Board 8 > 2024 NBA Playoffs Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Apparently it was.

I wonder how much the Magic front office regrets giving up a home game to play in Mexico City. Magic lost that game by 1 point and were 1 game off home court in the playoffs

I think with how the playoffs have shaken out, you could conceivably make a case for the Magic being the second most challenging team for the Celtics to face. I don't remotely expect the Magic to have won that series but 5-7 (probably 6) games against the team you need to beat the following year would have been a great experience

LOL Knicks

Seen a lot of Knicks fans say 'But injuries!' as if that isn't a by product of Thibs running his key players into the ground all season long

This is what you get with Thibs as your coach. This is his reputation.

He creates gutty and gritty teams that fanbases love to root for, but they always fall apart because he pushed them too hard.

Injury excuses are always stupid anyway. Would they have been better? Maybe, but you don't actually ever know. Especially with a player like Randle who was only been proven to be a massive letdown most of his career. Anunoby was injured all year, so not sure what they expected from him, and Hart was obviously just running on fumes. Brunson was good and put up some stellar games, but also had plenty of stinkers which I'm not sure why people are throwing to the side.

Knicks just aren't there yet, they need one more superstar piece to just make the finals, but even then they would still probably lose to a Western conference team.

the close game this series has been waiting for is finally here

Or not.

It's not quite over yet but I'm really surprised the Wolves seem to have bounced back after they dropped 3 in a row to go down 3-2. I wasn't super shocked they got Game 6 but wouldn't have thought they could get this one.

Mega collapse by Denver.

It's been just Murray and Jokic two man game, no one else is literally getting involved in Denvers offense.

Wolves almost started to give it back with that turnover on the inbounds but bailed out by KAT getting that offensive rebound+dunk.

Mavs vs Wolves should be a fun series

A 20 point blown lead (15 at halftime) in a Game 7 at home is hard to swallow. You'd much rather lose the way the Knicks just rolled over and died.

Shattered posted...

Seen a lot of Knicks fans say 'But injuries!' as if that isn't a by product of Thibs running his key players into the ground all season long

^

And of course we get Mavs vs. T'Wolves after I said both teams do too many dumb things to trust them to make deep runs

Meow1000 posted...

A 20 point blown lead (15 at halftime) in a Game 7 at home is hard to swallow. You'd much rather lose the way the Knicks just rolled over and died.

As a Suns fan I'm not sure I agree with this

I'm still recovering from 2022

Couple things:
1) I think thibs running his guys so hard has its detriments but 2 of their most important injuries, randle and brunson, were completely unrelated to such things imo. When you think of fatigue related injuries you think of muscles, but brunson broke his hand and randle had a dislocated shoulder. Mitchell Robinson also broke his foot and missed most of the season. I don't think it's fair to say they lost this series because of Thibs. Sometimes stuff just happens. The nature of the injuries sustained aren't his fault imo.

2) Lol at the doomsaying that was happening when the wolves went to 2-2. Pessimism never pays.

MZero posted...

As a Suns fan I'm not sure I agree with this

I'm still recovering from 2022

All the Suns did this year was roll over and die so

Emeraldegg posted...

Pessimism never pays.

Seems like it did pay though!

We're about to have an amazing WCF and a snoozefest of an ECF

I hope Hali can at least get good experience against Boston

The Celtics get too comfortable at home so I think it'll at least be a closer series than Bos/NYK. 6 or 7 games imo.

I actually think the WCF will have less drama and see Minnesota beating Dallas down.

Emeraldegg posted...

2) Lol at the doomsaying that was happening when the wolves went to 2-2. Pessimism never pays.

MZero posted...

Seems like it did pay though!

All part of the plan.

Meow1000 posted...

All the Suns did this year was roll over and die so

They've been making some bad decisions roster-wise, but at least the team that swept them is going to the conference finals after a hard fought series against the previous champs. If they can offload Beal for a PG, they will definitely raise my hopes up to be dashed again next year.

If the Timberwolves win the whole thing, though, I will be happy for them. Same as the Nuggets last year. It is always more fun to me to see a team win their first one ever than seeing a team just add to a long list of accolades. I love myself an underdog, or in this case an underwolf.

Beal for Dejounte Murray let's do it

The problem is that they probably can't offload Beal

Beal is untradeable

also has a NTC

well i wanted to avoid the label but i guess it really is title or bust now for the cetics

This feels like the easiest path to the Finals for a team since, I dunno, one of Lebron's years in Cleveland the second time around?

yeah, that's a pretty reasonable take, though i think since the pandemic started, playoff records and injuries have just been weird in general. the bubble was super-weird and morey detonated the rockets; bucks and suns managed to face a bunch of injured teams; warriors lucked into the mavs and injured grizz; nuggets managed to avoid a single 50-win team in their conference. this specific celtics run might be weaker than any of those, but sadly it's kind of been par for the course lately. won't apologize if we win but man, losing this one would be devastating.

no MVPs or finals MVPs left, only a few who have been on championship teams

even if the Celtics winning would be lame from an org standpoint, nice to see a young star(s) win their first championship from any of the teams left

I mean the Celtics have only won one title most of us here have any memory of and anything to make people stop talking about that 2008 team is good in my book

2021's final four was the best with the most recent champion being the Bucks 50 years earlier, but this year is pretty great, too. We're guaranteed a team that hasn't won in 10+ years and we have two chances at a first time champion. And of course even if it's the Celtics or Mavericks we still get Tatum or Luka's first ring

Order of preference on who I'd like to see win

Mavs
Timberwolves
Pacers
No one wins and the trophy gets hurled into space
Celtics

Indiana
Pretty big gap
Minnesota
Enormous gap
Boston
Dallas

... would be my rooting interests. I'd love to see the big young team upset and these Pacers are pretty likeable. Minnesota's a weird one because I don't really like Edwards very much, but I've always been a KAT fan and would love seeing Conley finally win a ring.

There are basically no scenarios in which I would pull for a Boston sports team, but dammit, a Celtics/Mavs final would get me there.

1. Mavs (favorite team)
2. Pacers
3. Timberwolves

I would be very happy with any of those winners. There is no fourth option

I think the celtics should win because they were far and away the best team all season, they deserve it the most. Plus afaik there's not anyone hateable on the team.

Celtics (favorite team in the East)
Timberwolves (Suns look much better being swept by the champs, historically buns franchise)
Pacers (They've never won before and I like Haliburton)
Mavericks (I like Luka but not a big Kyrie fan)

But there is no bad result as far as I'm concerned

KommunistKoala posted...

no MVPs or finals MVPs left, only a few who have been on championship teams

this is literally the first time this has happened since the 70s according to r/nba, which seems like absolute insanity

Leonhart4 posted...

I mean the Celtics have only won one title most of us here have any memory of and anything to make people stop talking about that 2008 team is good in my book

not to change your rooting interest but you're gonna hear a lot more about 2008 if the celtics win this year

Emeraldegg posted...

I think the celtics should win because they were far and away the best team all season, they deserve it the most. Plus afaik there's not anyone hateable on the team.

as a counterpoint here, i think the celtics can easily be disliked because their style is so uninspiring. a lot of the time they look lackadaisical and they shoot tons of 3s and they don't seem to grind out wins vs good opponents or make inspiring comebacks. makes it hard for me to love this team as much as i've loved some others, even!

SeabassDebeste posted...

as a counterpoint here, i think the celtics can easily be disliked because their style is so uninspiring. a lot of the time they look lackadaisical and they shoot tons of 3s and they don't seem to grind out wins vs good opponents or make inspiring comebacks. makes it hard for me to love this team as much as i've loved some others, even!

Stylistically is fine, I was talking more player personalities.

Not anyone in here but I'm not a huge fan of the Celtics because of how obnoxious some of their fans are on social media. Which I guess is just an issue with any team that has a massive fanbase.

Yeah I mean it's boston, they are *rightfully* going to get some flak by virtue of being boston. And they will always have fans that are like "of course we are the chosen ones we are boston!"

jaylen brown is extremely hateable

If you dont like Kyrie you dont like basketball
Especially when hes playing so inspired i mean my God that Clippers series

BrohanBlanco posted...

If you dont like Kyrie you dont like basketball
Especially when hes playing so inspired i mean my God that Clippers series

sure but not very likable as a person

You can respect Kyrie's game and still dislike him and not want to root for him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHEOyXS3-Ik

I'd prefer any team with Kyrie on it to flame out in spectacular fashion.

Mavs

Positives: I like Luka
Negatives: Kyrie is trash human. Also I live in the Dallas area so I have to suffer Dallas sports fans so if their teams lose and they seem miserable then that's a plus

As a UNC fan, I can't fully support Kyrie Irving, but considering he already has a ring thanks to LeBron, getting a 2nd ring is whatever; I'm pulling for the Mavs because of Luka.

On a different note, Irving would only become the 3rd Duke player to win multiple NBA titles if the Mavs win this year (first two are Shane Battier with the Heat and Quinn Cook with the Warriors and Lakers)