The NBA Thread.

No

 

Lillard with 35 foot game-winner for a 50 bomb.

 

tie game, need open shot, easy 2 or get to ft line. One of the dumbest shots ever, but welcome to NBA2k. Basketball is becoming a game of horrible, long 3's, like a video game.

 

He got an open shot. That was probably the best look he was going to get with Paul George guarding him. Lillard is an outstanding shooter from that range. That is a bad shot for about everyone not named Curry or Lillard.

 

Clippers giving Golden State all they can handle tonight.

 

RIP John Havlicek

 

Why the hell did the Spurs not foul? They literally let 22 seconds run off the clock? Did they not realize they were down four?

 

evidently a grown man needs a coach to tell him to foul, down 4 with 30 seconds left

 

[uck fay]ing embarrassing performance by the Bucks, led by a dud from Giannis. This matchup with Boston was the one I was most concerned about in the East, with good reason, apparently.

 

Apparently Boston has an extra playoff gear

 

Refs taking all sorts of heat over this Houston / Golden State stuff.

 

Time to get this thread back up and running.

Key takeaways from the playoffs thus far:

• James Harden is showing why us why we shouldn't be overly impressed with his crazy regular season stats. It's playoff time, teams are playing to win every single night, and, yet again, his production and efficiency have both taken significant hits.
• Kevin Durant is the best player in the NBA. LeBron may be able to take back that title next year if he comes out of this lengthened rest period and performs strongly out of the gate.
• We are seeing, yet again, why we can't put too much stock in Curry's titles when evaluating his overall greatness. As I've said, ad nauseam, in this thread, he benefits SIGNIFICANTLY from his amazing supporting cast. Through the playoffs thus far, he hasn't been the best point guard (Lillard and Kyrie have both been better), hasn't been the best player on his own team (Durant has been MUCH better), and I can think of at least 6 players who have been better overall.
• Westbrook is a headcase, and after such a lauded regular season, Paul George has to be wondering if he [uck fay]ed up by not going to LA.
• Kawhi is every bit as good now as he was pre-injury. If the Lakers want to have any hope of winning while LeBron is there, Kawhi is their guy.
• Nikola Jokic is averaging 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists in his last 3 games, and 25, 12, and 9 for the playoffs. If he finds a way to keep this up, he's going to rapidly move from all star to superstar.

 

I'm not supposed to be impressed that Harden scored 30 points in 30 straight games considering only two people have only scored 30 points in 25 straight?

 

Anyone else insanely hyped about this star-studded Nuggets-Trail Blazers series?

 

Conspiracy Theory:

Kobe Bryant is actively sabotaging the Lakers via his former agent, Rob Pelinka, in order to tarnish the legacies of both Magic Johnson and LeBron James as a means to elevate his own legacy.

 

James Harden averaged 36 a game. Sure, it's tougher sledding in the playoffs, especially when your teams offensive philosophy is predicated on you scoring 36 a game and creating 80 percent of the teams offense.

KD has been great, hard to argue he isn't the best right now, not that the "best" title means anything, to anyone, other than KD.

I've never seen a guy double-teamed without the ball 30 feet from the basket. Teams are doing that to Curry to prevent him even touching the ball. It is unprecedented the respect he earns from his opponent in their defensive game-planning. He is still the single greatest offensive weapon in the game and casts the widest net in terms of importance to his teams success.

Westbrook is the worst kind of star player. Their talent holds the team hostage while they continue to win nothing and seemingly never will. Paul George is a fantastic player who signed away his prime to play with a combo guard focused on getting stats rather than winning in the playoffs.

Leonard is great, he isn't a superstar because he lacks leadership skills but the talent is there. You pair him with any other elite talent and you've got a team ready to compete for titles, instantly.

I really like watching Jokic play. I would love to see him get his body in great shape and see how he would fair. Terrific young player but he has a ways to go in terms of being a superstar. The stats will be there.

 

There are some really good players here. Jokic and Murray for the Nuggets are a legit duo. Dame is a star player and CJ is every bit as good as he is. Nice to see teams not loaded with all-stars competing like they are.

 

Houston is so one dimensional it is amazing they have any playoff success at all. No matter how much I watch them I can never get used to watching Chris Paul stand on the wing watching Harden dribble out a possession.

 

Disagree 100%. I’m not sure how you can continue to say this despite what KD is doing in these playoffs, right in front of your eyes.

Disagree about the superstar tag, agree about lacking leadership. It makes you wonder why he’d go to the Clippers, unless they land another top talent. He just seems like the kind of guy who is best when someone else is the face of the team and he can just play ball.

I guess it just depends how you define superstar. You just mentioned Kawhi isn’t a superstar, so if that’s the case, I’m not sure if more than 3 superstars even exist, by your standards.

 

The Knicks have 16-1 odds to win next years’ championship, but if they don’t land KD, it drops to 300-1.