NBA The 2024 NBA Playoffs

[Brian Fowler]

Man Indiana should probably stop giving away games in the conference finals. They should be cruising into a 2-1 lead right now instead of staring at a likely 0-3 hole.

[Contentious C]

I finally get my HD antenna working (by basically dumping it in the trash figuratively if not literally) and the Celtics stink it up for 10 minutes. Give up on the game, and now they're up. Clearly I can't watch my team be successful; I'm the problem.

[SirFozzie]

Had em all the..

Nah. Can't even.

I just joked to one of my friends that there's a giant steam cloud over Indianpolis, but it's not a nuclear reactor venting, it's Pacers fans about their teams coaching and late game playing. They quite possibly should be up 2-1 in the series, but instead are down 3-0.

[RandomAct]

Lively being out might be Minnesota's best chance to get a win here.

[RandomAct]

LOL JK

[Contentious C]

Goddamnit, Minnesota, you were supposed to make this a fight.

[jaedmc]

Man, I know that Rudy Gobert isn't a bad player. But these last two games have been the worst looks for the defensive player of the year. Luka with a game winner in game 2. Gafford dunking on him to close out Game 3.

This might be the end of Inside the NBA, and they're gonna spend it burying Karl Anthony Towns.

[RandomAct]

I'm actually so happy for Gaff and PJ. Just to be able to come from the perpetual losing teams they were on, to being key pieces on a Finals team. It's like Andy Dufresne crawling out of Shawshank.

[jaedmc]

Also a little bummed for Dereck Lively and that knee to the head. The cynical NFL fan in me thinks they said neck sprain to avoid whatever ramifications come with concussions, but I actually don't know the NBA's protocol around that.

Regardless Lively came on big time to close out Oklahoma and has continued to play that way against the TWolves. It's cool to see a rookie have an impact like that, and I hope he's able to bounce back. The playoffs have had more than enough injuries, I just want to see two healthy teams in the finals duke it out.

[jaedmc]

And another moment that I found hilarious!

There was a moment where someone had the ball for the Mavs, I can't remember who but it wasn't Luka or Kyrie. They took the ball up off the rebound, drove around the basket and back up to the elbow. For whatever reason,, Gobert switched on to him. When the Mav player got to the elbow he looked over to Luka like, "Do you want the ball?" And Luka shook his head and pointed at him to go at Gobert. The smaller player then made Gobert dance before hitting a jumper.

Van Gundy was like "Why do they keep letting him guard guards?!"

But just the idea of Luka waving this dude on to go cook Rudy had me rolling.

[Contentious C]

I need to run my Dyson tomorrow anyway; guess I'll do it with a little more pep in my step than I normally would.

[SirFozzie]

Why run the vacumn? You should get out the broom to celebrate the sweep.

 

(In all seriousness, hell of a series for Indy, and I know their fans are frustrated as hell with this series, but they are a good team and I expect to see them again next year)

[SirFozzie]

The conspiracy theorist in me says that the refs tomorrow will allow the Timberwolves to do anything short of using a machete on the Mavs. Since the NBA preset the schedule, if the Mavericks win game 4, the NBA will have NINE-TEN full days of no games before game 1 of the finals.

[blitzkrieg]

I don't think the Pacers win the series with a healthy Halliburton but I think they at least don't get swept. Maybe in the offseason they can find a second option because Siakam isn't it.

[Brian Fowler]

So, based on the first three rounds, Luka is definitely getting hurt no later than game 2 against Boston.

[Brian Fowler]

1 minute ago, blitzkrieg said:

I don't think the Pacers win the series with a healthy Halliburton but I think they at least don't get swept. Maybe in the offseason they can find a second option because Siakam isn't it.

Siakam is probably best served as a third option, though early in the series it looked like he was going to be a serious problem for Boston and particularly for Horford who clearly couldn't handle his athleticism on either end. But, yeah, they probably needed Haliburton and another guy to really make that matter.

[Contentious C]

2 minutes ago, SirFozzie said:

The conspiracy theorist in me says that the refs tomorrow will allow the Timberwolves to do anything short of using a machete on the Mavs. Since the NBA preset the schedule, if the Mavericks win game 4, the NBA will have NINE-TEN full days of no games before game 1 of the finals.

Well, they can't do that much about it anyway, since the Stars are still going in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

[SirFozzie]

18 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Well, they can't do that much about it anyway, since the Stars are still going in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

yeah. there will be a ref on the mic saying "After review, Towns on Minnesota used a machete in an attempt to block a shot by #43 on Dallas. After review, the play stands as called, a common foul, and #43 will have two free throws after they reattach his arm".

(Has there been any commissioner of sports that has had more conspiracy theories attributed to them  then David Stern?)

[Contentious C]

Well, not so many, other than maybe Goodell, who clearly relished being a smug fucking asshole in public, so...no wonder they're 1-2.

On the other hand, modern media...

Edited May 28, 2024 by Contentious C

[SirFozzie]

If the Celtics win the finals, they should send extra championship rings to:

The Brooklyn Nets for making THAT trade with the Celtics (giving them Jaylen Brown and a pick swap that turned into the #1 pick in an NBA draft...)

The 76ers for making THAT NBA Draft Trade and pick (Trading the #3 pick and a conditional 1st round pick to the Celtics for the #1 pick.) The Sixers took Markelle Fultz. The Celtics took Jayson Tatum.

The Spurs for sending the Celtics the Buffalo, Derrick White

The Grizzlies and the Wizards for a three team deal that got the Celtics Kristaps Porzingis

And finally, for the Bucks, trading away Jrue Holliday to the Trail Blazers without getting a pinky promise that they wouldn't ship him to Boston

Just thinking of all the trades and draft picks that hit. It's an insane ratio.

[Brian Fowler]

I do feel for the Pacers here. They were like 4 plays away from right now being up 3-1, and instead they got swept. Kinda reminds me of the Lakers/Magic finals in 09, when Orlando came into game five down 3-1 and were like three plays away from being up 3-1, one play away from it being a tied series, etc. Close games, not close series.

[RandomAct]

19 hours ago, jaedmc said:

And another moment that I found hilarious!

There was a moment where someone had the ball for the Mavs, I can't remember who but it wasn't Luka or Kyrie. They took the ball up off the rebound, drove around the basket and back up to the elbow. For whatever reason,, Gobert switched on to him. When the Mav player got to the elbow he looked over to Luka like, "Do you want the ball?" And Luka shook his head and pointed at him to go at Gobert. The smaller player then made Gobert dance before hitting a jumper.

Van Gundy was like "Why do they keep letting him guard guards?!"

But just the idea of Luka waving this dude on to go cook Rudy had me rolling.

It wasn't even even Luka or Kyrie, it was JADEN HARDY.

[jaedmc]

That fucking alley oop from Luka to Derrick Jones Jr  looked goddamn impossible to get. Holy shit guy had to go full NBA JAM to catch that.

[Brian Fowler]

The streak is over. 

Kyrie is 14-1 in close out games.

[RandomAct]

After years of having to deal with lineups consisting of Sam Dalembert, Chris Kaman, Chandler Parsons, Mark James and OJ Mayo, I never thought I'd see the Mavs back in the Finals. Idk if we win, but I'll never bet against Luka in a high pressure situation.