Everything Playoffs 2022 (Non-Raptors Thread)

[chris]

Pat Bev has been great on the ESPN hot take shows this week.

i think he's been a clown but it's been kind of entertaining. how do you engage with a guy who says harden should be superduper maxed on live television?

[Primer]

Am I the only one surprised at how big of a favorite the Warriors are in their series against the Mavs?

Routine reminder betting odds are set based on betting action and absolutely do not represent what they think the result will be. More GSW fans are betting on the series so betting moves to minimize their win. That's it.

[Dvdvideo]

Am I the only one surprised at how big of a favorite the Warriors are in their series against the Mavs?

They know the refs are locked in, so.........

[Dvdvideo]

Well that went exactly as expected, traveling apparently not called on gs, they can push, grab, foul as much as they want, no call. 25 point blowouts are super exciting to watch.

[chris]

no, it is crazy. they were pretty big favorites to win the title, not just the series. i would have thought boston should be favored, prior to last night. both series are basically pick-em's now in my mind (considering celtics are 1 in the hole and the injuries).

golden state has looked so disorganized and klay is completely erratic offensively, and defensively they are missing payton, iguodala, and younger klay. they've also looked pretty bad at times in past runs and turned it around, so who knows. i would not put money on either series.

having said all this man they can still look like it's 2016 again when they're right

[chris]

Well that went exactly as expected, traveling apparently not called on gs, they can push, grab, foul as much as they want, no call. 25 point blowouts are super exciting to watch.

lol if you think the refs had the slightest influence on that outcome. see what you wanna see my dude

[Dvdvideo]

lol if you think the refs had the slightest influence on that outcome. see what you wanna see my dude

Honestly you'd have to be blind if you didn't see a ton of missed fouls in the game. Dreymond on defense when he's not flopping is moving into the offensive player on every second play.
You seriously believe dallas shot 27% in the first quarter and 36% in the fourth because it was a clean game? I guess you see what you want to see.

But like I said before the game, it's no different than when they've played any other team in the playoffs including the year the raps won. The only reason it wasn't enough for them to win then was we had too much talent and they had injuries or the refs would have handed them the trophy in 2019.

[chris]

Honestly you'd have to be blind if you didn't see a ton of missed fouls in the game. Dreymond on defense when he's not flopping is moving into the offensive player on every second play.
You seriously believe dallas shot 27% in the first quarter and 36% in the fourth because it was a clean game? I guess you see what you want to see.

i mean i guess i saw wiggins' finger graze luka's cheek that didn't get called, but i didn't think that was the reason they went down 30. i thought the main reason they went down 30 was that they took 48 three's and only made 11. that was a big factor in my mind.

look they took 6 shots at the rim last night according to this dan devine article while golden state lived in the paint, and yet they still went to the line more (21 to 16) while golden state got called for more fouls (22 to 17). if any team has a gripe with the zebras last night it's the warriors. not even mavs fans are complaining about the whistle last night

But like I said before the game, it's no different than when they've played any other team in the playoffs including the year the raps won. The only reason it wasn't enough for them to win then was we had too much talent and they had injuries or the refs would have handed them the trophy in 2019.

so your theory is the warriors won three chips and made five finals appearances because they got a favorable whistle?

[bertarapsfan]

I got warriors as my winner of the whole thing. Think they get past Mavs in less then 6 and rest up while the east is a hard fought 7 game with neither team going into the finals healthy. At the end off the day the system of golden State is just as deadly if not more then pre KD, you can't leave klay and Steph. Draymond is an elite defender and passer, and now add Poole and Wiggins who are both more offensive threats that what the warriors had before KD and this team is still elite. A lot of people are going to have to give curry his flowers when he leads a team to another ring and finally gets his FMVP

[golden]

I got warriors as my winner of the whole thing. Think they get past Mavs in less then 6 and rest up while the east is a hard fought 7 game with neither team going into the finals healthy. At the end off the day the system of golden State is just as deadly if not more then pre KD, you can't leave klay and Steph. Draymond is an elite defender and passer, and now add Poole and Wiggins who are both more offensive threats that what the warriors had before KD and this team is still elite. A lot of people are going to have to give curry his flowers when he leads a team to another ring and finally gets his FMVP

I don't think the Warriors, or any other team is truly "elite". We are in a transition phase in the NBA where there's parity (aka... high-end mediocrity).

We just saw a 64 win team and the reigning NBA champion not even make either conference finals. In fact, we have a completely new NBA final 4. We saw KD & Kyrie get swept in the first round and Lebron, AD, Kawhi & PG miss the playoffs altogether.

During this transition phase, a team that is healthy and gels at the right time and gets some breaks can win almost any series. It's wide open.

[chris]

I got warriors as my winner of the whole thing. Think they get past Mavs in less then 6 and rest up while the east is a hard fought 7 game with neither team going into the finals healthy. At the end off the day the system of golden State is just as deadly if not more then pre KD, you can't leave klay and Steph. Draymond is an elite defender and passer, and now add Poole and Wiggins who are both more offensive threats that what the warriors had before KD and this team is still elite. A lot of people are going to have to give curry his flowers when he leads a team to another ring and finally gets his FMVP

i dunno how you can say the bold when none of curry, draymond, or klay are as good as they were back then (klay's not even close and i think curry was the best player in the league back then), but it might not matter and they can still win it all again this year. to me it depends on what on what they get out of klay and if they can regain the defensive form they had earlier this season when they were the best defensive team by a mile. last night was a good start but the mavs also just missed a shitload of open shots.

[bertarapsfan]

i dunno how you can say the bold when none of curry, draymond, or klay are as good as they were back then (klay's not even close and i think curry was the best player in the league back then), but it might not matter and they can still win it all again this year. to me it depends on what on what they get out of klay and if they can regain the defensive form they had earlier this season when they were the best defensive team by a mile. last night was a good start but the mavs also just missed a shitload of open shots.

The system is still the system. The players my not be in their prime, but you have 2 knock down shooter who can hit from 30 feet you still extend defenses. To me it doesn't make a difference on 2016 curry and 2022 curry when it comes to a defender, you can't give him any space, then you have klay running around off screens and getting open the floor spacing is insane. You add a 3rd guy in Poole you can give an inch of space and 2 good cutters in dray and Wiggins and the system Kerr implemented is working at the highest level.
If it's the Celtics warriors it would be interesting to see if their defense can keep up, thèy certainly have a shot but if still be taking the warriors.

[chris]

The system is still the system. The players my not be in their prime, but you have 2 knock down shooter who can hit from 30 feet you still extend defenses. To me it doesn't make a difference on 2016 curry and 2022 curry when it comes to a defender, you can't give him any space, then you have klay running around off screens and getting open the floor spacing is insane. You add a 3rd guy in Poole you can give an inch of space and 2 good cutters in dray and Wiggins and the system Kerr implemented is working at the highest level.
If it's the Celtics warriors it would be interesting to see if their defense can keep up, thèy certainly have a shot but if still be taking the warriors.

the offensive system is still the offensive system, but neither steph or klay (their biggest volume shooters) are knocking down shots at the rate they were back then, and the defense is not even close to their previous dominance. klay is a shell of himself on that end, and poole is a pylon. curry used to be the weak link even though he's always been average to above average, now he's frequently their third best defender on the floor.

i also don't think their depth is quite the same as pre-KD. i don't think they were banking on giving damion lee real minutes in the playoffs before they started, but he's getting some now with payton and iguodala out

[G__Deane]

I was sort of hoping for a Mavs/Celtics (*gasp*) Final but not sure if we'll get either. Time for new blood.

[Primer]

I was sort of hoping for a Mavs/Celtics (*gasp*) Final but not sure if we'll get either. Time for new blood.

Don't get ahead of yourself. Both the Mavs and Celtics looked like they would lose their last series and ended up coming back and winning it. It's very difficult to win Game 1 as the visiting team.