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1 hour ago, JJ Husker said:

So what’s the inside scoop from you more knowledgeable NBA folks. Lakers-Nuggets game 3?

 

I got a $25 free bet out of the blue from MGM that expires Monday so I parlayed Carolina Hurricanes and LAL to win. I’m for the Nuggets but Lakers at home down 0-2, had to go with LA in this one.

I'd be absolutely stunned if this didn't get back to Denver 2-2.   If the Lakers lose tonight, I wouldt expect a sweep.

6 minutes ago, Jason Sitoke said:

RUI is really good.  A guy that can play physical defense, has length, and can shoot the 3 and finish around the rim.  You win with guys like that.  Reaves is decent, but I think he's overachieving a bit.  I feel like he's the kinda guy that will ride this run into a max contract from the Hornets and disappear from relevancy.

He's the definition of a role player.   He fits perfectly with this team, if you have the right schemes and talent around him he's going to elevate the play.   You make him the square peg in a round system, he'll muck up the whole thing.   He's like Peanut Butter, works perfect with jelly and on pancakes, but a complete disaster with steak.  Some GM is going to over pay him and match him with steak and wonder why he's not living up to the contract (see AC Fresh in Chicago or Russell Westbrook in LA as examples). 

5 minutes ago, funhusker said:

How is making America dumber and sicker a winning strategy?  Seriously, how do these people have ANY support at this time?

 

Because people hate others more than they love themselves....and Rs have used that hate of others to profit.

4 hours ago, AZRaiderH8r said:

Lastly, Rui is a beast. Dude is going to get paid... 

I was most excited for him to come to LA.   Love his game and how he fits with this team.   Between him, Lil Country Austin Reaves and Schroeder we have some very solid role players that can take over games.    Now we just need the stars to shine on both ends of the court.

2 hours ago, JJ Husker said:

Watching my first playoff game of the year (Lakers-Nuggets gm2) and these ESPN announcers are unbearable whiners. Is it always this way? Seriously might not be able to finish this game.

Van Gundy and Jackson are the worst at the whining as announcers.   Usually watch the games on mute until the last 2-3 minutes of the game.  Listen to music or a podcast.   Keep CC on to follow along for any injury/foul situations.  No need to yell “BANG” on 3 in the middle of the second like he just hit a game winner.  Annoying and then the constant complaining about officials that JVG does is just pull your hair out frustrating.  

Man, let one get away tonight.   Lakers made their living attacking the rim, drawing fouls playing inside out.   Too many kill the rhythm 3s by James and AD couldn’t hit the ocean from the boat most of the game.   Good win by Denver tonight.  They were able to finish strong.  

3 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

Hey, why aren't we talking about the Heat/Celtics game?

 

I caught about half of it. Looked like the Celtics might cruise, then Miami just kicked into a cold-blooded second gear and never looked back. Jimmy Butler was always great, but he's playing out of his mind these playoffs and should now be considered one of The Greats. 

 

I would have said the same thing about Jason Tatum 15 hours ago, but for reasons no one explained, he took only 4 shots the entire second half, and strung together three excruciatingly bad turnovers in the final 2 minutes with the game still there for the taking. 

I don't want to talk about it and jinx this  

12 hours ago, Jason Sitoke said:

This will be a series of tweaks. No one adjustment is going to be either teams silver bullet. Also look for Denver to go under pin down screens for LBJ to avoid a Murray switch. Most of James’ points came off that. 
 

Look for Gordon to stay high if AD starts spying Jokic on post ups. He’ll be the weak side screener for the rest of Denver’s shooters. Question will be can they knock down open shots like they did in game 1. 
 

Look for LA to go big to start and absolutely crash the paint. You will not see an early rebound advantage for Denver like game 1, methinks. 

Yeah, the starting small and giving up so many rebounds really got Denver's shooters a lot of extra good looks and got them rolling early.   Play big, defend the paint, and limit Denver's offensive rebounds and I think the Lakers steal game 2.   Wouldn't hurt for DLo to have a bounce back game.

Good game, Lakers came out flat and Nuggets hot, and Joker looked like Kevin Looney in the first quarter getting every rebound.   Lakers were not smart starting so small, this isn't the Warriors.   I liked the adjustment of putting Rui on Joker and letting AD come double once Joker got in the paint.  Doing that slowed down Denver's offense (or them letting their foot of the gas, not sure which), and I hope the Lakers start game 2 like that and force Denver to adjust.    After the game, I feel more confident the Lakers can win this series then I did before game one.   

I hope Jimmy and Miami can play well, and win tonight.

30 minutes ago, AZRaiderH8r said:

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.

I also think there is some voter fatigue.   Joker should have been the MVP, but people are tired of voting for him.   Much like MJ not winning every year during the 90s when he played.

Tonight's the night we get to see who gets to draft the unicorn, Victor Wembanyama.   From the little I've watched of his game, once he gets used to the NBA game, he's going to be a problem for everyone.   The one highlight of his that still makes me go WOW is when he took a step back three, missed, but was the one to do a tip dunk on his miss.   Never seen a player able to do that before.   His game reminds me of KD, except he's 5 inches taller.  He may be the tallest guy in the league and have the skills of a wing.   He's a freak of nature.

Man Ja is an idiot.  Dude grew up in the burbs and thinks romanticizing thug life is way to go.  SMH Slamming the Grizz window shut for an IG Live with only 100 people to see.  

@Guy Chamberlinit was a fun series.   Lakers got lucky Warriors were ice cold.   Klay just hasn't been the same since his injuries, if he could just be consistent with his shot, this most likely is 4-2 the other way.   Plus, there's clearly still a disconnect with Poole, don't know if it still stems from Dray and the pre-season or what, but him and Curry/Klay/Dray were not on the same page.   Unsure what happened with Looney, I know he's a liability on offense but damn is he good on D and the boards, I think going small with moving him to the bench and starting GP2 hurt the warriors more than helped, and I'm not buying the illness story for some reason.  Curry just got worn down and couldn't will this team to the win, he needed more than DDV to help carry the scoring load.   Really curious to watch what the Warriors do this off-season.   A lot of questions to be answered, and they don't even know who will be trying to answer them yet. 

8 hours ago, admo said:

Yes, echoing what @Jason Sitoke said.....  Keep your chin up @Guy Chamberlin because yall have pwned the NBA as a real legacy champ!  

 

I also feel the NBA wanted Suns to play Lakers.

 

But the #1 seed Denver Nuggets said.....  "Nah man, that's not happening"

 

Yall Lakers got to go Thru the Nuggets now, and they get 4 at home.  Even if the officials travel with LA..... you know.... for NBA championship TV goals  ..........  But I still like Denver Nuggets in the Western Conf Finals....... even if it not popular to admit.

The WCF will come down to the battle of bigs...Joker is foul prone.  Can AD, and the attack the paint style the Lakers use, get Joker in foul trouble?  If they do, the Lakers will be able to steal one in Denver.   Can Joker handle guarding an athletic big who can beat him off the dribble for buckets, be guarded by arguably the best defensive big in the league and still be the instigator of the offense?  He will have to exert a lot of energy on both sides of the court.  Can he do that for a 7 game series?  Say what you will about want about Murray, Denver runs through Joker, is he up to the challenge physically and mentally?  Between Vando, Schroeder, DLo and Lil Country Austin Reaves, I feel comfortable with the matchups with Jamal, KCP, Gordon and MPJ.   Not sure who Denver can throw at James to offset him. 

For the Lakers, can AD handle the physicality of Joker?   Can he make Joker work, while not getting in foul trouble himself.   For all of our wing depth, we don't have a good plan B for Joker if AD is foul trouble or resting, like we did in our bubble matchup.   TT, Gabriel and Mo Bamba are not the guys for this assignment.   A lot will ride on AD manning up and shutting down Joker.   My heart says Lakers in 6.   My head says it's a 75/25 lean Nuggets advance to their first NBA Finals.

And with JaMychal Green poking the bear, that's another bad omen for the Ws tonight.   Much like you @Guy Chamberlin I will not be surprised by either team winning.  Winning big or in a closely contested game.   There's a reason these two teams are 6 & 7 respectively, they are not consistent, Lakers moreso after the trade deadline, but still a very inconsistent team.   Both now have the talent to win the championship or to be blown out.   This game will really depend on the refs, will they allow the Warriors to play physical while contesting the Lakers at the rim or not?   If they call it tight on contact, the Lakers will dominate the free throw game as they attack the rim.   If the refs let them play, most likely the Ws win (assuming two of Steph, Klay, Poole, Wiggins play at their average).  I have a feeling, with this game being in LA, the refs are more apt to call fouls, which bodes well for the team attacking the rim.

And I really hope Playoff Jimmy ends that series tonight.  We are really close to having the same conference finals from the bubble, which should solidify the legitimacy of the bubble championship.

There's an old quote I remember that's been shared around social media multiple times.   The jist is, students where in class discussing the LGBTQIA+ community and asked the professor, what should they do if the person in need of care is trans?   the professor replied, you treat them.   They continued to question and asked, what if it's against my religious beliefs?   The professor replied, you treat them, and if you feel you cannot treat them because of your religious beliefs, you need to find a new profession.  Working in healthcare is not a place for your religious beliefs, all that matters is patient care.   So if any doctors/health care workers in fact deny service to a person because of religious beliefs, they need to get the eff out of healthcare.

1 hour ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

Not to take away from what Denver did last night, a complete dismantling of the Suns at home, executed with cool confidence for all four quarters. But....holy s#!t Phoenix. 

 

This happened last year, too. Western Conference semifinals against Dallas, the chance to win the series at home, and they completely fall apart, down 57-27 at halftime.

 

You add cold-blooded playoff scoring machine Kevin Durant to ensure that never happens again, but it does. 

 

It just seems 100% psychological. Again. If that's the case, I don't know what off-season roster moves you can make. 

Reports started to leak out that CP3 (who has contract is not fully guaranteed) and Ayton will be on the block this summer.  Goal is to add a starting center at a lower rate and a younger true PG, recoup some draft picks and build depth.   Not sure which PG would be available and they have high hopes, they swung big and missed with KD, may be time to blow it up and start over.

1 hour ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

My longtime Lakers fan friend contends veteran Lakers fans have never really embraced LeBron James or consider him a true Laker, and while they will root for him and even appreciate him, they're looking forward to the LeBron era being over. 

100% this.  He's a mercenary, a hired gun.  He's not a Laker.

Eff the poor, eff the elderly and especially eff you if you are both.   I delivered MoW at lunch for upwards of 3 years and it was one of my favorite things I've done.  Some these people, I would be the only person they would see that day and would be the only meal they got that day.   Absolutely disgusting to want to cut this life saving program for so many.

2 hours ago, Lorewarn said:

 

 

I know that's the rumor but you can clearly see all of the back/bottom of his shorts on the tv broadcast when he was on the ground hurt - makes it hard to hold it with anything other than a huge grain of salt.

He admitted it and when he realized how much s#!t he was catching for s#!tting his pants, he backtracked in the story.  

33 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

I watched the Shaq and Barkley clip this morning, and against my better instincts I opened the Comments section. A few people offended that anyone would mock anyone needing a wheelchair, but basically a huge pile on to AD for overdramatizing the contact, his long history of injuries, and already looking too tired before the incident happened.

 

Then I looked up to see the clip was hosted on a site called Lakers Fan Central.

 

Ouch.

A lot of new "Lakers" fans showed up when James showed up....long time fans of the team aren't hating on AD, it's the fans of a certain player that adopt whichever team he's on that have caused a lot of vitriol.  

12 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Well there's this bodily function incident from just a couple days ago during Game 4:

 

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/gary-payton-ii-throw-up-mouth-video-vomit-warriors-lakers/ylv7o5lml4qai80lsdlbe2mk#:~:text=Payton seemed to blow chunks,with vomit in his mouth.

Yeah I heard about that....glad he was able to hold it until he was off the court...and it brought great comic relief watching Dray pass it to Phil Handy.

5 minutes ago, admo said:

I've seen fighters get beat up, punched out and knocked out by Mike Tyson - and never need a wheelchair back to the locker rooms. 

 

In case you missed it.....

 

Years ago Dwyane Wade got wheeled off the court with a shoulder injury... 

 

And now Anthony Davis... 

 

I don't understand how and why Charles Barkley and Shaq have received heavy criticism for their reaction to Davis getting wheeled off.  I agree with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Anthony Davis left the Los Angeles Lakers' 121-106 loss to the Warriors in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals in a wheelchair due to a head injury.

 

Davis sustained the injury with 7:34 remaining in the fourth quarter when Warriors center Kevon Looney's left arm made contact with Davis' face while the players battled for a rebound off a missed D'Angelo Russell layup.

 

He sat on the Lakers' bench for most of the fourth quarter before being wheeled into the locker room.

Let's not forget the best reason to ever get wheeled out....paul pierce s#!t himself mid-game and didn't want anyone to see the stains on his shorts so he was wheeled out.

5 hours ago, default_28 said:

I was under the impression that any football player that received a scholarship, whether it was a “track” scholarship or an academic scholarship or whatever, still counted towards the 85. Is that not the case any more?

If they are on a different sport scholarship, it counts towards that sport until they step on the field in a counted football game, then it becomes a football scholarship.

8 hours ago, Mavric said:

"If you don't embellish, you don't get the call."

 

Ladies and Gentleman, the NBA in 2023.

It’s not just the NBA, but yes.