Board 8 > NBA Playoffs - Where Home Blowouts Happen

(+) Yeah! (+)

transcience posted...

we've got a few days so we can tease this out a little. outside of Oladipo, who on Indiana's starting 5 is better than Boston's? i think pretty highly of Brown, Tatum and especially Horford. Rozier has been really good too. they're also very good at switching which should help them vs Cleveland's shooters.

Myles Turner over Aron Baynes?
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I see Cavs in 6, maybe 5. But outside of Boston in 4, I wouldn't be surprised by any other result.

If we're talking current Celtics starting 5, I'd say dipo > Brown and Myles Turner > Baynes.
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No one other than Oladipo is better than any of Boston's starting 5 other than Baynes. But I think matchups are pretty important here RE: Cleveland. Horford in a vacuum is the best big in the series, but Thompson and Love usually have their way with him on the boards. We don't have a Thad Young type to handle Love, and Baynes will probably get likely blown off the floor quickly.

As for Indy > Boston, there's a bit of "proof in the pudding" to this. One of the two W's was without Oladipo and the other one, the Boston Clutchtics came up with a steal because Bogdanovic passed the ball up 1 with 2 seconds left, and Rozier dunked it to win by 1. They wrecked us the last two times we played this season.
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Raps fire Casey.

Clearly it was all his fault. Can't wait to win the championship next year!
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How do you fire the coach of the year?
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Orlando local radio has been saying all week to try get Casey if he's fired. Has the tie in with GM Weltman and we have been waiting around doing not much in our coaching search

I'd love it if we got him

Corrik posted...

How do you fire the coach of the year?

not even the first team to do it
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technically he's only coach of the year as voted by other coaches
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davidponte posted...

Warriors fire Jackson.

Clearly it was all his fault. Can't wait to win the championship next year!

I mean you never know...!

people thought the Warriors firing Jackson was kind of a weird move at the time but it was clearly the right one
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LeonhartFour posted...

Corrik posted...

How do you fire the coach of the year?

not even the first team to do it

Who else has
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Nuggets fired George Karl after he won Coach of the Year
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Jackson and Karl both had major character issues. I think Casey is pretty beloved in Toronto by his players and superiors, but it's similar to Scott Brooks - at some point you have to move on.

Also similar to Scott Brooks, that is no guarantee that performance will improve in the future...
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well that's what happens when you essentially replace Scott Brooks with Scott Brooks

also when you lose Kevin Durant

they should have beaten the Warriors that first year but yeah
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I think Westbrook has had a lot more to do with the Thunder since Brooks left than Donovan. That said, they were nearly in ring territory that one last glorious year. Who knows what happens in 2017 if KD stays. No one's calling Lue a coaching genius either, and they have a ring.
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Coaches don't move the needle much save the elite of the elite.
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I'm resisting the urge to bang my head against the wall in this argument I'm having with a friend who is adamant that getting Carmelo Anthony is the solution to all of the Raptors problems.
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davidponte posted...

I'm resisting the urge to bang my head against the wall in this argument I'm having with a friend who is adamant that getting Carmelo Anthony is the solution to all of the Raptors problems.

banging your head against a wall would be more productive than engaging in that argument
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If that problem is "how to effectively tank for the #1 pick"
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"He scores a lot of points and you need a big 3 to win a championship".
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If there's anything we've learned, it's that adding an egotistical volume shooter to a roster with an already established volume shooter is DEFINITELY the way to fix your team. Definitely.
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davidponte posted...

"He scores a lot of points and you need a big 3 to win a championship".

yes what the Raptors need is one more guy who seizes up during the playoffs

maybe they can get Paul George too
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Scores a lot of points. 16 points per game. Pick one.

I was told to stop disrespecting Carmelo Anthony.
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paul george doesn't seize up during the playoffs, he's just streaky as hell

anyway, melo 3 years ago might have been interesting, but it's obvious your friend just doesn't really watch basketball, so why bother arguing with him?
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ShatteredElysium posted...

Scores a lot of points. 16 points per game. Pick one.

No, you see, he only had a bad year this year because of Westbrook. He could average 25 ppg on the Raptors.
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I actually think the Raptors can make a move to make them a legit team, but I'm thinking it might involve a risky DeRozan swap.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

anyway, melo 3 years ago might have been interesting, but it's obvious your friend just doesn't really watch basketball, so why bother arguing with him?

He watches more basketball than I do! And is usually pretty knowledgeable about how things work, he's just obsessed with Melo for some reason.

He was also (legitimately) a Warriors fan before they were good, so I get to hear that a lot.
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I mean people still want to believe Melo is good for some reason

it's always his environment, his teammates, etc. etc. etc. if he could just land in a situation like he's had with the Olympics team you'd see what he could really do
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I remember a few years ago there was talk of Oladipo + something for Melo. Maybe in like 14/15 and even then when Oladipo wasn't good, I still didn't want any part of Melo as a Magic fan with zero stars on the team.

LeonhartFour posted...

I mean people still want to believe Melo is good for some reason

it's always his environment, his teammates, etc. etc. etc. if he could just land in a situation like he's had with the Olympics team you'd see what he could really do

Melo has been trash for a long time. He literally destroys teams.
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Melo was fun through his Denver days, and maybe 1-2 years in NY? I think his position has evolved a bit. NY was a messy situation and OKC needed him to be a third option and he's just not made to be one. I'm not a Melo defender, but I guess pretend New Orleans had him instead of Cousins, so it's Rondo/Jrue/Melo/Mirotic/Davis... that seems like it would work? I dunno just making up shit
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melo https://streamable.com/3hzxh
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Isn't Ujiri the guy to trust in the Raptors organisation?

Casey under Colangelo wasn't this highly regarded.

Makes me think why Colangelo, was so bad with the Raptors, but is so good with Philly.
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Budenholzer to Toronto could be interesting. He's got the experience of being swept by the Cavs that we value so highly here.
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oh yeah probably shouldn't let this die since the Rockets and Warriors don't even play until Monday
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well there is a game today - hopefully it'll be worth watching!
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If only we had no conference based playoffs, it wouldn't be the NBA finals starting tomorrow, and maybe a series would have gone past 5!

And yeah, I assume the Celtics-Cavs series will be pretty competitive.

A. Celtics have a decent amount of guys that can switch onto lebron.
B. More importantly, they have the guys and the coach that will find ways to attack Korver and Love. They might even be able to force Korver off the court, which would be huge.

I have Cavs in 7. Just tough to pick against Lebron, especially with the Celtics running so thin at guard. I don't love Larkin, but not having him hurts.
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Toss up: Lebron is actually defended well by Morris

OR

They pissed Lebron off and he drops 40 at the Garden (again)

???
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yoooooo

this music is terrible

bring back the classic john tesh jingle or die

cleveland's schematic defnese doesn't look awful - they're just having trouble one-on-one.

this is good news.

tristan thompson is in, which is bad news.
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cavs in 3
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LeBron just giving himself a challenge after the Raptors
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we're gonna see a lot more of tristan thompson as this series goes on.
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a 26 point deficit at halftime might be too much for Lebron
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so, uh, the last few pages are pretty hilarious right about now
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Celtics still have a lot of players who got crushed in last year's ECF.

They don't seem in this first half to have some of those mental blocks the Raptors appeared to have though.
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transcience posted...

so, uh, the last few pages are pretty hilarious right about now

almost as hilarious as "Raptors in 6"
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still gonna be cavs in 6

yeah that's fair

that's because I expected this Cavs team, not the ones who played above their heads vs Toronto

or rather, a well coached opponent
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