The 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs Thread

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

oh yeah i always think of that raptors series as the ECF. i can’t even remember what the real ECF was that year

oh right, the bucks. for some reason i’ve completely lost all memory of that series

bucks won the first two then raps put kawhi on giannis and rolled 4 in a row right

yeah that sounds right

couple important game 5s tonight. first games with some real stakes. id be very surprised if the grizz and suns dont win tho.

every grizzlie player has yellow tights and sleeves on looks pretty cool

griz out of the gates fast

finch called a good timeout and they got back in it

minny role players showing out so far

aahahaha they sat usher and ja morant next to eachother thats amazing

bucks won the first two then raps put kawhi on giannis and rolled 4 in a row right

― lag∞n, Tuesday, April 26, 2022 5:42 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well I wouldn’t say they rolled Game 3, it went to double OT and Middleton had several good looks to win it

Games 4-6 were ugly though, in all 3 the Bucks would go on a 8-10 minute stretch where they wouldn’t hit a single shot

Had they not won it last year I’d still be scarred by that

Also I think that was the year they racked up an average point differential of +10/game which is in like Jordan Bulls/Kobe and Shaq Lakers territory

no jimmy or lowry tonight and trae just looks completely demoralized by the heat defense. 8 points on 2-10 shooting, 4 assists to 5 turnovers