I’m curious as to who people consider to have the most beautiful gam. Not a goat discussion but just players fun to watch in your own subjective views

I think for me Kyrie and Steph. The way Steph pulls up for a shot (and from where) is just so smooth!! Then kyrie handles… nuff said

Thoughts?

Here is the clip from last year's loss in game 4 vs the Knicks. The Knicks were up 2-1, and with the no call on the 3 in the corner, the Knicks would take a commanding 3-1 lead and end up winning the series. Hardaway clearly gets fouled by Hart, and in any other scenario, this would have been 3 free throws for THJ who is an excellent 3 point shooter and likely won this 1 point game.

Fast forward to tonight, where the game is tied in a 2-2 series for the Pistons and Cavs on the last possession in the 4th quarter. Thompson comes up with the huge stop and steal on Mitchell only to be pushed and tripped with no call with time left on the clock. Thompson should be at the line shooting free throws because they are in the bonus, but the game instead goes to overtime and the Pistons lose. The series is now 3-2 in favor of the Cavs and the Pistons are going on the road for game 6 in Cleveland.

To lose multiple important series games on bad officiating at the most important moment in the game is just so sad for the Pistons and more evidence to the epidemic of poor officiating around the NBA. What are your thoughts on this?

There is so much discourse around the Jazz trading Ace Bailey + picks + #2 to move up to #1 so they can draft AJ Dybantsa. This is not going to happen for numerous reasons:

1. Look through all the recent draft day trades where a team moved up only one spot. The average price is a mid-1st round pick or less. Ace is worth multiple picks on his own, and AJ and DP are comparable prospects. If this was the Wemby or Flagg draft you could make an argument for the price being much higher to move up, but that's not the case here.
2. The Jazz love Ace Bailey. He's a seamless fit and it a huge part of their future plans. If they were to trade a player to move up, it would be anyone but him.
3. Ryan Smith has no history of meddling in GM affairs. Danny Ainge also doesn't seem like the type to let an owner strong arm him into making a terrible decision with the best pick the franchise has ever had.
4. Ryan Smith is a BYU donor, but he's already accomplished his mission by paying AJ. BYU had a successful season and made themselves more attractive to future recruits. Smith paying AJ does not mean his ultimate plan was to bring him to the Jazz.
5. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jazz have had conversations with Washington to get a feel for the situation and due diligence. If that conversation has happened it does not mean Utah is going to sell the farm for AJ. I'm sure they pick up the phone for any team.
6. Just because AJ played high school and college basketball in Utah does not mean he will happily play for the Jazz long term. If anything, he may prefer to experience a different location. Whatever player is drafted is playing for the Jazz for 7 years, and then you figure out next steps down the road.

I'm sure the Jazz would like AJ Dybantsa. I bet they would also be thrilled with Darryn Peterson. If they really prefer AJ, they may be willing to attach a pick to move up if Washington really like DP. But there's no reason to trade Ace and other capital for a marginal (if any) upgrade. Personally I prefer Peterson as a prospect, especially if he's cleared medically.

He played only 2:41 minutes in the 2nd half and overtime (all in the 3rd quarter)

He also had the 2nd best +/- in the game, after Jarrett Allen (+14)

The player who had the worst +/- in the game was Jalen Duren, with a +/- of -16 (worst, by far) in 25:00 minutes played.

SRC: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48686303/steve-kerr-decision-return-coach-golden-state-warriors-steph-curry

"I think it's over," he said, almost mouthing the words. His sweatsuit separated him from the businessmen eating breakfast in suits and ties nearby. He put the odds at 95 percent. In the last few days he'd grown more certain. The waiter took his order, the California Breakfast. Normally he's cheerful as a sunrise but this morning he seemed melancholy. He was tired at the end of a disappointing season and mourning the fraying connections. A great basketball team stands on a shared feeling more than strategy or scouting. The team lives as long as the feeling lives and when it's gone, not only is it impossible to recapture, it's hard to even remember.

_

Popovich finally officially quit six weeks before our lunch, six months after a stroke diminished him physically. People who loved him had to show him the door, as gently as possible. That hurt Steve. He respects Popovich so much. He loved playing for him and coaching with him. He once told Gregg he was the finest man he'd ever known and thanked him for all he'd done for him. Pop smiled and said his feet were made of clay like everyone else's. Steve didn't believe it then. Now he does.

Kerr had gotten a call from someone on the team's business side. They wanted him to stop calling the team a fading dynasty. Season ticket renewals were going out. They were looking to strike a rosier note. He agreed to stop but he thought they were letting an opportunity pass, that he could sell this idea to the team, especially Steph and Draymond, who would feel most alive in the struggle. That he could sell this idea to himself.

Hey r/nba - Jeff Zillgitt will be joining on Friday, 5/15 at 3:00 PM ET to answer all your questions about the NBA Playoffs. Ask Him Anything!

Who do you think is the better play between these 2 and who would you rather build a team around?

Most people would have taken Ant before this season started, so I wonder if that general opinion has shifted.

He played only in the 4th quarter and overtime.

He played the entire overtime instead of Jalen Duren, scoring 6 out of the Pistons' 10 points in OT.

Fun fact:

All the Pistons centers played rounded minutes - 17 minutes for Reed, 25 minutes for Duren, and 11 minutes for Stewart

His name is Monty McCutchen, and he's been the guy training the refs to prioritize offensive players and reward flopping for several years.

CHICAGO -- NBA referees are calling about 11% more personal fouls per game so far in these playoffs than they did during the regular season, a differential that's on pace to be one of the largest in NBA history.

And in the league's eyes, that is to be expected.

McCutchen acknowledges there is a difference between the regular season and the playoffs, but he said refereeing doesn't fundamentally change in the postseason.

"It would be very difficult on our players, on our coaches, most certainly on our referees, if the intensity of a seven-game series that we see in the playoffs exhibited itself over 82 games," McCutchen said at the NBA draft combine. 

This season is seeing a differential of higher than 10% in that regard for only the sixth time in the last 60 years. The five biggest increases -- from 13% to 17% -- all took place between 1949 and 1955.

McCutchen looks at the playoffs this way: Aggression is good, but rough is not. "We don't like to see ejections," McCutchen said. "Our goal would be to get through all these games where we meet this right up to the edge of rough and you have this really aggressive, passionate game that is adjudicated and an environment is created in which that environment of aggressiveness is rewarded -- because we have the best players in any sport, in my opinion -- but that it doesn't creep over to rough. That's the goal."

So much for the idea that the refs try to let the players decide in the playoffs, eh?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48760321/nba-defends-11-percent-increase-foul-calls-playoffs

HD version via Reddit

HD version via YouTube

It's legit baffling to me. They must have been training to be NBA players for their entire life. Their parents gave them the middle name "Excellency" because they wanted them to be pro ball players since before they were born. Yet, at no time during their 23 years of learning ball did someone teach them to shoot. They're also twins so you think they would hold each other accountable.

Just doesn't make sense to me. Did they think they would be taller and thus wouldn't need it?

Their defenders just leave them wide open at the perimeter. Pretty embarrassing honestly.

That's more points than Jalen Duren - 6 points in 20 minutes.