The NBA Thread

Id love to see a Phoenix and Brooklyn final (just cuz i got a lot of crap over saying Brooklyn is going to be great with Harden on board and Chris Paul should be MVP cuz PHO is going to finish better than they have in along time) but Harden is out again. I think the Bucks are gonna go ahead and take it. Shouout to yall tho. I hope it is pho Utah in the west final
 
Id love to see a Phoenix and Brooklyn final (just cuz i got a lot of crap over saying Brooklyn is going to be great with Harden on board and Chris Paul should be MVP cuz PHO is going to finish better than they have in along time) but Harden is out again. I think the Bucks are gonna go ahead and take it. Shouout to yall tho. I hope it is pho Utah in the west final
I hope PHX / UTAH and Philly/Brooklyn on the other side.
 
If Philly fans cheered an opposing player grabbing their knee it would already be national news

Edit: they did it twice
Garbage fans. Reminds me of the 2019 finals, and all of Scotiabank Arena cheering and pointing to KD's torn Achilles. Then cut to Raptors partys across Canada cheering at his injury. Just trash human beings.


Still get salty when I see Raptors fans being praised re: their reputation as a great fan base. Probably be the same with ATL. You're totally right that if this happened in Philly it would be front page r/nba drama, if for nothing less than Philly having a reputation for loud and "unruly" fans.

Edit: Fun fact, I would get hate DM's on reddit from Raptors fans for months afterwards. After they won a championship. What a fanbase.
 
I know we all hate the Nets... but are we really going to pretend Durant didn’t just play the best game of his career?
Yeah that last quarter and a half was unbelievable by him. Wasn't even bad defense either. Then add in a whole 2nd half of terrible offense by the Bucks. No ball movement whatsoever, and all iso...what a choke even with Harden being a non factor out there. Hopefully we can force a game 7, or else this may be the last we see of coach Bud.
 
Just watched the condensed G5.

It is truly ludicrous what I have seen from Mike Budenholzer's team. A poor offensive scheme even in their wins from this series. In the case of Tuesday's game, they reverted back to the typical ISO ball that I expected.

MIL refuses to take advantage of the mismatches on the floor, or making note of hobbled players that somehow run north of 40 min on the floor. Why was Harden not being attacked/being switched onto more? Why didn't the Bucks force more doubles on KD in the second half, knowing full well that Harden hadn't made any impact as a (non)scorer to that point? The amount of times Brook Lopez is matched up with a PG/SG and picnics out at the perimeter is laughable, although his presence was a positive for G5. Still hilarious to see PJ Tucker matched up on Kevin Durant, two years removed from the GS/HOU rivalry.

Also interesting of note: the only time that MIL doubled was when a BKN player drove to the cup. Why is this an issue? Every time they did so, the driver dished out for an easy-peasy 3, primarily from Jeff Green. As much as Kevin's performance merits kudos, Jeff deserves praise as the unsung (anti)hero for BKN; he helped off of several of their actions and punished them all but once from the perimeter. Great performance, but likely unsustainable.

Can someone explain to me why Giannis Antetokounmpo, a former DPOY, did not guard Kevin Durant in the final five minutes of regulation? I don't understand this...does he not possess the lateral quickness to keep up with Kevin Durant?

Also, the most damning play of all that was not mentioned by the immediate posts before mine: a lazy turnaround fadeaway in the post by Giannis in the final two minutes being while being guarded by Harden, who is operating on one leg and cannot keep up with him. Textbook example of a 0 IQ play.
Harden being a non factor out there.
I don't necessarily agree with this. James Harden provided the role of being a secondary ball handler/distributor for the team, which the Nets had desperately needed in G3 and G4. He notched 8 assists. But again, if a MIL ball handler attacked Harden every play, he would have been butchered off the floor before Q1 ended.

I think the "non factor" in question was Joe Harris, as he is still a wrongly underrated piece of their team.


Also, apologies for not providing thoughts on the POR/DEN series in the first round. I did end up watching the condensed G6 two times (can't believe I did that to myself), but was too exhausted to provide insight into it.
 
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Just watched the condensed G5.

It is truly ludicrous what I have seen from Mike Budenholzer's team. A poor offensive scheme even in their wins from this series. In the case of Tuesday's game, they reverted back to the typical ISO ball that I expected.

MIL refuses to take advantage of the mismatches on the floor, or making note of hobbled players that somehow run north of 40 min on the floor. Why was Harden not being attacked/being switched onto more? Why didn't the Bucks force more doubles on KD in the second half, knowing full well that Harden hadn't made any impact as a (non)scorer to that point? The amount of times Brook Lopez is matched up with a PG/SG and picnics out at the perimeter is laughable, although his presence was a positive for G5. Still hilarious to see PJ Tucker matched up on Kevin Durant, two years removed from the GS/HOU rivalry.

Also interesting of note: the only time that MIL doubled was when a BKN player drove to the cup. Why is this an issue? Every time they did so, the driver dished out for an easy-peasy 3, primarily from Jeff Green. As much as Kevin's performance merits kudos, Jeff deserves praise as the unsung (anti)hero for BKN; he helped off of several of their actions and punished them all but once from the perimeter. Great performance, but likely unsustainable.

Can someone explain to me why Giannis Antetokounmpo, a former DPOY, did not guard Kevin Durant in the final five minutes of regulation? I don't understand this...does he not possess the lateral quickness to keep up with Kevin Durant?

Also, the most damning play of all that was not mentioned by the immediate posts before mine: a lazy turnaround fadeaway in the post by Giannis in the final two minutes being while being guarded by Harden, who is operating on one leg and cannot keep up with him. Textbook example of a 0 IQ play.

I don't necessarily agree with this. James Harden provided the role of being a secondary ball handler/distributor for the team, which the Nets had desperately needed in G3 and G4. He notched 8 assists. But again, if a MIL ball handler attacked Harden every play, he would have been butchered off the floor before Q1 ended.

I think the "non factor" in question was Joe Harris, as he is still a wrongly underrated piece of their team.


Also, apologies for not providing thoughts on the POR/DEN series in the first round. I did end up watching the condensed G6 two times (can't believe I did that to myself), but was too exhausted to provide insight into it.
Yeah you share a lot of the frustrations we all have. The one thing I'll comment on before heading to sleep (3rd shift) is that Pj Tucker has mostly done an excellent job defending and being physical with Durant. He has been the best option on him so far this series. BUT , yes...when KD is in a can't miss a shot mode for a whole half, adjustments need to be made. PJ can be there and stay with him better, ,but doesn't have the height to contest those shots like Giannis would be able to do. Lopez is there for help if he drives by, so I don't understand why you don't throw Giannis on him eventually. Series isn't over yet, but damn we needed that game. As a Bucks, Packers, and Brewers fan I'm used to post season frustration. Bucks in 7!
 
Coming into the playoffs as an unbiased fan (Dubs are out and the Hornets are my Eastern Confrence team) I really gotta say, injuries are becoming an epidemic in the playoffs this year. Already a slew of stars have missed playoff games, and then I wake up to the news that Kawaii might have an ACL injury and CP3 is in covid protocol (which isn't an injury but just adds to the pain). I dont even personally like either of those 2 players all that much, but the fact that they wont be out there on the floor is HUGE for both their teams and the playoffs as a whole.

tldr; These playoffs are weird, everybodys injured.

Edit: I do hope the Clippers lose this series though, so I can have my yearly "Clippers didn't make it past the second round" shots.
 
CP3 tested positive for covid and kawhi out with an acl injury. Winner is going to be whoever can field a starting five at this point.

anyway, got a kick out of this video
 
CP3 tested positive for covid and kawhi out with an acl injury. Winner is going to be whoever can field a starting five at this point.

anyway, got a kick out of this video


Good thing for CP3 it seems like the west series won't start til Tuesday so that gives him almost a week to recover
 
Some small credit to the league for trying to allow voters to get it right this year. Instead the MVP runner up ends up on the 2nd team and Tatum ends up losing out on $32M. Obviously some more changes are needed.
Yea Tatum and Mitchell were robbed (almost literally), and Booker probably deserved a spot as well
 
Well that was a proper game 7. I feel slightly bad for Durant (who insanely is still the best player in the world even after an Achilles tear) but am glad the Bucks advanced. My current preference rankings are:

1. Suns
2. Bucks

3. Hawks

4. Clippers
5. Sixers
Ryan The Office GIFs | Tenor
 
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