Everything Playoffs-2021

[The Great One]

Unfair or not this loss is 100% on Luka. It's pretty obvious that the Mavs need him to be a scorer. No idea why he's so passive tonight. He's out there playing like he's Jason Kidd. 18 shots the whole game? 3 shots in the 4th? this was their chance. Kawhi is not losing Game 7.

[Dr Hannibal Lecter]

Great Job Rick Carlisle..Clippers got this,there gonna win at home,finally..
I miss Kawli!!!

[MixxAOR]

Kawhi went supernova

[The Great One]

lol

[Dvdvideo]

Unfair or not this loss is 100% on Luka. It's pretty obvious that the Mavs need him to be a scorer. No idea why he's so passive tonight. He's out there playing like he's Jason Kidd. 18 shots the whole game? 3 shots in the 4th? this was their chance. Kawhi is not losing Game 7.

He was being constantly aggressively double teamed, which he passed out of correctly. The rest of his team failed to make open passes/shots after the initial pass. It's not on him. He finished with 29 points and 11 assists.

[magoon]

Unfair or not this loss is 100% on Luka. It's pretty obvious that the Mavs need him to be a scorer. No idea why he's so passive tonight. He's out there playing like he's Jason Kidd. 18 shots the whole game? 3 shots in the 4th? this was their chance. Kawhi is not losing Game 7.

I'm sorry, 29/8/11 (while being double-teamed for most of the game) is a bad statline now?

Luka's supporting cast has been hit and miss this series - because most of them are properly bench players or sixth men, except for Porzingis who is just a massive disappointment - but he's been superstar-level the entire time.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Unfair or not this loss is 100% on Luka. It's pretty obvious that the Mavs need him to be a scorer. No idea why he's so passive tonight. He's out there playing like he's Jason Kidd. 18 shots the whole game? 3 shots in the 4th? this was their chance. Kawhi is not losing Game 7.

Don’t know about the previous games but they put Kawhi on Luka part way through this one and also started doubling and it seemed to minimize his scoring. Which it should of course, a double team involving arguably the greatest perimeter defender in the world.
My question for the Mavs and Clips is similar:
—Who’s best player plays better?
—Who’s their 3rd best player?

[Mitchell Duong]

If he's stayed we'd be on the road to a three peat. Damn.

[slaw]

Don’t know about the previous games but they put Kawhi on Luka part way through this one and also started doubling and it seemed to minimize his scoring. Which it should of course, a double team involving arguably the greatest perimeter defender in the world.
My question for the Mavs and Clips is similar:
—Who’s best player plays better?
—Who’s their 3rd best player?

Once you get it out of Luka’s hands it’s either a three or hot potato trying to get it back to Doncic. Boban made a couple plays but mostly it’s just sheer panic. Mavs need to hit lots of those threes to win.

Still, took Kawhi’s best to get that win. Even if they get the series, can he do that for another month on his wonky leg?

[KHD]

Once you get it out of Luka’s hands it’s either a three or hot potato trying to get it back to Doncic. Boban made a couple plays but mostly it’s just sheer panic. Mavs need to hit lots of those threes to win.

Still, took Kawhi’s best to get that win. Even if they get the series, can he do that for another month on his wonky leg?

Mavs need porzingis to not be a joke to have a chance.

but yeah, Kawhi is clearly hurting and Utah is going to be grinding him down all series.

[Ebonhawke]

Once you get it out of Luka’s hands it’s either a three or hot potato trying to get it back to Doncic. Boban made a couple plays but mostly it’s just sheer panic. Mavs need to hit lots of those threes to win.

Still, took Kawhi’s best to get that win. Even if they get the series, can he do that for another month on his wonky leg?

Winner of the Clips / Mavs series gets Utah - while Utah doesn't have a Luka or a Kawhi - they do have a greater number of scoring threats than either the Mavs or Clippers possess. When you sit Mitchell, Utah can bring in Clarkson and/or Ingles - if Utah goes 4 out - Conley/Mitchell/Clarkson/Bogdanovich/Gobert - that becomes an issue for either the Mavs/Clips.

Add in Royce O'Neale and Georges Niang - who play sparingly, but are both ~40% three point shooters this season as well, and it's a steep uphill for either the Mavs / Clips

[Demographic Shift]

After predicting a series of upsets in the play in and seeing the NBA go pretty much chalk ...
I will go

Philly over The Whiz in 5 or less.
Nets over the Chowders in 5 or less
Bucks over the Heat in 6 or less
Atlanta over the Knicks in 6 or less


Utah over the Grizz in 6 or less
Suns over the Lakers in 7
Clips over Dallas in 5 or less
Denver over Portland in 6 or less

8 for 8.
Just go chalk in the NBA.
Fearless round 2 calls from a roving sideline reporter who just can't resist the upset picks ....

Bucks over Nets in 7 or less.
Can the Nets really play defense? We are going to find out. Durant scares the hell out people and he should. Irving is a magician with the ball and can put up 40 on any given night. Harden can be anything he wants to be. Scorer, facilitator. But the third times a charm for the Alphabet. He has Holiday this time around. A big physical guard who can like Harden score or facilitate.. but he can play defense. Middleton is well suited to his 2 or 3 option role. It comes down to defense.. and can the Nets play it against the first and perhaps most serious competitor they see this play off run. I say no and the Alphabet advances to the ECF.

Hawks over Hinkies in 7 or less.
Joel Embiid is hurt. He has a meniscus tear in his knee. Thats a big loss for the Hinkies and unlike here in Ici Canada ,there are fans in buildings in the US. Lots of them. Philly has not erased the "can't win on the road tag". The Hawks can win on the road. They did it in a loud and raucous MSG. All they need to do is to take one while Embiid is on the shelf in the WellsFargo Centre. The NBA gets a new "star" to promote the hell out of in Trae Young as the Hawks pull the upset and indirectly help the Raps if they want to consider a S&T for one Kyle Lowry as the Hinkies come up short on expectations.

Suns over the Nuggets in 6 or less.
Freed from having to take the ball up court and orchestrate the offense by leaving that to Chris Paul, Devin Booker can now do what he does best. Shoot. This years MVP candidate Nickoli Jokic will be a formidable hurdle but the Nuggest are short one Canadian star SG in Jamal Murray and just don't have enough to derail the Chris Pauls express on his first successful run to the WCF.

Utah over The Clips in 7 or less. Yep the Clips have Kawhai. But after that they don't have much past Paul George. Their PG is Beverly or Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard at SG. Serge is hurt. Zubac is good but he is going to have to go up against Rudy Gobert. It took the Clips 7 games to dispatch the one man gang that is the Dallas Mavericks. Utah has Mitchell and Conelly in the backcourt. Gobert to protect the rim at an All NBA Defense level. They have a Bogdonovic who can shot as well as get some inside. Looks like a small market NBA finals

[The Great One]

I'm sorry, 29/8/11 (while being double-teamed for most of the game) is a bad statline now?

I said they need him to be a scorer. 29/8/11 is a great statline but that's not gonna get it done. Luka scored 39 in their Game 2 win. Game 5 he scored 42. Game 1 he only scored 31 but he got a lot of help from his supporting cast in that game. If they want to have a chance tomorrow then they need Luka to put up 40+ points. If he plays like the way he did last night they would get blown out.

[slaw]

Mavs need porzingis to not be a joke to have a chance.

but yeah, Kawhi is clearly hurting and Utah is going to be grinding him down all series.

He’s basically a catch and shoot guy in that offense, so his effectiveness is pretty limited. I’m honestly not sure what else you do with him though. Him and Doncic have zero chemistry on the floor.

[bertarapsfan]

Nets over Bucks in 7- Bucks have good defensive matchups for the nets. Jrue take Irving, Giannis take Durant. But Harden is the Nets best player this series. Still good close games but Nets take it in 7.

Sixer over hawks in 6- Trae stirs the drink, Ben simmons may be unable to shoot but his length give Trae alot of trouble. Without embiid early Capela and collins feast on PNR Lobs but Embiid comes back halfway through. Thybulle play Bogi well and Sixers ride curry and harris for the scoring while embiid is out.

Nugs over sun in 7- Suns get out to the lead, look like the better team. But the big adjustment is Aron Gordon covering Booker. He doesnt shut him down but he slows him down enough to make a diffrence. Think Will Barton comes back part way through the series giving nuggets a big boost.