Topic: American Sports

Kinda wild the Eagles are somehow dominating the game in almost every way, yet can't seem to ever pull properly ahead.

What an atrocious ending to an otherwise great game

I thought that was a pretty great game. More about the offences than defences. Chuffed with the result of course.

I guess it is kinda on the Eagles in a way, because they had double the plays/possession at one point, yet I don't think KC were ever more than two scores behind, so I guess you could say the Eagles shouldn't have ever been in that position where a fake penalty would literally kill the game for them, but the call was still absolute BS of the highest order either way. Weird the NFL brags about it's officiating, its tech, all the angles they capture, the speed and efficiency of their VAR etc and then an excellent game comes down to that. Who was it that said the NFL is actually scripted like the WWE again 😂

Hahaha never mind, don’t gamble folks!

Oof… I owe the Chiefs and Pat Mahomes my apologies.
Eagles D was pathetic tonight.
Yeah, that late critical defensive holding call is a killer, but this Eagles D was supposed to have a great rush and led the league in sacks and the had a big goose egg for sacks on Mahomes. The guy is running around on one leg and they can’t stop him. Man, Philly is so hating life right now.

Anyone paying much attention to March Madness? College basketball is something I’ll typically ignore until the tournament starts, but once it gets going, there are fewer championship series’s that are more exciting. I don’t care about most of the teams but it’s always fun to see a school that I’ve never heard of shock a powerhouse school and end their run. I tend to always pull for the underdogs.

I dunno if American peoples like Kickboxing sport.
I like to draw a lot of cute Chibi Boxer & Kickboxer characters as I secretly have interest with those sports.

If you’re a fan of high quality basketball you should check out the NCAA women’s National Championship game tomorrow. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is the real deal. Wow, she’s a wizard on the court. She can start and stop on a dime, has the handles, the quickness, the smooth jump shot, and fantastic court vision to be able to thread the needle for a laser pass to an open teammate or blow by a defender for layup, or swish an off-balance deep 3. She’s one of the most entertaining basketball players I’ve watched in a long time (and yes, I purposely didn’t qualify that with a gender exclusion. One of the most entertaining players, full-stop).

Congrats to the Kansas City Chiefs!

Swifties are partying tonight! ( @get2sammyb among them…? 😛)

@Ravix Surely we’ll have some analysis back and forth after game 2, since I can tell you’re more than just a casual fan.

You mentioned NFL also, which also surprised me. I know there’s a few “American Football” fans over there, but not many. I think Sammy likes the Giants, but I don’t really know how seriously he watches them. So who’s your player/team/personality/reason for watching?

@Th3solution I think you mean, the rivalry is now on!!! You've made your feelings known, and i'm hoping Porzingis is going to perform to an even higher level just to spite you 😁

I do still think there's plenty of room for them to f*** it all up if Luka and Kyrie get hot, or the others start hitting threes, but I don't think there's any point in me being negative. The Boston crowd is sometimes a little bit the issue, as soon as they get up big they check out, and that translates onto the court 😅 but Mazzulla is drilling in to the players to not get bored by success in games, even when the crowd tends to be, at times.

As for the NFL, I'm less bothered, it's a lot harder to watch an NFL game unless you're really invested because of the time it takes, so I did pick a team once and stuck with it. The Tennessee Titans, which was pretty easy when I picked up my interest again under Vrabel, as they played football how I like it. Mean and nasty and all about effort rather than having, you know, a really good quarterback or something like that. But now the winds have changed again, and I'm interested to see how Will Levis develops post Vrabel, because he just seems f***ing weird, and I like that, you got to have something about you. And I know Derrick Henry has moved on, but I always thought Tony Pollard would be a good fit, so there's something to build on, perhaps.

By playoff time, I'll see who is left in, and see what underdog stories could come out of it to keep me interested, too. I think the Philly superbowl win of a few years back was an absolutely spectacular sporting event. There's been some rotten superb owls though (I'm leaving my phones spell check as is hahaha superb owls has tickled me)

I don't know why I was initially drawn to US sports, but as I played a lot of sport and always had a natural interest in anything with competition and passion, and US sport was completely weird and different to football, and, since being more disenfranchised with sooooccerrrrrrrr recently, they have really picked up the slack there, I always have space for one or two sports hobbies/interests as I can't shake that part of me.

As a wee kiddy kid, I did have a basketball hoop (no idea why I liked it at that point, although maybe I had an NBA game on a PlayStation hand me down or something that got me to try it our for real I vaguely remember some NBA game being played) but I was more interested in the doing, and I must have shot thousands of shots each summer on that hoop, as we didn't really play as much football in the summertime.

I assume you follow every NFL team, as you do NBA teams? 😉😉

@Malaise from Philly or New York because you hate Boston 😁 nailed it. But then you reply, aha, but everyone hates New England sports teams because they are very good at winning stuff. Touché.

From a stats point of view, which I'm not that big on myself, what do you make of Joe Mazzulla? because he is a proper stats nerd, and is bringing in a style of coaching that really drills deep into stats the NBA doesn't even consider. I think I saw a piece about him where either at the West Virginia school he coached at, or the Maine team, he introduced a bunch of new ideas about how to analyse games and what truly led to winning. And the amount he goes on about the margins, getting more shot attempts than the opponent per game but by using all aspects of the game, not just by the act of simply shooting, and how offense and defense are so inexplicably linked that everything affects everything, I'm sure you'd probably quite like his style.

He's brought about a nice identity where we can both crash the boards from the corners and get good rebounding stats, but also still be the best (or one of the best) transition defences, which then means we are in position to get defensive rebounds (sometimes) and that means we simply get more shots more often, and then talent pretty much does the rest with those margins to create massive blowouts (the most blowouts in a season by far? There were some stats on that recently) 👀

A little inside baseball @th3solution even though our rebounding stats are good, defensively we mostly get rebounds because we exhuast the shot clock and force bad shots, but when it comes to pure effort rebounds we can get dominated at times. But don't tell Dallas. Jayson Tatum has really started to aggressively grab the ball on rebounds though, like noticably angry rebounds when unchallenged (check it out next game) but sometimes they will still switch off because it's almost like "job done" after forcing the bad shots. But if the opposition crashes... it becomes messy for us. But if they don't... get those easy rebounds based on the initial work and pad those stats. I'd say it's their biggest weakness though, and I'm glad we didn't play New York to find out

@Ravix So interesting stuff there, much of which I haven’t delved deeply into, and yet I do like to dabble in some of the stats. That’s why I think it’s weird that Boston takes so many of the lowest percentage shot in the game — the long 3 pointer. Nevertheless, the idea that you can counter that by crashing the boards does even things out. Because I don’t know what the team rebounding stats were from last night, but I’d suspect just from watching the game that Boston had at least 10-15 more rebounds than Dallas. And I distinctly recall the first quarter there was a possession early on when Boston got about 5 straight offensive rebounds and of course eventually got a bucket. I think 3 of the 5 were 3-pointers that clanked. You can’t give a team 5 chances to shoot and expect them to keep missing. In fact you shouldn’t give them 2 chances. But that’s when the blowout started - so many second chances given to the Celtics in the first half. Then that allowed them to get into a rhythm and get hot.

You bring up another interesting point, that being match-ups. A lot of the NBA comes down to whether your team matches up well with the other; most other sports it’s important too but especially the NBA where each player makes such a big impact on the results. I think Boston is a tough match-up for Dallas, for the reasons you stated. And they match up well with most teams, but they did lose multiple times to a couple teams — the Hawks, weirdly; the Nuggets, who the Wolves took care of for them; the Bucks, who Giannis’s calf and the Pacers took care of for them; the Knicks who the Pacers took care of for them; and the Pacers, who despite the sweep, let’s be real - they struggled with last round, even without Haliburton.

A similar thing happened with Dallas, who was spared a matchup with Denver due to Minnesota’s hard fought victory there. Denver would have certainly been a worse matchup for the Mavs and that’s likely who the Celtics would be dealing with now if not for Ant-Man’s game 7 heroics.

So that’s what I mean with the luck of the draw, and the basketball gods. Probably Minnesota, OKC, Denver… all would be giving Boston a real nightmare right now, but Mavs took them out for them. But the Mavs don’t match up well with Boston’s staring 6 depth. Those 3 all have 7-foot shooters like KP. Mavs centers don’t shoot.

@Malaise @Th3solution I will add that it isn't supposed to be just jacking up threes for the sake of it and it is just as much about limiting the oppositions attempts and not really seeing offense and defense as different things, but the game as one fluid motion where your decisions everywhere affect everything else. Last season I think the players believed jack up threes is what Joe meant, and they are being coached off doing that. But, the philosophy is to make the right play, and if the shot is there to shoot uncontested, shoot it with belief that we want you to shoot it, because everyone can shoot 30/40% from three, and uncontested helps that percentage rise. Porzingis uncontested from 28ft straight on is fairly high percentage as that is his spot, but they did need to learn that if it isn't falling to stop repeating it, unless there is no other option. He's been killing in the mid post though, and it seemed Dallas' method to counter that was to pretend to be fouled 😅

I do detest when a team goes on a run and the response is to take a quick three, as that only helps the other teams run. And that is one bad habit that sometimes creeps back in when their heads go tbf.

It felt like there were a lot of dunks in the last game, but we didn't get to see Derrick White run the offense in the pick and roll very often as they were just targetting Luka to wear him down. But there are lots of things we didn't see which is what makes it exciting. The games could all be completely different in how points are scored.

@Malaise Ah, bless your soul for admitting to be a Jets fan. 😜 It takes a certain level of masochism to voluntarily take on such punishment year after year.

But it makes sense in the context of disliking the Patriots, since the two teams have such a history. And I think Brady and Belichek kind of ruined it for the fandom of that team. They were so frustratingly dominant for so long and both are so void of any personality (especially Belichek. He’s just an outright jerk) that they are an easy team to ‘love to hate.’ At least when the Celtics were so dominant, there was still balance in the league with the Showtime Lakers, and the team had some charisma. Bird, McCale, Parrish, Walton, didn’t have the appeal of Magic, Worthy, and Kareem, but at least they made you root for them just by sheer rivalry and team identity. The Pats became just a machine and there was no real rivalry or competition for them with the NFC floundering to throw a different team at them every few years and see who would stand a chance. And Red Sox fans… they’re just, I don’t know, a pathetic bunch. Especially before ‘the curse’ was lifted. The whole town does have a feeling of entitlement, now that I think about it. 😅😜

But yeah to answer your question that I forgot about @Ravix — I’m also a big fan of rooting for an underdog. And as you can tell, a lot of it often boils down to rooting for specific players. I like Mahomes and so KC is an easy team to root for, although I think Kelsey is an oaf. And not because I have any weird jealousy that he dates Taylor Swift either. 😅 She’s a weird one in her own right and he can have her (although they are a strange couple). But I tend to follow players rather than teams (fantasy football has ruined the sport I guess). Each year is different on who catches my eye but I trend toward smaller market teams and underdogs — New Orleans, Miami, Arizona, Atlanta, San Diego… it would be nice to see some teams in the “Superb Owl” (😂 The British version of the NFL championship game) that we haven’t seen there in a while, or ever. The NFL is different because of the worse parity there, the Chiefs recent dominance notwithstanding. I’m not particularly excited for the upcoming season yet, but when September rolls around I’ll probably start to get into it.

@Ravix Your Celtics took care of business in game 2. I will say that I was correct about most of my predictions. It was closer, and the 3’s almost did them in, because they weren’t falling tonight, and Porzingis was very average (12 pts in 23 min , 0-3 from 3) and came up limping in the second half and looks like he’s possibly aggravated his injury [shock and awe!] 😅 Also, I noticed them running a lot of possessions, especially in the second half, with Porzingis sitting in the corner at the 3 point line. So either he’s checked out mentally at times (as is my theory), or Mazzulla also feels like he works as a good decoy to park over there.

The main thing I was wrong about was Kyrie. He wasn’t as bad as game 1 but he was very average for his standards. Nevertheless, free throws was another big factor: 16/24 vs 19/20 — 67% vs 95%. Celtics hit theirs, Mavs didn’t.

I’m calling Celtics in 5. Mavs should take either game 3 or 4, but they appear broken with the whole team MIA except Luka. Props to Boston who has done this a lot this post season and closed out close games. I wonder if they can afford to pay this much talent to be able to keep this team together. Who is the MVP of the series so far? There’s no one star that is “most valuable” to them. Maybe Brown, but he didn’t take over tonight like last game. Tatum played good D but was struggling offensively. Holiday was a beast tonight and carried them.

@Th3solution they weren't just jacking up threes though, which is what people think they still do (as they used to always do that in losses to try and make ground, but actually lose ground doing it) apart from a couple of dumb ones from Tatum (especially the 4th quarter one that gave a little hope to Dallas on their run) and White taking the odd one because they just didn't close him out at all, like he is some kind of low rent bit part player!? Mavs definitely checked out defensively on some of those, almost as if "well we can't guard everyone all night so some people have open shots while we rest" and even though they missed, they were right to take those shots, for the most part.

First quarter I knew Celtics wouldn't struggle to win this game, they couldn't make a thing and were only like 2-5 points down at the worst time. Tatum couldn't throw it in the ocean, but he kept going and didn't sulk and showed up defensively a little better than usual, and made maybe 12 assists?

Any time they shoot that badly, but also keep making the right play, teams are in trouble because of the talent levels. Jrue Holiday was unguardable in the low post and making late cuts, baseline drives. There were times when even Dallas thought Boston were going to just jack up the three, but they didn't, they took it to the basket over and over, off of those looks, they would drive and kick, or simply just drive and score. I think it really wore them down, and Dallas just wished they had settled for more threes, as they couldn't deal with the other stuff themselves.

Luka is a one man scoring machine, and that's why I said it's the one thing that scares me. He takes ridiculously bad shots, but he makes them, he takes ridiculously good shots, and makes them. But when it's just him going one on one, they won't beat Boston in a series, and I don't know if it is him thinking "why isn't anyone else trying this hard, i have to do everything myself?" Or if they decided that moving up the court slowly and going ISO is the best tactic against one of the best set defences in the game? 🤔 Luka will still score doing that, of course, but no one else will. I wonder what his team mates thought when he'd walk it up and get the ball picked out of his pocket when a fast break was definitely on if they pushed it?

It is now a fact that in the game where Tatum couldn't make a layup, a jump shot or a three, and where the whole team had an off night shooting wide open, uncontested, good decision threes, that Dallas couldn't even make it a genuine contest. I know it got close for a little while but it never felt close. Last year we would have been bricking it (pooping our pants) at the end of that game. This year they just man up and make plays.

I don't know if anyone else does yet, but we call D White and Jrue, kinda "the stock exchange" but it is so apt, the steals and blocks from those guys just absolutely demoralise teams, and this year Jaylen Brown (since Smart left) decided it's his job to be the leader and also decided he'd make the All-Defense team this year (he definitely should have) and he going in to overdrive in the playoffs to join those two. Three players, and Pritchard was at it too, that will strip, block and downright destroy your morale as you try to get in a game. And Porzingis sits there as a deterent behind them. It's crazy how Brown doesn't get the recognition, too. Someone made a joke this year that he is the best two way since MJ. Obviously that is a bit of tongue in cheek fun, but you got to say, he is playing way above the level that people imagine he plays at. And if neutrals and Boston fans don't give him some universal love, especially if he wins them a championship too, then everyone is crazy 😅

Key play that showed what is wrong with Dallas, Sam Hauser, the spot up shooter missed two threes, then had a chance for a three in the corner, but he drove past his man and got fouled. Who the hell is fouling Sam Hauser on a baseline drive? Not a championship team 🤦‍♂️

As for next game, it won't go the same, but if it was a similar game with Dallas making 7 more freethrows, but Boston making 7 more threes, it's going to be a blowout. Dallas definitely need to try something new (and they might) but at this rate, they can't just hope Tatum and the Celtics miss that many shots again.

@Th3solution ooh, and as for Porzingis, who I'm sure cut you off in traffic at some point, correct? 😁😁 sometimes he's the number one option, sometimes number 5, it's not really checking out, if it's spacing. Maybe he could stand in the post when it's not the right option. But it's probably better to stand out of the way so the mavs centre can't contest Holiday et al in the paint. Not that it would matter as everyone is falling for jump stops, step throughs and up and unders, over and over, anyway 🎣🎣🎣

@Ravix Porzingis didn’t cut me off in traffic 😂 but I do think he’s way more unpredictable than people give him credit for. And I was just pointing out the corner three thing because you mentioned that previously when he was playing with Luka. I’m pretty sure he didn’t miss any shots in the key but they went away from that, despite him being 0-3 from beyond the arc. So yeah, the tactic of pulling the center away from the paint is sometimes more important than the scoring I guess. And I noticed he got knocked down on the ground a few times and clearly didn’t look physically as spry as last game. I suspect he was a worried to bang around on the inside this time. We’ll have to see how it plays out as the series progresses, because I predict he’ll be streaky and occasionally check out mentally. As opposed to Brown and to a lesser extent Tatum, Holiday, and White who are going to give you everything all night, even if their shots not falling.

But yeah, the “stock exchange” came up really well for them. Even if there was a fairly clear foul that the telecast pointed out on that last dunk attempt from Washington that would have cut it to a 3 pt game with 40 seconds left. I’m ok with it because I usually prefer they let them play, especially at the end of the game and it was far from the only missed call.