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Post by haisan on Jun 4, 2017 3:05:04 GMT -5
Having a boring three rounds, followed by a week break, and now just one game every three days, is not doing the NBA any favors.
But, yeah, rather than an epic showdown of two Goliaths, this feels really "meh". Neither team really represents any kind of playing philosophy, so there's no big idea on the line. No one's legacy is on the line (except Durant, but he kind of surrendered that by signing with the best team in the league).
Personally, I hope LeBron wins, if only to make everyone sour on the idea of superteams. And I'm kind of curious what his ceiling really might be.
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Post by Money_Ball on Jun 5, 2017 8:11:28 GMT -5
Warriors tie a professional sports record for most consecutive playoff wins(14). Cavs and Warriors went 24-1 in the playoffs going into the Finals (most were absolute blowouts). Same two teams made the Finals three consecutive years, that's only been done three other times in professional sports history (twice in the 1950's and once in the 1920's) and never been done before in the NBA. We have every reason to think these same two teams will meet each other again in the Finals the next couple years. I'm done with NBA basketball until they fix this problem.
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Post by freewheel on Jun 5, 2017 8:36:08 GMT -5
I barely watched any of the playoffs this year. There was only one series which was quality entertainment and that was the Wizards/Celtics and I didn't even watch that.
Ive said that the NBA screwed up with the way they are reffing. They took the big man right out of the game and let it all become about chucking. They call too many fouls on the perimeter and too many fouls on drives/screens/etc. When I became an NBA fan it wasn't because of Isaih Thomas. My favorite players were Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, Oakley, RSmits. Its the clash of big men versus little men who make this game interesting. Let the bigs be a part of the game again.
If I wanted to see a league where all the players are positionless sand all the teams play the same style I would watch the NBDL.
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Post by Money_Ball on Jun 5, 2017 12:41:41 GMT -5
^^I agree to an extent, and think there's more than one thing contributing to the decline of the game, but for me it's the rise of the Super teams. For Durant to join what was already the best regular season team in NBA history was a very "douchy" thing to do and never would have happened back in the day, guys had too much pride. On the other hand even if that hadn't happened, we'd probably still be we watching a Cavs v. Warriors Finals, so this tells me that there's something about the game itself that needs to be changed.
Some of it is probably how the game is called, but some of it is also the cap structure. LeBron's true market value is worth way more than 31 million, at least twice as much.
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Post by freewheel on Jun 5, 2017 13:07:58 GMT -5
I'm not so sure. I'd like to see them allow a big man to post up like they used to. Now we have little guys slapping and hacking away at them and instead of calling the foul they call and offensive on the big guy if his shrugs them off or puts his elbow out. I cant believe that a team can get a way with putting someone like Lebron of Draymond Green at center in todays game. A 7 footer should be able to crown guys like that, but the refs/rules don't allow it. Therefore bigs are getting smaller and smaller and chuckers are getting bigger and bigger to shoot over the top. The end result is generic/bland basketball where only one styles is effective and the best team at it wins. Its predictable and boring. The old boxing line has always been true, "styles make fights". I don't want to see Ali against Ali, I wanna see Ali against Frasier.
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Post by Money_Ball on Jun 5, 2017 14:59:57 GMT -5
^^So Cleveland puts Thompson/Love/Frye on JV/Gortat and then what? You still have them jacking a bunch of threes regardless. It would also create another problem, guys like Giannis and Lebron would just play PG all the time and destroy the guards inside.
They should allow more contact, absolutely, I think that's part of the problem. It's become virtually impossible to guard guys on the perimeter, the result is a bunch of drive and kicks for wide open looks on the perimeter.
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Post by coach on Jun 6, 2017 10:44:18 GMT -5
One of the more disgruntling thoughts is that the Raps are next best to Cleveland who is next best to the Warriors and if you are looking for a championship those are 2 huge steps away. Imagine how the rest of the league must feel. Granted they are improving and can occasionally challenge with the Celtics, Wizards, Bucks, Spurs, Clippers, Rockets and maybe the west can argue they only have to get by the Warriors, but that wasn't the case last year as the Cavs won. With the addition of Durant it seems the Warriors are going to be tough to beat by anybody. Great players want the ring as many times as they can get it and they don't care which team they win it with.
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Post by Money_Ball on Jun 6, 2017 15:09:30 GMT -5
What's worse is that TV ratings for the Finals are up this year, highest since Jordan in the 90's. Looks like this new NBA is here to stay.
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Post by scully19 on Jun 6, 2017 15:19:21 GMT -5
What's worse is that TV ratings for the Finals are up this year, highest since Jordan in the 90's. Looks like this new NBA is here to stay. I saw that too and thought the exact same thing. All these blowout playoffs and superteams draw in the casual fan who only hears about the third year these 2 play eachother an that they are the greatest teams of a generation and they turn on the TV. The bigger fans turn on the TV too and here we are. I don't see how they will address concern over super teams if the numbers are showing that it's what is wanted by the fans.
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Post by Money_Ball on Jun 6, 2017 21:18:54 GMT -5
Yeah, looks doubtful that they make any big changes, assuming these numbers reflect fan interest. It's worth noting though that those ratings are just for the first two games of the Finals. Who knows what the ratings were for the previous series (or what it will be next year if this trend continues). Also, if the Cavs get swept (which is what I'm hoping for at this point), that hurts the NBA big time. Advertising income from a four game Finals is still way less than advertising money from a 6-7 game Finals, even if the ratings are up a bit.
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Post by scully19 on Jun 7, 2017 8:05:17 GMT -5
True, and a sweep would certain make the 4th time they play next finals not nearly as exciting to the casual fan, having already watched this slaughter in the previous year.
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Post by zugzwang on Jun 7, 2017 10:16:45 GMT -5
... Also, if the Cavs get swept (which is what I'm hoping for at this point), that hurts the NBA big time. Advertising income from a four game Finals is still way less than advertising money from a 6-7 game Finals, even if the ratings are up a bit.
Hmmmm. Imagine the conspiracy theories that will arise when key Warriors are fouled out early in Game 4 as Lebron James squeaks out a narrow victory to keep the Cavs and the NBA financial engine alive for one more game.
Or is the prospect of a historical all-playoff game sweep dramatic enough to keep the dark conspirators happy. Probably not, if it leaves the fan base talking about league parity all summer long.
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Post by freewheel on Sept 30, 2017 23:00:48 GMT -5
New season has begun. Lakers and Wolves played the 1st preseason game tonight. Lakers look like they will be talented but bad. Too small IMO. That probably a step up from untalented but bad. I'm semi buying into the Lonzo Ball hype, but still not buying the Brandon Ingram hype. Ingram looks like Bruno to me. Course I still have hope for Bruno...just not a lot of it.
The Wolves look decent. Not much depth though. Thibodeau will be back to his old tricks playing his starters 40 minutes every night.
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Post by scully19 on Dec 29, 2018 1:51:54 GMT -5
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Post by haisan on Mar 20, 2019 21:42:52 GMT -5
Wow, that Grizzlies-Rockets game that just wrapped up: Harden - 57 pts Jonas: 33pts, 14rbs.
Jonas wins it with a free throw in overtime.
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Post by coach on Mar 22, 2019 18:08:29 GMT -5
Wow, that Grizzlies-Rockets game that just wrapped up: Harden - 57 pts Jonas: 33pts, 14rbs. Jonas wins it with a free throw in overtime.
Actually he had 15 rbds but who is counting. He only had 1 ast as he was too busy putting the ball in the basket. Bruno knocks down 15 in the same game against the team that just schooled the Raptors. I really liked JV bullying PJ Tucker down low. Leonard didn't quite have the same luck.
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Post by haisan on Apr 13, 2019 17:22:11 GMT -5
76ers lose to the Nets? Badly? Bwha hah hah hah hah!
What? Raptors down 8 to the Magic at the half? Shut up!
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Post by sutureself on Apr 14, 2019 19:38:42 GMT -5
I know I'm being too negative. But I'm watching the Bucks absolutely demolish the Pistons (without Blake) right now. Why do I get the feeling that even without Blake, this Pistons team could go toe-to-toe with us. We'd win but I don't think we'd just absolutely establish dominance like the Bucks are doing right now.
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Post by Money_Ball on Apr 15, 2019 7:06:10 GMT -5
Giannis only played 23 minutes in their crushing victory over the Pistons. Drummond finished -45 in 26 minutes, yikes!
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Post by haisan on Apr 16, 2019 0:39:08 GMT -5
I won't lie -- the Clippers beating Golden State made me feel a lot better about the Raptors. I don't expect LA to win, but it helps put the nature of a 7-game series into perspective.
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Post by scully19 on Apr 16, 2019 5:36:53 GMT -5
I won't lie -- the Clippers beating Golden State made me feel a lot better about the Raptors. I don't expect LA to win, but it helps put the nature of a 7-game series into perspective. I was just coming here to post the same thing. 31 point lead and they lost in the end made me feel better about the Raptors losing.
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Post by Money_Ball on Apr 16, 2019 6:43:13 GMT -5
Wow, that's and epic meltdown by the Warriors. Maybe I'm wrong about playoff Lou Williams.
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Post by haisan on Apr 16, 2019 9:41:04 GMT -5
Forget "blonde" and "brown" (his girlfriends). Lou is all about the orange (basketball).
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Post by haisan on Apr 24, 2019 0:09:38 GMT -5
That Lillard game-winner just now ... wow.
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Post by freewheel on Apr 28, 2019 17:26:02 GMT -5
Watching the Warriors and Rockets play is awful. The brand of basketball is completely unpleasant and ugly. It's barely even a competition between two teams. It's like both teams are going to score a 120 and the difference is who can trick and complain the referees into giving them more calls. Of course the referees stink and give Hardin all kinds of terrible calls and then look like idiots when they try to put the whistle away.
I don't know about you but I don't think the Raptors are equiped to win like that. Maybe they might win a basketball series but not a flopping/complaining series.
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Post by Money_Ball on Apr 28, 2019 18:18:52 GMT -5
Harden got robbed in this game though. I counted 3 or 4 times where he should have been given three free throws. If I'm Morey I'd make a formal complaint to the NBA. freewheel, I was never a fan of that style of basketball. If I heard correctly, Houston set a record for most attempted threes in a first half of a playoff game with 28 attempts... it just looks sooo summer league.
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Post by haisan on Oct 23, 2019 0:17:58 GMT -5
Clippers and Lakers face off for the big marquee matchup on opening night -- and Danny Green is the leading scorer with 28 points. Lol.
Happy to see Kawhi continuing to win, especially versus LeBron.
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Post by haisan on Oct 23, 2019 22:28:19 GMT -5
What's the funniest stat line of the day? Wiggins going 10-27 (and scoring just 21 points) for a -26 plus/minus in a Timberwolves win. Mike Conley going 1-16 in a Utah win.
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Post by sutureself on Oct 24, 2019 1:31:26 GMT -5
To me the Wiggins statline is funniest. Mainly because I got mad reading the RealGm comments after Siakam signed his extension; somebody compared Siakam to Wiggins and said it was just another classic example of a small market team overpaying to extend based on potential rather than production. It's like, sure, the one-dimensional chucker who has one career playoff win is the exact same as the versatile 2nd option on a championship team who can impact the game in so many positive ways, even when he's struggling to score.
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Post by haisan on Oct 24, 2019 3:05:18 GMT -5
At this point, RealGm's Toronto subforum is 95% just people asking for the Raptors to trade for Wiggins and/or Vince Carter.
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