NBA 2016: This is what it sounds like when Dubs fly

[Relic]

2 hours ago, Jaime L said:

I think we should make the same bet as last year. 

Can you remind me what that was? I never seem to remember the wagers i lost =P 

[Jaime L]

11 minutes ago, Fez said:

Unless the Warriors win the title though, it won't matter nearly as much as the Bulls' record did/does. So there's still that.

I would take the Warriors over the field, but winning a title is hard and the Spurs are really, really good too.

538 only has the Warriors chances of winning a title at 43% (with the Spurs at 29%). Anecdotally I would assume the two would combine for at least a 90% chance. But just goes to show that winning a title is really hard even as a historically great team. 

Just now, Relic said:

Can you remind me what that was? I never seem to remember the wagers i lost =P 

Simple bet: Who goes further in the playoffs Spurs or Warriors. 

[Relic]

1 hour ago, Jaime L said:

Simple bet: Who goes further in the playoffs Spurs or Warriors. 

Man, i honestly don't know this year. I never like betting against Pop, but...I think the Warriors are riding an unstoppable wave this season

Now, if i had decent odds i might wager a very modest amount of money on the Clippers pulling an upset in the second round...

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

8 minutes ago, Relic said:

Man, i honestly don't know this year. I never like betting against Pop, but...I think the Warriors riding an unstoppable wave this season

Now, if i had decent odds i might wager a very modest amount of money on the Clippers pulling an upset in the second round...

It's beginning to sound like Boris Diaw's moobs will remain dry this post season.

[Relic]

1 hour ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

It's beginning to sound like Boris Diaw's moobs will remain dry this post season.

haha, yeah, i think that may be so. I wouldn't underestimate my own stupidity, however. Might make the bet anyway.

Side note - I got burned by the Knicks (what else is knew) by betting on them to go under the vegas line, at 31.5 wins. Fuckers won 32. So typical. 

[Maithanet]

8 minutes ago, Relic said:

Side note - I got burned by the Knicks (what else is knew) by betting on them to go under the vegas line, at 31.5 wins. Fuckers won 32. So typical. 

That sucks.  Although you mentioning it reminds me of the conversation we had about it, and I said that sometimes really poor teams can finish in the 32-34 win range.  Guess my predictions aren't always off?

[Relic]

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

That sucks.  Although you mentioning it reminds me of the conversation we had about it, and I said that sometimes really poor teams can finish in the 32-34 win range.  Guess my predictions aren't always off?

You were pretty spot on there. I loathe Jackson, and i hated the look of this team before the season started. Just a mess of a roster. Under estimated the early season Zingus effect, however. His dynamic play in the first three months cost me money. Fucker. (Just kidding Porzingus, now stay healthy and put on some muscle!) 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

That sucks.  Although you mentioning it reminds me of the conversation we had about it, and I said that sometimes really poor teams can finish in the 32-34 win range.  Guess my predictions aren't always off?

I guess that makes you only somewhat useless then. 

[Ramsay B.]

43 minutes ago, Relic said:

Side note - I got burned by the Knicks (what else is knew) by betting on them to go under the vegas line, at 31.5 wins. Fuckers won 32. So typical. 

I bet a Knicks fan a few bucks that they would go under too. They really faltered in the 2nd half but did just enough...and winning those home and away games a few weeks back vs Chicago didn't help.

[Maithanet]

27 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I guess that makes you only somewhat useless then. 

I'm better at predictions when it's someone else's money.

[Calibandar]

16 hours ago, Maithanet said:

I am probably going to get a month of SlingTV during the NBA playoffs, and the main reason is so I can watch Spurs vs Warriors.  I'll wait until at least the second round though, since none of the opening rounds are particularly interesting or even relevant.

 

I am having some trouble getting excited about these playoffs for the first time in years.

Dallas/Utah/ Houston/Memphis are pretty bad and they will get eliminated quickly.

The Clippers just aren't that great and I don't feel they are able to pull off a run like they did last year. Unless Griffin actually starts to come out of his shell.

OKC is not going to beat Spurs or Golden State, they've lost every big and crucial game this year. Not sure they're better than the Clippers either. Aside from that I generally find watching the Spurs a bit of a chore, so watching 6 or 7 games of them vs Golden State, man I just can't be too happy about such a prospect. Some people are eating this up because they are both so good at what they do, but watching the Spurs...

The East actually looks more solid. I don't believe the Cavs are going to cruise their way to the NBA finals at all, this could be tough for them. I especially like Atlanta or maybe even Miami as opponents they will struggle with. So the East could be interesting, even if the Cavs are very likely to win.

What I will like is a first round between the Trailblazers and the Clippers, that could be nice.

[Biter]

In 2015 two teams with losing records made the playoffs, but this season it seems likely that no team will qualify with a losing record (the eighth seed in the West will probably be at .500). Even if Utah doesn't make the playoffs, I'm impressed by their play this season.

[DireWolfSpirit]

I wont be surprised if the winner of the Celts/Heat series knocks Cleveland out. In the West I like San Antonio to get by the Golden State machine on the theory that they spent themselves too much chasing the glory of "73". Just my little upset wishes hehe.

[Red Tiger]

32 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I wont be surprised if the winner of the Celts/Heat series knocks Cleveland out. In the West I like San Antonio to get by the Golden State machine on the theory that they spent themselves too much chasing the glory of "73". Just my little upset wishes hehe.

Wanna make a sig or av bet? Cause no way in hell is this happening.

[Relic]

i LOVE watching the Spurs play. Prefer to watch them play over GS any day. To me, Golden State plays a type of basketball that I  almost no one else in the world can play, and relies "bad"  shots far too often to be what I'd consider "real", or relatable, basketball. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

4 minutes ago, Relic said:

i LOVE watching the Spurs play. Prefer to watch them play over GS any day. To me, Golden State plays a type of basketball (that almost no one else in the world can play), and relies bad shots far too often to be what I'd consider "real", or relatable, basketball. 

Agree with the first bit. I love watching smart basketball, and they are the smartest. Can't say I prefer them over the Warriors though. Just two very different styles. Disagree strongly about your summary of their style. They get more open looks than any team in the league. If you're referring to some of Curry's circus shots, once you hit the sort of percentages he does, you can't call them bad shots. You can say they aren't fundamentally sound, I suppose, but not bad.

[Relic]

9 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Agree with the first bit. I love watching smart basketball, and they are the smartest. Can't say I prefer them over the Warriors though. Just two very different styles. Disagree strongly about your summary of their style. They get more open looks than any team in the league. If you're referring to some of Curry's circus shots, once you hit the sort of percentages he does, you can't call them bad shots. You can say they aren't fundamentally sound, I suppose, but not bad.

I meant bad shots in the sense that for anyone else in the league, other than Curry, they are bad shots.  He's the best shooter I've ever seen,  maybe the best to ever play... and he bends the rules of basketball in a way that i, personally, dislike. I'm more of a pick and roll,  drive the basket and get rebounds kind of guy. Curry hitting 30 footers is fascinating, but it's not "good" basketball. I were a coach at a high school level I'd do whatever I could to dissuade my kids from attempting to emulate Curry. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

4 minutes ago, Relic said:

I meant bad shots in the sense that for anyone else in the league, other than Curry, they are bad shots.  He's the best shooter I've ever seen,  maybe the best to ever play... and he bends the rules of basketball in a way that i, personally, dislike. I'm more of a pick and roll,  drive the basket and get rebounds kind of guy. Curry hitting 30 footers is fascinating, but it's not "good" basketball. I were a coach at a high school level I'd do whatever I could to dissuade my kids from attempting to emulate Curry. 

Yeah, I hear you, he definitely plays by a different set of rules. That said the Curry/Green pick and roll is a thing of beauty. 

[Jaime L]

1 hour ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Agree with the first bit. I love watching smart basketball, and they are the smartest. Can't say I prefer them over the Warriors though. Just two very different styles. Disagree strongly about your summary of their style. They get more open looks than any team in the league. If you're referring to some of Curry's circus shots, once you hit the sort of percentages he does, you can't call them bad shots. You can say they aren't fundamentally sound, I suppose, but not bad.

Yeah I can't get enough of either. Both play variations of "the beautiful game" the Spurs mastered a couple years ago. Just near perfect understandings of how to break defenses with ball movement and spacing. The only difference is Steph Curry has a cheat code that allows him to do both by himself. In their last game we saw the latter in the 3rd quarter and the former in the 4th when Steph sat but the Warriors bench guys put on a clinic that sliced and diced the best defense in the league by miles. That's another thing I love - how both teams go 10 deep easy. And the versatility of some of these players - Moobs Diaw, Igoudala, Livingston all defy easy characterization and yet are critical pieces to what both teams do. 

But the Spurs counter with the ultimate defensive weapon, the ultimate tactician and smart players up and down the roster. I've watched most of their 4 games against each other and there's entire quarters (sometimes halves) where the Spurs are able to disrupt everything the Warriors do. There was one game where it somehow felt like there was two players running at Steph Curry at all times and yet no Warriors seemed open. But then adjustments get made and the floodgates burst open and then everything a Spurs defender does is wrong. I'm not fluent enough in the X's and O's to understand all of it - I'd love Zack Lowe to show me in depth - but it does feel like the best chess match in any sport right now. 

It's so hard watching Warriors-Spurs and then turning on a Wizards game to watch Randy Wittman facing off against that chicken again in Tic-Tac-Toe, hoping for revenge this time. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

10 hours ago, Red Tiger said:

Wanna make a sig or av bet? Cause no way in hell is this happening.

Having lived in Vegas for 5 yrs, I developed the habit of never betting on anything. I'm strictly a sports fan in the rooting for personal favorites sense. Consequently I'm always looking for upsets to root for, just love upsets, and I dont consider either a East or West upset an impossibility so we shall see.