2024-2025 NBA/Toronto Raptors thread

[redmile04]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Lots of empty seats for the Heat/Bulls play-in game. I wonder what the attendance is like this year. Chicago should be a big market for games like this.

9 vs 10 seed though, i agree with the comments, play-in is embarrassing and should be scrapped. the 2 teams battling for the final 2 spots play 1-2 games extra while the higher seed is resting, makes it even more uneven. A joke really

[Senator Clay Davis]

Obviously it's not getting scrapped, no sports league is gonna voluntarily start making less money. Be more fun if there was a crossover though, imagine being the 3 seed in the West and try to tank your way into the East crossover cause the East is so much easier than the West.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by redmile04

9 vs 10 seed though, i agree with the comments, play-in is embarrassing and should be scrapped. the 2 teams battling for the final 2 spots play 1-2 games extra while the higher seed is resting, makes it even more uneven. A joke really

It's bad enough the east has sent a bunch of under .500 teams to the playoffs but adding more to the mix is a joke.

Just like the in-season tournament. Just go back to being a normal league.

https://www.tsn.ca/nba/firings-cheer...trade-19.97079

[Paulie Walnuts]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1914381901152051269

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a GM get blasted like this before.

[bluejays]

I sort of feel bad for the guy. He always comes across as timid. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he's the new ownership's play toy, especially for the infamous deal.

[Strange Brew]

What a game for Kawhi tonight. 15/19, 39 points.

[Paulie Walnuts]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1914543059305381994

[Strange Brew]

He did keep the live mic a la Leslie Nielsen?

[trackercowe]

It's embarrassing how one sided some of these matchups are. Why even bother with the Heat/Cavs, Magic/Celtics, and Grizzlies/Thunder? At least in the NHL the games themselves are close. Those series could be 4 on 5 and the favourites would still clean up. The NBA has a real problem with disparity in the league. What good is the play in when the first round usually ends in a massacre? Imagine paying $800 to get front row tickets to see one of these games.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Because they added 2 crappy teams on each side who can make it. Now teams shoot for 35 wins and a 1 game playoff to get in.

NBA has done some dumb #### to the product. The NBA Cup and Play in.

[Senator Clay Davis]

And yet ratings over the weekend were the highest in 25 years. Not disagreeing that the product stinks right now, cause it does, but with ratings like that we can expect two more play-in spots soon.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Because they added 2 crappy teams on each side who can make it. Now teams shoot for 35 wins and a 1 game playoff to get in.

NBA has done some dumb #### to the product. The NBA Cup and Play in.

Neither the NBA Cup or playin are affecting these games.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Neither the NBA Cup or playin are affecting these games.

Well, the play in is, you have a team like Miami in the playoffs. Same for Orlando. West is a little bit better but not by much.

It was just in reference to the entire product this year, many have said the product has been really bad players included. Charles Barkley left the set to go watch the NHL playoffs.

The league does have some really good stars right now like Doncic, Jokic, Curry is still at a high level, LeBron but 2 of them are getting old and that was what made the NBA really good for a stretch. They had more stars that attracted eyes to the league, and it wasn't a 3 point competition.

Not sure SGA, Jokic have the same aura as the Bulls, Lakers, Warrios and Cavs.

[Strange Brew]

I have heard the complaints for sure, but I am enjoying the NBA this year. And while there have been some duds in the playoffs, there have been some terrific games too. The first two between Denver and the Clips were great, the Rockets/Warriors has been a battle. Lakers/TWolves. I liked the NBA Cup too, other than some of the floor designs. The players were into it, I was at a rockets/Warriors game in December and felt like a playoff game.

What is odd is seeing Memphis wear the Vancouver throwbacks at a home playoff game.Weird to have another city on the front of your jersey in the playoffs, must be some kind of superstitious choice they made or something.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I have heard the complaints for sure, but I am enjoying the NBA this year. And while there have been some duds in the playoffs, there have been some terrific games too. The first two between Denver and the Clips were great, the Rockets/Warriors has been a battle. Lakers/TWolves. I liked the NBA Cup too, other than some of the floor designs. The players were into it, I was at a rockets/Warriors game in December and felt like a playoff game.

What is odd is seeing Memphis wear the Vancouver throwbacks at a home playoff game.Weird to have another city on the front of your jersey in the playoffs, must be some kind of superstitious choice they made or something.

I agree. I feel like even though at the bottom end, the league isn't great, at the top end it's a lot more unpredictable than in the past, like the stretch of four years where the entire season was basically a sham because we all knew the finals would be Cleveland vs. Golden State.

[Strange Brew]

Yeah I guess it's human nature to want what you don't have. In MLB fans complain that the big market teams are the only ones with a chance. As you point out, the NBA had a few super teams a few years ago, based solely on stars dictating where they would play.

Now you have a possible NBA final of two of the two smallest market teams possible, OKC and Cleveland. Built through drafting and shrewd trades.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I've said this before about the NFL, and it now sort of applies to the NBA, but we want the illusion of parity, we don't want actual parity. Ratings tell you this time and again. We want to watch actually great teams and not a bunch of also rans who we watch to see who gets hot at the best time. We want to have emotional investment, whether it's to hate one of the teams or to love one of them. A Finals featuring Cleveland and OKC would be peak indifference, would anyone really cares who wins or loses? No? Then it's gonna be the die hardest fans watching and that's about.

The difference with the NBA compared to the NFL is the NBA media is relentless that the only acceptable dynasty teams are the Lakers, Celtics, or Knicks (and probably Warriors at this point). If Mahomes or Lamar were in the NBA every First Take segment would be "Why aren't they Lakers yet?".

[Senator Clay Davis]

Nuggets-Clippers pretty much saving this first round, Gordon pretty much saving the Nuggets season after a near mega choke.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1916292434276872224

[Paulie Walnuts]

LeMe James getting cooked by Ant is a beautiful thing. You ain’t Kobe or Michael.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Way too early and pride will (should?) kick in, but the Heat down 26 after the first quarter, let us hope we have a 100 point loss incoming.