OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD -May 2021

But if the Clippers lose it doesn't matter if Denver loses - Denver would stay 3rd.

 

They definitely can do that but different coaches have different philosophies on whether or not it's smart to lose games on purpose. We'll obviously see very quickly if they sit guys or not. The crazy thing is that all of these teams jockeying for position play at 6 on Sunday. So it's going to be very hard for them to make sure they get the seed they want. It's really really tricky stuff.

 

Yes. It all depends now if the Clippers can pull together a team that is worse than OKC for 48 minutes

 

The real question is also for Dallas. Do they really want the Clippers in the first round? Wouldn’t it make more sense to also loose to get the nuggets?

 

They could tank, but assuming the Lakers will win both games and we win against Denver, it would be a 3 way tie, and Dallas would be 5th

 

You guys keep talking about who wants to play the Lakers and Mavs. These teams don't want to face the Blazers.
The Blazers are playing the best basketball of any team in the league right now?

 

Weird that our playoff hopes may ride on a shot by Caris Lavert for the second year in a row.

 

Last year:

 

if the Blazers beat Denver, the Lakers are 7th. No 3-way tie

 

I'm pretty sure the Clippers and Jazz would not fear playing Portland, assuming the Jazz are healthy

in fact, I'd say all 8 seeds represent danger for for at least half the other teams. I sure don't want to see Portland in a play-in games against the Warriors

 

Every way you look at it I am very sure The Clippers, Jazz and even the Suns respect what the Blazers are going to bring to the playoffs.
It's not just their health?
The Blazers are playing very well and are also healthy which has not been the case for like the last 2 years. Yes I'm being a bit sarcastic but it's kind of true? Even three if you look at the way they ended the playoff run they had.
I agree the Warriors are playing well. They seemed to dodge a bullet with that rolled ankle to Poole. I'm very sure they will get respect as well in the playoffs and i believe they will advance.

Another team in the east that should be getting more respect in my opinion is the Hawks. That team has some players and they have been playing very well the last 20 games.

 

No way Lakers lose to the Pacers.
Its all about revenue in the league, and the Lakers/Clips -Nets/Knicks is the jack pot the league hopes for at some point.

 

Correct, i was wrong

 

They about to get killed by the Lakers, zero chance

 

A healthy Lakers team will beat the Pacers, all Nuggets has to do is let us win lol

 

last first: I agree, the Hawks are a dangerous team. They have a couple of young potent offensive players in Young and Collins; and Young gets to the FT line at an extremely high rate and shoots nearly 90% when he does. That's a factor in the playoffs. They have some +40% three point shooters in Bogdonavic', Gallo, & Snell. They have Lou Williams coming of the bench now who has been shooting over 44% from three for them. They have good defense at the wing in Reddish, Hunter, and Hill (health is a question). And they have a very mobile rim protector in Capela who leads the league in rebounding and is top-5 in blocks, but still quite capable of defending on the perimeter. They aren't 4th seed by fluke. They even have a good mix of youth and experience and their roster fit is great

as far as teams fearing Portland, I'd say there's more respect than fear. Denver may be the only top-4 seed worried about the Blazers, and they wouldn't be, IMO, if Murray was healthy.

I think teams fear what Dame can do; how he can carry Portland to improbable wins. That's why we've see at least 6 seasons straight of playoff teams twisting their defense into full-tilt-stop-Dame mode. The two times in the last 6 seasons when Portland advanced out of the first round was when teams didn't use that kind of defense: the Clippers in 2016 when CP3 & Griffin got hurt and Austin Rivers was nursing a bad ankle; OKC in 2019 when Billy Donovan decided Dame could be single covered. That same year, Denver did a less aggressive version of it, mainly because they didn't have defensive length at guard, and Jokic is not mobile enough to effectively double on the PnR

I think this is why Denver is the most favorable matchup for Portland. They still don't have the personnel with the length and speed to shut down Dame. The other three top seeds do

 

I dont think the Nugg's fear the Lakers. In fact they will look at it like pay back time and the Lakers prob fear the Nuggs. They will not hand us the game to avoid Lakers.

 

I agree with you if Jamal is healthy. Not this year