Official ‘18 Playoffs Thread

[thewatcher]

Don't disrespect the King
.

[shakespeare]

Golden State’s good fortunes in the playoffs over the years

[dcapodic]

Draymond Green is a star. He’s All-NBA and Kerr recently said he may be the greatest defensive player, ever. Why do you believe otherwise? Was Dikembe Mutombo a star? If so, Draymond is twice as better.

Igoudala is a very important cog in Golden State’s offensive and defensive schemes. Of course he’s not a star, by no means, but he’s not garbage, if that’s what you believe. Didn’t he win Finals MVP two seasons again?

If you don’t believe Klay Thompson is a star, then maybe I should end the discussion right now? Thompson is heralded as the best two-way shooting guard in the league. Maybe I should ask your definition of a star? On one hand, you gave a washed Korver [Curry is the best long ball shooter, ever. Korver isn’t better than Reggie Miller and probably not Ray Allen] his props yet refused to give props to a player in his prime that’s twice as better. That doesn’t make sense. I recall Korver miss long ball after long ball in a critical 4th quarter in Game 4 of the Finals last season. If he had made just 1 of them, the series would’ve been tied. Instead, Warriors went up 3-1 so, well, you already know.

Or maybe I should just ask what team in the league is equal to Curry, Draymond, Durant, Iggy and Thompson since thatwas my original statement.

I didn’t know LeBron’s current playoff run was the best performance of any player, ever, until yesterday after I read an article that stated as much via historic numbers. Like yourself, I believe I’m witnessing greatness but if you know of another modern-day player that averaged 35, 8, 8 while shooting like 54% in the playoffs, then feel free to let me know. If not, then it’s exactly what the article said.

I respect your saying others are better than Jordan and LeBron, of course I do. I never saw the reasons why you believe others are greater, so that’s why I continue to believe otherwise. If you’d offer some legitimate reasoning then I’m open-minded enough to reconsider my stance. I had ranked Kareem higher than LeBron and, as a winner, he still is. But there’s no way he’s a better overall player than LeBron. For anyone to believe so, is comical. Championships aside, there are things on the court that Kareem has never done.

The NYKFP comment was tongue in cheek and more or less my way of saying that he shoulders so much of his team’s load.

I’ve never seen a team overhauled at midseason and reach the Finals. I feel like that’s a great accomplishment. Does it make it tougher? Of course it does. Are you kidding me? Cavs were getting whooped left and right from the beginning to the end of the season. Then LeBron went LeBron in the playoffs.

I only mentioned Jordan [btw, I saw what you did there] cause he was great and played in the Eastern Conference and ran roughshod in the playoffs, no different than LeBron. I don’t know of any other truly great EC players that reach so many Finals, only Jordan and LeBron, that’s all. So, if the same can be said about the His Airness then it’s not really a dis on LeBron, now is it? You’re nit-picking.

You say a lot of the "right" kinda things then you throw this in the mix:

I respect your saying others are better than Jordan and LeBron, of course I do. I never saw the reasons why you believe others are greater, so that’s why I continue to believe otherwise. If you’d offer some legitimate reasoning then I’m open-minded enough to reconsider my stance. I had ranked Kareem higher than LeBron and, as a winner, he still is. But there’s no way he’s a better overall player than LeBron. For anyone to believe so, is comical. Championships aside, there are things on the court that Kareem has never done.

So, you respect everyone's opinion but "For anyone to believe so, is comical".

I have always said it skakes, you put me to shame with your writing skills and you always seem to be able to better express the points I am trying to make.

Today, people are just SO SURE about their beliefs, so sure they are unwilling to accept anything else and in fact will try to discredit anyone else's beliefs by simple referring to them as things such as "comical".

Yea, I can understand how it is "comical" to believe that you can even think that Kareem could have been an overall better player than Lebron, just comical. How could anyone even think such a silly thing.

But, I really do respect their opinions, really I do.

[taowave]

shakes,it would certainly appear that Green,Curry,Klay and Durant ar an absolute fearsome foursome....

Which is why i cant understand how and why Houston gave them all they could handle without Paul for 2 games..

Perhaps Ariza is much better than I give him credit for??

I honestly believe,with paul,they would be advancing....

[shakespeare]

Me too. I too believe Rockets had Golden State, no different than OKC had them all but beaten in the playoffs the year before Durant turned his back on his teammates and franchise.

Rockets had no fear of Golden State, that’s what it appeared to be.

And Capela is hella underrated.

[taowave]

Yeah,maybe Capella is really underrated...

We have to be missing as they gave GS all they could handle...

Me too. I too believe Rockets had Golden State, no different than OKC had them all but beaten in the playoffs the year before Durant turned his back on his teammates and franchise.

Rockets had no fear of Golden State, that’s what it appeared to be.

And Capela is hella underrated.

[StevoStarks]

I just saw that charge call reversal for the first time and that call was total BS. WOW. Glad I didn't watch that joke of a game.

[spree#8]

Great game! Cavs had perfect execution down the stretch until JR dribbled the ball up high. A missed opportunity even though we don't know whether the Cavs would've scored if they had gotten a good look off that offensive rebound. Warriors did then what great teams do: punish opponents for their mistakes.

LeBron showed once again that he is the best player, Warriors that they are the better team. Some unnecessary stuff by Thompson/Green in the end, but I guess that happens when you meet for the 4th time in 4 seasons in the finals.

Things could stay interesting if the Warriors keep on switching on LeBron pick and rolls. They should start to fight over.

Before game 1 I hoped for a sweep with Curry winning the Finals MVP, but the Cavs played much better. So if that late game lapse doesn't kill their moral, the series could be closer. In general I'm pretty pleased with how entertaining these playoffs are. As I said before the playoffs began: best time of the year!

[Koopa Troopa]

Great game! Cavs had perfect execution down the stretch until JR dribbled the ball up high. A missed opportunity even though we don't know whether the Cavs would've scored if they had gotten a good look off that offensive rebound. Warriors did then what great teams do: punish opponents for their mistakes.

LeBron showed once again that he is the best player, Warriors that they are the better team. Some unnecessary stuff by Thompson/Green in the end, but I guess that happens when you meet for the 4th time in 4 seasons in the finals.

Things could stay interesting if the Warriors keep on switching on LeBron pick and rolls. They should start to fight over.

Before game 1 I hoped for a sweep with Curry winning the Finals MVP, but the Cavs played much better. So if that late game lapse doesn't kill their moral, the series could be closer. In general I'm pretty pleased with how entertaining these playoffs are. As I said before the playoffs began: best time of the year!

I agree that the playoffs this year have been really fun. I went into them thinking it would be a snoozefest since it was guaranteed Cavs Warriors, and even though that did happen it was a rocky road filled with drama.

Now we got JR Smith blowing up the internet, the refs being extremely controversial and also things are getting heated between the players. As Knick fans we dont really care who wins so Im just hoping for more close games, more JR debauchery and maybe a scuffle or two

[H20Knick]

i don't get how one day it's "this is a waste of time, golden state's team is too stacked. they're unbeatable. why watch? the fix is in. If lebron wins a couple games, that's a heroic feat"

and then the next day it's "well. the spurs would've beaten them with kawhi. the cavs would've beaten them twice instead of once with a full roster the first time they met. the rockets had them beaten too until paul got hurt"

it's the nba. anybody still playing in may is good enough to beat anyone else. Dirk, some has beens, and some never was's, beat Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. No one thought Kawhi was an elite player until he and a bunch of guys in their mid to late 30s beat the Heat. Billups, RIP, Prince, Sheed, and Big Ben beat Kobe, Shaq, and Phil.

I don't think draymond green is a star player if he's on the knicks. And I don't know how he's the "best defender in the world" and never draws the assignment of the other team's best player. I think he's overrated as shit to be honest with you. You put Kawhi on Lebron, Lebron notices. You put Paul on Curry, Curry notices. You put Horford on Love, Love notices. What has Draymond ever done defensively against the Cavs? They keep Iguodala on the roster for this series alone. He's a a great4th best player on your team. But I highly doubt that anybody looking at GSW's 2014 roster and comparing it to Cleveland's 2014 roster would've thought that GSW would ever be better than them... and nobody thought Westbrook/Harden/Durant/Ibaka had a chance against the Heatles either.

the moral of my story is that the nba, despite having the most apparent lack of parity, in its own way has the most parity. Because great teams can beat great players and great players can beat great teams. Everyone looking back on this series will say "well if the cavs hadn't gotten robbed by a (correctly adjusted) call challenge and the dumbass named JR Smith" could also argue that shitty officiating gave Kobe and Shaq a title over a Kings team that was robbed and is the reason Dirk has 1 ring instead of 2 as DWade was just ushered to the line some ungodly amount of times in the NBA finals. I mean these are the risks with literally every lebron team because it's always reliant on trades and free agency and never building your own talent. So you end up having to start JR Smith at PG. The overwhelming majority of this board didn't want JR Smith as a damn 6th man and they have him in the game in crunch time of a finals game lol. That's what happens when all your talent comes at the highest possible salary cap price.

[StevoStarks]

I hate the Warriors and every person on that team. I hate their stupid faces. I hate the way they shimmy. I hate the way they shoot 100 3's a game and make 75% of them. I hate that their coach is an ex Bull. I hate Draymond Green. I hate Kevin Durant and the fact he joined those DBags. I hate the refs favoring the Warriors. I like Klay Thompson's D.

In short, go Cavs. I hope I'm able to watch a game 7.

[Koopa Troopa]

Feel like Lue is getting exposed. The warriors defended Bron differently tonight and they had no answer. Bron still had a good game but he needs bigger numbers to have a chance vs this team.

Not even giving any other players a shot when JR is out there doing nothing all day as usual. Same with Korver. If hes not even getting a chance to shoot threes than what is his purpose? Jeff Green out there getting like 5 points in 30 minutes.

Meanwhile The Warriors set these soft ass picks and get every switch they want. They set them soft cause why even waste the energy when you know they will switch. Love defended Curry so much today that eventually he got kind of good at it. Their defensive scheme is embarrassing. At least dont switch unless they set an ACTUAL pick. Those weak ass picks should not force a switch.

[taowave]

Refs stole the Cavs heart in game 1..

why Jr Smith plays 10 minutes plus is beyond me

[spree#8]

2 more to go!

[Mike1989]

Refs stole the Cavs heart in game 1..

why Jr Smith plays 10 minutes plus is beyond me

The refs have a tough job and are in a no-win situation.

If they make the calls, people on the other side complain because they aren't letting them play or they are letting players con them.

If they don't make the calls, people on the other side complain because they aren't calling fouls that they should be doing.

It's like during the Rockets-Warriors series. Had the refs called those fouls on the Warriors when Harden went for those three points that could very well have led to the Rockets winning that game and the series. Imagine what Warriors fans or neutrals leaning towards the Warriors would have said, they would have been up in arms. As we know the refs didn't make those calls and "let them play" and consequently the Warriors came back and won the series, which led to Rockets and neutrals leaning towards the Rockets criticizing the refs and calling it a fix. Like I said, the refs are in a no-win situation because when they let teams play they get criticized for what they don't call, and when they do call them they get criticized for not letting them play. I'd hate to be a referee because you just can't please everyone all the time.

[shakespeare]

Hopefully no one is entertaining thoughts of LeBron and The Role Players defeating Golden State in the Finals. There’s no way Cleveland is winning this series.

Golden State is the ‘18 NBA champions.

[shakespeare]

Feel like Lue is getting exposed.

Always.

[H20Knick]

Think Blatt would've done a better job?

[StevoStarks]

Outside of calling a timeout the second JR rebounded the ball, which no coach would have done when their own player rebounds the ball right under the basket with 3.7 seconds left, not sure what Lue could do. Or anyone.

It's the fucking Warriors. They're a video game team. So hard to beat.

[Koopa Troopa]

Outside of calling a timeout the second JR rebounded the ball, which no coach would have done when their own player rebounds the ball right under the basket with 3.7 seconds left, not sure what Lue could do. Or anyone.

It's the fucking Warriors. They're a video game team. So hard to beat.

This is true but Lue is making it easier for the Warriors. Whats the point of George Hills defense when they just switch Love onto Curry effortlessly every single possession?

You could have prepared your players for the possibility of Hill missing the FT and getting the offensive board. Lue didnt consider the option so it ended up being a scramble. Even JR would have known to call a TO if that was what Lue planned.