2018 NBA Playoffs

[BPo001]

Why did the Pacers just run a pick n roll allowing Lebron to switch to be the on ball defender? Olidipio thinks he has a layup and Lebron takes it to the backboard for the block. Just dumb.

Edit: And he hits the game winner at the buzzer.

[tap2390]

MJ, Lebron, and Wilt and the three greatest to ever do it.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I don't think I've ever wished physical harm on a player, but I'd be ok if Harden accidentally fell into well somewhere. Just on accident though.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

I don't think I've ever wished physical harm on a player, but I'd be ok if Harden accidentally fell into well somewhere. Just on accident though.

I won't wish he tears an acl or anything but I damn sure wish someone got their money's worth on those flopping fouls of his. We know he's gonna do it, I'd sure love it if someone showed their distaste for his antics by committing a nice hard playoff foul. I mean it's sure fun for him shooting 10-12 free throws a game and taking almost no contact at all. How much fun would it be when he's actually sore handing out those bills at the strip club from some real fouls?

But no, everyone in the NBA is friends now. And they all hug it out and hold hands after wins and losses alike. -vomit-

[Harpospoke]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Why are you comparing a rebuilding team to a team in its prime?

Rockets are as good as they've been-- maybe ever. At least the best regular season team we've seen from them.

Mavs are in year one of what is hopefully only a 2-3 year rebuild. Not even worth comparing. With the right moves and a good pick I could see us anywhere from later lottery to 5-8 seed, but definitely not looking to make it even out of the first round

Well sure. But the Mavs seem so far away now. Things really have to fall right for them starting with that stupid ping pong ball. (yeah right...as if the Mavs would get lucky...they aren't the Spurs)

Originally Posted by spreedom

Westbrook is a lot of fun to watch, and I think he deserved the MVP award last season, but he's either the worst great player ever or the greatest bad player ever.

He reminds me of Barkley. Great talent but not so smart.

I feel the same way about his MVP as I did when Barkley won it. As if they were more valuable than Lebron and MJ respectively.

But if the triple double thing meant he deserved it last year then he should win it again this year. He did it again. But I guess the writers are bored with it this year. (exposing the fraud in the voting) This year it's about who is "due" (Harden).

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

I'd be borderline shocked if he went to Houston. They would have to gut their team and lose some key role players who are spot up shooters and defenders for yet another ball handler. And I'm still not convinced he leaves the East, he's had a red carpet to the finals for a decade in the East, why in the world would he want to go to the brutal gauntlet that is the West? The only west team I can see him entertaining is LA, simply because if he succeeds at bringing LA back from the dead he's immortalized even further.

I would ask the opposite question. Why would Lebron want to stay with an inferior team just to lose in the Finals? That doesn't make any sense.

And frankly, I scoff at the idea that the West is a "brutal gauntlet". The Warriors have barely broken a sweat on their way to the Finals the past few years. The OKC series was the only time they had to work hard. The Cavs swept teams on the way to the Finals an "the East is weak"...the Warriors do the same thing and "the West is tough".

Originally Posted by Underdog

Yeah, I don't think a mid-30s LeBron is even gonna make a dent in the all-time list of players who donned a Lakers uniform (Kareem, Magic, Kobe, Shaq, West, all in their primes), especially if he's battling GSW and HOU to even make a Finals appearance... Or he can join Houston, but given the MVP votes over the past couple years you could make a pretty strong argument that he'd be 1B to Harden's 1A... Dude needs to stay in the East or else his legacy is pretty much wrapped up.

Agree about the Lakers. Crazy legacy there.

But there is no way anyone would consider Lebron 1B on any team. I mean...just compare Harden and Lebron in this playoffs. It's not really close.

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Wade eliminated is always a good day.

Darn right! I like that he's keeping up his record of going out in the 1st round without Shaq or Lebron.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by Harpospoke

And frankly, I scoff at the idea that the West is a "brutal gauntlet". The Warriors have barely broken a sweat on their way to the Finals the past few years. The OKC series was the only time they had to work hard. The Cavs swept teams on the way to the Finals an "the East is weak"...the Warriors do the same thing and "the West is tough".

The West has won the h2h matchups 18 of the last 19 years. And honestly it's only getting worse because literally all the talent in the NBA keeps coming to the West while teams in the East basically are on standby till Lebron stops playing or whatever it is they are doing.

So because the Warriors have 2 mvp candidates and 2 of the maybe 3-5 best players on the planet and 2 other players who at worst are all stars and at best are all nba or very near all nba players and therefore don't have a lot of competition that means the conference is overrated?

The talent of the West outweighs the East by so much it's a joke. Just name the top 5 players in the East vs the West. Hell just look at the All NBA team's recently...

http://official.nba.com/wp-content/u...Team-Votes.pdf

4 of the 5 on the first team are in the West, the other is Lebron. So if he came to the West then what? Seriously...

4 of the 5 on the 2nd team are in the West. One of them is IT so you could just leave him off entirely since his injury killed him. Still though only 1 player in the East makes the 2nd team.

3 of the 5 on the 3rd team are in the West. Jimmy butler is in the West now.... So that brings the total to 4 of the 15 all nba players being in the East and the best one people think is going to come to the West? The next 5 highest votes were all West btw(KAT, CP3, Gasol, Cousins, PG13) and of the 14 others who received votes only 5 of 14 were in the East.

So according to last years all nba team's the East has 4 of the top 15 players and 9 of the top 29 players one of them being Lebron who should apparently see the West as "no sweat"?

[Bryan_Wilson]

Glad Okc lost. If that was Harden shooting that shot at the end though and not PG13 100% they call a foul. Good riddance though, RWB is so hard to watch. 43 FGA? PG13 5 points in an elimination game? Melo... looks beyond done. God what ugly basketball that was.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Glad Okc lost. If that was Harden shooting that shot at the end though and not PG13 100% they call a foul. Good riddance though, RWB is so hard to watch. 43 FGA? PG13 5 points in an elimination game? Melo... looks beyond done. God what ugly basketball that was.

They shoulda traded Westbrook ages ago when they still had the chance. Now there is almost no way to recover from losing Harden, Oladipo, and Durant.

[dirt_dobber]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Glad Okc lost. If that was Harden shooting that shot at the end though and not PG13 100% they call a foul. Good riddance though, RWB is so hard to watch. 43 FGA? PG13 5 points in an elimination game? Melo... looks beyond done. God what ugly basketball that was.

OMG - seriously had to go look at the box score 43 FGA by Russ + PG with 5 pts = choke!

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Man did scouts take a dump when considering D. Mitchell. Amazing that the team really is just him and Gobert.

[j0Shi]

Boy I'm happy with DSJ, but Donovan effing Mitchell...

Also lol at the Thunder. Westbrook scoring 150 in 250 shots is exactly why this team can't get anywhere.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Mitchell looks like that guy who was overlooked for sure from this last draft. Maybe Bridges is that guy in this next one.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Mitchell looks like that guy who was overlooked for sure from this last draft. Maybe Bridges is that guy in this next one.

Bridges and Bamba are my two, but someone else will come up. Maybe Young?

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Mitchell looks like that guy who was overlooked for sure from this last draft. Maybe Bridges is that guy in this next one.

Bridges is already ranked high enough not to be "overlooked"... I'd say guys like Shake Milton, Mitchell Robinson, and Keita Bates-Diop are most likely to far-outperform their rank.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Bridges is already ranked high enough not to be "overlooked"... I'd say guys like Shake Milton, Mitchell Robinson, and Keita Bates-Diop are most likely to far-outperform their rank.

True. There is still plenty of time though. What if guys like Smith and Williams or others shoot up the draft boards from combines. If Bridges falls from the current 7-9 area to yhe 9-12 area then that would be the same range as Mitchell.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Bridges and Bamba are my two, but someone else will come up. Maybe Young?

Has anyone shot up the boards more than Brunson now that I think about it? Wasn't he a mid 2nd earlier this year? Now he's in spitting distance of the tail end of tho lotto. Mitchell was a meteoric rise after the combine and workouts. I guess we will see the name that comes up around then.

[dirt_dobber]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Glad Okc lost. If that was Harden shooting that shot at the end though and not PG13 100% they call a foul. Good riddance though, RWB is so hard to watch. 43 FGA? PG13 5 points in an elimination game? Melo... looks beyond done. God what ugly basketball that was.

AND it is going to get much uglier in OKC
Melo has a $28 million player option. No way he opts out of that one. And here is a quote from today:
"Melo asked about possibly coming off the bench: "I'm not sacrificing no bench role. So that's out of the question."

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by dirt_dobber

AND it is going to get much uglier in OKC
Melo has a $28 million player option. No way he opts out of that one. And here is a quote from today:
"Melo asked about possibly coming off the bench: "I'm not sacrificing no bench role. So that's out of the question."

[tap2390]

Melo is a total POS... always has been. If I’m the Thunder I tell him if he doesn’t want to come off the bench he needs to decline his option. Grow a pair and stop catering to these fucking scrubs just because they still got a little swag from back when they didn’t suck (which quite honestly I don’t know when that was for Melo).

[BPo001]

Originally Posted by dirt_dobber

AND it is going to get much uglier in OKC
Melo has a $28 million player option. No way he opts out of that one. And here is a quote from today:
"Melo asked about possibly coming off the bench: "I'm not sacrificing no bench role. So that's out of the question."

Haha what a bitch. Dude is washed up and can't accept a bench role.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Poor Pelicans...

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Poor Pelicans...

And here comes Steph

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by tap2390

Melo is a total POS... always has been. If I’m the Thunder I tell him if he doesn’t want to come off the bench he needs to decline his option. Grow a pair and stop catering to these fucking scrubs just because they still got a little swag from back when they didn’t suck (which quite honestly I don’t know when that was for Melo).

I would just waive him after he opted in. He is garbage...too bad the Thunder have to pretend all is fine after George bolted, so they keep Melo.

[Underdog]

OKC made their bed, now they have to sleep in it.

[BPo001]

C'mon, Pacers!

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Always thought Nate Mcmillan was underrated as a coach. He has earned his keep in this series win or lose.

[j0Shi]

That Cavs team reminds me a bit of our '11 Mavs. It's one superstar in his prime and a bunch of role players. The only difference is that the Cavs won't win the title.

[sefant77]

Winning the lottery and picking Ayton. Jerry offering Lebron a small stake in the Cowboys. Lebron signing with the Mavs.

DSJ/Wes/Barnes/James/Ayton

Dirk/Barea/Curry/Powell off the bench

[hayth.james.g]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Winning the lottery and picking Ayton. Jerry offering Lebron a small stake in the Cowboys. Lebron signing with the Mavs.

DSJ/Wes/Barnes/James/Ayton

Dirk/Barea/Curry/Powell off the bench

Lol! Sounds legit.

If we land #1, I would love to see what the trade down options look like. As long as we maintain a top 5 pick, I'm in. After that I'm less comfortable with the talent fall off.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

As good as he is, Mitchell still can't shoot. He can score and make jump shots erratically, but he doesn't have a good shot.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

As good as he is, Mitchell still can't shoot. He can score and make jump shots erratically, but he doesn't have a good shot.

If he can add a mid/long game to his repertoire, they are going to be scary good. If he can't, they will stay mediocre

[tap2390]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

If he can add a mid/long game to his repertoire, they are going to be scary good. If he can't, they will stay mediocre

Not necessarily. Wade has shot 28.7% from three for his career. He made his living driving the ball (and of course drawing fouls). Mitchell doesn't need to be an elite shooter for the Jazz to build around him in a way that makes them a perennial contender.

[tap2390]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgq-jiyBxrV/

Oladipo gonna be a beast next season, I’m calling it. How many stars is OKC going to let slip through their fingers? Magic also take a huge L for giving up on Oladipo.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Mitchell is alrdy pretty efficient for a rookie. At least according to TS%. He's ahead of wade's rookie season and a year younger. He seems like a guy who will improve his 3 also, seeing as he take so many of them. Wade for his career was below 2 attempts a game. Mitchell shot 7 a game this year. He shot 210 more 3p's than DSJ did. But I agree with EL, the game has changed to where if he doesn't improve his jump shot they won't do much more than be a 4-5 seed. Maybe if they had an all star stretch 4 it wouldn't matter though. I like Favors but imo it's not a perfect fit next to Gobert.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by tap2390

Not necessarily. Wade has shot 28.7% from three for his career. He made his living driving the ball (and of course drawing fouls). Mitchell doesn't need to be an elite shooter for the Jazz to build around him in a way that makes them a perennial contender.

Wade had refs. God help us if Mitchell gets refs

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

If he can add a mid/long game to his repertoire, they are going to be scary good. If he can't, they will stay mediocre

I wouldn't call the Jazz mediocre. I think they're just scratching the surface... I think they could have pushed for 60 wins this year if Gobert hadn't missed so much time. Mitchell definitely needs to improve as a three-point shooter, but I expect he and Gobert to be among the elite duos in the league for the next decade.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I remember liking Rozier when he was drafted. Just goes to show that many of these young guys can shine if just given the minutes.

[Scoobay]

Fultz a healthy DNP? man what would the sixers look like with Tatum or DSJ or Mitchell?

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by Scoobay

Fultz a healthy DNP? man what would the sixers look like with Tatum or DSJ or Mitchell?

[Underdog]

Ayton, Doncic, Bagley, Jackson, Bamba -- one of these guys is going to be the next Fultz... I didn't include MPJ because he's already a known risk, but at least one of the guys I just mentioned is going to be a flat-out bust. That's just how it works.

Had had DSJ ranked over Fultz leading up to the draft, glad things turned out the way they did!