NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2017-18

K.O.Kiki

Game 6 LeBron incoming.

2smiggy

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Game 6 LeBron incoming.

I agree, probably another monster game from him coming, and needed for them. Even with that, he can't do it all himself.

NufcNavan

Steph and KD continue to struggle to score down the stretch in a tight playoff game. I absolutely love it.

I expect a dubs beat down in GS. But if Houston keeps it close, id expect Kd to continue to come up small in big moments. He quietly had this same issue in OKC (think the finals against Lebron, and the WCF against GS after being up 3-1)

2smiggy

NufcNavan wrote: »

Steph and KD continue to struggle to score down the stretch in a tight playoff game. I absolutely love it.

I expect a dubs beat down in GS. But if Houston keeps it close, id expect Kd to continue to come up small in big moments. He quietly had this same issue in OKC (think the finals against Lebron, and the WCF against GS after being up 3-1)

watched the second half , great game to watch. Was good to see KD and Steph miss so much. Chris Paul had a great game, and even gave Steph the shimmy after knocking down a three !!

At the same time Harden went 0/10 from three, so Houston had struggles of their own, and still won. Paul went down injured with a few minutes to go, not sure if that puts him out injured.

Could yet be a Celtics - Houston (Chris Paul less) finals :eek::eek:

K.O.Kiki

NufcNavan wrote: »

Steph and KD continue to struggle to score down the stretch in a tight playoff game. I absolutely love it.

I expect a dubs beat down in GS. But if Houston keeps it close, id expect Kd to continue to come up small in big moments. He quietly had this same issue in OKC (think the finals against Lebron, and the WCF against GS after being up 3-1)

Durant was never going to win with Westbrook at his side.

LuckyLloyd

Houston vs Celtics would certainly be a welcome departure and stick it to the likes of me who have viewed the Finals as a foregone conclusion for the whole season!

McLoughlin

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Houston vs Celtics would certainly be a welcome departure and stick it to the likes of me who have viewed the Finals as a foregone conclusion for the whole season!

I think 99% of people had a Warriors V Cavs Part IV finals penciled in since the preseason. I hope not though i rather something different and the NHL final at the moment looks like a better option than Warriors V Cavs Part IV.

Carcharodon

Lasts night game nearly drove me crazy screaming at the tv, so many bad decisions by the warriors down the stretch.
They really left that behind them, Warriors are a better team but Houston are are hungrier team right now.
Give credit to that knob Chris Paul, he was unreal.
Warriors should win in Oakland and it should go to game 7. If Paul is injured then advantage warriors big time, if iggy can get back it would make a massive difference, Looney is just not cutting it

Gwynplaine

In Snapchat highlights I saw LBJ do a double dribble, and travel several times.

Itssoeasy

Chris Paul will miss game six of the western conference finals. A Boston Houston finals would be a repeat of the 1981 and 1986 finals. The only difference would be that Houston(well the WCF winner) would have home court advantage.

Itssoeasy

Game 6 is starting now. If the Celtics get Lebron standing with his hands on his hips then the Celtics have it.

LuckyLloyd

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Game 6 is starting now. If the Celtics get Lebron standing with his hands on his hips then the Celtics have it.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Game 6 LeBron incoming.

:pac:

Well I can't really add much to the plaudits on how good he was last night. We just take it for granted. One more performance for the ages. For them to win Sunday he needs another every bit as good as it, which is hard to expect of a 33 year old with so many miles on the clock this season alone.

Itssoeasy

Well what can you say about Lebron that isn't repeating yourself.

ButtersSuki

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Durant was never going to win with Westbrook at his side.

Oh ffs. Really?

Did you even watch that series? It took an out of this world Klay Thompson game in OKC where he hit some ridiculous shots to pull them out of the hole they were in. KD was awful in games 6 and 7 of that series, and you can’t blame that solely on Russ.

Is it Russ’s fault KD has struggled and made some really poor decisions and plays in crunch time in this series too, particularly in the last 2 games?

ButtersSuki

Even with Boston’s home court record this off season I’m still very worried about tomorrow night. It would be simply astonishing if this team gets to the finals.

LuckyLloyd

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Even with Boston’s home court record this off season I’m still very worried about tomorrow night. It would be simply astonishing if this team gets to the finals.

They're the far better team overall this series. LeBron will need to put up another 40point+ triple double minimum for them to have a chance. And even then, they're just so much better coached and organised across the floor.

McLoughlin

Come Monday I will be in a form of amazement that either (a) The Cavs got to the NBA finals without Kyrie or (b) The Celtics got to the NBA finals without Kyrie

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

They're the far better team overall this series. LeBron will need to put up another 40point+ triple double minimum for them to have a chance. And even then, they're just so much better coached and organised across the floor.

I’m aware of all of that, but it’s one game. No Celtics player has Game 7 experience at Conf Finals level, LeBron has a history of great games in Boston, he’s in exceptional (even by his standards) form right now, etc.

Looking forward to it anyway but not exactly confident.

ButtersSuki

For personal reasons I haven’t been on boards much this week.

What’s been shocking to me from a GS perspective is how much they’ve underestimated Houston, how much they’ve been stopped/thwarted defensively by Houston, how bad they’ve been in crunch time, etc. They look very off.

KD looks like a big part of the problem tbh, both on court and off (in that his contract stops them having much of a bench). Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of his game, but they’re not clicking as a team right now and he’s made some bad decisions in the last 2 games in particular.

Perhaps most shocking to me is that it appears like D’Antoni is out-coaching Kerr. Now some of this is luck and outcomes etc. (i.e. a certain shot goes in for them or vice versa Houston misses and the result is different etc.), but the overwhelming thing I see is they’re just so complacent and overconfident. It seems like they think that somehow they think they’ll win no matter what hole they get into. That couple of % mentally being off could cost them. They’ve been complacent all season TBH, but most people thought they’d switch it on for the play offs.

They might get bailed out of jail if Paul is out for Game 7, but that’s a break they can’t have backed on. On the flip Iggy being out kills them.

I’d be very worried if I was them. If they lose they have to accept it’s partially on them.

K.O.Kiki

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Game 6 LeBron incoming.

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

For personal reasons I haven’t been on boards much this week.

What’s been shocking to me from a GS perspective is how much they’ve underestimated Houston, how much they’ve been stopped/thwarted defensively by Houston, how bad they’ve been in crunch time, etc. They look very off.

KD looks like a big part of the problem tbh, both on court and off (in that his contract stops them having much of a bench). Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of his game, but they’re not clicking as a team right now and he’s made some bad decisions in the last 2 games in particular.

Perhaps most shocking to me is that it appears like D’Antoni is out-coaching Kerr. Now some of this is luck and outcomes etc. (i.e. a certain shot goes in for them or vice versa Houston misses and the result is different etc.), but the overwhelming thing I see is they’re just so complacent and overconfident. It seems like they think that somehow they think they’ll win no matter what hole they get into. That couple of % mentally being off could cost them. They’ve been complacent all season TBH, but most people thought they’d switch it on for the play offs.

They might get bailed out of jail if Paul is out for Game 7, but that’s a break they can’t have backed on. On the flip Iggy being out kills them.

I’d be very worried if I was them. If they lose they have to accept it’s partially on them.

You took the words right out of my mouth.
They are complacent and are playing with fire in a hungrier more motivated Houston team. They also seem to be a bit too confident that they will still win, granted they should always win at home, with or without Chris Paul playing but they should take a moment to self reflect on how they are playing
I also agree with KD, it’s hard to criticize such a great player that gets you close to 30pts a game but while curry and Thompson are constantly cutting and getting open he tends to want to play his own game and prove he is the best there. His defense has off and his rebounding shocking for his size. It’s a little harsh but he tends to disrupt the Warriors flow at times. His attitude has been a little off at times in interviews also but that’s nitpicking
I never thought Kerr was a great x&os coach but a great man manager, his player management skills are exceptional.

Warriors should win today even if cp3 was playing or not but they are on thin ice. They don’t put this to bed early and anything could happen.
If there is a game 7, you know Chris Paul will play even if it’s for a few mins to get crowd going and motivate players, will be tough for Warriors

Also, can I get a f...ing hard foul, what is wrong with these players. I think players are afraid of media and social media backlash if they throw out a hard foul, might hurt their brand. All the players are friends too I suppose so no one wants to upset anyone

ButtersSuki

Carcharodon wrote: »

Also, can I get a f...ing hard foul, what is wrong with these players. I think players are afraid of media and social media backlash if they throw out a hard foul, might hurt their brand. All the players are friends too I suppose so no one wants to upset anyone

Yeah what’s up with that? Seems to have disappeared completely.

Carcharodon

Closest thing we got in this series was Draymond shoving harden in game 1, set the tone for the game and warriors won. Since then it’s been poor.
Chris Paul will do anything to win, you see him constantly pushing off and swinging the elbows, I don’t see why a warriors player can’t put a few hard fouls on him, it’s fair game when the other player is very physical too.
Bring in zaza is what I say, he won’t hold back

McLoughlin

Well Kevin Love is out for game 7 due to concussion. More pressure on LeBron and company.

ButtersSuki

McLoughlin wrote: »

Well Kevin Love is out for game 7 due to concussion. More pressure on LeBron and company.

For his rebounding and spacing alone (I know a lot of people in here don’t rate him offensively from a scoring perspective), that could be a huge game changer. Advantage Boston on this.

Carcharodon

Warriors getting blown out in first quarter. Just shocking basketball, trade the lot...lol

Carcharodon

I think I might have a heart attack, the stress

Carcharodon

Warriors pull away in the end but my god they played one of the worst 1st quarters I’ve ever seen, it was embarrassing.
They pulled back, got their defense together, Thompson had a great game.
Easy in the end but I don’t think the score line tells the whole story, something looked off with them at times, Durrant looked out of sorts.
Probably over analyzing it but i get a little bit of smugness off them, as if they think they got this, maybe they do but don’t get too cocky.

Got a lot of respect for Houston, they are definitely bringing it, game seven is going to be off the hook

ButtersSuki

Haven’t watched it yet just looked at the boxscore but down 17 win by 29? Bizarre game. Very bizarre.

Houston - a team that scored 50 in a quarter in these playoffs - score 25 in a half and 47 in 3 quarters. Not sure how many teams ever scored less than 10 points in a quarter at Conf. Finals stage but Houston managed it. I assume they just threw in the towel in the 2nd half but they were up at the half so it’s very strange.

K.O.Kiki