Official Game Thread: Knicks at Hawks

[Spud2nique]

On 12/1/2021 at 12:49 PM, Spud2nique said:

Ok so based on your philosophy, the Warriors shouldn’t lose to a crap team again right. So only teams that are on par with the Warriors should beat them. The Suns and maybe another 3 or 4 teams right?

 

Ill come back to his when the Warriors lose to a random crap team.

There. Warriors lost to the Spurs.

[Diesel]

On 12/5/2021 at 2:58 AM, Spud2nique said:

There. Warriors lost to the Spurs.

Let's review:

"By my philosophy... if the warriors lose to a crap team.. there's a reason.

1.  Somebody was injured.  -  Iggy was out

2.  Somebody had an off game.  - Curry had an off night. 

3.   Somebody played out of their mind.  - Who the hell is Derrick White and when did he start putting up 25 pt games.  I actually looked it up, he matched his career high.

4.  Crap team has a matchup advantage. -N/A

But The Houston Rockets are not just going to outplay the Warriors absent any of those 4 things.  If talent didn't mean victories, nobody would care about winning the lottery. "

 

My philosophy says any.. We damn near saw them all in that loss.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't say the best team in the league will be undefeatable.   I said that it's false to say on "any given night, anybody can win".  That's BS.  There's always a reason. 

 

 

[macdaddy]

44 minutes ago, Diesel said:

But The Houston Rockets are not just going to outplay the Warriors absent any of those 4 things.

One of your 4 things is Houston outplaying the Warriors.   So you're really just digging your own grave on this one.   But i guess i agree that Houston isn't going to outplay them unless Houston outplays them....on that given night.

[Spud2nique]

53 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Let's review:

"By my philosophy... if the warriors lose to a crap team.. there's a reason.

1.  Somebody was injured.  -  Iggy was out

2.  Somebody had an off game.  - Curry had an off night. 

3.   Somebody played out of their mind.  - Who the hell is Derrick White and when did he start putting up 25 pt games.  I actually looked it up, he matched his career high.

4.  Crap team has a matchup advantage. -N/A

But The Houston Rockets are not just going to outplay the Warriors absent any of those 4 things.  If talent didn't mean victories, nobody would care about winning the lottery. "

 

My philosophy says any.. We damn near saw them all in that loss.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't say the best team in the league will be undefeatable.   I said that it's false to say on "any given night, anybody can win".  That's BS.  There's always a reason. 

 

 

I have so much to say and so little at the same time. You keep changing the variable in our argument and moving the goal .

It’s like arguing with Lavar Ball, no matter what I won’t win. 

[Diesel]

4 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

I have so much to say and so little at the same time. You keep changing the variable in our argument and moving the goal .

It’s like arguing with Lavar Ball, no matter what I won’t win. 

Spud... go back.. take a look.. I quoted myself.   which was a quote from what I said prior to that.

 

[AHF]

On 12/6/2021 at 11:33 PM, Diesel said:

Spud... go back.. take a look.. I quoted myself.   which was a quote from what I said prior to that.

 

The 72 win Bulls lost to the 35 win Nuggets.  The only guy they were missing was Luc Longley.  (I was going to say "key" guy but couldn't bring myself to describe Longley and his 9 points and 5 rebound average as key on that squad.)  Jordan went for 39.  It was the definition of a "given night" type of loss.  

They also lost to the 21 win Raptors.  MJ scored 36 on a great 14 for 22 shooting night.  Rodman was out although Kukoc, Pippen and MJ all grabbed 9 rebounds apiece to stay near even in that category.  Might Mouse had a good game (30 points on 11 for 21 shooting) but nobody did anything exceptional for the Raptors - just all had pretty good games.  Chicago didn't throw in the towel either - it was a tight game with Chicago up by 4 coming into the 4th quarter and with MJ, Kukoc and Pippen averaging 40 minutes that night.  Toronto was the team with the short rotation only playing 7 guys as their #5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 players (by total minutes played that season) didn't make the game.

Again, these types of games are what "any given night" means.

[Diesel]

51 minutes ago, AHF said:

The 72 win Bulls lost to the 35 win Nuggets.  The only guy they were missing was Luc Longley.  (I was going to say "key" guy but couldn't bring myself to describe Longley and his 9 points and 5 rebound average as key on that squad.)  Jordan went for 39.  It was the definition of a "given night" type of loss.  

They also lost to the 21 win Raptors.  MJ scored 36 on a great 14 for 22 shooting night.  Rodman was out although Kukoc, Pippen and MJ all grabbed 9 rebounds apiece to stay near even in that category.  Might Mouse had a good game (30 points on 11 for 21 shooting) but nobody did anything exceptional for the Raptors - just all had pretty good games.  Chicago didn't throw in the towel either - it was a tight game with Chicago up by 4 coming into the 4th quarter and with MJ, Kukoc and Pippen averaging 40 minutes that night.  Toronto was the team with the short rotation only playing 7 guys as their #5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 players (by total minutes played that season) didn't make the game.

Again, these types of games are what "any given night" means.

My problem is that people use the statement everytime a better team loses to a lesser team.  They take into consideration none of the circumstances.   Sometimes, a lesser team has a matchup advantage.  Sometimes, there's a key player missing.   Sometimes your best player or one of your better player has an off night.  Basketball is about matchups.  Usually, the better team wins because they have a matchup advantage.   It's RARE that a team that is better loses to a lesser team and there's no reason for it. 

[AHF]

17 hours ago, Diesel said:

It's RARE that a team that is better loses to a lesser team and there's no reason for it. 

There is always a reason for it but it isn't rare that a better team loses to a lesser team and it can happen for any number of reasons.  

Among the top 8 seeds this season:

Golden State lost to the Spurs who are 7-15 in all other games

The Suns lost to the Kings and Blazers both of whom have losing records

The Jazz lost to the Magic and Pacers who are the 2nd and 3rd worst teams in the entire conference (14-37 in other games combined)

The Grizz lost to multiple losing teams and multiple .500 teams, including the lesser Raptors and Blazers

The Nets lost to the blatantly tanking Rockets

The Bulls lost to the loser Blazers, Pacers and woeful Rockets

The defending NBA champion Bucks lost to the T-Wolves, Spurs and Raptors

The Heat lost to the Pacers and T-Wolves

Etc.

 

In football it happens less often because teams have an entire week to prepare for games and only play a relative handfull of games over the entire season so the focus and preparation are always there.  In basketball and baseball, teams are playing many more games and do not have the practice time to be truly prepared for every matchup.  Teams that are better lose to lesser teams all the time.  

The 72 win Bulls losing to the 21 win Raptors with Jordan and Pippen, etc. captures this as well as anything.  It simply is part of the game.