NBA playoffs 2018

Van Everyman

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Apr 30, 2009
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KD is so damn thin skinned and unlikeable, it's close between these teams.
I’m getting way ahead of myself.
But should the GSW and C’s meet in the Finals, the KD-spurning-the-Celtics storyline will be front and center. By game 3, we will hate him, of that I am completely certain.

And if Boston somehow wins? Holy shit, the Pats short-circuiting the Seahawks then-ascendant dynasty will seem like a blip. If nothing else, the “Should have/Signed here” chants in the Garden will be deafening.

I must get this.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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It’s pretty surprising how poor Klay, Curry and Draymond played all in the same game; I wouldn’t count on them to play that poorly again. Houston can play some very good perimeter defense at times.

The Warriors, especially Durant and obviously Draymond; played very emotional at times when things didn’t go their way this season. I don’t expect Durant to get tossed in a playoff game though; but he does need to settle down a bit. Who knows what Green is going to do; he’s a complete wildcard.
 

Al Zarilla

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Dec 8, 2005
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Well, if it's on a foul it might not. I don't know the specific example you're talking about, but that's when I usually hear him say it.
Sure, if the player makes the basket and he’s fouled the basket will count unless the ref decides the foul was before the shot. Maybe that’s what he’s trying to make clear, but even when it’s pretty obvious and most announcers would say player X scores and he has a chance for a 3 point play, he makes that call of his. I don’t know, his “and it counts” seems unnecessary many times a game.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mar 26, 2005
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You can tell he isn't 100%
Yeah, but I'm just wondering why that is, which will be particularly important if the Cs play GSW in the finals. Quick check of the internet shows that Curry thinks its endurance related but I know other people are speculating that he's not quite healed from the knee. Or maybe his ankle isn't 100% since he apparently injured it four times this season.

It would be weird to me if the knee was still bothering him as they certainly could have let him take another week to 10 days off by sitting him against the Pelicans. That and the fact that in the limited amount I followed the Pels series, his knee didn't seem to come up in the conversations.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Not sure where to put this, but this is probably as good a place as any.

Can someone please explain to me the phrase "a series doesn't start until the road team wins"?

I totally get that if a road team wins game 1 or 2, then it is definitely Series On. That part makes sense.

But if the higher seed holds serve at home, then takes a road game in game 3 or 4, the series hasn't really started - it is really the opposite, the series is (almost always) over.

The phrase really should be a series is closer to over once a road team wins, honestly.
 

InstaFace

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Sep 27, 2016
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The phrase carries about as much insight as John Madden remarking on how one wins a game. Your 200 words is already far too much thought into something so trite.

A playoff series is a set of matchups and adjustments. Sometimes you figure it out when you're down 3-1 and come back to win, a la the 2016 Finals. Sometimes the matchups are destiny and your game-to-game adjustments don't work. Sometimes their adjustments to your adjustments creates an arms race, and the series becomes as much a coaching battle as a shooting competition.

Teams don't win or lose road or home games based on magic. There's not some cosmic force of "momentum", or players not paying attention until they're beaten at home, or something similar where such pronouncements might carry value. There is far less randomness in a basketball series than there is in a baseball series. Of course, it takes effort to think about the strategy behind what you're seeing, and most sports fans don't want to do that, hence they cling to such cliches... but that's not really the case with you or most people here.
 

tims4wins

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Yeah obviously there are a million stupid sports cliches, but at least most of them make some sort of sense - e.g., your football example, like winning the turnover battle or winning field position or time of possession. There is at least some correlation there to winning.

But with this phrase, it is the exact opposite. Road team wins for the first time in the series, making it 3-0? Series has just begun!
 

Montana Fan

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Oct 18, 2000
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The phrase carries about as much insight as John Madden remarking on how one wins a game. Your 200 words is already far too much thought into something so trite.

A playoff series is a set of matchups and adjustments. Sometimes you figure it out when you're down 3-1 and come back to win, a la the 2016 Finals. Sometimes the matchups are destiny and your game-to-game adjustments don't work. Sometimes their adjustments to your adjustments creates an arms race, and the series becomes as much a coaching battle as a shooting competition.

Teams don't win or lose road or home games based on magic. There's not some cosmic force of "momentum", or players not paying attention until they're beaten at home, or something similar where such pronouncements might carry value. There is far less randomness in a basketball series than there is in a baseball series. Of course, it takes effort to think about the strategy behind what you're seeing, and most sports fans don't want to do that, hence they cling to such cliches... but that's not really the case with you or most people here.
Really? That's what happened during the 2016 finals?
 

InstaFace

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Really? That's what happened during the 2016 finals?
I don't want to discount Draymond's suspension, but they clearly made a lot of adjustments throughout the series. My point, though, was that series score is not necessarily destiny. As I shouldn't have remind posters on a Red Sox board, of course... but for to anyone who might think such a phrase has value, it might be necessary.
 

ElUno20

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Jul 19, 2005
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Yeah, but I'm just wondering why that is, which will be particularly important if the Cs play GSW in the finals. Quick check of the internet shows that Curry thinks its endurance related but I know other people are speculating that he's not quite healed from the knee. Or maybe his ankle isn't 100% since he apparently injured it four times this season.

It would be weird to me if the knee was still bothering him as they certainly could have let him take another week to 10 days off by sitting him against the Pelicans. That and the fact that in the limited amount I followed the Pels series, his knee didn't seem to come up in the conversations.
It's probably endurance but to me he just doesn't look great moving laterally.
 

JCizzle

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Dec 11, 2006
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So Steph is healthy now? It's hard to keep track.

Rockets with some offensive possessions that make even the Celtics of yesterday look good. So many lazy passes
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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I know they never call it but Chris Paul really carries the ball.
The ball has to come to a complete and significant rest. The way Paul and Harden have perfected their change of pace it is nearly impossible for an official to identify the ball coming to this rest at game speed. I've seen Harden get away with it at times but Paul's appears legal.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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Houston with just a complete lifeless effort; especially on offense. They seem completely checked out and it’s the WCF!