( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

my basic prediction for the rest of this series is that regardless of other factors, we can expect bron to get better and harden to get worse

feels like the lakers should be losing by more, westbrook and harden are playing well, they’ve turned it over a lot while scoring 0 points off turnovers

but then again, lebron

it is good that as we have gone deeper into the bubble and offs the scores have settled down and it hasn't remained just pure like 150-145 nonsense

― Clay, Tuesday, September 8, 2020 10:24 PM (fifty-one seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a good point, as much as i enjoyed the seeding games we are now seeing a lot of normal playoff basketball

lakers interior d looking soft here

Wasting a great half by James, just letting dudes run layup drills

Some of that is them also being shook by the Houston threes and giving them the lanes, the rest is just stupid

imagine having to play small so much is throwing the lakers off some

billy d out in okc

these reviews are out of control

Lakers couldn’t do better than rondo?

lebron has an established thing for older vets right

davis loved rondo in new orleans too

3 offensive possessions in a row where harden hasn't wanted to participate

rondo nailing the coffin on the morey era rn

rondo's not a great match w/ lebron bcuz he can't shoot but having two genius level passers on the floor at once is nice

it's unconscionable from harden. he needs to be in every action on offense.

he's very happy to be double teamed and pass the ball and just end his involvement in the possession

yup. and he’ll end the game with good stats and a lot of people will forget the clutch possessions that he opted out of.

this series is over

yes, houston needed to pounce and they just could not

rondo-KCP-kuzma-brow would be the worst crunch time cast lebron has dragged to the finals outside of that one cavs year where kyrie and love got hurt

pre miami cavs were pretty rough too

it's true... i think doing it in the west would trump all tho

he does have brow now

pretty rough for the rockets playing neck and neck all game then running in to a late model playoff rondo

Has harden like ever cut off the ball once? Can’t even remember seeing him to that. Has he ever passed and screened away?

ive seen him cut a lil

...lol

Lakers fans being forced to endure a Clippers/Celtics would be the only clear, enduring nightmare Finals for any NBA team's fanbase.

Every other rivalry matchup in recent years was based on specific players being on a team.

— Gordon Gartrelle (@mrgartrelle) September 9, 2020

carne please confirm

i think lakers knicks could be equivalent for celtics fans but lol

feel like celtics fans dont care thaat much about the knicks just via owning them forever

clippers winning a ring in the most asterisk year possible would be pretty funny tho

philly and knicks fans def super hate the celtics but i dont think really have any western teams they hate

yeah this requires that the knicks become good enough to beat the celtics regularly the point is that it is in fact a natural rivalry and not a player based one if both teams are relevant

and yeah celtics lakers is the only real east west rivalry so one of them has to be involved

carne please confirm

― lag∞n, Wednesday, September 9, 2020 11:45 AM (forty-nine minutes ago)

not ideal at all tbh

Tyler Herro leads the league with 102 4th quarter playoff minutes.

He’s a +32 with just 3 TO.#HEATTwitter pic.twitter.com/D2qmwnyyJs

— Simon Smith (@SimonSperling) September 9, 2020

the heat kinda terrify me. like this season theyre plucky underdogs but by 2021-22 they might have two max dudes next to butler, bam, herro....ughhhhhhh

i continue to believe it's the celtics in the east this year but miami looks gooooooooood right now

i think the celtics are a bad match up for the heat because the heat don't have anyone to check kemba and on the other side smart will be a problem for dragic and herro. i think if the heat win it will come down to butler, crowder and iggy out-vetting tatum and brown, and the celtics not having an answer for bam. other thing about this series is that the heat won't have the massive coaching advantage they enjoyed in rounds 1 and 2

i would like to see the celtics win tonights game before thinking about this

i would also like this

i'm rooting for the raptors bcuz the match up is far less problematic for the heat imo but i don't think they have the juice to get by boston... if it wasn't for a miracle the series would already be over

feel like something the heat exploited vs the bucks that they could also exploit vs the celtics is getting important players in foul trouble w/ whistles in the bubble being crazy. the heat get fouled a lot esp playing no road games and can also withstand foul trouble on the other end bcuz of their depth.

yeah depth wld def be the heats advantage over the celtics, and the celtics have more talent at the top than the heat, i dont think either team has a super big positional matchup edge theyre pretty similar teams tho the point jordan made abt the backcourt matchups are reasonable

carne please confirm

― lag∞n, Wednesday, September 9, 2020 11:45 AM (forty-nine minutes ago)

not ideal at all tbh

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, September 9, 2020 12:39 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

the bucks had a few things going vs. the heat's offense last night that i think other teams could focus on--they got robinson off the floor and made butler pretty passive for a lot of the game. i'll take my chances if dragic and herro are using most of the offensive possessions. but then they finally succumbed to jimmy's bullshit foul-drawing game.

yeah if they face the celtics the heat cld have a hard time playing robinson too much

i think they decided even before the playoffs started that their main 6 guys for crunch time were gonna be dragic, herro, butler, crowder, iggy and bam. i don't think robinson has been played off the floor really... to me it's been two things 1. herro is getting a ton of minutes because they need his ball handling 2. jae crowder is shooting 40% from three on 8 threes a game, which isn't quite duncan's percentage but when you factor in the defensive aspect it's clear he should be on the floor a ton. and iggy has thrown in a few shots per game too. i think if either of those two had turned out to be lemons on offense (not an unreasonable expectation) you'd be seeing a lot more robinson.

Robinson is a better player than Herro imo, it’s just matchups and whatnot