Playoff Thread

[AggieLean]

1. Raptors vs 8. Wizards

2. Celtics vs 7. Bucks

3. 76ers vs 6. Heats

4. Cavs vs 5. Pacers

 

 

1. Rockets vs 8. Timberwolves

2. Warriors vs 7. Spurs

3. Trailblazers vs 6. Pelicans

4. Thunder vs 5. Jazz

Drop your predictions and commentary in here. Only upset I have is the Pels beating the Blazers, as the teams I predict to win are bolded.

 

[AggieLean]

I’m a Pelicans fan. Was a fan of the original Hornets, and just followed them when they moved to New Orleans. I still refer to them as the OG Hornets. Was happy with last nights win. Playoff Rondo was in rare form last night, and AD did what AD does. Glad Stern awarded us with him lol. When Cousins comes back next year, man!

[JakeDel5674]

fug the Pelicans, and fug you. 

[AggieLean]

53 minutes ago, JakeDel5674 said:

fug the Pelicans, and fug you. 

#DoItBig

[YoungPanthers89]

LANCE

[Goondal]

My only difference is having the Jazz over OKC

[davos]

Teams like the Pacers, Jazz, and the Blazers show how you can create competitive playoff teams without having to go full tank or having a star in place to lure talent.  Just look at their starting 5s:

Indiana: Collison-Oladipo-Bojan-Young-Turner is super well rounded; Oladipo is a star.  Turner DPOY candidate.   

Blazers: Lillard-McCollum-Turner-Aminu-Nurkic has a power-3 with average starters in Turner and Aminu. Not too mention, really solid depth. 

Jazz: Rubio-Mitchell-Ingles-Favors-Gobert has a fresh stuf rookie find, another DPOY candidate in Gobert. Derrick Favors and Rubio aren't too shabby either.  
 

We had: Kemba-Lamb-Batum-Williams-Howard -- Kemba is the star, 2-3 inconsistent role players and Dwight freaking Howard.  The bench? lol minus Monk and Willy and the hope for some Bacon.  

 

Hell, even look at the Bulls and Kings right now to a lesser extent.  They have set themselves up in a big way for the future with their rosters.  

Kings: The quartet of Fox-Hield-Bog-Skal can be dangerous in a year or two.  Seriously.  

Bulls: Dunn-Lavine-Markkanen could develop into another solid group.  

--

These teams will hit their strides bc they set themselves up well.  When they found themselves floating in mediocrity, they made moves.  I hope we break the content-ness of settling for older and average FA signings that are overpriced.  Think about who our for sure long term fits our...maybe Monk and Willy. That's about it.  

 

[t96]

This will be by far the best NBA playoff in nearly a decade. Several teams from each conference that could make it to the finals. LeBron likely won’t make it (may not make it past round 1 or 2 this year...) and Warriors will struggle to get there. Most matchups even this early are pretty interesting too. 3 great games today. 76ers and Timberwolves are my dark horses to make it and both have a chance. 

[AggieLean]

15 hours ago, t96 said:

This will be by far the best NBA playoff in nearly a decade. Several teams from each conference that could make it to the finals. LeBron likely won’t make it (may not make it past round 1 or 2 this year...) and Warriors will struggle to get there. Most matchups even this early are pretty interesting too. 3 great games today. 76ers and Timberwolves are my dark horses to make it and both have a chance. 

Yea, every game except the Warriors/Spurs was pretty good. We might see a finals that doesn’t consist of the Cavs or Warriors. Both getting eliminated would be great!

[t96]

25 minutes ago, AggieLean said:

Yea, every game except the Warriors/Spurs was pretty good. We might see a finals that doesn’t consist of the Cavs or Warriors. Both getting eliminated would be great!

Yeah that series without Kawhi is the worst series even with Curry out but after that even with Curry back Warriors should have real competition before the finals unlike the past 3 years. East I think is pretty wide open. 76ers are my pick.

[AggieLean]

53 minutes ago, t96 said:

Yeah that series without Kawhi is the worst series even with Curry out but after that even with Curry back Warriors should have real competition before the finals unlike the past 3 years. East I think is pretty wide open. 76ers are my pick.

Hard to figure out what’s going on Kawhi. In the 9 games he’s played this year, he looked good. I guess he wasn’t satisfied with where he was at physically. I know Popp and his teammates are getting frustrated with him, as they could use him. We might not see him in a Spurs jersey again. 

I agree with everything you said about the east, but I’m going with the Raptors. This might be their only shot to do it, as Philly and Bos will have the east locked up for the foreseeable future.

[t96]

42 minutes ago, AggieLean said:

Hard to figure out what’s going on Kawhi. In the 9 games he’s played this year, he looked good. I guess he wasn’t satisfied with where he was at physically. I know Popp and his teammates are getting frustrated with him, as they could use him. We might not see him in a Spurs jersey again. 

I agree with everything you said about the east, but I’m going with the Raptors. This might be their only shot to do it, as Philly and Bos will have the east locked up for the foreseeable future.

I’m not a fan of any one basketball team and I don’t really watch much of it until playoffs except when I’m invited to Celtics games around here and occasionally I’ll turn them on. And Danny Ainge lives near me and I’ve met him a few times. So I follow them the closest of any team during the season. All that being said I really think if Kawhi leaves the Spurs he’ll wind up in Boston. I don’t know the situation with him and it seems no one really does but if he and the Spurs do divorce, Danny Ainge has been looking to build another super team for years here after the disappointing run with KG and Allen and Pierce of just 1 title. Kawhi becoming available gives him that opportunity and he would do pretty much anything possible to get someone of that caliber. Celtics have too many very solid assets right now and will need to give some up to get another superstar.

We’ll see, Toronto is interesting and certainly in the fight but I’m not sure they have the firepower to make it all the way, and I couldn’t see them beating whoever comes out of the West.

[JakeDel5674]

Hornets should offer Kemba, Batum, and our first rounder for Kawhi. If he comes back 100 percent (supposedly he's 100 percent now), we could become Title Contenders with he, Dwight, and Monk (if he progresses).

[PantherKing1983]

Forget Kemba I think monk, batum , our first would be better than what most teams in the nba are going to be able to offer to the spurs outside of one of the teams with a top 3 pick jumping into the action