2017-18 NBA Thread

[themiddle54]

Gortat tweets that Wall will "torture" Ball tonight.
Ingram and some Lakers reply that that's disrespectful and they're gonna stick up for their guy.
The Wiz are a team that's 3-0 and just missed the conference finals last year.
The Lakers are 1-2 and a bunch of kids figuring it out.
Jeez, I wonder who's going to win this war of the words when it plays out on the court.

[Tim]

National game as well. Wall will shoot 30 times.

[themiddle54]

Didn't quite go as expected.

[Farewell Friends]

Kept waiting for Giannis to kick it into a higher gear last night and the Celtics held him in check.

[themiddle54]

Was Boogie last night the Greatest Revenge Game On A Return To Your Former Home After A Trade in NBA history?

44 minutes
14/25 from the floor
3/5 from the arc
10/12 from the line
41 pts
23 boards (8 offensive)
6 assists
1 steal
1 block
4 turnovers (which is not too shabby in 44 minutes with that much usage)

I looked up some others today, stars traded near the relative peak of their career in trades with big revenge games. Tough to find.

Ruled out b/c they wanted the trade: Barkley, Melo, D. Howard (the first trade), Weber leaving WAS, Drexler, CP3, Shaq (LAL->MIA), KG (balked at first but once they had Ray he was in, he also fits below).

Ruled out b/c of other: 'Sheed was not in ATL long enough to want revenge as a Piston. Grant Hill played < 50 games his first 4 years in DET, no real revenge game opportunity at ORL. Garnett was hurt a bit in 07-08 and didn't get a game in MIL.

Blah return games: Pau the Laker in Memphis. Rodman the Spur in The Palace. Earl the Pearl as Knick in BAL (Though there are not stats for AST, REB, STL, BLK in that era). Ray Allen got hurt the year after going to SEA and didn't get a road game vs MIL for 2 years, so any revenge game driver was weak.

I feel dirty including Kidd, who got dealt b/c he beat up his wife and PHO was over him. He had 10/10/8 in his return to PHO so he's not on Boogie's level.

Starbury gets his own section.
Starbury the Knick had 15/13 in PHO but that also falls well short of Boogie's night.
Starbury the Net went for 39/5/5 and a steal back in MIN a year after being traded while still under his rookie deal. Now we're cooking. But Boogie was better.
Starbury the Sun went for just 15/7/2 on his return to NJ and they got smoked by 19 points.

I can't find a superstar revenge game coming off a trade that comes even a bit close to what Boogie did last night. Granted, it's hard to find a superstar franchise guy who doesn't want to be traded getting traded in his peak. Maybe if we change the thing to "F You" games we have a discussion.

Durant's return to OKC still pales vs Boogie (34/9/3). There are a lot of F You games out there. LeBron in the 16 Finals v the Dubs was a big F You game. Almost all the Late 90s Knicks games were F You Games from some combo of Starks, Mason, Oakley. Reggie Miller v Knicks was all F You Games. The Lakers Celtics 1984 Finals was nothing but F You Games, esp after McHale clotheslined Rambis.

2005 Kobe went to MIA after Shaq left and played 46 minutes, scored 26 and had 10 boards....but also shot 8-23 from the floor and they got beat by 13. Same game: Shaq goes 25/12 with four blocks and probably had the last word that night.

Internally, there was KD caught on TV saying "F you pass me the effing ball" to.....nope, not Russ, but Dion Waiters in the '16 Conference Finals v the Dubs when Waiters didn't hit an open KD under the hoop. Probably the most ironic "F You" moment in NBA history since he should have been saying it to Russ all year, and also because it involves Waiters, and all Heat games are now LeaguePass worthy just for watching Waiters scream for the ball on every damn possession.

There are a lot of F You Games, tough to even pinpoint them all let alone consider which one is best.

If there were a list of 100 F You Moments, Bird would have like 98 of them. Telling the Mavs "Ainge is going to inbound to DJ, and I'm going to stand right here and get the ball and hit the shot" then doing exactly that. Telling Doug Collins it was an insult to put a white guy on him. Telling Brad Daugherty, as he flew past Bird trying to block a shot "fly, bird." Telling Chuck Daly to take Rodman off him because "it's too easy for me." Telling rookie Reggie Miller, who tried talking trash, "I'm the best effing shooter in this league." Sitting out the 4th quarter of a game v the Jazz when he was one steal away from a quadruple double, then telling the press when asked why he didn't go for it "I killed them enough tonight." Telling an injured Magic who would be on the bench that night "Don't worry, I'll put on a show for you." Showing up to the 87(?) three point contest and asking "who's playing for second?" His habit of asking his man, on the road, "What's the scoring record in this building? And you're guarding me?" There's this one, too

“One of the first times I ever played against him, I went out for the opening tip and I went to shake his hand. He just stood there and looked at me stone-faced with his hands behind his back,” Wilkins said recently. “I was like, ‘Whoa.' Then we were getting ready for the tip and he says to me, ‘You don't belong in this league, Homes.' I couldn't believe it, but it happened so fast, I didn't know what to think." — Dominique Wilkins

I looked that game up for the hell of it. 10/30/82--the 35th anniversary is almost here. Wilkins had 22. Bird had 21/14/5 and the Celtics won by 15 on the road.

The greatest F You player in NBA history, Larry Bird.

Anyway, I was talking with a friend yesterday about DraftKings daily fantasy and we were both like "I'm playing Boogie b/c it's a revenge game and Davis is out" and that worked out well. Often my friend brings up "it's his birthday" or "he's playing his former team" or other narrative stuff that he likes to use in his decision-making. The revenge game is one that I believe in (Oladipo went off on OKC this week for 35/5 with a steal and two blocks) more than the others, but it really is hard finding a F You Revenge Game Back In Your Former Home that comes even close to what Boogie unleashed last night.

Sorry to ramble. And to edit this like 15 times making it even longer. It's 2:02 and all I've done today is walk my dog, make coffee, and look up F You Games on the internet. I'd say I've spent my time well.

[Farewell Friends]

That's a lot of good research. It would have been interesting to see how it played out if Davis had played.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I love Boogie. Obviously Brow is better but Boogie is the perfect athlete representation of New Orleans.

[themiddle54]

Boogie took 25 shots last night, but had taken 23 twice already this year. It's a mystery that we'll never know, and probably adds to the mystique of the Greatest Regular Season Revenge Game in history. That a "what if?" is attached just makes it more fun.

[themiddle54]

Those Larry Bird stories, I've heard/read them all at least 30 times each and they still make me laugh. Not just a great trash talker, but a funny trash talker.

[Socnorb11]

Ho hum, Draymond Green hit a guy in the nuts last night when his team was losing, got himself and Beal ejected. Welcome to Golden State basketball.