DEN CEO and assumed heir-apparent to ownership, says he now looks less crazy than the alternative times he could have fired them:
“Oh, also sorry for firing you both even though you didn’t deserve it.”
Kroenke began his nearly 30-minute news conference, his first since the firings, by praising Malone and Booth: “I want to start off by initially just staying thank you to both Calvin and Coach Malone … And to be frank, neither one of them deserved it, so for that I apologize.”
Denver beat everyone to Black Monday, which this year snares Mike Budenholzer [Phoenix] after one year … which matches what Frank Vogel got … which also matches what Igor Kokosov got, and is 3 more games than what Jay Tirano got - but 36 games less than what Earl Watson got [across 3 seasons], and 3 years less than what Monty Williams got.
It’s Phoenix, though. If ever they stumble across stable ownership, they’ll probably be fine.
Trae Young got tossed for making a mockery of the game, and allegedly he was upset about fouls not being called on Orlando. [The Magic were whistled for 25, the Hawks for 18.] The real mockery was the Hawks letting Orlando shoot for just over 48% in the game and forcing a 2nd game to get in vs. the Miami-Chicago winner.
Oh, and Steph Curry did Steph Curry things to finally get Golden State though the play-in round and off to go play Houston to start. Memphis awaits the Dallas-Sacramento winner for a chance to go play 68-win Oklahoma City.
They could changes the points per basket from 2 / 3 / 1 to 2.34 / 3.51 / 1.17 to remain scoring neutral.
I’m expecting OKC to represent the West. they have just been too good and too deep. The only thing that might trip them up is playoff inexperiance.
But I wouldn’t be too surprised if any of Denver, either LA team, or the Warriors upset them and represent the West.
I’d be shocked if Houston, Minnesota, or the whichever of the 3 remaining teams gets seeded 8 represents the West.
These play-in games are so compelling… 
I know it would never happen because they love the extra revenue, but I feel like a team should at least have to win half their games to qualify for the post-season. It’s not like the NFL where a team could win their division (an accomplishment) at 8-9. The Heat went into last night after a 37-45 regular season., and could theoretically win the NBA Championship and end the season (playoffs included) with more losses than wins (win the next play-in game, then every playoff series 4-3). Doesn’t seem right…
Sure, it could happen - the NHL had a Stanley Cup champion in 1938 that finished the season, regular season and playoffs combined, at 21-28-9 - but that generally means going through top teams the whole way. Relative to the NBA: if you’re a 60, 62, 65, 68 win team and lose a 7-game series to someone who finished under .500, that’s not a “wow, they shouldn’t have let a sub-.500 team get into the playoffs” problem. That’s a “you gakked up on the court for 4 losses” problem.
I’d say in a league with 6 of the 8 teams making the playoffs, such as the 1938 NHL, it’s gonna happen sometime. As a lad, I remember the NHL having 16 playoff teams from a 21-team league.
The NBA is now allowing 20 of the 30 teams to “have a chance” at winning the title. It attempts thwart the incentive for tanking, which in theory should produce more competitive games near the end of the season.
But overall, there are way too many playoff teams from a competitive standpoint. Why play such a long regular season if it doesn’t really matter? (besides $$$)
Is there anything thing else required?
Damn those teh analytics, helping teams win and ruining the game!