NBA Playoffs 2023

[RJ87]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

[Roy H.]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Gotta feel good to be Maxey, Harris, Tucker, etc.

[RJ87]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Gotta feel good to be Maxey, Harris, Tucker, etc.

It's crazy that your best player and MVP exempts himself and the other former MVP when neither of them showed up. I hope one of those guys calls them out because that unacceptable.

[cman88]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Gotta feel good to be Maxey, Harris, Tucker, etc.

It's crazy that your best player and MVP exempts himself and the other former MVP when neither of them showed up. I hope one of those guys calls them out because that unacceptable.

yeah, yikes is right. He did this the other game as well throwing his team under the bus.

But, when you have 15 points on 5-18 shooting and Harden has 9 on 3-11 not sure you should be calling out everyone else

[cman88]

Time to start rooting for Denver vs. the lakers. wonder if this is the series where their talent finally becomes an issue.

I mean they beat an inexperienced and choking grizzlies team. and the Warriors honestly are not a good team this year.

Nuggets might not be an "experienced team" but they have been there before to the Western conference finals. and IMO their talent level is just better than the lakers.

[Who]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Gotta feel good to be Maxey, Harris, Tucker, etc.

It's crazy that your best player and MVP exempts himself and the other former MVP when neither of them showed up. I hope one of those guys calls them out because that unacceptable.

Yeah, bad show by Embiid.

T Harris and Maxey are one of the best combo 3rd & 4th options in the league as well. Not many teams can better that.

I do agree that Philly needs to work on their depth (bench) but Embiid threw those two guys under the bus. They didn't deserve that. Most other stars in the league would kill to have as much support around them as Embiid has in Philly.

[Phantom255x]

Wow Sixers fans on Reddit are absolutely shredding Embiid. Ruthless.

Without him though, the Sixers aren't a contender and probably not even a playoff team though.

I wonder what PHI can do. It's not just Harden, but Harris is also a FA. He's definitely not worth the contract BUT he was still one of their better defenders and it's not like they can just replace him due to cap constraints. Is there a way for them to trade for someone like Lillard while keeping Maxey? That's the only path I see for PHI that keeps them in legit contention. They definitely won't be with just Embiid and Maxey (and yeah, I think Harden's gone, probably going back to Houston)

[gouki88]

So who are people taking in the Lakers nuggets series? I am favoring Denver, but the Lakers have been playing well.

Denver. Their offence is such an impossible riddle to solve, and their defence has been really solid this playoff run. Jokic will also put a lot more physical wear on AD than his prior matchups.

[gouki88]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Gotta feel good to be Maxey, Harris, Tucker, etc.

Maybe if Embiid knew how to pass out of a double team they’d be able to help 

[Phantom255x]

So who are people taking in the Lakers nuggets series? I am favoring Denver, but the Lakers have been playing well.

Denver. Their offence is such an impossible riddle to solve, and their defence has been really solid this playoff run. Jokic will also put a lot more physical wear on AD than his prior matchups.

Yeah I'm going DEN in 6. But they have to go up 2-0 in the series. LAL has been great at home (7-0 including the play-in) and I think if they split the first two at Denver, that's advantage Lakers. DEN can definitely take a game on the road, but I doubt they can take more than 1. Also puts early pressure on DEN if LAL steals a game early. Need to come out and attack them

[RJ87]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Gotta feel good to be Maxey, Harris, Tucker, etc.

It's crazy that your best player and MVP exempts himself and the other former MVP when neither of them showed up. I hope one of those guys calls them out because that unacceptable.

yeah, yikes is right. He did this the other game as well throwing his team under the bus.

But, when you have 15 points on 5-18 shooting and Harden has 9 on 3-11 not sure you should be calling out everyone else

Makes me really appreciative for our guys because neither of the Jays would ever do this.

[Moranis]

I think the Lakers beat the Nuggets.  They've been the best team in basketball since the all star break, are an excellent defensive team, and have the 2nd and 3rd best players in the series with a very large gap to anyone else.  They have a lot of depth as well, so their lesser players don't have to be on every night for them to get the requisite points from the "others".  Jokic will be great, but I just don't trust Murray, Porter, Gordon, etc. to give him enough support for Denver to win 4 games.  I also think this will be a Vanderbilt and Hachimura series.  The Warriors were tiny and the Lakers didn't need to go with Vanderbilt and Hachimura as much (Walker and Schroder got a lot more run).  Against Denver, I'd expect to see them both a lot more minutes, maybe even more than they were used against Memphis (might even see Tristan Thompson get some burn to put a fresh body on Jokic).  That is why I really liked all the moves the Lakers made at the deadline, it just gave them so many more options to play match-ups in the playoffs, and Ham has done that really well so far. 

I don't think it really matters who comes out of the West though, just as last year when I believed the winner of the 2nd round series involving Boston was going to win the title (with the Bucks eliminated), I think that way again.  So I believe Boston will win the title dispatching Miami in 5 and then win the title in 6.  Hopefully I won't be wrong this year as I was last year.

[gouki88]

I think the Lakers beat the Nuggets.  They've been the best team in basketball since the all star break, are an excellent defensive team, and have the 2nd and 3rd best players in the series with a very large gap to anyone else.  They have a lot of depth as well, so their lesser players don't have to be on every night for them to get the requisite points from the "others".  Jokic will be great, but I just don't trust Murray, Porter, Gordon, etc. to give him enough support for Denver to win 4 games.  I also think this will be a Vanderbilt and Hachimura series.  The Warriors were tiny and the Lakers didn't need to go with Vanderbilt and Hachimura as much (Walker and Schroder got a lot more run).  Against Denver, I'd expect to see them both a lot more minutes, maybe even more than they were used against Memphis (might even see Tristan Thompson get some burn to put a fresh body on Jokic).  That is why I really liked all the moves the Lakers made at the deadline, it just gave them so many more options to play match-ups in the playoffs, and Ham has done that really well so far. 

I don't think it really matters who comes out of the West though, just as last year when I believed the winner of the 2nd round series involving Boston was going to win the title (with the Bucks eliminated), I think that way again.  So I believe Boston will win the title dispatching Miami in 5 and then win the title in 6.  Hopefully I won't be wrong this year as I was last year.

Least surprising take I’ve seen in a while. Been a while since you’ve fawned over the Lakers, who will lose

[Moranis]

I think the Lakers beat the Nuggets.  They've been the best team in basketball since the all star break, are an excellent defensive team, and have the 2nd and 3rd best players in the series with a very large gap to anyone else.  They have a lot of depth as well, so their lesser players don't have to be on every night for them to get the requisite points from the "others".  Jokic will be great, but I just don't trust Murray, Porter, Gordon, etc. to give him enough support for Denver to win 4 games.  I also think this will be a Vanderbilt and Hachimura series.  The Warriors were tiny and the Lakers didn't need to go with Vanderbilt and Hachimura as much (Walker and Schroder got a lot more run).  Against Denver, I'd expect to see them both a lot more minutes, maybe even more than they were used against Memphis (might even see Tristan Thompson get some burn to put a fresh body on Jokic).  That is why I really liked all the moves the Lakers made at the deadline, it just gave them so many more options to play match-ups in the playoffs, and Ham has done that really well so far. 

I don't think it really matters who comes out of the West though, just as last year when I believed the winner of the 2nd round series involving Boston was going to win the title (with the Bucks eliminated), I think that way again.  So I believe Boston will win the title dispatching Miami in 5 and then win the title in 6.  Hopefully I won't be wrong this year as I was last year.

Least surprising take I’ve seen in a while. Been a while since you’ve fawned over the Lakers, who will lose

All about match-ups.  I had them losing to Phoenix in this round before the playoffs started (correctly predicted a win over Memphis and Golden State).  I was totally wrong about Phoenix though.  But they don't have the depth of the Lakers, which is why I do still think the Lakers will win. I thought the combo of Durant/Booker would be too much for the Nuggets to keep pace with, but the Suns just got nothing from Ayton, Paul, etc. that it didn't matter what Booker and Durant did.  I don't think the Lakers "others" are going to do nothing all series long and that will be the difference.  Sure some games Russell won't show up, but they have Reaves or Hachimura or Vanderbilt, etc. 

And I wouldn't be surprised if Jokic was a 60/40/90 player averaging a 30 point triple double.  I just don't think Murray and company have enough.  I could be wrong.  It is a prediction after all, but analyzing the teams I just think the Lakers match-up well with the Nuggets.  They have a lot of size and play excellent defense.  And they have about 6 different people that could score 20 on any given night.

[hpantazo]

Joel postgame: "Me and James, we can't win alone."

Yikes. What a take.

Great to see the MVP throwing his teammates under the bus after him and his sidekick played like crap in game 7.