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Post by getclutch on Apr 10, 2024 23:28:36 GMT
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Apr 13, 2024 5:12:11 GMT
mans dropped 17 points in 3 minutes. hope this dude can have a healthy career. never seen anything like it in my 15 years of watching. seems to elevate his play too when going against the stars.
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dazed
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Apr 13, 2024 13:37:01 GMT
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ibbi likes this
Post by dazed on Apr 13, 2024 13:37:01 GMT
also these west standings are so nutty. every team has one game left to play on sunday and depending on how those games go, all the play in teams could reshuffle in their placement and the top three teams can all reshuffle in their placement too haha. also the top three teams play their games at the exact same time on sunday lol. this late in the season and the only west playoff matchup weβre sure about is clippers vs mavs.
holy shit i just looked into it too and the east has no set playoff matchups at all π all of the seedings other than celtics (LETS FUCKING GO) and hawks/bulls are set haha
the play in was such a great idea
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Post by ibbi on Apr 13, 2024 13:57:32 GMT
also these west standings are so nutty. every team has one game left to play on sunday and depending on how those games go, all the play in teams could reshuffle in their placement and the top three teams can all reshuffle in their placement too haha. also the top three teams play their games at the exact same time on sunday lol. this late in the season and the only west playoff matchup weβre sure about is clippers vs mavs. holy shit i just looked into it too and the east has no set playoff matchups at all π all of the seedings other than celtics (LETS FUCKING GO) and hawks/bulls are set haha the play in was such a great idea It's all so beautifully poised. I just don't want the teams I like to all end up playing each other The Sixers going unbeaten since Embiid came back and still not getting out of that 7 spot is crazy. Both the Bucks and Cavs slipping enough that the Knicks could snatch the 2 seed. Also crazy. Can't believe the Kings have collapsed so much we might not get that 9 vs. 10 Lakers v. Warriors match. Was looking forward to only having to see one of them once. Sunday is the kind of day the NBA could use their own version of Redzone...
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Post by getclutch on Apr 17, 2024 16:35:50 GMT
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Post by getclutch on Apr 17, 2024 19:40:36 GMT
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Post by ibbi on Apr 17, 2024 19:46:57 GMT
Just when it looked like we might get a playoffs with all(ish) of the major names.
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dazed
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Apr 18, 2024 13:37:17 GMT
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Post by dazed on Apr 18, 2024 13:37:17 GMT
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dazed
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Apr 18, 2024 13:43:17 GMT
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Post by dazed on Apr 18, 2024 13:43:17 GMT
shitty. as a celtics fan itβll make the first round matchup incredibly easier if they match up against the heat but you always want to beat a team at full strength. especially when thereβs animosity between both teams and theyβve knocked each other in the last three playoffs. i was looking forward to the revenge series with both teams at full strength.
hopefully itβs nothing too serious. same goes for zion. if both players didnβt get hurt in the play in games the play in could potentially have went a lot different. such is sports though.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 18, 2024 13:57:06 GMT
Even though my Bulls are benefitting from it, I do think there should be some hard limit on how close the 9-10 seeds need to be to activate the play-in. The East had a clear top 8 while the West had a legitimate bottleneck at 8-10. It's not entirely right that the Heat have to play 2 extra games despite clearing the Bulls by 7 games.
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Apr 20, 2024 16:22:31 GMT
predictions:
celtics in 5 bucks in 7 76ers in 7 cavs in 6
nuggets in 6 mavs in 6 wolves in 7 thunder in 5
could see a lot of these series going the other way though and wouldnβt be surprised if they did (how does embiid look, how does KAT look, how does giannis look if heβs back, etc). the only ones iβm confident in are celtics v heat and thunder v pelicans. i think nugs and celtics are the two top teams in the league and even though the nugs and lakers series last year was a sweep, the games were still pretty close. dloading is looking better and nugs are missing a couple bench pieces such as bruce brown. i think nugs should still pull it out but i think itβs going to be competitive.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 20, 2024 16:57:42 GMT
East:
Celtics in 4 - They're pissed off about last season and will take it out on the Butler-less Heat. Heat could maybe steal a game off some Spoelstra witchcraft, but I'm doubting it.
Bucks in 7 - This is a tough series. The Pacers won 4/5 during the regular season and their offensive firepower is just too much for the lowly Bucks defense (they got better down the stretch, but now Giannis is injured). Haliburton treats Dame like a turnstile. Still, I'll go with the Bucks because I think Dame will continue to play better as he has since the All-Star break (minus their season closer) and Giannis will be back into shape by the end of the series.
76ers in 6 - Embiid's advantage inside is just too overwhelming and as he continues to get back I expect him to take more high-percentage looks inside. Plus, it's hard to figure out who can be the reliable #2 option for the Knicks. Honestly I think if the 76ers play to full strength this should be over in 5 but I'll give a bit of credit to the Garden and the legit possibility of an Embiid stinker game somewhere in this series.
Cavs in 6 - Another tough series. I'm sticking with the Cavs just because I think the moment may be a bit too big for the Magic right now but there's no shame in that as they're ahead of schedule. If the Cavs get bounced this early, those Mitchell trade rumors will get scorching hot.
West:
Nuggets in 5 - The Nuggets are just the better team all-around. I don't expect Murray to have the series he did last year so I'll give the Lakers a game, but it's hard to see this Nuggets squad losing a series before at least the conference finals.
Mavs in 6 - Luka took the fight to the Kawhi/PG Clippers back when he was undermanned. Now he has a more solid supporting cast, the team has been rolling for weeks, and I'd say the over/under on games Kawhi plays in this series is around 3.5.
Suns in 7 - The Wolves are well-equipped to play physical on Durant which is the exact style he hates playing against, ANT has a chance to take a major leap, and Beal for all his time is a pretty unproven playoff performer. However, I'm saying that playoff Gobert and playoff KAT continue to lay eggs while Durant and Booker feast in the midrange.
Thunder in 4 - If Zion were in I think the Pelicans could push the series to 6, but without him I just think they are undermanned for a Thunder team that will be thriving off that incredible home crowd and get the Pelicans out of it early. Shai will score exactly 31 3/4 games somehow.
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Apr 23, 2024 4:42:10 GMT
what a shot. dude was ass for 3.5 quarters but made up for it in those last six minutes. gotta be such a heartbreaking loss for the lakers especially after being up by 20.
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Apr 23, 2024 4:53:42 GMT
also this was sick af to watch too
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Post by getclutch on Apr 23, 2024 22:06:17 GMT
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Apr 25, 2024 1:35:16 GMT
can never count out miamis black magic
itβs likely gonna be celtics v nuggets in the finals imo. i donβt see celtics beating nuggets in close games, so iβll go with nugs in 6.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 25, 2024 1:43:35 GMT
can never count out miamis black magic itβs likely gonna be celtics v nuggets in the finals imo. i donβt see celtics beating nuggets in close games, so iβll go with nugs in 6. My thoughts exactly. Nuggets just know exactly how to execute down the stretch and JokiΔ is at this point a flawless offensive engine.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 25, 2024 3:01:36 GMT
From my favorite NBA channel on YouTube, a great dissection into just how much on-ball pressure the Timberwolves are putting on the Suns. I originally took the Suns in 7 due to their scoring, but I think we're seeing that the lack of a great primary ballhandler and offensive motion is really playing into the Wolves' defensive scheme. This could become a quick series.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 28, 2024 22:51:25 GMT
Man, I really wanted the Mavericks to finish that comeback against the Clippers.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 29, 2024 4:59:32 GMT
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dazed
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Apr 29, 2024 5:22:13 GMT
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Post by dazed on Apr 29, 2024 5:22:13 GMT
such shitty luck. wonder if heβll be able to still coach somehow. canβt see him being on the sideline while injured/right after having surgery so probably not. only other option is to have him in the second row like they do with injured players. really tough break
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Post by ibbi on Apr 29, 2024 16:31:14 GMT
That Clippers/Mavs game was incredible. There's not been many overly exciting games in round 1 so far, but that was a fucking doozy.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 29, 2024 16:50:44 GMT
That Clippers/Mavs game was incredible. There's not been many overly exciting games in round 1 so far, but that was a fucking doozy. Idk, man, Knicks/Sixers and Nuggets/Lakers game 2s, Bucks/Pacers game 3. I've had a lot of fun with the playoffs so far.
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Post by ibbi on Apr 29, 2024 17:07:29 GMT
That Clippers/Mavs game was incredible. There's not been many overly exciting games in round 1 so far, but that was a fucking doozy. Idk, man, Knicks/Sixers and Nuggets/Lakers game 2s, Bucks/Pacers game 3. I've had a lot of fun with the playoffs so far. Yes, fair. I wanted the Sixers and Bucks to win, so I guess that's my problem
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Apr 29, 2024 17:45:14 GMT
KD is going to have one of the weirdest legacies in NBA history. An all-time great scorer pretty much by his 3rd year who provides a ton of length defensively that helped make the OKC Thunder a team to watch during their early years. Gets to the Finals young and loses handily to peak LeBron and then has a string of bad luck for the 3 seasons after - Westbrook gets hurt, Spurs' beautiful game, KD gets hurt. Throughout it, though, he wins an MVP and is widely seen as the 2nd best player in the game behind LeBron. 2015-16 they beat a legendarily great Spurs team (do people even remember they won 67 games and had a better net rating than the 73-win Warriors?) and are up 3-1 on the Warriors before he and Russ have a legendarily terrible chokejob.
He goes to the Warriors after they one-up him with their own chokejob and wins Finals MVP twice going directly toe-to-toe with LeBron. But of course, nobody puts a ton of respect on those rings because they were already an all-time great team before they got him (and even won later without him) and anytime KD is out, the team hums along without a hitch whereas they struggle to keep up whenever Steph (now a fringe all-time top 10 player) is out. He gets hurt in the 2019 playoffs and suffers a devastating Achilles tear when he tries to come back for the Finals, then hops along superteam to superteam with the Nets and the Suns all to disappointing results. With the Nets, he was literally within an inch of beating the eventual champ Bucks while leading a depleted squad but then the following year he and Kyrie get swept by the Celtics. Now with the Suns, he again takes the eventual champs (Nuggets this time) further than anyone else before the following year getting swept again this time by a Timberwolves team that while really good I don't think anyone is expecting to make a Finals run.
I just don't know how to look at him. If he didn't have the Warriors rings, I'd guess he'd be looked at like Barkley or Malone as one of the best never to win but still a level below those who accomplished that. With the rings, he's talked about like he's top 15-20 ever but both of those rings came on a legendarily stacked team and while he has the Finals MVPs, the fact Steph led those teams to titles before and after while KD has never sniffed a ring otherwise makes it hard to give him the bulk of the credit. Was KD the best player, or did he just get to feast on open looks and 1-on-1s while teams were chasing Steph around?
Of course, where KD fits in the all-time hierarchy is not the most important things since he's obviously a great and has won everything the sport really has to offer, but it is a thing I wonder about.
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