Board 8 > NBA playoffs - where Devin Booker happens

(+) Yeah! (+)

That means literally nothing if you know how the schedule works in the NBA.

The West definitely used to be stronger than the East by a significant margin but that isn't the case anymore

Except that it is. It isn't that no team in the East has a chance, but due to the schedule the teams that are decent in the East tend have overinflated win records. The regular season just does not paint a good picture of which teams are good. The pacific division has five teams that have to play each other regularly and that caused it to be a bloodbath where no one could ever truly come out on top. Take any team in that murderer's row and place them in the spot the Bucks or the Celtics had and they end up on top of the league in regular season wins. Put the Bucks or Celtics in their place and they'll still do alright, but they don't rise up to number one or two in the league. There are good team in the East, and weird stuff can happen, but if you took the top half of the teams in actual strength it would be incredibly lopsided towards the West.

I don't think Miami matches up well against LAL, but with neutral refs I think everything else is a tossup.

The best of the West is better than the best of the East but the East is better top to bottom

ChichiriMuyo posted...

Except that it is. It isn't that no team in the East has a chance, but due to the schedule the teams that are decent in the East tend have overinflated win records. The regular season just does not paint a good picture of which teams are good. The pacific division has five teams that have to play each other regularly and that caused it to be a bloodbath where no one could ever truly come out on top. Take any team in that murderer's row and place them in the spot the Bucks or the Celtics had and they end up on top of the league in regular season wins. Put the Bucks or Celtics in their place and they'll still do alright, but they don't rise up to number one or two in the league. There are good team in the East, and weird stuff can happen, but if you took the top half of the teams in actual strength it would be incredibly lopsided towards the West.

So why isn't that reflected in the east vs west records I posted?

Because of the schedule. I take it you don't know how it works. So in the Pacific division the Clippers, Kings, Lakers, Suns and Warriors each play each other 4 times. They also play each other Western teams 3-4 times. They only play Eastern teams 2 times. They can't stack easy wins because they are playing better teams (West) more than weak teams (East) and vice versa. The Bucks and Celtics have better records because they got to dodge playing against the better teams and got to stack wins on the weaker ones.

Leonhart4 posted...

The best of the West is better than the best of the East but the East is better top to bottom

I think I feel the opposite, though the top East teams have/had some really bad coaches.

Those standings are only looking at interconference games. There's a reason Games Played is 30 there (as you say each team plays the other conference 30 times.)

I mean, you can still try to debate the point but I feel like the argument you'd want here is saying that the top East teams don't have to expend as much energy playing in conference so it's easier for them to go hard when they play the West.

I do know how the schedule works but the Pacific division playing each other 4 times is not a major factor in their record purely against the eastern conference teams.

Like the Magic went 14-16 against the West conference and 20-32 against the East. The Wizards went 14-16 against the West and 21-31 against the East. If the West was so good then bad east team would not be going basically .500 against them.

The Celtics and Bucks went 23-7 against the West. They didn't only win 23 games because the good teams they played were worn down by playing good west teams more often.

The East as a whole went 236-214 against the West this season.

Okay, I will admit that was my bad, then. I didn't look closely. I just thought it was a posting of the regular season standings when I saw a block of information. It is still incomplete information though, and does not reflect the tougher road teams in the West face due to playing teams in the West more. Again, not saying there aren't good teams in the East or that they don't have a chance, just that the overall competition is lopsided towards one.

I'd have to double check it but the team that benefitted the most from the east/west games is the Lakers as i'm fairly certain I read an article earlier this year saying that the Clippers faced teams night 1 and the Lakers night 2 in the B2Bs. I want to say it was in all of them but I'd have to verify. I definitely remember reading some grumblings about it

If that is true, you will have an easy convert in grumbling about the way the league treats the Lakers in me. It's not enough of an advantage that players want to go there to become a part of their legacy, but it seems like the league puts the thumb on the scales for them too.

The East hasn't been a joke for awhile now. The Warriors practically walked to the finals last year and the Celtics had two grueling 7 game series that very easily could have went the other way, and they still put up a good fight against Golden State. The East is actually the better conference this year, and I'd argue last year as well.

In have no stats, but just looking and watching games in both conferences these playoffs. The West just look like better teams.

Celtics off to a hot start

Leonhart4 posted...

Celtics off to a hot start

you confused/scared the bajesus out of me

Philly caught up quick

i hate you

Ja Morant suspended again.

_PandaMaster_ posted...

Ja Morant suspended again.

Suspended from what exactly? Offseason workouts?

All team activities according to the Grizzlies statement.

yeah but what activities exactly are they participating in right now

doesn't feel like much of a punishment

From what Woj said, he's going to get a suspension to start the season from the NBA. This was just the Grizzlies getting ahead of it for optics

https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1657771109821890562?s=46&t=rTA-RIGQd2lid4TVM7ibNw

Whatever team activities were meant to be.

Leonhart4 posted...

Philly caught up quick

well this turned out to be pretty accurate

Lol, Tatum can't miss and the sixers can't buy a basket. It's over

nice try, i'm not gonna fall for that reverse-jinx

Curry's record for most points in a Game 7 didn't stand for very long

What a disgraceful showing by the "MVP" and his team. Literally ZERO heart. Who expected this team to accomplish anything?

Shameful.

finally the biggest and whiniest frauds go out. good riddance. looking forward to seeing who doc and embiid will throw under the bus yet again this year considering neither one of them has ever taken accountability for their own faults before

Didn't watch post game pressers, did the Sixers find someone else to throw under the bus for their failure again or did they try blame the refs for the previous game? Or did they actually take personal responsibility for a change

https://twitter.com/PHLSixersNation/status/1145503619950809089

Friendly reminder that the Sixers chose Tobias Harris over Jimmy Butler

Trust the Process for continual second round exits

Philly won't win anything with Doc as the coach.

https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1657890933667508225?t=F-7ksyyeoAevVPQaHFRC4g&s=19

lmfao

Throwing the entire team, EXCEPT harden under the bus. Shameful.

"Jokic can't win MVP again, he has no playoff success and doesn't play defense."

Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays as Embiid gets relentlessly hunted in the pick and roll and his team gets eliminated before the conference finals yet again.

changmas posted...

https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1657890933667508225?t=F-7ksyyeoAevVPQaHFRC4g&s=19

lmfao

I too expect players on MLEs and vet minimums to be able to overcome 2 max level players having a nightmare game in game 7 of the playoffs

You almost hope someone actually calls out Embiid on his comments. He and Harden score a combined 24pts when it matters most. Yet, it's everyone else's fault? At least Aaron Fraudgers won a SB before deciding everyone else was why he failed every year after.

It is kinda freakish that these conference semifinals are exactly the same as the bubble ones

https://twitter.com/SwipaCam/status/1657865246504112129

"I've never won anything! Why do people expect so much of me?!?!?!"
-Joel "MVP" Embiid

*Wins MVP*
"Why doesn't the rest of the team help me?!?!? I'm only one person!!! "
-Joel "MVP" Embiid

Opposite of the Mamba Mentality. Pure Loser Energy.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Bro, you're half the reason Jimmy Butler left. Clown.

Actually Butler and Embiid seem to be on good terms. I wouldn't be surprised if they reunite one day, but it won't be in Philly.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Doc is now 17-34 in closeout games as a coach. That is fucking laughably bad. The Sixers fired Scott Brown because he couldn't make the conference finals, just FYI.

Was Scott before or after Brett

Yea, the guy who has that mentality that gets me heated up is Charles Barkley. He wants to believe he could have gotten a ring if he had just had a player like Pippin on his side. Dude had Kevin Johnson on his side, a man with better stats than Pippin and a better fit to play aside him and feed his ego. He also had Majerle and Ainge. I'm pretty sure all three of them are three time all-stars. It's like Jordan said, Barkley had the raw talent but he lacked the work ethic. The next year they added AC Green and lost none of the former and Jordan was out of the game and he still couldn't do it.