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Post by Springer on Aug 18, 2020 17:36:21 GMT -5
I know it's only one game, but it sure feels good seeing the Bucks lose Game 1!
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Post by haisan on Aug 18, 2020 18:44:56 GMT -5
Bucks lose. Heat win. Haywood out for a month. It’s still really early but this is pretty much an ideal start for Toronto.
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Post by Springer on Aug 19, 2020 1:01:46 GMT -5
and the Lakers series is going to be fun to watch!!
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Post by scully19 on Aug 19, 2020 7:35:50 GMT -5
Looks like the Lakers are going to have a run of bad matchups to deal with if they want to make it to the finals. With their backcourt needing help they play the Blazers with the deadly backcourt, then either Westbrook/Harden or the 3 guard lineup of OKC. That would be followed up by just general best teams in the league if they made it this far of likely the Clippers and then the Raptors/Bucks/Celtics. Good luck Lakers but I think they're in some serious trouble and I'm not betting on them.
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Post by coach on Aug 19, 2020 9:00:58 GMT -5
I expect to see the Clippers vs the good guys and I expect what will happen is what Fred predicted last year when asked if Kawhi leaves what will happen when the team plays against him, "if Kawhi leaves and we meet him in the playoffs we'll just have to kick his ass". I expect the Bucks will play better, much like the Raps last year. Magic made their shots- Bucks not so much. Lakers losing was a surprise. Clippers were not as strong as I thought they might be. First games are a 50-50 of things to come and I didn't watch the games so other than the score not much to go on. Once they are 2 or 3 games in we'll see what the landscape looks like. But I agree this is a good start for the Raptors.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 19, 2020 10:25:09 GMT -5
Side rant, it was generally accepted that LeBron is a poor defender because he doesn't try most of the time to conserve himself. Well I posit that he is a poor defender then, because go watch just the highlights of last nights game and pay attention to the 4th quarter and there are multiple times where he is walking around where he could have hustled and made a difference on the play. This includes a wide open dunk with 20 seconds left in the game with the Lakers down 5 that anyone could see coming and he could have easily worked to prevent and didn't. His conservation of energy has trained him to not put in the effort far too often that he is a problem defensively. Plus it makes the defensive scheme plan too much around him not moving that the whole team is limited in effective play. He should be put on the a shitty player for most of the game to be able to rest but also play within a system and be able and willing to rotate and cause havoc like Giannis, instead he just lets it happen because the game is long and you just need to turn it on later in the game. Well this game would have been closed out much earlier had he put in the right amount of effort the whole game, and he didn't even turn it on later.
Again I repeat, the Lakers are in trouble.
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Post by Springer on Aug 22, 2020 20:57:14 GMT -5
Harden should of got fouled out in regulation, but did anyways at the beginning of OT, and Houston crumbled without him. I love OKC's scrappiness!
What's this Houston's jerseys? Do they really call Houston "H-Town"?
And i'm still loving seeing Portland keeping up with LA.
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Post by sutureself on Aug 22, 2020 22:32:25 GMT -5
Side rant, it was generally accepted that LeBron is a poor defender because he doesn't try most of the time to conserve himself. Well I posit that he is a poor defender then, because go watch just the highlights of last nights game and pay attention to the 4th quarter and there are multiple times where he is walking around where he could have hustled and made a difference on the play. This includes a wide open dunk with 20 seconds left in the game with the Lakers down 5 that anyone could see coming and he could have easily worked to prevent and didn't. His conservation of energy has trained him to not put in the effort far too often that he is a problem defensively. Plus it makes the defensive scheme plan too much around him not moving that the whole team is limited in effective play. He should be put on the a shitty player for most of the game to be able to rest but also play within a system and be able and willing to rotate and cause havoc like Giannis, instead he just lets it happen because the game is long and you just need to turn it on later in the game. Well this game would have been closed out much earlier had he put in the right amount of effort the whole game, and he didn't even turn it on later. Again I repeat, the Lakers are in trouble. Jeff Van Gundy called out a play tonight in the 4th that proves your point: LeBron gets stripped, as the ball goes the other way he and AD both start walking back and neither has crossed halfcourt for 10 seconds. Luckily for them the Blazers looked just as gassed and disinterested and the guys guarding LeBron and AD also appear to be walking back rather than giving Portland a 5-on-3. I'm probably just bitter because both teams completely sleepwalked through the 4th and I barely missed my over/under bet when it looked like they were going to easily smash it after 3 quarters.
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Post by sutureself on Aug 23, 2020 16:35:45 GMT -5
Paul George is continuing to show how he's basically T-Mac 2.0, theoretically has every skill in the book but always seems to come up short in the playoffs. Really glad the Raptors didn't do something ridiculous like trading Siakam plus 5 first rounders for Pandemic P. He's 2/11 so far in this game and went 4/17 and 3/16 the past two games. Even including the first game where he was a much more respectable 10/22 he's shooting 29% so far in the first round.
I know I'm looking way too far ahead and Raptors need to worry about even making it past the Celtics (not worried about the Nets). But my ideal scenario is for Kawhi to drag PG to the finals vs. the Raptors and then George comes up short.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 23, 2020 17:47:22 GMT -5
Incredible that Dallas won this game with Luca injured, Kawhi might be getting close to wondering why he left to join George, outside of playing near home. Series tied at 2 and I would think Dallas might be going with an advantage right now.
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Post by freewheel on Aug 23, 2020 18:07:24 GMT -5
Wonderful game from Doncic, but the Clips should have won that game. Even with George crapping the bed. For some reason Rivers didn't bother coaching that game. It was a bit of a Casey impression. He just let it play out with no adjustments to the game momentum.
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Post by sutureself on Aug 23, 2020 20:10:47 GMT -5
Weird development if true. Seeing rumours Playoff P used to date Doc Rivers' daughter Callie, cheated on her with a stripper (getting the stripper pregnant), and Seth Curry is now married to Doc Rivers' daughter. This game Seth Curry got an and-one, turned to PG in the corner and yelled "Bitch Ass!" I don't know how much of this can be confirmed outside of twitter rumours, but it's pretty spicy drama. brobible.com/sports/article/seth-curry-paul-george-callie-rivers/
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Post by scully19 on Aug 24, 2020 14:46:45 GMT -5
I'm not watching the Bucks series but i hope the Raptors, should the pass the Celtics, pay attention to it. Magic should be blown out and not even be able to play and yet they have battled every game and done so much better than expected. They are right there in every game they lost and just went down 20 in the 4th only to now come back to down 6 with 4 minutes left.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 24, 2020 20:33:10 GMT -5
Who would have thought the longest first round series in the East would be the 1v8 bucks vs magic. Everyone else gets the brooms out and we are all waiting on them.
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Post by haisan on Aug 24, 2020 22:40:05 GMT -5
Just read someone called Paul George “Playoff Pi”, because he went 3-14. Best NBA nickname ever.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 25, 2020 9:05:35 GMT -5
Playoff Pandemic seems to be the go-to name for him right now. All of which are pretty great considering Kawhi forced this and tried to force it on Masai but Masai knew better than to give up the real Playoff P's of Powell and Pascal and a bunch of draft picks for PG. It's funny ever since he gave himself a nickname of Playoff P I don't think he's played a good playoff game since that. It's like a curse of self-nicknaming.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 25, 2020 11:05:36 GMT -5
So after Philly flamed out everyone expects that Brett Brown is going to be fired. While I don't think Brown is a good coach really i find the blame getting pointed at him as hilarious. The whole thing went sideways by horrible management decisions at the top, the biggest changes of which was deciding all of a sudden to go all in on the title because Embiid and Simmons were both good and the window was now. What they should have done was wait a few more years and lined up some good free agents potential before Simmons extension kicks in. Instead they traded everyone to go after 2 players with 1 year left on their contract and assumed everyone would fit great and want to resign. This was compounded even more by not admitting everything wasn't fine, that Harris didn't fit and that they screwed up giving up so much for him that move. Before all of this i was very nervous about the future of the 76ers being dominant for years and in our division nonetheless. After they made all these moves, and especially when they signed Harris for a 5 year max it was immediately relieved in that they are done, management fucked them and their core makes no sense. Then they screwed it even further by going after Horford because they looked at one stat - Embiid off the floor being a huge negative in points - and thought they needed to pay huge for a backup C. The reality is their team setup is terrible, the cohesion is awful, and they have officially screwed the amazing all-nba talent core of Simmons and Embiid by trying to rush things. They are screwed for the next 5 years and this will ultimately end up with one of Embiid or Simmons being gone too because the other contacts can't be solved because they are awful.
It's funny that this is ultimately what the process has come to. People are always quick to point out how good of a plan bottoming out is, but most of the teams at the top are not there from bottoming out, but from building a cohesive team, smart signings and trades and not rushing. Philly done none and now they're fucked.
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Post by haisan on Aug 25, 2020 11:18:13 GMT -5
Re: Philly — It's pretty amazing how ephemeral success in the NBA can be, isn't it? Embiid, Simmons and the top draft pick? And then getting Jimmy Butler. Wow. The foundation for a really good team for years to come, right? Oops, sorry, screwed that up. Please start again.
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Post by sutureself on Aug 25, 2020 12:37:37 GMT -5
Josh Richardson gave an interview ripping Brown and saying they need a coach who is “accountable.” Which is funny because Brown was basically forced to give major minutes to Richardson to justify the fact they traded an all-star to get him, and a more accountable coach would’ve limited Richardson’s role because he’s mediocre at best.
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Post by freewheel on Aug 25, 2020 13:08:19 GMT -5
Elton Brand totally buggered up a good looking roster. Overvaluing both Butler and Harris. Losing Reddick, Ilyasova, McConnell, Shamet, and Belinelli. All that great shooting just walking for nothing. Shoulda been patient with what they had instead of trying to juice the roster up.
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Post by Pseudonym on Aug 25, 2020 14:13:39 GMT -5
Yeah, after watching Philly bring out a brinks truck for Horford and Harris, I pretty much crossed them off as a team to worry about. And THEN they let go of Reddick too. Simmons and Embiid can work together, but the roster construction was like they were trying to build the Monstars (just a gigantic, intimidating lineup) or something, just clogging the lane up and stuff.
Y-you think that they'd be too bitter to move Embiid to Toronto...? Gasol passing the torch to his son, etc, etc.
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Post by freewheel on Aug 25, 2020 15:04:56 GMT -5
You know who I want back? Poetl. He's just on the verge. The Spurs want him back but he wants minutes. I think he's ready to be a very solid guy for 25 minutes a game.
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Post by sutureself on Aug 26, 2020 15:28:47 GMT -5
Bucks have apparently decided to boycott Game 5 against Magic due to police shooting Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. Powell and FVV have also discussed Raptors/Celtics potentially boycotting, Nurse has mentioned as well that players are discussing the possibility.
Thunder/Rockets and Lakers/Blazers now postponed tonight. Realistically Raptors aren't playing tomorrow looks like
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Post by sandman on Aug 26, 2020 16:05:51 GMT -5
Could be good news for Lowry's injury if the games get pushed back...
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Post by scully19 on Aug 26, 2020 16:12:34 GMT -5
Sounds like the Bucks team (who are in Wisconsin where Jacob was shot) are trying to get hold of the Attorney General of Wisconsin while in their locker room. Would be interesting to hear if they have any success in that.
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Post by haisan on Aug 26, 2020 17:49:51 GMT -5
Looks like this is really taking off. Good on the players for trying to use their leverage to make a difference. I wonder how all this will play out though. Honestly have no idea.
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Post by Springer on Aug 26, 2020 18:24:01 GMT -5
The games boycott are going to cost the networks a lot of money from loss of viewership and advertising. Hopefully that will spur them to get involved too. Big corporations will have some influence.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 26, 2020 19:48:29 GMT -5
Maybe ownership as well to do more than say they stand with the players but take action as well. The Bucks owner tweeted that they stand with the players, but they can have a big influence themselves on politics by getting involved more.
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Post by coach on Aug 26, 2020 20:39:00 GMT -5
Politics as a lifestyle is a slippery slope. Most of us won't like where it takes us.
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Post by scully19 on Aug 26, 2020 22:27:29 GMT -5
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