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NBA Playoffs

HuskerNCorpus

Heisman
15 Year Member
It's been awhile since I'm been this excited for the NBA playoffs (back around the time when my Suns were humiliating @cactusboy's Clippers). This year's version looks to be wide open, unfortunately mostly due to very key injuries.

I'm more interested in the West, but it will be fun to see LeBron and Lance Stephenson battle again.

Round 1 looks to be exciting.
Rockets/Wolves
Warriors/Spurs
Blazers/Pelicans
Thunder
/Jazz

Raptors/Wizards
Celtics/Bucks
Sixers
/Heat
Cavaliers/Pacers
 
Round 1 looks to be exciting.
Rockets/Wolves
Warriors/Spurs
Blazers/Pelicans
Thunder/Jazz

Raptors/Wizards
Celtics/Bucks
Sixers/Heat
Cavaliers
/Pacers


My final 4......
Rockets v Warriors

Raptors v Cavaliers
 
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I was hoping someone would start a thread on this. Thanks, @HuskerNCorpus.

I'm pretty pumped about the Sixers.

16 consecutive wins. Most in franchise history. And most in NBA history for a team entering the playoffs.

Simmons has been an absolute stud. Even more so in Embid's absence. But Philly will need Embid to make a deep run. The Sixers have a ton of scoring options. But, the NBA playoffs is when defense matters. And Embid is -- by far -- Philly's best defender. He'll be back soon. Probably at some point in the first series. I'm assuming wearing a mask, so hopefully he adjusts fine to that. If Embid can get back mostly to form, Philly can win the Eastern Conference. Though it's a difficult prediction regardless, as this is a team minus playoff experience.

Oh, and Philly did finally bring Fultz back into the mix recently, after missing most of the season with an injury. And he's been lighting it up in limited minutes. Became the youngest player ever to record a triple-double (just last night).

Philly's young nucleus is like OKC several years ago, when they had Durant, Westbrook, and Harden. The concern beyond this season and next will be keeping all of the young studs happy in Philly. If so, they will be competing for championships in the not-too-distant future.
 
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I was hoping someone would start a thread on this. Thanks, @HuskerNCorpus.

I'm pretty pumped about the Sixers.

16 consecutive wins. Most in franchise history. And most in NBA history for a team entering the playoffs.

Simmons has been an absolute stud. Even more so in Embid's absence. But Philly will need Embid to make a deep run. The Sixers have a ton of scoring options. But, the NBA playoffs is when defense matters. And Embid is -- by far -- Philly's best defender. He'll be back soon. Probably at some point in the first series. I'm assuming wearing a mask, so hopefully he adjusts fine to that. If Embid can get back mostly to form, Philly can win the Eastern Conference. Though it's a difficult prediction regardless, as this is a team minus playoff experience.

Oh, and Philly did finally bring Fultz back into the mix recently, after missing most of the season with an injury. And he's been lighting it up in limited minutes. Became the youngest player ever to record a triple-double (just last night).

Philly's young nucleus is like OKC several years ago, when they had Durant, Westbrook, and Harden. The concern beyond this season and next will be keeping all of the young studs happy in Philly. If so, they will be competing for championships in the not-too-distant future.
Believe it or not I was a Sixer fan in my single digit-teen years when I still found the NBA entertaining. Dr. J was the reason. Hated the Celtics.

The last time I paid attention to the NBA Barkley was still playing for them. He went to Phoenix and I couldn't tell you much about the NBA after that.
 
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Believe it or not I was a Sixer fan in my single digit-teen years when I still found the NBA entertaining. Dr. J was the reason. Hated the Celtics.

The last time I paid attention to the NBA Barkley was still playing for them. He went to Phoenix and I couldn't tell you much about the NBA after that.

I hear ya. You obviously aren't alone. The NBA was at it's pinnacle from the 70s through most of the 80s. And then the style changed. From much more isolation plays (give me the ball and get out of the way) to thuggery on defense. It's gotten a lot more entertaining this decade, IMO. Generally a better offensive brand of basketball (lead especially by the Warriors).

I will say the current Sixers are a ton of fun to watch. They are still in the "a bunch of young kids having fun" stage. And they have a lot of weapons. There was the early-80s Sixers -- with Dr. J, Moses, Cheeks, Jones, etc ... highly entertaining. Then the Sixers of last decade, that relied solely on Iverson. Now, they are back to having more weapons, a more open floor, and better ball movement. Ben Simmons is the closest you'll see to Magic Johnson since Magic played.
 
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I'm pretty pumped about the Sixers.
I'm hoping my beat up, old guys, Miami Heat, with their 44 - 38 record knock out the up and coming, young gun studs of the Sixers in the first round. Other than that, I think I see a Rockets - Warriors showdown and the winner of that series, taking the title this year over the Raptors or Cavs.
 
I'm hoping my beat up, old guys, Miami Heat, with their 44 - 38 record knock out the up and coming, young gun studs of the Sixers in the first round. Other than that, I think I see a Rockets - Warriors showdown and the winner of that series, taking the title this year over the Raptors or Cavs.

I think of those four, Houston is the biggest lock to make the conference finals.

I don't know about Golden State. They haven't played well since Curry went down. 7-10 in their final 17 games. And he'll still be out in the first round. And assuming he returns for round two (and they make it past the Spurs in round one -- not a given minus Curry), Curry likely won't be 100%.
 



Believe it or not I was a Sixer fan in my single digit-teen years when I still found the NBA entertaining. Dr. J was the reason. Hated the Celtics.

Did I type your first paragraph because the Sixers were my team then, too. And I absolutely hated the Celtics, too.
 
WEST:
I've never been one to believe in teams really being able to turn things on when the lights come on, but I think the Warriors probably will be able to figure it out... lately its been their dreadful defense. Part of that has been getting guys healthy, part has been want to/effort. Houston was out to prove something this year, whereas I think the Dubs just had a collective shrug of the shoulders. Obviously Curry is paramount to them winning another title, but I wouldn't doubt we'll see him before round 1 is over.

Houston is the team that I need to see it in crunch time, before I'll believe its real. Harden and Paul have both faded too much in recent playoffs for me to say they are the team to beat.

Not sure anyone else in the West can get to where those two teams are though. Wolves might put a bit of a scare into Houston, Spurs probably do the same to the Dubs, but the rest? Meh. OKC v Jazz is probably a fun series, but neither team is a contender this year.

I'll take the Dubs here.

EAST:
Cleveland's D has also been ridiculously atrocious. LBJ is the #1 offender at times. He's still a 1 man wrecking crew, but they have to shore up that D.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see the Drakes come outta the East... so much depth. DD and Lowry are playing well, but seem to have a little more confidence than years past. Possibly a similar situation to Houston here in the trust department.

76ers have been fun to watch grow this year and seeing their D continue at such a high level, even with Embiid out. I would say that both Simmons and Covington are darn near as good on D as Embiid, but where they will need him is on O. He's really the one player on their team who you can give the ball to in bail out time and get a decent look. That happens much more in the playoffs than the regular season. Simmons isn't that guy yet with his busted jumper.

Boston has no business being where they are with all of their injuries, but it goes to show the genius of Brad Stevens. Unreal. Guessing they will make round 2 as the Bucks have become a dumpster fire down the stretch.

I'll take the Drakes, although it would be fun to see the 6ers make it.

Finals: Dubs win it again.
 
It's been awhile since I'm been this excited for the NBA playoffs (back around the time when my Suns were humiliating @cactusboy's Clippers). This year's version looks to be wide open, unfortunately mostly due to very key injuries.

Yeah...that 7 game series... ;)

Have you stuck with the Suns? May be promising with their probable top pick, but may not with how that place is being run the last fewish years.
 



I'm greatly disappointed the Pelicans will be with out Boogie. Although I don't think they were that successful vs the Warriors this year, I would have loved to see that match up of twin towers inside game vs the Warriors. It will hurt that Rondo will be one year older for next years playoffs...

I'll be going for the up and coming Sixers like many are. The Bucks will be my 2nd team in the East i'll be rooting for. Again, underdog and I liked the 60 Minutes story they had on Giannis Antetokounmpo a couple weeks ago.

In the West I really don't care other than not GS and not Houston. I'd like to see Portland and the Wolves do well. I think the Wolves may be able to take Houston to at least 6 games.

Side happy note - I just won my fantasy basketball league for 3rd time out of 4 years. :) After about 8 years this was the first time it was for money. If anyone has played FBB it can be hard to get more than half the guys be active/care enough to make it really competitive....with the NBA having games every day. Every day you have to be active with picking up free agents and setting your line up. So we basically have 6 or so good teams and the rest are mostly cupcakes on your schedule.
 
Yeah...that 7 game series... ;)

Have you stuck with the Suns? May be promising with their probable top pick, but may not with how that place is being run the last fewish years.
Unfortunately, I have. I easily remain the most cursed poster on HuskerMax when it comes to professional teams.

Suns have a good shot to return to the scene. They have some young talent (Booker is going to be a true star) and plenty of draft picks coming up, but as you said, they have shown a tendency to make stupid moves on plenty of occasions. We'll see.
 

The Sixers blew the doors and windows off the Heat in the second half. Philly has a lot of players who can light it up from three. Though not Ben Simmons. He just does everything else -- and everything else extremely well. I cannot wait to see Embid back on the floor.
 

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