Topic: American Sports

@Metonymy Italy?

@StitchJones Sorry, I could have been clearer. Sledge at the paralympics.

@Metonymy i still have no clue what you are talking about lol

@StitchJones All good, man! I should have asked first. The sledge hockey (think it’s called para hockey internationally) fired up yesterday at the paralympics. USA took the game 14-1 over Italy.

@Metonymy Yeah, I had no idea that was going on. I don't follow that at all. That's why I had no clue what you were talking about.

@StitchJones Fair enough! It’s pretty interesting if you get a chance to check it out.

@Th3solution well, the Spurs are a really good choice to follow this year. Better than when you picked Don Cheeks and the Mavericks 😁 the storyline there could be that "no team ever wins their first with mostly young players" but another team has a chance to do just that in San Antonio, so. They should be a fun follow, and if they don't win it all then it is only just the beginning for them anyway, I doubt they will trade Wemby to the Lakers for LeBron or something crazy like Dallas with the AD deal. I would have said it's unlikely they'd trade Wemby for AD but I genuinely can't remember where he even 'plays' now 😂 seriously, where he at?

It's also a very good day for Boston.

I don't know if the league collectively got scared seeing Tatum back? But NY got beat by the Lakers 💀 and somehow Miami are 20+ points up on Detroit!? (You'd imagine they might come back, but it is weird to see that on topnof everything else) and this is of course after we put down the Cavs convincingly, once again earlier today 🤷‍♂️ we gave them a little look in for about 10 minutes as they made a bit of a run, but it was very one sided overall. During their run is when JB thankfully remembered how to score in the midrange so it never verged on a full panic collapse after coasting like they used to be prone to.

So now the 3 games that made me genuinely nervous of going 0-3 have started better than expected. Plus everyone else is giving us a bit of room to stay ahead during this tougher run, and if Detroit mess up they will be very catchable which meanss the run in have even more twists and turns for everyone. (It could actually be... exciting. Rather than 4 teams stuck in the same 4 spots all year) It will be interesting to see how the Detroit team deals with the pressure ramping up, but so far, it seems like Boston is the only team kicking into gear, which still baffles me. I trust Joe, mayve it is the chanpionship pedigree, but it is still a lot to deliver with very little room for error and this year was the time for all of those other teams to have a chance to do something. Pretty crazy.

San Antonio are tough for us as a matchup, but if both teams go in with that "Finals" mentality like you say, it could be a hard played and very entertaining game. I'd like to see how we plan on stopping Wemby at the end of games at least, or what difference JT makes, maybe we'd run a small lineup with JT at center to force Wemby out of position 🤔 any idea if that has been bumped up to a natuonally Televised spot in the US? I'd assume it would have to have been? And will you rely on those broadcasters or dip into league pass now the post season is getting close?

Weirdly i'm also excited for the Charlotte games, we have them 2 or 3 more times close together and they embarrassed us recently. I'd like to see us take them seriously and see what Joe cooks up because they are no joke at the minute! And we got our peaches well and truly cracked, like AI Luka, if we are honest 😁

@Ravix I thought I was going to end up following OKC and the battle for the West (and the championship in general) was going to be anticlimactic with them steamrolling over everyone. But they look quite beatable now. I really like SGA whenever hear him interviewed and he seems a genuine good guy, but he does end up being kind of boring as a player. And what I mean is that he is so incredibly consistent, puts up 30 a night with very little pizazz, in a workman-like fashion. So it’s easy to become complacent about him and even about the Thunder as a whole. It’s why I’ve had a harder time following the NBA this year without a young upstart team to get behind, but now the Spurs are becoming that team. But you’re absolutely right, history would tell us a young team won’t win the championship on its first playoff run. It’s just doesn’t happen. So no matter how hot SA is going into the playoffs I would expect they’ll get picked off my someone with playoff experience, like Denver, Houston, or OKC. Nevertheless, at least it’s making me more interested to see what happens.

It does look like the Celtics-Spurs is going to be a national broadcast, so I hope I have an opportunity to tune in, my own schedule willing. And I have access through cable and streaming services to quite a lot of games and I’ll be able to get all the playoffs without dipping into the League Pass, I’ll just stick with what I have.

As far as AD… I think he’s a Washington Wizard 😅 But already said he’s not playing this season, iirc. At least Trae Young is back on the court for them, but that team looks like a dumpster fire.

Quite the opposite of Charlotte, who does look like they will make a run, getting stronger and stronger as the season progresses. They’re 3 games out of the 6th spot, so it will be hard for them to make it that high, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they can come out of the play-in tournament and give someone some trouble in the first round.

@Metonymy Buffalo beat Tampa last night and now Buffalo is in first place in the Atlantic Division. I repeat, Buffalo is in first place in the Atlantic Division. Man that sounds so weird to say and to hear since that team has been an absolute dumpster fire every year. Not just bad, but a dumpster fire yearly. Its good for hockey, I'm happy for them. But its like they hit a switch this year. No Florida, Edmonton looking shakey, a couple dark horses....playoffs gonna be very interesting this year.

@StitchJones Yeah, should be very interesting. My money is still on either Colorado or the Stars taking the cup (that should be a great series on the way there) but Carolina’s looking pretty good too. Buffalo is a complete surprise, who knows they might ride that momentum to the end. Could be the same for the Ducks. Edmonton potentially not making the playoffs is super disappointing for all involved but pretty amusing for me (that rivalry is no joke here). Yeah, I agree it’s going to be an interesting playoffs.

@Th3solution I find SGA incredibly boring for slightly different reasons. Mainly foul-baiting, same as Brunson. I don't want to watch a game with 30 freethrow attempts because you keep bumping into someone and put up a shot on the chest contact. It is just tedious, to me. Even more so because JB and JT get their arms slapped on every drive to the basket and shot (I.e actual active defensive fouls where the defender actually makes a movement to foul) and they rarely get called 😅 and that, in-turn, makes them moan at the refs, which I also don't like to see on every play, haha. I just think if the offensive player tries to initiate the contact just no-call it and move on rather than stop the game every time.

See, history says that, yes, but to me it makes it exciting because again a team has a chance to upset the trend of history. Whether they do or not doesn't matter, it will be a good story to follow to see how far they can go. That is what I mean by that. I'd rather there be a chance at history rather than it just being Denver and OKC or something like that in the West. San Antonio are far more interesting than Denver. Hopefully for your sake they don't exit at the first round.

I think that Boston v SA game is a midnight tip here, so 8pm ET? (Your clocks just went forward, I believe, so our time zones are slightly closer for a bit) but 8pm ET still means it will be an earlier game for you, I assume you are out West, but I don't know your exact time zone tbh, it has never seemed relevant to me to ask where people are from because it's the internet 😅