NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2019-20 Thread

ButtersSuki · 21-09-2020 9:32am

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Heartbreak for Denver, especially after that block from Murray. Watching it back I've no idea what Plumlee's doing calling for a switch on AD as soon as he starts running away

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1307864617171873794?s=20

Complete breakdown defensively, with Plumlee mostly at fault. Shocking that a player can make a unimpeded cut to get a completely open shot like that withoit getting bumped, having to go around a screen, anything....just shocking. Don't know was that a called defensive rotation/play from Malone or just a brain fart from Plumlee but either way, terrible result for Denver.

Lakers looked clueless offensively for the last 5mins or so, worrying if you're them. If Denver tied this at 1-1 last night, who knows? Now though it's going to be very hard to recover.

I do think it's (as in the Finals) all set up for them to lose it now, they have to be strong favourites.

LuckyLloyd · 21-09-2020 12:35pm

Honestly think Davis saved them a couple of games in this series with that dagger, but they have a general match up advantage here. Took the foot off the gas a bit at halftime but I feel they’d prevail in 5 or 6 either way.

The Lakers are rightly favourites at this stage. They are the form team, seem reasonably well balanced over the past 12 games and have LeBron. It’s never easy to win a finals but they’ve created a great opportunity...

Osmosis Jones · 21-09-2020 1:06pm

Yeah Lakers are strong favourites, there's a lot of inexperience remaining in the Playoffs, none of the top players on any remaining team bar the Lakers has even made a Final. Literally the only 2 non-Lakers to have made the Finals are Iguodala and Udonis Haslem (lol). In contrast LA obviously have LeBron, but then they've also got McGee, Dwight, Green, Rondo, and JR who all know what it's like to be there.

ButtersSuki · 21-09-2020 1:36pm

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Yeah Lakers are strong favourites, there's a lot of inexperience remaining in the Playoffs, none of the top players on any remaining team bar the Lakers has even made a Final. Literally the only 2 non-Lakers to have made the Finals are Iguodala and Udonis Haslem (lol). In contrast LA obviously have LeBron, but then they've also got McGee, Dwight, Green, Rondo, and JR who all know what it's like to be there.

I was only thinking about this at the weekend, JR Smith could have 2 rings. JR SMITH!

eagle eye · 21-09-2020 1:37pm

Osmosis Jones wrote:

Yeah Lakers are strong favourites, there's a lot of inexperience remaining in the Playoffs, none of the top players on any remaining team bar the Lakers has even made a Final. Literally the only 2 non-Lakers to have made the Finals are Iguodala and Udonis Haslem (lol). In contrast LA obviously have LeBron, but then they've also got McGee, Dwight, Green, Rondo, and JR who all know what it's like to be there.

Well that's all fine be but the star of the playoffs to this point is a guy with very little experience in them and that's Jimmy Butler.

LuckyLloyd · 21-09-2020 4:40pm

eagle eye wrote: »

Well that's all fine be but the star of the playoffs to this point is a guy with very little experience in them and that's Jimmy Butler.

Very little experience...!? He went seven with the eventual champions last year? He now has 67 playoff games under his belt. Also...as good has he and the Heat have been relative to expectations, he’s not the “star” of the playoffs.

This is a mad post!!

ButtersSuki · 21-09-2020 8:52pm

As usual US media going crazy over a lakers win. You’d swear they won it all on a 3 pointer with 5 guys hanging off him. That’s about as wide open as you’ll get for a game winner.

Serious over-reaction and exaggeration.

:rolleyes:

eagle eye · 21-09-2020 9:13pm

LuckyLloyd wrote:

Very little experience...!? He went seven with the eventual champions last year? He now has 67 playoff games under his belt. Also...as good has he and the Heat have been relative to expectations, heâ€™s not the â€œstarâ€ of the playoffs.

This is a mad post!!

He is far and away the playoffs mvp to this point.
Obviously you haven't been watching or you wouldn't disagree

LuckyLloyd · 21-09-2020 10:34pm

eagle eye wrote: »

He is far and away the playoffs mvp to this point.
Obviously you haven't been watching or you wouldn't disagree

Aha!!

At least you’ve dropped the claim that he doesn’t have much playoff experience. I’ll take it!

eagle eye · 22-09-2020 3:43am

LuckyLloyd wrote:

At least youâ€™ve dropped the claim that he doesnâ€™t have much playoff experience. Iâ€™ll take it!

Name the last time he played in a conference championship game before this season.

ButtersSuki · 22-09-2020 10:34am

Have been meaning to say this for a while, but Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins talk some amount of shoyte as "analysts".

chips1234 · 22-09-2020 6:41pm

eagle eye wrote: »

He is far and away the playoffs mvp to this point.
Obviously you haven't been watching or you wouldn't disagree

butler has been amazing but jokic is surely the favourite for mvp at this moment in time ? far and away is pretty harsh on jokic, its pretty harsh on jamal murray too i think.

eagle eye · 22-09-2020 7:05pm

I see there's no sign of a reply from Lucky Lloyd to my question. Well the answer is he never played in a conference finals before.

For Forks Sake · 22-09-2020 11:09pm

Bulls have hired Billy Donovan as HC.

http://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1308526603572408321

kmart6 · 23-09-2020 4:38am

Lakers get themselves back in the game after being down by 20 and realistically fingers should be pointed at LeBron and how he was handling the ball in the last minutes, aimless dribbling and running time off the clock when they were down. Don't know why the Lakers went away from driving to the basket.

That said Lakers were never fully engaged in this game and it would have been criminal for the Nuggets to lose it. 3-0 and it was over, they'll take the game but will be kicking themselves that they're not up 2-1.

LuckyLloyd · 23-09-2020 3:09pm

eagle eye wrote: »

I see there's no sign of a reply from Lucky Lloyd to my question. Well the answer is he never played in a conference finals before.

Your contention was he had no experience in the playoffs. Nice move of the goalposts though.

eagle eye · 24-09-2020 2:20am

LuckyLloyd wrote:

Your contention was he had no experience in the playoffs. Nice move of the goalposts though.

He's only ever made it past the first round once in his career before this season. He's never been in the clutch situations before.
There's no moving the goalposts on my part.
All that's went on here is you googling stuff to try look like you know something when you don't. My point stands strong as regards Jimmy Butler's playoff experience. First conference finals and it was only his second time in the conference semifinals.

ButtersSuki · 24-09-2020 4:59am

FFS Boston.

Nice game from the rookie, 37 in the conf finals.....

pjohnson · 24-09-2020 6:52am

Perfect example of a game of two halves from Taytum

eagle eye · 24-09-2020 12:42pm

Both teams looked jaded in the first half of that game last night.
Boston in trouble now.

eagle eye · 24-09-2020 4:24pm

The big thing with Miami is staying out of foul trouble in most of their games and them being very aggressive going to the basket in the final quarter. They can afford to take an offensive foul for every 2.5 they get from the other team. It's very smart and it's working for them almost every game.
Butler has been awesome, Herro is getting better as the playoffs progress. They can do this and it'd be great to see it.

chips1234 · 24-09-2020 4:34pm

eagle eye wrote: »

The big thing with Miami is staying out of foul trouble in most of their games and them being very aggressive going to the basket in the final quarter. They can afford to take an offensive foul for every 2.5 they get from the other team. It's very smart and it's working for them almost every game.
Butler has been awesome, Herro is getting better as the playoffs progress. They can do this and it'd be great to see it.

is there any updates on adebayo's wrist injury ? miami as a unit have been nothing short of brilliant throughout these playoffs, herro playing like a 10 year vet has been crazy. also felt like all 4 teams left have looked tired last 2 games, feel the lakers have to win tonight or they could be in trouble this nuggets teams doesnt just go away.

LuckyLloyd · 25-09-2020 4:36am

Nice little effort from Denver there but the Lakers kept their noses ahead the whole time. Good D from the King on Murray in the 4th and Rondo with nice contributions as they mattered. It is once again very difficult to see Denver turning it around but we said that last series!

LuckyLloyd · 25-09-2020 4:41am

Davis’s ankle could be a concern...chink of light for Denver

rushfan · 25-09-2020 7:45pm

ButtersSuki wrote: »

FFS Boston.

Nice game from the rookie, 37 in the conf finals.....

FFS is right, I was going to stay up to watch this the other night, glad I didn't as 04.30 finish as well as the first half performance, etc. And yes, Mr Herro is a bloody hero alright, albeit a pleasure to watch.

eagle eye · 26-09-2020 11:01am

Just watched last night's game. Boston finally woke up, looked a completely different team.
Tatum, Theis, Brown and Smart were great, Walker very good too. They shut down Herro. Third quarter was just insane. Huge game Sunday now.
They shut down the three which has been a strength all season. If they can do that Sunday we'll have a game 7.

kmart6 · 27-09-2020 1:20am

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Davis’s ankle could be a concern...chink of light for Denver

That chink of light is gone, he's starting.

kmart6 · 27-09-2020 4:32am

Pretty easy closeout for the Lakers, fell asleep for a bit but got it back together second half of the 4th. The injury to Murray really shouldn't be used as an excuse, they never looked like winning this one.

LuckyLloyd · 27-09-2020 6:45am

LeBron makes it to the finals for a10th time, from a third team, from both conferences. He took over the 4th tonight to seal it.

I noted at the outset that the matchup for Denver was bad and we also have to account for the long and emotionally sapping journey they had to get this far. It’s been an immense playoffs for them, and Jokic and Murray have been stars throughout. But they were outmatched in this series.

Lakers get to rest up now and see what happens tonight. No harm from their perspective for it to go 7!

K.O.Kiki · 27-09-2020 10:24pm

LeBron is the GOAT NBA team player.
You can't change my mind.

jk23 · 27-09-2020 10:51pm

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

LeBron is the GOAT NBA team player.
You can't change my mind.

He did a great series on the GOAT debate, the Jordan and Duncan ones are very good too. It will always be Jordan for me though

eagle eye · 28-09-2020 12:45am

K.O.Kiki wrote:

LeBron is the GOAT NBA team player. You can't change my mind.

You are probably young and didn't have the opportunity to see Michael Jordan.
MJ is the GOAT for me. While he was still playing and before he won his second three titles I had him as the GOAT, I was living in Boston and I'm a Celtics fan and Larry Bird was in the conservation for greatest ever at that time but MJ was different gravy.
Lebron is a great, great player, imo he is in a group behind Jordan with Kobe, Magic, Jabar and Bird.

Gregk961 · 28-09-2020 8:01am

Oh wow a GOAT debate, how interesting.

jk23 · 28-09-2020 10:23am

It would be interesting to see who everyone's top 5 players of all time are on here...mine are
1.MJ
2.Lebron
3.Kareem
4.Bill Russell
5.Magic or Bird

chopperbyrne · 28-09-2020 11:00am

LeBron is never going to score as much as MJ, Bird, or Kobe, but he makes up for it, with how much he facilitates, and how much he prevents.

He is probably going to win his fourth ring this year, and unless the Warriors make a huge comeback next year, or another super team gets assembled in post season, they'll be favourites for next year too.

Because of how less physical the game has become, he could probably still go for another few years yet.

He might just be the best ever, and I would have been firmly in the Jordan camp for years.

I'm 37 before anyone tries to claim I never saw Jordan play in his prime.

jk23 · 28-09-2020 11:04am

chopperbyrne wrote: »

LeBron is never going to score as much as MJ, Bird, or Kobe, but he makes up for it, with how much he facilitates, and how much he prevents.

He is probably going to win his fourth ring this year, and unless the Warriors make a huge comeback next year, or another super team gets assembled in post season, they'll be favourites for next year too.

Because of how less physical the game has become, he could probably still go for another few years yet.

He might just be the best ever, and I would have been firmly in the Jordan camp for years.

I'm 37 before anyone tries to claim I never saw Jordan play in his prime.

I think the only thing that goes against him is the fact he left his drafted team and joined up with two top 10 picks from his draft class. I agree with most of what you said though

eagle eye · 28-09-2020 11:48am

So Miami are through. They've fought the good fight as outsiders all during the playoffs.
Jimmy Butler has been awesome, Tyler Herro is incredible but everybody plays their part, a true team.
They are big outsiders again now, I just hope they can pull it off, it'd be an incredible achievement for an unheralded team to win it.

28-09-2020 11:54am

1. Jordan
2. Kareem
3. Lebron
4. Bird
5. Olajuwon

chopperbyrne · 28-09-2020 11:58am

jk23 wrote: »

I think the only thing that goes against him is the fact he left his drafted team and joined up with two top 10 picks from his draft class. I agree with most of what you said though

Jordan came out of retirement to join up with Pippen and Rodman, sure discount those three championships.

Top players want to play with other top players so that they can maximise their chances of winning.

It's next to impossible to win a championship with just one top player, no matter how good they are.

ButtersSuki · 28-09-2020 12:01pm

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Jordan came out of retirement to join up with Pippen and Rodman, sure discount those three championships.

Top players want to play with other top players so that they can maximise their chances of winning.

It's next to impossible to win a championship with just one top player, no matter how good they are.

Whoa! Lebron hasn't ever played on a superteam, remember? His words.

ButtersSuki · 28-09-2020 12:04pm

eagle eye wrote: »

So Miami are through. They've fought the good fight as outsiders all during the playoffs.
Jimmy Butler has been awesome, Tyler Herro is incredible but everybody plays their part, a true team.
They are big outsiders again now, I just hope they can pull it off, it'd be an incredible achievement for an unheralded team to win it.

Bam was probably their best all-round player in the Boston series, on both ends. If he hadn't blocked that Taytum dunk in Game 1, this series could have been an awful lot different.

Boston have now lost 3 of the last 4 Conf. Finals. Stevens was completely out-thought and outplayed by Spoelstra in this series. They're close, but this one will hurt.

Hard to call the finals, LA have the 2 best players, but Miami are a far better "team" in the collective sense.

I'm a Boston fan, so naturally hope Miami win it.

ButtersSuki · 28-09-2020 12:05pm

Kareem (as usual) so incredibly under-rated. The passage of time really blurs memories as we switch to recency bias. Sad really.

jk23 · 28-09-2020 12:06pm

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Jordan came out of retirement to join up with Pippen and Rodman, sure discount those three championships.

Top players want to play with other top players so that they can maximise their chances of winning.

It's next to impossible to win a championship with just one top player, no matter how good they are.

That's true but it was Jordans drafted team and Pippen was drafted there also.Coming back from retirement to your old team it's not the same as leaving to join a new franchise.

The two players LeBron joined were one of which won a championship before LeBron (Wade) and a franchise player in Bosh

eagle eye · 28-09-2020 12:13pm

chopperbyrne wrote:

I'm 37 before anyone tries to claim I never saw Jordan play in his prime.

So you were in school, a kid during Jordan's career. You were a year old when he was drafted, ten when he went off playing baseball, 12 when he came back and 15 when he retired from the Bulls for the second time.
You've been watching Lebron since you were twenty so he's in your era.
Gotta think that you didn't see much of Jordan.
It's a bit like me and Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, they were before my time. Even Abdul-Jabar was a bit before my time. I seen the end of his career, the last six years, but he played for twenty so I'm not fully up on him.
I like to rate players I seen for most of their careers.
It's ok to rate Lebron as no.1 whilst admitting you didn't really see Jordan.

As someone whose followed both their careers Jordan stands alone as the unquestioned no.1. It's incredible that he still holds the ppg record despite the game becoming much more high scoring in recent times.

The guy nobody has mentioned is Steph Curry. He changed the way the game is played, he's been incredible since coming into the league.

And just on the Warriors, they'll be back next year. That no.2 pick in the draft will be dealt away to add the couple of players they need to get back on top unless they feel there's a star there to take..

K.O.Kiki · 28-09-2020 4:59pm

eagle eye wrote: »

You are probably young and didn't have the opportunity to see Michael Jordan.
MJ is the GOAT for me. While he was still playing and before he won his second three titles I had him as the GOAT, I was living in Boston and I'm a Celtics fan and Larry Bird was in the conservation for greatest ever at that time but MJ was different gravy.
Lebron is a great, great player, imo he is in a group behind Jordan with Kobe, Magic, Jabar and Bird.

I'm 34 so I grew up idolizing MJ, I actually stopped following basketball for a while during LeBron's early years.
And individually, MJ is better at scoring/defense.

But he wasn't able to elevate his teams the way LeBron has done, consistently, for nearly 2 decades.
MJ's Bulls took 4 years to post a .500 season. By year 4, LeBron's Cavs were in the finals having averaged .577 over the previous 3 seasons.

K.O.Kiki · 28-09-2020 5:12pm

Also, my NBA top players:

Tier 1: LeBron James, Michael Jordan
Tier 2: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan
Tier 3: Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson
Tier 4: Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Kevin Durant, Hakeem Olajuwon

Carcharodon · 28-09-2020 6:21pm

We really doing the LeBron v Jordan thing again, never ends well !

On actual current basketball, I think most basketball neutrals will be rooting for Heat, just so impressive.
I’ll definitely be rooting for them with one of my fav players iggy making 6 straight NBA finals.
Spoelstra really got them playing great basketball, he has come under criticism over the years, especially during the LeBron era but it must be gratifying to be able to coach a team and not be under the shadow of LeBron

Osmosis Jones · 28-09-2020 10:19pm

Doc is out! Guess they had to blame someone

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1310689859191951360?s=20

ButtersSuki · 28-09-2020 10:40pm

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Also, my NBA top players:

Tier 1: Michael Jordan
Tier 2: LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan
Tier 3: Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Steph Curry, Magic Johnson
Tier 4: Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Hakeem Olajuwon

Fixed that for you.

ButtersSuki · 28-09-2020 10:44pm

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Doc is out! Guess they had to blame someone

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1310689859191951360?s=20

Strange one ona few levels. I'm more surprised than not tbh; I did think it was possible that he would lose his job but unlikely. Lots of stuff coming out about PG and the dislike the rest of the roster had for him, so clearly chemistry is an issue there. That said, I still thought they'd run it back. They'll likely lose Montrezl too.

I guess Doc can go to Houston now and give Austin a max. :rolleyes:

Be interesting to see who they go for. Pop would be the obvious choice but for the fact that I can't see him coaching a certain former Spur. If they promote Ty Lue I give up.

NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2019-20 Thread

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