2020 End of Season / Playoffs

[inthepaint]

Dame with 35pts with a few seconds left in the third -- he's shooting 9 of 13 from 3.

Barkley says if Portland gets the 8th seed they'll beat the Lakers. I wouldn't go that far but I think they would give LA trouble. Having Nurkic back opened up their offence more

[inthepaint]

Suns & Raps are the only undefeated teams in the bubble so far.

[bertarapsfan]

Lol imagine the nba dismay if the play in ends up being the suns vs Portland lol. I was cheering for grizz but they really have struggled and losing JJJ only makes it tougher

[Maury]

Lol imagine the nba dismay if the play in ends up being the suns vs Portland lol. I was cheering for grizz but they really have struggled and losing JJJ only makes it tougher

I think the Grizz are mostly done. The Pels should be kicked out of the bubble after the way they've played. I'd love to see the Blazers and the Suns go head to head for a playoff spot. The way the Suns are playing, they can beat anyone right now. They have found an identity, each guy is playing their role perfectly, and they have a guy in Devin Booker that really is unguardable while making the right play every possession. It's hard not to like the Suns right now.

[slaw]

I think the Grizz are mostly done. The Pels should be kicked out of the bubble after the way they've played. I'd love to see the Blazers and the Suns go head to head for a playoff spot. The way the Suns are playing, they can beat anyone right now. They have found an identity, each guy is playing their role perfectly, and they have a guy in Devin Booker that really is unguardable while making the right play every possession. It's hard not to like the Suns right now.

Cameron Payne looking like an actual NBA player! I mean Booker is good, Ayton is not unplayably bad on defence like last year and Bridges and Johnson are nice complimentary players. Rubio being a solid presence doesn’t hurt either after they had zero point guard play last season. Could see them making a jump next season into legit playoff team in the West.

[slaw]

Just looking at the standings and noticed Charlotte is now ahead of Washington in the East. Looks like the Bulls may also pass them in win percentage terms.

[Demographic Shift]

Just looking at the standings and noticed Charlotte is now ahead of Washington in the East. Looks like the Bulls may also pass them in win percentage terms.

Extra games to tank and better your draft position is not what Silver and the NBA had in mind and yet here we are.

[Kagemusha]

Barkley says if Portland gets the 8th seed they'll beat the Lakers. I wouldn't go that far but I think they would give LA trouble. Having Nurkic back opened up their offence more

I'd agree with Chuck.
Lakers have nobody that can stop Dame and CJ.
Nurkic will slow down AD, so it will be up to LeBron to carry the load. Good luck with that.

[Apollo]

I wonder what the issues are in the Lakers locker room that Bron eluded to? We already knew that there was a rift in the past between him and Kuz. Then he has AD in there, who's appeared kind of disinterested to me so far this re-start and he's about to become a UFA. Howard is in there too and he's not exactly been a great locker room presence during his time in the league. Mix that with them being away from their families during a pandemic and revolution/civil war vibes in the air and it's a tough time in general to be away from one's family.

The strength of Toronto's organization is really starting to almost blindingly shine through under the high pressures of the situations the players and coaches are facing.

[Apollo]

Chuck:

He touches on a bunch of topics past and present.

I miss Chuck, he was the best.

[planetmars]

Extra games to tank and better your draft position is not what Silver and the NBA had in mind and yet here we are.

No they don't fall farther in the lottery. At worst the Wizards can get the 9th spot for the lottery and won't gain any extra ping pong balls even if their record is worse than teams that didn't get into the bubble. That was a rule they put in place before the restart so that the 8 teams that didn't make it to the bubble don't get screwed over (from a tanking perspective).

More details here:
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/s...zards/2379713/

[Apollo]

Some more American MSM Raptors talk. This was filmed on Monday.

Broussard tosses them under the bus for not beating any elite teams but the Lakers but fails to comment on the injuries. He in particular points out the Rockets who the Raptors just beat last week in a shootout.

[G__Deane]

I wonder what the issues are in the Lakers locker room that Bron eluded to? We already knew that there was a rift in the past between him and Kuz. Then he has AD in there, who's appeared kind of disinterested to me so far this re-start and he's about to become a UFA. Howard is in there too and he's not exactly been a great locker room presence during his time in the league. Mix that with them being away from their families during a pandemic and revolution/civil war vibes in the air and it's a tough time in general to be away from one's family.

The strength of Toronto's organization is really starting to almost blindingly shine through under the high pressures of the situations the players and coaches are facing.

I thought he said there were off-court issues but not necessarily locker room? When I read it, I heard personal issues or family or BLM.
Maybe some Chinese sweat shop is having child labour issues making his shoes?

[LJ2]

I'm a little concerned that they haven't gotten Siakam going yet. Schedule is going to get tougher so not a lot of time to ease him into the lead scorer role we will need him to assume, if we want a long playoff run.

[S.R.]

I wonder what the issues are in the Lakers locker room that Bron eluded to? We already knew that there was a rift in the past between him and Kuz. Then he has AD in there, who's appeared kind of disinterested to me so far this re-start and he's about to become a UFA. Howard is in there too and he's not exactly been a great locker room presence during his time in the league. Mix that with them being away from their families during a pandemic and revolution/civil war vibes in the air and it's a tough time in general to be away from one's family.

The strength of Toronto's organization is really starting to almost blindingly shine through under the high pressures of the situations the players and coaches are facing.

They put Deion Waiters, JR Smith, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Kuzma, and Shaqtin a Fool HoFer Javale McGee on the same team and people were actually excited because Lebron. That team has all time knucklehead potential, it's been politely said 'the Lakers don't have depth' but that's about it.

​​​I don't know what Lebron's talking about, but even going public with excuses, as oblique as they are, is not a good look at this point in the season.

Raps had their issues last year and said nothing till it was over - and even that was less than what Lebron's already said.