NBA playoffs
- Thread starter bullettoothtony
- Start date
Man people really thought the Warriors were weak after their struggles in regular season. Once again, come playoff these guys turn into absolute killers with no mercy. People love to knock Steph. But he's, again, made himself quite clear. He's a mainstay in the NBA finals for a reason.
I vote 'nay' regarding a Blazers meltdown. Golden State, and specifically Steph, are just that good. Listening to XM this morning and they reminded listeners that the Warriors were pretty good pre-Durant, too.
Exactly....everyone wants to blame the blazers but give GS credit for coming back 3 straight games and 2 on the road.
Lillard to me is like harden....great in regular season....fold in playoffs when it gets tough
I wouldn't go that far with Lillard. He was absolutely amazing for most of the first two rounds. He did disappear in game seven against the Nuggets and struggled this series, but he was pretty ridiculous prior to that. I'm not sure anybody had the Blazers playing in the west finals.
Possibly Lillard's rib had a part in it. Jovic would have been a matchup nightmare for GS but the Nuggets guards are weaker. In the series Leonard ascended but Turner disappeared. Collins and Hood. Overall disappointing performance by Portland, not sure what positives you take from that series.
I think Milwaukee might be the best opponent Warriors have faced in this run and arguably at all - Durant's Thunder, James' Cavs and Harden's Rockets aren't exactly murderous row though.
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Personally I find it annoying that guys like Lillard and Harden get classified as poor playoff performers. They are both the clear superstar on both teams, and both guys carried their teams on their backs for 8 months. Especially Harden...the Rockets were dead in November, and he just decided to put up 35 ppg while playing way too many minutes (he had to play those minutes just to assure a playoff spot.)
I do think their is something to the theory that smaller guards aren't ideal for deep playoff runs. Other than Steph in the pre-Durant year and all the way back to the Isiah Thomas Pistons teams, no team has won a title with a small guard as the best player. Guys like Lillard are just gonna wear down given the grind of the long season and the stress the body takes in a playoff series.
Just check out this year...Kyrie, CP3, Lillard, Harden all ran out of steam.
I do think their is something to the theory that smaller guards aren't ideal for deep playoff runs. Other than Steph in the pre-Durant year and all the way back to the Isiah Thomas Pistons teams, no team has won a title with a small guard as the best player. Guys like Lillard are just gonna wear down given the grind of the long season and the stress the body takes in a playoff series.
Just check out this year...Kyrie, CP3, Lillard, Harden all ran out of steam.
Billups might also qualify
What correlation do those 3 Champions share? Very well rounded teams where the gap between the teams best player and the 3rd or even 4th was not that large. Other Champions in comparison were very top heavy.
Just saying pressure games against the best team in the league the last few years he has not played as well as needed to advance....... Superstars find ways to get it done and him and Harden have not recently...... both are good players obviously but not good enough to win title yeah
I also subscribe to warriors good motion and I do not buy blazer meltdown. The trailblazers overachieved these playoffs and had a nice path. But they just ran into an all time dynasty loaded with hall of famers and an almost hall of famer ( Andre ) it wasn’t like they just rolled over and got obliterated. Every game was competitive. The warriors are just ridiculous and have been for years.
GS played like champions. But, the Blazers scored 69 points in the first 24 minutes. They scored 11 points in the last 11 minutes. Defense in the NBA isn’t that good. Portland folded under pressure AND the Warriors played like champions.
I've officially had enough of Drake. Taunting Giannis! Why do celebs act like this? Oh yeah b/c the cameras are on and retaliation by players isn't possible.
Still love when Scottie Pippen dunked & bagged Ewing then told Spike to sit down under harsh terms!
Still love when Scottie Pippen dunked & bagged Ewing then told Spike to sit down under harsh terms!
Daughter of Bucks owner trolling Drake was pretty damn funny.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ftw.us...-game-5-mallory-edens-pusha-t-shirt-drake/amp
And how hot is she? And a Princeton grad to boot...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ftw.us...-game-5-mallory-edens-pusha-t-shirt-drake/amp
And how hot is she? And a Princeton grad to boot...
Wow! What a turnaround! For the first time, I’ll be rooting for a Canadian team over an American team in a championship series.
No offense, @Canadian Dukie
No offense, @Canadian Dukie
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Not me....go warriors
Hope Steph drills a 3 to clinch the series them tells that fool drake to sit his punk a$$ down cause series is over
Warriors in five. Golden State just has too much for Toronto....with or without Durant. I think the finals will be kind of boring honestly.
Drake’s antics are killing things for me. I want to be happy for the Raptors and Nurse, but I just can’t with Drake trolling the sidelines. It’s really awful. No fan, regardless of stature, should be able to give the coach or players bear hugs. I love the league, but this is crazy at this point.
Raptors get home court. The opposite happened of what I predicted would happen in the conf finals. On that note, GS in 6.
Drake makes it tough to root for Toronto. Draymond makes it tough to root for GS.
If 2Pac wasn’t hiding in Cuba, he’d whoop Drake’s ***.
Drake makes it tough to root for Toronto. Draymond makes it tough to root for GS.
If 2Pac wasn’t hiding in Cuba, he’d whoop Drake’s ***.
Drake a clown and I personally can’t stand him. I’ve never seen an established celebrity of his caliber act like a groupie. I’ve seen the dude next to Ayesha Curry at Oracle, sporting 76ers shorts in Philly, courtside wearing #8 during LBJ’s Miami days... The list goes on. I’m positive he’d bend over and drop his pants if KD asked him to. Speaking of Durant, Drake got the Raptors fined by the NBA for tampering a few years ago at a concert in Toronto. I don’t remember his specific words but he had the whole crowd chanting “KD!”
Aside from his groupie piggybacking all the junk he does is firmly against NBA rules and he doesn’t get punished. Man if the league wants to give him more of a leash to chant and act a fool in his seat because of his celebrity status then so be it. That’s cool, but nobody can walk onto the court when they feel like it and go touching players/coaches during games. That’s interference and disrupting.
Go Raptors!!! Hope they kick butt. However realistically chances of that are slim to none. I simply am anti- Warriors like anti-Tar Heels because most are still in search of their first ever professional foul.....
Flipside if they win its awesome for Quinn, and I hope he plays very well.
Flipside if they win its awesome for Quinn, and I hope he plays very well.
I'd love it to be entertaining, but I don't think that's likely. It might go 5 at most.
Well you know where my heart will be,but realistically you have to go with the Warriors,too much experience and depth.And more importantly I'm not a fan of Drake either,frankly I find his antics to be a little embarrassing.
It seems like every time the Warriors cut the lead down to 6 or 7 the Raptors push it back to double digits in the blink of an eye. I haven’t watched much of the playoffs this season, have the Warriors started out a series being down 0-1 in the playoffs this season?
I don’t think he will.
On the court it doesn’t get any better than Toronto. He has great basketball chemistry with Lowry and they’re in the NBA finals with a serious chance of winning. Off the court, he hates Toronto (cold, snow, etc.) He has wanted to be home in LA and I don’t think a title will change his mind. Financially, they can offer a $190M/5yr max contract vs $141M/4yr the rest of the NBA can offer... That looks groovy but when you just want to be home, does an extra 14 million per year matter?
2019 WCF: swept Blazers
2nd Round: started 2-0
1st Round: started 1-0
2018 Finals: swept Cavaliers
2017 Finals: started 3-0
2016 Finals: started 2-0
2015 Finals: started 1-0
2018-19 Raptors are now 3-0 versus the Warriors including both regular season games
No, they haven’t started a series off 0-1 but they were virtually riding Durant’s back until he went down with injury. That final game 6 against Houston without him was a lucky one. Klay and Iggy got hot from deep... They swept Portland w/o Durant but Lillard was terrible all series. TO after TO. Him and McCollum both underperformed.
I don’t think they’ll beat Toronto w/o KD.
Nice win by the Raptors,especially with a quiet 23 points from Kawhi,I think Sunday night is a must win for them if they are going to win the series,i don't see them winning in Oakland.
Yea I agree. It may even make his decision easier. Ones of those "I already won one, but now I get to go play where I want the rest of my career and try to win more" type of situations. I will say this though, people who have played in Toronto usually say great things about that fan base and their support.
Toronto’s fan base is far from a wine and cheese crowd, I’m with you there. They love their Raptors. The problem is that Kawhi has the personality of a virgin math professor and no social media. He just doesn’t strike me as the type that places a high value on fan support. I think he wants to be home in LA and living in another country is the furthest option.
We’ll see what happens though I guess.