NBA 2018 Playoffs Thread

[SparzWizard]

Don't know if this Jazz team can beat the Big 4 of the Golden State Warriors.

They may have dismantled them in the regular season, but postseason Warriors are a different monster.

[blink]

wow, Jazz beat the Rockets on the road!
impressive.

Harden's and Chris Paul'sl disappointing playoff performances continue...

[footey]

Love it.

[liam]

JAZZ vs CELTICS finals?

[SparzWizard]

JAZZ vs CELTICS finals?

NBA will never let that happen! Besides, it's not fun without Gordon Hayward 

[rondofan1255]

Don't know if this Jazz team can beat the Big 4 of the Golden State Warriors.

They may have dismantled them in the regular season, but postseason Warriors are a different monster.

2017 Jazz got swept by GSW, just like Raptors got swept by CLE last year

[liam]

JAZZ vs CELTICS finals?

NBA will never let that happen! Besides, it's not fun without Gordon Hayward 

It would be a blast!

[Adelaide Celt]

Joe Ingles - Adelaide's finest.

Just a reminder, a few years ago Doc Rivers deemed him not worthy of the 15th roster spot on the Clippers. 

[KGs Knee]

Joe Ingles - Adelaide's finest.

Just a reminder, a few years ago Doc Rivers deemed him not worthy of the 15th roster spot on the Clippers. 

Joe Ingles is amazeballz

Friggen' love that dude.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Not a fan of the Jazz.  Too similar to the Celts in that they've been an overachieving, well-coached bunch with high character guys. 

[liam]

Joe Ingles - Adelaide's finest.

Just a reminder, a few years ago Doc Rivers deemed him not worthy of the 15th roster spot on the Clippers. 

Joe Ingles is amazeballz

Friggen' love that dude.

When Joe Ingles signed that contract, 4 years 52 million I thought it was an overpay but he's earning every penny.

[jpotter33]

Well, Chuck guaranteed a Sixers win tomorrow night, so given his track record so far this postseason, I think we should feel pretty good about this one. 

[DefenseWinsChamps]

JAZZ vs CELTICS finals?

NBA will never let that happen! Besides, it's not fun without Gordon Hayward 

What if Hayward comes back for the finals. That would be really fun.

Seriously though, the Jazz are a good team. The fact that they stole one of the first two games in Houston matters. Their home crowd has been awesome in the playoffs. It may not be likely, but there is a chance that the Jazz are up 3-1 going back to Houston.

[celticsclay]

It's funny jazz have had a more impressive post season than 76ers, but even before they were playing the Celtics hats all we heard about. Jazz are a great young team. Mitchell seems like a future all star for sure and gobert is only 25. Great pair to build around

[celticsclay]

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.

I don't know man. If just one of the tips or three pointers goes in in the last minute they win and everyone is talking about how different the team is. Is Freddy Vander Fleet somehow spooked too? He had a great look, and he it was just unlucky for him that he missed it. The Cavs definitely stole that game. The Cavs could absolutely win the series, but piling on them now has gotten out of control.