NBA playoffs 2018 - Raptors over Cavs in 6

[DMC]

18 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Has a coach ever won Coach of the Year and been fired in the same season? In any sport?

 

16 hours ago, WarGalley said:

George Karl in Denver in 2013.

WarGalley is right about Karl.  Also, Joe Girardi won NL Manager of the Year in 2006 in his one and only year with the Marlins, then was fired.

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, dmc515 said:

 

WarGalley is right about Karl.  Also, Joe Girardi won NL Manager of the Year in 2006 in his one and only year with the Marlins, then was fired.

Yes, but that’s because winning goes against the plan for the Marlins ownership.  No matter who those owners might be at the time.

[Slurktan]

On 5/8/2018 at 10:06 AM, Tywin et al. said:

Has a coach ever won Coach of the Year and been fired in the same season? In any sport?.  

In hockey Ted Nolan was fired after winning coach of the year in '97 I think.  Amusingly his GM John Muckler had won executive of the year and was also fired.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

In hockey Ted Nolan was fired after winning coach of the year in '97 I think.  Amusingly his GM John Muckler had won executive of the year and was also fired.

Now that's truly amazing! 

[DanteGabriel]

Good game so far, nice run at the end of the first half by Celtics. Can't believe this is the only series left in this round. NBA is going to have to pay some money back to their TV partners after these playoffs.

[Sour Billy Tipton]

As soon as Justin Anderson comes into the game he gets a steal.  I've only been complaining about Covington since game 1 and calling for Anderson to replace him since game 2.  Ughhh.

[Sour Billy Tipton]

Horford has 4PF and Brown isn't exploiting that whatsoever.  Embiid should be getting the ball in the low-post every possession.  Instead it's Stevens using Horford to exploit Saric's defense.  Easy buckets in the paint all day...

[Jaime L]

Oh, Embiid, how can you miss that bunny....

[DanteGabriel]

What an ending. Jesus Christ, it's enough to start me smoking again. Hard fought series, Sixers.

[IamMe90]

Simmons cements an underwhelming playoff series with an unthinkably stupid pass. Nice lmao

[Sour Billy Tipton]

28 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Hard fought series, Sixers.

Not really.  Brown made some horrible decisions throughout the series.  My main critique is his stubbornness in giving Covington so many minutes.  

Celtics and their stifling perimeter defense matchup well against the non-athletic Euro's of the Sixers.  They took away their pace and didn't let any of the shooters gain easy open looks.  The Sixers should have made it a more physical series and put an emphasis on setting hard screens to allow guys like Reddick and Belinelli breathing room.  

Credit to Stevens and the Celtics.  They owned the Sixers all year.

Sixers have to use this failure as motivation because Boston is not going away.  Simmons must spend the entire summer working on a reliable mid-range jumper.  Fultz has to be right next to him and continue to erase his yips from the FT line and hesitance from distance.  And I would LOVE to see Embiid work with his idol Hakeem in Houston.  Embiid is an incredibly fast learner and who better than The Dream to teach him how to perfect his footwork?

[Jaime L]

Great game 5. Really wanted the Sixers to win because shit would finally get really interesting (Boston would have to either win on the road in front of a rabid Philly crowd or somehow pull it together in game 7 after blowing 3 straight)...and because now we're stuck in a situation with no NBA game until next Monday. A 5 day layoff after having awesome playoff basketball every single night for a month suckkkks. 

At least GS-Houston should make up for a brutal round 2. I even think Boston-Cleveland will be better than last year. This Celtics team is better built to take on the Cavs  - good defenders top to bottom, tons of wings to throw at Lebron and of course no Kyrie on the Cavs. Of course with Lebron reaching this otherworldly level I don't give Boston much of a shot to actually win the thing....but c'mon, gimme 6 games, I don't feel like that's too much to ask. 

[Relic]

I really really hope this game humbles Embiid, and he stops with the incessant shit talking. He's way too young with absolutely zero accomplishment to his name to be talking all that mess all the time. 

In other news, the east is so weak that we've got a one man team vs a team who lost its two best players facing off in the ECF. Lame. 

[Rhom]

This was eye popping to me

 

[Relic]

 

This was eye popping to me

 

So Philly was down by 2 with 2.9 seconds left and the best play they could come up with was trying to turn Simmons into Tom Brady? Surely they could have gotten someone a half court shot at the bucket, at the very least. 

[Rhom]

 

So Philly was down by 2 with 2.9 seconds left and the best play they could come up with was trying to turn Simmons into Tom Brady? Surely they could have gotten someone a half court shot at the bucket, at the very least. 

It’s a shame rookie of the year voting is before the playoffs.  No doubt Mitchell was better than Simmons when it counted.

[DanteGabriel]

 

It’s a shame rookie of the year voting is before the playoffs.  No doubt Mitchell was better than Simmons when it counted.

It'll be great for Simmons, though, to look at his shiny trophy years from now and remember the at least two playoff games he let slip through his fingers.

He finally got called for traveling last night. The sarcastic applause in the Garden when he at long last got called for one of his bunnyhops was pretty noticeable.

[Maithanet]

WaPo had an interesting article today that the Sixers should target Paul George, not Lebron James.   

 

It’s a nod to the unique talent Philadelphia has at its disposal, particularly in Simmons. There is a reason, after all, that Simmons has earned comparisons to Magic Johnson; at 6-foot-10, with remarkable athleticism that rarely pops off the screen because of the smoothness with which he plays, Simmons looks like he has a chance to be a generational option running an offense.

To this point, however, Simmons has proven to be extremely deficient in one specific area: shooting. Out of 1,108 shots Simmons took this season across the regular season and playoffs, only 43 were taken more than 15 feet from the basket. And only two of those 43 shots were legitimate three-point attempts (10 others were heaves). He missed them both.

So what does this mean? Simple, Simmons can’t play off the ball. Give Simmons the ball, and he becomes one of the most unique players in the NBA. Take it away from him, and he becomes a liability, a player who doesn’t offer much of a threat to defenses.

While it might seem crazy to think that Lebron wouldn't be better for the Sixers than George, I can actually see that argument.  George is capable of being one of three great players.  But Lebron needs to run the Lebron offense, which isn't going to help Simmons grow any.  Plus, George is five years younger than Lebron, so a George-Embiid-Simmons trio could be great for a long time. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

If I was the Sixers, I’d rather package a combination of Fultz, Saric and a pick (or picks) for Kawhi than get George. And I think the Spurs would be open to that.

Speaking of Fultz, how crazy is it that he only played 23 minutes in the entire playoffs while Tatum is averaging 19 points per game through 12 games. Obviously it’s too early to tell, but it’s looking like the Celtics totally fleeced the Sixers.

[Jaime L]

 

It’s a shame rookie of the year voting is before the playoffs.  No doubt Mitchell was better than Simmons when it counted.

Not just Mitchell but Tatum. In the Boston-Philly series only one of those two guys could consistently get his team a bucket when they needed it. I recall Bill Simmons pushing this insane take that a jump shot isn't one of the top 5 things Ben Simmons needs to work on. Uh, how's that looking now? 

 

WaPo had an interesting article today that the Sixers should target Paul George, not Lebron James.   

While it might seem crazy to think that Lebron wouldn't be better for the Sixers than George, I can actually see that argument.  George is capable of being one of three great players.  But Lebron needs to run the Lebron offense, which isn't going to help Simmons grow any.  Plus, George is five years younger than Lebron, so a George-Embiid-Simmons trio could be great for a long time. 

Yeah the primary issue with Lebron to the 76ers is it isn't a great fit. Lebron's at his best surrounded by shooters and Simmons/Embiid don't space the floor effectively. And if Lebron has the ball in his hands all the time, what's Simmons role? It makes him way less useful as a player. There'd be so much talent they'd still win a ton of games but it's not close to the Warriors where talent perfectly compliments one another. 

George as a secondary ballhandler and a guy who doesn't mind being a spot up guy at times is way more seamless. And he furthers the 76ers becoming all world defensively.