The 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs Thread

One night with Harden, a friendship with Westbrook, maybe.

nobody:
lebron to rob pelinka last august: https://t.co/dnIkOl3Zvc

— adrian (@crawf34) May 12, 2022

I’ve been a vocal Harden supporter for years and I’ve never been more disappointed in him than now. If he’s not scoring like before he needs to play with more activity off-ball and effort on defense. Get in shape and reinstall his OKC era habits. That's how to thrive with Embiid. pic.twitter.com/v3cgDGbwPM

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 13, 2022

tell me again why i should take you seriously?

Jimmy Butler just said he wishes he was still on Joel Embiid’s team and he loves him. Wow.

pic.twitter.com/kSgUcGvsAn

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) May 13, 2022

I mean imagine choosing Ben Simmons and Brett Brown over Jimmy Butler.

dork elvis in his dying on the toilet phase

― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Thursday, May 12, 2022 9:59 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol kudos

James Harden missed a floater with 8:54 left in the first quarter -- the Danny Green injury play. That was the last 2-pointer that Harden took for the rest of the elimination game.

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 13, 2022

harden playing in philly down 3-2 is exactly what i wanted to see from him even divorced from my status as a heat fan and he went out on an 11-4-9 on 9 shots. he either is completely at peace with his life regardless of what ppl say about him as a basketball player or is so lost that he can’t even save himself from himself. but i just can’t ever worry about the sixers, as an opposing fan, if he’s on the team

ya he’s good

This man gonna be at the Maldives with Lil Baby this weekend https://t.co/N63MmqNFBb

— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) May 13, 2022

he looks 1000 years old

Mavs playing some unreal defense tonight

I don't know how much to credit the Heat for this even with how they schemed for him, but James Harden's 13.8% Usage Rate tonight was his lowest in *any* game in which he played 30+ minutes since 2011, his second season.

— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) May 13, 2022

Joel Embiid on James Harden: "Obviously, I'm sure since we got him, everybody expected the Houston James Harden, but that's not who he is anymore. He's more of a playmaker. I thought, at times, as with all of us, could've been more aggressive." pic.twitter.com/4ZapZjN00h

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) May 13, 2022

brutal

it's great that joel loves to say his teammates are bad

suns mavs is the first 7 game series of the offs, and there hasn't been one close game so far

and it’s hard to believe that one will be close either

Never change, embiid. Lmao no one knows how to tank trade value like he and doc.

Meanwhile this suns team…

I’m not a luka lover but if he and the mavs pull this off somehow I’ll be changing my stance.

Another CP legacy game incoming.

Can 2/4 of Brunson/dinwiddie/dfs/bullock step up big on the road?

Clouseout-game harden is just a whole different guy lol

I mean imagine choosing Ben Simmons and Brett Brown over Jimmy Butler.

Jimmy Butler with a strong message for the 76ers after the Heat beat Philly in the Eastern Conference Finals. “Tobias Harris over me?”

Video from photojournalist David Silver https://t.co/NdIVGYdQts pic.twitter.com/XDONATuHHW

— WPLG Local 10 Sports (@Local10Sports) May 13, 2022

CP turning into a turnover machine is weird

oh my god that butler video lol

Ruthless

jimmy is the last guy on earth i'd want mad at me

The suns should probably think about shooting some threes just a thought.

Jason Kidd is out coaching the coty. Strange times

That Butler video!

I pretty much think Joel should force a trade at this point. For his own sake.

i have a question did jimmy really want to stay at the time or is he just fucking with the sixers now

its easy to forget that he didnt play good there

and of course coming off of alltime psychotic behavior in minny but no one forgets about that lol

anyway its clear he found his place in miami and should just be happy about that

i mean it is funny to rub it in a little but still

Jimmy's story (from Reddick podcast) was that he loved Embiid and thought he was a baller, but had friction with Brett Brown and Simmons over role, etc. Toward the end of the season Jimmy sort of won in that Brown finally started playing more through Butler than Simmons, which apparently made Simmons pout. After the season, Sixers brass approached Jimmy about a deal but framed it was "are you going to play ball with us [be a company man] if we give you this deal". Jimmy, feeling insulted, started exploring the deal with Miami. Not clear if the Sixers ever actually made the offer to Jimmy, but it absolutely is clear that they basically chose the safe path not to challenge Brown/Simmons and sign Harris rather than roll out the carpet for Butler like they should have.

i mean friends we all know i love jimmy big fan but he was coming off as mentioned absolutely psycho team destroying behavior in minny and was already having static in philly, i can see why the sixers might be weary about resigning him, and in fact ill go further and say that it probably wouldnt have gone well if he had stayed, the situation was not right for him you cant put busters like ben simmons around jimmy he wont tolerate it, and the sixers org is busters too, so he went to miami, it was meant to be

At the very least an Embiid, Simmons, Butler team would be top 3 defense for years to come and you still could have traded Simmons at some point for another guy (other than James Harden).

sure i mean everyone also thought simmons was a future mvp back then

And the bottom line is why are you letting Brett freaking Brown make these kind of decisions?

sure i mean everyone also thought simmons was a future mvp back then

Especially since if team identity matched a city’s character, it should be Philly, not Miami, that is gritty and matches Jimmy’s temperament. Alas

harden was so bad it made espn do actual basketball analysis

Hey @LegsESPN, I #SALUTE you pic.twitter.com/JdGLRA1wkr

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) May 13, 2022

jimmy is such a charismatic and diabolical weirdo, like i have no doubt he does like embiid a lot but those comments last night seem like they had a lot to do with just wanting to fuck with people

otm

jimmy is averaging 29-8-5 with two steals on 53/36/80 shooting. i think giannis is the only guy i the league who has been better than him these playoffs (which is why i’m rooting for the celtics)

henry abbott post on how the other sixers player prob hate harden already

https://www.truehoop.com/p/we-didnt-follow-the-game-plan

the honeymoon phase was over so fast lol

need to get harden onto some team that doesnt have cool players for him to drag down like the kings or knicks or jazz or w/e and let him finish out his career there

Georges Niang becomes the latest player to say the 76ers lacked either mental toughness, maturity or focus during this season. Pretty noteworthy how often it has come up since the season ended last night.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 13, 2022

Clearly docs gotta go.