i think we have equally low chances against minny or houston, so i truly don't care. at this point, i'm again sliding into "what keeps boston from winning a ring" mode, and right now, that's okc cruising through the west. so i'd like us in the 4/5 for that reason, lol.
Unfortunately, Lakers have very little chance to do much this year, so I'm also thinking about secondary seeding effects. Even if the Lakers lose in the 1st round, I want to get the 3 seed, bc I want Denver in the 4 seed. I really dislike SGA & OKC and want to see them face both Denver and then SA and get smacked. I don't want OKC to have a super easy path and have SA & Denver tire each other out.
Ant Man is injured so may actually have shot against them. There’s no reason to fear the Rockets as well. But yeah no one is likely beating OKC. The best chance to avoid them till the WCF and hope Denver knocks them off.
I think Wemby is going to win the ring this year and he’ll crush everyone when he is playing 36-40 mins a game. In 26 mins yesterday he got 40/13/5 with a steal and two blocks. That guys going to lock down the paint and average 30/15 in these playoffs.
We should play to win. We have little to no chances against everyone so choosing a matchup is pointless. Rather have the team winning another game and feeling good about this last week. Keep vibes positive. We just beat 2 play-in teams by a margin. Yes, both were missing guys but so were we. Both Houston and Minny play big. Having Rui and LaRavia instead of Luka and AR actually make our lineup bigger and matchup better against them. Any win or close game we get from these playoffs is a win for us. Team grows, coaching staff grows and we'll get more learnings and confidence for next year
I rather play Houston than Minny. Just mess with cupcake on twitter or something and let's go... Rockets in 5
I’m surprised the Nuggets don’t seem to care about 3 seed vs. 4 seed. I think Minnesota is better than Houston, but I don’t think Houston is a walkover by any means. They’re 8-2 in their last 10. I’d have thought the Nuggets wouldn’t want to be on OKC’s side of the bracket, but I guess they think they’ll have to beat both the Spurs and OKC anyway. I really think the Spurs are going to the Finals. I think it’s flown a bit under the radar that J-Dub just hasn’t been the same guy for OKC this year. Last year their playoff offense got clunky at times but J-Dub had some huge games to bail them out. Not sure he’s capable of the same right now. I think one of Denver or the Spurs beats them.
I’m mostly disappointed in us likely being the 3 seed because I think Nuggets/Wolves would be much more entertaining than Nuggets/Rockets. I really don’t care who we play, we’re going down in 5 games max without Luka and Austin.
yeah, and i think spurs/nuggets will be better than okc/nuggets in the second round. again, mostly just concerned about the team from the west being able to beat boston. spurs would get cooked, imo.
I'm a little lower on Boston. It's starting to remind me of a combination of the 94 and 95 Bulls seasons. Jordan's gone, Pippen turns into the clear #1 guy and MVP candidate, and its a different cast of characters than their last title run. You drop Jordan back in and obviously you get better when you do that, but it's not easy to recalibrate on the fly after playing 2/3 of the season with a different pecking order. Tatum has looked pretty damn good from an athletic standpoint, but he's not back to pre-injury level yet. I think they're rightfully the favorite to come out of the East. I was hoping Embiid could be healthy for just one series and give them a good fight in the first round, but I guess its just never meant to be. If they play the Magic, I could see that being a longer series than expected. The Magic have played them tough over the years and physically drained them in the first round last year. And I think the Knicks could beat them in the 2nd round again tbh. I don't see last year as some fluke - they were legitimately beating them even before the Tatum injury. Don't think the Pistons or Cavs beat them though, Pistons don't have enough firepower and the Cavs would predictably get a 3 for 11 with 7 turnovers from Harden in Game 5 of a 2-2 series.
yeah, wemby for 35+mpg over a sample of 20 games is a theory without any data. yeah, i just think the east is weak. detroit has no playoff experience, and the C Bags seem to own the knicks no matter who's playing. i think this boston team is nowhere near as good as the one that won the ring, though. the difference between peyton pritchard and jrue holiday and neemias queta and al horford will be felt against the best competition. problem is they won't see that until the finals, when that opponent will likely be beaten down by at least two tough series.
I get that but I don't think Boston walks to the Finals. I see them losing at least 5 games until then and still a very good possibility they don't make it. Unless one of the 3 west teams get a new injury, can't see anyone in the East beating any of them in a 7 game series
your lips to the basketball gods' ears! like i said, i don't think this boston team is nearly as good as the 2024 team, but man, the east is just so meh.
I don't think Boston is all that, they've lost a lot. Horford, Porzingis and Jrue aren't easily replaceable and while their system and bottom of the barrel guys have done a great job - mainly because their coach has them playing within a system and extremely hard every night - I think they get exposed in the playoffs. They'll be relying on Tatum, Brown, White & Pritchard to lead them. I'm not buying their big rotation and I think teams can attack them there.
Jazz sitting 8 guys. Some of these end of the season lineups are wild. The Grizzlies game Friday, I'm not sure half of those names thrown out there were real. I'm honestly surprised bottom feeders haven't started sitting their HC, water boys, training staff. The race to the bottom is an issue.
