The 2024 NBA playoffs thread

Lorenzo

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i dislike dallas very much - kyrie and luka in particular - but that team is playing good basketball right now - they added some nice complimentary pieces and kidd's got it going on
He’s able to mentor the players and that is a big deal. You can see it rubbing off on Irving and doncic with their effort at both ends and the way those 2 lead the players on the court. Both doncic and Irving’s scoring are down, but their defense has been strong. Doncic had 15 rebounds today and a couple of key defensive plays late. Doncic wasn’t doing that in prior years.

Kidd has this IDGAF attitude that sometimes doesn’t sit well with fans. you can’t deny the results now that they have the players that fit his approach. In a way they resemble his teams when he played.
 

BirdGangThing

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He’s able to mentor the players and that is a big deal. You can see it rubbing off on Irving and doncic with their effort at both ends and the way those 2 lead the players on the court. Both doncic and Irving’s scoring are down, but their defense has been strong. Doncic had 15 rebounds today and a couple of key defensive plays late. Doncic wasn’t doing that in prior years.

Kidd has this IDGAF attitude that sometimes doesn’t sit well with fans. you can’t deny the results now that they have the players that fit his approach. In a way they resemble his teams when he played.
if minnesota beats denver i got dallas going to the finals
 

Lorenzo

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if minnesota beats denver i got dallas going to the finals
this is still a series with OKC, nothing today made me feel that dallas will win the series. just made me feel more certain that this will be a battle each game. I don't know how much better Doncic and Irving are going to play offensively. It's possible that they could struggle throughout because there is not much space out there for them. so far SGA is the best player in this series and those MVP shouts are well deserved for him.

Denver/Minn i have no idea. I think Minn blew a glorious chance to kill the champs in game 3. I wouldn't be surprised if Denver come back in that series.
 

Lorenzo

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are these some type of makeup calls, or lack thereof from the NYC games? IDK, but this has been a close series. both teams have been screwed by calls. that 3 at the end of the game was some type of clutch shot for the pacers. it was an awkward looking dribble that went to a shot that he didn't even hit the rim at the shot clock buzzer. this is one of the best throw back rivalries in the NBA.
 

clyde2tw

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Both Doncic and Irvine now bought in into their team concept, it appears. Both actually play very good defense, Luka's space awareness and rotating to the open guy on scrambles is excellent. Both are better than Booker and KD on team D. If they keep their health, I see them in the finals.
PS: Dort fouls a lot with his lower body and flops a lot to bait refs into calling off. fouls, and very successful that way.
 
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Yuma

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Depending on when we actually would have pulled the trigger on Kyrie, we could have gone through his pandemic year that was a disaster, or been here instead of CP3 which would have doubly meant we wouldn't take Halliburton in the draft, etc. I don't know if he would have stuck here long term either, giving his history of switching teams. It would have been cool to have him dribble penetrating and dishing to wide open Booker on plays. Is the Earth flat? :shrug:
 

clyde2tw

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Aaron Gordon single covered KD in our last PO series and is now doing the same on Towns, both times with great success. That seems raise his offensive game too, making it a pseudo big-3 with Jokic and Murray. MIN has just one true star in Ant, after this. Big-3 would shine once their team could stop the other on D, which our Suns lacked.
 
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ajcardfan

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These two games in Minnesota are as impressive, if not more, than anything the Nuggets did last year. I thought the series would be six or seven games, but not like this. Crazy
 

BirdGangThing

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minnesota just lost this series and after an incredible start too - i picked dallas to go to the finals thinking minnesota would eliminate denver - but dallas aint beating denver
 

Lorenzo

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I think I started to write off Denver too soon as well. I don’t think it particularly matters who plays who in these remaining series. All four of these teams are very good and capable of beating one another imo.
 

BirdGangThing

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I'll give you credit for sticking with Dallas but you've flip flopped in this Minnesota/Denver series.
i 100% flip flopped in this minnesota denver series - no problem admitting that at all - minnesota won the first 2 games on the road - only 5 teams in the history of the nba have come back from that so please pardon my prematurity
 
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