Western Conference Finals

[angryguy77]

 if I trusted this team more, I'd say give me LA. However I don't trust them and nor the NBA to not give LeRoid a nice little ending to his story.
Give me Denver.....I think.

[SparzWizard]

Denver is the #1 seed but I'm not sold on their playoff run. And they're always cursed. It's gonna be Lakers winning the West. I would entertain the idea of a Denver vs Boston Finals tho.

Celtics need to do their part and take care of Miami.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Who do you have winning?  Who do you want to win?  Why?

I'm torn.  The best possible ending to this season is beating Lebron and the Lakers in the Finals, for any number of reasons.  The guy historically gave us so many problems in the playoffs; he's an epic whiner; it's the Lakers.

But, I also hate risk.  The best way to guarantee the Lakers don't win is if they don't advance to the Finals.  I can glve with losing to Jokic, and if we collapse in the ECF, I'd be fine seeing Denver win.  Not so much Lebron and the Lakers.

This where I'm at.

[Neurotic Guy]

I’m risk aversive, anxiety aversive, and Laker aversive.

Don’t want any chance for Lakers to win. Hope Denver crushes them.
 
Don’t want the unbearable tension of a Cs-LAL Finals with #18 on the line.

As for who will win, no comment - but I want Boston and Denver.

[Redz]

I’m risk aversive, anxiety aversive, and Laker aversive.

Don’t want any chance for Lakers to win. Hope Denver crushes them.
 
Don’t want the unbearable tension of a Cs-LAL Finals with #18 on the line.

As for who will win, no comment - but I want Boston and Denver.

Ditto

Should we make it to the Finals the joy of beating the Lakers doesn't measure up to how sick I'd be about losing to Bronnie Brand Lakers.  They're not even a real team.  Just ick...

[gouki88]

I would love little more than to beat LeBron and the Lakers in the Finals. I'm not sure anything would taste sweeter. I am fully confident we would be able to beat them, but the idea of being on the receiving end of another 2010 would break me I feel.

I also don't think they beat the Nuggets. The Nuggets offence is unbelievable, led by the best player in the world, and they've finally got some health. Their defence has also improved a lot these playoffs.

Only issue is I do not want to face Jokic in the Finals, given the possessed way he's playing. But the Nuggets are the team I want to win the 2nd most, after Boston (duh!).

[Kernewek]

I would love little more than to beat LeBron and the Lakers in the Finals. I'm not sure anything would taste sweeter. I am fully confident we would be able to beat them, but the idea of being on the receiving end of another 2010 would break me I feel.

I also don't think they beat the Nuggets. The Nuggets offence is unbelievable, led by the best player in the world, and they've finally got some health. Their defence has also improved a lot these playoffs.

Only issue is I do not want to face Jokic in the Finals, given the possessed way he's playing. But the Nuggets are the team I want to win the 2nd most, after Boston (duh!).

Have been rolling around this post in my head a bit and I think I care less about the fate of this team than I did the 2010 team - mostly because they're all a lot younger. The worst part of 2010 was that we all knew that these guys were on a clock (and 2009 had shown just how fragile things could be) and we watched the referees hand us a loss. I don't feel that way with the current squad - most of them will be back next season and they're young, save Al.

Now, handing the banner race advantage to the Lakers on the back of LeBron's likely last year as a top-tier NBA player? that sucks, but it's not nearly as soul-crushing.

[Donoghus]

I would love little more than to beat LeBron and the Lakers in the Finals. I'm not sure anything would taste sweeter. I am fully confident we would be able to beat them, but the idea of being on the receiving end of another 2010 would break me I feel.

I also don't think they beat the Nuggets. The Nuggets offence is unbelievable, led by the best player in the world, and they've finally got some health. Their defence has also improved a lot these playoffs.

Only issue is I do not want to face Jokic in the Finals, given the possessed way he's playing. But the Nuggets are the team I want to win the 2nd most, after Boston (duh!).

Have been rolling around this post in my head a bit and I think I care less about the fate of this team than I did the 2010 team - mostly because they're all a lot younger. The worst part of 2010 was that we all knew that these guys were on a clock (and 2009 had shown just how fragile things could be) and we watched the referees hand us a loss. I don't feel that way with the current squad - most of them will be back next season and they're young, save Al.

Now, handing the banner race advantage to the Lakers on the back of LeBron's likely last year as a top-tier NBA player? that sucks, but it's not nearly as soul-crushing.

Conversely, taking the banner lead against the Lakers, of all teams, led by a notorious Celtics killer (2012-onward) Lebron would be the utmost satisfaction. 

You take the banner lead back, beat the Lakers, & break this Lebron curse all in one fell swoop?  That'd be incredible.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I most want a Celtics-Lakers final, for obvious reasons, but it's also my greatest basketball fear, because losing to the Lakers—especially when it would mean them taking the title lead over Boston—would just be awful. Even more so because I live in SoCal and most of my friends are HUGE Lakers fans, so I wouldn't even have fellow Celtics fans here in person to commiserate with.

But ... to beat a Lakers team led by LeBron ... that would just be ... the BEST.

[Kernewek]

I would love little more than to beat LeBron and the Lakers in the Finals. I'm not sure anything would taste sweeter. I am fully confident we would be able to beat them, but the idea of being on the receiving end of another 2010 would break me I feel.

I also don't think they beat the Nuggets. The Nuggets offence is unbelievable, led by the best player in the world, and they've finally got some health. Their defence has also improved a lot these playoffs.

Only issue is I do not want to face Jokic in the Finals, given the possessed way he's playing. But the Nuggets are the team I want to win the 2nd most, after Boston (duh!).

Have been rolling around this post in my head a bit and I think I care less about the fate of this team than I did the 2010 team - mostly because they're all a lot younger. The worst part of 2010 was that we all knew that these guys were on a clock (and 2009 had shown just how fragile things could be) and we watched the referees hand us a loss. I don't feel that way with the current squad - most of them will be back next season and they're young, save Al.

Now, handing the banner race advantage to the Lakers on the back of LeBron's likely last year as a top-tier NBA player? that sucks, but it's not nearly as soul-crushing.

Conversely, taking the banner lead against the Lakers, of all teams, led by a notorious Celtics killer (2012-onward) Lebron would be the utmost satisfaction. 

You take the banner lead back, beat the Lakers, & break this Lebron curse all in one fell swoop?  That'd be incredible.

Oh, of course - it's the best possible road to victory and it's just shy of the 10 year anniversary of the KG and Pierce trade with Brooklyn, which would put a nice bow on it.

But for now, I have to root for Denver. Because we always cheer for two teams: the Celtics, and whoever beats the Lakers.

[Phantom255x]

I'm picking Denver in 6

BUT I also feel Denver has to start this series 2-0. If LAL splits the first two, they have the advantage. LAL is 7-0 at home this postseason (including play-in game). Denver could take a game on the road, but I doubt they can take more than that. Of course, they can simply protect their HCA to win the series. Going up 2-0 would put a lot of pressure on the Lakers.

I don't think this is a "paper tiger" Nuggets team like previous years. Jokic has much better help and a better team around him than previous years. Murray's been awesome and Jokic has been playing like the true  best player in the postseason

[CelticSooner]

When you see the Lakers living at the line in this series your choice will be clear. Go Nuggets

[mobilija]

I want the Lakers to lose and the Celtics to win.

If the Lakers lose this round or next, I don't care.

If the Celtics win the championship this year or the next five, I want them all!

[cman88]

I think this is when the Lakers talent finally rears its head. they still are an 8th seed facing a #1 seed. and Anthony Davis is bi-polar.

they caught a grizzlies team that was young and inexperienced. and then faced a golden state team that lets face it was a pretty bad team all year.

[SparzWizard]

I'm picking Denver in 6

BUT I also feel Denver has to start this series 2-0. If LAL splits the first two, they have the advantage. LAL is 7-0 at home this postseason (including play-in game). Denver could take a game on the road, but I doubt they can take more than that. Of course, they can simply protect their HCA to win the series. Going up 2-0 would put a lot of pressure on the Lakers.

I don't think this is a "paper tiger" Nuggets team like previous years. Jokic has much better help and a better team around him than previous years. Murray's been awesome and Jokic has been playing like the true  best player in the postseason

Lakers were able to get the split in the first two games of their last two series. I think they'll be able to get the split here (Nuggets to lose Game 1), defend home-court and go up 3-1. Denver will be under pressure.

Tho the difference between 2020 bubble and this meeting is...they played at a neutral site. Now they're playing in Denver's actual home which is high altitude. Wonder how well LeBron and AD fare in this environment.