NBA (and Raptors) 2024 Season

[Senator Clay Davis]

It is pretty hard to foul when the Celtics are inbounding on the baseline, Pacers have to expect catch and shoot so trying to foul there is incredibly risky, could give up three free thows or even a four point play. The mistake(s) there were Carlisle not calling a timeout to advance the ball into the front court, and then Nembhard not calling one when he couldn't get the ball in clean.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Was a good chance the series was over after that Game 1 choke, and now it almost certainly is. Celtics might need to tank a couple games just to not finish this by Monday and get like 10 days off.

[trackercowe]

NBA reffing lacks credibility. Wolves got screwed. Fix the game!

[Hockey_Ninja]

Why did Minny put Gobert on Luka on the perimeter? They deserved to lose for that alone

[Kasi]

Ant just isn’t ready. Constant bad offensive decisions from him. In comparison Kyrie and Doncic are much more reliable.

Also benching your second best player in the fourth is funny but Towns is so inconsistent.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The postseason of the choke continues. Tough to remember a playoff year with as many chokes as this one has had.

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The postseason of the choke continues. Tough to remember a playoff year with as many chokes as this one has had.

I guess that means the Mavs have a pretty good shot at winning the whole thing?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Bill Walton has died.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Not quite a choke tonight for the Pacers, but they had leads inside the final four minutes of three games and lost them all. Championship closing, it was not.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Celtics vs Mavericks is going to be the lowest rated finals in a while.

[Hockey_Ninja]

The Pacers got so lucky getting as far as they did. I guess I'll cheer for the Mavs in the finals but I honestly don't care for either team (although I am a fan of Luka's). The Celtics should win the chip but let's see if they choke once again

[Kasi]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Celtics vs Mavericks is going to be the lowest rated finals in a while.

Don’t see why this would be. Boston is one of the most storied franchises with a huge fan base and Dallas is in a massive media market. Compared to some recent teams like Toronto, Milwaukee or Phoenix it should draw good ratings.

[trackercowe]

Boston had the easiest path in recent memory. They played three one-star teams, all of which were missing their stars for much of each series. Will this become a big problem going forward? How competitive will the finals be if the Celtics are missing Tatum... or the Mavericks with Doncic or Irving?

I wonder what the common symptom is in relation to injuries and the NBA. I don't recall it being like this 10-15 years ago.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Celtics having a strong hate contingent ensures there is no way this will be the lowest rated Finals. And sure their road has been easy, but they also deserve credit for not ####ing around all that much. Undefeated on the road, perfect in close out games. And of course had they played any of their opponents without injuries, and they had the Porzingis one, we'd probably be talking about that if they were out. The increase in injuries I think comes down to the game becoming so soft in the regular season that when the inevitable intensity increase comes at playoff times, players just can't handle it as easily as they used to.

The thing about the NBA now is the extreme amounts of three point shooting have simply compressed all the teams now. Most nights comes down to who shoots threes better. It's part of why the product keeps getting worse (along with flopping, foul baiting etc...), even as it has made the league more competitive. It's also why the superteam era is over, far better to have maybe two stars and great role players who can shoot threes. Although with the massive cap spike that is coming it'll be hilarious to start seeing slightly above average 3 and D players getting $50 million per.

[Kasi]

I mean that’s Michael Porter Jr.

It’s basically already happening. I think they did a good job at the all star break this year doing stuff about fouling. They have switched things over to favor more the defensive side of things. The numbers pre and post all star break were startling. I would have loved to see the league memo to the refs on that.

The three point thing is an interesting problem. They’ve moved the line back before but as shooters get better it always tends to favor the three in the end. They’ll probably just make some small court or rules changes to try to tweak it. Although they are running into issues with the width of the court. Corner threes they can’t really move back anymore. They’d need to widen the court first and I don’t know if the nba has ever done that.

[Mathgod]

Should the Mavs actually be considered the favorite in the Final? Their 2 stars are as good or better than anyone on the Celtics, and while the Celtics have great depth they didn't look all that dominant against a gimped Pacers squad...

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Should the Mavs actually be considered the favorite in the Final? Their 2 stars are better than anyone on the Celtics, and while the Celtics have great depth they didn't look all that dominant against a gimped Pacers squad...

The way it has been going, it's more likely that Doncic gets (more) injured and is out for the next series so Boston gets 4 opponents missing their top player, lol

[Mathgod]

True but the finals don't start until June 6 so he will have time to heal up.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Mavs in 7

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The Celtics have excellent perimeter defense and against a team headlined by two offensively dominant guards you would think that would be ideal, but the problem is that Luka can score anywhere, and Gafford / Washington / Lively have the potential to absolutely destroy in the paint. I think a lot of this comes down to whether Jrue and White can bother Luka or not, especially if he starts backing them down in the post. Because Tingus Pingus sure can't do it.