NBA Playoffs 2015: No headband edition

[James Arryn]

This could get hilarious.

[Ramsay B.]

Awful call.

[James Arryn]

Lol, Paul's a fucking genius.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Warriors/Rockets WCF. So weird to see this, but so refreshing to see new blood.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Well the Clips really mailed it in for the past 1.5 games. They deserve exactly what they got.

As for the CFs, I'll take the predictable teams: Warriors in 6, and Cavs in 5. Rockets-Warriors should be very exciting though.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Not giving the 1 seed with homecourt any chance at all? Yikes.

[Guest]

Cavs v. Warriors is hard to resist, and Cavs. v. Rockets wouldn't be bad either. Nothing against Atlanta's team other than they just don't bring the drama that James brings to the finals.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I wonder if GM Doc is thinking about firing Coach Doc.

[Sir Thursday]

Cavs v. Warriors is hard to resist, and Cavs. v. Rockets wouldn't be bad either. Nothing against Atlanta's team other than they just don't bring the drama that James brings to the finals.

I wonder if we'll get a repeat of 2009 when the Kobe vs LeBron finals was hyped to 11 and then LeBron got knocked out at the ECF by the Magic, ruining the hopes and dreams of a thousand marketers. Could see something similar here, although I guess Curry vs LeBron isn't quite such a marquee matchup as peak-ish Kobe was.

ST

[SkynJay]

I wonder if we'll get a repeat of 2009 when the Kobe vs LeBron finals was hyped to 11 and then LeBron got knocked out at the ECF by the Magic, ruining the hopes and dreams of a thousand marketers. Could see something similar here, although I guess Curry vs LeBron isn't quite such a marquee matchup as peak-ish Kobe was.

ST

Oh god, the puppet commercials. The memory burns!

[David Selig]

This is what happens when you let an overrated chucker like Crawford run your offense like half the game and take horrible shot after horrible shot even though you have Chris Paul on the court. Doc is such an overrated coach.

[Maithanet]

I was expecting to make a post about how Clips-Warriors was the real Finals, and the East was irrelevant. I still think the East is irrelevant, but I have no faith in the Rockets either. Maybe I'm wrong, but on paper this looks like a horrible matchup for Houston. Green and Iguadala can split time giving Harden fits, and Beverly is out, so the Rockets don't have a good matchup for either Thompson or Curry. Which leaves...Howard and Josh Smith leading the Rockets to victory? I just don't see it.

So...congrats to the World Champion Golden State Warriors. Great job guys.

And the Wizards lost, I would be remiss not to discuss that a little. Overall, once the heartbreak of games 5 and 6 wears off, it was still a pretty good run. Dominating Toronto was fun, and we gave Atlanta all they could handle. Wall and Beal are legit postseason players, ready to embrace the moment. Otto Porter suddenly looked like a legit #3 pick kinda guy - playing great defense, making clutch rebounds and 3s and generally being a nuisance for the opponent. That's really great going forward. Having Pierce was a lot of fun, even if he is running out of gas.

In stark contrast to last year, Nene was nothing special this postseason. He made a couple of plays, but on the whole he was a liability on both ends of the floor. Gortat was also a disappointment, looking unathletic against smaller, quicker big men. Nene is only under contract for one more year, but Gortat is going to be a Wizard for a while (and he is getting paid like a star), so hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. A lot of people worried about the five year deal the Wiz signed him to last offseason, and if this is a sign of things to come, that could turn out to be a disaster.

Overall, this team has three young, rising players in Wall, Beal and Porter. But good as those three are, I don't think it's ever going to be enough to win a championship without more help. But we legitimately might be one player away from a championship team. (Psst looking at you here Durant).

[sperry]

Really sucks that that buffoon from the Celtics knocked Love out. Cavs-Warriors would have been one of the better finals matchups we've had in a while.

[Jaime L]

.And the Wizards lost, I would be remiss not to discuss that a little. Overall, once the heartbreak of games 5 and 6 wears off, it was still a pretty good run. Dominating Toronto was fun, and we gave Atlanta all they could handle. Wall and Beal are legit postseason players, ready to embrace the moment. Otto Porter suddenly looked like a legit #3 pick kinda guy - playing great defense, making clutch rebounds and 3s and generally being a nuisance for the opponent. That's really great going forward. Having Pierce was a lot of fun, even if he is running out of gas.

In stark contrast to last year, Nene was nothing special this postseason. He made a couple of plays, but on the whole he was a liability on both ends of the floor. Gortat was also a disappointment, looking unathletic against smaller, quicker big men. Nene is only under contract for one more year, but Gortat is going to be a Wizard for a while (and he is getting paid like a star), so hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. A lot of people worried about the five year deal the Wiz signed him to last offseason, and if this is a sign of things to come, that could turn out to be a disaster.

Overall, this team has three young, rising players in Wall, Beal and Porter. But good as those three are, I don't think it's ever going to be enough to win a championship without more help. But we are legitimately might be one player away from a championship team. (Psst looking at you here Durant).

Nene killed us in this series. Only had one game where he really showed up. But when Gortat came down with food poisoning before game 6 (I told him to stay away from the Pierogis!), they really needed Nene to step up and carry the load. Instead he played like shit and on top of that missed two critical free throws late in the fourth quarter. If they get anything at all from their big men, they force a game 7. Just add it to the landfill of missed opportunities in the series.

And the end result is, at best, they took a half step from where they finished up 2014. They once again lost in 6 to a vulnerable #1 seed. The half stept to me though is they had the Hawks on the ropes all series and Wall and Beal both looked both ready for the moment as playoff neophytes no more and like the two best players on the floor all series. And the way they handled adversity between injuries and cheap shots and death, you really can't ask for any more heart from two young guys. Also got to see what kind of phenomenal teammate John Wall is even when he's not affecting the outcome.

Outside of the splash brothers, name me two players that any established star would want to play with more? I think they made an awesome case to Durant this postseason. I'm sure they'd fire Wittman tomorrow if that's what Durant wanted. It still might not be enough. Hard to beat the opportunity to play with another top 5 guy in a place he clearly enjoys playing. And if Durant stays in OKC (or if this injury turns out to be career-affecting) then this team probably tops out at the ECF as the young guys come into their prime. No guarantees even for that.

Still hope Pierce comes back for one more year. His swagger and leadership added a ton.

[The Mother of The Others]

It is a horrible matchup for the Rockets which is why they should have had the decency to back out of the last series so they wouldn't be wasting everyone's time in this one. It would have been the polite thing to do. But they had to go and win. Selfish. Childish even. So perhaps the thing to hope for is that they can learn how to deal with the Warriors the same way they figured out the Clippers mid-series. Through repetition of seeing them every night. Maybe they got wiped out in every regular season game vs. the Warriors because that team's potency was like a fresh surprise every time and they didn't have the time to think about the adjustments they could make. Well now they've got the chance to ponder that shit. Also, I'd like to throw out the standard curse upon the Rockets at this time for defeating my beloved. Let's see.... ah, may the Rockets live long enough to catch their third-born sons looking at donkey porn and hear themselves say, "No! Jamurphy, I thought you were going to be different than the other two!"

[Jabronius Maximus]

Well if I recall correctly, Dwight wasn't in any of the reg season matchups against the Warriors. Also the Rockets have made some key acquisitions late (Smith, Brewer, Pablo) that give them a different makeup than what the Warriors saw earlier.

I think the Warriors will still win, but it won't be the low effort sweep that many seem to be predicting.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Really sucks that that buffoon from the Celtics knocked Love out. Cavs-Warriors would have been one of the better finals matchups we've had in a while.

Seconded. I wonder if there's any chance Love could return for the Finals? Despite being a Warrior's fan, I'd like to see a tight, contested series.

[Calibandar]

Seconded. I wonder if there's any chance Love could return for the Finals? Despite being a Warrior's fan, I'd like to see a tight, contested series.

No chance.

What a bummer about the Clippers by the way. I was looking forward to them going through and play the Warriors in an attractive series. The Rockets vs Clippers series was not great to watch, all agree. I think it would have been a fantastic matchup with Golden State though. Hard to believe the Clippers let slip this series in which they so clearly seemed to be the better team.

That game 7 last night, the Clippers just looked worn out and dispirited from the start. I cannot say either Blake or Paul played a great game last night, just when it matters. Redick and Crawford were shooting like shit. That whole game, from the start, it never felt like the Clippers were getting out of that. Which is weird because I think they're a better side.

[James Arryn]

Odds are very low, but Patrick Beverly's persuaded the medicos to try and find some kind of working cast to let him play not long after wrist surgery. Apparently he's pushing hard, and they're going to let him test out dribbling tommorow.

[Fez]

So, 6-2 for me. The Mavs pick was terrible in retrospect, but I don't regret the Spurs pick at all; even though I did badly underestimate the Clippers. I also overestimated the fight the Blazers had in them, but at least got the pick right.

As for round 2:

Wizards over Hawks in 7- Again, I'm cheating because game 1 already started, but I'm going with the same reasoning as round 1, not from what I've seen so far in the first quarter. Also the Hawks did not impress me in their first series at all.

Cavs over Bulls in 7- The Love injury hurts, but they've still got LeBron and Kyrie, that's a really good 1-2 combo. And if JR was suspended for the start, this would not be going the distance.

Warriors over Grizzlies in 5- The Warriors are just really, really good.

Clippers over Rockets in 7- The two teams I badly underestimated in round 1, and I don't really know which to pick here. But I'm much more impressed by beating the Spurs than the Mavs, so I'm going Clippers.

So, only 2-2 for round 2 for me. Not great at all, but I don't regret the Clippers or Wizards picks. Based on what I knew at the time, there was no way to realistically expect the Clippers would have such a collapse, and the Wizards really were more impressive than the Hawks going into the series, imo.

As for round 3,

Cavs over Hawks in 6- Would be 5 if Love weren't injured, but at least apparently Irving is feeling health again.

Warriors over Rockets in 6- The last series showed that the Warriors are very beatable for a game or two when the jumpers aren't falling, its just that won't happen for 4 games in 7; because they aren't just a very good shooting team, they're an all-time great one.