Topic: NBA Discussion

[elsewhere]

Shaq had a great quote last night at halftime talking about him needing "others" in order to win championships. Harden hasn't figured that out yet. 

True, they had about 15 possessions he held on to the ball until last 3 seconds and chucked it to someone to shoot a 3. At one point Tucker was visibly pissed that he held up his arms and asked what the heck he was waiting for, another time when he received the ball with seconds to shoot, he gave right back to Harden forcing him to shoot 3.

Warriors had 7 possessions that they shot with 3 or less seconds remaining. But guess what, none of those were like primary ball handlers (Steph, Durant or Draymond at some point) held on to the ball for long. Ball movement was great, that extra passes found an open man in the end which was why they used the clock until last second.

[elsewhere]

Draft lottery odds: picks involving trades are in red. Source: Tankathon

Imagine Knicks get Doncic and move Ntilikina to his original SG role. Doncic-Porzingis would be deadly.

[YNWA_O]

To be honest Ujiri is starting to go downhill quickly. He started off great making loads of good moves but recently less so. We've got an aging Lowry, Ibaka and Valanciunas on contracts that make them virtually untradable and no cap space. He should be taking some heat now. The failure to beat the Cavs is not down to coaching, the fact we were ever in a position to face them is down to coaching.

Not a big fan of firing casey, I myself thought casey was getting to the level of "untouchable" in the coaching game along with people like spoelstra, pop, carlisle, stevens (even thought its only been like 2 years, hes definitely not going anywhere for a while) and d'antoini. But it is understandable. The raptors over the last 3 season have lost to really the same player. from my understanding the idea was finals or bust. If there was ever a year for the raptors to beat it should have been this year cause to be completely honest this cavs team are playing just as bad as lebrons 2007 team. As much as i believe that firing casey was the wrong decision, there needed to be change made in the organization and the changes were either gonna be fire casey, or rebuild (because if they couldnt beat lebron this year yet alone force a game 7, its more of a mental thing). Ujiri has done alot of work in terms of building this team to be for a lack of better word contenders in the league (because realistically no one competing with golden state for a while, except maybe a healthy boston with brad stevens being the crazy genius he is). He would not want all his work to go to waste and start all over so the easier alternative was taking out the coach.

[Daniel Cabbaggio]

Come on Celtics!

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Cavs are winning this in 6.

[Lastrador]

Cavs are winning this in 6.

Yup, they just need LeBron to average 50/10/15 for the rest of the series.

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

Celtics are winning this in 5.

[elsewhere]

The way Boston and Indiana plays against Cavs in off season just makes Raptors look even worse. It “almost” justifies the decision of firing Casey.

This one is going to 7 folks, one close win at Cavs and one blow out win. Back to Boston 2-2 imo.

[Dread Breath]

Cavs are winning this in 6.

I like the edit: you might have to re-edit it again at some stage: "Cavs in 9"

[deFacto please, you bastards]

I like the edit: you might have to re-edit it again at some stage: "Cavs in 9"

hahah im trying the reverse jinx mate

[Lynndenberries]

The way Boston and Indiana plays against Cavs in off season just makes Raptors look even worse. It “almost” justifies the decision of firing Casey.

This one is going to 7 folks, one close win at Cavs and one blow out win. Back to Boston 2-2 imo.

Casey's job was essentially to beat the Cavs in the playoffs, which is by no means an easy task, but they never even got close. He deserved to be fired.

If I'm the Raptors, I blow it up. That team does not have the pieces to win a title.

[Gerry Attrick]

Casey's job was essentially to beat the Cavs in the playoffs, which is by no means an easy task, but they never even got close. He deserved to be fired.

If I'm the Raptors, I blow it up. That team does not have the pieces to win a title.

Not possible, who is trading for Lowry, Ibaka or Valanciunas when they're earning colossal money? We're stuck with this.

[Lynndenberries]

Not possible, who is trading for Lowry, Ibaka or Valanciunas when they're earning colossal money? We're stuck with this.

That's fair. I just looked it up and saw Ibaka signed a 3 yr/$65m contract. Yikes. I'm sure someone like the Kings or Nets would be willing to take his contract for a pick. At that point, it might not be worth it though.

[elsewhere]

Casey's job was essentially to beat the Cavs in the playoffs, which is by no means an easy task, but they never even got close. He deserved to be fired.

If I'm the Raptors, I blow it up. That team does not have the pieces to win a title.

I am with you. I think if he took the Cavs to 7 games, he would have still keot his job but getting swept against a Cavs team that was lucky to win vs Pacers will not get it done.

That being said, I agree with Gerry, it's not coach's fault fully, even GM has made some dumb decisions one after another. I've said it here since Ibaka was first signed that he is toast now and they will regret this big time, and they do now. As Gerry said, Raptors are stuck with this indeed. Only tradeable asset is DeRozan and they will probably not get same quality player if they trade him. That trade will help DeRozan more than the Raptors imo.

Budenholzer got an offer from both the Bucks and Raptors and reports say he is leaning over Milwaukee's job over Raptors. He already had breakfast with Giannis and Middleton. Clearly he doesn't value Raptors roster as much as his GM. That being said, Bucks have much less pressure and he will work with Top 10 player in Giannis and lowered expectations like making the ECF would be success. So, no brainer for me.

[elsewhere]

Credit to Houston when it’s due, they came with a lot of energy we were never close to match. Tucker, Gordon hit one three after another which demoralized us early and we kept turning the ball over. They played more Warriors brand of basketball than we did.

Now we did our part by stealing the home court. Next game is the key, we can’t afford Curry playing this passive even though he is still not 100%

[Gerry Attrick]

Feels like the playoffs are taking forever to get through this year.

[elsewhere]

James Harden, Anthony Davis, LeBron James Headline Award Finalists


The NBA has announced the finalists for their six major awards for the 17-18 regular season.

NBA Most Valuable Player

Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
James Harden, Houston Rockets
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers


NBA Rookie of the Year

Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics


NBA Sixth Man Award           

Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets
Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors
Lou Williams, LA Clippers


NBA Defensive Player of the Year

Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz


NBA Most Improved Player

Clint Capela, Houston Rockets
Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn Nets
Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers


NBA Coach of the Year

Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors
Quin Snyder, Utah Jazz
Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics

[Gerry Attrick]

Casey has been nominated for Coach of the Year and got fired Just about sums up this clusterfuck of a decision.

[elsewhere]

Casey has been nominated for Coach of the Year and got fired Just about sums up this clusterfuck of a decision.

I think the problem is with the award itself, maybe they should wait until the conference finals for voting. There are many names in the last decade that was fired after being named COY like Mike Brown, George Karl, Scott Brooks, Sam Mitchell, Byron Scott etc. Teams tankfor lottery pick and then new coach makes them a .500 team, people point him as best coach because of the jump in wins column. That has gotta change imo.

[Broad Spectrum]

Credit to Houston when it’s due, they came with a lot of energy we were never close to match. Tucker, Gordon hit one three after another which demoralized us early and we kept turning the ball over. They played more Warriors brand of basketball than we did.

Now we did our part by stealing the home court. Next game is the key, we can’t afford Curry playing this passive even though he is still not 100%

11 turnovers in the first half, 2 or 3 of which were in the first minutes of the first quarter, really unlike the Warriors.

[Suareznumber7]

Casey's job was essentially to beat the Cavs in the playoffs, which is by no means an easy task, but they never even got close. He deserved to be fired.

If I'm the Raptors, I blow it up. That team does not have the pieces to win a title.

If the Raptors don’t have the pieces needed to win a title then the decision to fire Casey is a terrible one.  They really have an average team who overachieved during the season to get them the #1 seed in the playoffs.  THe fact that they did so poorly against the Cavs is more to do with the players then it is the coach. 

[Lastrador]

Not possible, who is trading for Lowry, Ibaka or Valanciunas when they're earning colossal money? We're stuck with this.

I think a team with better perimeter defense than the Raptors could really use a guy like Valanciunas. He’s probably one of the most talented offensive centers on the league and a beast on the boards but his lack of lateral quickness is a real problem for the Raptors as they don’t have a way to hide him on defense. I’m thinking the Bucks maybe.

[elsewhere]

If the Raptors don’t have the pieces needed to win a title then the decision to fire Casey is a terrible one.  They really have an average team who overachieved during the season to get them the #1 seed in the playoffs.  THe fact that they did so poorly against the Cavs is more to do with the players then it is the coach. 

Nah, Casey should've at least watched Pacers-Cavs series to get ideas as to how to defend the Cavs better. Pacers' and Celtics' play against the Cavs makes that sweep look even worse.

[Midget]

Anybody know when the All-NBA teams will be announced?

[Suareznumber7]

Feels like the playoffs are taking forever to get through this year.

Not having another game until Saturday isn’t going to help either

[mallin9]

Feels like the playoffs are taking forever to get through this year.

No games for the next two days is aggressssssively stupid. Finals are June every year but truly, the NBA schedule takes the piss

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

Credit to Houston when it’s due, they came with a lot of energy we were never close to match. Tucker, Gordon hit one three after another which demoralized us early and we kept turning the ball over. They played more Warriors brand of basketball than we did.

Now we did our part by stealing the home court. Next game is the key, we can’t afford Curry playing this passive even though he is still not 100%
[/quote}

CP? If he is out, that is a mega blow! Warrriors can arguably lose all five of their starters and still claim more than a fighting chance.








I want Rockets/Celtics. Let one of them hang another jersey from the rafters.

[Broad Spectrum]

No games for the next two days is aggressssssively stupid. Finals are June every year but truly, the NBA schedule takes the piss

Tell that to the fitness coaches and the medical staff. Rest is essential for maintaining a high level of performance, they've just come off the back of an 80+ game season.

[Suareznumber7]

Tell that to the fitness coaches and the medical staff. Rest is essential for maintaining a high level of performance, they've just come off the back of an 80+ game season.

Didn’t they change the schedule this year to include more off days and less back to backs?

[mallin9]

Didn’t they change the schedule this year to include more off days and less back to backs?

Yes

It’s an 82 game season every year.  This was the first where the players union got their way and the regular season was a bit kinder to the players.

Cannot get over how good Jaylen Brown is in his 2nd year.  And is Horfords all around play peaking or have I just not been paying attention?  He’s been ‘PJ Brown for 15 minutes a game in the Finals’ levels of good. Out of this world good

The ‘Valanciunas just needs to move teams where his lack of lateral quickness can be better covered’ is a great shout imo, I think smart GM’s will be looking at him as someone attainable who can do things not many bigs can. 

[RedSince86]

Interesting video.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/NZmEY3n97P4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/NZmEY3n97P4</a>

[Broad Spectrum]

Yeah good video. Tried to watch it yesterday but they were quickly removed from YouTube. Think Tatum was quite surprised at that piece he posted on Twitter. Good on him he’s had a superb debut season, youngest of the 3 nominated as well for ROTY.

[GreatEx]

No games for the next two days is aggressssssively stupid. Finals are June every year but truly, the NBA schedule takes the piss

Yeah, I can't understand why they give a team 36 hours between the end of the first round and the beginning of the conference semi-finals (that's right, I'm still bitter!), then have these massive gaps in the middle of a conference finals series. I'd lost interest anyway once my team and the Sixers got knocked out, but this is getting really boring now.

If teams need more recovery time then have fewer regular season games. Cannot understand why you need 82 rounds to sort the wheat from the chaff. Play teams in your division 4 times, everyone else twice... what's that, about 66 games? Hell, cut it further, play the opposite conference once each, with Home/Away alternating each season... now it's 50 games and everyone's fresh as a daisy for the interminable playoffs.

Or just go back to the days of best-of-5. Seems a sensib... oh yeah, TV.

[Lush is the best medicine...]

Yeah, I can't understand why they give a team 36 hours between the end of the first round and the beginning of the conference semi-finals (that's right, I'm still bitter!), then have these massive gaps in the middle of a conference finals series. I'd lost interest anyway once my team and the Sixers got knocked out, but this is getting really boring now.

If teams need more recovery time then have fewer regular season games. Cannot understand why you need 82 rounds to sort the wheat from the chaff. Play teams in your division 4 times, everyone else twice... what's that, about 66 games? Hell, cut it further, play the opposite conference once each, with Home/Away alternating each season... now it's 50 games and everyone's fresh as a daisy for the interminable playoffs.

Or just go back to the days of best-of-5. Seems a sensib... oh yeah, TV.

thing is whilst I agree on the 66 games there’s no way the owners give up on those extra 8 home games for the revenues so I’d rather they just stretched the season out over an extra 3/4 weeks and get rid of back to backs

[elsewhere]

Interesting video.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/NZmEY3n97P4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/NZmEY3n97P4</a>

Pains me to say as I hated the Lakers but Kobe has a brilliant basketball mind.

[Lush is the best medicine...]

Pains me to say as I hated the Lakers but Kobe has a brilliant basketball mind.

not being involved with that aau shit helps

[Lush is the best medicine...]

Real Madrid won the EuroLeague and Luka doncic was the MVP today btw

[elsewhere]

Real Madrid won the EuroLeague and Luka doncic was the MVP today btw

FB is my team since childhood. It was a success getting here and I thought CSK would make the finals and thrash us but once Real Madrid made it, I thought we had a chance. Vesely had a terrible game, we lost many defensive rebounds and kept missing tip-in's and layups.

By the way, Doncic has not impressed me so much this game at all.

[Lush is the best medicine...]

FB is my team since childhood. It was a success getting here and I thought CSK would make the finals and thrash us but once Real Madrid made it, I thought we had a chance. Vesely had a terrible game, we lost many defensive rebounds and kept missing tip-in's and layups.

By the way, Doncic has not impressed me so much this game at all.

didnt get to watch it as Eurosport put it on their player and not the main channel ffs

[Shaved Crossbar]

3rd quarter warriors, to nobodies surprise