Everything Playoffs-2021

[LJ2]

Great seeing the Lakers and Celtics out. Going to be an interesting offseason. A lot of these teams appear to be screwed with no cap room to get better. Going to need some solid GM-ing by the Lakers to fill out that roster. Celtics are f’d too. Smart is going to want a big raise and they project to be a tax team unless they can dump Kemba on someone.

Lowry's value is going up higher and higher and any contender could only sign him via a sign and trade with the Raps right?

[LJ2]

So the this preseason's "just give them the championship now cuz they're just so fucking good its unfair" LA Lakers succumb to the two variables in sports no one can control....Injury and age. Davis couldn't go and Lebron couldn't drag that collection of imposters over the line at age 35. Interesting to see what they do in the offseason.... They clearly could use an upgrade in the backcourt.

And tonight...

Who ya got ? Luca vs Kawhai...

Can Doncic get Dallas over the line at home or will Leonard summon up a Milwaukee like game and beat the Mavs on his own ?

There will be a full house in Dallas I believe.Its going to be loud and electric. Not since Dirk was King of DFW have the Mavs had this kind of opportunity to win the west. Momentum is with Dallas and Rick Carlise is a helluva coach. Leonard though seems to be impervious to pressure. We have seen him do it when he has to when he drained the tank in game 3 against the Bucks and won it for the Raps.

Hope its an overtime classic or comes it down to the last shot.

And the winner is ?
For me Dallas.

It really feels like the end of an era with the King getting bounced out of the playoffs in the first round. LeBron is finally past his prime and the drop off in talent after AD is pretty dramatic so you can almost see the writing on the wall once AD got injured. To me it would be more shocking if the Mavs beat the Clippers. Kawhi and PG both being in their primes and relatively healthy. If they lose there really isn't anything you could say other than the better team won.

[planetmars]

A lot being said about Lebron.. but to be fair that team had really no time this year being in the finals last year and only having like a 2 month break between seasons. This team was expected to be better than last years team though. Everyone was losing their minds when Harrell signed their for the mid-level. The trade for Schroeder when everyone felt Danny Green was washed up (he isn't, just really inconsistent). They got Gasol for free (vet minimum). They even got Drummond for free via buyout, and outside of maybe Aldridge he was the best available buyout candidate (Blake looked really washed).

Davis got hurt but he always does. They still took the Suns to 6 games. It's not like they got swept or anything.

Ultimately I think Lebron and the Lakers will be as good as last year.. it'll always come down to AD's health though and that's a big wild card. He's consistently hurt. He just happened to be healthy last year.

But it's good to see Lebron getting bounced early. His ego needs it.

Now time to see if the Clippers can find a way to win this series. I'll be paying attention.

[DanH]

Lowry's value is going up higher and higher and any contender could only sign him via a sign and trade with the Raps right?

So long as we exclude the Heat as "contenders", and unless some contenders shed a decent chunk of salary, yes.

[G__Deane]

Soooooooooooo good to see baby lebron bounced on the Sun's knee
And AGAIN, he walk out before the end of the game and refuses to show even a modest level of respect by shaking hands
And AGAIN, his presser is all about the year was against them (like it wasn't the same for every team) and they never got to show how good they might be blah blah blah. All about him as usual.

Now leWhiner, please go away and stop tweeting about all the games you'll no longer be taking part in. The camera can live without you for a few weeks....

Now just need to see the Clippers follow them, only issue with that is the Nets walk right through to their own buddy-up tainted championship.

Would LOVE to see the Suns or even Mavs win it.

[bertarapsfan]

East.
Sixers in 5- Beal has a big game and wiz steal 1 at home

Nets in 5- Only way boston has a way to win is try to hold 3 of the best offensive players in the game to below 120 pts a game. They do that one time while Tatum has 40 and get one.

Bucks in 7- Giannis and Bud still dont have an anwser for the build the wall defense. Middleton get a little bit more clutch in big games but it is Jrue that sways this one. Herro and Robinson dont have the same showing as last year and that fails Miami in game 7.

Knicks in 6- Thibs has built this team for playoff type ball, grind it out, slow possesions and good defense get knicks the series.


West.
Jazz in 6- Mitchell is hobbled and Ja has a great series. J.V gets Rudy in foul trouble a few games and take him out, making Jazz D not as effective allowing brooks, anderson and Ja to get into the paint and score. Grayson Allen hit 5 or 6 threes one game to sway a win.

Lakers in 6-CP3 is up for the challenge but the rest of the untested Suns let homecourt slip away after the first 2 putting Lebron in control and Lakers dont look back.

Clips in 6-Almost a repear of last year, Luka has huge games hits a game winner but he just doesnt hav enough help yet to beat the clips

Nuggets in 7- Jokic is Jokic, Dame is Dame but as his offical coming out Porter Jr outplays C.J and shifts the series in the Nuggets favour.

5/7 so far.. Even nailed some of my bonus predictions

[slaw]

5/7 so far.. Even nailed some of my bonus predictions

I've only really watched the Clip-Mavs and bits and pieces of other games but the first round has definitely exposed a lot of the pretenders. 3 of the 4 conference finalists last year are already out (all in convincing fashion) and they all had high expectations coming into the season. As usual, the NBA offseason is likely to be more interesting that the season itself.

Happy to see the Lakers get knocked out. Looks good on Lebron and shows how tough the West is right now with any of the remaining teams capable of reaching the finals. Not sure if last year was Lebron's last hurrah or not but the NBA needs to move on from the James era.

[golden]

I've only really watched the Clip-Mavs and bits and pieces of other games but the first round has definitely exposed a lot of the pretenders. 3 of the 4 conference finalists last year are already out (all in convincing fashion) and they all had high expectations coming into the season. As usual, the NBA offseason is likely to be more interesting that the season itself.

Happy to see the Lakers get knocked out. Looks good on Lebron and shows how tough the West is right now with any of the remaining teams capable of reaching the finals. Not sure if last year was Lebron's last hurrah or not but the NBA needs to move on from the James era.

People are already making excuses that the reason the Celtics, Heat & Lakers are out early is because they went deepest into the playoffs in the bubble with the shortest time to rest, which led to injuries, fatigue, etc... with the short turnaround and compressed schedule. Could be a bit of truth to it. Or they were all just bubble frauds.

[slaw]

People are already making excuses that the reason the Celtics, Heat & Lakers are out early is because they went deepest into the playoffs in the bubble with the shortest time to rest, which led to injuries, fatigue, etc... with the short turnaround and compressed schedule. Could be a bit of truth to it. Or they were all just bubble frauds.

Really hard to say, isn't it?

In the Heat's case, Miami may have found lightning in a bottle. Personally, it was shocking they made the finals last season cause my belief was that they would crash back down to earth at some point. Just never believed that team was that good. I wouldn't call them a 'fraud' cause they beat the Bucks and Celtics, which were two good teams, and bad teams don't get that lucky.

Boston, like Toronto, has just lost too many guys and the Celtics are now so thin that they can't survive any adversity.

Lakers seem to have been killed by injuries to their stars but that was always a risk with an aging James and Street Clothes. Exacerbated by the schedule, etc.? Sure, I guess. But they built a team with little margin for error, so thems the breaks.

[The Claw Reborn]

If the excuses applies with the Raptors mediocre no.1 and no.2 options then it would as well apply to Lebron and AD shortened off season and injuries.

It cannot just work one way when it comes to Raptors Players from Raptors loyalists lol.

That being said, AD injury was significant to the outcome of the series. They were up 2-1 in the first place.

congrats to the Suns

but come on lmao

[S.R.]

Would really like to see a Jazz vs Bucks or Suns vs Bucks Finals. Those are good teams playing good, entertaining basketball. F the talking heads.

[Primer]

Lakers losing in the first round after tanking to get that matchup is oh so sweet. If the Clippers lose tonight this will be my favorite playoffs other than last year and when we won the chip.

[bertarapsfan]

Would really like to see a Jazz vs Bucks or Suns vs Bucks Finals. Those are good teams playing good, entertaining basketball. F the talking heads.

Ya the media is going to be bitching about rating and say its bad for the game to have Lebron out. But im the most excitied for these west matchups then i have in a long time. If Mavs win and we get Mavs-Jazz and Suns-Nugs those are both series that can go either way all with a young star or superstar. Those would all be great series.
Fuck the rating real NBA fans love those matchups

[bertarapsfan]

If the excuses applies with the Raptors mediocre no.1 and no.2 options then it would as well apply to Lebron and AD shortened off season and injuries.

It cannot just work one way when it comes to Raptors Players from Raptors loyalists lol.

That being said, AD injury was significant to the outcome of the series. They were up 2-1 in the first place.

congrats to the Suns

but come on lmao

Ya but AD has a history of injuries and the Lakers and everybody else in the NBA knew that. For all we know last year due to the layoff and bubble maybe that helped AD stay healthy, Maybe he can't take a full year of NBA ball. Maybe being injuried is the norm for him. Maybe they have to load manage and that lead to them being in the bottom 4 of playoff seeds.
AD injuries are always going to be a real risk to derailing the laker IMO

[Primer]

Ya the media is going to be bitching about rating and say its bad for the game to have Lebron out. But im the most excitied for these west matchups then i have in a long time. If Mavs win and we get Mavs-Jazz and Suns-Nugs those are both series that can go either way all with a young star or superstar. Those would all be great series.
Fuck the rating real NBA fans love those matchups

Ratings would be better for non LeBron games if the media didn't manufacture the narrative that LeBron is the only player that matters. You reap what you sow. I'm very ready for this post LeBron era.