Red Mosquito

Drive to the basket!

Boylen is out, Verb will be back in 3 ... 2 ...

Bammer wrote:Boylen is out, Verb will be back in 3 ... 2 ...

Yeah, really need verb to weigh in on this

E.H. Ruddock wrote:

Bammer wrote:Boylen is out, Verb will be back in 3 ... 2 ...

Yeah, really need verb to weigh in on this

He would probably just say GarPax for life or something like that.

4/5 wrote:

E.H. Ruddock wrote:

Bammer wrote:Boylen is out, Verb will be back in 3 ... 2 ...

Yeah, really need verb to weigh in on this

He would probably just say GarPax for life or something like that.

Paging Dr. Craine...

Lakers over Blazers in 5
Clippers over Mavs in 5
Nuggets over Jazz in 7
Rockets over Thunder in 7

Bucks over Magic in 4
Raptors over Nets in 4
Celtics over Sixers in 6
Heat over Pacers in 5

I don't predict too many competitive series in this first round, but the Bubble could make things wacky.

Lakers over Blazers in 6
Clippers over Mavs in 4
Nuggets over Jazz in 5
Thunder over Rockets in 6

Bucks over Magic in 4
Raptors over Nets in 4
Celtics over Sixers in 7
Heat over Pacers in 6

4/5 wrote:Lakers over Blazers in 6
Clippers over Mavs in 4
Nuggets over Jazz in 5
Thunder over Rockets in 6

Bucks over Magic in 4
Raptors over Nets in 4
Celtics over Sixers in 7
Heat over Pacers in 6

I've been really impressed by the Heat in the bubble.

Monkey_Driven wrote: I've been really impressed by the Heat in the bubble.

Sigh. The bubble was a perfect microcosm for their season and for my feelings about them. At halftime of the Bucks game I was really, really excited for the playoffs but then they collapsed and also lost games to the Suns and somebody else that were unsettling. They had an 8 point lead against the Celtics with like 15 seconds left and nearly blew it. The loss to Toronto is whatever--the flagrant call on Olynyk was such a joke and really turned that game, just felt like they could have done so much better.

Lots of words to say the Heat are very exciting and I think have maybe the widest floor/ceiling gap in the league. It's a team that can absolutely put a real scare into the Bucks and could also cough up what should be a comfortable series against the Pacers.

I like this team a lot, but I don't trust it.

4/5 wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote: I've been really impressed by the Heat in the bubble.

Sigh. The bubble was a perfect microcosm for their season and for my feelings about them. At halftime of the Bucks game I was really, really excited for the playoffs but then they collapsed and also lost games to the Suns and somebody else that were unsettling. They had an 8 point lead against the Celtics with like 15 seconds left and nearly blew it. The loss to Toronto is whatever--the flagrant call on Olynyk was such a joke and really turned that game, just felt like they could have done so much better.

Lots of words to say the Heat are very exciting and I think have maybe the widest floor/ceiling gap in the league. It's a team that can absolutely put a real scare into the Bucks and could also cough up what should be a comfortable series against the Pacers.

I like this team a lot, but I don't trust it.

That's understandable. I trust their talent and coaching to put it together to give the Bucks a real scare though. I don't know what's going on with them right now. Maybe they were just using the bubble to shake off the rust?

Monkey_Driven wrote: That's understandable. I trust their talent and coaching to put it together to give the Bucks a real scare though. I don't know what's going on with them right now. Maybe they were just using the bubble to shake off the rust?

Idk, they didn't seem particularly rusty, just inconsistent. They're really deep and probably were playing around with lineups and combos and all that. Butler missed a couple games, so did Dragic. The thing about being so deep is that it's tough to know what your crunch time lineup/identity is. Bam and Butler are there for sure, but neither of them shoots. So we have two defensive anchors and beyond that it could include a wide range of guys, including Dragic, Robinson, Crowder, Herro, Iggy, Olynk, or DJJ. It'll be interesting and probably change game to game because some of those lineups would be really good defensively and have no shooting and others could swing very far in the other direction. I didn't love what I saw in crunch time in the Bubble against the Celtics, Raptors, and Bucks, which is obviously worrisome.

I'd say they prioritized the matchups well today with the schedule. The Bucks/Magic series could get ugly.

Are there any big time star players currently out, or are teams at full strength?

Bammer wrote:Are there any big time star players currently out, or are teams at full strength?

Pretty much all of the big stars are still playing and not injured except Westbrook, who will miss a few games in this first round. Some teams are missing a role player here and there that are injured or opted out to the bubble.

So now I'm thinking Lakers in 5. I saw too many Lakers in 7 predictions yesterday and I think people are really forgetting that the Blazers were the worst defensive team allowed to come to Orlando. Dame will probably win a game by himself (my bet is tonight) but while the Lakers can't stop him the Blazers can't stop LeBron and AD either.

I think most games will be close, probably with one blowout mixed in but everybody's being a little too much prisoner-of-the-moment with how awful the Lakers looked in meaningless games and how thrilling those Blazers games were against mostly bad teams.

The Magic are really good at winning Game 1s in the first round.

Butler with a 3!!

I love this Thunder/Jazz matchup.

If Dame going full God Mode to beat a stat-stuffing but kinda empty calorie LeBron performance didn't bring verb back...

Man, I don't recall ever seeing an NBA player look as unhealthy as Embiid looks. Even in the 80's when half the league was on coke. 8:30 left in the third and his face read 'I quit'. He always looks like he has the flu or something. It's a shame cause he's a monster for the first 8 mins of a game.