Agree with this, but looking at the standings the other day, I thought, "Wow, the Cavs have lost 4 games in 2 1/2 months. Its going to be a challenge for them to lose 4 games on two weeks."
Yup. I just want whatever the person who picked Denver is smoking lol. Jokic is averaging 2.5 minutes higher than any previous season in his 10th year in the league. I'm sure that will work out well when he needs energy for the playoffs!
One thing is for sure.. whoever comes out of the west is going to be beaten up.. like when the Celts had to go through Cleveland and the Heat while west coast teams had relatively easy paths to the finals.
Yes.. there are multiple iterations of this.. the Eastern conference isn’t easy’ at the moment but the path through the west is significantly harder… even last year the Mavs were almost surely more exhausted by the time they got to the finals.
Obviously that is the question on OKC can they actually be healthy for postseason. If they are they are the huge favorites in the west, and may make fairly quick work of the western gauntlet
I am still torn on the value here for OKC, but it depends on what it costs. i think he would be a huge upgrade on Isiah joe (less so on Andrew Wiggins), but I do think he's a 12 PPG player in OKC, and not worth 2 or 3 #1s
A 12ppg player who opens up the whole floor is pretty dang valuable.
Apart from whether or not Cam Johnson is the right guy for OKC, they should be at a point in their development where it's ok to overpay for small gains in title equity. They've got all of these picks that they can't possibly utilize effectively, and the players already under contract are clearly a top tier title contender. All teams hit a point where winning the trade is less important that the improved play you get on the court, and while it can be difficult for teams to determine exactly when they hit that point, OKC is clearly there.
The Knicks have an unsolvable problem: Their two best players are defensive liabilities, particularly on the perimeter. Their offense is arguably the best in the league and Towns/Brunson are surrounded by above average to all defense level players so maybe it's enough to put them over the top, but I don't think so.
Yeah, forget Boston--I don't see how they can get by Cleveland with that setup, or anyone out west.
Thunder frontcourt tonight is 6'3 (Joe), 6'4"(Dort), and then 6'9" (JWill). Obviously helps that this is one of those game with Isiah Joe can't miss. JDub is out tonight
Exactly. They'd be foolish to play the "well, Cam Johnson's value is precisely X and we won't go higher" game. When you're in the Thunder's position, a player like Johnson who could tip the balance in playoff series has way more than his abstract value. Seems like a perfect fit to me and, if Presti agrees, then he should top whatever the market is to make the trade happen. They've stockpiled all those assets for a reason.
This is kind of right, NY has no chance to win a series against BOS (or OKC). They do have a shot against CLE but it would necessitate Mitchell Robinson for at least 20-25 minutes at the 5, dominating Allen like he did in the playoffs two years ago.
I want to clarify that, while I like Boston's chances against OKC, Cleveland has a very very real shot to beat Boston.
I dunno. I'm not saying CLE has no shot but seems to me that they would be decided underdogs.
I think I'm just wayyy higher on Garland, offensively, than most. He wasn't himself in the Boston series last year, and looked like he was still coming back from that injury.
He absolutely was still recovering. On its face (no pun intended) you wouldn't think a broken jaw is the kind of injury that would effect you months after returning to play, but he's said that he lost 12-15 pounds while recovering (not being able to eat solid food for weeks will do that), pretty significant given that his listed weight is just 192. Nearly impossible to gain that weight back during the season, he was very much not himself for the remainder of the year. And I think he's taken a solid step forward this year, just in the way that 25 year old all-stars tend to do.
He hasn't been great against BOS this year either.
Is it really a daunting run? I guess in theory if the Thunder crap out anything is possible, but honestly, I think they'd be the favorites to take the first 2 series in 5, and Denver would have to play an amazing series to keep up with the Thunder as they are just so much deeper.
On pace for 68 wins and currently have the best net rating of all time, just ahead of the 96 Bulls. They likely are getting better every game, because they are so young. Even beyond the lack of experience they aren't perfect (I think their offense will struggle against good half-court defenses and teams that take care of the ball in the playoffs, especially if SGA has an off night), but the ceiling is incredibly high.
SGA never had a 50 point game in his career before he just did it 3 times in 7 games.
Just to answer this again, tonight’s NY @ IND game was a big one for NY to potentially drop. If IND had won at home, they’d be 3 back in the loss column with 30 left plus the 2-1 series tiebreaker. But NY won, so they’re 5 up on IND and 6 on MIL and have won both season series.
I think we've seen in the past that Thibs wants to win every game, torpedoes be damned!
Yeah, the Knicks are getting the #2 or #3 seed, which is great for Boston. The Bucks are mediocre, but 4-7 games of the Giannis battering ram is never fun physically.
Thanks to the injury break for OG the Knicks only have 3 players in the top 5 in minutes played total this season: #1 (Bridges), #2 (Hart), #5 (Brunson). [Ant is #3 and JT #4].
This assumes that the Bucks don't slip to the 6 slot. Unlikely, but they only have a 2 game lead on Detroit right now. I wouldn't love a 3-6 first round matchup vs. the Bucks for the reason you mentioned.
