2015 NBA Playoffs

PizzamanIRL

Tristan Thompson time.

D2D

D2D wrote: »

Well, Shump dislocated his shoulder on his non shooting arm and missed 6 weeks.

Gonna be honest (and I hope I'm wrong) but that very well could be it for K Love in the Playoffs. Looked horrible

:(:(

NufcNavan

Bucks made a series of it and with Jabari back nex year they will be contenders in the East. They are young, long and versatile.

Still don't see the Bulls losing to them 4 times in a row. They will get it done.

buyer95

Time and tide waits for now man, except Timmy. He willed the Spurs to that win last night, dominating on the offensive end and coming up with the play of the game with that huge block on Griffin. If this really is his last season, as is being mooted atm, what a way to go out. The guy is 39 and was the Spurs best player again last night. I backed San Antonio after game one to advance, at just over evens. Bet is looking good now. Feel sorry for the Clippers that game was all kinds of amazing. I posted this on here already, but we will be losing 1 of the top 4 teams in the playoffs after this series. Unfortunate that they met so early

padraig_f

NufcNavan wrote: »

Bucks made a series of it and with Jabari back nex year they will be contenders in the East. They are young, long and versatile.

Still don't see the Bulls losing to them 4 times in a row. They will get it done.

Yeah they've been impressive, better than I thought, they're playing elite defense, really out-Thibsing the Thibs team on that end. As currently constructed they're not great offensively (Carter-Williams and Giannis can't make jump-shots, so getting little from the wing), and I think this is going to let them down eventually in the series.

But yeah they'll get Jabari back next year, who will help a lot with the scoring, and they'll be a team to deal with. Gotta give credit to Kidd as well, he was looking like a bit of a joke when he started his coaching career with the Nets, but has done an excellent job with the Bucks. Very well-organised, and they play hard for him. I thought they'd have a let-down after they avoided the sweep in game 5, but came back and won game 6 in Chicago.

Hopefully the Bulls can close it out on Thursday, because if it goes 7, that'll leave no rest before the Cavs. I can't imagine the Bulls will lose the series, but stranger things have happened....although not much stranger: no NBA team has ever lost a 3-0 series lead.

padraig_f

Watched the 2nd half of Spurs-Clippers this morning, another great game. Although I'm rooting for the Spurs, I felt a bit bad for the Clippers. I thought this was the key game in the series, and really it could've gone either way. The Spurs were 11-23 from 3, while the Clippers went 1-14. And that Griffin shot at the end to win, seemed like it was going in, but waved off for offensive interference, when DeAndre had the faintest of touches on it.

Chris Paul was great down the stretch, probably the best individual player in this series. That's an unfair record he has of never reaching a conference finals, a good bit of bad luck in there.

It's not over yet....the Clippers have shown they can win in San Antonio, but obviously advantage Spurs.

buyer95

Fantastic Grantland article on last nights game. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-shootaround-texas-forever/

buyer95

The Spurs dealt with Griffin well in the second half after he went off in the first half. Duncan guarded him in the 2nd and kept him quiet. They made a bit of an effort to rough him up, notably Green laying him out.

We know Griffin doesn't like the hard stuff, and up to now the Spurs had played him clean. In the 2nd half they went at him a bit, ala how the Grizzlies have done in years past(particularly ZeBo) and he crumbled.

TheGoldenAges

Legend

Lt J.R. Bell

God Griffin is soft.

Carcharodon

Memphis v Warriors this Sat, should be a compelling series. Two contrasting styles, the Warriors will struggle big time against Gasol and Randolph, you won't be able to push them off the post or bully them, they are too good, so I expect Memphis to pound it inside. Flip side, Memphis will struggle to guard Klay and Curry, they should get big numbers. Will be a good series.
Was planning on going to the 1st game again but won't make it back in time, gutted.

Lt J.R. Bell

Carcharodon wrote: »

Memphis v Warriors this Sat, should a compelling series. Two contrasting styles,tickehe Warriors will struggle big time against Gasol and Randolph, you won't be able to push them off the post or bully them, they are too good, so I expect Memphis to pound it inside. Flip side, Memphis will struggle to guard Klay and Curry, they should get big numbers. Will be a good series.
Was planning on going to the 1st game again but won't make it back in time, gutted.

How much would tickets be for a game like that

See Memphis beating them for some reason

padraig_f

Listening to the reactions to Spurs-Clippers game 5 yesterday, a lot of it focused on the refs (Simmons and Haralabos Voulgaris did an interesting segment on it on the BS Report), and the Clippers reaction to it. From where I was sitting, I thought the Clippers were pretty hard-done-by by the refs, although their reaction should maybe be better.

But it does imply another point: if the Clippers had their **** together, this Spurs team is there to be beaten. I don't think they're as good as last year....Parker isn't nearly as influential, maybe carrying some injury. Ginobili's at the end of his career, and showing it. Splitter is hurt, they're not getting the same shooting from Danny Green. Duncan is defying the laws of aging and Kawhi is playing well, but overall they're not as strong.

They're still brilliantly coached and for that reason will be a force, but I think a younger good team will beat them. I'd like to be wrong, because they're my favourite team in the West, but that's what I'm seeing from the first-round series.

Carcharodon

Lt J.R. Bell wrote: »

How much would tickets be for a game like that

See Memphis beating them for some reason

Ticket prices are ridiculous, for the opening game v pelicans, it cost me $180 each for upper level tickets, granted there aren't too many bad places to watch the game in the arena.
It will be a little more expensive maybe, lower level will be anything from $250 to $450, obviously more as you get closer.
You could wait outside and scalp a ticket for $100 once the game starts when they need to offload them
I remember only 4 or 5 years ago you could get good seats for $40, all the tech people have just driven up the prices, they wouldn't know a basketball if it hit them in the face

Lt J.R. Bell

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Tristan Thompson time.

Offensive rebounds eat your heart out. Bogut v Thompson

Lt J.R. Bell

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

Legend

Timmy great as always. But look kids, thats what happens when you mask your athleticism for a poor post game. Time that with a nice post fade away and not try to barge through

buyer95

padraig_f wrote: »

Listening to the reactions to Spurs-Clippers game 5 yesterday, a lot of it focused on the refs (Simmons and Haralabos Voulgaris did an interesting segment on it on the BS Report), and the Clippers reaction to it. From where I was sitting, I thought the Clippers were pretty hard-done-by by the refs, although their reaction should maybe be better.

But it does imply another point: if the Clippers had their **** together, this Spurs team is there to be beaten. I don't think they're as good as last year....Parker isn't nearly as influential, maybe carrying some injury. Ginobili's at the end of his career, and showing it. Splitter is hurt, they're not getting the same shooting from Danny Green. Duncan is defying the laws of aging and Kawhi is playing well, but overall they're not as strong.

They're still brilliantly coached and for that reason will be a force, but I think a younger good team will beat them. I'd like to be wrong, because they're my favourite team in the West, but that's what I'm seeing from the first-round series.

I would agree that the Spurs arnt as strong this year. The thing is, if they can overcome the Clippers the only team I could see beating them in the West are the Warriors. The Clippers are really, really good, and if they had avoided the Spurs in the first round they could have been in the conference finals, hell they still could make it. However, if the Spurs can end it tonight, that means you can give Splitter and Parker a bit of rest and hope they are closer to 100% for round 2. Ginobili played like this early in last years playoffs, but he's alway good to win you Atleast one game on his own at some point.

I picked the Spurs to win the West and I will stick with that, but Im not one bit confident that they'll beat GSW. We'll have a better idea to how they are in the next round. That being said, the Clippers could easily win tonight, they've already won on the road in this series. This is probably the biggest game of CP3's life so far, he had been unreal in this series, but the Clippers window is now. Huge, huge game! Going to be like a conference final

Carcharodon

I don't like the way most pundits and people are just assuming it will be Warriors that the Spursor whoever will have to beat in the West finals.
Memphis are a beast when they get going and have always been a terrible matchup for the Warrios

scottmcb04

oklohoma look like they are going to announce billy Donovan as their new head coach... looks like he will be a good addition there! he has a serious college record... will make oklohoma a serious threat with a good coach(if he coaches as well in nba)

the last couple of spurs games, I was hoping that they would put mills on, parker has been missing easy jumpers, mills has won them a game, and been a massive influence off the bench!

buyer95

Carcharodon wrote: »

I don't like the way most pundits and people are just assuming it will be Warriors that the Spursor whoever will have to beat in the West finals.
Memphis are a beast when they get going and have always been a terrible matchup for the Warrios

If Mike Conley can't recover from his injury I wouldn't give them a chance. Bogut should be able to lock Gasol up, Zebo will his points, but they won't have enough without Conley. Green has been surprisingly awful for them as well

That_Guy

Stayed up to watch both games last night.

I really like the look of those Brooklyn Nets. While they lost, they showed incredible determination to try and claw their way back into the game.

Grizzlies/Trail Blazers game wasn't too bad either. Looked to be a shut out in the 1st quarter from the Grizzlies but Portland looked decent at times and came back into it well.

Very enthralling stuff from the 4-5 games I've seen this week.

/basketball expert. :pac:

Carcharodon

buyer95 wrote: »

If Mike Conley can't recover from his injury I wouldn't give them a chance. Bogut should be able to lock Gasol up, Zebo will his points, but they won't have enough without Conley. Green has been surprisingly awful for them as well

Yea, I love me some Bogut, but Gasol might have the edge in that matchup for me, too quick for Bogut and can draw Bogut out.
I am been cautious I suppose, I just know how solid memphis have been these past few years

buyer95

Carcharodon wrote: »

Yea, I love me some Bogut, but Gasol might have the edge in that matchup for me, too quick for Bogut and can draw Bogut out.
I am been cautious I suppose, I just know how solid memphis have been these past few years

Gasol will have the advantage, but Bogut is an elite defender and can slow him down, and certainly trouble him. I get being cautious, but your team was historically good this year. No team is perfect, but sometimes you just have to face up to the fact that a team is super talented, and should be favourites. Could they be beaten by the Grizz? Ofcourse, Memphis have a fantastic team defense, and have a really good team chemistry. But The Warriors have an elite offense and a stiffling defense, good coaching and great chemistry also. If I was a betting man (and I am) I would be placing my money on The Dubs. That being said, I'm still waiting on my first million from my gambling endeavours :pac:

Paully D

Not watching the game but just checked the score. The Bulls aren't messing around tonight. :eek:

limerickfc

Same as myself man they should be 100% ready to take it to Cleveland now though

Carcharodon

Bulls are making the east look very interesting right now, they have been so out of sorts these past few seasons due to injuries I kind of wrote them off but if they stay healthy and continue to click then they will be a contender, they have a very good roster. And now with Love out, it really makes it interesting.

Flippers played well tonight, you have to love Griffin game when he is not flopping around. Spurs never really showed up. Flippers could become extremely dangerous if they win, confidence will sky rocket

killwill

Carcharodon wrote: »

Bulls are making the east look very interesting right now, they have been so out of sorts these past few seasons due to injuries I kind of wrote them off but if they stay healthy and continue to click then they will be a contender, they have a very good roster. And now with Love out, it really makes it interesting.

Flippers played well tonight, you have to love Griffin game when he is not flopping around. Spurs never really showed up. Flippers could become extremely dangerous if they win, confidence will sky rocket

JR is just as big a loss IMO. With him and Love missing you just wonder if Jones, Thompson and Miller can make up the difference. I think defensively Cleveland will be fine, maybe even a little stronger actually, but offensively things might be a bit of a struggle.

Soby

Everything that could go right for the Bulls did go right, and everything that could wrong for the Bucks did go wrong. Perfect storm. Felt for Giannas, tbh. Dunleavy got at him the previous possession and against another Bucks player very early on, and inexperience and frustration got the better of him. What I found most amusing about the game was the fact Thibs still played his starters all the way through the third quarter when up 40+ points. I think I had stopped watching with a few minutes left in the third, up 46 points and Rose had just taken a hard charge which was called in his favour. Crazy.

Credit to the Clippers last night in the other game. I thought mentally speaking they were done after Game 5 given how fragile they seem to be in years previous. I have no idea how to call Game 7 now. Spurs are Spurs, but surely the Clippers will avoid losing three straight games at home? Davies injury means Hawes will see a lot of minutes early too which isn't a good thing. Reddick was key for them last night, stepped up and will need to do again.

Lt J.R. Bell

buyer95 wrote: »

If Mike Conley can't recover from his injury I wouldn't give them a chance. Bogut should be able to lock Gasol up, Zebo will his points, but they won't have enough without Conley. Green has been surprisingly awful for them as well

Green? Former Celtics Player? He has been awful for ages

Paully D

killwill wrote: »

JR is just as big a loss IMO. With him and Love missing you just wonder if Jones, Thompson and Miller can make up the difference. I think defensively Cleveland will be fine, maybe even a little stronger actually, but offensively things might be a bit of a struggle.

Thompson has always given the Bulls trouble too. I'm not confident to be honest, but then again, I rarely am. :pac:

One thing is for sure though. There's no excuses this year. The Bulls are as relatively healthy as can be hoped for for round 2 of the playoffs, Kevin Love is out the whole series and JR Smith suspended for a couple of games. If they don't get it done in the East this year then they never will.