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2023 NBA playoffs will be starting soon.

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  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    73 - 73 "Even Steven" - BOX!

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Tatum having one of the worst shooting nights of his career and he drills two gargantuan treys

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Geez, Old man Harden a no show again -

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    make that 3

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    make that 4

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    i was fearing for Tatum's life and the dude turned out to be the hero

    good on you JT

    G7 baby!

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congrats Boston! Another one of them 4rth quarter dagger.

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Whew! I swear I aged about 10yrs during that final 4mins lol. The NBA is giving these two teams an extra day of rest for that game 7 on sunday,I just hope the C's bring it for a full 48.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    🍀

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It's nice to come out on the right side of a game like that.

    It did get a little tense for awhile.

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Good thing Harden didn't have 2 or more days to rest between games - when you push him with one days rest he's worthless. Tonight: 4 of 16 from the floor, 0-6 from 3, 13 total points.

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @galaxy27 said:
    i was fearing for Tatum's life and the dude turned out to be the hero

    good on you JT

    G7 baby!

    I've been defending him with TheShow all season but there was a point in this game where I was seriously contemplating if he can be the guy here or not.

    Offtopic: regardless of this series or playoiffs,after Tatum (1st) & Brown (2nd) both made the All NBA teams yesterday they're now eligible for extensions making pretty much double their current salaries, I'm talking insane money now with salaries starting around 50+M in year one that goes to 60-70M at the end.

    I really hope that someone in the Boston organization, be it Brad Stevens or Joe Mazzulla sits these two down and gives them an honest assessment of how they've played in these past two playoff runs. I saw alot of the same mistakes from both players in this game/series that plagued them a year ago and cost them a ring.
    Tatum's slow starts then driving to the hoop and tossing it up hoping for the refs to bail him out. Brown with his dribbling into traffic then losing the ball and basically disappearing offensively after halftimes. These two can be elite when they want to but in these pressure situations they tend to fall back on many of their bad habits which drives everyone that roots for them nuts.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Steven59 said:
    Good thing Harden didn't have 2 or more days to rest between games - when you push him with one days rest he's worthless. Tonight: 4 of 16 from the floor, 0-6 from 3, 13 total points.

    Every game in this series has been every other day until this game 7. Hopefully James spends too much time resting at his favorite gentleman's club over the next two days and shows up sunday with tired legs lol.
    He & Embiid didn't get their share of calls on the offensive end like they did in game 5 in Boston. Tatum didn't either,aside from a play here or there the officiating was pretty good overall,imo.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Tatum has consistently shown that he is one the best players in the world. But he has also shown that he is very susceptible to poor starts and disappearing for huge stretches of games. Something is off, and I hope to see him reconcile it.

    That being said, tonight is not the first night that he has shown that he can turn it on when it counts, push all of his mistakes aside, and take over in the end. Not everyone can do that. This in itself shows mental fortitude. This tells me that he is not weak mentally, but we see that he has "hiccups" in his performance. There is a disconnect he must rectify. If the game had gone against the Celtics, this would have been a tough off season (media wise) for Tatum. He showed me something tonight in the 4th, and I honestly expect to win my avatar bet on Sunday. 😉

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @thisistheshow said:
    Tatum has consistently shown that he is one the best players in the world. But he has also shown that he is very susceptible to poor starts and disappearing for huge stretches of games. Something is off, and I hope to see him reconcile it.

    That being said, tonight is not the first night that he has shown that he can turn it on when it counts, push all of his mistakes aside, and take over in the end. Not everyone can do that. This in itself shows mental fortitude. This tells me that he is not weak mentally, but we see that he has "hiccups" in his performance. There is a disconnect he must rectify. If the game had gone against the Celtics, this would have been a tough off season (media wise) for Tatum. He showed me something tonight in the 4th, and I honestly expect to win my avatar bet on Sunday. 😉

    What I think is his worst attribute early in these games has been...he drives into the lane and instead of slowing himself down,squaring his body somewhat towards the rim then going off of two feet when he takes his shot, he'll end up with this awkward body angle off one foot before releasing a very weak floater/finger roll towards the basket. He was very prone to doing this against the Warriors in the Finals but then came back in the fall looking much more poised on these drives.

    He hasn't been starting these games off by taking a ton of threes like we've seen him do and he deserves some credit for trying to get to the basket. Its just when he's not getting any calls yet is still throwing up the awful angled finger rolls,he needs to just slow everything down then let the game come to him.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Holy crap, just saw that Denver put up 44pts in the first quarter at Phoenix. Someone doesn't want to head back to Denver for a game 7 lol.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @erikthredd said:
    Holy crap, just saw that Denver put up 44pts in the first quarter at Phoenix. Someone doesn't want to head back to Denver for a game 7 lol.

    I'm not watching, but I won't be surprised to see a Denver win.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @thisistheshow said:

    @erikthredd said:
    Holy crap, just saw that Denver put up 44pts in the first quarter at Phoenix. Someone doesn't want to head back to Denver for a game 7 lol.

    I'm not watching, but I won't be surprised to see a Denver win.

    54-33 with around 8mins left in the 2nd, Denver is on a mission tonight.

    Also I just read that Andrew Wiggins has a fractured rib and might not be a go for GS tomorrow night. He was great last night with 25/7/5, if he can't play thats a huge loss for the Warriors.

  • SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,091 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The Suns ride off into the Sunset for summer vacation.

    The Nuggets are figuratively and literally a "Mile High" and continue their climb to their first NBA Finals appearance.

    Celtics and Sixers - gotta have a game 7.

    Same with LA and GS, plus NY and Miami.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    LoL,saw this posted elsewhere about KD early in the game when the Nuggets had a huge lead...
    At this rate kd probably thinking if he could demand a trade to den at halftime.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,091 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Me thinks that the league, broadcasters and advertisers would love to see games 7 this Sunday (Mother's Day) between:

    Boston and Philly; and

    Lakers v. Warriors (James v. Curry; and the prospect of flip of the 2016 Finals, with James being on the receiving end of losing a series in 7 games after being up 3-1 and Curry being on the giving end).

    The ratings for those two games would be very high.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Please enjoy your respective evenings, my fellow Celtics fans.

    This will be a night of relaxation and scuttlebutt as we sit back and scout both our ECF opponent (Heat) and our most likely finals opponent (Lakers).

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 12, 2023 1:24PM

    One thing that I've been waiting to hear from the NBA today is what the hell happened on that Tyrese Maxey getting fouled by Tatum (orBrown?) play midway thru the 4th? Maxey steals the ball,gets fouled and the refs call it a clear path foul so Philly will get two shots plus the ball. Embiid takes and makes the two FTs,the Sixers throw it in and play resumes.
    Then minutes later after the ball has changed hands and some time was taken off the clock, the refs went to review a play where Rob Williams tips it out, and after reviewing it came back and took 2pts off the Sixers total, then told everyone that Embiid shouldn't have gone to the line for those two FTs and now had Maxey take them instead.
    I've seen plenty of times where a 3 went in then later it was reviewed then changed to a 2 or vice versa but I've never seen a play like that where someone goes to the line then play resumes,the possession arrow changes and 5-10mins (in real time) later they redo it all again. With Boston winning by 9 I really don't think it factored much into the final score but it definitely looked like a CYA moment by the refs.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @erikthredd said:
    One thing that I've been waiting to hear from the NBA today is what the hell happened on that Tyrese Maxey getting fouled by Tatum (orBrown?) play midway thru the 4th? Maxey steals the ball,gets fouled and the refs call it a clear path foul so Philly will get two shots plus the ball. Embiid takes and makes the two FTs,the Sixers throw it in and play resumes.
    Then minutes later after the ball has changed hands and some time was taken off the clock, the refs went to review a play where Rob Williams tips it out, and after reviewing it came back and took 2pts off the Sixers total, then told everyone that Embiid shouldn't have gone to the line for those two FTs and now had Maxey take them instead.
    I've seen plenty of times where a 3 went in then later it was reviewed then changed to a 2 or vice versa but I've never seen a play like that where someone goes to the line then play resumes,the possession arrow changes and 5-10mins (in real time) later they redo it all again. With Boston winning by 9 I really don't think it factored much into the final score but it definitely looked like a CYA moment by the refs.

    If he had missed one or two of those shots, and it had been a one or two point game at the end, it would have been an even more interesting and entertaining discussion.

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    So the Boston fans be like - "We're trying to beat Philly and You cavs fans are still in the bar drinking --------- :D:D

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    But anyhow: Close game for the Heat at halftime.

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Steven59 said:
    So the Boston fans be like - "We're trying to beat Philly and You cavs fans are still in the bar drinking --------- :D:D


    😎😎😎

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @erikthredd
    I can still read lips - so WTF do you mean by a gif that states WTF ?? LOL!
    Ya'll are still trying to beat Philly for the go right? And Cavs fans are still drowning their sorrows, right? LOL!!!!!!

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Steven59 said:
    @erikthredd
    I can still read lips - so WTF do you mean by a gif that states WTF ?? LOL!
    Ya'll are still trying to beat Philly for the go right? And Cavs fans are still drowning their sorrows, right? LOL!!!!!!

    They haven't passed go yet so save us a seat,we may need to drown our sorrows as well.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That should be two shots plus the ball.

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    5 mins left in the 1st Q and the Warriors are toast

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,091 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not quite yet.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @galaxy27 said:
    5 mins left in the 1st Q and the Warriors are toast

    ..
    I expect a Lakers win, but a Warriors win would not be shocking.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Klay is putting in his best first-half-Tatum impression so far. GS is lucky Divincenzo came to play tonight.

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    wouldn't it be great to have access to the oracle for a game like this if you're a Warriors fan? he could tell you prior to tip-off, "your team will not have the lead at any point in this game" and it would save you 2.5 hours of misery and you could go watch dateline nbc instead

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @galaxy27 said:
    wouldn't it be great to have access to the oracle for a game like this if you're a Warriors fan? he could tell you prior to tip-off, "your team will not have the lead at any point in this game" and it would save you 2.5 hours of misery and you could go watch dateline nbc instead

    ......
    We need a pinned thread... ask the oracle

    It might at least be more popular than that "new sentence" thread I started (with the encouragement of @hydrant) .

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It would be a huge surprise if Warriors come back. I'm turning it off. See you all later...

  • pdoidoipdoidoi Posts: 653 ✭✭✭✭

    Warriors 58 - Lakers 74 3rd 6;20

  • pdoidoipdoidoi Posts: 653 ✭✭✭✭

    end of the 3rd Warriors 77 - Lakers 91

  • pdoidoipdoidoi Posts: 653 ✭✭✭✭

    Lakers win 122 - 101

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    As a Celtics fan, I admittedly say...I am looking ahead....we will win tomorrow.

    It will be an extra happy Mother's Day for all of the Celtics fans.

    I'd like to comment here on expectations and attitudes of fans.

    I spent some time last night reading through comments made by Heat fans. There was not only confidence, but a lack of criticism for how the series and particularly that last game went down versus the Knicks.

    I am confident in saying that Celtics fans would be looking at it differently. I know that the Heat were not a favorite like the Celtics, but still.... Maybe I am wrong.

    If I was a Heat fan, I'd be looking at my team's struggles to close out the Knicks as a precursor to what is to come. The Heat fans are thinking about making the ECF three out of four years. I'm sorry to tell them, but their road ends here.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Its gonna be interesting to see where the Warriors go from here. I think their first move should be is finding a taker for Jordan Poole and his 4yr/128M contract. That was such a horrible idea to give him that much money in the first place.

    Second should be figure out what to do with Draymond,his stats haven't fallen off that much from his peak years and he still made 2nd team All Defense but it just seems like he doesn't impact either end like he used to. He has a player option for next season but could be traded right after he picks it up.

    Klay still has the ability to go on some insane heaters at times but you could also say he shot them right out of last night's game all by himself. He's due to make 43M next season that jumps to 50+M if he gets traded. Some team might be willing to take that money on as an expiring contract,especially with the new CBA changes that go in effect soon where the league now has a 2nd tax line that they need to get under or face some very severe consequences.

    Ultimately I think that GS holds onto Green & Thompson while trying to find a taker for Poole's contract, they could attempt trading all three but i highly doubt that the return would get them any closer to another championship than they are right now.

    I just realized Steph is 35 (thought he was like 31-32) and this might have been his last best chance at another ring. Between everyone geting up there in age,their younger players not developing like the front office hoped and changes to the CBA tax layout that would hurt GS more than anyone else, this was likely the end to this dynasty core. It almost seems fitting that it was Lebron who ended it after they beat him three times in the Finals.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @thisistheshow said:
    As a Celtics fan, I admittedly say...I am looking ahead....we will win tomorrow.

    It will be an extra happy Mother's Day for all of the Celtics fans.

    I'd like to comment here on expectations and attitudes of fans.

    I spent some time last night reading through comments made by Heat fans. There was not only confidence, but a lack of criticism for how the series and particularly that last game went down versus the Knicks.

    I am confident in saying that Celtics fans would be looking at it differently. I know that the Heat were not a favorite like the Celtics, but still.... Maybe I am wrong.

    If I was a Heat fan, I'd be looking at my team's struggles to close out the Knicks as a precursor to what is to come. The Heat fans are thinking about making the ECF three out of four years. I'm sorry to tell them, but their road ends here.

    I think Heat fans are mostly just happy that they got to this point in the ECFs, that team severely underperformed during the season by dropping into the play-in tournament the season after finishing with the #1 seed. I know this could be where someone says seeding isn't that important and I'd mostly agree but they came close to missing out on the playoffs entirely so that was never part of the plan.

    After watching the Heat-Knicks series I really only have two thoughts on how it ended.
    1) from a NY standpoint,Jaylen Brunson pound for pound might be the best PG in the NBA. He may not shoot like Steph or perform airiel acrobatics like Ja but he can really play with the best of them. NY's front office just needs to now add better pieces around him.
    2.) The Heat just looked like a much better all around team. Butler never really had to go off to carry them to a win like he did against the Buck, Bam too. It also helped Miami greatly that NY is built just like them,win games with a grind it out tough defense and fairly low scoring games. Losing Tyler Herro's 20ppg hasn't really hurt them yet but against teams like Boston or Philly it might.

    While I think the C's win tomorrow I'm not going to look to far ahead past this game 7,gotta get into the ECFs before I start worrying about them. 😎

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @erikthredd said:

    While I think the C's win tomorrow I'm not going to look to far ahead past this game 7,gotta get into the ECFs before I start worrying about them. 😎

    ...
    I'll do the looking ahead for you. That's what I'm here for. You're welcome.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The Show is out there looking for the Heat like...

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    No games tonight - but at least the XFL Championship is on at 8pm - :D

    Lakers vs Nuggets should be a good series as long as AD doesn't get hurt - they were 2-2 during regular season.

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The Suns didn't waste any time finding their scapegoat after having just fired coach Monty Williams. In 2020-21 he coached the Suns to the Finals,in 2021-22 he won the NBA Coach of the Year award.
    Apparently the new Suns owner must blame him for the Chris Paul injury and DeAndre Ayton flaking out on the team when they needed him most in game 6 vs Denver.

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 8,953 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I saw this mentioned elsewhere, 3 out of the previous 4 coaches who won the Finals have already been fired (Vogel,Nurse,Budenholzer) and 5 out of the previous 7 to win Coach of the Year have as well.
    The NBA is definitely a what have you done for me lately league.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @erikthredd said:
    I saw this mentioned elsewhere, 3 out of the previous 4 coaches who won the Finals have already been fired (Vogel,Nurse,Budenholzer) and 5 out of the previous 7 to win Coach of the Year have as well.
    The NBA is definitely a what have you done for me lately league.

    ...
    I think more than anything this reflects the shift to it being a player's league.

    Coaches, and front office people, have long been scapegoats. And there is a constant rinse and repeat cycle with overlapping players and front office.

    Still, this looks like the byproduct of being a league where it is the players who run the show, and the coach is seen as ...

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