2025 NBA Season

[wheelz1200]

It's not all on kyries shoulders.  The players they traded away ruined their chemistry.  And as far as last night that was all on the front office.  They didn't want to lose their first round pick which they would have to the Knicks if they beat the bulls.  Their puck was top 10 protected and they would have fallen to 11th if they won, essentially losing the pick.  Sad sack of a franchise.  I hate tankers..

The saddest part is they have a chance. And yes, Jason Kidd was honest in his press conference, it's the management who decided to lose the game for the first-round pick. That must've sucked for Luka Doncic as all players really want to play and try to tie with the OKC Thunder and maybe have a spot in the play-in tournament.
But, they cannot do anything about it since it's the management's decision. Kidd might even lose his job if he won't follow them.

Nuggets played today and I was surprised to see the first five playing the game. It's not that I am against it but with every jump they make there's this scary thought that an injury might happen. They are safe for the playoffs, they may want to just rest it thru the season and not jeopardize their stars especially Murray and MPJ who are more prone to injuries.

Tomorrow, all teams will play. 15 games and this is their last game in the season.

Kidd can't do anything about that as the decision is from the management, they might be seen differently as they decided to let this season and have a longer rest for preparations.

Whatever happens with their squad might not be in the shoulder of someone, but more on the whole
team who played the games. It's not their season and accepting that then they needed to plan ahead
of time, hopefully that 1st round pick will help them to their next chase for the title.

It's crazy that they openly admit throwing a game. I mean tanking happens, but they never say "yeah we want to lose a certain game" but in this game it's something else.

They always want to cover up when refs sell a game but when teams do it on tanking purposes it's ok. That's some strange bs in the biggest league in the world. This opens the door for inside information gambling because many people of the franchise knew they want to lose, what would stop them from giving this information to some people to bet on it and collect some extra cash.

Sports these days really is disappointing in so many ways.

Agreed.  A professional team in any sport openly throwing the game to alter their draft status shoukd not only be fined but punished with their draft picks.  It messes with the integrity of the game.  If it's not punished teams at the end of the year will start openly losing on purpose giving teams easy wins and alter the playoff landscape.  The gambling aspect, etc.  I hope the NBA hits them hard.

[Hirose UK]

Looks like the Clippers winning today has cemented the lakers into the play-in tournament. Most likely against the Pelicans without Zion who will once again be healthy a week after his team’s season is over. Minnesota if they matched up with the Lakers might be a tougher challenge for the Lakers but I think they’ll emerge from the play-in regardless.

If the Clippers meet the Lakers again, it might indeed be a tough challenge for the Lakers because in the previous game last Thursday, the Clippers managed to beat the Lakers with 125 - 118 points and include quite a lot of points difference.
But I'm not sure if the Lakers want to beat the Clippers and it looks like the Lakers will have a hard time advancing to the rankings in the west.
So far the Lakers have had pretty good players but it doesn't guarantee they can be the strongest.

[xLays]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

[Marvell1]

They are actually trying to just please the fans and other people by showing that they are trying. But the actual story is a bit different.
I absolutely agree with that they are not going to win anything anywhere. So they are trying to show that they certainly tried everything.

Of course, this is not a bad thing that they are showing some really good intent. Some people might see this as misleading.
However, I actually think this is going to be good for the morale of the players.

Its not really speculation, they realized they wont be winning anything anyway, so they decided to tank with the last 2 games. I mean normally last 2 games shouldn't matter too much, losing just two games shouldn't come with any difference in most other seasons, but in this season things are so weird that even losing 2 games in a row means you could be as low as 11-12th range I believe, and that is what they are trying to do. I understand that it won't be anything easy to accept this when you have an MVP level player, but it happened and they just gotta face the music and move on. Next year, they can give it a go and see if they will do anything better or not.

[OgNasty]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I believe it is the teams regular season wins against each other that determines any tie breakers.

I’m reading the Lakers signed Tristan Thompson over Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins. A somewhat odd move but Tristan has won a chip with LeBron before so maybe this is them trying to recreate that. Can you imagine if Kyrie ended up with the Lakers instead of Dallas. That would have been quite a story.

[dwyane36]

Looks like the Clippers winning today has cemented the lakers into the play-in tournament. Most likely against the Pelicans without Zion who will once again be healthy a week after his team’s season is over. Minnesota if they matched up with the Lakers might be a tougher challenge for the Lakers but I think they’ll emerge from the play-in regardless.

Yep, the Pelicans would be a preferable opponent for the Lakers than the Wolves. However, even if the Lakers win the Pelicans in the play-in tournament and make the first round of the playoffs, their opponent would likely be the Grizzlies, and I think that could be an insurmountable hurdle for the Lakers even though they won the Grizzlies twice during the regular season.

[püsür]

It's not all on kyries shoulders.  The players they traded away ruined their chemistry.  And as far as last night that was all on the front office.  They didn't want to lose their first round pick which they would have to the Knicks if they beat the bulls.  Their puck was top 10 protected and they would have fallen to 11th if they won, essentially losing the pick.  Sad sack of a franchise.  I hate tankers..

The saddest part is they have a chance. And yes, Jason Kidd was honest in his press conference, it's the management who decided to lose the game for the first-round pick. That must've sucked for Luka Doncic as all players really want to play and try to tie with the OKC Thunder and maybe have a spot in the play-in tournament.
But, they cannot do anything about it since it's the management's decision. Kidd might even lose his job if he won't follow them.

Nuggets played today and I was surprised to see the first five playing the game. It's not that I am against it but with every jump they make there's this scary thought that an injury might happen. They are safe for the playoffs, they may want to just rest it thru the season and not jeopardize their stars especially Murray and MPJ who are more prone to injuries.

Tomorrow, all teams will play. 15 games and this is their last game in the season.

Kidd can't do anything about that as the decision is from the management, they might be seen differently as they decided to let this season and have a longer rest for preparations.

Whatever happens with their squad might not be in the shoulder of someone, but more on the whole
team who played the games. It's not their season and accepting that then they needed to plan ahead
of time, hopefully that 1st round pick will help them to their next chase for the title.

It's crazy that they openly admit throwing a game. I mean tanking happens, but they never say "yeah we want to lose a certain game" but in this game it's something else.

They always want to cover up when refs sell a game but when teams do it on tanking purposes it's ok. That's some strange bs in the biggest league in the world. This opens the door for inside information gambling because many people of the franchise knew they want to lose, what would stop them from giving this information to some people to bet on it and collect some extra cash.

Sports these days really is disappointing in so many ways.

I couldn't agree more. It was obvious that this has been done for years, was it a problem only when someone voiced it? Let alone the superstars, the NBA has lost its dominance over ordinary players. Now it's the players who are given maximum contracts, who set the rules. Durant can just go out tomorrow say I will do something something, and nobody can do anything, including the management. Jason Kidd just mentioned this and NBA management is just trying to act like tough. There were so many incidents with the games of Houston Rockets or Detroit Pistons this season. And nothing was done. Just because Kidd's comments, all hell breaks loose.

[ChiBitCTy]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I believe it is the teams regular season wins against each other that determines any tie breakers.

I’m reading the Lakers signed Tristan Thompson over Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins. A somewhat odd move but Tristan has won a chip with LeBron before so maybe this is them trying to recreate that. Can you imagine if Kyrie ended up with the Lakers instead of Dallas. That would have been quite a story.

I just read that too, that the Lakers signed Tristian Thompson over Dwight Howard and Demarcus Cousins. Dwight Howard I understand, he’s pretty old at that this stage in time , but Cousins to me is the sad story. I was such a huge fan of his in his prime. At one point I’d say there was no argument that he was the greatest Center in the game. His history of injuries was/is pretty sad. He could have been a HOFr like the fore mentioned Dwight Howard had he just been able to stay healthy.

Anyhow, I think Triston is a solid pickup.

[OgNasty]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I believe it is the teams regular season wins against each other that determines any tie breakers.

I’m reading the Lakers signed Tristan Thompson over Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins. A somewhat odd move but Tristan has won a chip with LeBron before so maybe this is them trying to recreate that. Can you imagine if Kyrie ended up with the Lakers instead of Dallas. That would have been quite a story.

I just read that too, that the Lakers signed Tristian Thompson over Dwight Howard and Demarcus Cousins. Dwight Howard I understand, he’s pretty old at that this stage in time , but Cousins to me is the sad story. I was such a huge fan of his in his prime. At one point I’d say there was no argument that he was the greatest Center in the game. His history of injuries was/is pretty sad. He could have been a HOFr like the fore mentioned Dwight Howard had he just been able to stay healthy.

Anyhow, I think Triston is a solid pickup.

I always defended Counsins to my friends in Sacramento who said he was toxic. What’s crazy is they let him go for basically nothing and the pick they traded away to get rid of him almost turned into Zion Williamson. So close to the worst basketball personnel decision in history.

Speaking of teams getting rid of big men… Looks like Rudy Gobert will be finding a new home next year.

[jakelyson]

Looks like the Clippers winning today has cemented the lakers into the play-in tournament. Most likely against the Pelicans without Zion who will once again be healthy a week after his team’s season is over. Minnesota if they matched up with the Lakers might be a tougher challenge for the Lakers but I think they’ll emerge from the play-in regardless.

If the Clippers meet the Lakers again, it might indeed be a tough challenge for the Lakers because in the previous game last Thursday, the Clippers managed to beat the Lakers with 125 - 118 points and include quite a lot of points difference.
But I'm not sure if the Lakers want to beat the Clippers and it looks like the Lakers will have a hard time advancing to the rankings in the west.
So far the Lakers have had pretty good players but it doesn't guarantee they can be the strongest.

If the Lakers retain their current ranking, they will not face each other until the Conference Finals. That is if they both survived the first and second rounds. The Lakers should not worry about the Clippers yet. They still have to go through the Play-in tournament. And the Clippers have to deal with the Phoenix Suns in the first round. It is a tall task since Durant will be there.

Looks like the Clippers winning today has cemented the lakers into the play-in tournament. Most likely against the Pelicans without Zion who will once again be healthy a week after his team’s season is over. Minnesota if they matched up with the Lakers might be a tougher challenge for the Lakers but I think they’ll emerge from the play-in regardless.

Yep, the Pelicans would be a preferable opponent for the Lakers than the Wolves. However, even if the Lakers win the Pelicans in the play-in tournament and make the first round of the playoffs, their opponent would likely be the Grizzlies, and I think that could be an insurmountable hurdle for the Lakers even though they won the Grizzlies twice during the regular season.

Well, both #1 and #2 are quite hard opponents. At least the Grizzlies are quite shaky and could be beaten by them. The Lakers have a better chance of moving to the second round if they go against the young Memphis. The experience of Lebron and AD will help a lot against the less experienced and no veteran Memphis Grizzlies.

[EFS]

Suns picked Clippers instead of Warriors. They could've won the game if they wanted to, but lost to Clippers and became play-off first round opponents. This is pretty logical as they avoid the last champion. Paul George's return is still unknown.
Lakers won but it wasn't enough for 6th place. They need to pass play-in rounds now. Pelicans is also in form but Lakers wouldn't make mistakes here.

[harizen]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

You can check the Playoff Tie-Break Procedures directly at the NBA's global site under the NBA standings.

http://global.nba.com/standings/

It's a good read and basically added knowledge on some of how tie-breakers work in the league.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I believe it is the teams regular season wins against each other that determines any tie breakers.

I’m reading the Lakers signed Tristan Thompson over Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins. A somewhat odd move but Tristan has won a chip with LeBron before so maybe this is them trying to recreate that. Can you imagine if Kyrie ended up with the Lakers instead of Dallas. That would have been quite a story.

Yeah, that's the only reason why I also think that the Lakers could have been Thompson over both of those two experienced center. Howard has a experienced with the Lakers and he could be a perfect fit, but he is overseas if I'm not mistaken.

And Thompson's name has been popping up in the last month and again, correct me if I'm wrong, he could have been practicing with the Lakers or at least with Lebron. They really need a big guy like Thompson in the middle so that when AD is resting, they could have someone who can still rebound and play the center position for them.

[Maslate]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I believe it is the teams regular season wins against each other that determines any tie breakers.

Yes, that was the basis whom to give the spot if ever those teams in the picture will end up getting the same score. Just like the situation of Mavericks and Thunders, there was a chance that these two team almost tied up in the 10th spot if ever Dallas was successful on their last two games but if in-case that scenario happened, the OKC would still have retain their spot and the Mavs in the 11th because the OKC got a 2-1 standing over the Mavs.

I’m reading the Lakers signed Tristan Thompson over Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins. A somewhat odd move but Tristan has won a chip with LeBron before so maybe this is them trying to recreate that. Can you imagine if Kyrie ended up with the Lakers instead of Dallas. That would have been quite a story.

I was informed about that as well, Tristan Thompson and Shaq Harrison was signed under the Lakers to help the team's depth in the post-season games. Shaq's additional was the decision of front office because he has been playing in the South Bay Lakers and they were familiar with him already. While Thompson was chosen because he's been with LeBron for four season when they were still in the Cavs and the Lakers expected that he wouldn't have a hard time chasing LeBron's gameplay.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Lot of upsets today due to resting players.

If someone paid attention and made a good parley there was good money to be made.

Excited for the playoffs to start. This years first round matchups will be crazy. Anything can happen as no series will be an easy win for the higher seed.
I would say this is the most competitive first round in a long time, in east and west both.

In other news, Rudy Gobert punched a teammate in a timeout today. I wonder what will happen now since they have their important game against the Lakers for the number 7 spot. In a normal situation he would be suspended for sure but now I’m not sure they will do it with such a big game coming up.

[Japinat]

Suns picked Clippers instead of Warriors. They could've won the game if they wanted to, but lost to Clippers and became play-off first round opponents. This is pretty logical as they avoid the last champion. Paul George's return is still unknown.
Lakers won but it wasn't enough for 6th place. They need to pass play-in rounds now. Pelicans is also in form but Lakers wouldn't make mistakes here.

Agree, The Suns could've get that game with a win on their favor but they chose to rest the cores 2 games early and let the bench players handle the Clippers who are still chasing for a safe spot in the playoffs. It would've been nicer if the Suns will face the Warriors instead of giving them an easy way in the first round because the Warriors will face the unexperienced roster of the Sacramento Kings. Anyway, this season is really interesting, lots of unexpected turns. See you all in the playoffs mate!

[danherbias07]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I shared how the mechanics will be 2 days ago here. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1220979.msg62054312#msg62054312
I hope that helps.

Suns picked Clippers instead of Warriors. They could've won the game if they wanted to, but lost to Clippers and became play-off first round opponents. This is pretty logical as they avoid the last champion. Paul George's return is still unknown.
Lakers won but it wasn't enough for 6th place. They need to pass play-in rounds now. Pelicans is also in form but Lakers wouldn't make mistakes here.

Phoenix Suns might win this first round without PG13 around but they do have to be careful with Westbrook. That dude will certainly give his all, especially with a goal of a championship. This may be his last chance in a good team with Kawhi Leonard so he will play harder than before.

The Lakers on the other hand need to locked in at the 7th spot and there's a lot of speculations on Youtube now with NBA analysts that they might get it.
But, I would not underestimate the power of BI and CJ. Those two can go hot at any instance, a good defender should be posted on them. Vanderbilt will be a good choice to be posted against BI and Reaves for CJ.

[Jating]

Can someone explain what will happen if they all end up with a season standing of 43-39? Will there be a tiebreaker game, or if not, who will finish in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th places? I didn't know how tiebreakers work in a play-in tournament.

I shared how the mechanics will be 2 days ago here. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1220979.msg62054312#msg62054312
I hope that helps.

Suns picked Clippers instead of Warriors. They could've won the game if they wanted to, but lost to Clippers and became play-off first round opponents. This is pretty logical as they avoid the last champion. Paul George's return is still unknown.
Lakers won but it wasn't enough for 6th place. They need to pass play-in rounds now. Pelicans is also in form but Lakers wouldn't make mistakes here.

Phoenix Suns might win this first round without PG13 around but they do have to be careful with Westbrook. That dude will certainly give his all, especially with a goal of a championship. This may be his last chance in a good team with Kawhi Leonard so he will play harder than before.

The Lakers on the other hand need to locked in at the 7th spot and there's a lot of speculations on Youtube now with NBA analysts that they might get it.
But, I would not underestimate the power of BI and CJ. Those two can go hot at any instance, a good defender should be posted on them. Vanderbilt will be a good choice to be posted against BI and Reaves for CJ.

The Lakers are still not locked in that 7th spot, as you have said, BI and CJ are making a run in their last 10 games so it will be a tight race for that very important 7th spot.

As for the Suns vs Clippers, they already have KD, I think that will be the breaker here. If it will be just Booker against Kahwi and Leonard, and even with PG, Clippers have a good chance. But know the Suns has one of the best offensive weapon right now and it's KD and we haven't seen him really play the level that all we all know. So in this series it will be close but I will have to go with the Suns.

[Baofeng]

In other news, Rudy Gobert punched a teammate in a timeout today. I wonder what will happen now since they have their important game against the Lakers for the number 7 spot. In a normal situation he would be suspended for sure but now I’m not sure they will do it with such a big game coming up.

Yeah, here is the video of the scuffle,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrmi1D6qTvU

I don't know, it seems that everyone is frustrated in this game, and with Rudy's performance? emotions are going to run high, and everyone is going to point out fingers amongst this players. And he was sent home in the middle of the game and the management said that they are going to deal with this issues privately. So it might be the Rudy will get suspended, although it was also reported that Rudy already apologizes to the team in their group chat. And that as grown men, they should move on and then just think of the team. He will be very important against the Lakers in their play-in, so I speculate that he will still going to play.

[ultrloa]

Phoenix Suns might win this first round without PG13 around but they do have to be careful with Westbrook. That dude will certainly give his all, especially with a goal of a championship. This may be his last chance in a good team with Kawhi Leonard so he will play harder than before.

This is what mistake done by Lakers where they let Westbrook shoot and they penalize by WB for that plan they do. They should remember thay Westbrook is happy and well supporter on Clippers that's why we see him perform compare when he is on Lakers.

For sure Suns will not take him as granted because they know Westbrook still a high caliber player. But I still go with the sun with this match up knowing that PG still not on them and Suns is complete with Durant a reliable star which they can trust on offensive and defensive end.