NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2018-19 Thread

ButtersSuki

Anyway I fancy GS (heavily) and Boston (less heavily) in tonight's games. GS can lose and will likely still win the series, Boston have to win or it's over - it's likely over if they do too to be fair to the Bucks.

Hitch2222

ButtersSuki wrote: »

You assume an awful lot. I have actually listened to and watched some of Rogan's pods. I happen to like his stance on political correctness (as in he's anti-PC) for instance, and he's quite liberal. What I don't like is that it just seems a little amateurish to me at times from a journalistic perspective, and is more than a little tabloid. The Alex Jones interview car-crash and subsequent fall out are an example of this - he failed to prepare and you got a show like that. And there are others like that. Simmons is a journalist first and a podcaster etc. second (though you could argue he's a podcaster first now but the fact remains he trained and learned his craft as a newspaper journalist), Rogan is a bit of a jack of all trades (stand up comic, MMA announcer, lots of things in between).

Rogan seems more entertainment than anything else, which is fair enough if that's your thing. I've said this frequently on the Radio forum though, popularity doesn't necessarily equal quality. Just because Rogan's pod is popular, doesn't make it good.

You're entitled to your opinion. I'm entitled to mine. If we disagree, so be it.

Happy to end any conversation once Alex Jones makes an appearance, about time to give up all forms of discourse if you spend any time whatsoever lending him an ear.
Thankfully a few media platforms have banned his hate speech, better late than never I suppose.

I was hopeful that Brogdan would be back tonight but fair enough with Smart out too, largely a push.
Hoping Giannis does the business tonight, +/- usually an indicator of post season success but I still have questions around them beating 76ers or Raptors.

Looks like Smart is actually available

ButtersSuki

Hitch2222 wrote: »

Happy to end any conversation once Alex Jones makes an appearance, about time to give up all forms of discourse if you spend any time whatsoever lending him an ear.
Thankfully a few media platforms have banned his hate speech, better late than never I suppose.

I was hopeful that Brogdan would be back tonight but fair enough with Smart out too, largely a push.
Hoping Giannis does the business tonight, +/- usually an indicator of post season success but I still have questions around them beating 76ers or Raptors.

Looks like Smart is actually available

To be clear, and in the interests of any ambiguity or doubt, I am not a Jones supporter - in case that needs clarifying? I really hope not btw.

I think at their best I'd take the Raptors over the Bucks in the next round. I can't see Philly or Boston winning tbh.

Legion.

Just throwing my biases out there - I used to live in Toronto and thats where I fell in love with basketball as a sort of junkie, and so last night was class. Absolute nail biter, but Kawhi has really put on a show this series. Credit to Nurse too for going to Ibaka-Gasol which only saw 30 mins or so in the regular season. Added size made a huge difference and both were excellent down the stretch. Would still be worried given Siakam's injury. While he played last night hes absolutely not healthy so its definitely something to keep an eye on.

Great win for Denver last night too, I definitely would prefer them to progress. Blazers are fun but I think in many ways they're just worse versions of the Warriors/Rockets so wouldn't see it being much of a series.

I don't really want to get bogged down in quoting recent posts regarding Simmons/Rogan but I will just say that in my humble opinion if you're citing Simmons as some sort of expert and his analysis as law then I'm afraid we're rarely if ever going to agree. I love Simmons and never miss a pod but absolutely can't take him much more seriously than the next guy. As I've stated previously, he feels much more like one of the lads is chatting to me.

Morrison J

Such a shame this series isn't in the conference final. Definitely the two best teams in the West for me. Houston putting it right up to GS.

Carcharodon

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh
My god the Warriors know how to bottle it, what a missed chance to steal it
Houston out played them for most of the game, how anyone can like this bunch of flippers is beyond me, well cp3 and rivers anyway, Chris paul is such a weasel.
I thought the refs were a joke, Curry didn’t get a call all game, it’s embarrassing how poor these refs are, and it could be the warriors benefiting from it the next game, refs are all over the place

Morrison J

Rockets make it 2-2. Incredible Harden performance but likes of Gordon, Tucker and Rivers stepping up big time too. Such high level basketball and plenty of needle building between both teams. Plenty of off ball stuff going on and not being called. We won't get a better series in the play offs than this, I'd be very confident of that. Must watch stuff.

Morrison J

Despite all the talk about KD's good play you can't split the two biggest stars after four games. Safe to say Harden hasn't burned out and has kept up his high level of play from the regular season despite some on here saying he couldn't..

https://twitter.com/getnickwright/status/1125616535278620673?s=19

Carcharodon

Anyone but Houston, please Jebus, anyone !!!
They are just that bit hungrier than the Warriors, which is understandable after how successful and dominant the Warriors have been, they are beating the Warriors at their own game, intense defense and spreading the floor.
Harden has been immense, Durant carrying the Warriors a bit.

Hitch2222

Carcharodon wrote: »

Anyone but Houston, please Jebus, anyone !!!
They are just that bit hungrier than the Warriors, which is understandable after how successful and dominant the Warriors have been, they are beating the Warriors at their own game, intense defense and spreading the floor.
Harden has been immense, Durant carrying the Warriors a bit.

Obviously an injury may be impeding him a tad but I think this is another series showing that Steph's game isn't as conducive to playoff success as it is to success in the regular season.
He's a great player, best shooter ever etc but quite a few of his numbers get inflated in the earlier rounds before getting to the latter stages.
This playoffs he's averaging 22.5 points per game, obviously Durant carrying a heavy load but at 30 have we now seen the best of Steph?
It just seems that Steph isn't quite up to the task in this series, obviously a good game last night but his defensive frailties are showing up once again.
That said, I think he can certainly feel hard done by with some poor calls.

ButtersSuki

Legion. wrote: »

Just throwing my biases out there - I used to live in Toronto and thats where I fell in love with basketball as a sort of junkie, and so last night was class. Absolute nail biter, but Kawhi has really put on a show this series. Credit to Nurse too for going to Ibaka-Gasol which only saw 30 mins or so in the regular season. Added size made a huge difference and both were excellent down the stretch. Would still be worried given Siakam's injury. While he played last night hes absolutely not healthy so its definitely something to keep an eye on.

Great win for Denver last night too, I definitely would prefer them to progress. Blazers are fun but I think in many ways they're just worse versions of the Warriors/Rockets so wouldn't see it being much of a series.

I don't really want to get bogged down in quoting recent posts regarding Simmons/Rogan but I will just say that in my humble opinion if you're citing Simmons as some sort of expert and his analysis as law then I'm afraid we're rarely if ever going to agree. I love Simmons and never miss a pod but absolutely can't take him much more seriously than the next guy. As I've stated previously, he feels much more like one of the lads is chatting to me.

No, that’s not what I’m saying.

Hitch2222

Legion. wrote: »

I don't really want to get bogged down in quoting recent posts regarding Simmons/Rogan but I will just say that in my humble opinion if you're citing Simmons as some sort of expert and his analysis as law then I'm afraid we're rarely if ever going to agree. I love Simmons and never miss a pod but absolutely can't take him much more seriously than the next guy. As I've stated previously, he feels much more like one of the lads is chatting to me.

I think that's a good way of viewing him. In an era of specialists his is probably history of the game and given his engaging style he's excellent to listen to on that topic.

That said, look at his guests it's not incredible analysis, largely anecdotal discussion which are a nice listen but he pales in comparison to Zach Lowe, Jackie MacMullan, Woj, Jonathon Givony, Kevin Pelton in their specific fields.

The Ringer is fine but it's no Grantland and imo it's articles are eclipsed by 538 and The Undefeated.

As I said he's good and all but the days he's viewed as some type of bball Oracle are long gone.

ButtersSuki

My predictions last night were amazing. :pac:

K.O.Kiki

Hitch2222 wrote: »

Obviously an injury may be impeding him a tad but I think this is another series showing that Steph's game isn't as conducive to playoff success as it is to success in the regular season.
He's a great player, best shooter ever etc but quite a few of his numbers get inflated in the earlier rounds before getting to the latter stages.
This playoffs he's averaging 22.5 points per game, obviously Durant carrying a heavy load but at 30 have we now seen the best of Steph?
It just seems that Steph isn't quite up to the task in this series, obviously a good game last night but his defensive frailties are showing up once again.
That said, I think he can certainly feel hard done by with some poor calls.

Utter bollocks to this.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/curryst01/gamelog-playoffs/
He's almost always a plus for his team.
Not sure WHY he's bricking wide open shots - it's definitely out of form for him (career 44% 3PT shooter regressing to 25%?) but these are on open looks - so it's not Houston.

Carcharodon

People really debating joe Rogan in here...I’ll have to chime in on this as iam a huge fan, he has some fantastic guests, never claims to know more than he does, very down to earth and curious, doesn’t care what people think or expect from his podcast. I have a serious man crush

Hitch2222

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Utter bollocks to this.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/curryst01/gamelog-playoffs/
He's almost always a plus for his team.
Not sure WHY he's bricking wide open shots - it's definitely out of form for him (career 44% 3PT shooter regressing to 25%?) but these are on open looks - so it's not Houston.

Of course he's plus for his team, he's Steph, the question is more how plus.
He's been good in the playoffs but the best players take it to a next level and he's never been the Warriors best player in a finals, he's 30 now so he likely never will be either.

I'm just saying that his game isn't quite as suited to the playoffs as it is the regular season and it's showing at the moment to a point.

Carcharodon wrote: »

People really debating joe Rogan in here...I’ll have to chime in on this as iam a huge fan, he has some fantastic guests, never claims to know more than he does, very down to earth and curious, doesn’t care what people think or expect from his podcast. I have a serious man crush

Not a fan boy myself but he gets some fantastic guests Peterson, Harris, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss among others.
Sam Harris -little bit of fanboy but not on everything, Israel for example- & Shane Parrish have the best podcasts around imo but just like Joe Rogans there won't be much bball on either unless Morey appeared.

K.O.Kiki

Steph has never been about being the absolute best - that's how the Warriors even arrived at this point of dominance.

He took a low-salary extension which allowed them to build a TEAM around him, and his gravity (current series notwithstanding) allows his team mates better looks.
He never NEEDED to be the best player like MJ or LeBron, but he absolutely NEEDS to be there - look at every slump they go through when he's injured.

Hitch2222

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Steph has never been about being the absolute best - that's how the Warriors even arrived at this point of dominance.

He took a low-salary extension which allowed them to build a TEAM around him, and his gravity (current series notwithstanding) allows his team mates better looks.
He never NEEDED to be the best player like MJ or LeBron, but he absolutely NEEDS to be there - look at every slump they go through when he's injured.

Come on now, of course he has, he's won multiple MVP's, that's literally the award you're given for trying to be the best. It's not like he wasn't being chased by a hungry Harden.

No doubts about the salary, always a nice touch tbf. The gravity factor was the 2nd highest last article I read a few years ago, I actually think Korver was first, make sense Steph can beat you off the dribble, he can't.
That said neither of those make much difference in comparing his playoffs versus regular season performances.

The additional physicality (something he's worked on), tougher defensive assignments(something he's worked on) and general intensity simply don't allow Steph to showcase the abilities that make him a great regular season player. It's no slight on him per se, probably a Top 5 regular season player but he doesn'y hit those heights in the playoffs.

Legion.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Steph has never been about being the absolute best - that's how the Warriors even arrived at this point of dominance.

He took a low-salary extension which allowed them to build a TEAM around him, and his gravity (current series notwithstanding) allows his team mates better looks.
He never NEEDED to be the best player like MJ or LeBron, but he absolutely NEEDS to be there - look at every slump they go through when he's injured.

This is wrong. He got a low extension because he'd had two offseason ankle surgeries in his first 3/4 years. It was even seen as a risk at the time: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1391383-stephen-curry-contract-extension-is-risky-business-for-golden-state-warriors

The Warriors did an excellent job building their team but they also lucked into only playing a back-to-back MVP 11m a year.

All that said Steph is awesome and is obviously very important to the warriors. But when he's not playing well, hurt or whatever he is, he has to defer to Durant more. The tear KD has been on there is really no excuse for him not shooting 30 times a game.

DaveyDave

42% FG vs 48% but it seemed like 76ers couldn't buy a shot. Raptors drained a bunch of 3s in the second half though.

Nosebleed seats aren't that bad, I could actually see the ball and there was a good atmosphere too.

Morrison J

Tie game heading into the 4th. Durant injured, Steph playing like a liability again. Rockets will never have a better chance than this.

kmart6

Liability Curry really stepped up when Durant went out.

ButtersSuki

Bucks blow out Boston.

GS hold serve but will be interesting to see if Durant plays G6 or they rest him.

Hitch2222

I wasn't buying the Bucks as the winners of the East even though they should have been clear favs based on the numbers.

Giannis though has played 9 games and averaged 31 mins so 279 mins Total that is incredibly low to a conference finals.

The following players have played more games, mins and none have secured a conference finals spot yet:

Harden 380 mins
KD 425 mins
Steph 390 mins
Kawhi 360 mins

Questions around Ainge & Stevens now? I assume they can't get the benefit of the doubt every year as they were merely shrewd in fleecing the Nets.

kmart6 wrote: »

Liability Curry really stepped up when Durant went out.

Always nice to see the role players step up tbf.

Such a pity his average win share has almost cut in half in 2 years, BPM & VORP tie for the lowest of his career and his PER is below 20 for the first time in 6 years all while shooting his lowest playoff 3pt% of his career at a mere mortal level of 38%

*Nobody actually thinks(I don't think) he's a liability but let's not pretend his abilities lend themselves to success in the playoffs in 2019

Carcharodon

What a game, sold my ticket due to greed but ah well, I’ll go to game 7....
I would be surprised if Durant is back anytime soon, even if it’s not Achilles, any type of bad calf strain takes a while, did mine a while back and it was a tedious recovery, we are obviously similar types of athletes.
I think we saw the best and worst of Draymond tonight, the fight, the passion, the big plays but silly impulses giving away technicals at a key moments, could of cost the game but you can’t change that.
I think it’s hard to quantify the importance of Curry, the man is beloved here for all the right reasons, not only one of the all time greats but an exceptional role model. Oracle and the fans take on a different energy when he knocks down a big three, it just sets the place on fire and the players feed off him and the crowd. You can’t measure that stuff, I’ll admit he has struggled at times but my god when he gets going it’s something special
These Rockets are one hell of a team and it would be a great achievement to beat them especially without Durant

Hitch2222

Carcharodon wrote: »

What a game, sold my ticket due to greed but ah well, I’ll go to game 7....
I would be surprised if Durant is back anytime soon, even if it’s not Achilles, any type of bad calf strain takes a while, did mine a while back and it was a tedious recovery, we are obviously similar types of athletes.
I think we saw the best and worst of Draymond tonight, the fight, the passion, the big plays but silly impulses giving away technicals at a key moments, could of cost the game but you can’t change that.
I think it’s hard to quantify the importance of Curry, the man is beloved here for all the right reasons, not only one of the all time greats but an exceptional role model. Oracle and the fans take on a different energy when he knocks down a big three, it just sets the place on fire and the players feed off him and the crowd. You can’t measure that stuff, I’ll admit he has struggled at times but my god when he gets going it’s something special
These Rockets are one hell of a team and it would be a great achievement to beat them especially without Durant

I was out watching the Spurs match last night and actually thought of you and your seats when chatting to a Warriors fan from Oakland.
He was explaining the ticketing system around your equity with the likes concerts etc being on in the arena.
He also mentioned-which surprised me- that the new stadium will have a smaller capacity than the new stadium approx 16k to 14.2k he mentioned.

On Steph, I certainly question his playoff numbers etc but he energizes a crowd like very few other people and his attitude is infectious.
Such a joy to watch when in full flow.

kmart6

Carcharodon wrote: »

What a game, sold my ticket due to greed but ah well, I’ll go to game 7....

When they went on their first run and Oracle was hopping I was wondering were you there, looked like an unreal atmosphere.

Hope you got a good price for the ticket.

Carcharodon

kmart6 wrote: »

When they went on their first run and Oracle was hopping I was wondering were you there, looked like an unreal atmosphere.

Hope you got a good price for the ticket.

I got enough that it paid for the majority of my flight to Madrid that I bought yesterday...crazy move but should be fun, will probably end up sleeping on the streets with the cost of accommodation there

Carcharodon

Hitch2222 wrote: »

I was out watching the Spurs match last night and actually thought of you and your seats when chatting to a Warriors fan from Oakland.
He was explaining the ticketing system around your equity with the likes concerts etc being on in the arena.
He also mentioned-which surprised me- that the new stadium will have a smaller capacity than the new stadium approx 16k to 14.2k he mentioned.

On Steph, I certainly question his playoff numbers etc but he energizes a crowd like very few other people and his attitude is infectious.
Such a joy to watch when in full flow.

Don’t even get me started on the ticketing system, iam sure the stadium is going to be amazing, I was supposed to go on a tour a few weeks ago but didn’t bother due to being busy at work etc. the one concert I wanted tickets to, Metallica, and my presale thing wasn’t working right, apparently it was a disaster for everyone, I think it’s fixed now but I haven’t bothered buying tickets for any other shows, Jonas brothers not really my thing

Osmosis Jones

Just a calf strain for KD, will miss the rest of this series though. These next two games are now the biggest of James Harden's career. If the Rockets can't beat the Warriors now then they never will.