The 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs Thread

I know it's incredibly difficult to blow a 3-0 lead and that's why it's never happened but if any combination of people could do it it's Harden, Doc, and an injured Embiid

The three time DPOY is giving up a lot of points

Get the jazz outta here yuck. 57 points with 11 left in the 4th

at least donovan mitchell was in the game with the jazz down 26 mins with 4 mins left and pulled his hamstring

luka made some insane threes in this game

my main takeaway as far as the jazz is concerned is that donovan mitchell doesn’t wanna be on that team anymore

jazz should trade him for ben simmons obviously

honestly, if mitchell demands a trade and is able to somewhat dictate where he goes, simmons, the picks they got from philly and whatever else they need to throw in to get that done prob isn’t a wholly unrealistic scenario

I feel bad for Embiid. He is basically playing one-handed, can't dribble or play D, and he's still the Sixers best player.

They should probably shut him down for the season. There is a good chance they lose the series regardless.

Franchise is just cursed.

vibe check

Embiid on Harden only taking 11 shots: "I've been saying all season since he got here, he needs to be aggressive and he needs to be himself. That's not really my job, that's probably on coach to talk to him and tell him to take more shots"

Full quote: pic.twitter.com/vc5WIpROLO

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) April 26, 2022

kyrie overrated

Kyrie in the playoffs
W/Cavs: 39-13 25.5ppg on 50.7 FG%

W/BOS&BKN: 11-11 21.8ppg on 43.6 FG%

— A.K (@Kungu_NBA) April 26, 2022

he might have just been a player who was amazing playing next to lebron, which isn’t nothing, but his resume outside of that is paper thin at this point. he was cooking in game 1 tho

hard to imagine a better recipe for NBA drama in 2022 than james harden needing to carry the load for the sixers in a game 7 at home to avoid the greatest playoff collapse in NBA history. it will feel like there is some omniscient hand guiding the storylines

raptors hunting joel embiid on defense for 6 straight possessions pic.twitter.com/Gse8h6FX7Z

— William Lou (@william_lou) April 26, 2022

yeah the ease with which precious in particular was blowing by him last night was shocking. putting embiid in every screen action and wearing him out is a great strategy

harden hasnt scored more than 22 in like a month.

Just got an all-time voicemail with some sage coaching advice for Michael Malone. pic.twitter.com/Q5D4R5CCRd

— Mike Singer (@msinger) April 26, 2022

RIP Bulls

Bulls say star Zach LaVine has entered health and safety protocols.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 26, 2022

I'm hardly the first person to point this out but it's fucking crazy that the 46-year old Tiger Woods - who has had 350 back surgeries and is coming off a car crash in which he nearly lost an entire leg - wound up coming back before Ben Simmons

tbf he didnt come back to the nba

This is truly a nightmare of epic proportions. pic.twitter.com/FHtIWhIp48

— Wosny Lambre (@BigWos) April 26, 2022

im scared so my back hurts?

holy shit wow its happening

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRSTqvMWYAAZaiQ?format=jpg&name=medium

Ben Simmons may be the only athlete I've ever seen nail down a 0% approval rating

No matter how weird and fat Harden is, he's not Simmons.

I feel like the next steps are Simmons missing the rest of the playoffs, posting gym workout videos all summer, announcing a week before the start of next season that he's not ready, and then being fined by the Nets for missing games.

― we only steal from the greatest books (PBKR), Wednesday, April 20, 2022 3:13 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

hahah its happening

It's wild that there were tons of fans here who wanted to trade KAT for Simmons

it's because Simmons has a deeper voice

Crumb Bummons

Best halfcourt offensive ratings in the playoffs:

(Points per 100 halfcourt poss.)

1. Warriors – 113.4
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2. Mavericks – 102.9
3. Nuggets – 101.2
4. Suns – 100.9
5. Grizzlies – 99.5
6. Raptors – 98.8
7. Sixers – 98.3
8. Nets – 97.7
9. Heat – 97.2
10. Celtics – 96.8

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) April 26, 2022

Considering the Nets rated higher in that category than the Celtics, maybe that number doesn't give a very complete picture of a team's playoff efficiency.

celtics poor halfcourt offense vs the nets weak D is the one thing about that series that has me worried, they relied on transition buckets in that series, what happens when they face a good defense and those dry up, they put together a great reg season offense via ball movement but the nets gummed that all up with switching and zoney things, tho having rob back could help some by adding that roll attack, but still celtics could be in for some defensive slogs from here out

Considering the Nets rated higher in that category than the Celtics, maybe that number doesn't give a very complete picture of a team's playoff efficiency.

Yah Celtics numbers are interesting. Warriors numbers inflated since they are playing the nuggets. Small sample size and all that too. Suns with Booker would be near the top if not the top

Hilarious Wolves stat I heard on the radio: Chris Finch is now the second leading coach in playoff wins in team history

cursed franchise

cursed franchise

absolutely. there was a brief moment when I thought the curse on the Clippers may have been lifted, but I've since reconsidered. then there are the Kings, too.

the cursed teams are kings twolves knicks clippers

theres some other teams that have been bad for long stretches like orlando and charlotte and such but they haven't really had a chance to demonstrate a curse they're just normal bad

i would quibble with the knicks inclusion–they're not cursed, they're inept

cursed with a uniquely bad owner, i guess

hmm maybe

i do feel like the pels are trying to speedrun cursed status but we need another 10 years of data

wiz are also close but i want to see them squander one more good core

yeah I mean the Clips have had a lot of great players pass through their ranks the last two decades, while the Knicks have never really had a plan for winning and their dipshit owner should be forced to sell

If the last five years of the Sixers isn't cursed, I don't want to know what a curse is.

the basketball gods dont take kindly to half a decade of blatant tanking

I put that five year period up against any other teams 30 year period, curse for curse. What other team has three things in their history as bizarre as:

1. Burnergate
2. Fultz
3. Simmons

When it happens to other teams it's just normal variance. With your chosen team, then it's the cruel fates making war on you.

the sixers have at least been to the conference finals, made the second round a number of times. relative to expectations given the grand tanking experiment it’s obv been a disappointment but there’s franchises out there that haven’t won a single playoff series in 10+ years so i guess it’s a matter of perspective

theyve never made it past the 2nd round in the process era