NBA playoffs: greatest show on Earth

[MikeSU02]

I know Zach Lowe wrote a piece a while back, and they probably could've kept Harden and maybe paid the tax one year. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad as they thought at the time. Some of that is hindsight, and injuries hurt them, but to think they had Harden/Westbrook/Durant as young studs and got one finals appearance out of it is hard to fathom.

I agree they should have signed Harden, but I think the Russ/KD issues behind-the-scenes were way, way worse than what's been let on.

I think it may have exceeded Shaq/Kobe-level.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Barring Bron averaging 40, 10, 10... probably.

Not sure that is even enough. Averaged 34, 10, and 12 last year and they still lost with Kyrie going for 29 and Love going for 16 and 12.

Problem was KD went for 35, 8 and 5 while Steph went for 27, 9, and 8.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I think the Warriors handle the rockets in 6, max.

I don't think Rockets beat the Cavs. I think the Warriors do.

 

[SUintheVille]

Fultz actually looked pretty good at the end of the regular season. He had a triple double in one of those games.

He is quick, strong, and super smooth...he can go by people. Always seems to come up with loose balls. I think he’s got big time potential, and will certainly be a factor next year. This team won 50 games and it’s like they’re getting a new player that’s a potential star since they barely had him this year.

I had not seen Fultz play much this year, so I thought maybe he needed improvement on his game being on the pine a good amount. To be #1, he has to be strong and smooth as you said. Didn't know he had a triple double. The Sixers are a definite force over the next several years it looks like. Between them, Celtics, and Toronto, that division will be really tough.

 

[OrangeDW]

I had not seen Fultz play much this year, so I thought maybe he needed improvement on his game being on the pine a good amount. To be #1, he has to be strong and smooth as you said. Didn't know he had a triple double. The Sixers are a definite force over the next several years it looks like. Between them, Celtics, and Toronto, that division will be really tough.

Yeah, he got some playing time just at the very end of the year. I think it was the last game where he had a triple double.

McConnell has been there all year and has done a very good job as a backup PG and has had some great playoff games, so it’s hard to knock them for going with McConnell over Fultz at this point.

 

[SUintheVille]

Not a Celtics or Sixers fan but I’m surprised nobodies mentioned on that last play, when Smart caught the long pass he traveled. Should have been Sixers ball with about 1 second to play at their end of the court.

Yeah you're right he probably did. But not surprised there was no call right at the end of the game. There often are a number of What calls and no-calls throughout a typical NBA game. Can see that officials didn't want to influence the very end of the game on a clear steal, assuming they even realized Smart walked.

 

[Alsacs]

Just like football an underdog in green beat the favorite in red, white, blue.

Is the lottery next Tuesday?

 

[Melancer46]

Just like football an underdog in green beat the favorite in red, white, blue.

Is the lottery next Tuesday?

Yeah I believe it’s tuesday.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yeah I believe it’s tuesday.

Anybody want to recap what can happen with pick swaps and whatnot?

Basically, whatever makes for the most chaotic stuff is what I'm rooting for.

 

[Knicks411]

I think the Warriors handle the rockets in 6, max.

I don't think Rockets beat the Cavs. I think the Warriors do.

Warriors in 5 is +400. I went with that

Anybody want to recap what can happen with pick swaps and whatnot?

Basically, whatever makes for the most chaotic stuff is what I'm rooting for.

I think the biggest variable is the Lakers pick. They don't have it no matter what, but if it's either first or 6 or higher, than Philly has it, and they have to send the Kigns unprotected first they have next year to Boston to complete the Fultz deal. If the Lakers pick is 2-5 this year, then it goes to Boston for the Fultz deal and then Philly has the kings pick next season.

 

[billsin01]

At some point you have to try to win IMO. Brown was willing to settle for losing by playing Simmons. It's okay to bench guys every once in awhile when they're hurting the team and he clearly was.

Don't totally disagree but I think the counter-argument would be that Simmons is at the center of whatever you're hoping to accomplish for the forseeable future. In other words, we desperately want to win but we want to be a legit title contender next year and Simmons trying to work his way through his struggles -- which were significant -- is more important than McConnell giving us a better chance to win a particular game or two. It's a frustrating viewpoint to stomach as a fan but it's probably the right thing for the organization. At least that's how I read it.

I'd also suggest that benching simmons isn't benching 'a guy' for that organization. It's benching, essentially, THE guy (or one of THE two guys). Guys like Reddick or Covington or even Saric is understandable but this is a dude who put up like 16/8/8 for the season and to whom you're handing the keys the next four or five years at a minimum. I can understand an organization being sensitive to that fact.

 

[Knicks411]

Don't totally disagree but I think the counter-argument would be that Simmons is at the center of whatever you're hoping to accomplish for the forseeable future. In other words, we desperately want to win but we want to be a legit title contender next year and Simmons trying to work his way through his struggles -- which were significant -- is more important than McConnell giving us a better chance to win a particular game or two. It's a frustrating viewpoint to stomach as a fan but it's probably the right thing for the organization. At least that's how I read it.

I'd also suggest that benching simmons isn't benching 'a guy' for that organization. It's benching, essentially, THE guy (or one of THE two guys). Guys like Reddick or Covington or even Saric is understandable but this is a dude who put up like 16/8/8 for the season and to whom you're handing the keys the next four or five years at a minimum. I can understand an organization being sensitive to that fact.

I don't think benching Simmons was going to totally his development or anything; if you think McConnell gives you a better chance to win the series, I think you have to play him.

 

[billsin01]

I don't want to say fire Brett Brown. But man. Don't you need to have some kind of plays in the bag for a situation like that? I get it's a super young team, but I dunno.

Possibly worth pointing out; under the NBA rules from last year I am pretty sure Philly would have a TO, but they went down from 3 TO in the last 2 minutes to 2.

I'm not really sure what to make of Brown. It certainly wasn't the highlight of his coaching career but there are a few things that make me hesitant to point the finger largely at him. For one, I'm not sure anyone this side of Pop has a better reputation as a coach than Stevens, so losing a head-to-head matchup with Stevens is not entirely an indictment of Brown as it has happened to a bunch of coaches. Not to mention Philly evicerated the Heat, which in and of itself is not entirely surprising since they have the much better roster. But if you consider Spoelstra is widely considered a really good coach as well, then it's a decent notch in Brown's belt.

Secondly, this is a team that is very much figuring things out. Now the Celts were really young too, so it's not a bulletproof excuse, but in the history of the NBA very few teams have gone from young and awful to young and title contenders in one season. It usually takes a bit of time.

Having said all that, Philly really struggled to execute in late game situations and clearly had the talent advantage, yet they only were able to win one game. If Brown is a really good coach, you'd have to figure it's at least a series that goes six or seven.

So yeah, there have to be questions.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Not sure anyone else has mentioned this yet, but I really wanted to have a mini-discussion if you will.

N.B.A. Coaches Pick Dwane Casey for Coach of the Year; Brad Stevens Gets No Votes

How exactly did Stevens get no votes while Doc Rivers actually did?

 

[OrangeDW]

I'm not really sure what to make of Brown. It certainly wasn't the highlight of his coaching career but there are a few things that make me hesitant to point the finger largely at him. For one, I'm not sure anyone this side of Pop has a better reputation as a coach than Stevens, so losing a head-to-head matchup with Stevens is not entirely an indictment of Brown as it has happened to a bunch of coaches. Not to mention Philly evicerated the Heat, which in and of itself is not entirely surprising since they have the much better roster. But if you consider Spoelstra is widely considered a really good coach as well, then it's a decent notch in Brown's belt.

Secondly, this is a team that is very much figuring things out. Now the Celts were really young too, so it's not a bulletproof excuse, but in the history of the NBA very few teams have gone from young and awful to young and title contenders in one season. It usually takes a bit of time.

Having said all that, Philly really struggled to execute in late game situations and clearly had the talent advantage, yet they only were able to win one game. If Brown is a really good coach, you'd have to figure it's at least a series that goes six or seven.

So yeah, there have to be questions.

I’m not sure Philly had the talent advantage. While Boston may not have unique freaks like Embiid and Simmons, they had a big advantage in athleticism at the guard and wing spots.

 

[billsin01]

I don't think benching Simmons was going to totally his development or anything; if you think McConnell gives you a better chance to win the series, I think you have to play him.

I don't know -- learning how to win or what you need to do to win in the playoffs feels like a necessary step for young nba players. I look at it the way I used to when the Sox had Pedro -- Pedro is a far better pitcher than Mike Timlin or Scott Williamson. And, Pedro on three days rest is a better pitcher than Pete Schourek or anyone else at the back end of the rotation. But, you need pedro to be the man for the next six or seven years of the contrat so you need to swallow hard and hand games over to the bullpen or start a Shourek in a game 4 b/c you feel you're a contender for as long as pedro is healthy and in his prime. Not sure that's the best comparison or that everyone agrees with that but I'm not sure I hammer Brown for that if that's how he's thinking.

 

[billsin01]

I’m not sure Philly had the talent advantage. While Boston may not have unique freaks like Embiid and Simmons, they had a big advantage in athleticism at the guard and wing spots.

Fair point. Just feel like Philly is constantly ready to explode on a big run where as the celts have to just grind out each possession.

 

[Knicks411]

I don't know -- learning how to win or what you need to do to win in the playoffs feels like a necessary step for young nba players. I look at it the way I used to when the Sox had Pedro -- Pedro is a far better pitcher than Mike Timlin or Scott Williamson. And, Pedro on three days rest is a better pitcher than Pete Schourek or anyone else at the back end of the rotation. But, you need pedro to be the man for the next six or seven years of the contrat so you need to swallow hard and hand games over to the bullpen or start a Shourek in a game 4 b/c you feel you're a contender for as long as pedro is healthy and in his prime. Not sure that's the best comparison or that everyone agrees with that but I'm not sure I hammer Brown for that if that's how he's thinking.

I get what you're saying, in the macro I agree. Over the course of the season, they should be looking to maximize what they have from Embiid and Simmons. But this is the micro, this is one playoff series where you have a chance to win and make a deep run. I don't think Simmons playing a few extra minutes is going to significantly increase/decrease his development. Obviously I could be wrong.

I’m not sure Philly had the talent advantage. While Boston may not have unique freaks like Embiid and Simmons, they had a big advantage in athleticism at the guard and wing spots.

Especially since Terry Rozier is apparently amazing.

Horford is just really good. Made so many big plays down the stretch last night

 

[Cusefan0307]

Not sure anyone else has mentioned this yet, but I really wanted to have a mini-discussion if you will.

N.B.A. Coaches Pick Dwane Casey for Coach of the Year; Brad Stevens Gets No Votes

How exactly did Stevens get no votes while Doc Rivers actually did?

I don’t even think Casey is a good coach. They played the same way against Cleveland this year that got them beat every other time. I know a lot of that is on the players, but he still needed to come up with something different.

Ainge is a great GM, but the Celtics aren’t winning 50 plus games the past two years with any other coach.

 

[jncuse]

Here is the difference between Brad Stevens and Dwight Casey. (playoff games this past round that were a few hours apart)

Boston had like 5 seconds left and ran a beautiful inbounds play to clear space for Horford to seal the defender away from the basket to get a lob for the easy score.

Toronto has 4 second lefts calls a timeout. They inbound the ball 30 feet well into the backcourt so that Fred Van Vleet can run with the ball at top speed into the frontcourt and then hopefully not have a contested jumper. Ultimately he threw up a 28 footer. And this was the set play.

And that is the difference between Casey and Stevens.

 

[Knicks411]

 

[Alsacs]

I mean cmon Dwayne. That is so bad.

The Cavs last year had Kyrie.

Just say we won 59 games and LeBron is likely leaving the East.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Not sure what he can say that really helps.

 

[Alsacs]

The opening night doubleheader on TNT got the conference finals matchups at the end of the playoffs.
Boston at Cleveland
Houston at Golden State
Was the opening night doubleheader.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

He absolutely needs to get a jump shot. He can be great against 90% of the teams with his current skill set, but in the playoffs he'll continue to hurt his team once they run into a solid team/good coach.

RoCo also really killed them last night, as well. Don't want to just pick on Simmons. But Simmons talks a lot of junk for someone that can't shoot.

dude cant even score outside the restricted area.