NBA Season 2022-23

[Phantom255x]

POOLE! BANG!!

[Phantom255x]

CURRY! Ballgame.

Thank you Warriors. Sixers lose and a little breathing room for the C’s for the 2 seed 

[jpotter33]

Thanks GS! Now if Denver and Phoenix can do us some more favors tomorrow (particularly Denver), that’d be great!

[Phantom255x]

OKC-LAL heading towards an intense finish as well

[GetLucky]

May be a hot take, but I want the Celtics to have the #2 seed. I'd rather face Philly than Cleveland in the second round, and I actually think Cleveland matches up the best with the Bucks in terms of Giannis-defending. The poor % from corners would make it tough to win a series, but I want Giannis punching it out with Mobley and Allen before potentially facing the Celtics.

[Phantom255x]

May be a hot take, but I want the Celtics to have the #2 seed. I'd rather face Philly than Cleveland in the second round, and I actually think Cleveland matches up the best with the Bucks in terms of Giannis-defending. The poor % from corners would make it tough to win a series, but I want Giannis punching it out with Mobley and Allen before potentially facing the Celtics.

I still prefer the 1 seed, but I can certainly live with the 2 seed as well. What we CAN'T do though is get the 3 seed. I'm very confident MIA will at minimum be the 6 seed. Probably between them and the Knicks for who gets 5 seed and who gets 6. So the 3 seed's likely 1st round opponent would be Miami or New York, which is definitely not going to be as easy.

The 2 seed likely faces BKN/ATL which should be easy though.

I'm confident we can beat PHI in a series even without HCA, but my bigger concern would be first round opponent. A series with NY/MIA would be a slog and possibly go 6+ games whereas I think we can easily handle BKN/ATL in 5

The Heat and Nets do play each other tonight which will be a big game. Nets are just 0.5 behind MIA currently, but have been trending down for a bit now. Knicks play the Heat next Wednesday as well

[hpantazo]

The Warriors and Lakers are making a late push. Do you guys think either or both can turn it on and make a legit run in the playoffs ?

[Billz401]

Further proof that NBA refs think the fans are at the games to see them.. Ridiculous

https://youtu.be/H2Z28_3NQ-k

[Goldstar88]

The Warriors and Lakers are making a late push. Do you guys think either or both can turn it on and make a legit run in the playoffs ?

Yep. As long as they are healthy by then. The Lakers FO made some nice moves at the deadline.

D-Russell, Reeves, Lebron, Vanderbilt, AD with Schroder, Beasley, Hachimura off the bench is a much better rotation than what they started the season with. I think they could upset Denver or Memphis.

Warriors have seemed bored all year. They were on a 12 game road losing streak at one point. They will turn it on once the playoffs start. 

[Phantom255x]

The Warriors and Lakers are making a late push. Do you guys think either or both can turn it on and make a legit run in the playoffs ?

They both definitely can. I still pick Denver to make the Finals BUT I don’t see any “surefires” in the West either. Denver can be beat. So can Phoenix. The wild card is if KD can actually come back and stay healthy because then PHO may be the favorite from the West, but will they have gained enough chemistry and experience playing as a group with KD by then? We’ll see.

Golden State, despite being trash on the road may still have a path to finish as the 4 seed in the West if they have a strong next few weeks lol

[jpotter33]

The Warriors and Lakers are making a late push. Do you guys think either or both can turn it on and make a legit run in the playoffs ?

To be honest, I have no idea what to think of the West. It’s all going to come down to matchups. Assuming health, you could probably make an argument with the right matchups for any team to be in the WCF at least, with at least 5 or 6 of the teams having a plausible  path to the Finals.

And then I think they get smashed in the Finals by whoever represents the East.

[blink]

The Warriors and Lakers are making a late push. Do you guys think either or both can turn it on and make a legit run in the playoffs ?

To be honest, I have no idea what to think of the West. It’s all going to come down to matchups. Assuming health, you could probably make an argument with the right matchups for any team to be in the WCF at least, with at least 5 or 6 of the teams having a plausible  path to the Finals.

And then I think they get smashed in the Finals by whoever represents the East.

I dunno I still feel the sting of that finals loss to GS, and they looked pretty decent beating Philly last night.  It could be that GS was playing possum all year again, and they flip the switch in the playoffs. 

[Goldstar88]

Shams Charania: Sources: The Portland Trail Blazers are leaning toward shutting down All-Star Damian Lillard for the season’s final nine games. The franchise is seriously considering taking precautions as Lillard deals with calf injury and the team is 3.5 games out of Play-In Tournament race. – via Twitter ShamsCharania

[Phantom255x]

In shocking news, Ben Simmons has been shut down for the season

Jack Vaughn basically said it in a "yeah we already knew, who cares" kind of way lol. Between that and him rolling his eyes in an interview months ago discussing Ben's "knee issues", I think even he's sick of the drama.

Anyways, he has nerve impingement on his back (which he received surgery on as well), to go along with all the knee issues he has too and the shoulder. I'm not sure Simmons will play much longer in the NBA. Those are some serious injuries. I think once his contract ends, he's done. I think he's lost the passion for basketball as well, sorry but I don't see any evidence from the past 3 years suggesting he actually cares and it's not just the injuries hampering him. That's my own opinion.

To me, it's also telling that Embiid basically said he didn't care anymore about the Simmons drama once he orchestrated his trade out of PHI. Embiid's considered a very likeable teammate and model guy, and even he was annoyed about it all and basically stopped speaking with Simmons, even after he defended him to the media many times in the past

[radiohead]

Some interesting games today, bucks vs nuggets and sixers vs suns.