The 2024 NBA playoffs thread

[Covert Rain]

If Ayton was a legit #1 or #2 we never trade Bridges and Cam, imho. We wouldn't have needed another scorer with Booker. The KD trade doesn't get made.

Probably not but the Ishbia still comes into play and I doubt he would pass on adding another star if the opportunity presented itself whomever that might be.

 

[Covert Rain]

Dallas might actually pull this off. DAMN. Come on Timberwolves. Now Game 2 is already a must win.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Your account of the record and situation last season are just flat out wrong. You keep pulling this "25-26" number out, when we never, at any point, had that record and certainly didn't have it at the time of the trade.

Man… I legitimately thought that’s what our record was this entire time. That is my bad. Multiple bads with misremembering Booker’s back to back punk outs which only happened once. The old photographic cheese memory ain’t what it once was.

So, we were 30-26, right? That’s still a winning percentage lower than what happened post-trade that year, with an injury that sidelined KD for what… 8 pr 10 of the remaining 26 games? So we were still statistically and nominally better post-trade as well as this year versus the pre-trade Suns, even being as ugly as this year was.

And our injuries last year were far far far worse.

Far far far worse? Come on now. The first half of the 2023-24 season for that fugly ass Suns squad was riddled with injuries with Booker in and out of the lineup and Beal missing huge amounts of time… for a team that had never even played together. You don’t think you’re overstating the difference there at all?

And one more time... it doesn't even matter. There is no situation were the KD trade was anything but horrible.

And one more time, I agree. We thought we mortgaged the future to be a contender in the present but all that trade did was make the team nominally better while destroying the future. That still doesn’t mean the window hadn’t shut closed with the CP3 led Suns. We were going to have to make some kind of huge move if we were ever to actually contend again. We just panicked and picked the first/worst one.

There is no justification for gutting your franchise for a 35 year old, injury prone, gutless, toxic, malcontent.

Yup. We screwed ourselves long and good.

 

[Lorenzo]

Dallas might actually pull this off. DAMN. Come on Timberwolves. Now Game 2 is already a must win.

Probably is a must win for Minnesota the way dallas is playing. I heard a stat that road teams are 16-17 in the playoffs.

 

[Hoop Head]

Minnesota came back and won games 6 and 7 against Denver, with game 7 being in Denver. They aren't in a must win situation yet but they could get there.

 

[Lorenzo]

Minnesota came back and won games 6 and 7 against Denver, with game 7 being in Denver. They aren't in a must win situation yet but they could get there.

Yeah being up 2-0 is not that big of a deal. But if it does happen it gives Dallas a chance to end the series in Dallas. I think both Minnesota and Dallas feel comfortable playing on the road.

 

[Phrazbit]

Man… I legitimately thought that’s what our record was this entire time. That is my bad. Multiple bads with misremembering Booker’s back to back punk outs which only happened once. The old photographic cheese memory ain’t what it once was.

So, we were 30-26, right? That’s still a winning percentage lower than what happened post-trade that year, with an injury that sidelined KD for what… 8 pr 10 of the remaining 26 games? So we were still statistically and nominally better post-trade as well as this year versus the pre-trade Suns, even being as ugly as this year was.



Far far far worse? Come on now. The first half of the 2023-24 season for that fugly ass Suns squad was riddled with injuries with Booker in and out of the lineup and Beal missing huge amounts of time… for a team that had never even played together. You don’t think you’re overstating the difference there at all?




And one more time, I agree. We thought we mortgaged the future to be a contender in the present but all that trade did was make the team nominally better while destroying the future. That still doesn’t mean the window hadn’t shut closed with the CP3 led Suns. We were going to have to make some kind of huge move if we were ever to actually contend again. We just panicked and picked the first/worst one.



Yup. We screwed ourselves long and good.

Yeah, far far far worse. Booker missed way more time that season (29 games out vs 14 this year), Ayton got hurt, Paul and Cam got hurt for a long stretch, Payne missed almost half the year, even Okogie broke his face. Basically the only players that stayed healthy were Craig and Bridges.

Booker got hurt in early December, spent most of month hobbled because he tried to come back to soon, then got hurt bad on Christmas and missed the next 7 weeks. We were 16-7, Cam got hurt in late November, then we went the next few months missing, at minimum, 2 starters and typically several back ups every single game. We had a stretch where we went 2-12 and if you look at the box scores and see who were were running out there, it wasn't surprising.

We started getting guys back and had a 9-2 run (mostly without Booker still) then came the trade.

Their record when even somewhat healthy was 25-9.

That team was not nearly as bad as you are choosing to remember.

They had a bad run of luck with injuries, tons of guys missing more time than they ever had. Meanwhile this year's team was HEALTHIER than their previous trends would indicate. Yeah, they had injuries but pretty much everyone they brought in was an injury risk, Booker missed no more time than he had the previous 3 years, Durant and Nurkic were far healthier than they'd been in ages. Beal was Beal.

Yeah, they needed to make moves to get back into contender status... how big of a move? That is debatable. However, the Durant trade crippled this franchise and made them a lesser team from the jump.

And going forward I cannot fathom how any of the other proposed or imagined trades could have been more damaging than the path they pursued.

 

[Phrazbit]

Aside from the cost and everything else, Durant just doesn't function in a team... at least not this old curmudgeon version that we've got. He wants to go out there and play one on one. He doesn't move without the ball so you can't run cuts and back door stuff because you have this guy who just stands there doing nothing. When he does get the ball he plays slow as molasses, will pass up open shots to dribble in for contested fadeaways and he has got to be the sloppiest "ball handling" superstar I've ever seen.

He has stretches out there where he plays so disinterested that it's jarring. The Christmas game is the most obvious example, he did it in game 2 against Minnesota as well. A totally winnable game and he just checked out for most of the 2nd half, didn't even try to get involved until we were down like 15 with 3 minutes left... and then it was with his patented "use 20 seconds to set up a 10 foot, doubled team, fade".

He still gets his points but the amount he is impacting the game seems dubious. He certainly isn't making any of his teammates lives easier.

He's a strange dude... claims he doesn't worry about his legacy all the time to the media, often looks like he hates playing basketball entirely during the season, then spends a ton of his time off the court arguing with podcasters and random internet trolls about how great he is and how he is a pure "hooper". I suppose the "hooper" in him is what makes him not play team basketball... where is the glory in that?

Or maybe he hated Frank Vogel... fingers crossed I guess.

 

[clyde2tw]

I have no problem with the trade for KD, but question details of the deal and subsequent moves. When Rui Hachimura went to LAL for like 3 2nd rounders, we should have jumped in with either Crowder or Saric + picks. And then they gave up Saric for salary relief. If we did the Crowder to Bucks deal ourselves like a three way with Washington to land Hachimura, and replaced Crowder with Saric + 2 (out of the 5) 2nd rounders from Bucks, which would not be a deal killer for the Nets, we'd be much better in the series vs Denver where AGordon killed us.

 

[Hoop Head]

I have no problem with the trade for KD, but question details of the deal and subsequent moves. When Rui Hachimura went to LAL for like 3 2nd rounders, we should have jumped in with either Crowder or Saric + picks. And then they gave up Saric for salary relief. If we did the Crowder to Bucks deal ourselves like a three way with Washington to land Hachimura, and replaced Crowder with Saric + 2 (out of the 5) 2nd rounders from Bucks, which would not be a deal killer for the Nets, we'd be much better in the series vs Denver where AGordon killed us.

Reports came out that the Suns declined a Hachimura for Crowder deal straight up earlier in the season. Of course Crowder sat and Hachimura was later dealt to LA for pennies so I believed those reports and once the subsequent moves were made it was clear they weren't just rumors but actual discussions that had went down. James Jones felt like he could get more for Crowder, which is why he held, which was stupid so on so many levels. He wasn't someone the Nets wanted or needed and we had salaries like Saric to plug in if Crowder was dealt. So it really made no sense why the posturing with our front office. The Saric deal wasn't awful based on potential but clearly Bazley was a bust and didn't get much time to show anything other than that. I have to believe he was awful in practice also but Saric could have been useful for us and was for Golden State as a smaller backup C.

 

[Proximo]

Dallas might actually pull this off. DAMN. Come on Timberwolves. Now Game 2 is already a must win.

Yeah, I didn't like how that game looked.

Ant needs to get his act together and drive to the rim.

 

[Proximo]

Reports came out that the Suns declined a Hachimura for Crowder deal straight up earlier in the season. Of course Crowder sat and Hachimura was later dealt to LA for pennies so I believed those reports and once the subsequent moves were made it was clear they weren't just rumors but actual discussions that had went down. James Jones felt like he could get more for Crowder, which is why he held, which was stupid so on so many levels. He wasn't someone the Nets wanted or needed and we had salaries like Saric to plug in if Crowder was dealt. So it really made no sense why the posturing with our front office. The Saric deal wasn't awful based on potential but clearly Bazley was a bust and didn't get much time to show anything other than that. I have to believe he was awful in practice also but Saric could have been useful for us and was for Golden State as a smaller backup C.

I thought this was well known already a couple weeks after we turned them down. Well I heard about it anyway.

I mean that would have been a helpful deal, but it wouldn't have got us past the Wolves.

I'm still pissed about Haliburton, every time I watch him I just get angrier and angrier.

 

[Covert Rain]

Yeah, I didn't like how that game looked.

Ant needs to get his act together and drive to the rim.

I get the T-wolves and other teams have comeback from a home loss but the freaking Mavs are a momentum team. They rode it into the playoffs and are 5-2 on the road in the playoffs which is huge.

 

[BirdGangThing]

i still enjoy watching the players play that we could've should've would've drafted

 

[Ronin]

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[Hoop Head]

I thought this was well known already a couple weeks after we turned them down. Well I heard about it anyway.

I mean that would have been a helpful deal, but it wouldn't have got us past the Wolves.

I'm still pissed about Haliburton, every time I watch him I just get angrier and angrier.

I thought it was more known than it was since the other poster brought up a hypothetical for Rui. That could have happened but James Jones is James Jones. Who knows where we'd be today with Hachimura, maybe he flames out here, maybe he doesn't. It would be one of the first dominoes to be played that could have changed the KD trade a good bit. Flip him rather than Cam J, for instance. He doesn't become a Laker though and that changes the Western Conference Finals that year, which changes a lot more and the current Suns and Timberwolves would be the same. E

 

[Lorenzo]

I get the T-wolves and other teams have comeback from a home loss but the freaking Mavs are a momentum team. They rode it into the playoffs and are 5-2 on the road in the playoffs which is huge.

Dallas are also 2-0 at home in closeout games which is very impressive considering last night was their first game 1 win. It seems like some national media are still looking back to the past to judge this dallas team against their playoff opponents.

T-wolves missed a chance to win that game. it was there for them, but they didn't have the legs and they made critical mistakes. I think Luka and Kyrie are two of the best finishers at the rim and now they have Lively and Gafford to flush easy dunks. Mavs wouldn't have Lively on their team if they did not miss the playoffs last year and Lively and Gafford are quite a duo. mavs offense kind of reminds me a little of the suns when Nash had the pick and roll going and you just picked your poison of who was going to score in the paint or kick out to an open 3. after a year of playing together Irving and doncic look like they have chemistry and don't care who closes out the game.

 

[Phrazbit]

Scott Foster is everywhere this playoffs.

 

[Lorenzo]

Pacers really have to be kicking themselves for blowing game 1 now.

 

[Lorenzo]

Yeah, I didn't like how that game looked.

Ant needs to get his act together and drive to the rim.

he said that he was tired after the game, and he looked tired. the TNT crew went after him. if doncic was tired and said those things to the media he would be getting destroyed.

 

[clyde2tw]

I thought it was more known than it was since the other poster brought up a hypothetical for Rui. That could have happened but James Jones is James Jones. Who knows where we'd be today with Hachimura, maybe he flames out here, maybe he doesn't. It would be one of the first dominoes to be played that could have changed the KD trade a good bit. Flip him rather than Cam J, for instance. He doesn't become a Laker though and that changes the Western Conference Finals that year, which changes a lot more and the current Suns and Timberwolves would be the same. E

Rui would be the perfect running mate at PF next to KD. He's very good post defender, athletic driver and more than decent 3pt shooter. I prefer him over Cam J on this team.

 

[GatorAZ]

Ppl are forgetting how much better Porzingis makes Boston. He takes them from really good to the best team in the league. Horford does his best but he’s pretty much a 9/7 guy at this point of his career.

 

[Hoop Head]

Ppl are forgetting how much better Porzingis makes Boston. He takes them from really good to the best team in the league. Horford does his best but he’s pretty much a 9/7 guy at this point of his career.

I don't know if anyone forgot so much as he's been out and his return date has been pushed a few times. He was supposed to be back late last series and then game 1 or 2 in this one and now it's possible for game 4 but they could hold him out until game 5 when they return to Boston.

 

[ajcardfan]

Pacers really have to be kicking themselves for blowing game 1 now.

Yeah, I felt like they blew any shot at the series by losing that game. Now, Porzingis is looking. And, as a team, when you pull out a miracle win like the Celtics did in game one you get a lot of confidence that you are the team of destiny.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I said prior to the finals.

Same with KD, numbers don't always tell the story.

Hindsight. But tell why in fantasyland?

Yeah at the time, we did get the best option that was available. I didn't say we didn't.

That's only one reason, not the entire argument.

Even prior to finals many recognized bridges had a ceiling.

Uh, yeah about KD. That has no bearing on our discussion.

It isn’t hindsight. It’s what actually happened. It’s called a fact. You want to say something could’ve happened. It didn’t. Nothing else happened. Crowder was still crowder. Jones was still jones. Monty was still monty. Saying something else could’ve happened is LITERALLY fantasyland.

No one was arguing flexibility back then. There’s your hindsight.