The 2024-25 NBA season starts tonight. Some thoughts. The night starts with history being made as LeBron and his son LeBron James Jr. will be the first father son in the history of the NBA to be not only on the floor at the same time, but on the same team as well. The Celtics will go for a repeat. Will the Knicks make a run for a title. How will the Sixers contend with Embiid and George on the same team. The Clippers open their new arena and finally have their own gym. Who will be the surprise team(s), player(s). Looking forward to another season.

Marquee matchup tonight is the Suns at Lakers not sure how many more times we will get to see two greats like KD and LeBron go at it on the basketball court.

Lakers under new coach Redick are 2-0 for the first time in 13 years with their win tonight over the Suns.

The Lakers improve to 3-0 with a 131-127 win over the Sacramento Kings. LeBron at 39 and his 3rd game in 5 days had a triple double with 32 points (16 in the 3rd quarter) 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

Wade liked it, right?

The Cavaliers are the most intriguing team to me.  They definitely don't have Boston's elite talent, but they are going to have a really good year and I can see them staying in the top 3 in the East and challenging for the Eastern Conference title.  Donovan Mitchell is becoming an elite player and has some nice talent around him in Garland, Allen, LaVert and Mobley.  

3 minutes ago, cincyswords said:

The Cavaliers are the most intriguing team to me.  They definitely don't have Boston's elite talent, but they are going to have a really good year and I can see them staying in the top 3 in the East and challenging for the Eastern Conference title.  Donovan Mitchell is becoming an elite player and has some nice talent around him in Garland, Allen, LaVert and Mobley.  

I like the Cavs as well, and if everything goes right for them, I could see them being the #2 seed.

From Facebook from who knows where:

Tyler Hansbrough says playing in China is tougher than playing in the NBA.

“The NBA game has gotten softer, no doubt about it. When I went to China, I felt like I was stepping into the NBA in the ’80s. It was physical.They foul you hard, and they go inside a lot more. They’re not just heaving up threes and relying on analytics the way the NBA does. Analytics hasn’t really hit China yet. There’s no load management or recovery time either. If you suggested that to them, they’d laugh in your face. It was a grind—two-a-days, film sessions at night after practice. It was exhausting, but it taught me a lot about toughness. In the NBA, there’s so much focus on resting players, but in China, you’re expected to show up and work. It was a whole different culture, and it made me appreciate the game differently.”

Seems like the NBA is having the opposite problem of the W.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/12/nba-ratings-decline-examining-early-season-viewership/

"Through Saturday, NBA games were averaging 1.4 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT — down 19 percent from last year (with NBA TV included, the decline swells to 25 percent)."

What's the cause?  Big names that carried the league for 20 years (LeBron and Steph etc.) are old and no longer effective and the replacement idols just aren't up to speed yet?   The game that was "Showtime" is now a mini break and a pull up from 35?  "Load management"?

I actually watched an entire game the other night.  Thunder at Cleveland. Two teams with 10+ game win streaks.   

1 hour ago, mcpapa said:

I actually watched an entire game the other night.  Thunder at Cleveland. Two teams with 10+ game win streaks.   

It was awesome. Some high level hoops. The difference between it and the college game is the size of the Grand Canyon.

The games and action in the NBA last night was fantastic. So many good games and great performances. Irving was unreal last night leading Dallas over the Warriors in a very entertaining game. Multiple players scored more than 40 and Jamal Murray scored 55. Anthony Edwards has scored 40+ in 3 straight games.

On 2/13/2025 at 2:00 PM, Voice of Reason said:

The games and action in the NBA last night was fantastic. So many good games and great performances. Irving was unreal last night leading Dallas over the Warriors in a very entertaining game. Multiple players scored more than 40 and Jamal Murray scored 55. Anthony Edwards has scored 40+ in 3 straight games.

Watching the scoring is fun, but the defense is AAU-level. 

4 hours ago, mcpapa said:

Watching the scoring is fun, but the defense is AAU-level. 

Disagree. These guys are that good. Even with people in their face they make shots.