NBA Playoffs 2016

ButtersSuki

If OKC beat the Spurs and warriors back to back they deserve to win a championship. Would be a real shame if they beat both of them then lose to the Cavs.

The Warriors collapse is baffling on many levels. I expected OKC to be a very tough test but I didn't expect this. They look very flat and tired - mentally and physically.

I think warriors win game 5 but OKC win in 6. Wouldn't be surprised if OKC win in 5 either the way the Warriors are playing.

Still shocked Westbrook hasn't exploded negatively yet.

Bonniedog

If you were a betting man, then Okies to win in Oakland next game at 7/2 is great bet. I can see them just putting them out of their misery.

Pity really, as I do like them, but as you say, they just seem to have lost it completely. Looked like a beaten team last night. Have given up. Look at Kerr even. A defeated man.

NufcNavan

I hope this "Curry is injured" narrative doesn't pick up too much steam!

He looked fine against Portland. He looked fine in game 1&2 of this series. He looks fine to me now. He's just not getting as many wide open, clean looks at the basket. Plus, Westbrook is absolutely destroying him anytime he guarding him.

OKC deserves credit for playing hard and playing well. GS deserves flack for not making adjustments and for all of a sudden going cold. These are the same shots they've hit all year to win 73 games, and now they're missing.

I really hope credit goes to where credit is due.

Bonniedog

NufcNavan wrote: »

I hope this "Curry is injured" narrative doesn't pick up too much steam!

He looked fine against Portland. He looked fine in game 1&2 of this series. He looks fine to me now. He's just not getting as many wide open, clean looks at the basket. Plus, Westbrook is absolutely destroying him anytime he guarding him.

OKC deserves credit for playing hard and playing well. GS deserves flack for not making adjustments and for all of a sudden going cold. These are the same shots they've hit all year to win 73 games, and now they're missing.

I really hope credit goes to where credit is due.

Things that were going right for them, no longer are. They just can't handle Adams at all. He is the main factor I think.

Not to say they can't turn it around. If they win in Oakland and then the next and make it 3 - 3.... well, who knows! Hopefully.

K.O.Kiki

Curry has to deal with this shíte

http://i.imgur.com/tPraACl.webm

NufcNavan

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Curry has to deal with this shíte

http://i.imgur.com/tPraACl.webm

That made me LOL

ButtersSuki

NufcNavan wrote: »

That made me LOL

That's frustrating as hell.

ButtersSuki

NufcNavan wrote: »

I hope this "Curry is injured" narrative doesn't pick up too much steam!

He looked fine against Portland. He looked fine in game 1&2 of this series. He looks fine to me now. He's just not getting as many wide open, clean looks at the basket. Plus, Westbrook is absolutely destroying him anytime he guarding him.

OKC deserves credit for playing hard and playing well. GS deserves flack for not making adjustments and for all of a sudden going cold. These are the same shots they've hit all year to win 73 games, and now they're missing.

I really hope credit goes to where credit is due.

OKC deserve a lot of credit, no question. I didn't think they were mentally strong enough to beat them in a series as I thought Westbrook in particular would press the self destruct button and GS were deeper.

Keep this up and he'll (Russ) be finals MVP.

Carcharodon

Playoffs are all about match ups and the Warriors don't match up well against okc, that's the reality of it. It doesn't help that the Warriors are playing poorly of course and Okc are just cruising.

ButtersSuki

Carcharodon wrote: »

Playoffs are all about match ups and the Warriors don't match up well against okc, that's the reality of it. It doesn't help that the Warriors are playing poorly of course and Okc are just cruising.

Yup. They for some reason really seem to struggle against teams with good/scoring PGs. Considering that they pretty much invented the latest incarnation of small ball and that it is based on...a scoring PG it's a bit puzzling.

Paully D

Carcharodon wrote: »

Playoffs are all about match ups and the Warriors don't match up well against okc, that's the reality of it. It doesn't help that the Warriors are playing poorly of course and Okc are just cruising.

And unfortunately, the Cavs will beat OKC.

Sorry D2D, it's LeBron, not you :pac:

Jester252

OKC are not allowing Curry to play his open game, they are forcing Curry to play physical and close.

On the physical side Curry is worst then Westbrook. There is a reason Curry sit out a lot.

This is the first real test for GSW in two years. They had an easy run to the championship last year and to the WCF this year. They are starting to question themselves and dropping the head.
Curry isn't running the pace of the game, he is being pulled along.

D2D

Paully D wrote: »

Sorry D2D, it's LeBron, not you :pac:

No offence taken:pac:

Seriously though, the Thunder have been the surprise of the playoffs. They took it to San Antonio and are shutting down this Warriors team with ease. I know it probably will be used but I hope that excuse that Curry is at only around 70% for the GSW/OKC series won't take away from OKC's performance. They deserve to be in The Finals.

ButtersSuki

D2D wrote: »

No offence taken:pac:

Seriously though, the Thunder have been the surprise of the playoffs. They took it to San Antonio and are shutting down this Warriors team with ease. I know it probably will be used but I hope that excuse that Curry is at only around 70% for the GSW/OKC series won't take away from OKC's performance. They deserve to be in The Finals.

They deserve to be there IF they beat GS and that's not a done deal just yet. I have a feeling GS will win Game 5 - pride, being hurt etc. - and then the test for OKC will be are they mentally strong enough to finish them at home in G6. Right now, you'd be a fool to bet against OKC in this series though. The big advantage they have though is they clearly are not afraid of GS.

For me, they're the favourites against the Cavs now. They're battle hardened and by the finals will have beaten the 2 best teams in the league. The Cavs are at best 3rd, likely 4th on league form (after OKC).

Cavs to drive the nail tonight and whip Toronto again at home. Doesn't matter if it goes 7, Cavs ain't losing unless Lebron gets injured. There's a huge difference between playing at home v away in the Playoffs. Credit to Toronto though, I didn't see them taking 2 games off Cleveland. How much of that is Cleveland being cocky I'm not sure though.

astonaidan

The worst thing about not living in Toronto is having to stay up till like 3AM to watch a game of basketball

ButtersSuki

Well that was an ass kicking.

SantryRed

These conference finals have been pretty poor for the neutral. They're finely poised but it's just blow out after blow out being traded. Hopefully they're keeping all the close games until finals.

shamrock55

Why is it the raptors can win their 2home games handy enough yet get absolutely humiliated in the 3away games,Surrey home court can't be that much of an advantage

Gregk961

shamrock55 wrote: »

Why is it the raptors can win their 2home games handy enough yet get absolutely humiliated in the 3away games,Surrey home court can't be that much of an advantage

Was the same during regular season, average margin of victory for the cavs at home was around 25 odd. Think they lost both games in Toronto(by slender margins).

shamrock55

Gregk961 wrote: »

Was the same during regular season, average margin of victory for the cavs at home was around 25 odd. Think they lost both games in Toronto(by slender margins).

I don't get it though,I've no problem losing to the cavs at their place,it's just the manner of the loss I mean 38 pt loss last night ffs,2 days before they beat them,not good enough in fairness,they obviously have it in their heads they are beaten already before they even get on the court

ButtersSuki

shamrock55 wrote: »

Why is it the raptors can win their 2home games handy enough yet get absolutely humiliated in the 3away games,Surrey home court can't be that much of an advantage

It is.....and it isn't.

It depends on the team really.

Toronto wouldn't be the mentally toughest team in the league. That's somewhat understandable too as they haven't ever been this far before.

I don't know what the exact stats are but the home team will win more than they lose in the playoffs in particular - esp. if they're good teams (I'm not talking 76ers here).

In the regular season both GS and SA lost 1 game each at home. Home court is huge. Some teams are better than others at protecting their home court.

Are Toronto better than the Cavs? No. Are they 30ppg worse? No. That says mental issues to me. Great in front of a rabid home crowd. Not so great when the crowd are rabidly cheering for the other team. You can ride the emotion of that to a degree at home. You get more 50/50 calls from the refs at home. It all adds up.

Psychologically i think the Cavs were a little too cocky going north for the two games they lost. They could have won either or both had they been a little more focused.The probably thought they could play at 90% and beat them whereas the Raptors were likely 100% on.

The Raptors likewise are defeated before they even go on the court in Cleveland. they looks scared. The crowd is against them, not for them.

Cleveland should be strong enough to finish them in the next game in Toronto. But even if they don't they know they'll hammer them in the last game anyway. Psychologically the Raptors can't go to Cleveland and win there. They're just not strong enough.

shamrock55

ButtersSuki wrote: »

It is.....and it isn't.

It depends on the team really.

Toronto wouldn't be the mentally toughest team in the league. That's somewhat understandable too as they haven't ever been this far before.

I don't know what the exact stats are but the home team will win more than they lose in the playoffs in particular - esp. if they're good teams (I'm not talking 76ers here).

In the regular season both GS and SA lost 1 game each at home. Home court is huge. Some teams are better than others at protecting their home court.

Are Toronto better than the Cavs? No. Are they 30ppg worse? No. That says mental issues to me. Great in front of a rabid home crowd. Not so great when the crowd are rabidly cheering for the other team. You can ride the emotion of that to a degree at home. You get more 50/50 calls from the refs at home. It all adds up.

Psychologically i think the Cavs were a little too cocky going north for the two games they lost. They could have won either or both had they been a little more focused.The probably thought they could play at 90% and beat them whereas the Raptors were likely 100% on.

The Raptors likewise are defeated before they even go on the court in Cleveland. they looks scared. The crowd is against them, not for them.

Cleveland should be strong enough to finish them in the next game in Toronto. But even if they don't they know they'll hammer them in the last game anyway. Psychologically the Raptors can't go to Cleveland and win there. They're just not strong enough.

Nicely put, I think you hit the nail on the head there

K.O.Kiki

Jet lag is real.

nerd69

mike dantoni is the rockets new coach not a bad fit

ButtersSuki

nerd69 wrote: »

mike dantoni is the rockets new coach not a bad fit

Yup, will suit Harden and his "no D' basketball philosophy. Prepare to see them concede 140+ points in a game next year.

ButtersSuki

GS look to have this in the bag barring a shocking collapse.

Game 6 and the pressure switches to OKC to close it out.

Bonniedog

Great game.

Carcharodon

Oracle was a rocking tonight, great game and atmosphere.
Two difference makers were Bogut and MO Buckets, Bogut finally stayed out of foul trouble but remained active and scored points. Speights was the spearhead of the second unit that went on the great run and gave the Warriors some seperation.
Even though okc lost they still looked good and never gave in, I was hoping the Warriors would rattle their confidence but they didn't look like a dejected team leaving that court, looked like a team that are confident of taking care of business at home.
Warriors need Curry to drop 40+ cos it's unlikely the bench will as productive on the road.
Just happy warriors were able to show some fight and pride.
It's funny as to how some people can turn so quickly on a team and it's players.

Inquitus

OKC with a combined 56pt blowout across game 3 and 4, really seems like a mountain to climb this weekend for the GSW's, that said if they can win this one on the road it does make them favourites in the final game at the Oracle Arena. Personally I'd like to see them cap the best regular season ever with the title, it's all for nought really if you don't go on and win it.

K.O.Kiki

Carcharodon wrote: »

Oracle was a rocking tonight, great game and atmosphere.
Two difference makers were Bogut and MO Buckets, Bogut finally stayed out of foul trouble but remained active and scored points. Speights was the spearhead of the second unit that went on the great run and gave the Warriors some seperation.
Even though okc lost they still looked good and never gave in, I was hoping the Warriors would rattle their confidence but they didn't look like a dejected team leaving that court, looked like a team that are confident of taking care of business at home.
Warriors need Curry to drop 40+ cos it's unlikely the bench will as productive on the road.
Just happy warriors were able to show some fight and pride.
It's funny as to how some people can turn so quickly on a team and it's players.

Draymond Green highlights are just dirty play after play tho.