Have been banned from the other thread by an apparently sensitive snowflake (ironically after dozens of pages of political discussion from others) so I'll stick my thoughts on the NBA Playoffs here from now on. We needed a new thread anyway. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
The East WAS weak. Comically so.
The West is pretty weak this year. Portland's no sort of true threat, the Rockets matched up incredibly poorly and I said going into this series that I'd be surprised if the Nuggets took it to 6. They're not a great matchup either, it's just that any team is game when Murray is playing like he is.
Had the Clippers found their chemistry and/or the Warriors stayed healthy, the West would've presented a pretty stout challenge. But w/ the Clippers in neutral all year and no Warriors, the Nuggets and Rockets are the only 2 quality squads that surfaced in the West this year and both are just not terribly difficult matchups for LA.
Not LeBron’s fault. Warriors issues were unfortunate but the Clippers crashed and burned man. That’s their own damn fault.
This is the exact same argument people have been using against Mahomes and the Chiefs to discredit their Super Bowl.
“Well the AFC was easy this year. Patriots injuries made them a weak team and the Ravens just lost their chemistry of who they were and crashed unexpectedly.”
I wanted to see the Clippers and Lakers as much as anyone but the Clippers..I just can’t believe that epic choke job. Most disappointing team since when? [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Not LeBron’s fault. Warriors issues were unfortunate but the Clippers crashed and burned man. That’s their own damn fault.
This is the exact same argument people have been using against Mahomes and the Chiefs to discredit their Super Bowl.
“Well the AFC was easy this year. Patriots injuries made them a weak team and the Ravens just lost their chemistry of who they were and crashed unexpectedly.”
I wanted to see the Clippers and Lakers as much as anyone but the Clippers..I just can’t believe that epic choke job. Most disappointing team since when?
If LeBron and AD are even pretty good in this series, they should absolutely win. A Heat championship this year would be one of the more NBA Champs in recent memory.
The Raptors were a little surprising last year, but the Finals weren’t when the Warriors were decimated by injuries. [Reply]
The Heat have a shit ton more depth than the Lakers (the Lakers play literal scrubs like KCP, Markieff, Kuzma and Caruso for most of the game who wouldn’t come anywhere close to making the Heat rotation) and Bam could conceivably shut down AD at times. LeBron will have to be near his best and get some significant help from AD to win it, so I’d expect a competitive series. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
The Heat have a shit ton more depth than the Lakers (the Lakers play literal scrubs like KCP, Markieff, Kuzma and Caruso for most of the game who wouldn’t come anywhere close to making the Heat rotation) and Bam could conceivably shut down AD at times. LeBron will have to be near his best and get some significant help from AD to win it, so I’d expect a competitive series.
Rondo is going to have to be playoff Rondo to deal with Herro. That kid will get after a fool.
That’s the only real problem they pose IMO. A lot of crafty players that will take what’s there if you are lazy but I don’t see a whole lot of dudes being able to go get one other than Herro and to a lesser extent Bam.
I suppose Bam could make AD work, but I suspect they’ll throw 12 fouls at him from the 2 posts and AD won’t be on him much.
Other than foul trouble and injuries, Miami has to be good from 3. LA doesn’t. Advantage Lakers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
The Heat have a shit ton more depth than the Lakers (the Lakers play literal scrubs like KCP, Markieff, Kuzma and Caruso for most of the game who wouldn’t come anywhere close to making the Heat rotation) and Bam could conceivably shut down AD at times. LeBron will have to be near his best and get some significant help from AD to win it, so I’d expect a competitive series.
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Not LeBron’s fault. Warriors issues were unfortunate but the Clippers crashed and burned man. That’s their own damn fault.
This is the exact same argument people have been using against Mahomes and the Chiefs to discredit their Super Bowl.
“Well the AFC was easy this year. Patriots injuries made them a weak team and the Ravens just lost their chemistry of who they were and crashed unexpectedly.”
I wanted to see the Clippers and Lakers as much as anyone but the Clippers..I just can’t believe that epic choke job. Most disappointing team since when?
Who said anything about 'fault'?
It just....is.
I agree completely - all you can do is beat the teams you play. And the Lakers have done that. They've done it 5-5-5 no less, which seems to understate some of the struggles they've had, but still, they've dispatched those squads fairly quickly.
But it's silly to just side-step the reality of it. The Lakers have faced one truly good basketball team in this post-season (the Rockets) and it's a team that matches up incredibly poorly with them.
This just hasn't been a terribly difficult playoff for them and there's no avoiding that fact.
As for the Clippers - man, you'll never see a better example of the old "When someone tries to tell you who they are - listen" adage. The Clippers have looked like this all year. They looked like a squad that was going to roll over if the chips got down. They looked like a team that lacked the focus, intensity and flat out desire to win 4 playoff series.
The only thing that MIGHT have saved them was playing the Lakers and maybe kickstarting their energy level. But they just never got themselves there. They have nobody to blame but themselves and it's been an outcome that was several months in the making. [Reply]
If Bam plays anything like he did against the Celtics, this will be EASILY the toughest matchup the Lakers have faced. And they have dick for depth.
Playoff Rondo is going to be the pivot point for them, IMO. Any game where Rondo outplays Herro, the Lakers are likely to win. In games where Herro outplays Rondo, I suspect the Heat will win.
It's overly simplistic but it probably does boil down to that. They're going to need supplemental scoring in the worst way with Bam out there clogging the lane. Kuzma clearly ain't gonna do it and Green's shot just isn't there - guy's been a 36% 3 pt shooter all year and that's just not good enough for a 3 and D guy.
Where's it coming from? You expect Dion Waters to just show up and start splashing buckets? KCP? Alex Caruso?
If this thing goes 7 I don't think the Lakers have the depth to win it. They really need to do this in 5 again or I think they'll run out of gas. Because really, apart from Davis and LeBron, this is a 25 win roster. It's flat !@#$ing bad.
LeBron at his peak was losing in the playoffs when Howard could get in there and just clog shit up for him. Those EC playoff rounds w/ Howard dominating the middle exposed the Cavs lack of depth and made support players step up - they couldn't.
It could easily happen again w/ Bam playing Dwight's role. [Reply]
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
If LeBron and AD are even pretty good in this series, they should absolutely win. A Heat championship this year would be one of the more NBA Champs in recent memory.
The Raptors were a little surprising last year, but the Finals weren’t when the Warriors were decimated by injuries.
I'm with you. The Heat aren't that good. Lakers in 5, maybe 6 at max. [Reply]
