Opinion The NBA Thread

[wicksy]

I would back the cavs over every team in west other than warriors and Spurs

With no Love, JR or Varajeo? They'd get it handed to them.

 

[nahnah]

With no Love, JR or Varajeo? They'd get it handed to them.

Who ? Maybe Grizzlies in 7 but I would still back cavs, Same with clippers. Cavs were 4-0 agaisnt those two teams, Jr is only out two games. Love is a big loss but outside of the two I mentioned the Cavs wouod still win a series. Houston, blazers and the dallas wouldn't stand a chance.

 

[wicksy]

What a game today was.... Epic win by the Clips and CP3.
Will be interesting to see if he can take the court for any of the 2nd round though.....

 

[Knightmare]

What a game today was.... Epic win by the Clips and CP3.
Will be interesting to see if he can take the court for any of the 2nd round though.....

Houston v LAC will be an interesting series.

I don't see it being all one sided. Particularly with LAC's recent strong play, even against the Spurs who appeared to be on crutches with Parker and Splitter not themselves.

And Houston without Beverley will struggle to defend CP3 unless Ariza and Brewer off the bench defend him throughout the series which really is their only chance.

I'll go Houston in 7 games given their better record, a healthy Howard and a stronger bench, but I do expect a 7 game series and probably a fair bit of hack a Jordan/hack a Howard which at the same time will also make it a messy series if indeed it does eventuate and end up going that way.

 

[Knightmare]

Given round 2 begins tomorrow I may as well get my round 2 predictions in:

GSW v Memphis = GSW in 5.
*Golden State's firepower will be too much for Memphis who on the offensive end won't score easily enough to be a threat in this series.

Houston v LAC = Houston in 7.
*Houston have more bench depth and as such are my pick. But close series.

Atlanta v Washington = Atlanta in 6.
*Washington size will cause Atlanta some trouble but at the end of the day Atlanta is the better team and can win the series.

Cleveland v Chicago = Cleveland in 7.
*Chicago can push Cleveland but even without Love, Varajao and then JR Smith for those first two games. Chicago for me are too inconsistent with the defence not what it has been in seasons past and perimeter shooting on/off. The energy for the Bulls just isn't always there and they start too slow, too often. So Cleveland can win the series with enough good veterans who can space the floor and work off LeBron's good work.

 

[nahnah]

If CP3 is healthy I can't see houston having much fun, Clippers in 6

 

[wicksy]

If CP3 is healthy I can't see houston having much fun, Clippers in 6

I highly doubt Paul will play game 1 or 2 and then there'll be debate over the rest as well. If he's suffered a severe strain or tear, you'd think he couldn't play again this season.

So..... How do the Clippers line up? Surely they can't play Austin as a starting PG. That would be horrendous. JJ is not a good enough ball handler which basically leaves Crawford, Dahntay and Lester Hudson. I'm thinking Hudson will start and I don't mind that. Won two MVPs in a row over in China and has a good IQ. He won't be able to play big minutes though which will mean Crawford will enter the game earlier. Luckily for the Clips, the Rockets are fairly shallow at the 1 with Prigioni and Johnson.

BG should dominate Smith/Dorsey and I can already see DJ jumping all over Dwight.

I think it'll all come down to stopping Harden. Matt Barnes might need to be the player of the round to see the Clips into the Conference Finals.

 

[Knightmare]

I'm expecting CP3 to play.

He won't run up and down the court as easily as he normally does in all likelihood, but he played out game 7. And he wants it bad. So I can't see him missing.

He might be on reduced minutes. But otherwise I can't see him not playing.

He has that element of Kobe in him. He has that much mental fortitude and cares about winning that much that he would refuse to sit.

 

[wicksy]

I'm expecting CP3 to play.

He won't run up and down the court as easily as he normally does in all likelihood, but he played out game 7. And he wants it bad. So I can't see him missing.

He might be on reduced minutes. But otherwise I can't see him not playing.

He has that element of Kobe in him. He has that much mental fortitude and cares about winning that much that he would refuse to sit.

Tend to agree with you and instantly go back on what I just said haha
It then becomes whether he at 50% is better than Hudson at 100% which is a resounding YES!!!

 

[nahnah]

Lester Hudson had a really good season a few years back with the Cavs. No idea what happened to him after that

 

[wicksy]

Lester Hudson had a really good season a few years back with the Cavs. No idea what happened to him after that

Won two MVP's in China.
Very limited minutes with the Clippers but from what I saw, he brings Patty Mills esque intensity often leading to steals.
Speaking of steals, I had severely underestimated Kwahi Leonard prior to that series. His defense is incredible.... I guess that's why he led the league.

 

[Knightmare]

It's surprising regarding Lester Hudson that he hasn't played more. His fg%, 3pt% and steals rates are all excellent. Albeit in a small sample. You fellas are probably right that he should be getting some minutes in this upcoming series v Houston.

Hudson probably should be playing ahead of Austin Rivers in the rotation based on performance, with Rivers still young and inconsistent.

 

[wicksy]

It's surprising regarding Lester Hudson that he hasn't played more. His fg%, 3pt% and steals rates are all excellent. Albeit in a small sample. You fellas are probably right that he should be getting some minutes in this upcoming series v Houston.

Hudson probably should be playing ahead of Austin Rivers in the rotation based on performance, with Rivers still young and inconsistent.

Rivers is horrible.... BG absolutely nailed him in this:

 

[nahnah]

Terrible offense by Cavs, shump played well.

 

[Knightmare]

Terrible offense by Cavs, shump played well.

The Bulls like their rest so the extra days break helped. The Bulls in that first quarter felt like they were continuing on with that energy they played with v Milwaukee in game 6.

I'm not convinced the Bulls will have the same energy, particularly Rose. Rose needs more than just the one day between games to recover to be productive. So Cleveland probably level things in game 2.

The Cavs will be better with JR Smith returns for game 3. He has really caused the Bulls trouble and will help the floor spacing and to spread the offensive load for the Cavs, and they Cavs really need that catch and shoot player to open things up for LeBron.

Will be certainly for the 2nd round the series to watch. And it's been the matchup really all season I've been hoping to see.

Looking forward to game 2.

 

[nahnah]

The Bulls like their rest so the extra days break helped. The Bulls in that first quarter felt like they were continuing on with that energy they played with v Milwaukee in game 6.

I'm not convinced the Bulls will have the same energy, particularly Rose. Rose needs more than just the one day between games to recover to be productive. So Cleveland probably level things in game 2.

The Cavs will be better with JR Smith returns for game 3. He has really caused the Bulls trouble and will help the floor spacing and to spread the offensive load for the Cavs, and they Cavs really need that catch and shoot player to open things up for LeBron.

Will be certainly for the 2nd round the series to watch. And it's been the matchup really all season I've been hoping to see.

Looking forward to game 2.

If Cavs lose next game they're ina very big hole, this already feels like the orlando series many years ago and dunleavy playing the rashard Lewis role

 

[Knightmare]

For the Bulls in game 2 I see the keys being less minutes for Rose and Butler. And minutes and pretty decent minutes at that for Tony Snell.

Butler fights and puts up and shuts up. But v LeBron, he needs some support from Snelly cat so he can get his rest and then bring energy on both sides of the floor and continue to match it with LeBron throughout the series. Particularly with LeBron is at the 3, Snell can mix it with LeBron, LeBron will cheat on defence and Snell can get his open 3s.

Then Rose with just the one day between games, with his performance worse in that situation, he needs to play reduced minutes so that the value from his minutes can be maximised.

 

[Knightmare]

If Cavs lose next game they're ina very big hole, this already feels like the orlando series many years ago and dunleavy playing the rashard Lewis role

I expect the Cavs win game 2. I see D.Rose struggling. And Butler probably fatigues in the second half with LeBron's physicality as Thibs doesn't rest him for more than 2-4 minutes per game.

But you're right. If the Bulls win games 1+2. That's going to be hard for Cleveland. Not series over. With LeBron having won four in a row v even a near on full strength Bulls before. But that's when it would be certainly against the odds that the Cavs win the series.

Even with neither team having much of a home court advantage this season when you look at the home v away records of both teams.

 

[nahnah]

I expect the Cavs win game 2. I see D.Rose struggling. And Butler probably fatigues in the second half with LeBron's physicality as Thibs doesn't rest him for more than 2-4 minutes per game.

But you're right. If the Bulls win games 1+2. That's going to be hard for Cleveland. Not series over. With LeBron having won four in a row v even a near on full strength Bulls before. But that's when it would be certainly against the odds that the Cavs win the series.

Even with neither team having much of a home court advantage this season when you look at the home v away records of both teams.

Surely Bulls can't keep up that type of shooting, with snell and the Cavs they probably can lol
Bothersome, this series is gonna be bloody difficult for the Cavs.. The series after this will probably be easier for whoever wins this one

 

[Knightmare]

Surely Bulls can't keep up that type of shooting, with snell and the Cavs they probably can lol
Bothersome, this series is gonna be bloody difficult for the Cavs.. The series after this will probably be easier for whoever wins this one

You're right about the shooting by the Bulls. The Bulls from the outside don't normally shoot like that.

For me it all comes down to energy, pace, ball movement on offense and movement off the ball on offense.

The Bulls with those extra days break had that energy to do all this and that's when the Bulls play good basketball.

But that will slow down from game 2. I'm not expecting any repeat performances with just the one day between games from games 2 through 6.


The Eastern finals won't be a walkover either way. Atlanta are still going to be hard to beat and against either of the Bulls or Cavs could win a series.
Washington with Pierce at the 4 also are looking like a hard to beat team in their own right. They always give the Bulls problems, so I wouldn't be all that confident in anything other than it would be a long series. Then for the Cavs, it's probably a better matchup, with with the way the Wizards are playing they can take it at least a few games.

But this round for both the Bulls and Cavs will be a heck of a fight and a tough series.

 

[nahnah]

This clippers rockets series already looks like a sweep lol

 

[wicksy]

This clippers rockets series already looks like a sweep lol

Just a much better team.

EDIT: The Rockets actually just suck!!!

Knightmare are you enlightened yet?

 

[Knightmare]

Just a much better team.

EDIT: The Rockets actually just suck!!!

Knightmare are you enlightened yet?

I watched the final 8 minutes of the 4th. And it was a very strange finish and eventual result given Chris Paul's absence.

From a playoff standpoint I don't rate either the Rockets or Clippers. Paul hopefully returns for game 2 to make the series interesting, but even if Paul is back in game 2, I still favour the Rockets to win the series, with too many outlier performances from pretty ordinary players on the Clippers - in Barnes and Rivers, with Reddick and Crawford also hot and playing better games by their standards. You're not getting that output from those guys every game through a seven game series, and certainly not all together in the same game again.

 

[nahnah]

Disagree, this has the makings of a sweep or a 4-1 clips win. Rockets never got the point guard they needed and even Rivers did as he pleases.. Imagine when cp3 is back

 

[wicksy]

I watched the final 8 minutes of the 4th. And it was a very strange finish and eventual result given Chris Paul's absence.

From a playoff standpoint I don't rate either the Rockets or Clippers. Paul hopefully returns for game 2 to make the series interesting, but even if Paul is back in game 2, I still favour the Rockets to win the series, with too many outlier performances from pretty ordinary players on the Clippers - in Barnes and Rivers, with Reddick and Crawford also hot and playing better games by their standards. You're not getting that output from those guys every game through a seven game series, and certainly not all together in the same game again.

You have got to be kidding me.

- Redick was terrible tonight in comparison to his normal output.
- DJ got on top in the 2nd half but was down in the first.
- Crawford played like he's played for the last 3 seasons.
- Barnes played better against the Spurs.
- Rivers scored well but has no idea how to run plays.

Clippers won that game by destroying them on the defensive end first and getting turnover points. Add CP3 back in and suddenly the offense becomes just as dangerous.