ITS THE OFFS BABY THE 2023 NBA PLAYOFFS

reggie felt more tolerable this game prob just because SVG didn't give him much room to speak

yeah i sorta enjoyed them all tonight, it was also a really well played game and they matched the energy

i've never minded reggie tbh

legalize ball-kicking imo, give defenders a chance in this league

― slai gorgeous-alexander (m bison), Thursday, 18 May 2023 11:45 AM

this is the true answer

it would be so wild if this ends in a rematch of the bubble Finals

dont feel like the WCF will be close enough to give that a chance to happen

well the Lakers have surprised me a lot the last few months. that said they'll probably need 4 more great games from AD to do it and I kinda doubt that's happening

it just feels like they were supposed to win that first game in the timeline where they have a chance

they already tipped what seemed like a major defensive adjustment how many more tricks can they have

broken record here but I’m really hoping, but not confident, that the jeff green situation might be different tonight

for whatever it’s worth, through his entire 16 year career, jeff green has had a negative EPM every season, including a negative offensive AND defensive EPM…every season. which I think is just interesting considering the wildly disparate views of his value that have followed him his entire career

playoff series often have more twists & turns than we think based on game 1. sometimes you watch the underdog nearly snatch game 1 but lose and think, well that was their chance... that game didn’t quite feel like that to me, personally. but i think it was clay who pointed out that you really wanna win when anthony davis plays that well & i do think it’s fair to wonder if he and bron can bring it from a stamina perspective at altitude enough times moving forward to steal this

i also think both teams will hit a ceiling with “adjustments” & if the lakers are gonna win the series it will be because bron & AD put up several performances befitting of two of the best players of all time. it’s asking a lot, likely too much, but it’s not out of the question. if i’m them i’m just trying to get to game 7… similar to warriors & kings

biggest thing with bron and AD is they just have not brought it game to game this postseason. they had 3 days off prior to game 1 but from now on it’s an every other game series. also their role players shot like 60% from three which will obviously not continue

they’re going to have to get to the line more. they drew a good amount of fouls in the second half. slowing the game down and getting breaks in play by drawing fouls is probably their best shot

broken record here but I’m really hoping, but not confident, that the jeff green situation might be different tonight

― k3vin k., Thursday, May 18, 2023 10:15 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

assertive jeff green?

if the series is actually a real battle i feel like the rotations will shrink and that will come at his expense. my main worry from a nuggets fan POV would be malone losing trust in gordon, brown & braun as shooters and then looking at jeff green like, hmmmmm

we’ll see. malone is an if it’s not broke don’t fix it kind of coach, and the fact that they won game 1 leads me to believe the rotations won’t change. but I’d really rather see MPJ take a few of the backup 4 minutes and vlatko to eat up some of the rest

the rotations are already extremely tight

minds being blown over an effective mid game defensive adjustment on Jokic like dude is not going to have a few counters to that already

sometimes you watch the underdog nearly snatch game 1 but lose and think, well that was their chance... that game didn’t quite feel like that to me, personally. but i think it was clay who pointed out that you really wanna win when anthony davis plays that well

counterargument is that Denver played a nearly perfect half of basketball and still almost lost at home. I guess at this point it's foolish to count the Lakers out though they do seem to be a lot more outmatched this series. for what it's worth 538 really doesn't like their chances - they still have Boston as the title favorites. Lakers are at 7%.

doesnt seem worth much tbh

minds being blown over an effective mid game defensive adjustment on Jokic like dude is not going to have a few counters to that already

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, May 18, 2023 5:11 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it’s the one weird trick that works against jokic in small doses if they’re not ready for it. very much like the famous jokic/embiid game where jokic ran embiid out of the building until doc mercifully took him off the assignment, putting a smaller guy on him and letting your big guy roam worked. it’s something that won’t work in the long term and for that reason I imagine the lakers are feeling a little bittersweet about having to show those cards in a game 1 that they ended up losing anyway, but to be honest the concerning thing to me is that malone didn’t seem ready for it. super interested in what happens tonight

yeah thought it was weird that malone and jokic werent ready for it since its a known way to defend him

they just showed jokic's stats from the past 5 games it's not right to expose children to this stuff

active early whistle…something I’m monitoring

come on that foul on braun

feels like the lakers rotations are much tighter tonight

jvg sucks sometimes. he was clearly going for the ball but he got his face and they never even look at the replay of the face shot

that lebron wrap around pass to rui was so good

Yeah I’m really appreciating getting to still see him playing at this level

rui looking like prime lebron out there

lefumble

hHahahahha lebron you old bum

He flubbed two layups

Yeah I’m really appreciating getting to still see him playing at this level

― frogbs, Thursday, May 18, 2023 8:18 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was talking about Rui actually

i've said this before but you absolutely must score the basketball

i think the nuggets should play better

jamal’s not right

if Joker's making shots like that just give it to him all the time

he always is!

"this is game two of the western conference finals" --michael malone

oh wow that is not a goaltend

it’s obv a goaltend you can’t block a shot that’s going down

I didn't think it was going down!!

lol frogs idk what to say man is your TV upside down

unquestionably a goaltend

maybe there's another angle but it looked like he hit it before

I’m very nervous for the first couple of minutes of this quarter. first sign of trouble jokic needs to come back out

frogbs otm it was about to go up again

dont goaltend shame me I know what I saw