2023-2024 NBA Thread

[Blueobelisk]

I don't think it's the players, I think that the coaching staff hasn't figured out how to maximize them.

That's the thing. I said it last night but this Celtics team is poorly coached. No real coach would let their team take random 3s like that. I get defense is good so things might shift up a little, but it barely looked like the Celtics (and sometimes the Heat) were running plays that they had thought of before hand and practiced. It was more like they were just professional basketball players who had played together before and received some form of coaching. Very mismanaged.

You compare this to a god-team that does mesh well together like the 2014 Spurs and they liked 3s, yeah, but they had plays and positioning and passing to get the open looks they wanted. Didn't feel like that with the Celtics.

[StillMcfuu]

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride for this Celtics team in the past few years.

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I think Boston is poorly coached. Brad Stevens is okay but if that was Pop, there would've been way more solid plays and egos would've been put in check. No random 3s to try to come back from being down like 7 with 5 minute left.

Their big scorers have been inconsistent is the big issue.

Its awesome when Tatum drops 28 in a half, but if he had 5 or 10 in the first half and the game is won. Issue just isn't him, but being as good as he is, its highlighted with him. That and Bostons bench feels weak, a big secret to Miami's success is the bench pouring in 30 or 40 a game.

[Blueobelisk]

Hmmm. I'm gonna call Lakers in 6. I think Heat is good but Lebron and LAL will step their game up to elevate. (I don't think these Lakers are THAT much better than the Heat.)

[xskarma]

lol Sure Brad Stevens is a bad coach. Y'all have no idea.

Celtics bench is partly inexperienced and partly just not as good as other teams benches. We have NO offense off the bench, unless you could Hayward coming off the bench and Smart starting us getting offense off the bench. Hayward was just out of sync though after his injury, which has been the story of his Celtic career, being injured and being out of sync due to having been injured.

In a magical fantasy land where Hayward didn't get injured these playoffs, I would have considered this Celtics series loss a bad one, but we were basically playing with 5 good players and a mediocre bench all playoffs, which meant that any time players needed a breather that the Celtics would invariably suffer.

Doesn't help that the team played like ass in crucial moments, but they might not have needed to if they had played better when bench players came on.


We'll see what the offseason brings, but I suspect not much will change, given the Salary cap situation in the league.

[StillMcfuu]

I'll call Lakers in 5. I think the games will be close, and the series is going to be a lot more competitive than a gentleman's sweep normally entails. I think Lakers counter Heat on every aspect, but the Heat don't exactly counter the Lakers.

[xskarma]

The Lakers have surprised me with their ability to morph defensively into what's needed against a given team and they certainly have the edge offensively with Lebron and AD.

I think the key to this series is Bam vs AD. Whoever wins that match up, wins the series.

It;s Bam's play that has propelled the Heat so far, not anyone else's. He's what makes the Heat go. If the Lakers can put AD on him and force Miami to play less through Bam, and have Bam be less of a dominant factor against the other team's big, then the Lakers will win.

On the other hand, Bam has been so good this playoffs that it wouldn't surprise me if he takes on the challenge of guarding AD and still gets his buckets and offensive flow on the other hand as well. And then the Lakers might be in serious trouble, cause I don't think Lebron at 35 is good enough to still carry the full load AND make up for AD being less of a factor.

I'll give the edge to the Lakers, until the first game has been played.

[Blueobelisk]

Finals begin tonight. This 9 PM start time is really late...7 PM would've been perfect.

[ProphetFlume]

Close game. Glad butlers ankle wasn’t serious.

[Blueobelisk]

I kinda took a nap and then woke up and prioritized watching South Park and Archer so I saw like 30 seconds of the game. And Lakers were crushing it lol...I didn't get to see why.

[ProphetFlume]

Heat just couldn't get anything going, or shots to drop. In the third quarter half their team was already up the court by the time one of their shots missed, just a sea of yellow jerseys.

[Blueobelisk]

Lebron should just get like 10% royalties from every NBA transaction. He owns the NBA.

[Blueobelisk]

Heat just had a game where they shot 50% from the field, 40% from 3, 90% from the line (on 34 attempts!), only committed 9 turnovers... and lost comfortably.

Lakers had an offensive rating of 136 in yesterday's game. To put that in perspective, if your entire offense was just Steph Curry shooting 3s and hitting them at his career rate, with no turnovers, your ORating would be 126.

The game was too late for me so I didn't watch. I literally had the game on and at like 9:05 PM I fell asleep on the couch while Jeff Van Gundy was talking. I woke up at like 1 AM and some nonsense was on, nothing to do with the NBA.

Is that offensive rating because the Heat's defense was bad, or is Lebron + AD a ballin' combo?

[StillMcfuu]

Heat just had a game where they shot 50% from the field, 40% from 3, 90% from the line (on 34 attempts!), only committed 9 turnovers... and lost comfortably.

Lakers had an offensive rating of 136 in yesterday's game. To put that in perspective, if your entire offense was just Steph Curry shooting 3s and hitting them at his career rate, with no turnovers, your ORating would be 126.

Lakers pace of play is way higher than Heats. The shooting splits were "close" from last night for fg%, but lakers shot 35% vs 50% from 3, but that doesn't make much of a difference when total FG are 71 vs 97 in favor of Lakers. They even shot and made more 3s even though they were 15% behind the Heat.
Big stat here, 6 Oreb vs 17 Orebs.

Its really coming down to amount of offensive possessions, and the only place I can see those possessions being lost is to shooting fouls. Even with 20 more trips to the line the Heat are struggling to make a meaningful defensive impact or impose their pace of play.

[StillMcfuu]

Has there been any word on whats happening to the 20-21 season? By my calendar we are a month away from opening tip.

Think they'll do a series of bubbles?

[Blueobelisk]

Jimmy Butler carried.

[Blueobelisk]

I took a nap at the start of the game but woke up to see the final two minutes. Miami actually kept it close but Lakers slightly pulled away.

They interviewed Lebron at the end and he kept saying the job isn't finished and they still need to stay in the right mentality to win. I think it's pretty much locked since LAL is up 3-1.

[ProphetFlume]

I took a nap at the start of the game but woke up to see the final two minutes. Miami actually kept it close but Lakers slightly pulled away.

They interviewed Lebron at the end and he kept saying the job isn't finished and they still need to stay in the right mentality to win. I think it's pretty much locked since LAL is up 3-1.

Utah jazz, la clippers, gs warriors and Atlanta falcons mentality.

[ProphetFlume]

I’ll be interested in the future if teams talk about fatigue in the bubble. Nuggets may have played 19 games but I suspect most of the fatigue comes from travel - flying, packing unpacking, time changes - than pure physical work.

[Blueobelisk]

Yeah Tonnus (or w/e your old name was), I think it's close enough that whoever does the best in game 5 will win the MVP. AD is a young superstar who is doing a lot, but a lot of this does fall on Lebron running plays.

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I’ll be interested in the future if teams talk about fatigue in the bubble. Nuggets may have played 19 games but I suspect most of the fatigue comes from travel - flying, packing unpacking, time changes - than pure physical work.

? Do you think there will be less fatigue because they were in the bubble?

I agree that most teams are probably thinking it was easier to stay in the bubble and not have to worry about commuting everywhere and context switching, but I'm also sure they must have had some enjoyment travelling around the country with their millions of dollars in salary and would've had an experience most normal people wouldn't.

So it's like, yeah I'm sure the 2-3 months you played in the bubble was a nice change of pace from staying at home in your mansion during the pandemic, but under normal circumstances I'm sure staying in the same space for 8+ months would really suck compared to their usual travelling (if they could).

[Blueobelisk]

I watched from the third quarter onward. The game was incredibly good. Jimmy Butler is a hero. Honestly Lebron James was carrying the Lakers, too.

Lakers choked a possession near the end, and Heat executed. Jimmy Butler drove and didn't miss his free throws. Heat deserved to win.

I don't blame Danny Green for missing a 3, it was a slightly weird play to go for (no need to make a 3 if you're only down by 1, but I guess it's easier to get a clear look from out on the 3 point line, which they did), but whoever that guy is choked when he rebounded it. Should've passed it to someone more competent.