2023-2024 NBA Thread

[downnola]

Hawks beat 76ers. The game honestly just looked like both teams wanted to lose until about the 5 minute mark of the 4th quarter where the hawks reluctantly decided they wanted to win.

I wonder how hurt Embid is, he had another passive game where he never got closer than the foul line.

Also curious if this is it for Simmons, I swear he just resigned with them but your arguable best player can't play in the final minutes of a game. The irony here is hack-a-shaq works better on Simmons than it ever could Shaq.

I imagine he'll get traded. No way this team doesn't undergo a massive change after that series. Hopefully whoever he plays for stops the experiment of playing him at PG and he can actually shine.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Simms is 500% being traded. And whatever team is dumb enough to give up picks for him is gonna end up a lottery team.

[xmirrors]

How many brackets just got fucked in the last 2 days?

[xskarma]

Horford is a guy who looks great in December against the Thunder but struggles to find a role against contending teams in the playoffs because he's not a defensive anchor .

Looking at his history, in 2017 the Cavs eviscerated the Celtics, shooting 61% on twos. Horford had 2 total blocks. In 2017 they were slightly better but Lebron still got to the rim at will.

lol

You have no idea what you are talking about. Horford was instrumental to our defense and our defense has lacked at the C spot since he left. We got abused by Embiid and Bam last year and this year things were just awful defensively in general. The reason Philly was so eager to throw a bag at him was cause he had helped shut down Embiid and Simmons countless times and this was as much addition by subtraction for the Sixers as anything else.

Horford also is not as washed as people seem to think he is. He only played 28 games this year and was shut down cause he was playing too well and the Thunder didn't want him to fuck up their lottery chances or for him to get hurt and become a problem to trade.

Horford will do what he's done in the past for the Celtics which is be a Big that matches up with other Bigs, whether at the traditional 4 or 5 spot, he'll be good defensively, make the correct pass, be a force in the pick and roll/pick and pop and just generally make the team better.

Now, he's lost a step, and he won't be able to stay in front of quick guards as well as he used to be, but that's true for most Bigs, except the absolute Elite. He's also not been quite as efficient offensively in Philly and OKC so you have to think he won't be a 20+ point scorer anymore with the volume of shots he;ll get in Boston in this go around.

All in all, the trade off is what I put in my earlier post. Kemba brought more offense, Horford brings more defense. Kemba is brittle, Horford is slowing down. There were no great options available for the Celtics, but this move had the most upside, even if Horford now is not Horford from 2 seasons ago.

[Logwyn]

I can't believe it...the Hawks won..Conference Finals?

[StillMcfuu]

I can't believe it...the Hawks won..Conference Finals?

I would say normally no way they beat the Bucks, but....
I would have said no way they beat the 76ers, but here we are.

I mean there is no way they can win right?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I would say normally no way they beat the Bucks, but....
I would have said no way they beat the 76ers, but here we are.

I mean there is no way they can win right?

The Hawks can shoot (unlike Ben Simmons) but can they guard Giannis, let alone Jrue and Middleton along with Giannis?

I doubt it, and that's what they'll have to do if they want to even take the Bucks the distance. I'm hearing a lot of generic "Bucks in 6" out there, but I'll honestly go a step further and say Bucks in 5.

[StillMcfuu]

The Hawks can shoot (unlike Ben Simmons) but can they guard Giannis, let alone Jrue and Middleton along with Giannis?

I doubt it, and that's what they'll have to do if they want to even take the Bucks the distance. I'm hearing a lot of generic "Bucks in 6" out there, but I'll honestly go a step further and say Bucks in 5.

If we look at straight match ups, Giannis is the only stand out. Capela isn't bad but I don't think he is going to make a huge difference. I'd be more concerned with Giannis going on a streak of lack of aggression which he is prone to do. I'm hoping game 7 got him past that bit as he was involved all game, but it's still a possibility where he won't go past top of the key for quarters at a time.

Jrue will put in valuable defensive time against Collins and Gallinari, it remains to be seen if he can keep up with Young. Both the Knicks and 76ers had an issue with not being able to match up a defender on him (where the fuck was Ben here, I saw him really disrupt Young twice in the 4th quarter late, but Ben was no where around him most of the rest of the time.) Middleton will be Middleton.

Basically depending on how Giannis plays and how the Hawks adjust for him will depend on how the series goes. Overall match up wise it looks kind of even.

[ProphetFlume]

Can the bucks match the hawks for points? Cause I don’t think they can stop them from scoring.

[StillMcfuu]

I didn't see this at the time, but the absolute mad lad.

[Pendulous]

Despite losing in the second round, I do love this Jazz team, and think with some growth, they can compete in the coming years. I want them to stick around as long as possible.

Donovan Mitchell is a superstar. Averaged like 35 points in the playoffs while hurt. He's much more efficient and consistent in his makes, and has a mid-range game as well. He can even be a great passer. His only real need is to get better at the pick and roll with Gobert, to keep up with Conley and Ingles.

Royce O Neal is a great perimeter defender, but needs to have more impact on offense. Seems like he completely vanishes when they have the ball.

Bogdonavic can score in many different ways. However, he has a really bad time off the dribble, giving up way too many turnovers by just losing the ball.

Conley might be gone. His health was an obvious issue, but I don't know who Utah could get to replace him in free agency.

Gobert IS a great defender, despite what people keep saying. He just needs more depth. Anthony Davis, Lopez, and DeAndre Ayton, among others, prove you can be a big man in the NBA still as long as you can diversify your repertoire.

Dunno how long Ingles is hanging around. He's older and might want to retire early to be with his family. He is my favorite player on the team, mostly due to his personality and the fact he plays through anything. Having a starting caliber ball handler off the bench should be a luxury.

Clarkson is the sixth man of the year, and he earned it. He showed very briefs sparks of being able to do more than shoot, but it still feels like when he gets the ball, it's going up to the basket.

I don't know much about Miye Oni, or how good he can be. But it's really nice to see his energy when he's on the court. Dude is constantly running, no stopping.

[StillMcfuu]

Absolute perfect pass, timing and location, perfect play.

[xskarma]

Celtics have their guy: Ime Udoka, current Nets assistant, former assistant under Pop and several other teams. Also coached the Team USA team, which is where he spent time with Tatum, Brown and Marcus Smart, who apparently all endorsed him.

He also seemed like the most level headed, most widely experienced and least baggage Assistant out there that had no previous HC experience. Glad we steered away from retreads and got a fresh guy who can make his own way and isn;t set in his ways.

[Logwyn]

I would say normally no way they beat the Bucks, but....
I would have said no way they beat the 76ers, but here we are.

I mean there is no way they can win right?

We shall see we shall see.

[StillMcfuu]

Well time to see how bad of a coach Budenholzer really is. Trae got every open look he wanted today on ridiculous easy pick and roll style plays. Lopez never came out to help, Giannis never came out to help, Portis never came out, etc, it was ridiculous, if Trae was involved in a pick, the help defense was in the paint every time. If Trae decided to drive, fucking Giannis and Lopez would sag off. I don't know if they have ptsd from Simmons and Embiid but they need to get it together.

[ProphetFlume]

Are Bucks the only healthy team left? IDK anything about Atlanta's roster.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Are Bucks the only healthy team left? IDK anything about Atlanta's roster.

"Everyone is injured" is at this point an overstatement. Suns are back to full roster, Atlanta's pretty much got everyone at 100%, frankly the only guy the playoffs are missing at this point is Kawahi.

[ProphetFlume]

"Everyone is injured" is at this point an overstatement. Suns are back to full roster, Atlanta's pretty much got everyone at 100%, frankly the only guy the playoffs are missing at this point is Kawahi.

Are we sure cp is healthy? I know it’s been some time since the Lakers series and he had rest from thee covid thing but his play doesn’t look healthy.

As for game 4, clippers playing sneaky the second half. Lots of subtle nudges to get reciprocation fouls from frustrated players, forcing turnovers on inbounds and honestly just a lot of flopping for calls and suns missing. But they’re in this game more for that stuff than their performance.

- - - Updated - - -

Suns got pretty lucky in the end to get every free throw rebound. Ridiculous how 50/50 a lot of the last minute was despite the suns always leading by 2-3.

[StillMcfuu]

Jesus the past 3 wcf games have been rough.

The best way to describe this series is as 2 boulders just grinding each other down, which ever Boulder is biggest by the end of this series will be going to the finals.

[xskarma]

I was already basically hoping that Milwaukee would win the Championship this year, but then this video of Giannis got out, and you just have to root for the guy. xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0fO3VqeksA

He's genuinely learned how to play basketball and learned to improve his skills and gets incremently better, while still being as humble as in that video and as self depricating as that.

He's also basically the only homegrown small market basketball superstar and the hope and blueprint for every small market team to follow in how to get from zero to the top.

And that's with every blowhard "take" artist saying that Milwaukee sucks and Giannis should find a real team, cause no one will ever come play with him down there.



So yeah, hope the Bucks win it all this year. They've built their team the right way, learned lessons from when things went badly, and if they can just overcome their coaching handicap for a few more games, they have a chance to win it all.