2020-21 Around the NBA Thread

[Germz249]

I can understand why fans don’t want face a healthy Lakers team. I don’t know but my mind set has always been take on who ever gets put in front of you. If it was up to me line up the top team and lets cut them down one by one. No one will remember the losers but fans of the championship team will always remember the road there. If we win it all I rather remember it as we smashed all the super teams and media darlings instead of the easy route.

 

[Mainstreet]

If the Suns stay at 2nd and the Lakers stay at 7th (winning play-in) these two teams could well face each other in the first round.

Playing a rested Lakers team in the first round is not much of a reward for a great season.


By Kellan Olson Arizona Sports:

To go back to those Basketball-Reference odds, they peg the Suns at a 76.3% likelihood of getting the second seed. Meaning, if the Lakers stick at seventh and take care of business in the first play-in game, we very well could see a Suns-Lakers series in the first round.


https://arizonasports.com/story/264...-matchup-against-suns/?show=comments#comments

 

[AzStevenCal]

I can understand why fans don’t want face a healthy Lakers team. I don’t know but my mind set has always been take on who ever gets put in front of you. If it was up to me line up the top team and lets cut them down one by one. No one will remember the losers but fans of the championship team will always remember the road there. If we win it all I rather remember it as we smashed all the super teams and media darlings instead of the easy route.

I think we'd all much rather be cheering for the team that could actually do this. But what if you don't believe they have a chance in hell against a few healthy teams? Would you then prefer an early loss to a better team or a luck-filled route to the championship? Because that's what we're really talking about.

Getting lucky almost always play a big role in championships. I'm more than willing to get lucky. If we draw the Lakers first round and they somehow get all the way back to healthy then I'll cross my fingers and watch the games like I always do. Who knows, maybe every one of our players will have their best nights ever for the 4 games it will take to advance. But if I could choose, I'd much rather face the wounded Lakers than the healthy Lakers.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I can understand why fans don’t want face a healthy Lakers team. I don’t know but my mind set has always been take on who ever gets put in front of you. If it was up to me line up the top team and lets cut them down one by one. No one will remember the losers but fans of the championship team will always remember the road there. If we win it all I rather remember it as we smashed all the super teams and media darlings instead of the easy route.

after 44 years of playoff heartbreak, I could give a flying frack how we get to raise that trophy as long as we get to raise it at the end of the season.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I can understand why fans don’t want face a healthy Lakers team. I don’t know but my mind set has always been take on who ever gets put in front of you. If it was up to me line up the top team and lets cut them down one by one. No one will remember the losers but fans of the championship team will always remember the road there. If we win it all I rather remember it as we smashed all the super teams and media darlings instead of the easy route.

The cardinals team that went to the Super Bowl ended up having an easier than normal path due to having home field over a team with a better record (Atlanta) based on winning division and lucking into eagles making it to NFC Championship game giving us home field advantage. And it didn’t detract from the run to the Super Bowl AT ALL. Whatever gives us the beat chance at a championship is what I want foe this team.

 

[sdscard4]

yeah. The Lakers are making sure LeBron is as rested as humanly possible. It’s clear they’ve decided on rest and health over playoff seeding at this point... and prob made that calculation weeks ago.

I dont agree
There is no way they said let's rest till the play in game when they were a 5 seed.
They might have to win twice just to even advance at this point. Basically they're injured and had better chemistry last year and they kinda suck right now. Let's not think this is some 'great team' they won a championship yes but will always be known as the bubble championship with 0 fans. I view this season as a colossal collapse for them. Weren't they like 21 -6 at a point? Colossal collapse....so far

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I think we'd all much rather be cheering for the team that could actually do this. But what if you don't believe they have a chance in hell against a few healthy teams? Would you then prefer an early loss to a better team or a luck-filled route to the championship? Because that's what we're really talking about.

Getting lucky almost always play a big role in championships. I'm more than willing to get lucky. If we draw the Lakers first round and they somehow get all the way back to healthy then I'll cross my fingers and watch the games like I always do. Who knows, maybe every one of our players will have their best nights ever for the 4 games it will take to advance. But if I could choose, I'd much rather face the wounded Lakers than the healthy Lakers.

This

 

[sdscard4]

after 44 years of playoff heartbreak, I could give a flying frack how we get to raise that trophy as long as we get to raise it at the end of the season.

And the Lakers have been a team we've faced tons of times in those 44yrs. We've got some wins in some of those series. Some damn good memories and WINS! Let's add to that

 

[Cheesebeef]

I dont agree
There is no way they said let's rest till the play in game when they were a 5 seed.
They might have to win twice just to even advance at this point. Basically they're injured and had better chemistry last year and they kinda suck right now. Let's not think this is some 'great team' they won a championship yes but will always be known as the bubble championship with 0 fans. I view this season as a colossal collapse for them. Weren't they like 21 -6 at a point? Colossal collapse....so far

it's a title winner, regardless with two of the best 5 players in the league if they're healthy. One of them making a claim at being the best ever. This season hasn't been a collapse. It's been derailed by injuries. Like you said, they were 21-6 at one point... pre-injuries. That shows when healthy, they were kicking people's asses.

 

[Strongstyle]

I can understand why fans don’t want face a healthy Lakers team. I don’t know but my mind set has always been take on who ever gets put in front of you. If it was up to me line up the top team and lets cut them down one by one. No one will remember the losers but fans of the championship team will always remember the road there. If we win it all I rather remember it as we smashed all the super teams and media darlings instead of the easy route.

Last year there were several teams in the playoffs that got beat because they were worn out from playing tough series. I'll gladly take the easy path.

 

[Cheesebeef]

And the Lakers have been a team we've faced tons of times in those 44yrs. We've got some wins in some of those series. Some damn good memories and WINS! Let's add to that

those were great series... where we were favorites for the most part, sans 1990. I just loved this season too much to go into the playoffs as underdogs, which I believe we will be if the Lakers are healthy. That's just an awful reward.

if we win, hallelujah! we could lose every game the rest of the playoffs and I probably wouldn't care because i could at least talk trash to my friends and because I hate the Lakers so much. But a loss in the first round to them will just leave a horrible taste in my mouth from what's been a great ride.

 

[Germz249]

I think we'd all much rather be cheering for the team that could actually do this. But what if you don't believe they have a chance in hell against a few healthy teams? Would you then prefer an early loss to a better team or a luck-filled route to the championship? Because that's what we're really talking about.

Getting lucky almost always play a big role in championships. I'm more than willing to get lucky. If we draw the Lakers first round and they somehow get all the way back to healthy then I'll cross my fingers and watch the games like I always do. Who knows, maybe every one of our players will have their best nights ever for the 4 games it will take to advance. But if I could choose, I'd much rather face the wounded Lakers than the healthy Lakers.

Don’t get me wrong if we get there we get there.. I am not going to be mad if we win a championship and every super team we faced had an injury. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We all share the same goal of wanting our team to win it all. There is nothing wrong with the road you guys want vs mine. Maybe its my military mind set. I just always want to take on anything/anyone when they are at their best.

 

[Germz249]

Last year there were several teams in the playoffs that got beat because they were worn out from playing tough series. I'll gladly take the easy path.

There is nothing wrong with that. I am not here to change your mind or anyone else. Just stating what I would prefer. Lets see what happens and hopefully we will win it.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Don’t get me wrong if we get there we get there.. I am not going to be mad if we win a championship and every super team we faced had an injury. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We all share the same goal of wanting our team to win it all. There is nothing wrong with the road you guys want vs mine. Maybe its my military mind set. I just always want to take on anything/anyone when they are at their best.

That’s odd to me. I would think a military mindset would be to seek whatever advantage you could...

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Nuggets lose putting us 5 games up in the loss column, effectively clinching us a top 3 seed (assuming we avoid going 0-5 to end the season).

Unfortunately Utah also won, but I could legitimately see them losing 2 of their remaining 4 games so we will have a shot at taking that 1 seed back.

 

[Russ Smith]

Admittedly against OKC and basically a B squad but 49 in 29 minutes for Steph tonight. 11 threes. He had 24 in the first I have no idea how many 20 point quarters he's had now this year but in this amazing run he's had several. This was his 10th 40 point game of the season. his 7th game with 10 or more 3's which broke his own season record. He has 5 in his last 15 games! He actually had 51 there was a play where they ruled no basket and the Warriors didn't challenge but on replay it was clearly a shot that should have counted.

They can't go very far this year all the size is injured and with Oubre now out it's really just Curry and Wiggins in the starting 5 scoring and Poole off the bench. Even if Paschall comes back soon he's been out so long he'll take awhile to get it rolling again. It's amazing they are 2 games over 500 with such a weak roster right now.

 

[Germz249]

That’s odd to me. I would think a military mindset would be to seek whatever advantage you could...

yea as in healthy Laker at full strength and taking advantage of the mismatch not lets hope they are injured. Always going to want to win without giving them excuses but if they are hurt they are hurt.

 

[Raindog]

yea as in healthy Laker at full strength and taking advantage of the mismatch not lets hope they are injured. Always going to want to win without giving them excuses but if they are hurt they are hurt.

Knowing the Lakers historic sense of entitlement, they will probably petition the NBA to let them have Booker to even the odds.

Thankfully, that only has about a 25% chance of actually working.

 

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Russ Smith]

Steph is shooting 56% from 2, 43% from 3 and 91% from the ft line. The only other NBA player to go 55, 40, 90 is... Steph Curry in 15-16.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

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Good lord those are absurd. It’s amazing that even with ridiculous stats I can’t find it in me to hold him in the highest echelon of the league.

 

[Russ Smith]

Brook Lopez with a funny one.

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[AzStevenCal]

Good lord those are absurd. It’s amazing that even with ridiculous stats I can’t find it in me to hold him in the highest echelon of the league.

I haven't considered him one of the elites in a few years now but when he's putting up these numbers with decent efficiency and his team is winning (15 wins in last 19 games) it's tough to leave him out of the conversation.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Brook Lopez with a funny one.

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That’s hilarious