NBA Playoffs begin on Saturday.

SanctionII

Your predictions.

I do not think the 2017-2018 playoffs will mirror the 2016-2017 playoffs. No team from either conference will steamroll through the playoffs to the finals.

keets

what station(s) are carrying them this year?? we are off cable and FireStick only.

keets

OK, looks like ESPN, ABC, and TNT with a sprinkling of the NBA Network.

erikthredd

I agree,just the East alone will have some pretty evenly matched first round series. The Raptors get the 8th seed Wizards who have a pretty deep roster even though their record wasn't all to great. Boston gets the Bucks and who knows if this will be the Greak Freak's "coming out party" in the playoffs now that he's an MVP candidate. The Cavs get the Pacers who they really didn't matchup well with during the season and Philly probably has the easiest matchup of all against Miami.

From the Celtics perspective, i was checking scores all last night hoping that Miami got the 7th seed instead of the Wiz or Bucks. Miami got the 6th seed but i'd say they're really the worst of the three. Washington with the lineup they have should have been a top 4 seed but they really underperformed this year. Milwaukee isn't all that great but they have a player in Giannis who looks like he'll be able to take over a series real soon. I think the Celtics should be able to beat the Bucks and if they do they'll probably end up facing the Cavs in round two. I don't see them getting past Lebron.
Either way these games should be entertaining. C's fans will get to see how Tatum,Brown & Rozier perform getting heavy playoff minutes,if they do well it will only help improve their possible trade value for this offseason.

DIMEMAN

Should be wide open this year!

erikthredd

@keets said:
what station(s) are carrying them this year?? we are off cable and FireStick only.

I'm no cable & Firestick only as well but i have a great site to watch all the games if you need it. I watched the C's all season on it.

keets

much is being made about the Cavs "terrible defense" this year but it's really being over-stated. consider the following:

I believe they have been healthy enough as a Team for something like 2-3 games. that is a really big factor in their play. add to that the stretch from Christmas to March when they had the distraction of IT, the trade on March 7th and then the integration of new players and played to the tune of 12-15.

take that stretch away and things are a lot different, especially towards the end of the year. what I will say is what Kevin said, this year should be competitive with mainly 6-7 game series'.

SanctionII

The King will shine brightly in the playoffs again this year; and it would not surprise me to see him playing in the Finals again for the 8th straight year.

galaxy27

i've got Philly coming out the East, and i think something unforeseen is going to go down in the West.......but idk what exactly. as much as i'd like to see a best-of-7 between the Rockets and Warriors, my gut says that isn't going to come to fruition.

erikthredd

After seeing how GS played yesterday,Curry just needs to be 75-80% of himself and they could start steamrolling again in the playoffs. Their defense was stifling and their offense was still great without him. They'll be really tough to beat.

DIMEMAN

@SanctionII said:
The King will shine brightly in the playoffs again this year; and it would not surprise me to see him playing in the Finals again for the 8th straight year.

I will be very surprised if the Cav's make the finals. Go Sixer's!

Brick

I would not be surprised to see the Cavs in the finals. I would not be surprised to see the Cavs not make the finals. I would be very surprised to see the Cavs win it all.

erikthredd

Boston plays great in the first quarter taking it to the hoop and causing turnovers then in the second they launch brick after brick from outside giving the Bucks long rebounds & quick transition points. The series isn't gonna last long if this is how they'll play

erikthredd

Great game! this series looks like its gonna be pretty entertaining. Those two 3's at the end of regulation were epic especially Middleton's to put it in OT.

Unknown

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DIMEMAN

@Brick said:
I would not be surprised to see the Cavs in the finals. I would not be surprised to see the Cavs not make the finals. I would be very surprised to see the Cavs win it all.

The Cav's may not make it past the Pacers. Which would be fine with me.

erikthredd

@BALROG said:
How did my Phoenix Suns do in the first playoff game last night ? Didn't watch or see anything on the local news about the game.

Their season ended at Sunset. Don't feel bad though,the best player in the draft is probably staying in Arizona to start his NBA career.

erikthredd

Boston is playing great so far with their young guys leading them. Getting Marcus Smart back by early next week will also help. On a Bucks note,man can Khris Middleton shoot.

galaxy27

thankfully the smelling salts that the Rockets ordered finally arrived in the 2nd quarter last night. they were starting to scare me with their ineptitude. good to see them win handily in spite of Harden.

have no idea what is going on with KAT.......he's playing like a kitten

erikthredd

@galaxy27 said:
thankfully the smelling salts that the Rockets ordered finally arrived in the 2nd quarter last night. they were starting to scare me with their ineptitude. good to see them win handily in spite of Harden.

have no idea what is going on with KAT.......he's playing like a kitten

Are the Rockets the team you root for?

erikthredd

Lebron & the Cavs should start off every game like they did last night with LBJ just taking over from tipoff. He put the Cavs ahead very quickly and had Oladipo in foul trouble 2mins into the game. It set the pace for the entire game and it was the final minutes before the Pacers came close to catching up on the scoreboard.

galaxy27

@erikthredd said:

@galaxy27 said:
thankfully the smelling salts that the Rockets ordered finally arrived in the 2nd quarter last night. they were starting to scare me with their ineptitude. good to see them win handily in spite of Harden.

have no idea what is going on with KAT.......he's playing like a kitten

Are the Rockets the team you root for?

i suppose you could say that. i'm more a fan of the game itself, but i live in Houston and have been to a number of games this season, so....

but i have absolutely no problem calling them out. in fact, i would be surprised if they made the finals. they ended up on top but received a much tougher draw than the Warriors did. on deck is either the Jazz or Thunder, and neither of those teams will be a cakewalk (i especially fear OKC). Golden State can probably waltz to the conference finals without playing Curry a single game, so they'll be locked and loaded.

btw, i've watched both games between Boston & Milwaukee. gotta hand it to the C's -- they are depleted, but the guys they do have suited up are playing their asses off. Rozier has really impressed me. dude put Bledsoe on skates the other night, lol. the Bucks are a straight up joke.......all kinds of talent but they underachieve like no other. all Boston has to do is take one on the road and that series is ovah.

erikthredd

I agree they have the tougher road,OKC has three guys who could probably take over a series and Utah can just shut you down on defense. This is Houston's year though hopefully they can at least follow thru and get by GS.
Rozier has been great since he started in place of Kyrie. I added up his totals recently and he's averaging 16/5/5 as starter with a 13-5 record. The only thing that sucks is he's raising his trade value. I'm hoping Boston finds a way to resign him instead of Smart. Brown & Tatum are both gonna be future stars in this league,i don't know Stevens fits everyone once Kyrie & Heyward come back.
Yeah the Bucks are pretty bad,you'd think they start Brogdon over Bledsoe by now. They should probably replace the coach with someone who preaches defense. They have all that length and waste it.
I still think its Boston-Cavs in round two but Indy did what they had to and came out of Cleveland with a win. That next game at home should be entertaining.

galaxy27

Boston will probably hit a roadblock at some point, but the experience will prove invaluable for those young studs. then when Irving & Heyward are reinserted next season, they will be beyond nasty. LeBron will have no place to hide.

Brad Stevens was the perfect hire.......he may coach that team for 20 years

erikthredd

If it ends up C's/Cavs i don't think they get by Lebron but i would like to see how they play against them without Kyrie. Boston looked great with Kyrie starring for them but since he's been out it just looks like the entire team stepped up their game bigtime. I would have loved to see how this team looked healthy for the season but had Heyward not gone down,Greg Monroe wouldn't have been signed with the injury exception and he's been great off the bench. Smart & Monroe are their 2 biggest free agents this offseason and probably won't be back.
Lebron going to Philly or Toronto could make it real interesting in the East. Outside of staying in Cleveland I don't see any other East team than those two where he would want to go play. If he goes West,Philly-Boston might renew their 80's rivalry which should be fun to watch.

galaxy27

i've said LA for LBJ all along, but i can also see him in a Sixers uni next season. if he stays in Cleveland i would be shocked......and i don't think he'd win another ring for the remainder of his career. if he wants to sniff MJ's mark, he's gotta be on the move.

erikthredd

The Lakers could make it real interesting,they opened up enough space to sign two max players but if somehow they sign Lebron then try to trade for Kawhi they'd have to send back matching salary which probably makes room for a 3rd max player. SA would want a great package of players/picks in return so it won't be like LA sending a pick or two while just absorbing his salary with that max spot they have available. Lonzo's assists totals would go thru the roof if he had Lebron,Kawhi & Paul George to pass to on the fast break.
Philly could eventually be a beast with Lebron but i think it might stunt Simmons growth as a player. He's a special player with the ball in his hands as is Lebron and either way one would have to alter their game for the other. They'd probably make it work eventually though.

DIMEMAN

If James went to Philly he would have to be the SF and leave Simmons at PG.

SanctionII

I wonder if Popovich will be coaching tonight for game three, or if he will skip the game due to the death of his wife.

DIMEMAN

I know I wouldn't be there coaching....if it were me.

erikthredd

@SanctionII said:
I wonder if Popovich will be coaching tonight for game three, or if he will skip the game due to the death of his wife.

espn reported he won't be at the game

Justacommeman

Congrats to Steve Kerr. Quickest to 50 playoff wins in NBA history

mark

SanctionII

New Orleans is playing very well. It is likely that New Orleans and Golden State will play each other in round 2 since they both have 3-0 leads over Portland and San Antonio. That will be a fun series to watch.

Reports on local sports media this morning state the Curry's knee injury is likely to prevent him from playing in the second round of the playoffs.

Funny thing is that some local sports talk radio shows have discussed whether Curry should be held out of games during these playoffs until after Golden State loses a game (the thought being that why play Curry and risk further injury if the team can win without him, even if he is medically cleared to play).

Had that thought been implemented last year Curry would not have played until game 4 against Cleveland since Golden State was 15-0 in the playoffs and did not lose until game 4 of the title series.

erikthredd

I'm a huge Anthony Davis fan and its great to see him finally win some playoff games. That round 2 matchup should be a good one.

erikthredd

Someone finally reminded the Bucks & Wizards that the playoffs started.

erikthredd

Pelicans are on a roll right now.

vintagefun

What happened to the Blazers??? Stoked for AD though.

erikthredd

They couldn't stop Anthony Davis or Jrue Holiday in this series. Both had 40+ points today.

Justacommeman

RIP City.......RIP

m

erikthredd

Lance finally gets ahead of Lebron in a series and starts talking trash way too soon when they're only up 1 game.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23279100/lance-stephenson-indiana-pacers-full-control-cleveland-cavaliers

DIMEMAN

@erikthredd said:
Lance finally gets ahead of Lebron in a series and starts talking trash way too soon when they're only up 1 game.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23279100/lance-stephenson-indiana-pacers-full-control-cleveland-cavaliers

We can only hope!

erikthredd

Huge win for the Bucks but are they really dropping confetti for tying the series? that is hilarious.

Justacommeman

Great game

m

erikthredd

Yup but horrible officiating on both ends of the court. Its like they decided to let them play to the point there was no consistency on what's a foul and what isn't (edit/ not talking about that last shot). These next 2-3 games should be entertaining though and I'm predicting we'll see a brawl before its over. Morris & Middleton are heading there.

galaxy27

that game was a microcosm of who the Bucks are -- talented enough to build a big lead at home on an undermanned opponent, yet undisciplined enough to almost gag the game (and the series)

i have mad respect for Boston, but i can't trust Milwaukee as far as i can throw them

erikthredd

You'd think that they would just start Thon Maker already,he's Dikembe Mutombo with a three point shot in his repertoire.
Boston's been talking about having Smart for a game t if it goes there, I wonder if they bring him back sooner. They could definitely use his defense right now.

Justacommeman

It’ seemed like the Bucks had 20 blocked shots

m

keets

**Lance finally gets ahead of Lebron in a series and starts talking trash **

the guy is an animal, and I don't mean that in a kind way. it is inconceivable to me how he hasn't been whistled for any flagrant fouls in this series. his big contribution seems to be the forearm to the head or the hand rake across the face. last night, Larry Nance Jr. went for a dunk and Lance went up for the block: the only problem being that he only got his hand up high enough to drag it across the side of Nance's face. at the end of the game he went for the ball on an inbounds pass and ended up wrapping both his arms around Jeff Green's head and taking him to the floor for a couple of rolls. one Ref actually signaled for a jump ball!!!

in a strange twist, a little earlier in the game as the Teams walked to their benches for a timeout, he followed Lebron and flapped his jaw: when Lebron pushed him away the Refs issued a technical. unbelievable.

not much better has been Bogdanovich. the guy has a smooth three point shot but can't seem to defend Lebron without leaning in at a 45 degree angle and holding onto him, it's really absurd. during an in-bounds pass in game three the guy was whistled for a foul and actually had his head at Lebron's stomach and both arms wrapped around his body. Lebron could only laugh as play stopped but Bogdanovich continued to hold onto him.

it has been a very physical game.

the Cavs will be OK and have actually outplayed the Pacers in all but one aspect of the game --- they continually come out of the Half looking very lethargic and the Pacers look energized by the break. they almost lost Game two in the third quarter and did in fact lose Game three because of that. the media spoke to Lebron about it and he had no answer, but if they don't figure it out the Pacers will probably beat them.

erikthredd

Marcus Smart got upgraded to questionable for tomorrow nights Celtics game. His defense would be a huge boost to help cover Giannis or Middleton.

@keets I didn't get a chance to watch yesterday's Cavs game. Stephenson loves his role as antagonist,he's like the second coming of Ron Artest. His dumb-ass should have waited till it was actually 3-1 before calling Lebron out.

Justacommeman

The Cavs-Pacers series has been even steven.

m

keets

Mark, any idea why the Cavs seem so flat after the Half??