nba playoffs aka the 'offs (which includes the 'ins) 2021

gritty defense vs razzle dazzle offense its the nba playoffs baby

interesting prove it series for both teams

randle gonna be played 44 mpg

might rest for zero second half minutes the whole series

"you can rest when you're dead at halftime"

The @spurs Playing Too @espn SMH!!!🤦🏽‍♂️ https://t.co/hW8vbBP0Wa

— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) May 18, 2021

I am extremely confident the hawks will win. what's the line? i might have to make some money off this

hawks are favored by a little bit

usually i think its most important to analyze the matchups in a playoff series but since i dont know who plays for the knicks im not sure

pretty sure the hawks have a better player at every position

4 out of 5 maybe

knicks had really good health this year right, and the hawks missed a bunch of games, and they ended up in exactly the same place, so if the hawks are healthy now theyre probably the better team, by a small to medium amount

knicks/hawks is interesting in being a rare series between two teams who have very little playoff experience between them. i can think of three guys who will get important minutes in this series who have played more than a dozen playoff games.

what if the refs let the knicks play gritty physical defense, could throw the hawks off, especially trae young, very small guys tend not to do good in the offs

yeah it's a big moment for the trae might not be good in the playoffs crew

Injury Report:

Brogdon - Questionable (right hamstring)
A. Holiday - Questionable (right toe)
Lamb - Out (left knee)
LeVert - Out (health & safety protocols)
Sabonis - Questionable (left quad)
Sumner - Questionable (left knee)
Turner - Out (right toe)
Warren - Out (left foot)

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 18, 2021

not great

taj gibson probably has played more playoff games than everybody else combined on both the knicks and hawks.

if you leave out d. rose

hmm never mind, there are a surprising number of veterans on the hawks (surprising to me who has not seen much of them)

Honestly the biggest thing that worries me about trae in the playoffs is how much the reffing changes. If they do the usual let em play thing he may not get his free throws

it's an issue when bullshit foul drawing is a big part of your game!

it’s 100% gonna happen. i feel like the trae young playoff narrative is going to be a long and twisted odyssey that we’re only just embarking on

yeah, i mean we'll see how he adjust. if he starts cranking out a bunch of threes then we're in trouble

since nate came along trae has adjusted his game to facilitating first and looking to score second. its really opened up things for him

assuming the hawks win at least 2 games in this series this is the fun playoffs for trae before ppl really start picking him apart. i’m sure the knicks will try and be “physical” with him but ppl have been trying to be “physical” with trae his whole life so i think that’s overrated. but to your point he needs to get into the defense and kick out if he isn’t getting calls and not shoot a bunch of 30 footers

sounds like you want to bet something

i very bullish on the hawks, i know surprise, but they've been smoking since the coaching change

i'm glad for you as a hawks fan and that you have something to look forward to. it's been a while!

idk playing physical vs small guys has a pretty good track record, if the refs will let you

i don’t have much of an opinion on hawks-knicks. i think the knicks will have the worst roster of any of the 16 playoff teams, i could also see them winning the series. power forward feels like the hawks’ weak spot on D so randle could win the series... i think he’s prob more likely to shoot the knicks out of it but i assume it will be a competitive series. i’d prob lean hawks in 6 or 7.

heez have you heard about macmillans playoff coaching record

lol we need an ilh portland indy atlanta macmillan summit

*rip seattle super sonics

On paper the Hawks seem like a no brainer, but the Knicks are 3-0 against them this year.

no one has believed in the knicks all year, and i for one am not going to start now, why mess with a good thing

knicks are going to win the series imo.

sincerely,

hoops expert jim

tbf macmillan’s portland teams were always beat up to hell with injuries by the time spring rolled around but he was a pretty shit coach at the time, he’s better now

i will be happy for knicks fans if they win tho, they deserve a lil win

too bad the celtics imploded and got injured celtics knicks in the 4-5 matchup wouldve been a low stakes classic

the last game the hawks and knicks played the hawks were up by double digits and then trae got hurt and the knicks won in OT.

i don't think regular season match ups have much predictive value for the playoffs in series where the two teams can reasonably considered competitive, prob has even less value this year

yeah article along those lines trying to sus out how good the teams playoff rosters will be https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/05/18/adjusting-for-postseason-rotations-should-clippers-be-title-favorite-are-trail-blazers-sleeping-giant

too bad the celtics imploded and got injured celtics knicks in the 4-5 matchup wouldve been a low stakes classic

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 18, 2021 5:24 PM (four minutes ago)

3 of the 4 teams in the bubble conference finals had deeply disappointing, injury riddled, listless seasons. the one exception was the team w/ the MVP and even then one of their best players blew his knee out

yeah the fatigue has been clear

celtics too lost the most games to covid and their best player says hes still affected by it, not great!

are the hawks gonna win any games in a post-covid madison square garden tho?

err, post-covid-capacity-restrictions

anyway im taking the knicks in this series because in the playoffs grit, resilience determination etc matter. this is this something thibs teams have in spades but ive seen trae chuck many a tanty when things dont go his way

too bad the celtics imploded and got injured celtics knicks in the 4-5 matchup wouldve been a low stakes classic

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 18, 2021 5:24 PM (four minutes ago)

3 of the 4 teams in the bubble conference finals had deeply disappointing, injury riddled, listless seasons. the one exception was the team w/ the MVP and even then one of their best players blew his knee out