Everything Playoffs

[Demographic Shift]

In fairness, neither one of those guys has been set up for success with their teams. Who is the second best player on Charlotte?

In equal fairness.. if your that fucking good.. .why does it matter who the second banana is...?

Devin Booker.. In his 4 years in the league has finished seond last.. last.. last and last. Mr. 70 has yet to play a game that even matters.. Never a playoff chase.. Never in the playoffs and if he ever gets the chance...my bet is he wilts like a Notley promise...

In his 8 years in the NBA.. Kemba Walker has got his team to the playoffs twice...
They never made it past the first round....they got swept and took Miami to 7. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of competence.
Walker to me is empty calories despite the love he gets from the talking heads at TNT and ESPN .
He is a perfect fit in LA this offseason as you'd really have to look hard at paying him a max deal to finish 9th or 10th or 8th again next year. Kemba is a hologram and an ironic choice to join a team of holograms that are the LA Lakers.
Is Magic Johnston that desperate or stupid to sign up Walker....my guess is yes....

Not that I have a point of view on these two guys eh ?

[S.R.]

He is amazing though! The guy plays at full speed every minute he's out there and basically someone has to dive into his knees for him to get injured. Really surprised he doesn't get hurt more often the way he plays.

Russ is a basketball spectacle. A lot of fun to watch from a distance, but glad we're not trying to build a team around him. His work ethic and competitiveness are unquestionable (unlike a guy like Carmelo). His athleticism is insane. Yeah other guys can play with reckless abandon either in very short stints or until they get injured. Russ does it nearly all the time and with great health (7 out of 10 seasons at 80+ GP - holy hell) - hence all the triple double records. It's literally unprecedented.

I think the criticisms against him are fair yet at the same time he doesn't get enough credit for what he is as a basketball phenom. A bit like Lebron that way...

I mean the guy decided he was going out to get 20/20/20 as a tribute to Nipsey Hussle and he did it. On an NBA court. In a real game. WTF.

[KeonClark]

Russ is absolutely incredible but is also peak "We're not sure if this guy actually makes our team better." With Carmelo out of the league that particular accolade is Russ' for the foreseeable future.

He makes your team better. Look at the year Durant left, he dragged role players to 47 wins in the west. That's not easy. Now, can he be the best player on a champion? No. A handful of guys can make that claim. But he assuredly makes your team better. Russell guarantees you a playoff appearance, which is pretty damn good, Anthony Davis can't do the same

[Demographic Shift]

Tonight sees a few meaningful games in the Easts playoff hunt....

Your Toronto Raptors take on the Brooklyn Nets. I like the nets. they play hard every night and bust their ass. Hope the Raps field the same team they did against the Magic... just to keep it fair... and also hoping they dust these guys by 20 to show'em who's boss.

In a fight for seeding the Pacers visit Detroit. The Pacers need the win to keep pace with Boston. Home court might make the difference between who comes out of the 4 vs 5 slot. Expect the Pacers to play like that in advance of the showdown in Indy vs the Pacers on Friday. A win here fixes a lot of concerns.

The Magic get a telegraphed fastball tonight vs the Knicks. The Knicks suck as bad as the Turdeau Liberals do in Alberta right now but the Magic still have to win it.

Boston travels to Miami. The Heat...to their credit play to win. Its a reflection of Pat Reilly. Reilly hates that puss Ainge like your kids hate broccoli. The Heat need it.. the Celtics think they are entitled to it.


Fearless Predictions ..

Indy W and a binary Pistons L... Dwanes collar is going to get a little tighter
Raps W and the corresponding binary Nets L... As of now.. Leonard and Lowry play.... OG still likely out...
A Magic W.. its the Knicks...
Heat W and a Clitlic L ... Its personal for Reilly. He hates .. yes hates...the sanctimonius BYU Mormon Ainge... The Heat like the boss..

When we check the standings late tonight or in the morning... the Heat and Pistons will be tied for 6th at 39 and 39.. and the Magic and Nets will be tied for 7th at 39 and 40....Have to think 41 wins gets you in....Gotta love the turtle derby eh ?

[slaw]

In equal fairness.. if your that fucking good.. .why does it matter who the second banana is...?

I guess I don't really see Booker or Walker as anything more than solid starters. My expectation of them is just to play well - I wouldn't expect either of them to be a guy to take you somewhere, unlike Melo, who was a top 5 pick and was a wunderkind and projected to be a superstar. Neither Booker or Walker are in that tier.

[bertarapsfan]

I guess I don't really see Booker or Walker as anything more than solid starters. My expectation of them is just to play well - I wouldn't expect either of them to be a guy to take you somewhere, unlike Melo, who was a top 5 pick and was a wunderkind and projected to be a superstar. Neither Booker or Walker are in that tier.

The closest thing that could have a career arch like Melo IMO is Tatum. He is an iso scorer who loves the mid-range. But will he ever be able to lead a team to champonship contention? Or will he put up big points as middling team as the leader? Time will tell. To me Booker could be like a Tracy Mcgrady, win scoring titles, put up huge numbers but struggle to lead his team to any playoff success. Kemba should be a 2nd guy on a contender. I love the dude, he was just unfourtantly drafted to a team who couldn't build around him and he is a loyal dude. He has wasted his prime but i hope he can leave Char this year and join a good team. Peoples eyes will be opened to how great this guy is.

[KeonClark]

The turtle derby is certainly interesting to finish.. nets are .5 back of 6th and a game back of golf in April. Raptors continue to play the role of spoiler

[bertarapsfan]

Looking up some tiebreakers right now.. we may end up seeing a crazy situation where a team gets screwed over. So a 3-way tie is decided by division winner. If nets, pistons and one of miami/orlando are tied to end the season. The winner of the southeast divison will get the 6th seed. The pistons and nets will then be decided by their head to head matchup which brooklyn has won making detroit 8th. Their also crazy scenario that could happen if we see a 4-way tie but im not smart enought to figure out what team will get what seed if all 4 are tied.

[Machine]

Does anyone have an educated guess of the date and time of our 1st and 2nd games in the first round. I want to get tickets to one of them but depends on the date and time.

[planetmars]

Does anyone have an educated guess of the date and time of our 1st and 2nd games in the first round. I want to get tickets to one of them but depends on the date and time.

https://www.nba.com/key-dates

Shows April 13th (Saturday) as the first day of the playoffs. So Raptors might play then as their last regular season game is on the 9th.. giving them 4 days rest before the first PO game. If they play on the 13th, than game 2 will probably be on the 15th.

[Machine]

https://www.nba.com/key-dates

Shows April 13th (Saturday) as the first day of the playoffs. So Raptors might play then as their last regular season game is on the 9th.. giving them 4 days rest before the first PO game. If they play on the 13th, than game 2 will probably be on the 15th.

Yeah that's what I figured. Does anyone remember how often we have played on the first day of playoffs in the past. I seem to recall us always getting the 12:30 or afternoon game on the first day.

[Demographic Shift]

So a week to go and its still up in the air who the Raps draw in round 1.No one can seem to grab the opportunity by the neck and punch their ticket.
The Magic won last night and everyone else lost. Below are the remaining games.

Detroit @OKC vsCharlotte vsMemphis @Knicks
Orlando vs Atlanta @Boston @Charlotte
Brooklyn @Bucks @Indy vsMiami
Miami @Minny @Toronto vs Philly atBrooklyn

A few things of interest.

In Mowtown Blake Griffin is on the IR with a knee problem. He has missed the last 3 and is still listed as day to day. Without him the PIstons are sliding. Have to think they bite the bullet and look at OKC as a road loss. That leaves them 3 against teams they have to and should beat. They have a back to back but its against the Knicks. If Blake can play after OKC and isn't labouring the Pistons should go 2 and 2.. maybe. .3 and 1.

Orlando has made the most of its favourable schedule. No one is hurt and they have been playing well.winners of 8 of their last 12. They are in 8th right now.and have no back to backs and a couple of days off between games. Atlanta is playing well and I don't see Boston resting anyone as they are going to go down to the wire with Indy. Charlotte is playing for nothing. Orlando should go 2 and 1.

Brooklyn is still in it despite the murderous schedule. No one on the Nets is hurt. They get the Bucks who are still playing everyone including a slightly nicked up Alphabet and then they get it upside the head again from the schedule maker who has them going to Indy on a back to back. They finish up at home with the Heat after 2 off days. The schedule has not been kind to the Nets. 1 and 2.

The Heat have 3 of the last 4 on the road. No one of significance is hurt. The Heat kick off their last 4 with Minny on the road (who at 3 and 7 in their last 10 are simply playing out the string) The Heat then travel here to face a potential matchup with the Raps. Looks like Nurse is using a page from baseball and spring training as he is stretching out his lineup in preparation for the playoffs. Don't expect anyone in Toronto rests save for the last game of the year in Minny. The Heat then fly home to take on Philly who might be doing the same thing .. and then.. on their only back to back they fly to Brooklyn to meet the Nets. The Heat at best go 2 and 2 but could go 1 and 3.

Safe to say 41 wins should do the trick....


Detroit 42 or 41 wins
Orlando 41 wins
Brooklyn 40 wins
Miami 39 or 40 wins..

[KeonClark]

Miami @ Brooklyn game 82 is setting up like it could literally be a play in game for the 8th seed. Which would be cool

[bertarapsfan]

[inthepaint]

According to this site, the Heat has a 63% chance of not making the playoffs, and that will probably be higher now with this injury. It's never nice to see players get injured but I'd actually be glad if we didn't face the Heat. I'd be worried about injury to our own guys if we faced them, given their hack-away style and fouling all the time.

http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/raptorsstandings.html

That table also show we got a 63% chance of seeing either Nets or Magic in the first round. Indy vs Boston fight for home court is also interesting. Hopefully it goes to Indy