2017 NBA Season Thread

[GUCCI CONDOMS]

Rockets did their thing. Hope sixers keep winning just so we get more Embiid. His comments after the game were gtfo with that scary terry shit. Only scary terry is on rick and morty

I'm not crazy about what I'm seeing out of Harden so far these playoffs. He damn sure isn't playing like the league MVP...

[alpha]

How many teams play elite defense? Maybe 5,8? The Jazz are elite. T wolves were solid with Butler. He feasted in the regular season on shit teams. With that said I think he ends up playing pretty well in the WCF

[alpha]

should be both good series. Celtics just get it done. Wouldn’t be surprised if they make the finals

[Reason]

I called it a Rockets/Cavs finals. I'm going to stick to it.

However, Brad Stevens is the best coach in the league. He will make this Cavs series extremely difficult for the Cavs as a whole. He may just put the C's in position to win it. He's starting a small lineup with Marcus Morris instead of Baynes to match up with Lebron. This will also make it difficult for K-Love and Korver to get open looks as the C's, like the Rockets, switch everything, and Tatum/Horford/Brown are switch monsters. They can also counter K-Love post-ups by putting Horford on him down low so K-Love won't get mismatch post-ups like he did against the Raptors.

Lebron will literally have to play an MJ-like series which he's been doing all playoffs so it's doable. But recent events make me think the C's got this.

But yea ego and conviction and blah blah so Rockets/Cavs is the prediction I'm going to have to stick with.

Brad Stevens is the only coach, btw, that Popovich has openly admitted to stealing ideas from.

[capable_keL]

Curry played like a dope for a lot of that game, and they still ran them out of the gym most of the night. Harden cannot win it all playing the way he does. 23.9 seconds of dribbling allows GS to flat out rest when nobody moves without the ball. No wonder he wears velcro on his shoulder. It's probably about to fall off from pushing a ball at the floor and illegally carrying it, constantly. The key to beating GS is making them actually play defense. Movement. Big men that can switch, etc. Frustrate them and get calls, most importantly. You don't need to be as good at their game as they are. You need to be good at YOUR game and tire them out and be physical. Harden is gonna post MVP stats in the series, but 4-0 will make everyone forget that quickly.

[alpha]

I agree with most of that. Except, the Warriors thrive on playing D. It’s whats gets them going as a team. A team like Boston is who gives them fits. Hopefully this is the start of a few years of Celtics and Dubs

[unclebengi]

Bron definitely going to the Rockets. And they'll just lose to the Warriors again.

If I were the Celts I'd flip Kyrie and Hayward for even more future picks and build around Rozier, Tatum, Brown. Rozier probably the most underrated player in the league right now.

[Blockhead]

Well I guess that's what happens when the Rockets sidekicks hit their shots. After that first game, i thought they might get swept but they DRUBBED the warriors there. Won't happen again though. Warriors in 5.

[capable_keL]

Was a classic Golden State DGAF game. Steve Kerr after the 7 first quarter TO's was like, "that's what we do after we win a game, we turn the ball over."

I've seen some speculation on the twitter that Curry might not be all that healthy. Cleveland/Lebron would have to kick themselves if Curry goes down the year after they trade Kyrie for parts and could have had a shot at another title if they could have made nice.

[alpha]

WHOs listening to the ringer nba pods? Or anything else nba podcast related?

[capable_keL]

who is tracking the draft? this is the first time in years I have passive interest: lottery picks seem pretty set outside of any curveballs being considered: ayton, doncic, bagley, young, bamba, jackson, porter, carter jr, sexton, bridges one and two, knox, gilgeous-alexander and williams. (maybe zhaire smith displaces one of the latter).

[eternalreflection]

Was a classic Golden State DGAF game. Steve Kerr after the 7 first quarter TO's was like, "that's what we do after we win a game, we turn the ball over."

I've seen some speculation on the twitter that Curry might not be all that healthy. Cleveland/Lebron would have to kick themselves if Curry goes down the year after they trade Kyrie for parts and could have had a shot at another title if they could have made nice.

Well Kyrie is hurt again so that probably didn't change much, trading him for a broken 5'7" pg that doesn't play defense though

[alpha]

who is tracking the draft? this is the first time in years I have passive interest: lottery picks seem pretty set outside of any curveballs being considered: ayton, doncic, bagley, young, bamba, jackson, porter, carter jr, sexton, bridges one and two, knox, gilgeous-alexander and williams. (maybe zhaire smith displaces one of the latter).

ive been keeping up. Ayton is a beast, id comp
Him as more of a towns type. Doncic is the hype and it may be real. Who the Cavs Get and who the sixers end up with intrigued me. There will be a bonehead pick somewhere in the lottery. My bet is the kings, because they’re the kings. I think Trae young will be awesome if the team is the Cavs and not the magic

[alpha]

Also the warriors got abused at first in the 1st q but then the defense showed up. That’s what makes them a great team

[alpha]

Even a 41 point win still has me uneasy. Rockets are fully capable of winning the series but they just fucked a way tons of this game. Dubs played great defense but Rockets helped themselves zero percent in this game

[eternalreflection]

Hope Paul is ok, but he's obviously not and GS gets insanely lucky in the playoffs again with opponent's health.

[alpha]

Iggy missing the last two games is huge. Not like the rockets didn’t catch a break there

[eternalreflection]

Golden State tried very hard to lose that game, but 27 missed 3s in a row, solid 15 of them were wide open too is just insane.

The finals are going to be boring. It would be fun to see it if Curry was out, I really think Lebron would soulcrush Durant but the talent gap between the rosters is just way too high.

[Philaflava]

I think I have to root for the Cavs in this one, but it's the worst supporting squad I've ever seen in the finals.

[capable_keL]

live by the sword, die by it. i'm glad houston finally fell apart playing their own game. but... too much emphasis on how invincible the warriors are. that was a series final last night - and the odds of the rockets going 0 for 27 in that stretch are astronomically slim. that game 7 game gets played on any other night, and the rockets hit only 4 of those 27 and it's an entirely different ballgame.

[alpha]

You have to root for the Dubs. This is the Bulls of this era. No? They’ll win at least 1-2 more after this one. Enjoy greatness don’t hate.

[eternalreflection]

Well Lebron is the greatest player of the generation and if he pulls this series off he should lock up #1 so we could enjoy that instead.

[TheBigSleep]

...and the odds of the Rockets going 0 for 27 in that stretch are astronomically slim.

~ 1 in 72,000

Source: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/th ... -in-72000/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[djjeffresh]

[alpha]

Well Lebron is the greatest player of the generation and if he pulls this series off he should lock up #1 so we could enjoy that instead.

I can imagine myself having a three some with the Jenner sisters but that’s about as likely as the Cavs winning the series.

[Kid That's Lifeless]

Hey guys.

Dubs in 5.

[eternalreflection]

Fucking JR Smith man, if Cleveland won that, they'd have a real shot to get up 2-1 but christ to throw away a shot to win when you are 10/1 underdogs.

Also holy fuck how rigged was the Charging call overturn.

[an-also]

What a disaster. I’ve never said this: I feel bad for Lebron James.

And why are the refs allowed to change judgement calls?

[alpha]

Lmao are you guys blind? His feet weren’t set.

[djjeffresh]

tough call on the charge, i'm ok with it going either way on that one. looked like a definite charge in real time, not so much with slo-mo replay.