2023-24 NBA Thread

[pwaldo]

I think the Nuggets got gassed. Jokic has never been the most in-shape guy around, and he played all but one minute that game. Their lack of bench depth this year really hurt them and frankly cost them their chance at a repeat.

It is like the whole team was so out of shape or worn out because of no bench that they just couldn't make the whole game or something. Like even if they won that series they wouldn't have had enough juice to make it through the next round. I don't really get it since it was the whole team and not just Jokic and the whole team is accustomed to playing in the Denver thin air so it isn't like they were playing out of their element. Like I said just weird.

I think the Celtics will beat down the Pacers pretty bad so I'm hoping for at least one semi-competitive conference finals series.

Oddly enough the Pacers should have won that first game. Don't know if that speaks to Boston being bad or that the Pacers have just been criminally underrated since they did face the Lakers in that in season tournament thing.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Mavs now up 2-0 as well after the step-back game winner from Luka over slow footed Gobert. Nice comeback win for them. That series is overall more fun than the Celtics/Pacers one IMO. Minnesota is starting to look gassed themselves, especially Edwards, but they did do well on the road in the Nuggets series, so we'll see if they can mount a comeback vs. the Mavs. Luka and Kyrie are both great closers though, and the Mavs are deeper than the Nuggets are this year with all the acquisitions they made, so I think winning will actually be tougher for the Wolves to do against them.

[Devlin]

I'm a marginal basketball fan (celtics), but i enjoy both your takes (Wily,Pwaldo)

Drove by the HOF every day going to work

[WilyWestbrook0]

I'm a marginal basketball fan (celtics), but i enjoy both your takes (Wily,Pwaldo)

Drove by the HOF every day going to work

Thanks! Yeah it's mostly just me and pwaldo in these threads lol but it's fun discussing stuff. Celtics are getting another break this series with Haliburton now out for Indiana.

[pwaldo]

Mavs now up 2-0 as well after the step-back game winner from Luka over slow footed Gobert. Nice comeback win for them. That series is overall more fun than the Celtics/Pacers one IMO. Minnesota is starting to look gassed themselves, especially Edwards, but they did do well on the road in the Nuggets series, so we'll see if they can mount a comeback vs. the Mavs. Luka and Kyrie are both great closers though, and the Mavs are deeper than the Nuggets are this year with all the acquisitions they made, so I think winning will actually be tougher for the Wolves to do against them.

The thing is with the 4 teams still left the one with the most NBA Finals winning experience is I guess the Mavs with Irving. And the one with the best player is Luka who also happens to be very clutch and he always seems to show up in big games. I don't know if Ant is hurt or not but he totally disappeared in that game 7 against the Nuggets and he still really hasn't shown up. I've seen people say he's tired and he's just 22 but if he's just too young and not ready for the big stage yet why is he already gassed then? He shouldn't be. I can buy him being too young but he shouldn't be worn down. Right now if I'm the Celtics I definitely want to play the Wolves over the Mavericks and no I really don't think the Pacers have any chance to get to the NBA Finals. Who wins an NBA Finals between the Mavs and Celtics I have absolutely no clue. It could easily go 7 games or end up being an easy 4 game sweep at this point.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Welp it was a nice playoff run by Minny but it looks like they may not even take the Mavs as far as OKC and the Clippers did (6 games). Both series are now 3-0 and no team has ever come back from that deep of a hole, so it looks like it will be Mavs/Celtcs in the Finals regardless. I agree that Boston/Dallas is a difficult match-up to predict. Boston has times where it looks like they just coast by on their talent and shooting and get careless with everything else. They can't afford to do that against Dallas. Moreover their big two aren't as good as Dallas' big two IMO. I still think Boston wins due to their depth, but I'm not counting out Dallas. If I had to predict though, I think Celtics in six. This is Boston's best shot for a ring by far, they've had it so easy up to now with injuries to opponents' key players every series, and if they lose to Dallas, they need to break things up.

[pwaldo]

Celtics in the NBA FInals with a sweep. Not that it would have had a different outcome in my mind but Rick was really doing some odd coaching in the whole series. His goal should have been to try and get the Pacers to the Finals but if you watched how he coached it was almost like he wanted the Celtics to beat his team in 4 games instead.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Minnesota extended it to five, but what a beatdown from Dallas tonight. 84-52 as I type this. I know teams can come back from big deficits these days in the 3 point era, but this far into the playoffs, against a team with killers like Luka and Kyrie...I think this one is over. Bring on the Celtics.

[pwaldo]

The Mavericks put the Wolves out of their misery and advance to the NBA Finals against the Celtics. The NBA gets a pretty good match up for a playoffs that have been pretty much ratings losers across the board. Not good when other sports are increasing or holding steady against no competition from network or cable. A pretty bad sign for the NBA since these guys are the future and they can no longer rely on Lebron James or Curry for ratings (they weren't even drawing eyes either). You get the Celtics who are always a good draw and probably the most famous rising star in Luka for a big market Dallas team.

You either get the Luka is an all time great train going with an NBA Finals win or Tatum and the Celtics win and then you can hype him up as the next big rising star (he's American and really the only MVP hope for an American born player right now). Plus you can pretty much pencil in the Celtics as contenders next year since the East is so weak so you are looking at the rare NBA Finals repeat with a big market team. So I don't think the NBA cares who wins but they definitely didn't want the Pacers or Wolves to be here.