2026 NBA Season

[Shinpako09]

but with LeBron and SGA they still getting good calls from the refs and convert it to an easy basket.

Is LeBron still getting the same treatment from the refs? It doesn’t really look like it when you check his stats now. I mean LeBron is getting older, maybe he still gets some respect calls, but his efficiency isn’t the same anymore. Before, most of his points were coming from attacking the inside, constantly driving to the rim. Now he’s not as aggressive as he used to be, and his outside shooting hasn’t really improved enough to compensate for that change.

Right now it feels like SGA is the one who benefits the most from that style of officiating. I don’t really see many other players getting the same kind of calls consistently. Maybe it just takes time for the refs to adjust again, similar to what happened before with James Harden when the league started changing how they called those fouls.

For me, SGA’s foul baiting is even worse compared to Lebron and Harden. At least LeBron and Harden are still known for their greatness, while SGA’s greatness is often overshadowed by his foul baiting. It’s like his foul baiting is a perfected version of what Lebron and Harden used to do. It even feels like if he retires, he’ll be remembered more for his foul baiting than for his greatness. He’s clearly abusing the loophole, and I hope the league does something about it. Just imagine if Steph Curry got the same treatment, he would easily average 30+ points as well.

[Beparanf]

but with LeBron and SGA they still getting good calls from the refs and convert it to an easy basket.

Is LeBron still getting the same treatment from the refs? It doesn’t really look like it when you check his stats now. I mean LeBron is getting older, maybe he still gets some respect calls, but his efficiency isn’t the same anymore. Before, most of his points were coming from attacking the inside, constantly driving to the rim. Now he’s not as aggressive as he used to be, and his outside shooting hasn’t really improved enough to compensate for that change.

Right now it feels like SGA is the one who benefits the most from that style of officiating. I don’t really see many other players getting the same kind of calls consistently. Maybe it just takes time for the refs to adjust again, similar to what happened before with James Harden when the league started changing how they called those fouls.

For me, SGA’s foul baiting is even worse compared to Lebron and Harden. At least LeBron and Harden are still known for their greatness, while SGA’s greatness is often overshadowed by his foul baiting. It’s like his foul baiting is a perfected version of what Lebron and Harden used to do. It even feels like if he retires, he’ll be remembered more for his foul baiting than for his greatness. He’s clearly abusing the loophole, and I hope the league does something about it. Just imagine if Steph Curry got the same treatment, he would easily average 30+ points as well.

SGA foul baiting has contact but very minimal and most of the time he trapped his defender on committing the contact while depending him while Lebron and Harden literally has no contact to less contact which is  too exaggerated considering their reaction especially Lebron that has huge body frame. 

SGA game play is just not explosive since his specialty is a mid range jump shot so basher usually notice his foul baiting when he drives.

[Gabbylee]

Last night's games didn't go as I expected. I thought the Rockets would beat the Warriors' backup lineup but they lost in overtime. The Pistons also lost to the Spurs. They couldn't stop Wemby. Jalen Duren got into foul trouble early and ended up playing very limited minutes.

Tatum is returning tonight. It's been one of the fastest comebacks from an achilles tendon injury. The Celtics were already doing well, let's see if he can keep up with their pace.

If you've followed the Warriors for a while, especially when Steph is out, those are the kind of games they usually win. They were up by 11 points at some point, but they still managed to grind out the win.

[sana54210]

It was a very close game, and Houston won thanks to their performance in the final quarter. 106-99
Kevin, Alperen, and Amen Thompson once again played a major role in the victory. Amen Thompson has been particularly contributing to the score in recent games.

For me, the surprise of the night was Denver's heavy defeat against New York. Jokic contributed well to the score again, but his teammates weren't productive in terms of scoring, resulting in a heavy defeat for Denver. 103-142

The problem with Rockets is that, we all can see their potential and how good they are when they play, but that changes even from quarter to quarter let alone game to game. Normally, we see bursts of excellence from them, like one quarter they could be playing like the best team in the league and then next quarter they somehow forget to play and suddenly they are bad.

That's their problem, when they play good, they are good enough to win the whole thing, even become champions, and another quarter you watch them and you wonder how they are even in the playoff levels and how they are not tanking. This is all on Udoka because he disrupts what's working when everyone is hot, and you do not do that as a coach.

[Japinat]

This is all on Udoka because he disrupts what's working when everyone is hot, and you do not do that as a coach.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen criticism toward Ime Udoka. But honestly, I thought he was the one who brought the Houston Rockets back to life in the first place, and now suddenly people are blaming him.

Of course some of the observations from fans are valid, that’s part of being a real supporter of the team, we care about what’s happening. But overall I still think he has done more positive than negative for the Rockets. For now I’d rather trust how he manages the team moving forward.

[EFS]

Tatum returned well. He almost had a triple-double in his comeback game. The Celtics have become much more dangerous now. They're the only team in the East that can challenge the Pistons. They are definitely better than the Knicks.

There was a Timberwolves - Magic game on Prime night, but the game didn't go as expected at all. The Magic opened up the gap early. The Timberwolves threw bricks behind the arc. It's interesting that they played like this against a play-in team. I guess they don't want the 3rd spot. The Rockets and Nuggets are also losing. I still think the Rockets have the best chance for that spot.

[LogitechMouse]

Tatum returned well. He almost had a triple-double in his comeback game. The Celtics have become much more dangerous now. They're the only team in the East that can challenge the Pistons. They are definitely better than the Knicks.
---

I agree on this one. Not even the Cavaliers that has Harden can defeat the Pistons IMO. The Celtics are the closest one, and TBH, they have a chance to defeat them in 7 games. Looking at the standings though, it seems like both of them will get the top 2 spot so they will only face in the Conference Finals. The Celtics are better than the Knicks as well. It's just that Tatum got injured at that time, but if he didn't, they can defeat them. I mean with how the Celtics played this regular season without him, I think they're just fine even without Tatum.

This is all on Udoka because he disrupts what's working when everyone is hot, and you do not do that as a coach.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen criticism toward Ime Udoka. But honestly, I thought he was the one who brought the Houston Rockets back to life in the first place, and now suddenly people are blaming him.

Of course some of the observations from fans are valid, that’s part of being a real supporter of the team, we care about what’s happening. But overall I still think he has done more positive than negative for the Rockets. For now I’d rather trust how he manages the team moving forward.

Well, people make mistakes, and that is also applied to the Coaches.

The only thing that we can do as fans is to criticize somebody especially if they see that somebody commit mistakes especially during in close games like that one, but we don't even feel the pressure of being a coach. I still commend him for changing the Rockets to what it is right now. He might be wrong on that game, but we can't change the fact that he completely changed the landscape of the team since he became their coach. The fans can blame him, but Udoka will just completely ignore it, and focus on their goal which is to get some wins.

[Fredomago]

but with LeBron and SGA they still getting good calls from the refs and convert it to an easy basket.

Is LeBron still getting the same treatment from the refs? It doesn’t really look like it when you check his stats now. I mean LeBron is getting older, maybe he still gets some respect calls, but his efficiency isn’t the same anymore. Before, most of his points were coming from attacking the inside, constantly driving to the rim. Now he’s not as aggressive as he used to be, and his outside shooting hasn’t really improved enough to compensate for that change.

Right now it feels like SGA is the one who benefits the most from that style of officiating. I don’t really see many other players getting the same kind of calls consistently. Maybe it just takes time for the refs to adjust again, similar to what happened before with James Harden when the league started changing how they called those fouls.

For me, SGA’s foul baiting is even worse compared to Lebron and Harden. At least LeBron and Harden are still known for their greatness, while SGA’s greatness is often overshadowed by his foul baiting. It’s like his foul baiting is a perfected version of what Lebron and Harden used to do. It even feels like if he retires, he’ll be remembered more for his foul baiting than for his greatness. He’s clearly abusing the loophole, and I hope the league does something about it. Just imagine if Steph Curry got the same treatment, he would easily average 30+ points as well.

Exactly, SGA is more recognize by being a foul baiting though there are fans who respect him and idolize him but same deal before with LeBron where many  haters called him good at flopping that's the same recognition now with SGA, but same to what I mentioned, SGA getting the call that's why he conitnue doing his tricks., and what if Step also getting that same treatment though not a type or a way how Chef Curry play his game, the reason why he established respect under his name.

[Jostern]

it’s hard to understand people who claim the Lakers were better without Lebron. But there are a lot of people saying this nowadays.
Lebron missed 18 games and played in 43. without him, their record was 11-7 (61%). with him it was 26-17 (60%).
And in most of those losses, they were missing key starters, most notably Austin Reaves.
And Lakers is currently 6th in the West trailing just 1 or 2 games behind the Nuggets, Wolves, and Rockets. of course a championship will be tough but if they get the right matchup, why not...

I too, will have to agree that the Lakers should be better off without him. I mean, he can still contribute offensively, but not much on the other end. With Luka, Reaves, and LeBron on the same floor, they're weak defensively. Without Marcus Smart's defensive presence, they would be much weaker than they are currently defensively. The main reason why they're at the safe playoff spot is that they have a very good offensive firepower. There were several occasions where Luka kept complaining and did not get back to defense, and that will surely put them in a bad 4-5 situation. Most of the time, the opponent scored.
At this point, I don't think Luka, Bron, and Reaves big 3 will work. They struggle against teams above .500.  I'm still not convinced they're gonna beat any Western teams in the top 5 in a 7-game series.

i don’t think the issue is whether the team is better off without Lebron or not. Without LeBron, they lost against the Spurs, Warriors, Thunder, Celtics and even against the likes of the Hawks and Blazers.
The real issue that bothers people is the reliance on a 41 year old man to save the day. Even if that man is LeBron James Los Angeles Lakers can’t make any real progress this way.

I think at some point LA Lakers would’ve to start thinking about the future of the franchise, because they can’t keep sticking with an aged player that is good enough for retirement, the same thing is applicable to every other franchise, because I think this teams wouldn’t want to keep relying on it, and I believe that the LA Lakers are already thinking about this situation, nobody is forgetting that he is a legend, but I obviously think it’s time for Lakers to move away from LeBron James and focus on getting younger players into the team so the team can be successful and young players are hungry for more success, which is why I really like what the San Antonio Spurs are doing right now, they focus more on bringing new players into the Franchise.

[Webetcoins]

Lebron flopping isn't the issue, he has been flopping since I have known him. The issue is that the team isn't doing that badly when he isn't playing and that's his biggest downfall right now.

Dude is 42 years old and he may not be as good as he used to be, and because he is a big name, and because he is probably the best ever played (some debate could happen but he is definitely either number one or two) then we could say that at 42 years old he doesn't have to be that good, and team could be doing better without him and that would not be a shocker.

[fullfitlarry]

Tatum returned well. He almost had a triple-double in his comeback game. The Celtics have become much more dangerous now. They're the only team in the East that can challenge the Pistons. They are definitely better than the Knicks.

Yeah, but he looks rusty. There is one instance of him and Brown running on a break, it comes from a steal, so it's two in one. And so Jaylen Brown passes a alley-oop on Tatum, but he was out of sync and he has to pass it back to Jaylen for easy two. And then he runs and goes for a dunk, unfortunately, the ring rejected him,  . And then him shooting a airball.

But this is his comeback game from, almost 300 days without it so we can understand how rusty he is.

[emrecemsan]

Tatum made a decent comeback, yeah. Maybe his shot percentages weren't that impressive but it's totally normal. He's just returned from an achilles injury in the end. He'll need time for his full recovery!

But now I see Celtics having a bigger chance to go for the lead in the Eastern Conference. There is a downfall in Pistons' form recently. We are talking about a 3L streak... The gap between these 2 teams is only 3 wins so let's see then! 

[Cointxz]

But now I see Celtics having a bigger chance to go for the lead in the Eastern Conference. There is a downfall in Pistons' form recently. We are talking about a 3L streak... The gap between these 2 teams is only 3 wins so let's see then! 

It’s just a 3 W lead for Piston against Boston but I doubt JT can already give a significant impact on the remaining match of Celtics since he will most likely just play in less time compared to Brown.

Pistons seem struggling recently without Cade and Thompson. They will be fine when these 2 core players come back again since injury is being monitored as day to day basis.

[freedomgo]

Pistons seem struggling recently without Cade and Thompson. They will be fine when these 2 core players come back again since injury is being monitored as day to day basis.

That’s why you can really feel the difference when Cade Cunningham is not playing. He’s their best player and he makes the team better when he’s on the floor. The ball movement is usually much better with him, so with no clear timetable for his return the Detroit Pistons might continue struggling.

And of course it was expected that the Boston Celtics would eventually overtake them in the rankings. But honestly it doesn’t matter that much as long as Boston secures home court advantage. That alone is already a big edge, and they’re good enough to still beat teams even without home court in a best-of-seven series.

[ultrloa]

Pistons seem struggling recently without Cade and Thompson. They will be fine when these 2 core players come back again since injury is being monitored as day to day basis.

That’s why you can really feel the difference when Cade Cunningham is not playing. He’s their best player and he makes the team better when he’s on the floor. The ball movement is usually much better with him, so with no clear timetable for his return the Detroit Pistons might continue struggling.

And of course it was expected that the Boston Celtics would eventually overtake them in the rankings. But honestly it doesn’t matter that much as long as Boston secures home court advantage. That alone is already a big edge, and they’re good enough to still beat teams even without home court in a best-of-seven series.

There's big hole in their rotation that need to fill after Cade is out in their rotation.

Pistons need to adjust and their players also need to step up since if they continue to have that long losing streak, there's good chance that Celtics might take the number 1 spot on East. But I think this is not much important for them at this point, since I maybe they prioritize the health of their players and prepare for next round.

But also its good that Cade's injury is not so serious and he's just resting to make sure that he's 100% healthy on playoffs.

[Beparanf]

Tatum returned well. He almost had a triple-double in his comeback game. The Celtics have become much more dangerous now. They're the only team in the East that can challenge the Pistons. They are definitely better than the Knicks.

Yeah, but he looks rusty. There is one instance of him and Brown running on a break, it comes from a steal, so it's two in one. And so Jaylen Brown passes a alley-oop on Tatum, but he was out of sync and he has to pass it back to Jaylen for easy two. And then he runs and goes for a dunk, unfortunately, the ring rejected him,  . And then him shooting a airball.

But this is his comeback game from, almost 300 days without it so we can understand how rusty he is.

I’m actually surprised he already played a decent minutes after recovering to that devastating injury. He is doing a lot of practice with the team so I believe he can easily sync to this current Boston team that is more versatile due to lots of young player in their roster.

I believe he is the one who will adjust for Brown to carry the team since it’s working for them in the past with that setup.

Brown improves a lot that’s why Boston is still on top 2 spot even with just Brown and White leading the team.

[Ziskinberg]

Brown improves a lot that’s why Boston is still on top 2 spot even with just Brown and White leading the team.

He has improved a lot, probably because he’s now the main guy on the team. Don’t forget he even won the Finals MVP. I know Jayson Tatum was probably expecting to win that one, but Jaylen Brown really proved he’s the real deal and that he deserved the huge contract he signed.

Maybe it’s actually not a bad thing if Tatum plays more of the second option sometimes. When the scoring and responsibilities are shared like that, the team can become more balanced. Just my thoughts though, but I think the Boston Celtics still have a good chance to win another championship if they keep that kind of setup.

[Beparanf]

Brown improves a lot that’s why Boston is still on top 2 spot even with just Brown and White leading the team.

He has improved a lot, probably because he’s now the main guy on the team. Don’t forget he even won the Finals MVP. I know Jayson Tatum was probably expecting to win that one, but Jaylen Brown really proved he’s the real deal and that he deserved the huge contract he signed.

Maybe it’s actually not a bad thing if Tatum plays more of the second option sometimes. When the scoring and responsibilities are shared like that, the team can become more balanced. Just my thoughts though, but I think the Boston Celtics still have a good chance to win another championship if they keep that kind of setup.

That time I knew Brown will become an MVP since Tatum already willing to do a lot of assists to Brown on the later part of their playoffs run which I believe becomes effective since Brown is consistent while Tatum always have a time to choke especially crucial match or injury hit him when he needed the most.

By focusing on Brown as the main guy, Tatum has less burden that result to flexibility on attacking on his own or create a space for Brown to operate.

I like Tatum current role now compared before since Brown is ineffective when playing in a side-line,

[Stavri]

Dillon Brooks got arrested for DUI this morning in Scottsdale. Hopefully this means he’ll be out of games for a while as I don’t like watching him play. I’m glad nobody was hurt, but it’s crazy to have that much money and be driving yourself around drunk in the middle of the night.

That is a very horrible thing to do, drinking and driving would obviously endanger the lives of others, especially when he is drunk and driving in a high speed, I’m very disappointed with Dillon Brooks because he is a very good player and I was expecting to see him play, now the Phoenix Suns have to play without him.

Sometimes I feel very awful with the attitude of this big sports players when they are driving themselves drunk, when they can have someone drive them when they are drunk, that is a bad thing to do and now he will have to face the consequences of his actions.

It’s saddening that he’s making headlines for some nonsense again, right when he’s playing the best basketball of his career...
From what I can gather from the video, he seems high while being pulled over by the police. The even more tragicomic part is the impression from the bodycam footage that the officer has no clue who he is. Watching a guy who thinks he’s the main character of the NBA get the who is this guy even? treatment on the side of the road is like a sketch straight out of a comedy show.

[el kaka22]

SGA foul baiting is his signature, dude does that very well and while that is horrible as a fan and I would not like to see that, I can't be mad for the "talent" part of it. You may consider this as not good, and I would agree, and it's hurting the game for sure.

But you also can't deny that he is doing whatever he can to win, that's the only thing these guys care, he wants to win, and if foul baiting gets him the wins then he is going to of course do that, why stop if it's working just because we dislike it? I mean would you stop doing something that gets you wins if it means other teams fans hated you for it? I would not, no matter how much bad it looked, if I could make some good return and get wins, then I would continue.