2018 NBA Playoffs-
- Thread starter given2fly
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Clear who the NBA wants in the finals. This sport just sucks you in and then reminds you how crooked it really is.
True enough, but the rockets lost their poise again. Their offense was working great in the first half but once GS went on a run Houston just jacked up bad 3 after bad 3.
They did. A majority of those threes are opened up by blatant moving screens and the constant bad calls throws off the Rockets rhythm. It was a set up after the first half. The NBA seems to always get its match up
I don’t see them winning one. Cavs are significantly worse than last year.
NBA record 27 missed 3 pointers when it was all said and done.
Can't win like that. Yes, refs had a few bad calls, but Rockets went 7 of 44 from 3. That's 16%. Can't win games shooting like that. They had a shot to knock off GSW but got away from what they do best.
Come on man, you're better than this.
If NBA were rigged, wouldn't Knicks have played in more than 1 NBA finals in the last 30 years?
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Ariza spit the bit going o-fer. Just could handle the pressure. But I was amazed how bad and one sided Scott Foster, et al (ref) was. It was blatant that the announcers commented on it. When you are getting hacked in the paint without calls you are forced to go outside. Of course if they made the average percentage it’s a win
Really needed CP3 mid range game when the threes weren’t falling and his floor intelligence to get a different strategy.
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Ariza spit the bit going o-fer. Just could handle the pressure. But I was amazed how bad and one sided Scott Foster, et al (ref) was. It was blatant that the announcers commented on it. When you are getting hacked in the paint without calls you are forced to go outside. Of course if they made the average percentage it’s a win
Really needed CP3 mid range game when the threes weren’t falling and his floor intelligence to get a different strategy.
That’s on the Knicks’ ownership. You can’t look at the third quarter and say the game is on the up and up. You can’t see Scott Foster—universally rated the worst official in the NBA where the rockets are 0-5 with him as an official in the playoffs—and think the game is on the up and up. That being said had they had CP3 or made and average percentage it’s a different ball game.
It just bugs the crap out of me when people immediately go with "the game was rigged, the refs were against us".
Rockets lost for a slew of reasons, sure the bad calls didn't help.
Going the other way, you may be surprised to learn the Warriors went 7 of 14 fts in the game and Durant made all 7 of the makes.
Rockets went 13 of 22. Of course, 4 of those were hack a Capela.
Rockets lost by 9, meanwhile Harden goes 2 of 13 from 3 and Eric Gordon goes 2 of 12. Why no blame directed towards Dantoni? If the calls were so one sided, why not get in refs face and get a technical to swing the tide and plead case?
Again, Rockets had prime chance even without CP3 to knock off Warriors and game plan let them down. Refs didn't help, but that wasn't the whole game alone.
I don’t think the refs were determined to make the warriors win, I think they were determined to keep the stars in the game. Warriors got into foul trouble early and were in danger of losing key players before the half. So they stopped blowing their whistles. Warriors took advantage. Rockets got rattled, didn’t adjust.
And I don’t understand how objectively one can look at the game and dismiss it as being bad calls. They were one sided—let’s even up the game calls. If the calls were just horrendous all the way around—like an umpire with a terrible strike zone—it can be dismissed as ineptitude. But this game was demonstratively different.
But I’m not saying it was the singular reason. Losing the second best player and missing all those shots were the reason.
In this game you had: (1) one sided calls; (2) no CP3: (3) and historic missed shots from the arc. Change one of those factors and it’s a very close game. Change two and a rockets walk away with the win
But I’m not saying it was the singular reason. Losing the second best player and missing all those shots were the reason.
In this game you had: (1) one sided calls; (2) no CP3: (3) and historic missed shots from the arc. Change one of those factors and it’s a very close game. Change two and a rockets walk away with the win
I understand why he’s pissed. It was a terribly called game. Not Kings/Lakers bad, but bad. Still, the rockets did a lot of damage to themselves as well.
I meant it like “Golden State is already too fing good to be getting a pity party from the refs”
The minute he went into the game it was like blood in the water. The dude used to be able to shoot and play a little D. Now I don’t think he’d get picked up at a game at the Y.
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If the games were fixed in some organized and systematic fashion, that would require numerous participants at several different levels. And in today’s highly regulated and generally “open” environment, an organized fix seems unlikely.
Yeah it could be a bad finals. As I said earlier, I think Lebron joins GS in the off-season.... just the way we do things in today’s NBA.
What’s the lesson? I can’t see an NBA team that jacks up so many 3’s as a team that would win the title. Once they go cold, and stats tell us they will, it’s over...
I get annoyed with the rigged talk as well. Ridiculous...
I don’t think Ariza’s problems last night had anything to do with being able to handle pressure. The dude knocked down 3’s and had great games with the Lakers multiple years, winning championships. This wasn’t his first rodeo.
Houston, as do all D’Antoni teams live by the 3 and die by the 3. It’s the reason why I didn’t think they would go to the finals. As one of the announcers said, a team like Houston will start lookin desperate when missing their 3’s while still jacking them up because that is their entire game.
I think CP3 might have made a difference but he was on the court earlier in the series for GS’s epic 3rd quarters and couldn’t stop it then.
D'Antoni deserves a lot of blame for the way the Rockets fizzled in game 7, but just like Brad Steven's mistakes in his game 7, I didn't hear anyone spotlighting his shortcomings.
Yea, media is definitely in love with Stevens and won’t highlight anything like that. As far as D’Antoni goes, he was criticized heavily at the end of his Suns tenure and definitely with the Knicks but that all seems to be forgotten. Maybe not after last night.
The Rockets were playing better in the first half when they were driving to the hoop and letting the offense flow naturally. Unfortunately, they got away from that after Golden State went on a little run in the 3rd Quarter and we all saw what happened. Throw in the fact that Durant and Curry got hot in the 2nd half where some of the time the Rockets played good defense and they just made great shots and that was the ballgame.
I'm as big of fan of the Rockets as I can be and the officiating was bad in the 2nd half, but I'm not bothering trying to argue with the fanboys on Twitter that said the refs and CP3 being out were the sole reasons they lost last night. Harden is a good regular season player, but you know what you are going to get from him in an elimination game and it came back to haunt them again last night. If anything, that game last night proved why Lebron James and not James Harden should win the MVP this season.
I'm as big of fan of the Rockets as I can be and the officiating was bad in the 2nd half, but I'm not bothering trying to argue with the fanboys on Twitter that said the refs and CP3 being out were the sole reasons they lost last night. Harden is a good regular season player, but you know what you are going to get from him in an elimination game and it came back to haunt them again last night. If anything, that game last night proved why Lebron James and not James Harden should win the MVP this season.
I like D'Antoni and hope he gets Houston a title. Interesting story on him he played at Marshall when the plane carrying the football team etc crashed. He was baby sitting kids who had a parent on the plane
I am OK with Harden getting MVP for regular season. Lebron is the best player in the league, and has been for many years but the award recipients tend to go to regular season performance. Cavs didn't push hard during regular season, but wisely for Lebron to conserve energy for Playoffs push.
Rockets had a great season, but luck of the playoffs caught up with them. Far too common a story.
This playoffs has once again proved the regular season in NBA doesn't really matter. Warriors were 2nd best record in west (3rd best in NBA). Cavs were 4th best in the east (6th in NBA). Neither team had home court advantage in Conference finals and still won. Raptors once again showed their ass and proved they are not ever serious contenders in the East, getting swept by Cavs.
I have long been a proponent for shortening regular season, make the playoffs the big show. Regular season is 82 games and runs for 6 months. Playoffs are between 23 and 30 games (depending on team). Cavs have already played 18 games this playoffs, Warriors have played 17 games. Assuming finals are not a sweep, both teams will have played at least 22 games, which is over 1/4 of the total regular season # of games.
I'm perfectly fine with the playoffs length and format, but the regular season is just too damn long. There are 30 teams in NBA right now. I would like to see every team play each other team a total of 2 games (58 games). Season can start around Christmas time or early January, then push through the spring.
Good grief, lol: https://sports.yahoo.com/isiah-thomas-lebron-james-much-better-player-michael-jordan-162840366.html
Hmm didn't Isiah have a problem with MJ which eventually led to the Dream Team snubbing for Isiah. Anyone surprised he sides with Lebron doesn't know the history here.
"LeBron James is a much better basketball player than Michael Jordan"
Hmm didn't Isiah have a problem with MJ which eventually led to the Dream Team snubbing for Isiah. Anyone surprised he sides with Lebron doesn't know the history here.
"LeBron James is a much better basketball player than Michael Jordan"
I'm beginning to wonder which system is better: the euro soccer leagues which does not have playoffs..... as the regular season determines the champ OR our month(s) long playoff ridiculousness to determine the champ. I used to be squarely in the playoff realm and actually loved post season baseball, for example. But remember only two teams from each league made the playoffs (in baseball). This made the regular season so important. Then there is basketball and hockey where the playoffs go on for a long time. I'm assuming that the US based leagues do the playoffs primarily because of money? I agree the regular season meaning less in basketball is not good. I wonder what Isiah Thomas thinks? lol
I don't know enough about Soccer, but I do know that people in the US are split on regular season vs Playoffs importance. On one hand playoffs give more folks a chance at a title and opportunities for Cinderella stories. That said, the NBA is not a Cinderella story league.
Since 1948, the NBA Champion has been a #1 thru #3 seed 97% of the time. No team has ever won an NBA championship from the #5, #7 or #8 seed position. Only 1 team has won at #4 and #6 position.
That means 69 out of 71 times, the winner has been a top 3 seed in their respective conference. Adding to that, 73% of the time, they've been the #1 seed.
Here's the data link that is based on.
If the Cavs were somehow able to win a championship this year, they would only be the 3rd team in history to win an NBA championship when entering playoffs as a #4 or worse seed.
Yeah, the one thing I was able to take from this season was at least the Rockets didn't quit like they would have in years past. Chris Paul and PJ Tucker brought leadership (and better defense) to the team. It sucks thinking what might have happened if CP3 had been able to play Game 6 or 7, but I understand that's how it goes since I thought San Antonio had a good chance to beat GS last year prior to the Kawhi injury.
I agree with you about the season being too damn long. I think the most recent lockout year they started the season around Christmas and playing 58-60 games would be more than enough for the regular season. Now unfortunately I never see the Owners allowing that to happen, but one can hope I guess.
Can't believe that '95 rockets team was a six seed....
Hakeem is top three center of all time IMO.
