22-23 NBA Season Thread

[Dynasty]

Boston got lucky in drawing Atlanta instead of Miami.

 

I think against the Heat, it would at least go six games.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Draymond out for game 3.

 

Good.

[SCMODS]

Sayonara Warriors

[FiddySicks]

Sigh. Yeah, sure.
 

I’m now less disappointed in the inevitability of the Kings just getting curb stomped by the Lakers in the second round. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

10 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Sigh. Yeah, sure.
 

I’m now less disappointed in the inevitability of the Kings just getting curb stomped by the Lakers in the second round. 

 

The Lakers struggle with speed. I think the Kings are a bad matchup for them.

 

I can't tell if the Suns or Clippers are any good.

[Cujo]

40 minutes ago, SCMODS said:

Sayonara Warriors

 

 

The Warriors lost a role player, not Steph Curry.

 

Let's not write the 4x Champs off quite yet.

[Digby]

I think whoever ends up coming out of the Bucks/Celtics/Sixers scrap in the East will be our champion in a comfortable six game finals.

[FiddySicks]

8 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

The Lakers struggle with speed. I think the Kings are a bad matchup for them.

 

I can't tell if the Suns or Clippers are any good.

 

27 minutes ago, Digby said:

I think whoever ends up coming out of the Bucks/Celtics/Sixers scrap in the East will be our champion in a comfortable six game finals.

It definitely feels like we’re living in a reverse world where all of the legit, world beating teams are in the east, while the teams in the west seem random and mediocre. If there’s any year that a really random team like the Clippers or Kings are actually going to make the Finals, it’s this year. Can’t see any of these teams beating the east, though. 
 

Although TBF we do kind of need the Sixers to make the Finals this year and lose. It’s too bad the Flyers weren’t also good enough to lose the Stanley Cup Finals. 

[dont care]

13 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

 

The Warriors lost a role player, not Steph Curry.

 

Let's not write the 4x Champs off quite yet.

The last time they lost draymond in a playoffs series didn’t turn out good for them. And they were leading the series at that point

[Unocal]

9 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

 

It definitely feels like we’re living in a reverse world where all of the legit, world beating teams are in the east, while the teams in the west seem random and mediocre. If there’s any year that a really random team like the Clippers or Kings are actually going to make the Finals, it’s this year. Can’t see any of these teams beating the east, though. 
 

Although TBF we do kind of need the Sixers to make the Finals this year and lose. It’s too bad the Flyers weren’t also good enough to lose the Stanley Cup Finals. 

2020 was basically their best shot, the last time they were good enough to possible lose a Stanley Cup Final

[Unocal]

18 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

 

The Warriors lost a role player, not Steph Curry.

 

Let's not write the 4x Champs off quite yet.

 

 

[tBBP]

Well...somehow, some kind of way, the Grizz are up on the Lake Show at the half...59-44. I'm legit impressed... and whoever handed Jon Konchar a ticket to the Block Panther Party must be feeling real good about themselves right now.

 

Or maybe it's the black uniforms...yeah, that's it! 

 

Whatever the case, no lead is safe, and Memphis has lost too many leads too many times down the stretch of the season. IF they somehow hold court on this one, they should feel real good heading out to the left side. But we'll see...

[The_Admiral]

On 4/18/2023 at 12:09 AM, FiddySicks said:

“The long National nightmare is almost behind us.”
 

Ok Joe Biden. 

Hey man look okay it's like all right man, if you play for a bunch of Silicon Valley weirdos and just lob threes, you ain't black!

[who do you think]

I love how Green was suspended for one game because of his history. Like I would think that one playoff game would be the bare minimum for Haynesworthing somebody, before taking into account Green's extensive history of cheap shots or his absolutely abhorrent behavior in the immediate aftermath of that incident. The NBA might as well rehire Tim Donaghy to ref game four.

[Indigo]

11 hours ago, who do you think said:

I love how Green was suspended for one game because of his history. Like I would think that one playoff game would be the bare minimum for Haynesworthing somebody, before taking into account Green's extensive history of cheap shots or his absolutely abhorrent behavior in the immediate aftermath of that incident. The NBA might as well rehire Tim Donaghy to ref game four.

I read Joe Dumars' explanation, and he said a player without Draymond's history would probably still have gotten the suspension, but his history took precedence over the other reasons.

[tBBP]

They did it. They actually freakin' did it. I must admit I wasn't expecting it...or for it to be by as much. But somehow the Ja-less Grizzlies balled out and with little to no size down low beat the Lakers.

 

Now, two interesting things about this. One, LA had better be very concerned going back to the left coast—I mean sure they can easily sweep the next three and be done with it, but still...the fact that that a LeBron-led team can be dang-near boatraced by a team missing both its starting bigs and its most visible star player should definitely raise some eyebrows. And two, and I'm only saying this because the talks been out there for much of the past two seasons and anyone who's paid attention can clearly see it: this squad as constructed simply plays better without Ja. There's just no getting around it at this point. Tyus Jones could start for several squads right now and is a better facilitator. Desmond Bane can get streaky at just the right time. And somehow Dillon Brooks keeps pulling through with timely threes in the fourth quarter (despite having one of absolute OOGLIEST shooting forms known to mankind). None of them have the star power of Ja...but somehow the whole becomes better. Memphis won't do it—at least I don't think they will—but if I were GM/team president I'd seriously look at the possibility of trading Ja while his value is still sky high. 

 

Anyway, on to game three Saturday night!

[who do you think]

18 minutes ago, Indigo said:

I read Joe Dumars' explanation, and he said a player without Draymond's history would probably still have gotten the suspension, but his history took precedence over the other reasons.

 

> We would have suspended anybody for one game for this type of act, but considering that Draymond has a long history with this kind of stuff, we're gonna go ahead and suspend him for one game.

 

10/10. I should expect nothing less from the doofus who took a hatchet to the entire Pistons franchise.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

22 minutes ago, tBBP said:

I mean sure they can easily sweep the next three and be done with it, but still...the fact that that a LeBron-led team can be dang-near boatraced by a team missing both its starting bigs and its most visible star player should definitely raise some eyebrows

 

 

I think "boatraced" is a bit too far. LA played like trash the entire night and cut it to 6 with 3 minutes to go. They played themselves out of the game all night long but were somehow still in it.

 

Memphis came out on fire and LA simply didn't. No energy. Bad shots. Terrible performance from AD. It was a bad night for LA. And yet, a few shots or calls go differently and you perhaps have a different outcome.

 

I think what Memphis showed is what's sneakily happening across the NBA: the quality of play is good. Good teams have good backups, and there is way more talent in the league 1-13 now than there's ever been before. If you're backup on a good team, there's a good chance you could be a starter on a bad one. Given the shots, way more guys in the NBA could put up 30 than you'd expect.

 

Memphis is a 2 seed for a reason, and part of that reason is they're well coached and they're deep. LA is a 7 seed for a reason, and part of that reason is Darvin Ham is not a good coach (yet) and their bench has played together for two months.

 

I thought the idea of LA sweep was exciting (and possible with Ja out), but Memphis is really good and they played to win while LA started slow and kept waiting for the game to come to them. Instead Memphis took it.

[tBBP]

27 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

 

I think "boatraced" is a bit too far. LA played like trash the entire night and cut it to 6 with 3 minutes to go. They played themselves out of the game all night long but were somehow still in it.

 

Memphis came out on fire and LA simply didn't. No energy. Bad shots. Terrible performance from AD. It was a bad night for LA. And yet, a few shots or calls go differently and you perhaps have a different outcome.

 

I think what Memphis showed is what's sneakily happening across the NBA: the quality of play is good. Good teams have good backups, and there is way more talent in the league 1-13 now than there's ever been before. If you're backup on a good team, there's a good chance you could be a starter on a bad one. Given the shots, way more guys in the NBA could put up 30 than you'd expect.

 

Memphis is a 2 seed for a reason, and part of that reason is they're well coached and they're deep. LA is a 7 seed for a reason, and part of that reason is Darvin Ham is not a good coach (yet) and their bench has played together for two months.

 

I thought the idea of LA sweep was exciting (and possible with Ja out), but Memphis is really good and they played to win while LA started slow and kept waiting for the game to come to them. Instead Memphis took it.

 

TRU...DAT. I haven't seen the L this deep in a long time. Whether that can be attributed to the G-League having gone on as long as it has can be discussed later, but yes, even despite the rampant stephcurryitis the league's been hit with over the past five or six years (in other words, everyone's shooting the long ball these days), the talent and skill level is up all across the league. And doggone if Memphis ain't an example of deep. They still got a few guys at the end of their bench who ain't seen the floor yet in the postseason. (That also helps make my point about trading Ja.)

 

As for LA playing like trash...that's one of the reasons some talking heads picked Memphis to win this series. I still think LA takes it in six, but that's because (and ONLY because of) Anthony Davis...it's all predicated on whether he dominates, because no one on Memphis can physically match up with him. Schroeder (sp?), Hachimura, and especially Reaves are gonna get their shots, and oh yeah LBJ happens to still be out there, but AD will be the difference. In my opinion, anyway.

[Digby]

2 hours ago, Indigo said:

I read Joe Dumars' explanation, and he said a player without Draymond's history would probably still have gotten the suspension, but his history took precedence over the other reasons.

 

Is there a "repeat offender" provision in the CBA? The stomp was bad but it's not like he did it unprovoked considering what Sabonis was doing to him. Feels like the ejection was enough. If anyone deserves the larger punishment, it's the Warriors staff for letting him try to instigate the next Malice at the Palace with the fans afterward. (Not that I expect anything less from the team culture that enabled him to punch out his own teammate because they're too busy being Above It All.) I know we're all on the "players have human feelings too" tip but I don't see how it's fine for Draymond to do that if we're trying to get fans to stop with vulgar chants and making fun of Ayesha Curry's cooking or whatever.