NBA Playoffs 2019 - Kawhi So Serious?!

[briantw]

10 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Lol. The reason why I asked (jokingly) is because someone called in trolling him saying the Bucks were going to lose because they traded away Dellavedova. And trust me, the guy was deeply dedicated to the trolling. 

Haha that's great.  I'm not a Delly die-hard like a lot of Cavs fans.  I like him like I like most guys who play for the teams I root for, but that's about the extent of it. 

To be honest, I haven't watched a ton of basketball this year since the Cavs basically spent the first half of the season as a rudderless ship.  They did get kind of fun to watch once Love got back.  It was amazing the impact he had on the development of Sexton.  Sexton looked terrible early but he ended the season looking like a legit offensive weapon and his great three point shooting was an awesome development.  Apparently the kid lives in the gym and doesn't give a shit about anything other than basketball.

I'm also intrigued by the Beilein hire.  Seems like a good sign that a highly respected coach was willing to make the leap to the NBA to the Cavs, and I read today his contract is four years and nineteen million, which is basically what he was making at Michigan.  So clearly the move wasn't a cash grab.  Actually looking forward to next season now.  Love seems to be the perfect fit for his offense.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

16 minutes ago, briantw said:

Haha that's great.  I'm not a Delly die-hard like a lot of Cavs fans.  I like him like I like most guys who play for the teams I root for, but that's about the extent of it. 

I honestly think you should listen to it. It's something like 2/3rds of the way through the first hour. 

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To be honest, I haven't watched a ton of basketball this year since the Cavs basically spent the first half of the season as a rudderless ship. 

You're preaching to the choir here. The Wolves were such a disaster this year, and at this point I can no longer expect anything from Wiggens other than random games were he explodes.

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Apparently the kid lives in the gym and doesn't give a shit about anything other than basketball.

That's how Kawhi became the player he is today. Hope for the best. 

[Rhom]

Bucks looking awfully good early.

[Proudfeet]

We are still talking about GS without KD right?

Bottom of the East is shit, but we're talking about the top two seeds. Surely they deserve some respect?

[IamMe90]

Welp, it's been a fun run this year, but I have to be realistic about dropping 3 games in a row and giving up home court advantage. We have been just terrible since our 2-0 start, it's pathetic. Not sure how much of this is bad coaching vs. players under performing, but it's definitely both. 

And this is why they should announce the MVP BEFORE the playoffs begin. It's supposed to be a regular season award, but even as a fucking diehard Bucks fan, these playoffs have changed my mind on who deserves to be the MVP. That's ridiculous. 

[Slurktan]

17 minutes ago, IamMe90 said:

Welp, it's been a fun run this year, but I have to be realistic about dropping 3 games in a row and giving up home court advantage. We have been just terrible since our 2-0 start, it's pathetic. Not sure how much of this is bad coaching vs. players under performing, but it's definitely both. 

And this is why they should announce the MVP BEFORE the playoffs begin. It's supposed to be a regular season award, but even as a fucking diehard Bucks fan, these playoffs have changed my mind on who deserves to be the MVP. That's ridiculous. 

You would vote for Harden over Giannis now?  Because no one else was winning it.  Is Kawhi better than Giannis?  Of course, we knew that at the start of the season, 5 games in, 30 games in, 82 games in. he didn't play enough games because they wanted him rested for now.

[Proudfeet]

1 hour ago, Triskele said:

Yes on the first question.  And yes, I should drop it.

No, the top 2 seeds in the East do not automatically deserve the level of respect that they're getting compared to GS without KD especially considering how they are both newcomers and especially because GS without KD has just done what they've done.  

I mean if we are talking GS with a healthy KD, I'll agree that they are the favourites. 

The fact that they are newcomers is a strong point, but I do think that we should give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm also not that impressed by GS win over the Blazers. Over the Rockets maybe, but that was just one game and a quarter.

59 minutes ago, IamMe90 said:

Welp, it's been a fun run this year, but I have to be realistic about dropping 3 games in a row and giving up home court advantage. We have been just terrible since our 2-0 start, it's pathetic. Not sure how much of this is bad coaching vs. players under performing, but it's definitely both. 

And this is why they should announce the MVP BEFORE the playoffs begin. It's supposed to be a regular season award, but even as a fucking diehard Bucks fan, these playoffs have changed my mind on who deserves to be the MVP. That's ridiculous. 

Well, if its any consolation, Van Vleet matched Lowry's 7/9 in game one. I'll say the same thing as I did then. That's not a repeatable performance. He did do 3/3 in the previous game though, so he might just be getting hot.

And yeah, the timing of the regular season awards is stupid. The dripping of the news is stupid. I don't get it at all. 

[Proudfeet]

2 minutes ago, Triskele said:

But we're not.  100% my point is that GS is still the favorite even if my lunatic theory that KD has been done since the moment of the injury turns out to be true....My point is that GS will beat Toronto or The Good Land even if KD is not available.  Not only is this true, this is obviously true.

Look at the bunched up West from GS, to Denver to SA to Portland to Houston to Utah to LAC...how would Toronto or Milwaukee have disrupted this?   Obviously, they would not have.  So therefor in logic most pure it is GS until otherwise.  

What is the powerful motivation to see it otherwise?

I just don't agree. Putting GS and Houston and maybe Denver aside, I think Toronto and Milwaukee would be clear favourites. You can give the rest a decent chance of upsetting, but they are underdogs to me. Surely you are not saying that they would lose in the first round in the West?

[Proudfeet]

1 minute ago, Triskele said:

I am certainly saying that this possibility exists.  Do you think that there's a measurable difference between Toronto and OKC?  

Yes. Definitely. PG was hurt and Westbrook has been looking off the whole season. Not sure I will give them the edge even when healthy either.

Again, possibility of losing does not equal likely to lose. Plausible is not probable.

[BigFatCoward]

On sky sports news the presenters are so lazy the are just referring to him as Giannis, to avoid fucking up the pronunciation of his surname.  

[Maithanet]

7 hours ago, Triskele said:

I am certainly saying that this possibility exists.  Do you think that there's a measurable difference between Toronto and OKC?  

Are you talking about OKC on paper, fully healthy, or OKC as they actually were in the playoffs?  Because the OKC team that showed up in the playoffs would get crushed by Milwaukee or Toronto.  They'd be lucky to take a single game. 

The four best teams in the league this year were the Warriors, Rockets, Bucks and Raptors.  Philly is probably fifth, since their starting lineup is so strong and bench matters less in the playoffs (although I freely admit you could sub in one of the West teams here if you'd like).  I don't really know where you're getting the idea that these is the "same old East" that from the last few years that has gotten trounced in the Finals.  The teams are different, and noticeably more talented.  The Celtics nearly made the Finals last year, then got both Kyrie and Hayward back from injury, and yet they were down to the 4th best team in the conference.  You can attribute that to general dysfunction in the locker room, but that sure didn't show up in the first round.  It was only when they started facing one of the new powers in the East that they were exposed as pretenders.

Now, if the question of "is the East back" whether the East winner would be the favorite against GSW then that is a ridiculous metric.  Of course the Warriors will be favored, they're probably the most talented team the league has seen since the 1970s.  But unlike the Cavs or Celtics of last year, these Bucks and Raptors actually have the talent to make things hard, and possibly steal the series.  There's only three teams in the league with enough talent to even challenge the Warriors , and two of them are playing in the ECF. 

[Relic]

27 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

Are you talking about OKC on paper, fully healthy, or OKC as they actually were in the playoffs?  Because the OKC team that showed up in the playoffs would get crushed by Milwaukee or Toronto.  They'd be lucky to take a single game. 

The four best teams in the league this year were the Warriors, Rockets, Bucks and Raptors.  Philly is probably fifth, since their starting lineup is so strong and bench matters less in the playoffs (although I freely admit you could sub in one of the West teams here if you'd like).  I don't really know where you're getting the idea that these is the "same old East" that from the last few years that has gotten trounced in the Finals.  The teams are different, and noticeably more talented.  The Celtics nearly made the Finals last year, then got both Kyrie and Hayward back from injury, and yet they were down to the 4th best team in the conference.  You can attribute that to general dysfunction in the locker room, but that sure didn't show up in the first round.  It was only when they started facing one of the new powers in the East that they were exposed as pretenders.

Now, if the question of "is the East back" whether the East winner would be the favorite against GSW then that is a ridiculous metric.  Of course the Warriors will be favored, they're probably the most talented team the league has seen since the 1970s.  But unlike the Cavs or Celtics of last year, these Bucks and Raptors actually have the talent to make things hard, and possibly steal the series.  There's only three teams in the league with enough talent to even challenge the Warriors , and two of them are playing in the ECF. 

Are you really sure that the Raptors would beat the Nuggets? Or that Philly could, in a 7 game series? 

[Maithanet]

12 minutes ago, Relic said:

Are you really sure that the Raptors would beat the Nuggets? Or that Philly could, in a 7 game series? 

I am sure that the Raptors are a better team than the Nuggets and would be heavily favored against them.  Philly is more of a toss up, since Denver would have home court, although if I had to pick one, I'd take Philly.

[Proudfeet]

On 5/16/2019 at 9:43 PM, Tywin et al. said:

Everything I’ve found on the Googles indicates that Steph has literally only lost once when KD wasn’t playing. 

 

On 5/16/2019 at 11:47 PM, Proudfeet said:

Durant is 28-18 without Curry. 
Curry is 29-4 without Durant (31-4 incl last two games). 

Thu, Mar 2, 2017
Wed, Mar 8, 2017

Fri, Mar 10, 2017

Thu, Feb 28, 2019

 My turn to complain about ESPN stealing my material. 

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Golden State is now 31-1 in its past 32 games when Curry plays and Durant does not -- and 34-4 in such games since signing Durant.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

 

 My turn to complain about ESPN stealing my material. 

 

Dude. We've long established that people in the media are stealing our takes here. 

[Proudfeet]

Just now, Tywin et al. said:

Dude. We've long established that people in the media are stealing our takes here. 

Yeah, that's why I said my turn.

The NFL thread has it especially bad.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

A couple things from last night.

First, what in god’s name are the Bucks doing? Do they not have a PG outside of Giannis? The Raptors are walling up and making everyone else beat them, and the Bucks are still trying to run the offense through Giannis driving. Run it through someone else and have him play like a traditional big so he can start in the paint and pass it in. JFC….
Second, Kawhi. Watch out KD. He’s coming to displace you as the most coveted FA.
Also, I’m going to say it. Both KD and Kawhi are better than Kobe. Yeah I said it!

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Yeah, that's why I said my turn.

The NFL thread has it especially bad.

Lol, I think there was one time where @Maithanet's comment was like literally taken word for word. 

We'll know they've gone too far when they start referring Beal as the undead.  

[Maithanet]

5 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Lol, I think there was one time where @Maithanet's comment was like literally taken word for word. 

We'll know they've gone too far when they start referring Beal as the undead.   

I wish I could remember what exactly I was talking about, but I do remember it was weird to see.  I guess some sportswriters just troll through internet forums for ideas they can steal?  It's not the worst way to earn a living I suppose. 

The NBA isn't ready to face the truth about Bradley Beal.  What is dead may never die. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

11 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I wish I could remember what exactly I was talking about, but I do remember it was weird to see.  I guess some sportswriters just troll through internet forums for ideas they can steal?  It's not the worst way to earn a living I suppose. 

The NBA isn't ready to face the truth about Bradley Beal.  What is dead may never die. 

I think it was a take on the Skins, but I can’t say for sure. However I do recall numerous posters pointing it out and it was rather jarring because it wasn’t a generic statement.

ETA:

I do know for a fact that some political offices have interns scrap the internet for good opinions so that their boss can repeat them like it was their idea. I wouldn't put it past sports media to do the same.