NBA 2018 Playoffs Thread

[Beat LA]

After last night, does anyone think that TOR will actually win this series or are they mentally toast?

I've never seen a team so completely forget everything they were trying to do the way the Raps did in the fourth quarter of that game last night.

Jonas Valanciunas was the only one who didn't already look defeated before the game was even over.

I have zero faith in the Raptors after that game.  They look like they feel that they are underdogs even though they won ~60 games with a huge point differential and have home court against the weakest LeBron team since 2007.

I'm not sure that I would agree. Wright, Siakam, Miles, and even Poeltl, at times, looked fine out there, to me. The real surprise was an almost complete no-show from Ibaka, imo. He has a nice turnaround/fadeaway jumper, and yet the Raptors never even tried to make Lebron work when he was guarding The Serge Protector .

Not that I'm surprised, of course, but still - ugh.

[PhoSita]

I'm not sure that I would agree. Wright, Siakam, Miles, and even Poeltl, at times, looked fine out there, to me.

Mostly for me it was about how Lowry and Derozan suddenly were unable to create any good shots for themselves or others and were apparently spooked by the Cavs trapping.

You don't really expect the lead stars of a 60 win team to look so hapless late in a game.  You expect that the main guys of a really good team would know where their spots are and know how to get to those spots, or at least make the opponent sell out some other part of their defense to prevent them getting to those spots.

Not so for the Raptors.

It really felt like the Raptors regressed back to 2015 in the span of a few minutes.

[SHAQATTACK]

Lowry and Rozen need to play BRON minutes ......its the playoffs ,  not a time to rest .

If that stupid coach wants to win ....do or die put your two bestplayers in NOW ,   its do or die ,  play em 48 minutes .   Lowry fat little rear needs the exercise anyway.

Bron is maning up   for his team by  play huge mi utes ......Raptors need to do same or go home.

[celticsclay]

I have never seen so many people bury a team after a single overtime loss in a 7 game series.

[PhoSita]

I have never seen so many people bury a team after a single overtime loss in a 7 game series.

Seems irrational right?  It totally is.

But still, I was really blown away by how visibly the Raptors wilted in the moment trying to beat LeBron.

Some of that was confirmation bias, I guess -- it was what I feared happening and it seemed like that's exactly what happened.

But I can't explain how that game went any other way.  The Cavs are not a good team, LeBron is the only player on that team I fear right now (given that Love is clearly playing hurt).  The Raptors should be able to score on them.

Yet there the Raps were, despite everything they'd said all season about how they've changed, the offense bogging down, and their two All-Star guards completely unable to get a good shot and seemingly lacking any confidence to take a shot in crunch time.

The only guy on the floor who looked like he believed the Raptors should win the game was Valanciunas, and he apparently had spent himself by the end of the fourth quarter because he missed layup after layup.  Either that or Tristan Thompson had him spooked and rushing his attempts.


Bottom line, yeah, it's irrational, but it's also really hard to reach any other conclusion than that the Raptors -- or at least Lowry and Derozan -- mentally folded.  Yes, it's only the first game, but it's also hard to not assume based on the last few years of playoff history that Game 1 won't be representative of the rest of the series.

[SHAQATTACK]

I have never seen so many people bury a team after a single overtime loss in a 7 game series.

the raptors earned that crap storm ....oh but yet if it was the Celtics,  the Raptors will all play lke Top 10 players       Lebron is in the their heads ....oh its Bron and Cavs lets make this hard ..   SMH

They are scard .....its mental .....like Pat Riley said the aura of  a superstar sometimes just disconnects the team from playing how they should . m they play in HIS moment not theirs....smh

massive choke

[BudweiserCeltic]

So... how about that Jazz 1st Quarter?

[hpantazo]

Alec Burks is out of the box! He's got the talent, this may be the opportunity to re-assert himself that he's needed.

[Bucketgetter]

There have been so many blowouts this year

[gouki88]

Alec Burks is out of the box! He's got the talent, this may be the opportunity to re-assert himself that he's needed.

Really glad to see him get an opportunity. Always liked him, despite his injuries

[Phantom255x]

There have been so many blowouts this year

I know it's difficult with all our injuries, but it would be nice to get blowout victories more often like we did in Game 1 (if you consider winning by 16 and for the most part controlling the game as a "blowout").

These close, high intensity playoff games for the C's just gives me anxiety (especially when they play on the road). Basketball is a game of runs, and it's real fast paced nowadays with the extra emphasis in transition and perimeter shooting.

[liam]

The Jazz are killing it tonight. If The Jazz had Smart instead of Exum... Smart is built to play against a Harden type player.

[liam]

There have been so many blowouts this year

I know it's difficult with all our injuries, but it would be nice to get blowout victories more often like we did in Game 1 (if you consider winning by 16 and for the most part controlling the game as a "blowout").

These close, high intensity playoff games for the C's just gives me anxiety (especially when they play on the road). Basketball is a game of runs, and it's real fast paced nowadays with the extra emphasis in transition and perimeter shooting.

It gives the other team anxiety as well. I do enjoy a good blow out.

[Phantom255x]

There have been so many blowouts this year

I know it's difficult with all our injuries, but it would be nice to get blowout victories more often like we did in Game 1 (if you consider winning by 16 and for the most part controlling the game as a "blowout").

These close, high intensity playoff games for the C's just gives me anxiety (especially when they play on the road). Basketball is a game of runs, and it's real fast paced nowadays with the extra emphasis in transition and perimeter shooting.

It gives the other team anxiety as well. I do enjoy a good blow out.

Yep, fair point.

Honestly though, to me, everything from here on out is just a bonus. To get the 2 seed and win a playoff series with the injuries we've had is remarkable, and we've also taken 1 game against another future powerhouse of the East that's mostly healthy (besides Fultz I guess). Even if they lose the series, I'm proud of them, though I still think BOS *at least* wins another game this series (I predict this series goes 6 or 7 games).

[gouki88]

There have been so many blowouts this year

I know it's difficult with all our injuries, but it would be nice to get blowout victories more often like we did in Game 1 (if you consider winning by 16 and for the most part controlling the game as a "blowout").

These close, high intensity playoff games for the C's just gives me anxiety (especially when they play on the road). Basketball is a game of runs, and it's real fast paced nowadays with the extra emphasis in transition and perimeter shooting.

It gives the other team anxiety as well. I do enjoy a good blow out.

Yep, fair point.

Honestly though, to me, everything from here on out is just a bonus. To get the 2 seed and win a playoff series with the injuries we've had is remarkable, and we've also taken 1 game against another future powerhouse of the East that's mostly healthy (besides Fultz I guess). Even if they lose the series, I'm proud of them, though I still think BOS *at least* wins another game this series (I predict this series goes 6 or 7 games).

We'll sweep them Phantom, just you wait and see