No thread on this. Probably because it feels like we’re gonna see Warriors-Cavs round 3. I don’t disagree. Still, we can try and make it interesting. Do the Warriors lose a game in the second round? Does anyone challenge the Cavs in the East? Will the I-10 Houston-San Antonio series be interesting? I’ll answer all of those!
I think the Warriors might lose a game against Utah…but I’d bet on a sweep.
I don’t think anyone challenges the Cavs in the East. They will almost certainly lose a game or two in each series advancing to the Finals but I’d bet my life they make the Finals.
Houston-San Antonio is probably the most exciting second round series. All four games were close in the regular season. That said, I think Spurs win in 5.
That’s my hope! :) The Jazz are wounded, though. Of course, they’ve been battered with injuries throughout the entire season, so there’s nothing new there.
Still, the Jazz, while not in the same league as the Warriors (figuratively speaking, obviously), have matched up pretty well with them in the past. I think Utah’s style of play is aggravating to a team that wants to flow and have fun on the court. The Jazz like to slow the game down to a crawl and grind down their opponents over the course of 48 minutes.
Do they have the talent to pull it off against the Warriors? I don’t think so… but I don’t think anyone does. The Warriors are just… a stupid team. I don’t mean unintelligent, I just mean it’s stupid to have a historically good team that gets to add prime Kevin Durant. I’m going to find the playoffs pretty anticlimatic until they’re broken up.
In any case, my hope is that the Jazz are at least able to win a game and make them work a little bit. They’ve already overachieved this season, so I think they’ll be able to play free without pressure.
Brutal ass kicking from the Rockets. Definitely don’t see the Spurs in 5 now! That was, I think, the Spurs worst post-season performance in literal history. 10 point 2nd quarter and down 69-39 at half. I don’t see more games like that in the series…but its hard to see how the Spurs can adjust to the point where they win. Aldridge needs to step it up big time for them to have a chance. He is a max contract player playing like a dude on a 10 day contract.
Spurs had a great 4th quarter tonight to even the series. Looks like a 6-7 game series at this point, and its either team’s to win. Parker looks out for the playoffs but I am not sure that is a huge deal. I like Mills and Murray better than Parker, even though in the post season Parker has been the second best player on the Spurs.
Spurs completely destroyed the Rockets tonight without Leonard. The Spurs at their best can beat anyone. They are, IMO, the deepest team in the league.
The last two years where Golden State got to the Finals they did not have to go through the Spurs. This year they will. I think the Spurs have a chance but if I was betting I’d say GS in 6.
Pumped for today’s game. So far the playoffs have been a little bit of a snore, but this is the heavyweight match people have waiting for. The Pop factor notwithstanding, there’s no way the Spurs match up in talent. Warriors in 6.
And, hey, then a game 7 tomorrow. Should be a good week.
Both he and his padawan Draymond Green can go fuck themselves.
I’m having a hard time mustering much enthusiasm for this year’s Finals. The Superteam thing is awfully boring to me. I’m sick to death of seeing LeBron there and I have no respect for a player the caliber of Kevin Durant joining a historically good team that he choked against the previous year.
What’s weird is everyone says superteams are good for the league because casual fans love superteams. They do nothing for me anymore though.
The Heat were interesting because it was new and because they were villains that somehow became sympathetic after a couple of years.
The Warriors to me are like the Seahawks: extremely good, but also inexplicably charmed to the point of annoyance. Their comebacks almost feel preordained. That’s why the 2016 NBA finals and 2015 Super Bowl will probably be the most surprising sports moments for me in history. Even more than this year’s super bowl.
Let’s see - Durant missed a quarter of the season and a couple of playoff games this year.
Last year, Curry was injured in the playoffs, missed multiple games and was never at 100%, Green gets booted from game 5 of the finals for techs, and in the same game they lose Bogut for the rest of the series. Without those occurrences, they probably win the series in 5.
The year before they were lucky that Irving and Love were out, true, but I still think they would have won. Irving was a huge defensive liability that year, and Love hadn’t found his place. It’s arguable they wouldn’t have signed Tristan Thompson before he got all of those minutes in the playoffs that year.
As to the comebacks - part of it is knowing they can do it. They could have pulled a Rockets, and given up when down 20+ in the 3rd, but never quit like the Rockets did, or the Thunder last year when they got blown out by the Spurs in game one, and have now comeback twice when down 17+ in the second half in the playoffs (and in Portland, they did it with Durant on the bench and injured).
Yeah, SBN had an article about that very thing today, and needless to say, it’s slightly overblown.
Getting punched in the mouth right off is probably the best thing that could’ve happened to the Warriors. It felt like they kind of weren’t taking the Spurs all that seriously, and now, hopefully, they’ve seen the light. Lock in on defense, cut down the sloppy passing, and give me a break with the fucking rotations, Mike Brown. Zaza, Livingston and West? Come on now.
I’m sorry you had to make this post because I didn’t say they were lucky. I said they were charmed. Like the Seahawks, they make their own luck and their own comebacks. But for a stretch there it seemed like it was so inevitable that it became annoying to me as a casual fan. To see both teams finally lose in the most amazing fashion completely stunned me.
