Topic: American Sports

@Th3solution I'd not be shocked if one star is traded in the next season or 2 to make room for more money spent on depth. It might be a tough decision but I could see them risking it with Jaylen Brown being the one to go, and maybe to the west coast.

Porzingis not sure what his trade stock would be, but we need at least one big who can shoot threes, and Al is old so I can't see shipping KP yet.

Playoffs should be good. Indiana coming in pretty hot will be dangerous but it's a good matchup they have with their recent rivals the Bucks.

Edit: oh. And 'Boston GM' come on, now. It's Brad Stevens. Not some faceless GM 😁 and he's been one of the best in that role too.

@Ravix I don’t follow Stevens but I’d agree he’s done a great job. He will no doubt have a challenge this offseason, regardless of the outcome. If Boston wins a second championship, he has to find a way to keep the core, if they don’t he has to find a way to improve the core and try to save money.

The early games yesterday didn’t offer anything unexpected, although I was surprised how close the Golden State-Memphis matchup ended up. I thought GS would win a little more easily. Orlando didn’t disappoint.

Tonight is going to be harder to predict. Most likely Sacramento and Chicago will advance. But in a single elimination game, I wouldn’t put any money down on it.

@Th3solution Ah, so Orlando did hold on and win. I had the game on and intended to watch, but I was pretty tired yesterday and was zoning out so much, ended up eyes shut half asleep and it ended up like a podcast with just the commentary and then I think I must have just switched it off without even trying to find out the result 😅

I had no chance with the late game, and out of all the games that was probably the most interesting match up too.

Goodbye Ja, we hardly knew thee. But at least he can get to handle the ball more as they go from 2nd to nothing 🙄 Again, feel bad for Taylor Jenkins. They might have had a better match up if they didn't pull the plug and actually wanted to follow his vision.

NBA Playoffs First Round. Anyone got any thoughts?

I can only offer a Boston (and Orlando) perspective, as I didn't manage to watch any of the other games.

Orlando certainly still foul a lot and get physical on every play, and yet somehow manage to have those same tough, play-hard players flop on the other end, which is always something to get past mentally as it is wind-up 101. (And why OKC will win this year, because they do that very thing, but with a lot more talent)

Good tough playoff game though, and I did say Orlando are one of the teams that can most threaten Boston because of how they muck up the game. Banchero is basically a young Tatum but if he was built like a brick sh*thouse. He will either go on to dominate this league, or end up struggling with injuries.

I expected more of Wagner after what I'd heard about him. Showed some signs of stardom, but he went missing and seemed to get in his own head, and flopping was all he could get right for large stretches.

Derrick White is Derrick White. Next game he will get something like 9 points and 7 assists two steals and a block, but last night he got to win the game with pure shooting and timely blocks.

Any teams standing out beyond the obvious ones after one game?

@Ravix So far my predictions have mostly panned out. I’ve been thinking all along that Houston is overrated. They may yet pull it together, but I think their lack of playoff experience will come back to haunt them, even if they can get back on track against Golden State.

I was a little surprised that the Lakers rolled over so easily. However, it is important to note that even though the Minnesota-LA series is the 6th vs 3rd seed series, their records are only one game difference. (49 wins vs. 50 wins).

Nuggets-Clippers (two teams with identical records) is looking like it will be a slugfest.

Otherwise, it’s all looking like it’s going to come down to the same 3 teams — OKC, Cleveland, or Boston. They are all in a class by themselves.

@Th3solution regarding Houston, if you look at what they are facing and step back a second and say: Steph, "Don't call me Playoff" Jimmy and Draymond are on one team. Surely it'd need a similarly stacked and experienced team to legitimately beat them in 7. It's really hard to ignore Golden State. 3 experienced Playoff dogs is going to be tough for anyone to face. Most games are much lower scoring, and you just need people who are winners at this point.

I can't even remember who is on the Houston team 😅 All I remember is Ime is the coach. Okay, I have a feeling one of the Thompson twins is on the team, probably Amen and he is legitimate, but he is also very young(?) And I doubt he can carry them to 4 wins in 7 yet.

I feel like we have to say it's OKC and Golden State, Cleveland and Boston for chances in each division. In terms of the logical thing happening, anyway. Miracles do occur in the playoffs though, and no one is ever really safe.

Rumours reach me that a certain player in the west isn't injured for once though, could he be the spanner in the works. He won something whilst vacationing in Toronto this one time, apparently.

@Ravix Lol, yes there is that one player. There’s also a three-time MVP (and counting) in the mix, so who knows. But I think Kawhi’s support is better than Jokic’s, so I tend to lean toward the Clippers there, even though they came up short in game 1.

Pacers look good too. But they always seem to surge and then can’t quite get over the hump. How did the Pistons look? From the score it looks like they at least held on to give NY a game. I’d like to see them shake things up in the East.

@Th3solution I only caught a little bit of Pistons v Nicks and was only half-watching anyway to tell the truth. I feel like, unless it's a marquee match at the right time I'm probably only going to see Celtics games. I'd say Cunningham can probably win them one or two, it will depend more on if New York implode for any reason, as NY will just run their top 5 ragged and see how far they can get on their efforts which is a very high risk high reward strategy as they have been relying on them all season, and sometimes players can run out of juice by May

Edit: Kat ran out of juice. Or he thought the season was over 😬 he can go missing in games, and today was one of those games.

And what I will say is... I'm glad Detroit won that, because I'm pretty sick of NY just flopping for fouls. Brunson is going to get severe neck trauma one of these days the way he snaps his head back every other play. And it seems like it is legitimately the team's number one tactic on both ends. But try to fake like you get fouled every possession and people will get tired of it and call you out over it, and refs will start to learn those player tendencies, you'd hope, or the league will change the narrative on what to call. It just makes games so much worse and way too choppy, as well as it being disingenuous.

@Ravix Yeah regarding the theatrics by Brunson, we saw a lot more flopping calls last year, but they seem to rarely call it now. I’m not sure what changed. There’s definitely a bias toward the high profile players to get more leeway on all sorts of calls.

I expect you’re pleased the Celtics survived last night without Tatum. I didn’t watch but it sounds like it was a bloodbath, quite literally with Porzingis bleeding from a head injury. I have to admit, when I think of ‘tough guy’ Porzingis isn’t the person who comes to mind. 😂

I think Orlando might get one win, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if Boston sweeps.

I’m more surprised that Cleveland had to pull out some heroics to not choke their game away. And I’m also not surprised that the old men of Golden State are already looking to struggle with Butler having to go out for injury. It was always unlikely that Curry, Draymond, and Butler could all make through the playoffs without injury.

@Th3solution yeah, I saw the Golden State score and thought "what gives" after my previous assessment, but then saw Butler was injured after 8 minutes, so it all became clear.

I'll tell you what, you've got to check out some games when they are live, if you can. Playoff basketball is very good again this year.

Everyone is suddenly heated rivals, and it just adds so many storylines to the games. Granted I've not seen any of Indy live, but can see Halliburton has decided he hates Lillard and is currently getting the better of him.

Draymond is still being Draymond, from what I heard about The Golden State game 😅 and at some point I imagine Dillon Brooks vs Draymond might be a thing... a very violent thing 😅

KCP decided he wanted to take Tatum out, and Al Horford called him on it, and what do you know, he tried to take Al out last night by running into his path on a breakaway 🙄 but KCP is also sucking incredibly badly at everything else, so fair play, if you don't have any talent left you do what you do to stay relevant 😉

Boston actually had no real issues last night. It was a physical game, yes, it was tough, but it never actually looked like Orlando could feasibly win. But everything is heightened in the playoffs so it's exciting, regardless. If the refs let them foul even more at home, who knows...

You still can't accept the wonders of Porzingis, I see 😛 He is such a fan favourite in Boston, and the fact he plays up to all these things really helps with the locker room, and crowd atmosphere.

He's very rarely not smiling too, even when he's getting his nose or head split open, or his Unicorn horn removed 😛

Mazzulla's quote of the night was the totally deadpan, and totally serious delivery of "I like to watch him bleed on the court"

@Ravix Yes, I do agree that there seems to be some really entertaining rivalries going on already, which I expect will only intensify as we get further in.

That picture of Porzingis is gold, though.

@Th3solution I don't think Detroit fans like Brunson or New York either 😬 so that's another rivalry. It is a great atmosphere in that game tonight. I wasn't really going to watch, but got drawn in for the moment because of the feel of the game (watching on a delay like usual so I can fast forward, which is the best way to watch Basketball, skipping time outs or catching up to the live score if its not a great game 😅)

It seems to have calmed down a bit now though. At first it was getting chippy up until... actually as I type this a fight is breaking out because someone walked a bit close to Robinson hahaha. I was going to say... until eventually Brunson poked someone in the eye for no real reason, but it weirdly calmed down after that break... until it didn't 😅

I guess it's the shared "we've not won for quite a long time" heated rivalry brewing. As both teams will be desperate to move on.

We'll make you a Porzingis fan out of you yet 👀

Can't believe no one saw the backcourt violation at the end! I was thinking what is Bruson even doing right away. I feel like if someone saw it sooner they could have challenged it? It's probably going to be a talking point, anyway. Even though they kind of gave an explanation after. I don't get it. Looked clear to me.

The whole end of the game is a bit of a mess 😅

Looks like Memphis got up big, but they just couldn't... Finnish 😅😅😅

And just looking at the league overall, I'd not be surprised if Jokic demands a trade this year. He shouldn't be on a team that fires their coach going in to the playoffs and loses big to the Clippers.

Maybe my algorithm just feeds me a bad pocket of Chargers fans, but I'm super confused over the negativity around who they picked? Last year Chargers went Alt, people started crying they didn't get a weapon. Alt turned out to be awesome, and addressed one of the biggest needs. This year we get the weapon in the first round. I dunno, do people think the only weapon a QB has is a WR? Because to me, Hampton is a weapon, and a weapon Herbert sorely needed. I feel like fans should be incredibly excited about this. But people are still crying, this time about the DL needs. So you're saying they would be fine if they skipped a weapon here and went DL instead? My instincts say no.

Basketball games should not be that long 😴

Probably the worst quality game I've ever seen 😂 damn.

@Th3solution this is why I said Orlando would be tough for Boston way back when it first looked like they could be a potential first round match up (when their season injuries were holding them back in the standings a bit)

Terrible, terrible, choppy, slow, chippy, and illogical play all round.

Boston stopped playing anything like the style of play they are used to. Orlando kept fouling on every possession. And the refs, being refs, have to make up the foul numbers to be near even, so Orlando fouling hard every possession leads to Boston getting called for tippy tappy fouls, which I think probably effects their mentality, and wears them down mentally. But no excuses, they know this is how they play and they fell in to the trap of playing down to them

I really don't know why they tried to go back to slow one on one basketball, no one moving off the ball to get open shots, and just generally looking like they weren't that bothered about scoring 🤦‍♂️

Slaps all round, force them to watch the tape on repeat, and no sunbathing or trips to Disney or Universal allowed 😂

@Ravix Things seem to be back on track, so Celtics are still is good shape. Cleveland, and Indiana look very strong as well.

Not sure if you saw all the drama with Giannis, but it looks like his days with the Bucks are probably over. Especially considering that Lillard is out for probably the whole next season, that team is in a tailspin. Expect Giannis to be traded. Rumors are maybe to the Lakers to be a running mate with Luka, or to OKC because they have the draft capital to make a deal. If I were OKC it wouldn’t mess with him and just keep restocking the roster with all the draft picks they accumulated… unless something strange happens and OKC ends up falling apart and doesn’t make the Finals, in which case maybe revamp the roster with some veteran talent, but I don’t see that happening.

The off season will be interesting. Kevin Durant will probably leave Phoenix. Giannis will likely leave Milwaukee. Like mentioned, either KP or Holliday might be moved. Then whatever teams get close but fall short of the finals will probably want to lap up some of these big names to get over the hump. A team like Houston, Indiana, or Detroit would be good spots for a big All-Star veteran to help the young talent. It’s a little premature, since there’s a lot of playoffs left, but it still seems like it’s just 3 teams and then the rest of the league is far behind, so it’s like watching a movie that you already know the ending. The only drama left is whether Cleveland can beat Boston. Thoughts?

Orlando dispatched. I'd say I respect them for what they managed to do, albeit in vain, but I saw their post game interviews and they were properly sulking about Banchero getting fouled on drives and him never ever fouling ever 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

The whole series has been defined by how much Orlando foul on every possession. They will commit 3 fouls on one drive and sometimes get called for the last grab on a drive about 40% of the time 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Jaylen Brown worked out he just had to elevate sooner to get the calls in the last game and Banchero got caught out by that. The end.

Good riddance 😂 they will be a good team for years to come if they get any shooters that don't brick every shot. Or if Wagner learns how to shoot threes, because he is a top level finisher at the rim. The only question will be, if they add shooting, will their overall size and defensive skill drop and unbalance what they try to do. If they balance it well they will be fine though. But damn, less sulky faces Paolo 🥺

Also, I think I know his one weakness for any scouts reading 😛 They play slow because he can't handle a fast pace for 42 minutes. In a few of the games he's dropped away and looked tired. Game before last half time came at a really good time for him and they sorted it out second half, but in other games I'm not sure his stamina is quite to the level it needs to be to be the primary ball handler in the playoffs. I mean, he is massive, and it's impressive what he does do, but if you attack him he gets worn down, and he was the Celtics maybe number 2 target to attack in the "Killer Whale" offense, after Cole Anthony who himself had to sit a lot because of him being a clear target.

@Th3solution

I shall add to the other talking points you brought up, now, in fact.

I feel like a month or two ago we said this off-season could be the most insane ever, right? And it does seem to be falling thay way. I'm catching up on the rest of the NBA goings on right now. I saw that Giannis was being a big child again, as it was mentioned during the Celtics broadcast. But I'll check out exactly what went down. It seems like every game has had fights, and last night seems no different 😅

The playoffs are absolutely tense this year for everyone but OKC and Cleveland. They will need someone to test their wills at some point and muck it up like all these other games. See how they react when things start to go bad and tempers flare.

@Th3solution do you think JJ survives the off-season in LA? Because we know LA like to throw people under the bus every time they don't get what they want. And how would LA put together any trade deals? They don't have a 2025 1st round pick, so what can they legitimately offer any teams for another star?

Or do they rely on free agency and try and get some size, and run it back pretty much the same, but with an even older LeBron, and possibly an even unhealthier Luka if he has a sulky off season where he just goes in to his shell rather than work on some things.

@Ravix Yeah, it’s quite a disaster there with the Lakers. I don’t think JJ will be let go based on these results. I do think coaching is part of their problem, but it’s hard to throw full blame on him when his roster was seismically changed a few weeks before the season ended and he really never got into a groove with the team.

But yeah, they have to find some size somewhere. As much as I don’t care for Gobert, they were powerless to counter him. 27 pts and 24 rebounds… yikes. Porzingis might be an option or Giannis, if either of those guys are moved this off season, but I just don’t know how they could fit that within the salary cap and trade restrictions. Likely they will have to make do with someone unproven or find a diamond in the rough to plug that front-court hole. Or if Lebron chooses to retire, then they have to hope a high profile free agent really wants to play with JJ and Luka.