NBA 2023-24

[AZRaiderH8r]

Great game last night for the Nuggets. Jokic really stepped up when the rest of the team was struggling. I know that he won't win the MVP again (and hopefully this finally gets Joel to shut up, along with the obnoxious Philly fans), but wow, did he prove his worth or what? And I have decided that Devin Booker has the most punchable face in all of sports. Man, I cannot stand that d-bag. 

 

And how about Harden dropping 45 on the Celtics, in Boston? Rough couple of nights at the Garden.

[sho]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:57 PM, Guy Chamberlin said:

If I wasn't a Warriors fan, I would have rooted for Sacramento.

 

But I'm a Warriors fan, and thank Steph Curry for reminding me why. 

 

You should thank Looney for giving Steph so many shots that Klay and Poole bricked.   Looney was the MVP of that series and exposed Sabonis as being a stiff.   If the Lakers make a concerted effort to keep Looney and Kaminga off the offensive glass they should be able to win in 6.

[sho]

7 hours ago, AZRaiderH8r said:

Great game last night for the Nuggets. Jokic really stepped up when the rest of the team was struggling. I know that he won't win the MVP again (and hopefully this finally gets Joel to shut up, along with the obnoxious Philly fans), but wow, did he prove his worth or what? And I have decided that Devin Booker has the most punchable face in all of sports. Man, I cannot stand that d-bag. 

 

And how about Harden dropping 45 on the Celtics, in Boston? Rough couple of nights at the Garden.

 

And the 2 best parts of last night, as a Laker fan, seeing the dirty c-bags lose is always a great thing.   Also I believe it was the 15th hostile nut shot this playoffs, which I think has to be some sort of record.   And round 2 just started, we should expect at least 6-7 more of those plays this playoff season.

[sho]

3 of these second round series are just great.  

 

Knicks struggle and rally to beat an undermanned Heat team at home.   If Jimmy comes back for game 3, I think the Heat win this going away and sweep at home, putting all the pressure squarely on the Knicks who have no idea how to succeed.  Jimmy, Bam and Lowry have all been tested and know what it takes.  Heat in 6, with an outside shot at 5.

 

76ers were much more competitive on the road than I thought they would be, even stealing home court, minus the MVP Embiid.   Showed they are capable of not just winning the series, but the East.   It's impressive how many players the 6ers have that I just love to hate.  Harden, Embiid, Tucker and Doc are all really high on my I hope they never win list.  Luckily for them they are playing the team that is cemented in at 1, so LETS GO 6ERS!!   Some questionable decisions from a young coach led to the loss, and as much as I dislike the Beard, he played really well.   Early prediction, this goes 7 and I think the dirty c-bags escape, and a lot of fans will complain about poor officiating costing the 6ers and going full conspiracy theory saying the league wanted that other team to win.

 

Lakers v Warriors.   Absolute shame this is just the semi-finals in the West.   This has all the ear-markings to be a series people will be talking about for years to come.   An absolute epic first game showcasing two completely different styles of play.   This is like Ali-Frazier.   No idea who wins this series, and not sure I can handle a 7 game series between these two (my fitbit registered strenuous activity late in the 4th when the Warriors went on that 14-0 run in like 90 seconds ), so I'm hoping for Lakers in 5.   Most likely this goes 7, and a very slight edge to the home team there.  

 

Suns are done.   Zero depth, just getting manhandled by a tougher, deeper and more cohesive team.   If CP3 is indeed out, I don't see this series making it past 5 games.   And even then, that's too many games for this one.

[Guy Chamberlin]

3 hours ago, sho said:

 

 

Suns are done.   Zero depth, just getting manhandled by a tougher, deeper and more cohesive team.   If CP3 is indeed out, I don't see this series making it past 5 games.   And even then, that's too many games for this one.

 

That would mean that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving abandoned the Nets for supposedly better teams, only to find themselves hardly better or actually worse than the Nets themselves. 

[Jason Sitoke]

14 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

That would mean that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving abandoned the Nets for supposedly better teams, only to find themselves hardly better or actually worse than the Nets themselves. 

Suns have just run into a bad matchup for them.  I think the Nets were the worst team to make the playoffs this year.

[Guy Chamberlin]

53 minutes ago, Jason Sitoke said:

Suns have just run into a bad matchup for them.  I think the Nets were the worst team to make the playoffs this year.

 

Maybe. Point being Durant and Kyrie (and Harden) took over a low-tier playoff team (Nets) and immediately transformed it into Eastern Conference favorite, only to get injured, bicker, fail, and abandoned the team, which still goes on to make the playoffs while Kyrie misses the playoffs entirely with the Mavericks, and Durant faces an early exit because of the depth the Suns sacrificed to the Nets in order to get him. It's an O. Henry story.

 

Maybe I don't really have a point. I just don't like seeing Durant and Kyrie being rewarded for skipping to and skipping out on teams. I probably disliked Harden's game most of all, but he seems to have found a good place and a good role for himself with the Sixers. Interesting how they won with Harden as the alpha, and absolutely tanked when Embid returned.  

[Jason Sitoke]

1 hour ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Maybe. Point being Durant and Kyrie (and Harden) took over a low-tier playoff team (Nets) and immediately transformed it into Eastern Conference favorite, only to get injured, bicker, fail, and abandoned the team, which still goes on to make the playoffs while Kyrie misses the playoffs entirely with the Mavericks, and Durant faces an early exit because of the depth the Suns sacrificed to the Nets in order to get him. It's an O. Henry story.

 

Maybe I don't really have a point. I just don't like seeing Durant and Kyrie being rewarded for skipping to and skipping out on teams. I probably disliked Harden's game most of all, but he seems to have found a good place and a good role for himself with the Sixers. Interesting how they won with Harden as the alpha, and absolutely tanked when Embid returned.  

I'm with you there.  Rooting for a smaller market team in the Nuggets, I get super frustrated when one or two players can basically just decide they're out and just hold a team hostage until they go where they want to, and it completely changes the complexion of the league/conference.  I thought it was ridiculous that Anthony Davis was able to force his way out and get traded to the only team he wanted to go, and the Lakers, despite making about every wrong decision they could, ended up with 2 superstars and won a bubble title.  Basically because they are the Lakers and players want to wear purple and gold.

[Guy Chamberlin]

3 hours ago, Jason Sitoke said:

I'm with you there.  Rooting for a smaller market team in the Nuggets, I get super frustrated when one or two players can basically just decide they're out and just hold a team hostage until they go where they want to, and it completely changes the complexion of the league/conference.  I thought it was ridiculous that Anthony Davis was able to force his way out and get traded to the only team he wanted to go, and the Lakers, despite making about every wrong decision they could, ended up with 2 superstars and won a bubble title.  Basically because they are the Lakers and players want to wear purple and gold.

 

The Nuggets are a small market playing great team ball, but they're legitimate superstar ballers themselves with Jokic and Murray, and Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter, Jr., and KCP not far behind. That's a stellar starting five, with enough size and shooting to match up against any surviving team. 

[admo]

This NBA is so hard to watch.  Really difficult with how the officiating is called. Been like this since 2006 and each year it becomes more obvious as the years pass on. 

 

The game is entertainment purposes with League directions + Officiating.  

 

The playoff product has been awful.

 

I don't know how many times I see a struggling team with it's best shooter receiving officiating favors..... for bogus fouls.....  to put him on the line.  Sometimes the whistle is blown before the shooting motion...  sometimes late after the shooting motion.  It bails out the league's "SuperStar" and puts him on the freethrow line.  Ridiculous.  

 

And also, please stop the hesitation dribble..... this carrying the ball (double dribble) is so backyard schoolyard playground style.... and nobody cares to mention it.  

 

I say it is hard to watch, but when I watch and pause, rewind... you see the bulls#!t on the court.  And it is always telling when the officials are giving freebies to a player when the replays are not shown.  

 

I am venting my frustration.  Because the game was not meant for Durant or anyone else in the league to dribble... pause their dribble... take a 6 foot step and continue dribbling.  

 

It's not a game.  It is schoolyard basketball for rich "entertainment" with officials calling the fouls to go a certain way.   

 

I will never end this vent.   

[Mavric]

The NBA is so bad even the owners are flopping now.

[Crusader Husker]

There is not much difference between the NBA and pro wrestling.  

[sho]

38 minutes ago, Crusader Husker said:

There is not much difference between the NBA and pro wrestling.  

 

I just hope the script has the Lakers winning tonight.

[Guy Chamberlin]

1 hour ago, sho said:

 

I just hope the script has the Lakers winning tonight.

 

Disagree.

[sho]

50 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Disagree.

 

There's always got to be one who roots for the heel.