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Friday, October 21, 2022

Short-Handed Bucks Beat 76ers in Philadelphia

The "best offensive player of all-time" who is a "better scorer than Michael Jordan" and the self-proclaimed "Process" have led the Philadelphia 76ers to an 0-2 record to start the 2022-23 NBA season. James Harden and Joel Embiid put up superficially impressive individual numbers but did not play much defense in Philadelphia's 126-117 loss at Boston on Opening Night, and on Thursday night they lost their home opener to the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks, 90-88.

The 76ers have the full roster that they hope/dream will be able to win a title, while the Bucks are far from full strength. Three-time All-Star Khris Middleton did not play, and he is expected to miss the first few weeks of the season as he continues to recover from offseason wrist surgery. The Bucks are also without the services of Joe Ingles (torn left ACL suffered last season when he played for Utah) and Pat Connaughton (calf injury).

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks in scoring (21 points on 9-16 field goal shooting) and rebounds (13) while tying Jrue Holiday with a team-high eight assists. He is a dominant player without being ball dominant. TNT's Kenny Smith pointed out during the halftime show that Antetokounmpo regularly draws the attention of three or four defensive players. It should be added that Antetokounmpo is focused not on padding his individual numbers but on creating the best possible shots for his team--and his team is going to be a handful once they are at full strength. Antetokounmpo had a game-best +13 plus/minus number, but only three other Bucks had positive plus/minus numbers, with none of those numbers exceeding +3. Antetokoumpo committed just one turnover. The Bucks shot just .405 from the field, and the four starters other than Anteotkounmpo shot 13-44 (.295) from the field. Antetokounmpo can create open shots for his teammates, but he cannot make the shots for them.

Harden led the 76ers with a game-high 31 points on 13-24 field goal shooting while also posting a game-high nine assists plus eight rebounds. He appears to be in excellent shape, and in the first two games he has put up big individual numbers. He may also break the unofficial records for dribbles in a single game and dribbles in a single season. As TNT's Charles Barkley put it, "The Dribbler is back." That is not a compliment, but it is an apt statement. 

Joel Embiid is the 76ers' best player but--in case no one has figured this out yet--he does not have as strong of a personality or presence as Harden. Do not make the mistake of confusing Embiid's social media antics or at times demonstrative on court persona with leadership qualities or a strong presence; if Embiid had leadership qualities and a strong presence then he would be in shape all of the time, he would demand that his teammates be in shape, he would play hard all of the time, and he would demand that his teammates play hard all of the time. In short, he would be an MVP and champion like Antetokounmpo, instead of being someone whose career has been long on potential and short on tangible results. "Stat gurus" will scoff at this next sentence, but part of Embiid's problem is that he spent his formative NBA seasons on a tanking team that had no strong veteran presence; consequently, he never learned how to be a leader or how to be a winner, so even though he is very talented and even though he has developed his individual skills to some extent (but not to his full potential) he has yet to provide any reason to believe that he can lead the 76ers to an NBA title.

Embiid finished with 15 points on 6-21 field goal shooting. He had 12 rebounds, three assists, four turnovers, and a game-worst -10 plus/minus number. A player with his physical gifts and basketball skills should rarely--if ever--have a 6-21 shooting performance.

The 76ers' offense should flow through Embiid, but Harden has the ball in his hands and Harden will dribble the air out of the ball until he decides to shoot (or pass if he thinks he can pad his assist totals) without any concern that Embiid will assert himself. TNT's Shaquille O'Neal noted at halftime that Embiid should wait no more than three Harden dribbles before ducking into the paint and demanding the ball, but it is evident that Embiid is not going to do that. This is going to be a fun team to watch in the playoffs--assuming that you are rooting for their opponents!

The Bucks led by as many as 13 points, but the 76ers rallied to tie the score at 80 midway through the fourth quarter, and they took an 86-84 lead at the 1:43 mark after Harden drained a midrange jumper. The 76ers were clinging to an 88-86 edge before a defensive breakdown left Wesley Matthews open for what proved to be the game-winning three point shot with 24.7 seconds left. With just four seconds left, Harden missed an off balance runner and then begged for a foul call that he did not deserve. As Barkley noted after the game, Harden not only missed the shot but he missed passing to a wide open Tyrese Maxey. Brook Lopez closed out the scoring by splitting a pair of free throws.

The 76ers have 80 regular season games remaining, while the Bucks have 81 regular season games remaining. Both teams will have ups and downs, but this game provided a good microcosm of the strengths and weaknesses of each squad. The Bucks have size, versatility, a team-first ethos, and the best all-around player in the league. All they are missing right now is depth, an issue that should be resolved as soon as their three injured players return to action. The 76ers have two All-Star caliber players whose roles are not properly defined in terms of maximizing team success, they have other talented players who are often underutilized while Harden overdribbles, and they have some tough-minded wings who are good defensive players; the 76ers will pile up wins against the tanking teams and the other teams that lack top level talent, but when they face elite teams they will come up short more often than not.

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posted by David Friedman @ 12:17 AM

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Wednesday, October 19, 2022

NBA Opening Night 2022 Featured Powerful Bill Russell Tribute and Wins by Last Season's NBA Finalists

NBA Opening Night 2022 began with a two and a half hour TNT pregame show. The highlight of that show was a tribute about Bill Russell titled "Answer the Call." The tribute's first segment featured interviews with several NBA legends--including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Spencer Haywood, Magic Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Shaquille O'Neal, Paul Pierce, Isiah Thomas, and Jerry West--talking about how Russell loved to call them and dispense wisdom about basketball and life. 

Erving noted that sometimes he can be "funny" about talking on the phone, but that he answered every time that Russell called. Thomas remembered that Russell called him after his fateful turnover at the end of game five of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, and Russell told him that he has to keep pushing forward, not letting that moment define him. It is remarkable to think about a Boston Celtics legend calling a Detroit Pistons star to uplift him in the middle of a closely contested playoff series versus the Celtics, but when you consider that Russell also formed a close relationship with L.A. Lakers great Kobe Bryant it is clear that Russell felt that his role as NBA elder statesman was larger than team loyalties and involved raising the game as a whole. 

Johnson said that after he made his 1991 announcement that he was HIV positive, Russell sought him out not for a phone conversation but for an in person meeting during which Russell embraced him, told him that he had been a winner his whole life, and that he would beat HIV. Johnson said that was exactly what he needed at that moment--to literally be embraced at a time when there was so much fear about HIV and HIV positive people.

West treasures a note that Russell sent to him stating how much the players around the league respect him. West said that he will carry Russell with him in his heart until the day he dies.

Haywood said that in 1980, Bill Russell saw him not looking or sounding right during an interview, called him, spoke to him frankly, and put him on the road to recovery from being a cocaine addict.

The tribute's second segment focused on Russell's pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement. After Medgar Evers was assassinated, Russell called Evers' brother Charles and asked what he could do to help. Charles Evers asked Russell to go to Mississippi and run a basketball camp to help desegregate the state--and Russell did that, at the height of segregation and strife in the Deep South. Russell's participation in the famous 1967 Muhammad Ali Summit in Cleveland with (among others) Jim Brown and a very young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) was shown as well.

After the tribute aired, TNT's newly re-signed studio crew of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson shared their personal reflections about Russell. Barkley noted that Russell was an outspoken advocate for social justice at a time when Russell did not have the security of generational wealth, in contrast to many of today's athletes. O'Neal mentioned how much it meant to him to earn Russell's respect, and O'Neal briefly lamented that he never developed that kind of relationship with Wilt Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Smith described how honored he feels to be Bill Russell's first draft choice as Sacramento's coach, and Smith talked about how he and all of his children were able to visit with Russell near the end of Russell's life. Johnson talked about how much he enjoys hosting the NBA's Legends Brunch during All-Star Weekend, recalling that Russell would typically be sitting front and center.

Unfortunately, that great start to the telecast was soon followed by what was essentially a 20 minute infomercial for Draymond Green as father/great team player/upstanding member of the community who enjoys interacting with fans. Draymond Green assaulting and battering teammate Jordan Poole was little more than a postscript to the glowing tribute that could have passed for a paid advertisement produced by Green's public relations team. It could not be more obvious that TNT is hoping that Green will have a major role with the network after his playing career ends.

I give Barkley credit for declaring that Green was "100% wrong" and for pointing out that there is something very jarring about Green saying that he did not give much thought to what he did until the video of his punch was released; Barkley stated what should be obvious: punching a co-worker is unacceptable regardless of whether or not video footage of the punch is seen by the public. Barkley said that he spent the first four seasons of his NBA career playing on edge because he was angry about various things that happened before he made it to the NBA, and he added that when you regularly play on edge then you will also end up going over the edge. Barkley admitted that he had gone over the edge many times before he changed his attitude, and he urged Green to undergo a similar attitude change. Smith suggested that, in light of the NBA's multiple offseason scandals involving various kinds of poor conduct, the NBA should institute counseling programs to help players adjust to having so much money and being under so much scrutiny. 

It says a lot about the current state of the NBA that the entirety of Commissioner Adam Silver's appearance on the pregame show consisted of talking about Green's punch (and Green's use of a racial slur directed at Kendrick Perkins during the summer), Phoenix owner Robert Sarver being suspended for a full season, and Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka being suspended for a full season. Ernie Johnson asked Silver a pointed question about whether--in light of so many incidents and scandals involving different teams--the public should have confidence in the way that the NBA's 30 franchises are being run. Silver conceded that this is a legitimate question, but then said that even though it is legitimate question to ask he has full confidence in how the NBA's franchises are being run. 

Regarding Green not being suspended by the team or by the league, Silver said that the Warriors have earned the league's trust to do the right thing, and that typically the league will only step in when a situation involves two teams as opposed to an internal matter. To understand how absurd that is, just imagine any other workplace in which one employee punches another in the face--or imagine a star player being punched in the face by a non-star player. Do you suppose that the response might be different? 

The NBA's hypocrisy is stunning, yet not surprising: some people can punch other people in the face but face no real consequences, and some people can utter racial slurs while facing no consequences, but other people would face significant consequences for similar (or even lesser) offenses. As always, the NBA cares about profits above all else, and every action that Silver and the league take--or do not take--should be viewed through that lens.

In response to a question from Barkley about Sarver, Silver stated that as Commissioner his power is limited to fining Sarver up to $10,000,000 (which Silver did) and suspending him. Silver added that he does not have the power to force an owner to sell his team. This is technically correct, though it should be recalled that Silver's public statements in 2014 about banning Donald Sterling for life go well beyond what Silver actually is empowered to do.

In the first game of TNT's doubleheader, the Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 126-117.  Boston jumped out to a 9-2 lead, and the Celtics were ahead 9-3 when Al Horford had to go to the bench with his second foul; that call was a flagrant foul after Horford put his foot in James Harden's landing space on a three point shot attempt. Harden hit all three free throws, igniting a run that resulted in Philadelphia leading 29-24 at the end of the first quarter as Harden scored 16 points on 3-4 field goal shooting and 8-8 free throw shooting. Harden scored 22 first half points on 5-9 field goal shooting, but Boston rallied to tie the score at 63 by intermission. Joel Embiid scored 11 first half points on 3-7 field goal shooting, and the TNT crew rightly criticized Embiid for being too passive. Jaylen Brown (18 points) and Jayson Tatum (16 points) paced Boston's first half scoring.

The Celtics broke the game open in the third quarter, surging to a 95-82 lead before settling for a 98-88 advantage heading into the final stanza. The 76ers cut the margin to six early in the fourth quarter, but trailed by double digits for most of the final eight minutes before Tobias Harris slammed home a meaningless dunk with just under 30 seconds remaining.

Tatum finished with 35 points on 13-20 field goal shooting plus 12 rebounds, four assists, and a game-high +10 plus/minus number. Brown scored 35 points on 14-24 field goal shooting. The Celtics are not at full strength--they are missing injured center Robert Williams III, an excellent defensive player and powerful finisher in the paint--but they look like they are poised to make a deep playoff run.

The Celtics shot .561 from the field as the 76ers provided little defensive resistance throughout the game; there were several live ball turnovers after which Embiid and/or Harden did not even reach halfcourt before Boston scored or at least attempted a high percentage shot. As Jeff Van Gundy often says, horses trot but players run. You can rest assured that when a team's two highest profile players do not consistently put forth effort on defense that infects the whole team. The 76ers have a lot of talent, and that will enable them to win a decent amount of regular season games, particularly in a league where several teams are tanking--but there is still no reason to believe that this group has the right mentality or will develop the necessary habits to win a playoff series against an elite team. Harden scored 35 points--his single-game high as a 76er--on 9-14 field goal shooting; he looks to be in good shape physically, and he also looks to be primarily focused on what he can do offensively from an individual standpoint, as opposed to what he can do to maximize his team's chances to win a championship. Embiid finished with 26 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, and six turnovers; people who only look at individual numbers will say that Embiid and Harden are on their way to All-NBA caliber seasons, while people who understand the game will recognize that the 76ers still look like a team that will not advance past the second round of the playoffs.  

I would agree with anyone who says that broad conclusions should not be made based on one game, but I would also say (with a nod to Aristotle) that you are what you repeatedly do; the habits formed early in the season provide an indicator of the identity that a team has (or is forming). The Celtics have championship-level habits, which is why they have reached the Eastern Conference Finals four times and the NBA Finals once in the past six years; the 76ers do not have championship-level habits, and that is why--rather than "tanking to the top," as one writer erroneously asserted--they annually fail to advance past the second round of the playoffs.

In the nightcap, the Golden State Warriors received their 2022 NBA championship rings, and then they reminded everyone the difference between being a contender and being a pretender as they routed the L.A. Lakers, 123-109. I don't have a problem with LeBron James chasing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's regular season career scoring record, but James should just admit that the main reason he is playing now is to surpass that mark: his Lakers are not built to win a championship, and James is not playing like a player whose main goal is to win a championship. In the first quarter, James scored three points on 1-5 field goal shooting while posting a -8 plus/minus number as the Warriors led 25-22.

The Warriors led 59-52 at halftime despite shooting just .420 from the field. Stephen Curry (16 points on 5-13 field goal shooting) and Jordan Poole (10 points on 3-7 field goal shooting) were the only Warriors who scored in double figures. Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 15 points while shooting 6-13 from the field, while James added 14 points on 5-15 field goal shooting. Russell Westbrook contributed 11 points on 5-8 field goal shooting and he had the best plus/minus number among the Lakers' starters (-1). At halftime, Barkley succinctly summarized the Lakers with three points: (1) They stink, (2) Davis and James are just out there having fun and getting meaningless numbers, and (3) the Lakers have scapegoated Westbrook to the point that they have stolen from him the joy of playing basketball. Barkley emphasized how much he respects Westbrook, and how upset he is about how Westbrook has been mistreated since joining the Lakers last season.

The Warriors are well known for obliterating their opponents in the third quarter, and this game was no exception as they built a 27 point lead (91-64) before settling for a 91-71 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. The Lakers never threatened in the fourth quarter, and their much-ballyhooed new defense is still a work in progress, to put it charitably. Curry scored a game-high 33 points on 10-22 field goal shooting, while Andrew Wiggins chipped in 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Klay Thompson added 18 points in 20 minutes, and Poole finished with 12 points. Green tallied a "triple single" (four points, five rebounds, and five assists), and his plus/minus number (+12) ranked fourth among the Warriors' five starters.

James continued to pad his scoring numbers in the fourth quarter while the Lakers never pulled to within closer than 12 points. James finished with a team-high 31 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, and a game-high eight assists. Those numbers are remarkable for anyone, let alone a nearly 38 year old veteran of 20 seasons--but those numbers also look and feel like "empty calories" in the context of the flow of the game and from the perspective of the Lakers trying to win a title. James is not playing much defense (he had no steals and no blocked shots in 35 minutes), and he attempted three more field goals than any other player on either team; he was never a pass-first player, and he sure is not a pass-first player now. James shot 12-25 from the field and 3-10 from three point range. Is his shot selection based on controlling the pace of the game, slowing down the Warriors and maximizing the Lakers' offensive efficiency, or is his shot selection based on making sure that he averages 28-30 ppg to catch Abdul-Jabbar as soon as possible? 

Davis managed to avoid injury, but he also managed to avoid having any discernible, meaningful impact on the game. He had 27 points on 10-22 field goal shooting, six rebounds, zero assists, and a game-worst -21 plus/minus number. 

Westbrook scored 19 points on 7-12 field goal shooting, he grabbed 11 rebounds, and he dished for three assists, but as I type these words someone is splicing together a clip of his four turnovers and his airball three pointer to "prove" that Westbrook is the Lakers' biggest problem. James had five turnovers and seven missed three pointers, but those 12 squandered possessions will be ignored by the mainstream media and on social media.

There is no denying James' talent and his durability, but it is interesting to look at his championship impact during his era compared to the championship impact of other great players: George Mikan dominated the late 1940s/early 1950s while winning five titles, Bill Russell dominated in the 1950s and 1960s while winning 11 titles in 13 seasons, Julius Erving won three titles in a 10 year span (more than any other star player from 1974-83), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six titles during his 20 year career, Magic Johnson won five titles in a nine year span, Michael Jordan won six titles in an eight year span, Shaquille O'Neal won four titles in a seven year span, Kobe Bryant won five titles in an 11 year span, and Tim Duncan won five titles in a 15 year span. Entering his 20th season, James won four titles in a nine year span, but he has never been the league's dominant winner during his career: O'Neal, Bryant and Duncan dominated the 2000s, while Stephen Curry has dominated the late 2010s/early 2020s with four titles in an eight year span. I will never understand the notion that the greatest player of all-time conversation is limited to just Jordan versus James--because it is far from clear that James surpassed Bryant, O'Neal, or even Duncan in the post- Jordan era.

Curry's place in history is interesting to evaluate. He was clearly the second best player behind Kevin Durant on two of his four championship teams, but he has also been an All-NBA caliber player for all four of his championship teams. One comparison that comes to mind is John Havlicek. Havlicek won eight championships, but Bill Russell was the best player on six of those teams, and Havlicek earned just one Finals MVP (the award did not exist during Havlicek's first six championship seasons, but he would not have won the award during any of those NBA Finals had the Finals MVP been given out in the 1960s). I would argue that Havlicek was a better all-around player than Curry--Havlicek was bigger and stronger, and Havlicek was elite at both ends of the court while Curry is only elite offensively. As great as Havlicek was, no one has seriously suggested that he was the greatest player of all-time or even the greatest player of his time, but he did make the 11 player 35th Anniversary Team selected in 1980. Since 1980, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Giannis Antetokounmpo have all surpassed Havlicek, so if one buys the premise that Havlicek was better than Curry then it is difficult to accept the notion that Curry should be ranked in the all-time top 10. One of the problems is that many people who do such rankings (1) lack historical knowledge/context and (2) are not consistent with the standards that they apply. 

I have followed James' career from the start--and attended many of his games in person during his first stint in Cleveland--and I have always found him both amazing and baffling. As great as he has been and still is, I would argue that he is missing something when being compared to the dominant winners such as Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Magic, Jordan, and Bryant. Russell went 11-1 in the NBA Finals, Abdul-Jabbar went 6-4, Magic went 5-4, Jordan went 6-0, and Bryant went 5-2. James' Finals record is 4-6. That is not terrible, and I know that some people would argue that James should not be "punished" for supposedly carrying inferior teams to the NBA Finals (though I don't give much credence to that, because one player cannot carry a team to the NBA Finals, and James has consistently had more help than many media members are willing to admit)--but is a 4-6 NBA Finals mark indicative of being so great that no player other than Jordan is even in the conversation with James? I don't buy the argument that James' longevity is being held against him; if we pretend that he retired after winning the 2016 title, then he has a 3-4 NBA Finals record and he is not close to being the leading scorer of all-time. How does pretending that the past six years did not happen help James' case for being ranked as the greatest player of all-time? 

It is foolish to try to diminish James' status to the extent of pretending that he does not belong in the greatest player of all-time conversation, but it is odd to suggest that James has clearly surpassed every player in pro basketball history with the possible exception of Jordan, because the eye test, the numbers, and historical context do not support that sweeping assertion and that casual dismissal of the accomplishments of other all-time great players.

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posted by David Friedman @ 2:59 AM

39 comments