2016-2017 NBA Thread

[PhaelixWW]

The problem with Korver is finding someone for him to guard on defense. You can't ask him to guard Durant or Green. I think you put him on Thompson.

The problem with finding a person for Korver to guard is deciding who you want to have open looks...

I mean:



Though, realistically, Thompson is nearly impossible to defend anyway because of how quickly he can catch-and-shoot.

[ItachiZaku]

They only lost because of discipline issues.

WUT?! lol

They lost cuz they got LeBron's. Cleveland was healthy, if cleveland were healthy... shit, if LeBron's teammates were healthy every year, he'd be working on his 7th straight title. (or 6th, the first they were all healthy enough). Kyrie healthy, matched Curry easily. Klay is a lil bitch that shrinks in the big moment. Mushmouth Green had this weird foot to dick problem. GWS were lucky to win 2 games last year.

Bron will take them out again, no problem. Cavs in 5 over GSW - if both stay this healthy.

[Blueobelisk]

Oh, I agree that Lebron is the god of basketball and if his team pulled its on-paper weight then he'd be a force to be reckoned with. It doesn't really work out like that in reality though.

Lol at you pick Cavs in 5. Updated sheet to reflect your prediction. I hope they win too.

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Tonight:
CLE @ TOR. (2-0). 7 PM. ESPN.
SAS @ HOU. (1-1). 9:30 PM. ESPN.

I'll be on a plane going to visit grandparents in FL for the first game, so I'll prob have it on the Jetblue TV in front of me. Second game I probably will be driving with loser uncle, to the house.

Speaking of, I won't be able to adjust spreadsheet that easily. I'll be there until next Tuesday. I'm only bringing iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S7, and Kindle with me. No laptops. (I actually have a laptop there already but it's from like fucking 2007 and it's sooo slow. I just use it as a VPN server to connect to grandparent's internet, sometimes.)

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Oh. Predictions. Uhhhh.

I think even though Toronto is home and their crowd will help them, that it won't matter. TNT Crew said it best, no one on the Raptors team truly believes they can beat Cleveland. No one. They don't believe it in their hearts. And without that they're just not playing as hard. So even at home, maybe it won't be such a blowout, but Cleveland will win tonight. 4-0.

Houston game...I wanna see if Houston ratches up to the game 1 level intensity, at their home. I don't think Spurs will play as badly as that game 1, but we'll see. I don't think tonight's game indicates anything. I think no matter what the series could go either way.

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IT in post game interview: "We don't like them and they don't like us. Whatever bad blood happened during the regular season carried over to the post season." I love it. I think I'm bumping this series up to #4 in the whole 2017 playoffs.

[fixit]

[QUOTE=Tonus;45495823]

In the finals, Love is useless. He has to be hidden on defense - he can't play center, so there's always another big on the court. With two bigs on the court, he can't go down in the post on offense because that would clog things up. He ends up as a 3 point shooter who gets a fair number of defensive rebounds and gets destroyed on defense.

Love is the defending champion, his stats for his career are hall of fame calibre. Would you prefer Mcgee and Pachulia?

[jregz]

If Love shoots as poorly as he did last year, he will be unplayable for the Cavs against either the Warriors or Spurs.

[Blueobelisk]

Love is the defending champion, his stats for his career are hall of fame calibre. Would you prefer Mcgee and Pachulia?

God Lebron is the defending champion. Everyone else was a role player that got carried. Kyrie was a'ight. He was worth maybe #3 status. (Lebron was #1 and #2.)

Good stats on a garbage team doesn't translate to "this guy can fit into a championship roster and claim he was a centerpiece." Or do you think LMA, who was averaging fucking over 40 PPG for the Blazers in a series like a year or two ago, is the reason Spurs are in the second round?

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Omfg I'm still at JFK airport. My flight got delayed literally over 5 hours.

And the TV in front of me has dumb baseball. And no one is here to change the channel.

[jregz]

Love that DeMar is bringing it tonight but this only reminds how maddeningly inconsistent he is in the playoffs.

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Nevermind. Of course we go cold af now

[-aiko-]

And they blow it just like that. They had a chance then threw it away.

[jregz]

I don't understand the lineups or the calling. Feed DeRozan man. Get scoring on the floor. Norman Powell should not be getting 18 shots. JV needed to be out there earlier.

[Rennadrel]

Love that DeMar is bringing it tonight but this only reminds how maddeningly inconsistent he is in the playoffs.

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Nevermind. Of course we go cold af now

Yeah, I don't really get this whole core we have. They do well in the regular season, and for some reason everyone turns into Mr Glass right before the playoffs and gets hurt, or guys like DeMarre can't stay healthy at all. As to why anyone would keep these bums together now is beyond me. JV hasn't done shit the last two years in the playoffs, DeMarre is a bum, DeRozan can't be consistently​ good in the playoffs and yet they gave him a max contract. Lowry is 33, I will honestly never follow this team if they give him a long term deal. And I don't like Casey as a coach because his decisions always backfire.

[jregz]

Yeah, I don't really get this whole core we have. They do well in the regular season, and for some reason everyone turns into Mr Glass right before the playoffs and gets hurt, or guys like DeMarre can't stay healthy at all. As to why anyone would keep these bums together now is beyond me. JV hasn't done shit the last two years in the playoffs, DeMarre is a bum, DeRozan can't be consistently​ good in the playoffs and yet they gave him a max contract. Lowry is 33, I will honestly never follow this team if they give him a long term deal. And I don't like Casey as a coach because his decisions always backfire.

It's hard to place a number but there's significant coaching problems too. Just in this fourth quarter alone, we run with a weird fucking lineup with our season on the line, Norman's shooting 18 times on bad shooting, Joseph doesn't look like he knows there's a gameplan (and honestly, I don't know if there was one in the 4th either), JV doesn't get in until they bring out the victory cigar lineup with Frye who is the only guy who can really punish us for playing JV, and we've consistently fell back on ISO plays when our horns and PNR sets fail.

I want to see a coaching change before we start making drastic changes to key personnel because the level at which our best players drop off in the postseason is symptomatic of poor coaching more than poor play.

I'm all for changing up some of the role players. Carroll costs way too much for his production and efficiency.

[Crissi]

SA - Hou game is good. Just as you think Houston is going well...SUDDEN KAWHI and LMA.

Just as you think SA is pulling away, SUDDEN HARDEN.

[jregz]

If Houston loses this game and next at home, you think D'antoni is gonna have nightmare flashbacks to those Suns-Spurs series?

[Crissi]

in Popovich we trust!

[Demoncrash]

Impressive win by Parker-less Spurs.

[Pendulous]

Not even sure why I should bother watching the rest of this game.

[Pendulous]

The only good thing going on in this game is Draymond Green can't shut up.

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First lead by Utah in the series going into halftime, still going halfway through the third. What is this sorcery.

[PhaelixWW]

Game 3 is usually the hardest game for the higher seed. The Warriors lost all four game 3's last year.

[jregz]

Game 3 is usually the hardest game for the higher seed. The Warriors lost all four game 3's last year.

I'd be curious to know the data on that too. Regardless of how the higher seed does in the first two games, third game seems to be the hype game for the lower seed team either to save their season or to take HCA.

[PhaelixWW]

I'd be curious to know the data on that too. Regardless of how the higher seed does in the first two games, third game seems to be the hype game for the lower seed team either to save their season or to take HCA.

Well, according to whowins.com:

High seeds teams leading the series 2-0 only have a win rate of 0.414 for game 3 on the road. And it's worse the higher up you go: 0.507 in the 1st round, 0.392 in the 2nd, 0.375 in the 3rd, and 0.345 in the Finals.