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NBA - Bring on the Playoffs


Relic

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OK, fine by me. You win if Spurs win the West, I win otherwise. Deal?

ST

Hmmmm....if i win you change your title for 6 weeks, if you win i change it for a month. seem fair?

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Jabronius





As for the Raps, they played a pretty shitty game against Miami (I know it was Miami, but they can do better). The silver lining is that the Pacers are now in 2nd place, and if that holds, and the Raps take care of business in round 1, I think they have an outside shot of winning a series v Indiana. Even if it's a miniscule shot, it's there so let me believe damn it




Well I'm starting to believe it a bit now that I have seen a couple of very, very bad Pacers game.


Games in which they were not half trying, but still soundly beaten. Like the Cavs on Monday, without Iriving even.



They are in a bad position right now, but most people do expect the Pacers to regroup and be a powerful team again. But they are awful to watch right now. I do like how Hibbert has been so open about how the group has splintered.



Sir Thursday:





Yes. OKC and Houston both match up well against them, and they'll probably have to play both. Lest ye forget, two years ago the Spurs had won 20 in a row before being dumped out by OKC, and last year the Heat were 42-3 before being taken to 7 games by the Pacers. Good teams often go on win-streaks late in the year because so many teams end up in 'don't-really-care-because-we're-out-of-playoff-contention-and-our-front-office-would-really-like-it-if-we-lost-a-few-games' mode. For sure there are some impressive wins in the Spurs' streak, but I don't take it as a particularly strong indicator that they're going to the Finals and if forced to bet on the outcome I would take the field over the Spurs.





I still think OKC can beat the Spurs. Like Trisk says, I am not sold on the OKC roster as a whole, but they do match up well with San Antonio and are just a sort of antidote for that team. Whether or not they still are remains to be seen, but Durant is better than ever. I would bet on OKC if that were the conference final.



Houston, Clippers, Portland, Golden State, all of these teams will get sacked by San Antonio, I'm sure. The Grizzlies would be probably be swept again as well. On the other hand, Houston, Clippers and Golden State all have a very good chance against OKC, better than against Spurs, so the question for me is if OKC will get to the final.


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Spurs-Thunder on thursday on TNT. Top 2 in west going at it. Spurs potentially going for 20th straight win against a team that they haven´t beat this season. Great game...except gotta love NBA scheduling again.



Spurs are on b2b after playing the Warriors tonight and 5th game in 7 nights overall while Thunder last played against Utah on Sunday. Anyone expect Spurs to have a full squad? Anyone?


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It's a little sad when it is possible a playoff team in the East (Atlanta) will have more losses than a playoff team in the West (Phoenix) has wins.

Ever since Adam Silver said he'd be open to considering a change in the playoff format, I've been hearing more and more rumblings about how the NBA needs to scrap the conference-based playoffs and move to a seeding format covering the entire league. The best teams deserve the opportunity to play in the postseason, and seemingly every year we have this situation where some shitty East team gets sacrificed to the Heat while a quality West team or two is left out.

And no, my opinion has nothing to do with the fact that my team is fighting for an 8 seed. :P

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Hmmmm....if i win you change your title for 6 weeks, if you win i change it for a month. seem fair?

Seems fair given the odds. I accept!

Sir Thursday:

I still think OKC can beat the Spurs. Like Trisk says, I am not sold on the OKC roster as a whole, but they do match up well with San Antonio and are just a sort of antidote for that team. Whether or not they still are remains to be seen, but Durant is better than ever. I would bet on OKC if that were the conference final.

Houston, Clippers, Portland, Golden State, all of these teams will get sacked by San Antonio, I'm sure. The Grizzlies would be probably be swept again as well. On the other hand, Houston, Clippers and Golden State all have a very good chance against OKC, better than against Spurs, so the question for me is if OKC will get to the final.

The way I've come to see the Spurs (and I'm thinking maybe I should go and find some stats to confirm/deny this) is that their offence is so consistent that they can produce points regardless of the quality of the opposing defence. It doesn't really matter who you put in front of them, they'll be able to pick it apart. This is an admirable quality, but it does mean that they are more effective against good defensive teams with so-so offences (where their strength negates the best characteristics of their opponents) than against good offensive teams with so-so defences. I'm sort of backing this up by harking back to last year's playoffs. The Spurs really struggled against an offensively talented Warriors team but swept the floor with the defensively focused Grizzlies. And unlike the rest of the teams in the West (for whom Memphis are probably the lower seed that teams least want to play), I have complete faith that they could take care of business against the Grizz if they were paired up against them this year too.

As it happens though, there are plenty of good offensive teams floating around in the Western conference - the Thunder*, Clippers, Rockets and Blazers (like the Spurs themselves) are all top 10 offensive teams. Their records against these teams are 0-3, 2-1, 0-3 and 2-2 respectively, with one game left against both OKC and Houston to try to break their duck. I appreciate that reading into the Spurs' performances during the regular season is difficult because of Popovich's penchant for experimentation, but nevertheless it does feel like some of these other teams are in with a shot. As a Rockets fan, I'd certainly much rather be matched up against the Spurs than the Thunder, that's for sure.

ST

*I would argue what separates OKC from the others there (beyond the ridiculousness of Kevin Durant) is that defensively they are a cut above, but their offence is good enough to put them in this group.

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By the way (sorry for the double-post), did anyone else watch Golden State-Dallas last night? What an amazing game - both teams were making incredible plays all the way down the stretch. I said in the last thread that I thought Dallas was an underratedly fun team to watch, and this was a great example. Both teams contributed to making it one of the best finishes I've seen this year. Worth a look if you missed it and have League Pass.



ST


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I am a Rockets fan and hope they can survive a round or two but it looks like they may have a tough first round, and an injured Dwight Howard.

Howard is not expected to be out for the playoffs though, so that's not a real concern at this point.

The first round will be tough for everyone in the West except the no.1 seed.

In other news, the Knicks have snagged the no. 8 spot from Atlanta. I didn't think they could still do it, but their run has been good enough lately to catch up. Probably for the best, the Knicks can at least give an Indiana or Miami side a couple of entertaining, wild games if they're feeling it.

The Hawks without Al Horford would get swept anyway.

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Kevin Garnett might actually log a few minutes for them, that would be a sight.
It seems there's no other player in the nba right now ( or that I can think of anyway) who's been as much preserved for the playoffs as Garnett.

I wonder if they will do another season with him by the way, or end it after this year. Pierce on the other hand still looks spry and fit, but he's a few years younger.

If the Knicks actually qualify, I also like them in a series against Indiana. But that looks doubtful now because Miami will probably hold that no.1 spot.

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How pathetic is it that the Knicks could conceivably beat the Pacers in a seven game series yet struggle to get the 8th seed in the shittiest conference in NBA history? Only in New York. I wish I were a Celsius fan ;/

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Spurs beaten by OKC once again. 4-0 for OKC this season. They've got to be the only team in the NBA who have a handle on Pop.



Durant is now one game away from Michael Jordan's 1987 record of 40 games in a row where he scored 25 points or more.



27 points for Russ as well, nice.



Clippers lose at home against Dallas and that puts them at no.3 at best.

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