The NBA Thread

David A. said:
Sure but how about Josh Hart going at Jimmy’s ankles three times during the series?
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I saw the one where Hart exaggerated contact to get a foul and fell into Jimmy, which I can't possibly see as him trying to hurt Jimmy. And when Jimmy kicked his legs out on a 3 to get a foul call and landed on Hart.

Caleb Martin not even bothering to contest the Brunson 3 and instead inching his way underneath him to ensure Brunson landed on his foot after he was already hurt, and then Gabe Vincent doing a wrestling move to throw elbows at Brunson's head were by far the two dirtiest plays in the series.

Brunson is the dude. The combo of Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson is a really solid center lineup but Mitch needs to add something to his offensive game. He has no post moves or anything and can't shoot FTs. He also brings the ball down way too much on rebounds and gets stripped or fouled easily.

I knew the series was over when Bam hurt IQ. IQ was our last hope for the bench to get things going. Without him, we don't really have any shot-creators from the bench.

Randle was a beast in the regular season and I do think he got frustrated with how he couldn't contribute with his ankle being injured this post-season, which, surprise surprise, was hurt by Bam at the end of the regular season. I'd be fine moving on from him but not sure who we trade him to, or how we get any kind of return that isn't pennies on the dollar.

I also think Thibs has done a really solid job with this group, but agree he's not the guy to bring us a championship. I do think a lot of narratives about him are flat out wrong though. He plays young guys, he has developed our young guys very well. He has put a great culture in place and is probably our best coach in a decade or two. This season was a huge success for us. I'd be fine to look elsewhere for a coach if someone else solid becomes available. I also wouldn't mind giving our head assistant, Johnnie Bryant, a shot.
 
DrainedPatience said:
That's a fair point. Done. 😄

I'm still salty because I was living in St. Louis at the time when he ran the Rams into the ground and shit all over the city so he could get his palace built in Inglewood with the help of NFL.

On a positive note I'm quite happy with the Hornets getting the second pick in the draft. Hopefully they can't screw that one up.
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Ohhh. See that makes more sense. And I can't blame you. But I also lived in LA for 15 years and view St Louis as having stolen that team in the 1st place 😉

I was annoyed when a Walmart guy bought the Nugz and Avs being those are the two sports I follow closely. And he was a very medicore owner initially. And is still an ass-- see Braun's story about getting fined for parking in Stan's spot. Or the fact that the teams aren't on TV (though I def put most of that on Comcast).

But ever since Josh took over the teams have been extremely well run. Been built from the ground up into legit annual contenders. They are great at hiring smart people, allowing them a learning curve and empowering them.

See the fact that our GMs have gone from Massai to Tim Connelly to now Booth (who signed Brown, drafted Braun and traded for KCP in a single offseason). Or that Malone, for all his flaws, is like the 3rd or 4th longest tenured coach in the NBA.

So at this point, I'm actual pretty grateful they own the team and I'm just hoping Stan passes sooner than later 😂
 
Love the Heat and love Bam, he definitely got away with some illegal screens but I don’t think he’s a dirty player the way some other guys are (no one we’ve necessarily talked about here). Josh Hart plays hard, does a lot of little things great (would be a loved Heat player), and had a few plays that seemed questionable and likely to lead to injuries. But to be honest, I saw Time Lord moving around quite a bit on “screens” last night and have caught every team do it a considerable amount these playoffs. It’s a problem the league probably needs to address.

It’s sucks how much I review every play now looking for the foul (Tatum and Brown sure love their push offs, but hey, I root for Kyle Lowry, so what do I know). Even though a game 1 win doesn’t guarantee anything, I’m always happy to beat my hated Celtics and Marcus Smart. I also found out I’ll be in Denver for game 1 of the finals, so that would be ducking awesome. Not sure where this rant began, but excited for the rest of these series. Both game 1s we’re fun - Joker is the truth.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Ohhh. See that makes more sense. And I can't blame you. But I also lived in LA for 15 years and view St Louis as having stolen that team in the 1st place 😉
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The paternal half of my family who are SoCal natives would agree with that assessment. I wasn't really a Rams fan while there, just didn't like the way the city was treated by Stan and NFL.

I'm usually going to root for any underdog, small/medium market team, one they hasn't won a championship before, etc.

Had friends from Colorado that lived in Denver. It's a pretty awesome city.
 
I don’t get why the Heat haven’t really improved their roster since 2020? Jimmy Butler is clearly a guy who can lead your team to a championship, Bam is a great player, Spo is as good a coach as anyone in the league. Why haven’t they upgraded their roster? I mean, if they had one more quality player, wouldn’t they be a juggernaut?
 
Psymon said:
I don’t get why the Heat haven’t really improved their roster since 2020? Jimmy Butler is clearly a guy who can lead your team to a championship, Bam is a great player, Spo is as good a coach as anyone in the league. Why haven’t they upgraded their roster? I mean, if they had one more quality player, wouldn’t they be a juggernaut?
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Well, it’s complicated. We don’t have a lot of picks on hand to get a star off of a bad team (think Dame). We also want to operate under the salary cap for as long as possible. We’re good at identifying players who will be available near the deadline or who wind up getting bought out after the deadline . So I figure we’re trying to be as flexible as possible without going into Golden State levels of tax hits.

But also, we made the ECF three out of the last four years with a team that I’m sure Pat and Spo are attached to. Spo is one of the great coaches who excels at player development . Just ask Wade.
 
MattS said:
Love the Heat and love Bam, he definitely got away with some illegal screens but I don’t think he’s a dirty player the way some other guys are (no one we’ve necessarily talked about here). Josh Hart plays hard, does a lot of little things great (would be a loved Heat player), and had a few plays that seemed questionable and likely to lead to injuries. But to be honest, I saw Time Lord moving around quite a bit on “screens” last night and have caught every team do it a considerable amount these playoffs. It’s a problem the league probably needs to address.

It’s sucks how much I review every play now looking for the foul (Tatum and Brown sure love their push offs, but hey, I root for Kyle Lowry, so what do I know). Even though a game 1 win doesn’t guarantee anything, I’m always happy to beat my hated Celtics and Marcus Smart. I also found out I’ll be in Denver for game 1 of the finals, so that would be ducking awesome. Not sure where this rant began, but excited for the rest of these series. Both game 1s we’re fun - Joker is the truth.
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2022 playoffs Kyle Lowry is that dude. Leading the Heat in blocks this playoff is absurd.

@MikeH : that Caleb elbow to Brunsen’s face wasn’t great. I don’t think it was deliberate but I’m not sure. I don’t think it changed the course of that game. Refs tried to give it to the Knicks (that 8 second shot clock violation that didn’t get called?) and the team was demoralized.

I’m not saying that the Heat were even that good in the series. The Knicks were bad. We beat them on the boards. We shot like shit from the 3pt line. Didn’t matter. They have pieces to build something greater but I don’t know how they do that with Randle’s contract .
 
David A. said:
2022 playoffs Kyle Lowry is that dude. Leading the Heat in blocks this playoff is absurd.

@MikeH : that Caleb elbow to Brunsen’s face wasn’t great. I don’t think it was deliberate but I’m not sure. I don’t think it changed the course of that game. Refs tried to give it to the Knicks (that 8 second shot clock violation that didn’t get called?) and the team was demoralized.

I’m not saying that the Heat were even that good in the series. The Knicks were bad. We beat them on the boards. We shot like shit from the 3pt line. Didn’t matter. They have pieces to build something greater but I don’t know how they do that with Randle’s contract .
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I think we just ran out of steam. Losing Quickley from that Bam loose ball really hurt us because he was the last hope we had to get some kind of bench scoring. Our bench killed us. RJ played surprisingly well most of the playoffs but stunk in the last game. Randle was playing hurt and that seemed to really deject him that he couldn't contribute. Being out the last few weeks of the regular season really hurt his conditioning since he couldn't do anything with the bum ankle. You could see him at times bent over with his hands on his knees. Moving Hart into the starting lineup because of injuries also messed with our bench productivity and we just couldn't get it back.

And Spo is a top 3 coach in the NBA. The Heat are not your average 8 seed. It wouldn't shock me to see them make the Finals.

The good thing with our team right now is that we're really young, we have a ton of picks moving forward, and will be off of Fournier and Rose's contracts soon which will free up some money. We can definitely make moves. We have also been pretty great at drafting even later in the draft. I hope we stay the course and add pieces only when they make sense. We don't necessarily need to move off Randle right away even though a lot of Knick fans on social media have been absolutely brutal toward him. I hate a large majority of the Knicks fan base actually, especially with how they treat some of our players. It's not a recent thing either--Knick fans were awful to Ewing at the twilight of his career.

As I said, this season was a huge success for us. Just need to build on it and make the right moves. I believe in Leon Rose.
 
MikeH said:
I think we just ran out of steam. Losing Quickley from that Bam loose ball really hurt us because he was the last hope we had to get some kind of bench scoring. Our bench killed us. RJ played surprisingly well most of the playoffs but stunk in the last game. Randle was playing hurt and that seemed to really deject him that he couldn't contribute. Being out the last few weeks of the regular season really hurt his conditioning since he couldn't do anything with the bum ankle. You could see him at times bent over with his hands on his knees. Moving Hart into the starting lineup because of injuries also messed with our bench productivity and we just couldn't get it back.

And Spo is a top 3 coach in the NBA. The Heat are not your average 8 seed. It wouldn't shock me to see them make the Finals.

The good thing with our team right now is that we're really young, we have a ton of picks moving forward, and will be off of Fournier and Rose's contracts soon which will free up some money. We can definitely make moves. We have also been pretty great at drafting even later in the draft. I hope we stay the course and add pieces only when they make sense. We don't necessarily need to move off Randle right away even though a lot of Knick fans on social media have been absolutely brutal toward him. I hate a large majority of the Knicks fan base actually, especially with how they treat some of our players. It's not a recent thing either--Knick fans were awful to Ewing at the twilight of his career.

As I said, this season was a huge success for us. Just need to build on it and make the right moves. I believe in Leon Rose.
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I do feel like Randle’s body language throughout that series, especially Game 5 was telling. Not sure if that was the injury . Not sure if he didn’t want to be there. But Thibs should’ve had him off the court for longer to heal.

Randle is a scapegoat for a franchise that is desperate to win without the hardships that come with being competitive. The NYC market sucks for athletes. And the culture in the garden is… not great. Then again, that’s based off of my experience working there at the Garden.

This team is way better than the Knicks teams I had to endure circa 2019. RJ has matured. Quickly is good. Brunsen is the 2nd best player on a contender. Now the Knicks have to convince the league that their house isn’t on fire.

And based off of fan reaction to a second round exit that they believed should’ve resulted in a finals run… just not a great look.
 
MikeH said:
I think we just ran out of steam. Losing Quickley from that Bam loose ball really hurt us because he was the last hope we had to get some kind of bench scoring. Our bench killed us. RJ played surprisingly well most of the playoffs but stunk in the last game. Randle was playing hurt and that seemed to really deject him that he couldn't contribute. Being out the last few weeks of the regular season really hurt his conditioning since he couldn't do anything with the bum ankle. You could see him at times bent over with his hands on his knees. Moving Hart into the starting lineup because of injuries also messed with our bench productivity and we just couldn't get it back.

And Spo is a top 3 coach in the NBA. The Heat are not your average 8 seed. It wouldn't shock me to see them make the Finals.

The good thing with our team right now is that we're really young, we have a ton of picks moving forward, and will be off of Fournier and Rose's contracts soon which will free up some money. We can definitely make moves. We have also been pretty great at drafting even later in the draft. I hope we stay the course and add pieces only when they make sense. We don't necessarily need to move off Randle right away even though a lot of Knick fans on social media have been absolutely brutal toward him. I hate a large majority of the Knicks fan base actually, especially with how they treat some of our players. It's not a recent thing either--Knick fans were awful to Ewing at the twilight of his career.

As I said, this season was a huge success for us. Just need to build on it and make the right moves. I believe in Leon Rose.
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Outside of Pop, who is the third (I think Spo has a solid argument for the number 1 spot)
 
David A. said:
I do feel like Randle’s body language throughout that series, especially Game 5 was telling. Not sure if that was the injury . Not sure if he didn’t want to be there. But Thibs should’ve had him off the court for longer to heal.

Randle is a scapegoat for a franchise that is desperate to win without the hardships that come with being competitive. The NYC market sucks for athletes. And the culture in the garden is… not great. Then again, that’s based off of my experience working there at the Garden.

This team is way better than the Knicks teams I had to endure circa 2019. RJ has matured. Quickly is good. Brunsen is the 2nd best player on a contender. Now the Knicks have to convince the league that their house isn’t on fire.

And based off of fan reaction to a second round exit that they believed should’ve resulted in a finals run… just not a great look.
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I don’t think any Knicks fan realistically thought we were going to the finals this year. Most people thought we would barely make the play-in. Fans did get carried away a bit after we destroyed Cleveland, which is understandable because it’s been 10 years or so since we won a series. And we did look really good against Cleveland.

As for Randle, he just seemed frustrated that his body couldn’t do what he wanted it to. He was largely better this season compared to last with his body language but seemed to revert this series. If he’s not playing well on offense it often makes him try less on defense. Thibs couldn’t really leave him out more because who is he gonna play instead? Obi stunk it up this series. Without Randle out there, the heat could have keyed in even more on Brunson. Hart also disappeared this series. I’ve never seen him that frustrated with the refs before. One of the games was ridiculous—he was called for something like 5 fouls in 7 minutes. And many of those were ticky-tack fouls that Miami was getting away with on the other side. He’s probably our best defender and was completely taken out of the games. He would get called for fouls trying to fight through moving screens a lot and it negated his impact.

The loudest Knick fans on Twitter and social media are total bums chasing clout. And fake knick fans like Stephen A Smith are bozos too. But I do firmly believe that there’s no better place to play than MSG when the team is playing well. That’s why players say it all the time. It gets so loud in there and is electric. It does seem like you’re a bit colored by your experience working there.

Dolan is a shitty human but it does seem like he has stepped away a bit and is letting Leon run the show. And the one good thing about him is he isn’t cheap like Cuban or some other owners. If they keep making the right moves, I could see us becoming a contender in a few years. The bigger thing is if Dolan gets impatient and demands a big move be made or fires the FO. But I think he has such a long and deep relationship with Leon that his job security will be pretty safe for awhile
 
MattS said:
Outside of Pop, who is the third (I think Spo has a solid argument for the number 1 spot)
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I think Pop, Spo and Kerr rotate for best coach for me the past few years. And Ty Lue is probably top 5 too. Spo has an argument for 1 this season for sure. It’s crazy how underrated he is. Wild he has never won coach of the year
 
The media treats the Lakers like they are the protagonist in the NBA's story, and every other team is merely an NPC to be slayed.

Enter Jamal Murray.



Up to 27/5/6 on 47/41/92 in these playoffs.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
The media treats the Lakers like they are the protagonist in the NBA's story, and every other team is merely an NPC to be slayed.

Enter Jamal Murray.



Up to 27/5/6 on 47/41/92 in these playoffs.
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saw this earlier today and this is one of the most baller things i have seen in a LONG time haha.

i will say, if its a Denver vs Heat finals, it may have one of the lowest TV ratings for a finals matchup of all time.
 
MikeH said:
saw this earlier today and this is one of the most baller things i have seen in a LONG time haha.

i will say, if its a Denver vs Heat finals, it may have one of the lowest TV ratings for a finals matchup of all time.
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Which is moronic. Because both teams play incredible, aethetically pleasing team ball, have absolute dogs who raise their game in the playoffs (Mal, Jimmy) and are a blast to watch AND then there is Nikola who is a generational talent and x2 MVP.

The NBA is run by morons who don't know how to market their own players and have partnerned with a company who is only willing to promote two or three teams. It's insane and, frankly, enraging as a die hard fan of the game.

And for the record, I refuse to watch any finals involving the Lakers for those exact reasons.
 
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MikeH said:
saw this earlier today and this is one of the most baller things i have seen in a LONG time haha.

i will say, if its a Denver vs Heat finals, it may have one of the lowest TV ratings for a finals matchup of all time.
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Hey, that’s the league’s problem, not ours.

Despite my personal dislike of Jokic, the Nuggets are firing on all cylinders. They’re fun to watch .
 
Case in point. The sideline reporter for this series just admited to having never watched the 2x MVP before G1 of this series. Meanwhile, Mark Jackson who is doing commentary for these games left Jokic off his MVP ballot and the main NBA pod for the Athletic was openly advocating for rigging games to prevent Heat / Nuggets from happening.



I'm beyond sour that I have to deal with ESPN's Laker homerism during the best run in Nuggets history instead of getting to enjoy Chuck and Ernie.
 
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DownIsTheNewUp said:
Case in point. The sideline reporter for this series just admited to having never watched the 2x MVP before G1 of this series. Meanwhile, Mark Jackson who is doing commentary for these games left Jokic off his MVP ballot and the main NBA pod for the Athletic was openly advocating for rigging games to prevent Heat / Nuggets from happening.



I'm beyond sour that I have to deal with ESPN's Laker homerism during the best run in Nuggets history instead of getting to enjoy Chuck and Ernie.
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It’s absurd. The obsessive Knicks/BK/Celtics/Lakers obsession is suffocating. But it’s not really news there, it’s entertainment in a league where the youngest viewers are obsessed with seeing highlight reels of stars instead of fundamentals and teamwork.
 
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