part two of the nba 2020-21 anything but regular season

kd put out a classic “it sucks that i got caught” apology today huh

how is he still like this

its very embarrassing but i do respect that he has no desire to change

durant's hijinx are sorta the nba equivalent of Curb Your Enthusiasm: yes he is acting like an idiot but he is also insanely talented and rich so who's gonna tell him to stop

dm'ing michael rappaport is really hitting rock bottom

for real. there's nothing sadder than people paying attention to michael rappaport.

Aaron Gordon has looked like a perfect fit tbh. Really engaged on defense, picking up the playbook fast it seems.

Was thinking of checking out the dubs game only to see they are down by 53 points in the 3rd.

Q3: raps 46 - dubs 14. brutal.

That can’t be real

128-73 most of the way through a more spirited 4th quarter

wiggins island not in effect tonight

No dray or curry not worth watching but that’s ugly

Q1: suns - 43 thunder - 13

Steph seems unfazed by the Warriors loss 😂 pic.twitter.com/CM1MYsMiOu

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 3, 2021

Giannis had maybe the best game of his career last night

warriors made the mistake of viewing Wiggins as a player and not a carrier of timberwolves virus, now they are infected

liking the bucks clicking hope they can defeat and crush the nets

rly hoping phill or milly can catch that 1 seed so brooklyn would have to face both teams if they wanted to get to the finals. feel like the 1 seed is getting two bye rounds in the east

yeah that would be for the best

Giannis beating harden in the playoffs is exactly what we need and deserve

god i hope so but don't see it happening if durant is back and full strength and kyrie is back from his vision quest(s) in time to drop in for a basketball game or two

i don’t think the nets will win the title, idk if there’s much evidence that you can ad hoc your way into a title in year one. they also seem particularly combustible and fragile given some of the personalities, playoff and injury histories on that team. i could see them getting out of the east tho if they have the 1 seed

also the nets defense its not championship level

i think a really good well balanced actual team will beat the nets due to their inability to play defense and other flaws in the whole idea of that team but not sure if there are any of those

and its more than just ad hocing it year one harden didnt come over til half way and their big 3 has barely played together

Right, I don't think they'll win the title either (depth, defense) but I don't trust the Bucks or Sixers to beat them if they have their big 3. I.e., if I had to predcit I think they'll lose in the finals. Of course it is entirely possible that one of those 3 gets hurt long enough in the offs for them to go down in the east.

Would also love to see KD's increasingly cringe off-court persona finally break through onto the court and have them blow a critical game because he and Harden are fighting over who gets to take crunch time shots or something

i think either the bucks or sixers could beat them except not the sixers because they are psychologically weak

however embiid would absolutely take 15 fouls shots a game if they played so that might be enough to overcome it

simmons v kd wld be a pretty cool matchup

hoping for a PJ Tucker revenge game vs Harden.

I think the point above about the east #1 seed being really important is otm

nets have a rookie never even coached before ever coach too

i can’t decide if the bucks are a worse match up bcuz they can actually score with the nets or the sixers are a worse match up bcuz they can actually play some defense. maybe the nets are a good match up for the bucks bcuz they don’t play defense and thus the bucks 4th quarter playoff game issue of looking like they’ve never practiced half court offense before would be rendered moot. i’m talking myself into the bucks having a good shot against the nets now

heat or celtics cld absolutely get hot and take out any of the top seeds too

yeah the nash component was one of the main reasons i was hugely skeptical of the pre-harden nets but it doesn’t get talked about much anymore. pretty much everything we know about the NBA tells us there has to be some learning curve for a team that has barely played together coached by a guy in his first year who also has zero years of coaching experience

the playoffs are always different than the regular season but with all the crazy offense this year they might be more different than usual

i think both heat and celtics will have a really hard time scoring with the nets but could def beat the other two teams i mean the heat just dominated the bucks i think they’d prob want to see them again if they could choose

let us also not forget about playoff harden

between playoff harden and KD and kyrie missing the playoffs like half the time due to injury, KD not having played for months bcuz of injury and kyrie being away from the team on two separate occasions this year, lots of red flags there that will be ignored as everyone picks the nets to make the finals bcuz it’s hard to imagine a team with those guys on it losing

i hear that and i think it's just wait and see. there's definitely a narrative with teams like this that they're getting all their bumps and roadblocks out during the season so they can actualize for the playoffs, but precedent in so far as it exists suggests you can't just make that shift so easily. but this situation is pretty unique so we'll see.

as a celtics fan I am sad to say I have a hard time seeing them take out any of those 3 teams unless their chemistry really changes over the next few weeks. they done f'ed this season up bad.

the heat, it wouldn't be at all shocking to see them click into a higher gear with a fully bought-in oladipo, healthy jimmy and bam. that's a trio that is (by design) tailor made to match up with Bklyn and the Bucks defensively at least. Being able to hang on offense probably depends on guys like Herro and Duncan R recapturing some of their bubble magic.

i mean its always more likely a team will continue to play as it has been recently than not but if youre going to pick a team to "shock the world" it makes sense to pick one that has the talent to and has played at that level as recently as last season, also the celtics have had injury issues too FWIW

I think we can all agree that the nets losing would be very funny

the problem with the nets losing is that i don’t want the sixers or bucks to win either, quite the dilemma

nets have a rookie never even coached before ever coach too

not likely to be a factor, imo. he has assistants and a lot of playoff experience. he'll do ok. the biggest challenge he'll face will be if his stars get cranky at each other and that would be a headache for any coach.

We need a phx vs Milwaukee finals

the problem with the nets losing is that i don’t want the sixers or bucks to win either, quite the dilemma

― J0rdan S., Saturday, April 3, 2021 12:20 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is hateration, bucks winning wd be v good imo

Hornets‘ Gordon Hayward will miss at least four weeks with right foot sprain, team says.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 3, 2021

i don’t think the nets will win the title, idk if there’s much evidence that you can ad hoc your way into a title in year one. they also seem particularly combustible and fragile given some of the personalities, playoff and injury histories on that team. i could see them getting out of the east tho if they have the 1 seed

― J0rdan S., Saturday, April 3, 2021 12:34 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I mean they could, right? the lakers basically did this, the heat and KD dubs should have done it and then did it in year two...their combination of playmaking and shooting is going to be really formidable in a 7 game series, and their stars are all 10 year vets, they’re not green

i really can't imagine the generic problems of having a first year coach applying less to a team than nash to the nets,

that makes some sense though there are some rotational choices he could easily mess up