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

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)

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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%)

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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)

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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

lamarcus usually steps up in the playoffs though

yeah he's been on fire too after a horrible start. career highs in a lot of areas.

i have zero playoff expectations for the nuggets

luke walton out

make larbon player-coach-gm

coach larbon

Luke coaching that young Kings team would be a lot of fun to watch but he'd just end up getting canned like Joerger for overperforming.

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.

― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Friday, April 12, 2019 2:47 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I could definitely see them underperforming in the offs but one thing they have going in their favor is they’ve played really well all year against teams with a winning record and have been insane in close games. plus they’re the best home team in the league

home court is a very big deal for them true

that mile high

feel like theres more uncertainty in these playoff than theres been in a while

def

p cool

Sixers should be able to beat the Nets regardless, but I have no hope for them against the Raptors.

ya raps shd slice them up

warriors > clippers in 4
nuggets > spurs in 7
thunder > blazers in 5
rockets > jazz in 6

bucks > pistons in 4
raptors > magic in 4
sixers > nets in 6
celtics > pacers in 5

same as kev w/ some game total adjustments, v chalk round

i see a dark horse upset possibility but i'm afraid to say it

bring it

most likely upset is spurs nuggs imo

wouldnt be surprised either if any of the east first round series go to 7 with the exception of bucks pistons

spurs can upset denver but they have MIGHTILY struggled on the road. the key player has gotta be derrick white who is a colorado native and their best perimeter defender. if he can consistently bring his "A" game he can give the nuggets backcourt fits and lamarcus will keep jokic busy. im eager to see who the nuggets go to in crunch time.

i thought the celtics were playing today at 11 but its tomorrow my life is in disarray now

theres not even a game til 1230

paul george and joel embiid both maybe injured might not play game 1s, some p important players

the nets will win the nba playoffs

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