The 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs Thread

hard to tell with Middleton completely disappearing for a second game in a row

needs to save that for the second round

practice makes perfect

Bucks do this every year and one year they did it and won the title

ideally the Bucks would want someone to pick up the slack when Giannis isn't playing well but it just affects the whole team when he's off

though I will say he seems to be coming alive now

sheesh this Bulls lineup is uh...not good

kyrie ready to go on vacation already

Kyrie Irving says the timing is right for the Celtics to be contending and "the window is now for these guys." Praised Ime Udoka and especially Brad Stevens as the new President.

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) April 21, 2022

was wondering if he wants to have to make another trip to boston lol

fwiw his last season in boston he had amazing first game in the 2nd round vs the bucks then dogged it in four straight losses and never looked back, he has a player option next year

Lol Kyrie holy shit

god damn Giannis balls out like crazy to get em close and the Bucks immediately give up an 11-0 run

oh 13-0

I’m happy for Demar

cool Portis and Middleton both injured

fucking hellllllllll what a horrorshow of a game

bucks not looking real sharp

jrue had a decent look for a three when they really couldve used one and just had no intention of shooting dumped it inside to a doubled giannis

Yeah because he had that same look a minute prior and bricked it badly

that was a pretty bad brick tbf but still the bucks need him to take the shot

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer tells reporters that Khris Middleton sprained his MCL and will have an MRI on Thursday.

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) April 21, 2022

oh man

total shots made by the Nets after halftime yesterday: 11

by kyrie: 1

by kd: 0

fwiw his last season in boston he had amazing first game in the 2nd round vs the bucks then dogged it in four straight losses and never looked back, he has a player option next year

― lag∞n, Wednesday, April 20, 2022 11:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This is what Kyrie sounded like when he was tanking playoff games in Milwaukee during his last year here 😭 https://t.co/WVycnhFpbD

— A.K (@Kungu_NBA) April 21, 2022

said it before but doesnt seem like kyrie cares for playing in the nba that much

he floats above it all... just asking questions, making observations, which teams are rising and falling, things of that nature

hes played 103 regular season games over the last three seasons

when we gonna get an update on Middleton

why are there no games in the good conference tonight

I’ve been thinking about how Kyrie is sort of like Maravich, this guy with personal demons and more finesse skill than a sane person can have maybe

would be pretty funny if this was in a sweep

Brooklyn Nets three-time All-Star Ben Simmons plans to make his season debut in Game 4 vs. Boston on Monday as long as rehab remains on course, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Simmons is set to play his first game since June 2021.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 21, 2022

play 12 minutes in the season

the timing of the return is just the perfect kicker to the bizarro simmo season

nets asked themselves the question can a team of all weird malcontents work and when it did not they traded for another one

They even added another weirdo in Drummond

yikes

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker could miss 2-to-3 weeks with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, @WindhorstESPN reports: https://t.co/qVtopVU3Ld

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 21, 2022

they should be fine. thats likely middle of the second round. biggest fear would be luka comes back healthy and beats the jazz

I am really sick of playoffs with so many injuries

Pretty close to waving the white flag and accepting shorter seasons. You could change the rules to cause less wear and tear on players but we can’t trust refs to stick to it

it really puts a cloud over it all every year

agreed. it’s a long time since the regular season has meant much anyways

Pretty close to waving the white flag and accepting shorter seasons. You could change the rules to cause less wear and tear on players but we can’t trust refs to stick to it

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, April 21, 2022 10:43 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

what ideas are you thinking for rule changes?

My theory is that the ultra-competitive nature of sports keeps driving all the participants closer and closer to the limits of what a human body can do and when you spend so much time at the very edge of performance the margin of safety disappears. The other big factor is sitting players with injuries that they used to play through because the capital investment they represent is vastly larger than it was back when a $1 million contract was superstar pay.

Middleton out 3-4 weeks, not sure they can beat Boston without him

regular season being 82 games in a fairly low variance sport has always been crazy

i know its something thats hard to go in reverse on but it has to happen eventually. teams currently get what, 15 back to backs? just cutting enough to get rid of those would go a long way

you’d have to demonstrate that there are more injuries in the playoffs now than there’s ever been and that those injuries were related to wear and tear as opposed to bad luck and/or the physical more demanding nature of the playoffs in general. my guess is that there is minimal correlation. if anything we’re in the period of least intensive regular season play in history

there probably aren't because teams are resting their players in the regular season more to compensate

if anything we’re in the period of least intensive regular season play in history

― J0rdan S., Thursday, April 21, 2022 2:24 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i actually wonder if guys trying to ramp up and play really hard after coasting is part of the issue

maybe? feel like the real “issue” is that guys play harder and for longer in the playoffs and they don’t take any games off, not sure how you can legislate that out of the game, nor would you want to. it is what it is

im interested in ways to make regular season a bit more meaningful too even just small things like reseeding the 2nd round of the offs would make it a little more favorable for the higher seeds on average