u/Apollo18Teslaa

So during that insane 20 to nothing run in the third quarter the Spurs had Wembanyama (22), Dylan Harper (20), Stephon Castle (21), and Carter Bryant (20) all on the floor together for part of going on a 20 point run in the playoffs. Against a team that has been to back to back Western Conference Finals.

And during part of that run you just had four dudes out there who literally cannot legally rent a car in most states just absolutely cooking a playoff hardened roster. Castle had 32 and 11 on the night shooting 71% from three. Wemby doing Wemby things. Harper going 75% from the field. Bryant a plus 16 on the night.

I keep having to remind myself these guys are babies. Like that lineup is a combined 83 years old.
The future is not coming. It is here. And it is 20 to nothing in the third quarter of a playoff game.

I figured out what he reminds me of.

The Borg from Star Trek.

Hear me out.

Teams find something that works on him, right? They slow him down for a stretch, Double teams, getting physical, whatever. And then it eventually just stops working. He figures it out, adjusts, and now that same thing you were doing is useless.

He processed it and adapted.

The other part is how his whole game is basically built like the borg. Integrating the best part of other players games. “You will be assimilated”.

“I will add your basketball bag into my own. Resistance is futile.”

I was feeling good but then I listened to the podcasts. Did you guys know that the Timberwolves actually didn’t care about this game and let the Spurs win?

I didn’t realize that guys.

Hey Spurs fan here hope your ok if I come and say good luck to y’all before the series starts. I’m glad Ant is back I had a feeling he might be as I know he’s a super healer.

Not speaking for all Spurs fans but the only thing I was gonna be disappointed with this playoffs was a first round exit for my Spurs. This is all gravy now.

I’ve been trying to tell my fellow spurs fans not to sleep on these Timberwolves. I was just as nervous about playing you as I was Denver.

If your guys play as hard as they did in the Denver series this is gonna be a dogfight. I give you guys a decent chance to win depending on if our lack of experience becomes a problem.

Main thing is everyone stay healthy cause whoever wins this will need to be 100% cause they gotta beat OKC “They can’t keep getting away with this!!!”. If you guys win I’ll be rooting hard for you.

He straight up shut Murray down. Do they put him on Castle or Fox? I’m thinking Fox just cause I think they’ll have Gobert “guard” Castle with Randle on Wemby.

Wavy odds:

Worst record: 12.4%

2nd worst: 9.8%

3rd worst: 9.2%

4th worst: 10.6%

5th worst: 8.0%

6th worst: 7.4%

7th worst: 8.7%

8th worst: 6.1%

9th worst: 5.5%

10th worst: 6.9%

11th worst: 4.3%

12th worst: 3.7%

13th worst: 5.0%

14th worst: 2.4%

Lottery reform won't kill tanking but it can make it a lot less obvious.

No lottery tweak is going to stop teams from tanking entirely and that's not really the point. The real problem isn't that teams do it, it's that the correct strategy is always obvious to everyone watching. Right now every front office is doing the same math and arriving at the same answer. Fans, analysts, everyone can look at a losing team mid season and immediately say "yeah they're tanking." There's zero ambiguity.

A sine wave distribution changes that by introducing real strategic uncertainty into the decision.

Say you're sitting at the 3rd worst record. Do you try to win a few and climb to 4th where the odds are actually a little better? Or do you try to drop to 2nd or 1st knowing those spots are higher but harder to reach? There's no clean answer. The right move depends on where you are in the season, how many games are left, what the teams around you are doing.

When the optimal strategy stops being a straight line teams can't just flip the tank switch and cruise. And fans watching a struggling team can't automatically assume the worst. Maybe they're actually trying to win. Maybe losing hurts them right now. You genuinely don't know or at least it’s not obvious even to the team.

It doesn't solve tanking. It just makes it a lot harder to do in broad daylight. Teams trying to get out of the troughs and to the peaks all year.