( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

aw thats nice he kept up with them

"It's time to leave this motherfucker."- Kyle, on the bubble

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) September 12, 2020

I usually tune in for the fourth quarter, but I was determined to watch most of last night's game from the start. I got disheartened early on and switched off, missing the one stretch where the Raptors apparently played really well (their 24-9 run to take the lead), otherwise saw most of it.

For a close game, it was ugly and not very satisfying. The Raptors really had no business being so close at the end. Boston seemed determined to keep them in the game, but even when they missed those late free throws, Toronto continued to throw the ball away.

gnarly series toronto defense was insane

The one area where Toronto was legitimately impressive. They really swarm the opposition when they need to.

oh gosh van vleet dribbling that whole possession into a garbage shot it's just not what ya want

I mentioned something similar in the finals thread last year, before he became a hero: his maddening habit of dribbling into traffic around the basket seemingly without any plan or purpose.

I'm not sure what to make out of Siakam. (Lots of blame to go around last night besides him.) I don't know if it was a specific match-up thing, or if he's just not as good as everyone had come to believe.

Jayson Tatum is really great.

siakim just doesnt have #1 scoring option skills its kinda crazy he averaged 23 in the regular season not sure how he did it but he got exposed in the playoffs, as we saw last year he would be great as a second option/all around player

Lowest 3P% In A Playoff Series - NBA History*

1. Pascal Siakam, 2020 ... 12.5%
2. Jason Kidd, 2004 ........ 14.7%
3. Dame Lillard, 2015 ........16.1%

*min. 30 3PA, 691 qualifying performances pic.twitter.com/JVsd95fFzL

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) September 12, 2020

I really enjoy the twitter thing where people say Tatum is terrible and you can’t tell if they’re serious

W/r/t the van vleet thing: sometimes you get clamped! Amazing defense by Brown and Williams on that play. Btw I still see people say that Brown’s “team defense” is bad and people need to get out of town with that talk!

siakam’s power drive and spin move game got him a lot of buckets in the reg season and it never felt like something that would work against serious playoff defense—he’s not *that* big or explosive.

i wonder if the raps would take demar back

you know who had a stealth great series was the two headed monster of Theis/Williams; they really haven't missed Horf in the playoffs

centers are the running backs of the NBA

i know it’s rude and i don’t want to belabor the point but in a quiet moment earlier today i did take a step back and think about how the sixers basically handed the eastern conference finals to two of their chief rivals

Should be a great series, slightly leaning towards Miami for a pick simply because they have so many more competent NBA players on their active roster (I’m assuming Hayward is not coming back?). I know rotations shrink in the playoffs but I think Miami’s strategy should just be to send waves of dudes at the Celts and hope over the course of seven games you wear them down. Much as I hate Boston sports franchises in general I have to admit these guys have been amazing so far esp Tatum, Brown, Smart and Coach Stevens.

Hayward's likely coming back but i hope to god they have him coming off the bench as a shooter and not starting, Smart has been such fun to watch.
https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/09/boston-celtics-gordon-hayward-is-expected-to-return-vs-miami-heat-exact-date-remains-uncertain.html

Heat v Celtics ought to be great. Stevens is certainly a top five NBA coach and Spoelstra has taken teams to the Finals and won, so even the coaching match up will be between very accomplished coaches.

i have... limited interest in watching an LA/LA matchup? am i wrong? get me excited.

Bron v Kawhi in the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 finals

also if the lakers win i start trolling the internet with my 'actually danny green is the most important player now' takes

yeah i can’t really say i’m a big fan of watching either of the LA teams.

both teams are full of supporting players that i either am sick of or actively dislike

The current Lakers with Bron & AD suffer badly when I mentally compare them to genuinely fun teams to watch, especially GSW during their great run of Finals and rings. Even the Duncan-era Spurs had more charisma.

i know it’s rude and i don’t want to belabor the point but in a quiet moment earlier today i did take a step back and think about how the sixers basically handed the eastern conference finals to two of their chief rivals

― J0rdan S., Saturday, September 12, 2020 2:00 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol true

it has to be torture for sixers fans, and i for one could not be happier.

masai messed up by not adding any scorers last offseason. when they needed offense nurse was turning to.. norman powell? thats just not going to cut it

i don't think they had many mechanisms available for adding to the team

yeah, internal improvement was their best bet, and fvv, siakam, and powell all got better.

none of those guys are repeat "go get a bucket" types tho

they could have easily traded fvv or anyone really. and then they struggled on offense all season.

i have... limited interest in watching an LA/LA matchup? am i wrong? get me excited.

xp

and yet they were in a competitive game 7 and nearly advanced to the ECF yesterday. i think we can see their shortcomings in hindsight, but considering they lost their starting wing combo/finals mvp, they did a good job of raising their game this year and remaining competitive with the group they had. they're gonna have to figure out how much they value fvv and if theyre gonna bring back vets like gasol and ibaka.

both teams are full of supporting players that i either am sick of or actively dislike

i don’t think masai was that concerned with whether the raptors were title contenders again... this was prob close to an ideal outcome

if you can’t get into lebron vs kawhi idk man. every lakers/clippers game this season has been played at a very high level. those teams don’t like each other and when they go all out it’s some of the best basketball the NBA has to offer. mature skilled professional players stepping on the gas pedal all game. i want it.

it’s interesting that we actually got deeply contrasting series. east finals should be very very high level team basketball (offense and defense). west finals is a star power legacy narrative storyline buffet.

yeah you want different stuff out of basketball than i do

what i want out of basketball is for the ball to suddenly get really big so it doesn't fit in the hoop. been watching for 20 years and it still hasn't happened but the games have been pretty good in the meantime

jordan otm

you should hang at my house cider, that happens all the time when i serve my spectacular banana bread

Pat Riley should've done whatever it took to get Russ, giving up Bam and/or Winslow and/or Herro. Russ would've made Miami relevant again and at least given them a chance in the Least.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) July 12, 2019

fuck don't tell me skip bayless was wrong and on the record about it at that

let's just never mention him again actually

wow okay

speaking of not being into the lakers, i just flipped by to see how the elimination game that no one is talking about was going and lol

rip morey rip mike dan tony rip not having a center

xp sorry, skip made some really shitty comments about the cowboys qb this week and i just think we should excise him entirely

i am fine with clowning on skip but afaict his hustle is saying the absolutely most clownable thing and getting so clowned for it that it's like inversely bankable to keep him around and i'm not sure it's to be encouraged

Told yall the lakers were gonna eat the rockets

bayless is very much a tweet pinata for hire

the rockets did what they do, which is give up when it gets tough

if you can’t get into lebron vs kawhi idk man. every lakers/clippers game this season has been played at a very high level. those teams don’t like each other and when they go all out it’s some of the best basketball the NBA has to offer. mature skilled professional players stepping on the gas pedal all game. i want it.

― J0rdan S., Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:51 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm. i am duty bound to hate both LA teams obviously but if you love the nba and want to see the best go at it on the biggest stage then this is an A+ matchup. feels like a finals matchup tbh.

having said that. hope the nuggs win tomorrow and this thing goes 7 baby.