Everything Playoffs-2021

[The Great One]

Shannon Sharpe just said that the Bucks winning a championship was an anomaly. Then he went on and compared the Bucks to the 2019 Raptors.

The fact is a lot of teams have won a chip with just one superstar on one team. Bucks, Raptors, Mavs, mid 2000's Spurs, Rockets, Cavs. The anomaly is the Durant Warriors team. You're never going to see another team like that. Two generational players on one team + two legit all stars. One of them(Klay) will probably will go down as the second greatest shooter of all time.

[Demographic Shift]

I'm really happy for Giannis. He didn't go title chasing when he had the chance. He decided to stick with his team and trust them to continue to support him and improve the talent. He won with an old school mentality. To me, his chip is much more impressive than any of the ones Bron won in Miami/LA.

This was the first finals I can ever recall being happy for either side winning. What a great story for both teams.

The Alphabet is the anti Lebron.

I for one have tired of the endless Lebron drama every year.
The King and his high school cafeteria lunch table mentality is wearing after a while.
I will miss the on court excellence.... but can't wait for him to exit into his production company business and let the new guard of NBA stars be the face of the league....Morant... Williamson... Murray... Jokic.. Luca.....

[slaw]

It's not de-legitimizing by simply stating the truth of the circumstances, i.e, some championship journeys of some teams are harder than others. There's almost always an element of luck and timing (good or bad) involved in winning it all. I guess it offends people to simply say a truth out loud these days. Those are the times we live in. Maybe the word "asterisk" gets people's shorts tied in a knot, but it is what it is.

Asterisks are used in sports to denote accomplishments that become tainted in some way. They aren't meant to be used for every single record/accomplishment because you personally have subjective views about the quality of the record/accomplishment.

Anyway, I don't agree that 'it is what it is' and 'some championships are harder than others.' Those aren't facts, just your opinion.

[S.R.]

The Alphabet is the anti Lebron.

I for one have tired of the endless Lebron drama every year.
The King and his high school cafeteria lunch table mentality is wearing after a while.
I will miss the on court excellence.... but can't wait for him to exit into his production company business and let the new guard of NBA stars be the face of the league....Morant... Williamson... Murray... Jokic.. Luca.....

There's an awesome young crop of players coming up, especially guards. These guys are skilled, fun, and have stepped up in big ways the last two playoffs. They're ballers. Trae, Murray, Luka, Booker, Mitchell, etc. The league is in good hands.

[golden]

Asterisks are used in sports to denote accomplishments that become tainted in some way. They aren't meant to be used for every single record/accomplishment because you personally have subjective views about the quality of the record/accomplishment.

Anyway, I don't agree that 'it is what it is' and 'some championships are harder than others.' Those aren't facts, just your opinion.

It is what it is, is a fact, by definition. You really believe that some championships are not harder (or easier) than others? Think about it logically, instead of emotionally. That would mean that you don't believe in luck. Some teams get lucky breaks along the way (like injuries to opposition star players)... some teams don't. These are all statements of fact.... not opinion.

You're just having a visceral reaction to using the term 'asterisk'. Let's use modern analytics and call it "Strength of Schedule". Is that better?

[slaw]

It is what it is, is a fact, by definition. You really believe that some championships are not harder (or easier) than others? Think about it logically, instead of emotionally. That would mean that you don't believe in luck. Some teams get lucky breaks along the way (like injuries to opposition star players)... some teams don't. These are all statements of fact.... not opinion.

You're just having a visceral reaction to using the term 'asterisk'. Let's use modern analytics and call it "Strength of Schedule". Is that better?

Okay, well, knock yourself out ranking how worthy every champion is... I don't know how you qualify how hard winning a championship is beyond being the last team standing but to each his own.

[S.R.]

Asterisks are used in sports to denote accomplishments that become tainted in some way. They aren't meant to be used for every single record/accomplishment because you personally have subjective views about the quality of the record/accomplishment.

Anyway, I don't agree that 'it is what it is' and 'some championships are harder than others.' Those aren't facts, just your opinion.

The whole asterisk thing - there's just something virtually every year, right? Somebody in the top 5, some MVP-calibre level of player will not be healthy or not fully health. Some key player or players on one or more of the top 5-ish, contender level teams will not be healthy or not fully healthy. So what's the cut off? Is it 2017 Spurs up by 19 on the Warriors before Zaza does Kawhi dirty? A Finals MVP calibre player now out of the playoffs, shouldn't count right? Is it 2018 when the Rockets were up 3-2 on the Warriors and lost CP3? Houston's second best player goes down and Warriors win the next two, does that count? Is it the 2019 Raptors with KD and Klay injuries? Do Lowry and Kawhi injuries offset anything? What about all the 2020 and 2021 injuries? Which ones create the asterisk? Giannis injured his leg and came back, what does that count for? Does having a team with depth or a star player with good health who can handle high mileage count for anything? If an injury prone opponent loses somebody, your win doesn't count? And that's just the last few seasons. Asterisk culture wouldn't give Hakeem any chips. He only won because MJ played baseball on a lark. Bulls should have had 8 straight! Hakeem's overrated!

What asterisk championships inevitably do is create some arbitrary cut off point between legitimate and illegitimate, totally subjective and the whim of whichever fan wants to make whichever point at the time. Because you're not going to get a year when all the top players and all the top teams are fully healthy. There's something every year.

All that said, some injuries have a more dramatic, visible impact than others. KD popping tendons in a Finals game hits different than a star player blowing a knee in February and missing the entire postseason - but practically speaking, there's no difference. Put up the asterisk. Put it there every year.

[S.R.]

It is what it is, is a fact, by definition. You really believe that some championships are not harder (or easier) than others? Think about it logically, instead of emotionally. That would mean that you don't believe in luck. Some teams get lucky breaks along the way (like injuries to opposition star players)... some teams don't. These are all statements of fact.... not opinion.

You're just having a visceral reaction to using the term 'asterisk'. Let's use modern analytics and call it "Strength of Schedule". Is that better?

Haha did you just say 'think about it logically...that means you don't believe in luck'?

There's only probability, not luck. Sports fans and media LOVE spinning probability into narratives and creating story arcs, but all you ever really had was a series of events that, most people will argue, was the only series of events that could have happened based on all the preceding events. The hypothetical other outcomes were never going to happen. Kawhi's shot was always going in. No luck about it. A whole series of events leading up to that shot would have had to be different to create a miss, only that series of events...didn't exist. What existed was the series of event leading up to the make. That's the only reality we get.

Same with injuries. The hypothetical alternate reality where Player X or Team Y has a different health status - that reality doesn't exist. No luck about it. Reality. This is the one we've got, in this reality (the only reality) this is the team that won, end of story. Giannis put up a 50 and won the chip. There is no world where Harden and Irving are healthy, there's no world where Durant stands behind the 3 pt line and wins the series, there isn't anything like that. That's logical reality.

Everything else is fodder for spitballing with your buddies over beers.

We can talk about probability and try to make it scientific, but a lot of that is bullshit honestly. How do you create probability for the Brooklyn Nets staying healthy. For Anthony Davis staying healthy. I mean people will do it, but it doesn't really mean anything imho.

[golden]

Haha did you just say 'think about it logically...that means you don't believe in luck'?

There's only probability, not luck. Sports fans and media LOVE spinning probability into narratives and creating story arcs, but all you ever really had was a series of events that, most people will argue, was the only series of events that could have happened based on all the preceding events. The hypothetical other outcomes were never going to happen. Kawhi's shot was always going in. No luck about it. A whole series of events leading up to that shot would have had to be different to create a miss, only that series of events...didn't exist. What existed was the series of event leading up to the make. That's the only reality we get.

Same with injuries. The hypothetical alternate reality where Player X or Team Y has a different health status - that reality doesn't exist. No luck about it. Reality. This is the one we've got, in this reality (the only reality) this is the team that won, end of story. Giannis put up a 50 and won the chip. There is no world where Harden and Irving are healthy, there's no world where Durant stands behind the 3 pt line and wins the series, there isn't anything like that. That's logical reality.

Everything else is fodder for spitballing with your buddies over beers.

We can talk about probability and try to make it scientific, but a lot of that is bullshit honestly. How do you create probability for the Brooklyn Nets staying healthy. For Anthony Davis staying healthy. I mean people will do it, but it doesn't really mean anything imho.

Do you really want to go down the "alternate reality" rabbit hole? The top scientists in the world have been... and the conclusions will probably surprise you...

Why Do Physicists Say A Multiverse Has To Exist?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startsw...h=650d88444727

[NoPropsneeded]

Do you really want to go down the "alternate reality" rabbit hole? The top scientists in the world have been... and the conclusions will probably surprise you...

Why Do Physicists Say A Multiverse Has To Exist?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startsw...h=650d88444727

LOL the lengths sports fans go to prove their point

[bertarapsfan]

LOL the lengths sports fans go to prove their point

In one of those alternate reality pascals a priest, nicks a corn farmer, Fred and Kyle never made it out of there tough neighborhoods.
This reality pretty Damm good.

[golden]

LOL the lengths sports fans go to prove their point

Lol. Don’t blame me. SR is the one who started with the highbrow posture and let’s get all scientific about reality stuff.

If you’re gonna pick a fight, then make sure you can finish it. Lol.

[Kagemusha]

I guess it's time for this thread to be locked and forgotten. Lol
It was a forgettable season for us and this thread only makes it worse.
Huge props to Giannis though.