NBA Playoffs

[intlzncster]

If you think Holiday and Rondo are better than Portland's back court...

He said the opposite.

 

[Lefty2one]

If you think Holiday and Rondo are better than Portland's back court...

Re-read what I wrote.

 

[Dogdeacon]

If you think Holiday and Rondo are better than Portland's back court...

What does that question actually mean, specifically?
Do you think NO backcourt can outplay Portland’s and win this series?

Ps it’s 2-0
PPS just in case, though I didn’t see the game last night I have noticed NO has Anthony Davis

 

[Husky25]

Tuned into the end of the Cavs/Pacers game. Apparently, Erin Popovich passed away earlier today.

Whatever your opinions regarding Pop's cantankerous interviews, this is really unfortunate news.

 

[Rocktheworld]

lol this mask Embiid is wearing

 

[champs99and04]

Good luck trying to beat this Philly team for the next decade provided they stay healthy. Embiid is a generational player.

 

[Scoe]

Good luck trying to beat this Philly team for the next decade provided they stay healthy. Embiid is a generational player.

and they might get Lebron, the Sixers did it right when you suck try to suck harder and you might just get rewarded.

 

[champs99and04]

and they might get Lebron, the Sixers did it right when you suck try to suck harder and you might just get rewarded.

The amount of cap space they will have this summer is horrifying from the perspective of 29 other organizations. I'd actually be more surprised at this point if LeBron doesn't end up in Philly. Then you have Fultz, Saric, Covington, and the lottery pick they acquired from the Lakers to package for someone else while Simmons and Embiid make peanuts. I mean, I'm not sure I want to see all this happen, but the potential certainly exists for the whole super team experiment to be squeezed to the bones if it hasn't already. The next CBA will be interesting.

 

[EBonz30]

I'm not much of a Westbrook fan and his team hasn't improved but he just averaged a triple double in back to back seasons. Remember thinking I would never see a player in my lifetime average a triple double for a season, this should be talked about more.

Remember when you told me Stephen Curry was a better player than Kobe Bryant, lol, I will never forget that!!

Miss you bud!!

 

[Scoe]

GS is just ridiculous no one is beating them assuming they dont have any more injuries.

 

[MadDogRevival]

GS is just ridiculous no one is beating them assuming they dont have any more injuries.

GS is a collection of floating turds. Every person outside of the bay area should hate them for the Douches they are. Particularly Durant (coward) and mouth guard chewer (over rated).

 

[Scoe]

GS is a collection of floating turds. Every person outside of the bay area should hate them for the Douches they are. Particularly Durant (coward) and mouth guard chewer (over rated).

Im routing for them to go down but its not happening.

 

[Scoe]

The amount of cap space they will have this summer is horrifying from the perspective of 29 other organizations. I'd actually be more surprised at this point if LeBron doesn't end up in Philly. Then you have Fultz, Saric, Covington, and the lottery pick they acquired from the Lakers to package for someone else while Simmons and Embiid make peanuts. I mean, I'm not sure I want to see all this happen, but the potential certainly exists for the whole super team experiment to be squeezed to the bones if it hasn't already. The next CBA will be interesting.

I wanna see it happen why not GS can starphuck why not the 76ers, I would be very interested to see an older Lebron trying to elevate a very young team to the next level, it would make a lot of sense for Lebron's sake and would really bring a rivalry to the 76ers and Celtics to the next level, if that were to happen then the Celtics would almost have to go after Anthony Davis.

 

[KemBaller]

GS is a collection of floating turds. Every person outside of the bay area should hate them for the Douches they are. Particularly Durant (coward) and mouth guard chewer (over rated).

The precedent was set long before Durant made his move. LeBron is about to do it for the 3rd time in his career. Hard to blame anyone for trying to construct super teams when the media crucifies players for not winning.

 

[champs99and04]

Remember when you told me Stephen Curry was a better player than Kobe Bryant, lol, I will never forget that!!

Miss you bud!!

He is.

 

[Dogdeacon]

The precedent was set long before Durant made his move. LeBron is about to do it for the 3rd time in his career. Hard to blame anyone for trying to construct super teams when the media crucifies players for not winning.

Its interesting a couple months ago LeBron to Sixers felt like a radical idea & longshot, now its morphed into the 'no fair' juggernaut too many stars move. We are sucking the cheesesteak popsicles a little quickly here, let's see the Sixers win a playoff series first - its going to take at least 6 games to get past the Heat. Great game last night, but the Heat will find a way to take game 4 (rust often shows in 2nd game back, look for poor shooting night for Joel).

Jumping ahead, Cleveland is not making the finals so IF LeBron has Philly on the top of his list he's better off losing to the Raptors to avoid the if you can't beat em' join em backlash that rallies the haters.

Cleveland at Indy is by far best/biggest game tonight. If Cleveland wins they are back in drivers seat and look better for a 5-6 game series win. But even that is more taxing than it needs to be for LeBron after playing all 82. If Indy wins tonight, this thing is going 7 and LeBron is going to be on fumes by the middle of the next series.

 

[Yardigan]

I wanna see it happen why not GS can starphuck why not the 76ers, I would be very interested to see an older Lebron trying to elevate a very young team to the next level, it would make a lot of sense for Lebron's sake and would really bring a rivalry to the 76ers and Celtics to the next level, if that were to happen then the Celtics would almost have to go after Anthony Davis.

What might be even more stunning if LBJ goes to the Sixers...at some point, in the not too distant future...for the first time...he might not even be the best player on his team anymore.

 

[Lefty2one]

Good luck trying to beat this Philly team for the next decade provided they stay healthy. Embiid is a generational player.

I hope they can keep things together. We've seen this enough in the past (90s Magic, OKC a few years back, etc) where things didn't pan out.


I don't see LeBron going to Philly. It'd also be oil and water with Simmons, who can't space the floor or play off-ball that frequently since he made exactly zero threes this season. I think they'll make room for him in HOU and he'll land there.

Lastly, despite the final score, that was a great game between Philly and Miami last night. So intense and fun. The NBA is fantastic when guys are playing for keeps. LOL @ Winslow stepping on Embiid's mask. The chippiness in the game was awesome.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I don't see LeBron going to Philly. It'd also be oil and water with Simmons, who can't space the floor or play off-ball that frequently since he made exactly zero threes this season. I think they'll make room for him in HOU and he'll land there.

Lastly, despite the final score, that was a great game between Philly and Miami last night. So intense and fun. The NBA is fantastic when guys are playing for keeps. LOL @ Winslow stepping on Embiid's mask. The chippiness in the game was awesome.

It might depend on how LeBron sees himself for the latter part (act 4?) of his NBA career. Is he a point-forward, a power forward, a stretch 4?! He's probably looking for a good PG, good shooters and at least one star. Houston is also a bit of a ball scarcity issue if Paul & Harden are both there, but maybe segway from CP3 to LeBron. Certainly Harden wouldn't mind playing off the ball some, particularly if playoff yips Harden emerges, JH will welcome teaming up with a stone-cold playoff killa. Playoffs are so good & tbd its stupid of me to speculate on this now.

I missed the first half, but wow Miami was looking good for a stretch with Dragic playing out of his mind, Richardson just wet from 3. But then Wade & Olynyk (I jinxed him) came off the bench in the 4th, laid eggs & that was that. 76ers foreign bench duo of Bellini & Ilysova were better late than Heat's bench of Olynyk, Wade & Winslow - that was the game. Miami's reserves should shoot better at home (I see a big game from Ellington), Saturday afternoon should be awesome (South Beach crowd shouldn't go home, straight from clubs to game) and Tuesday (boo, should be Monday) in Philly at 2-2 will be EPIC.

 

[Rocktheworld]

It might depend on how LeBron sees himself for the latter part (act 4?) of his NBA career. Is he a point-forward, a power forward, a stretch 4?! He's probably looking for a good PG, good shooters and at least one star. Houston is also a bit of a ball scarcity issue if Paul & Harden are both there, but maybe segway from CP3 to LeBron. Certainly Harden wouldn't mind playing off the ball some, particularly if playoff yips Harden emerges, JH will welcome teaming up with a stone-cold playoff killa. Playoffs are so good & tbd its stupid of me to speculate on this now.

LeBron can’t be a ball dominant point forward forever as he gets older. He has been since coming back to Cleveland mainly out of necessity. But everyone knows Simmons is a true point, and has better point skills, than does LeBron. I think with his emerging perimeter shot, he would be way more free without the ball constantly in his hands; could take advantage of getting the ball in position to score at all three levels. I think going to Philly would let LeBron play a purer small forward, have more time off the ball, allow him to commit a little more on defense again. He fits right in in place of Covington and just imagine a starting 5 of

Simmons
Reddick (dry heave)
LeBron
Saric
Embiid

That’s a championship lineup.

What will be interesting is what they give to Cleveland for LeBron. Cleveland doesn’t seem super confident in or committed to LeBron, they may sense he is on his way out. The 2018 or 2019 pick from the Lakers plus Illyasova, and another piece; or even the pick, Fultz, and a piece?

Man the only thing is that it could be a bad look for a potential GOAT to join up if he gets bounced in the first or second round.

I missed the first half, but wow Miami was looking good for a stretch with Dragic playing out of his mind, Richardson just wet from 3. But then Wade & Olynyk (I jinxed him) came off the bench in the 4th, laid eggs & that was that. 76ers foreign bench duo of Bellini & Ilysova were better late than Heat's bench of Olynyk, Wade & Winslow - that was the game.

Yeah I left my place when it was still a 2 point game, was surprised to see it ended as a 20 point difference.

And I also am already looking forward to the series going back to Philly. Can not stand that city or its fans but you have to give them credit, Philly fans are rabid

 

[Dogdeacon]

LeBron can opt out and be a free agent at end of this season. I suppose he could demand the max 5-year deal and a sign & trade, but that seems a stupidly Carmelo-esque way to sabotage his next team.

One underrated factor is will LeBron go somewhere with strong GM/Ownership/Coach? He only had that in Miami & even that roster went bust too quickly. The win now imperative he creates will become even stronger as LeBron's timeline shrinks. Yet he simply cannot start out by depleting a team of assets just to get himself an extra 30MM that he 'only' needs for buying some team down the road.

 

[MadDogRevival]

The precedent was set long before Durant made his move.

Yeah, I think we've discussed this before, and we can just politely disagree.
Durant was the first time a tip-top player went to a team that was already the prohibitive favorites to win it all. Big, big difference. GS wins with or without Durant. That makes Durant a freeloader. Miami with just Bosch and Wade doesn't win, and it wasn't an established, prohibitive favorite when LBJ went. Big difference.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Yeah, I think we've discussed this before, and we can just politely disagree.
Durant was the first time a tip-top player went to a team that was already the prohibitive favorites to win it all. Big, big difference. GS wins with or without Durant. That makes Durant a freeloader. Miami with just Bosch and Wade doesn't win, and it wasn't an established, prohibitive favorite when LBJ went. Big difference.

Miami also hadn’t just came back from down 3-1 to LeBron in the previous season’s conference finals

 

[Dogdeacon]

That's fine, not unfair. But if we start at premise Durant is leaving Russ, where should Durant have gone (maybe I'm just trying to get you to say Boston!)?

It is weird if Boston is the right or only answer, cuz I never felt like the Celtics had a real shot even though they pulled out all the stops. Golden State had recruited him well before the playoff situation came about - so too late for him to reverse course based on that. Did having that ('I'm going to Warriors') in the back of Durant's mind somehow impact the Warriors-OKC series in 16?

I don't remember those games specifically other than Klay's game 6 outburst, looking at box last 2 games Durant:
Game 6: 29pts, 10-31, 1/8 from 3, 8/10 FTs, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 3 TO, Game 7: 27pts, 10-19, 3/7 from 3, 4/4 FTs, 7 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block 2 TOs
Pretty hard to say he was thinking past the series, over-aggressive in game 6, typically efficient in game 7 - only quibble is not enough FT in Game 7, but team was 13/17 FT and Warriors only got to the line 8 times (prev game 32FTA-OKC, 24FTA-GSW) so that's likely more Game 7 swallow the whistles.

 

[superjohn]

NBA refs, smdh.