2025 NBA Season

[Swordsoffreedom]

I also don't suspect that he has taking any enhancing drugs for that matter. We have seen him scoring even when he was still in Utah, maybe he just woke up on the right side of the bed and just decided to take over that game and win it for them.

And now it's Giannis turn to have a 50 point game performance, Klay had one as well. And so as we have discussed, this season is going to be a special one with this kind of scoring and specially if Lebron will break Jabbar's record it will be the ultimate scoring record.

I just finished reading about it here.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/cavaliers-donovan-mitchell-says-he-was-drug-tested-after-dropping-71-points-against-bulls/
I think they didn't let the results leak out but I doubt it will be positive. Obviously, because Mitchell had the guts to tweet about it.
We call this being "in the zone" and it was known to happen to players if it's their night. They do "heat checks" if they feel it. Kobe felt it, Booker did, and Melo in New York and even Jeremy Lin, fans do love it when it happens.
Donovan Mitchell felt the zone in that last quarter of the game against the Bulls and then more in overtime.
This should not be questioned anymore as the defense is also becoming weaker and weaker, especially against a Bulls team, and shooters are given more priority for their space to shoot.

Personally, I do not think that the players should be held accountable for taking some performance, enhancing materials, just because they dropped an insane performance in a match. I am also positive that he did not take anything like that.

I know for a lot of people, it is going to be hard to believe that he was actually “in the zone“. But that can happen and that has happened previously. However, I also think that the authority is very much in their right to check if he is actually taking any substance or not. If the player is not taking anything, which I believe he did not, everything should be fine.

[boltz]

I simply don't know if Jazz are awful or if Kings are good this season.... because Jazz had a phenomenal start of season by going in 1st place and having a massive winning streak and since then , they are in free falling that seems it won't stop soon. Then , we have Kings who have been at the bottom of NBA for quite some years now but since they got Sabonis , the entire team kinda changed and I don't see them missing the play-offs anymore and this can be a massive boost in moral for this team but also for the city and fans.

[Hypnosis00]

I also don't suspect that he has taking any enhancing drugs for that matter. We have seen him scoring even when he was still in Utah, maybe he just woke up on the right side of the bed and just decided to take over that game and win it for them.

And now it's Giannis turn to have a 50 point game performance, Klay had one as well. And so as we have discussed, this season is going to be a special one with this kind of scoring and specially if Lebron will break Jabbar's record it will be the ultimate scoring record.

I just finished reading about it here.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/cavaliers-donovan-mitchell-says-he-was-drug-tested-after-dropping-71-points-against-bulls/
I think they didn't let the results leak out but I doubt it will be positive. Obviously, because Mitchell had the guts to tweet about it.
We call this being "in the zone" and it was known to happen to players if it's their night. They do "heat checks" if they feel it. Kobe felt it, Booker did, and Melo in New York and even Jeremy Lin, fans do love it when it happens.
Donovan Mitchell felt the zone in that last quarter of the game against the Bulls and then more in overtime.
This should not be questioned anymore as the defense is also becoming weaker and weaker, especially against a Bulls team, and shooters are given more priority for their space to shoot.

Personally, I do not think that the players should be held accountable for taking some performance, enhancing materials, just because they dropped an insane performance in a match. I am also positive that he did not take anything like that.

I know for a lot of people, it is going to be hard to believe that he was actually “in the zone“. But that can happen and that has happened previously. However, I also think that the authority is very much in their right to check if he is actually taking any substance or not. If the player is not taking anything, which I believe he did not, everything should be fine.

If he was found out using an enhancement drug which is illegal, then probably he was already suspended, just like what happen to  Ayton (https://nba.nbcsports.com/2019/10/24/deandre-ayton-suspended-25-games-for-drug-policy-violation/)... Mitchell is actually a superstar, he can drop that points especially if his shooting percentage is very efficient.

[ultrloa]

I also don't suspect that he has taking any enhancing drugs for that matter. We have seen him scoring even when he was still in Utah, maybe he just woke up on the right side of the bed and just decided to take over that game and win it for them.

And now it's Giannis turn to have a 50 point game performance, Klay had one as well. And so as we have discussed, this season is going to be a special one with this kind of scoring and specially if Lebron will break Jabbar's record it will be the ultimate scoring record.

I just finished reading about it here.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/cavaliers-donovan-mitchell-says-he-was-drug-tested-after-dropping-71-points-against-bulls/
I think they didn't let the results leak out but I doubt it will be positive. Obviously, because Mitchell had the guts to tweet about it.
We call this being "in the zone" and it was known to happen to players if it's their night. They do "heat checks" if they feel it. Kobe felt it, Booker did, and Melo in New York and even Jeremy Lin, fans do love it when it happens.
Donovan Mitchell felt the zone in that last quarter of the game against the Bulls and then more in overtime.
This should not be questioned anymore as the defense is also becoming weaker and weaker, especially against a Bulls team, and shooters are given more priority for their space to shoot.

Personally, I do not think that the players should be held accountable for taking some performance, enhancing materials, just because they dropped an insane performance in a match. I am also positive that he did not take anything like that.

I know for a lot of people, it is going to be hard to believe that he was actually “in the zone“. But that can happen and that has happened previously. However, I also think that the authority is very much in their right to check if he is actually taking any substance or not. If the player is not taking anything, which I believe he did not, everything should be fine.

Although its really possible for those record to be break but there are certain things need to check so that official can clearly say that the person who do that insane record are cleared and he just do that without taking any performance enhancer. Its somehow unfair to many players who didn't take any substance so everything should be check to make sure that they are not doing unfair things. But in case of Mitchel its not surprising at all since somehow he is explosive player.

[Kelvinid]

I simply don't know if Jazz are awful or if Kings are good this season.... because Jazz had a phenomenal start of season by going in 1st place and having a massive winning streak and since then , they are in free falling that seems it won't stop soon. Then , we have Kings who have been at the bottom of NBA for quite some years now but since they got Sabonis , the entire team kinda changed and I don't see them missing the play-offs anymore and this can be a massive boost in moral for this team but also for the city and fans.

They are just not lucky, sometimes a team have that kind of bad losing streak. However, if you look closely on the previous games of the Jazz, their losses are very close, so that means they are still very competitive, they just fall short in the last quarter, maybe lack of good execution, that's something they need to improve.

[Reid]

But what if Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are both injured Williamson has a hamstring and may come back on January 29, and Brandon Ingram injured his Toe and may return on January 11 this is a big loss of players for the New Orleans Pelicans right now without these two players I think they will surely struggle a lot,

It will be a struggle, that will be certain. But they still have one of the elite players in the league with CJ McCollum who had been playing great offense and Jonas Valančiūnas. And they don't have a bad bench team with Alvarado, Trey Murphy, and Jaxson Hayes.

With Nuggets if the joker can not play that will be a problem for the Nuggets, but for now, they are still playing with him, and has good health right now,

He will be crucial if he misses the playoffs. That means Gordon, Murray, and Porter Jr. will need to step up their game in a level they never had done.
Jokic is the heart of their team, it's hard to imagine a Nuggets team without him.

[LogitechMouse]

I simply don't know if Jazz are awful or if Kings are good this season.... because Jazz had a phenomenal start of season by going in 1st place and having a massive winning streak and since then , they are in free falling that seems it won't stop soon. Then , we have Kings who have been at the bottom of NBA for quite some years now but since they got Sabonis , the entire team kinda changed and I don't see them missing the play-offs anymore and this can be a massive boost in moral for this team but also for the city and fans.

This is what I'm saying at the start of the season. Teams that are at the top spot right now will not stay on that spot and vice-versa and that's what's happening right now, and I guess many knew it already.

Like you said, the top spot Jazz at the start of the season is now on a freefall and the Kings who is at the bottom at the start is slowly getting into the top. The best example of this scenario right now is the Nets. Just look at them at the start of the season. They started 2-5 and after that, they fired Coach Nash and Coach Vaughn took the coaching position and since then, they are performing really well and currently they are on a winning streak. Coach Vaugh even got the coach of the month award for December which is very nice and that might boost his morale to coach his Nets team even better.

Teams will not stay on the top and vice versa and we near at the half of the season so let's expect more changes with regards to the standings. Teams on the bottom still has a chance to reach at least the top 8 or the play-in position and those at the top might still fall and worse, they might be out of the top 8.

[yazher]

They are just not lucky, sometimes a team have that kind of bad losing streak. However, if you look closely on the previous games of the Jazz, their losses are very close, so that means they are still very competitive, they just fall short in the last quarter, maybe lack of good execution, that's something they need to improve.

A loss is a loss and they really need to fix their rotations because if they continue to play like that, it could be the same reason they are out of the NBA playoffs this season. The other teams below seem to win sometimes and improving slightly and obviously, if they continue with their losing streaks, they will be close to being a candidate to get Victor Wembanyama  

It seems like their lack of star players is starting to show the results and this is what gonna happen if the players cannot constantly execute a great play to win some important games throughout the season the results are soon hitting the bottom.

[wheelz1200]

I miss the 80s/90s era with defense and hard fought games.  Imagine Jordan playing in this era where a simple hand check is a foul.  That's why all these guys are scoring 50, 60, 70 points.  The level of play isn't better it's just the lack of defense that's prevalent.  The NBA, and all major sports for that matter change rules to encourage scoring which enhances the entertainment for the average fan.  Me personally it feels more and more like an all star game than anything, which isn't a good thing.

[OgNasty]

There must be something going around the NBA right now. All the big stars seem to be putting up monster numbers. Giannis’ performance last big hit being the latest as he scored 55 and set a new career high. He barely missed a triple double by 3 assists. LeBron, Giannis, Luka, & Donovan Mitchell all putting up historic numbers in amazing performances this week. You love to see it.

[Eternad]

There must be something going around the NBA right now. All the big stars seem to be putting up monster numbers. Giannis’ performance last big hit being the latest as he scored 55 and set a new career high. He barely missed a triple double by 3 assists. LeBron, Giannis, Luka, & Donovan Mitchell all putting up historic numbers in amazing performances this week. You love to see it.

All the players that you mention belongs to the team that recently suffer struggling. Probably they are more motivated to play since most team already played 25% of there game on the regular season and this is the best time to farm wins to have a better position rather than boost effort on final games especially Lebron that missed the playoffs last year due to incomplete team mates.

Luka is always that kind of explosive so I’m not really surprised. Lebron stepping again is what makes me wonder on what triggers him to do that extra effort once again.

[inthelongrun]

With Nuggets if the joker can not play that will be a problem for the Nuggets, but for now, they are still playing with him, and has good health right now,

He will be crucial if he misses the playoffs. That means Gordon, Murray, and Porter Jr. will need to step up their game in a level they never had done.
Jokic is the heart of their team, it's hard to imagine a Nuggets team without him.

This is the negative side of a team that depends mostly on a single player. Teams like Milwaukee and Denver will be easily at the bottom of the rankings if Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic are out. I don't think the rest of the roster can really compete well. Unlike the other teams like Boston and Memphis, they are surrounded by too many talents that they can perform well even with the absence of one star.

Denver is on top of the west and is even competing to lead the overall ranking is surprising to me. We are still half of the season anyways and there are a lot of swings that happens since the start of the season. But somehow after winning back-to-back MVPs, I like to see Jokic getting a ring.

[OgNasty]

Finally getting some nationally televised games tonight. Been a long break since the Christmas holiday. Up first on ESPN is the Bucks and Raptors, so we can see if Giannis has another legendary performance in him. Then game 2 of the doubleheader is the Lakers vs Miami Heat, with LeBron facing off against his old team. Will the old guy have another big performance in him? We’ll see soon enough.

[Yogee]

I miss the 80s/90s era with defense and hard fought games.  Imagine Jordan playing in this era where a simple hand check is a foul.  That's why all these guys are scoring 50, 60, 70 points.  The level of play isn't better it's just the lack of defense that's prevalent.  The NBA, and all major sports for that matter change rules to encourage scoring which enhances the entertainment for the average fan.  Me personally it feels more and more like an all star game than anything, which isn't a good thing.

Many have been saying defensive plays right now are on all-star level hehe. Some players still remain exceptional to be fair. They make shots even if they've been doubled or tripled.

I already said it before that the recent monster performances of some players will spice up the regular season's MVP race. I know it's still a popularity contest but it's nice to see that there are plenty to choose from.

[dwyane36]

And so the trend continues with high caliber NBA players pushing their limit, Giannis against the Wizards, 55 points, 10 boards, 7 assists. I know, this is payback time for Giannis as some of the bettors are made against him not playing the last time because of the late news about his injuries and so majority of us lost our parlay and singles bet.

As for the Mitchell drug tested, I think it's fair, I didn't click on the link but what is the NBA looking for as a sort of performance enhancing drugs in basketball?

The top players score 40-50+ points more and more often. It seems that there will come a moment soon when fans will no longer be surprised by such performances. Honestly, I think the trend is not that players are pushing their limits but that the NBA is getting softer and softer every year. I mean, 50+ points was a rarity and a difficult task for many players 15-20 seasons ago. However, the current top players can score the same number of points somehow too easily.
Maybe I'm wrong, and someone will disagree with me, but that's my feeling on the playing style of players in the NBA at the moment.

[Jating]

And so the trend continues with high caliber NBA players pushing their limit, Giannis against the Wizards, 55 points, 10 boards, 7 assists. I know, this is payback time for Giannis as some of the bettors are made against him not playing the last time because of the late news about his injuries and so majority of us lost our parlay and singles bet.

As for the Mitchell drug tested, I think it's fair, I didn't click on the link but what is the NBA looking for as a sort of performance enhancing drugs in basketball?

The top players score 40-50+ points more and more often. It seems that there will come a moment soon when fans will no longer be surprised by such performances. Honestly, I think the trend is not that players are pushing their limits but that the NBA is getting softer and softer every year. I mean, 50+ points was a rarity and a difficult task for many players 15-20 seasons ago. However, the current top players can score the same number of points somehow too easily.
Maybe I'm wrong, and someone will disagree with me, but that's my feeling on the playing style of players in the NBA at the moment.

It's obvious that the game has change a lot since the 80-90's where some of us grew watching the NBA. Perhaps we could count players reaching 40+ points around that era.

Could be that the NBA is getting softer, and sooner we might see this being the norm and who knows, if the once Kareem Abdul Jabbar's untouchable record is going to be broken by Lebron, maybe we can see Wilt's 100 points also been broken in the near future?

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

I simply don't know if Jazz are awful or if Kings are good this season.... because Jazz had a phenomenal start of season by going in 1st place and having a massive winning streak and since then , they are in free falling that seems it won't stop soon. Then , we have Kings who have been at the bottom of NBA for quite some years now but since they got Sabonis , the entire team kinda changed and I don't see them missing the play-offs anymore and this can be a massive boost in moral for this team but also for the city and fans.

Two very close games lost to the Kings, I don't know, maybe the Kings is for real this season with the acquisition of Sabonis as they have a lot of options now. And then Fox playing 100% healthy and so they are back playing good again.

As for the Jazz, there has been a debate whether they are going to tank this season with their new lineup, but in the beginning they are winning. But as of late they are in a slump, and they need to play defense too as they are giving up points very easy.

[danherbias07]

I simply don't know if Jazz are awful or if Kings are good this season.... because Jazz had a phenomenal start of season by going in 1st place and having a massive winning streak and since then , they are in free falling that seems it won't stop soon. Then , we have Kings who have been at the bottom of NBA for quite some years now but since they got Sabonis , the entire team kinda changed and I don't see them missing the play-offs anymore and this can be a massive boost in moral for this team but also for the city and fans.

Did you watch the game? Sacramento Kings are just getting better. Sabonis is a monster but when Fox also becomes a nine-tailed Fox they become a team that is hard to beat. Utah Jazz is not an awful team and in fact, it was a close game until the 4th quarter. I don't remember a time it went to a high double-digit lead or I must have missed it.

I miss the 80s/90s era with defense and hard fought games.  Imagine Jordan playing in this era where a simple hand check is a foul.  That's why all these guys are scoring 50, 60, 70 points.  The level of play isn't better it's just the lack of defense that's prevalent.  The NBA, and all major sports for that matter change rules to encourage scoring which enhances the entertainment for the average fan.  Me personally it feels more and more like an all star game than anything, which isn't a good thing.

I can't argue with that.
Even good defenders are having a difficult time with the new rules. Just imagine trying to block a shooter and you are thinking about the ball in his hand and at the same time figuring out how you will not bump him before you land because there will still be a call after the release. That's torture for a defender.
I know it's to protect shooters but damn it's not easy to guard a jump shot nowadays.

[beerlover]

Personally, I do not think that the players should be held accountable for taking some performance, enhancing materials, just because they dropped an insane performance in a match. I am also positive that he did not take anything like that.

I know for a lot of people, it is going to be hard to believe that he was actually “in the zone“. But that can happen and that has happened previously. However, I also think that the authority is very much in their right to check if he is actually taking any substance or not. If the player is not taking anything, which I believe he did not, everything should be fine.

I think it is definitely possible for players to have good games and this was one of them, plus he didn't had this much points for the first three quarters neither, it didn't look like a 71 point game at all, it was like a 40+ even maybe 50 point game at best which does happen time to time, we have seen it done by Luka so many times in a row during December for example.

The difference was that he had a good game like that, but then it also went to OT and he scored a bunch of points there too. Other team gave up eventually, and his team got him the ball and he was on fire so he put them in. That's the greatest thing and it does help him a lot too.

[Baofeng]

I simply don't know if Jazz are awful or if Kings are good this season.... because Jazz had a phenomenal start of season by going in 1st place and having a massive winning streak and since then , they are in free falling that seems it won't stop soon. Then , we have Kings who have been at the bottom of NBA for quite some years now but since they got Sabonis , the entire team kinda changed and I don't see them missing the play-offs anymore and this can be a massive boost in moral for this team but also for the city and fans.

Did you watch the game? Sacramento Kings are just getting better. Sabonis is a monster but when Fox also becomes a nine-tailed Fox they become a team that is hard to beat. Utah Jazz is not an awful team and in fact, it was a close game until the 4th quarter. I don't remember a time it went to a high double-digit lead or I must have missed it.

Yeah, and for us bettors, how many times did Sacramento give us good wins, hehehe.

Sabonis is really the big difference for them obviously, they have a big guy, all over, that can shoot and include other players that's this team is very deep in my opinion.

And then Fox now becoming that we are expected of him, and he indeed put a show against the Jazz fans and that dagger drive for a 2 point lead. I wanted to see an OT by damn, Fox is really quick on his feet and easy lay up for a go ahead basket.