AZRaiderH8r

Agreed, they both have to go.

We are going to the Rockies Angels game on Sunday. Doesn't appear that Shohei will be pitching, but we're very excited to see him play, especially at Coors Field.

I'm so confused about this. Isn't this incredibly hypocritical by the PGA? We don't want anything to do with LIV because it's Saudi funded (a year ago), but today we're cool with it?

Oof, rough game last night. Very disappointing games from MPJ and KCP. KCP scored 6 points and gifted the Heat 6 on stupid fouls on threes. Very frustrating game to watch, but here's my glass is half full takeaway. The Heat came out and played an excellent game, balanced with contributions from a lot of players. The Nuggets played one of the worst games that I've seen them have in quite a while, outside of Jokic putting up points. Their bench actually played really well, but the starters were garbage. They gave up a 10 point lead in the fourth, that just can't happen. Still, despite all that, they were very close to forcing OT. They need to go to Miami and at least take one there, and I'll feel good again. I'm still feeling Nuggets in five, but who knows?

That is incredibly helpful, thank you @Ulty! Poor kid is so bummed right now, he was really looking forward to the summer league. He had one of his best games ever in the first game, but the second game against another team was getting pretty chippy. He was playing defense and a large kid came to set a screen. Unfortunately, while setting the screen the kid also felt the need to add a shove to the mix. My son planted to prepare, but the shove caused his knee to go in a very bad direction. He screamed immediately and fell to the court, grabbing his knee. The ref was trying to help, but at the time said that he heard a pop and that I needed to get him to the hospital, because he was positive that it was his ACL. Didn't help calm my kid down at the time, but turns out the dude was Nostra-frigging-damus or something.

And there was a lot of talk about Malone losing his job without a deep run this season too. Hockey and basketball coaches have a very short shelf life, that's for sure. As far as the Finals go, I'm pretty optimistic. After going through the combinations of KAT/Edwards, KD/Booker, and LeBron/AD, I just don't feel like Miami has the firepower that they need to beat the Nuggets in a 7 game series. Of course, they also went through the 1, 2, and 5 seeds in the East to get to the Finals, so I don't think anyone can count them out by any means. I just feel like Denver has such a balanced team this year and Miami will struggle to put up the points necessary to get the wins in this series. I like the Nuggets in 5, but that could just be wishful fandom on my part. Can't wait to get things started tomorrow night!

Hey all, hoping for some advice here. We just found out that our 16 year old son has a torn ACL from an injury at the start of his summer basketball league. Unfortunately, he is absolutely terrified of surgery, but we'll help him get past that. At his age, surgery is the only option because he's got a lot of years ahead of him. Have any of you had your kids go through this, or been through it yourself? Just trying to get a sense of what we're in for. Thanks in advance for your help!

Initially, I was hoping that Miami would close it out quickly, so they had the same amount of ridiculous rest as the Nuggets before game 1 of the finals. Since they have crapped the bed these last two games, I'm hoping that it goes 7 now and they just beat each other up. I honestly feel pretty confident about the Nuggest beating either team, but who knows? Hopefully they aren't getting rusty.

Come on Miami, get it together already!

Smart move. I like you @admo, but wearing that crap around me would lead to fisticuffs!

That's fair. My anger about the media bias is also deeply rooted in decades of being a Nuggets fan with few opportunities to be in the limelight, so admittedly, we're a bit salty about anything we deem to be a lack of respect towards our team. Completely unfair, I understand. But it goes back a long time with this team. Personally, I'm just tired of LeBron. I don't deny that he's one of the greatest ever, that can't be argued. I don't for one second think that he's going to retire, but I could be wrong about that. I'm just thrilled that he was swept out of the playoffs in the last round.

Exactly! I don't think any other sport has the media bias that basketball does. They just take it to an extreme. I know that I'm biased, but after the Nuggets swept the Lakers, what was the big storyline? The King might retire. Very little about the actual games, the narrative immediately flipped to LeBron, which is exactly how he wanted it. It's nauseating. This is exactly what I have been telling people these past few seasons. Jokic is just so incredibly talented in many facets of the game, and I think he's overlooked for how truly great he is. Only now are people nationally starting to see it because of the run that the Nuggets are on. He is so fundamentally sound, but I really appreciate his willingness to not be "the guy" all the time if someone else is playing well, or if there's a better play available. The one area that I wish he would clean up a bit is the tendency to commit some (at times) bad turnovers, but I'm happy to overlook those because of everything else he brings to the game. He is probably the most unselfish superstar that I've ever seen.

Listen, I'm not saying that my hatred is healthy. It actually borders on insanity for the most part, and I'm sort of okay with that. I think it's the "fanatic" part of being a fan. But to give it a bit of completely ridiculous clarity, it either stems for entire teams or certain players (and therefore their teams) like @JJ Husker said. I grew up in CO, and when the Rockies left to become the Devils (so I hate the Devils to this day, plus my wife is a Ranger fan, so I have to), I was a sad little boy without a team. My best friend was from Chicago, so I ended up watching a ton of Hawks games and became a fan because I needed a team. Still to this day I'm a Hawks fan first, Avs fan second. So, I hate the Red Wings and Blues, initially because of the Hawks, but now also for the Avs. Can't stand Vegas, they do their players dirty and their fans are obnoxious as hell. Sorry @admo, but as long as Evander Kane is an Oiler, hate them too. F the Bruins because of Marchand. Don't like any of the California teams, because, well, California. Those are just a few examples. Welcome inside the terror that is my mind.

Sounds like you have the all too rare opportunity to just watch the games and hopefully enjoy some good basketball, without a team to root for. That's honestly kind of nice I think. I usually find myself with either a great like or dislike for the teams in the final, which probably says more about me than anything else. It would be nice to sit back and just enjoy the ride. That being said, you obviously have to root for the nuggets.

Oh, I totally get it. It's completely hypothetical and overly simplistic. It would involve blowing up the conferences as they stand today. It was more of a tongue in cheek suggestion. But it sure would be nice, in theory.

Just make four super conferences with 16 teams each (North, South, East, and West). Each conference has four divisions with four teams in it. Winners of each division are seeded 1-4 based on head to head and other tie breakers, they play through a mini-playoff to determine the conference winner. The four conference winners are then seeded again for the national semifinal and final game. Seems easy enough to me.

I am so frigging happy right now, could barely even sleep last night. As a LONG suffering Nuggets fan, this has been an incredible season and playoff run. And to sweep the Lakers is just icing on the cake.

The NBA cannot be happy about a Nuggets/Heat final when the potential for Lakers/Celtics was there, but I am absolutely loving it. The Heat and Nuggets are really playing some great ball and would make for a great series, but unfortunately probably one of the lowest rated in terms of viewers, and that's too bad. Game 3 was a great example of the balance that the Nuggets have. Jamal went off in the first half when Jokic couldn't seem to do anything right. Jamal goes ice cold in the second half, and just when the Nuggets needed it, Joker took over the fourth. The team is so unselfish and is just a joy to watch. I think Lebron is starting to show his age quite a bit, and who can blame him? I'm also wondering if the foot injury is worse than he's letting on, because his shooting is just bad, especially from 3s. I still continue to be impressed with AD, dude is a stud. And Austin Reeves is playing himself into one hell of a contract, that's for sure. I'm hopeful that it's over tonight, but I just can't see the Lakers being swept. I don't see this being a close game tonight; either the Lakers will run away with it and the Nuggets will kind of pack it in for one game, or the Nuggets get off to a hot start and the Lakers pull a Celtics and fold completely.

I did appreciate that interaction. Lebron even thanking them for the towel, it was just a funny situation to watch.

I did appreciate that the King's flop resulted in him getting doused with a beverage.

What a game! I don't care about this series, but wow, there is nothing better than an OT game in the playoffs.

I like Breen too. I know that I'm a homer, but the obvious Laker love from Jackson (by the way, dude got FAT) and Van Gundy is so annoying. I wish announcers could just call the game and not make themselves part of the narrative, although I did laugh at the "What happened to the game I love" comment after the flagrant call on DLo. I was watching with my son, and we were talking about Murray's struggles about midway through the third. I told him to just wait, Jamal is going to go off in the fourth. Holy hell! Dude had 23 in the fourth, Lakers had 24. That string of threes the Nuggets hit in the quarter was crazy. Another crazy stat: Jokic has 3 points in both four quarters combined in the series so far. The Nuggets are so deep and balanced, they're able to share the scoring and not have to rely on him to close out the games. That gives me hope that they can win this series, maybe even steal a game in LA. I don't have high hopes on that, but it's possible. Also, old man rant here, but the officials have got to do something about the flopping. I know that everyone does it, but that one by Lebron where he slid into the front row was the worst one I think I've ever seen. Jokic got payback on the next play by doing the same thing to get a call; I just really wish they would do something about it. Lastly, Rui is a beast. Dude is going to get paid...

I'm ashamed to say it, but the officiating was actually pretty good last night. Not nearly the discrepancy in free throws that I expected (I think it ended up 26 to 22). Nuggets were clicking for three quarters and then let the Lakers back in. It will be interesting to see the adjustments made for game 2. The Nuggets cannot keep allowing Jamal to switch over to Lebron, he'll get eaten up and will be in foul trouble again. Joker did Joker things again last night, it was a lot of fun to watch. Even my wife, who isn't a huge basketball fan, was amazed with some of the things he did. That three that he hit over AD was crazy, loved the looks the two of them exchanged. I think this is going to be a very entertaining series.

I think that is absolutely fair. Let's be honest, he's not exactly the "sexy" choice based on how he plays. Plus, he really dropped off the last few weeks of the season for the dreaded load management. Had he averaged the triple double, it would have been tough to not give it to him.

Agreed 100%. It's also been interesting seeing some on the national media suddenly take interest in Jokic, now that Embiid has been exposed for the soft fraud that he is.