It is the 2018-19 NBA Playoffs discussion thread for hoops friends ONLY

haha was thinking the same thing. cad you're on it.

2019 nba OFFSEASON news, rumors, drama, and recriminations

boston v pacers could still be good lol. boston is just weird man who knows what we are gonna get from them... and now they are without their best player marcus smart

― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Thursday, April 11, 2019 11:09 AM (fifty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i agree. hell, I know how valuable Smart is to them but with as weird as that team has been who knows, maybe the adversity will actually be beneficial? i know that makes no logical sense but very little about the Celtics does. rationally though, this should be a more competitive series with Smart out, otherwise I think it would have been fairly comfortable for Boston but now I suspect it goes 7. I also don't think there's any way in hell they beat Milwaukee now, but again, knowing this team, they'll like lose Tatum and Baynes too and somehow beat the Bucks in 6.

Sounds about right

wld be interested in seeing a huge kyrie-hayward-tatum-horford-baynes lineup

brooklyn over philly would be a fun upset...

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, April 11, 2019 11:05 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

feels karmically correct

philly just has too much top end talent but they have all the pressure here brooklyn can just hoist away with out a care in the world

other thing to consider re smarts injury is that he just plays in game 2 cause hes a lunatic

and the celtics still have plenty of talent w shortened playoff rotations, one under examined cause of the bad vibes season is brother brads insistence on playing every single player often in less than ideal combos especially in the 3rd quarter , but once youre getting 38mins of kyrie/horford a night that whole math changes

also shd go w/o saying that al will be yelling

if we get an Al flex in game one its gonna be a sweep.

also hearing that gordo is rounding into shape again ill be-live it when i see it.

he had some strong games down the stretch

hes been playing great very physical

hes a big dude

i feel p good abt the indy series w/o smart but yeah u def want all hands on deck for the bucks hopefully he can come back early

I also don't think there's any way in hell they beat Milwaukee now, but again, knowing this team, they'll like lose Tatum and Baynes too and somehow beat the Bucks in 6.

no

Bucks in 6.

yes

uhhh

Nothing the 76ers said about Joel Embiid on Wednesday night was good. Nothing. First, there was general manager Elton Brand, acknowledging that Embiid might not be ready to play in Game 1 of the Sixers’ first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets. Later, there was coach Brett Brown, refusing to answer more than three Embiid-related questions following the team’s meaningless victory over the Chicago Bulls. Two poles on the same spectrum, the big reveal and the media blockade, both signifying the same thing: that Embiid’s health – his knee, his conditioning, his apparent weight gain – is cause for concern.

For most of his pre-game remarks Wednesday night, Brand tried to sell the idea that the starting five he had assembled – Embiid, Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris – was talented enough to carry the Sixers to the Eastern Conference Finals, at least. That’s a dubious notion, considering that those five have played just 10 games together and that the Sixers’ bench is so weak, and it rested on the premise that the organization was sacrificing continuity and familiarity among the starters for the sake of their being as fresh and healthy as possible. But when he spoke about Embiid, who has missed 14 of the team’s last 24 games, Brand seemed ready and willing to dispense with the head-faking and butt-covering and let everyone understand where things really stood.

He was not asked directly whether Embiid might not play. Someone brought up Embiid’s conditioning, about the easy-to-see 10-to-15 pounds that he has added over these last few weeks of intermittent action, and Brand instead offered a non-denial denial. He answered a question that no one had thought to ask.

“I’m optimistic,” Brand said. “I’ve seen him. He’s doing everything in his power to be ready for this weekend.”

Optimistic? It was a curious word choice. Is his health at all an issue?

“No, I’m optimistic that he’ll be ready this weekend and he’s doing everything he can to get back.”

So there’s a possibility he won’t be ready …

“Again, I’m optimistic he’ll be ready.”

But it’s possible he won’t?

“It’s possible.”

https://www.philly.com/sixers/sixers-joel-embiid-health-nba-playoffs-nets-20190411.html?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

that team is ass without Embiid. I wouldn't say they're incapable of beating the Nets without him because honestly Brooklyn is not very good either, but it would probably be tooth-and-nail.

the well coached scrappy over achievers vs team of loony superstars who dont mesh, classic dynamic, throw in some injury issues and you might have a series

well we dont know if they mesh ha. 10 games tells not a story

feel pretty confident in saying they dont mesh, i mean they just added harris for those 10 games, like embiid and simmons def dont mesh

idk if i'm allowed to post in this thread having once been yellow carded by yr tyrannical mod but go spurs > blazers > bucks

u shd be rooting for the celtics otherwise im going to revoke yr university degrees

lagoon, what if I told you Jimmy and Ben are bringing back the Headband Brothers for the playoffs?

hmm will factor into my equations and get back to you

see the problem is that i hate boston (the city)

all the more reason!

I hate Boston (the city) too

I love Boston (the band)

im gonna try to go to one of the nets home games, should be a fun series. allen is a decent foil for embiid, but i don't really see a way the nets stop simmons. maybe the brooklyn backcourt can make some things happen. spencer dinwiddie, for one, seems like he was born for playoff basketball.

i also hate boston (the band and the city)

where have the games gone

btw it occurred to me that zion and ben simmons shd be in an offense just like giannises, thats the blueprint baby

you can only have so many 'star' players that need a whole team of shooters around them because they can't shoot

one per team

no one should ever draft players that can't hoist unless they have mvp ceiling

only problem w this concept is simmons has zero post moves and kinda sucks at halfcourt scoring altogether but still i think this is the way u maximize his talent, prob on a team thats not the sixers, it will absolutely work w zion tho

if i were the sixers i wld trade simmons for brow plz dont tell them abt this good idea tho

yeah the simmons team def requires a couple shooting wings and a 'stretch 4'

I mean you really need to build that around embiid and not Simmons

yeah him too

Warriors vs. Clippers -> Warriors in 5 (Lou Williams shoots 29%, DeMarcus gets his first playoff pts, Balmerballers steal their first home game, Warriors have one bad shooting night)
Nuggets vs. Spurs -> Spurs in 6 (karmic payback for Nuggs masterfully tanking their playoff bracket, Spurs ride LaMarcus midrange, Jokic has a rough playoffs premiere)
Blazers vs. Thunder -> Thunder in 6 (Thunder swept season series, hobbled CJ McCollum, playoffs Kanter)
Rockets vs. Jazz -> Rockets in 6 (hate the Rockets but Rockets/Warriors feels too inevitable)

Bucks vs. Pistons -> Bucks in 4 (only sweep of the 1st round!)
Raptors vs. Magic -> Raptors in 5 (Kawhi manages to work in a rest game)
Sixers vs. Nets -> Sixers in 6 (hobbled Embiid has some creaky games)
Celtics vs. Pacers -> Celtics in 6 (absolutely impossible to look at a Celtics roster - that almost went to the finals last year w/o Kyrie or Hayward - and not pick Boston........ thaaaaat said, losing Smart, who probably played Bojan better than anyone in the league this season, might be a big problem! If Celtics can't replace him w/ someone who can play Bojan tightly, he might torch them. He's become really adept this season at gunning 3s or driving hard to his right, feel like he might lead the league in converting artless driving layups. Best-case scenario for this series is Celtics playing like ass in Game 1 and Kyrie saying something that irritates everyone and the psychodrama just kinda plays out. As much as losing Smart hurts, but do think that spreading around those extra minutes might help the Celtics more)

---

Warriors vs. Rockets -> Warriors in 6 (Chris Paul gets hurt, Draymond kicks someone in the nutz, Harden's Game 5 is his worst of the season)
Spurs vs. Thunder -> Thunder in 6 (not really in love with either team, Thunder looking incredibly vulnerable if PG's body breaks down, feel like this is the series where DeMar becomes the burden)

Bucks vs. Celtics -> Bucks in 6 (probably last year that Horford vs Giannis will be fun to watch, Bucks have such a fun bench, will be good series)
Raptors vs. 76ers -> Raptors in 5 (very high on this Raptors team for some reason! Feel like they can neutralize Simmons, and seems like Embiid might not be 100%)

---

Warriors vs. Thunder -> Warriors in 5 (Russ torpedoes Thunder but does have a monster weird vibes game where he taunts Durant)
Bucks vs. Raptors -> Raptors in 6 (Raptors limit Giannis)

---

Warriors vs. Raptors -> RAPTORS IN 7 (Warriors pay for not getting home court, Raptors celebrate in Toronto, MVP Kawhi, he announces post-game that he's demanded a trade to ... THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS?!?!)

yeah embood is another one of those guys

embiid

embood is what hes gonna get if he plays bad right

lmao

good breakdown compupost even if you’re being a lil brown noser by picking the spurs

i could def see the nuggets losing. dont think it will happen but wouldnt be surprised in the least. we really have no idea what these guys are made of in pressure playoff situations. hoping jokic rises to the occasion and just dominates. jamal murray seems like the kind of guy that will thrive but maybe he'll be too hyped idk.

then again the spurs have (and rely heavily on) demar...

and we know what he's made of in the playoffs. would be cool to see him break out of that and at least play to his normal capacity

I am optimistic about next year especially since the Warriors will probably no longer be an unstoppable force BUT I'm not really sold on the idea of the Bucks' "bright future", for one they've traded like all their draft picks for the next couple years, and for two either Giannis leaves & they and revert back to the shitty overpaid vets teams you had for over a decade or he takes a supermax and you basically become the Rockets, except with Bledsoe instead of CP3

if kawhi leaves the raptors giannis will be the best player in the east by a significant margin

Feel like this roster could’ve gotten it done I blame coaching here. Just no adjustments and he never figured out his best lineup

Unless kd goes there xp

this is an amazing moment for kyle lowry getting cheered by the raps fans

This kawhi playoff run seems historical but I haven’t seen any comparison stats yet

happy for lowry

gets to guard steph now

congrats to my close friends the canadians

alright I'm gonna stop being a dumb idiot whiner and go to bed. Raptors are a cool team. I hope they win it all.

The city is going nuts right now.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7dqOQtUYAIPDKj.jpg

lol congrats to the actual raptor

just want to say that im willing to root for the warriors if e40 does something even mildly bitchy to drake

i mean you all have to cheer for the warriors its USA vs Canada afterall

hmm that is true they are a slightly different country

drake must be stopped

lets gooooo
NBA FINALS 2019 |——| WARRIORS -vs- RAPTORS |——| USA -vs- CANADA

They may be headed for that moment in Ball Four where, when the Pilots start getting trounced by the league's best teams, Bouton says it was like recess in grade school when the big kids showed up, but for tonight exhilarating. (I wish I were downtown, Thermo.) I don't know if we share the American feed, but the endless shots of Drake after every single big Raptor play were somewhere between tiresome and nauseating. He's a fan, great, and sort of works for the team. But he surely realizes he's deflecting attention from the players. To know that, and be okay with that, makes him something of a vainglorious idiot.

vainglorious idiot
thats aubrey drake graham, former television star and current biggest rapper!!!

yeah i think it's pretty clear we can skip to the finals now

no shot at whoever wrote this way up above but i love it every time sports reminds us that games are won and lost on the court/field and nowhere else - not on twitter, not in a win probability statistic, not in comparing players' strengths and weaknesses, not in the halftime analysis of talking heads, etc., etc.

former television star and current biggest rapper!!!

He keeps getting rapper and Raptor mixed up.

TSN here ran the 7th game of the Raptors-76ers series last night. I'd forgotten that Kawhi missed a few shots down the stretch (manhandled on a couple of them, mind you), plus a foul shot that let Philadelphia tie it up. But then he made one.

I keep thinking about that super-sloppy double OT game 3 between Bucks-Raptors, when the Bucks were already up 2-0. So many shots could have gone differently and basically eliminated the Raps. The karma from every other playoff appearance caught up with them I guess.

I think they're working through the games one by one (along with Blue Jays WS games)...They had Game 1 of the Bucks series tonight, so Game 3 should be soon.

last couple games in that series were so much fun, for this bandwagoner

Canadian bandwagoners take over I Love Hoops for six hours.

lol i just took a quick glance over that finals thread....nostalgia is all we got!

It was sad :( that klay acl moment still haunts me

yeah I think I forgot just how much every GS player broke over the course of the series, until re-reading that thread

this is pretty big/baller

Potential No. 1 NBA draft pick LaMelo Ball and his manager Jermaine Jackson have purchased his Australian NBL team, the Illawarra Hawks, Jackson told ESPN on Thursday.https://t.co/Zy80ZmRpVu

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 2, 2020

realized I have a bunch of the big raps playoffs game still saved on dvr, along with the dame game, so that will be a nice quarantine rewatch