West is the weaker Conf this year. At Full strength there isn't much of a comparison between it and the East.

G.S. is definitely better than expected though.

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17-2 against teams under .500 out of 33 games

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West only has 5 teams above .500.

Yep Bumslayers

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Lakers trying to make this a game.

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Stanley Johnson making an impact.

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Lakers have missed at least 3 easy layups in the last 5 minutes.

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Too busy covering up their nuts.

Harden And Patty Mills are the only 2 on the Nets who have any chance of scoring it seems.

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WTF was Carmelo doing there?

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For real. 4th quarter has been nuts.

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Westbrook is like empty stat Melo on steroids. Plus they are stuck with him again next year.

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Westbrook 4-20 0-3 from 3, 12 rebounds / 11 assists. Westbrook made some nice passes to Lebron. But you're not gonna win many games in the NBA with 4-20 shooting from your PG.

I don't know if it's that the rest of the Lakers were meh on defense, but Stanley Johnson and Malik Monk off the bench looked good on defense. Johnson especially harassing Harden down the stretch. Monk/Johnson gives the Lakers a better chance to win than Westbrook/Ellington backcourt.

The Lakers Biggest issue is that they don't guard anyone. Westbrook is a problem also as he doesn't finish as well as used to given his diminishing athleticism. He doesn't shoot well thus you won't see him just jacking 3's all that often. However when he attacks the rim it either will result in his shot being blocked or a miss.

It's their defense, however that is the problem. From Lebron James on down you can forget it as far as defense is concerned. That's why they aren't going to be much of threat in a weakened West.

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Westbrook seems completely done

I'll always have a special place in my heart for Westbrook. As I do for Iverson. I don't know if this is the right description for these two, but they are failed winners.

They just flat don't play as a team and have no identity other than to be standing around waiting on someone to step up with LeBron. Who is too old to play on both ends.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Westbrook was a great competitor but I don’t know if he goes into the great player category.

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Let's go Brandon.

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I've never seen a more comfortable guy at his job. I would trade for the man just on that rebound alone.

Down the stretch? Iso Tatum is pretty much all you get from him the past two seasons. Guy has been reading his own press clippings a bit too much, now thinks he is Kobe Bryant. Excellent player (or at least he could be) but I think he's currently the most overrated player in the league.

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No he isn't. By far it's your guy Trae. Unlike most young players, (Your Guy Trae For instance) Tatum has enjoyed a great deal of winning. He has contributed mightily to said winning. He is a top 15 player currently. Might be top 10.
The problem with the Celtics isn't Jayson Tatum. It's that they had a GM in Ainge that guessed wrong on some of his moves. Currently the Celtics have about 3 guys on the roster (Tatum, Brown, and Williams) that are keepers. Possibly Schroeder because of the price tag. The rest can kick Bricks. And that includes the extremely overrated "heart of the team" Marcus Smart.
Tatum isn't the problem. It's what he has around him that is the problem. Ainge should have capitalized more when he had a boatload of talent and he didn't. Now they are paying the price for it as a result.

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overrating such as the crap posted above. Saying he is better than Trae only proves my point. He isn't anywhere close to Trae. And he sure hasn't won more than Trae. Trae led his team to the ECF as teh best player on the team. Tatum never did that. He was always a support player, never the undisputed #1.

And last couple years Tatum has morphed into a selfish ball stopping chucker who's defense has fallen off quite a bit. He's nowhere closet to the player Trae is or the leader.

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Trae Young has been in the league going on 4 years now. He has been on losing teams during 3 of them. Jayson Tatum has been to the Eastern Conf Finals 3 times (I believe) and been the best player each time. No one save for you, believes that Trae Young is a better player than Tatum. No one.
And unlike the gutless wonder Trae, Tatum at least guards his position and "takes the cover".

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It's baffling the refs didn't want to review an out-of-bounds call with 43 seconds left in the Knicks-Timberwolves game. Thibs already used his challenge but it was clearly -- clearly off of the Timberwolves.

RIP Ricky Rubio's knee.

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That did not look good at all.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

Out for the year.

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