-shooting Detroit Pistons, win 130-120
Daniel Poarch, Celtics Blog
BOS: 4 takeaways as Celtics beat Pistons despite missing All-Star
Brian Robb, Mass Live
BOS: Kristaps Porzingis applauds Celtics star for mental skill in Pistons win
Souichi Terada, Mass Live
BKN: Nets’ Bigs Break Out Long Ball In Gritty Win
Steve Lichtenstein, Steve’s Newsletter
CLE: NBA Coach of Year favorite Kenny Atkinson is a fascinating Cleveland Cavs boss
Nate Ulrich, Akron Beach Journal
By professional sports coach standards, he is unusually open with the media. He admits when something surprises him. He volunteers brutally honest assessments — one time he assigned a letter grade to the defense without being asked for one. He even says he reads what reporters have written. He seems to fully grasp the value of communicating to the fan base, and it's refreshing.
CLE: What’s it like to play two professional basketball games in one day? Cavs’ Craig Porter Jr. and Jaylon Tyson found out
Chris Fedor, Cleveland.com
DAL: Lively II cements his spot as Mavs' starting center amid gutsy internal battle
Will Miller, The Smoking Cuban
DEN: The Gordon-Jokić Pinwheel
Rohit Naimpally, From The Logo
LAC: Injury-plagued Clippers held to 80 points in blowout loss to Minnesota
Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times
LAL: Lakers buried in a barrage of 24 Miami threes in blowout: 'We're all embarrassed'
Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times
LAL: Reeling Lakers share in blame after 41-point loss to Heat
Dave McMenamin, ESPN
LAL: ‘We’re all embarrassed’: Skidding Lakers lose by 41 in drubbing to Heat
Jovan Buha, The Athletic
MEM: Grizzlies' Ja Morant prioritizing health over highlight dunks
Tim McMahon, ESPN
"Sometimes I get knocked out the air and [a foul] don't get called, and now I'm out longer than what I'm supposed to be," Morant said, explaining why he doesn't want to dunk in traffic. "Sometimes the foul might get called; I still hit the floor, but after the game you might feel that little fall. So I just pick and choose, man. Hey, two points is two points. I get it done. That's all that matters."
MEM: What happened in Grizzlies' 4th-quarter collapse in Tuesday's NBA Cup loss?
Parker Fleming, Subtsakalidis
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