2021-22 NBA Thread

[Digby]

What a complete scumbag. Cool that his team lost.

 

 

[DoctorWhom]

 

Just now, Digby said:

What a complete scumbag. Cool that his team lost.

Yeah because as we all know, stepping on a teams logo NEVER backfires against you. LOL

 

But seriously, one of the best playoff games I've seen since Kawhi's game winner against the 76ers in 2019.  

[Digby]

That last play was a thing of beauty. Ball movement to find a better opportunity. Smart and Brown making the passes no less. No timeout needed. Team basketball at its finest. What a contrast!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 hours ago, Digby said:

What a complete scumbag. Cool that his team lost.

 

 

 

Nah, it's fine.

 

 

[Digby]

Famously reliable narrator Kyrie Irving, sure. I “did my own research” and it said he just got booed normally but louder than usual (wonder why).

[DoctorWhom]

Kyrie has always been a :censored:, this isn't anything new. 

I think deep down he knows he'll always be seen as the Pippen to Lebron's Jordan.  

[truepg]

10 hours ago, DoctorWhom said:

I think deep down he knows he'll always be seen as the Pippen to Lebron's Jordan.  

Not really, his personality and antics/decisions aside, Kyrie was as much a reason as LeBron for the Cavs' '16 title, who willed Cleveland to the championship that year. He had a phenomenal performance in that Finals, scoring 41 points apiece with LeBron in one of the games among others, and the shot was as significant, if not even more of a staple that decided the victory, than the epic block by LeBron that preceded it.

What comes to the verbal beefing with fans and the stuff Beverley did after the play-in win too – I love it, it adds drama, passion and emotions to the games. Otherwise the product has gotten too soft and watered-down with all the regulations, restrictions and buddy-buddy atmosphere. The fans are the ones who 'ask for it' once they decide to shout such things, anyway.
 

[Germanshepherd]

Not a Kyrie fan, but I thought the double birds were funny. Boston fans got the last laugh anyways with the win. 
 

Also, it’s insane how damn good Chris Paul is still at 37. We hear all the time about appreciating LeBron for doing stuff at his age, but somehow CP3 being just as impressive falls under the radar. 

[Seadragon76]

I think that being in Phoenix, who languished for years in the middle of the pack to near the bottom of the Western Conference before this resurrection, probably helps hide CP3 from the praise he should be getting.

[Digby]

1 hour ago, Seadragon76 said:

I think that being in Phoenix, who languished for years in the middle of the pack to near the bottom of the Western Conference before this resurrection, probably helps hide CP3 from the praise he should be getting.

 

You're not wrong, but I also think his reputation for falling flat in the playoffs is part of it too, like people just don't want to take a CP3 team seriously in the playoffs anymore. But you could also argue he's really due for success this time, maybe...

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Miami in 5

Milwaukee in 4

Brooklyn in 7

Philadelphia in 5

 

Phoenix in 4

Memphis in 7

Golden State in 6

Utah in 6

 

Miami over Philly in 6

Milwaukee over Brooklyn in 7

 

Phoenix over Utah in 6

Golden State over Memphis in 6

 

Milwaukee over Miami in 7

Phoenix over Golden State in 6

 

Phoenix over Milwaukee in 6

 

[Indigo]

6 hours ago, truepg said:

Not really, his personality and antics/decisions aside, Kyrie was as much a reason as LeBron for the Cavs' '16 title, who willed Cleveland to the championship that year. He had a phenomenal performance in that Finals, scoring 41 points apiece with LeBron in one of the games among others, and the shot was as significant, if not even more of a staple that decided the victory, than the epic block by LeBron that preceded it.

You could argue this both ways, and they’d both be right. But I’ll let the facts do the talking. Without Kyrie, LeBron doesn’t win a ring in Cleveland, no matter what type of insane numbers he puts up (see 2015, 2018). But without LeBron, Kyrie doesn’t get a ring ever (see every year since that Kyrie has been healthy). 

 

Oddly enough, Kyrie needed LeBron more for his legacy than vice versa. LeBron could have rode it out in Miami or go anywhere else to seek a chip. LeBron (and Ty Lue, credit to him for keeping those egos in check) were the types of leaders that would keep Irving in line. He can’t be the star of the show (Boston) and his co-partner can’t be someone with similar leadership issues and character flaws (Brooklyn).

[truepg]

24 minutes ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

You could argue this both ways, and they’d both be right. But I’ll let the facts do the talking. Without Kyrie, LeBron doesn’t win a ring in Cleveland, no matter what type of insane numbers he puts up (see 2015, 2018). But without LeBron, Kyrie doesn’t get a ring ever (see every year since that Kyrie has been healthy). 

 

Oddly enough, Kyrie needed LeBron more for his legacy than vice versa. LeBron could have rode it out in Miami or go anywhere else to seek a chip. LeBron (and Ty Lue, credit to him for keeping those egos in check) were the types of leaders that would keep Irving in line. He can’t be the star of the show (Boston) and his co-partner can’t be someone with similar leadership issues and character flaws (Brooklyn).

 

If talking about facts, Kyrie was also just a few years in into his young career when LeBron joined Cleveland already as an experienced veteran with two titles. LeBron had never won a ring without other stars either (his team-jumping and gathering other superstars to unite with is a considerable let-down in his career of its own, for that matter). Then Kyrie did miss the playoffs his first year with Boston. Not gonna win ever can't be said yet.

 

Not comparing the two players here, but Kyrie was as crucial to Cleveland's chip, and my point was that calling him 'LeBron's Pippen' is not doing that '16 title effort justice at all.

[Indigo]

2 hours ago, truepg said:

 

If talking about facts, Kyrie was also just a few years in into his young career when LeBron joined Cleveland already as an experienced veteran with two titles. LeBron had never won a ring without other stars either (his team-jumping and gathering other superstars to unite with is a considerable let-down in his career of its own, for that matter). Then Kyrie did miss the playoffs his first year with Boston. Not gonna win ever can't be said yet.

 

Not comparing the two players here, but Kyrie was as crucial to Cleveland's chip, and my point was that calling him 'LeBron's Pippen' is not doing that '16 title effort justice at all.

While his role may not be as definitely #2 as Pippen was, if you ask most people who was the #1 star in that 2016 team, it was (Finals MVP) LeBron.

Rarely is there a team that wins a championship without a clear #1 & #2. Only maybe the 17-18 Warriors, but that’s about it (they are an exception because they had two previous #1’s).

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Stupid, sexy Warriors.

[spartacat_12]

On 4/17/2022 at 8:31 PM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Nah, it's fine.

 

The guy acts like he's the first player in the history of the league to get heckled by fans. This stuff has been going on since the dawn of spectator sports, and I'm sure the taunting he deals with is 1000 times tamer than what players were putting up with 30 years ago. Part of being an elite athlete is tuning out the fans and staying focused on actually playing basketball. Those people pay a lot of money to sit close to the court, and unless their comments drift into racist/homophobic territory they're allowed to yell at players.

[Indigo]

15 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

The guy acts like he's the first player in the history of the league to get heckled by fans. This stuff has been going on since the dawn of spectator sports, and I'm sure the taunting he deals with is 1000 times tamer than what players were putting up with 30 years ago. Part of being an elite athlete is tuning out the fans and staying focused on actually playing basketball. Those people pay a lot of money to sit close to the court, and unless their comments drift into racist/homophobic territory they're allowed to yell at players.

We just had a day last week where we celebrated a player (albeit a different sport) who overcame adversity 100x worse than what Kyrie dealt with, in a time period where said player knew he was not wanted and knew he was going to be harassed, and yet still played with excellence and respect.

[Digby]

1 hour ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

We just had a day last week where we celebrated a player (albeit a different sport) who overcame adversity 100x worse than what Kyrie dealt with, in a time period where said player knew he was not wanted and knew he was going to be harassed, and yet still played with excellence and respect.

 

The thing I find particularly and specifically galling about Kyrie, as do other Celtics fans, is that he refuses any sort of accountability for his place here. He actively worked to sabotage the team when he was on the Celtics and has non-stop provoked and instigated the fans since leaving. And he's not been held accountable for any of it. Pretty obvious that's why he gets this specific level of hatred from the fans and yet he pretends they're the unreasonable ones. Disingenuous to the point of gaslighting. 

[Seadragon76]

And thanks to his double finger salute to Boston fans, Kyrie is now out of $50K

[DoctorWhom]

16 minutes ago, Seadragon76 said:

And thanks to his double finger salute to Boston fans, Kyrie is now out of $50K

Should have been a 2 game suspension. 1 game for each finger.