NBA (and Raptors) 2024 Season

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by troutman

Looks like they clearly threw the game.

Doubtful. It's the NBA finals - no one is throwing anything. Besides, these Celtics nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series - they know it can be done.

More likely they thought the Mavs would roll over and die, and weren't prepared for the Mavs best game. They'll be prepared in game 5.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Doubtful. It's the NBA finals - no one is throwing anything. Besides, these Celtics nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series - they know it can be done.

More likely they thought the Mavs would roll over and die, and weren't prepared for the Mavs best game. They'll be prepared in game 5.

It recently came up in a thread on reddit, but in series where one team has won games 1-3, that team has only a 61% winning percentage in game 4, before it ticks back up to mid 70s in games 5 and 6. So yeah, there's just something about a 3-0 deficit where it's hard to keep that sustained intensity. Plus, that's been the one biggest criticism of the Celtics team in this year and previous years: they take their foot off the gas sometimes. Usually they're able to come back and win from 20 points down when they turn up the defensive intensity, but occasionally it's just not there.

I think Denver/Minnesota and Knicks/Pacers were the two best series of the playoffs, but yeah, it's been dull overall. I've got mixed feelings on the whole parity era thing, and in some ways I think that there are too many things contributing to parity all at the same time... some by design, some more by chance. Like all of the injuries this year, (which is part of a trend in recent years)... it's not just a freak occurance, it's part of a trend about the way the game is being played... faster pace, defenses built more around quick lateral mobility, etc., Plus the way injuries are being managed... sports science is better than it's ever been which means that players who get serious injuries can still come back at near peak levels, but are still at greater risk of re-injury. Combine the changes to the CBA, the changes to the draft, and it just means more playoff series that swing based on injuries.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Tatum/Brown have to be the worst “superstar” duo in the league.

[hwy19man]

The last time a team was down 3-0 in the NBA Finals and forced a game six was the 1996 Seattle Supersonics against the Chicago Bulls.

[Paulie Walnuts]

One series over. Need another one to end tomorrow

[Paulie Walnuts]

What a shot

[Hockey_Ninja]

Lol this one is over

[Senator Clay Davis]

Looks like the Celtics throwing Game 4 theories were spot on. Absolutely atrocious Finals to cap off one of the worst postseasons ever.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Stephen A is a joke. You get to look at Malika and good commentary from Meyers and Randle and you have that idiot going off

[Hockey_Ninja]

I'm happy for Horford, White and Jrue. That's it lol

[Mathgod]

Yeah no... you're not going to convince me that a professional sports team deliberately lost a game in the championship series.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

I'm happy for Horford, White and Jrue. That's it lol

Agreed. Happy for those three winning, but a boring finals to cap off a lacklustre NBA season. Maybe the NBA really needs Lakers/LeBron or Warriors/Steph making deep runs to make compelling television?


.... or it's more likely injury/load management related. The Celtics had probably the easiest run to a title I have ever seen. They beat three banged up teams in the (much) weaker conference, and had trouble in getting past them. Then they had good fortune in facing the 5th seed Mavericks. I know they can only beat who is put in front of them, but I think deep down we all know if they had played a quality opponent like Denver things would have played out differently.

The NBA (and NHL for that matter) seriously needs to consider changing their playoff format. For my money the Celtics were the only contender out East, meanwhile in the West there were many. The Knicks finished 2nd (50-32), the Warriors were 10th (46-36). Who is the better team there? I'd say 2-10 are all better than the second seed in the East (and pretty much all the way down from 3-10). They need to fix the playoffs to avoid having another awful playoffs.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'll start by saying that even if the Celtics had played all of their opponents fully healthy they probably still would have won the title, especially since that qualifier would grant them a healthy Porzingis for the playoffs. Denver might have been the only team who could have really challenged them, but acting like Boston wasn't a great team is disingenuous. A starting five of Holiday-Tatum-Brown-White-Porzingis is elite, and their bench has solid contributors. Seeing the "all-time great team" conversations that we're seeing is of course offensive, but it's the era of driving clicks so it's to be expected.

But it's time to get rid of conferences. NBA playoff schedule is so stretched out to begin with that they could easily do it with an extra travel day when needed. The imbalance only figures to get worse as the Spurs rise and Grizzlies come back, while the East is banking on the Cavs and Magic (lolololololol) to elevate the floor of the conference. Rejig the schedule to try and balance it overall, but getting us the 16 best teams seeded fairly can only help.

[Paulie Walnuts]

They are calling Boston one of the greatest teams of all time already lol.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

They are calling Boston one of the greatest teams of all time already lol.

Who is?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Who is?

The media