2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[Who]

Lakers are starting to turn it on a bit here, absolutely crushing OKC in LA. They’ve beat some good teams now in the last week including the Clippers and Thunder, they also gave Denver a good run for their money until down the stretch.

Yup. The naysayers here were saying otherwise. They could be a 7th or 8th seed coming in looking to upset teams esp if they draw OKC or Minnesota. Never count out LeBron James and healthy AD in the postseason

lol some guys here want this to be true so bad. I do actually think they have a chance of beating OKC cause OKC was pretty dumb to not get a big body alongside Chet. AD just dominates Chet. But aside from that we are 60 games into the season teams aren’t suddenly turning things around without any roster changes. The lakers lose to the suns, have a nice win against the clippers, play terrible against wizards and squeak by in overtime. Lose to the nuggets. Play well against the thunder. This is what they have been doing all season and why they are a few games above .500 60 games in.

the Lakers have been up and down all year, but they were 19-21 in mid January and are 15-8 since.  So that is a quarter of the season at a 53 to 54 win pace (they were also 24-25 and are 10-4 since, but that is a smaller sample size so i took the bigger one). They have 7 of their next 8 at home as well so they could keep it up even with playing some better teams in that stretch.  They then have a 6 game road trip in the central and Eastern time zones, though have several bad teams in it.

You can manipulate certain stretches of any season to make a team look like they are playing better or worse. In reality, a lot of it is scheduling and catching a few breaks (in your favor or against you). In this stretch the lakers have piled up some wins against the blazers, spurs, hornets, pistons, wizards and Knicks down multiple starters. They also had their inexplicable win against us without AD or Lebron. As the saying goes, you are what your record says you are and they are a pretty average team out west. This is a lot different than last year where they overturned half their roster before the deadline and their pieces fit together better after improving their chances. This team has been remarkably healthy in their top 4 all year and they really don’t have any new additions playing major minutes. What exactly would they have figured out? Is Lebron suddenly unlocking a new part of his game at 40? Is AD? And also to be fair, part of what was amusing about this is that there have been like 4 points this season we have had people saying “are the lakers figuring things out” on this thread (along with other teams). I guess I’m just ready for the playoffs to start. Also I do think with the right matchup the lakers could win a series and one of those good matchups for them
Is against the Thunder.

OKC might be the only top 6 seed that I think LAL can beat in a playoff series.

Everyone else will make short work of LAL.

I know the regular season doesn't always translate to the post season but against the top 6 here are the Lakers records

Min 0-2
OKC 3-1
Den 0-3
LAC 3-1
NO 2-1
Pho 3-2

So they struggle against the 2 teams with real legit big men capable of pushing Davis around, but beat the more guard and wing centered teams.  That seems about right to me and come playoff time when Lebron goes full bore every game, I think that will magnify.

Denver is the only team the Lakers need to avoid and perhaps the Wolves (though they are young I think they could get Lebronned).  Everyone else they can at least hang with, if not outright beat.

Mmm ... yeah, I'll change what I said earlier.

OKC is the only one of the top 4 teams that I think LAL can beat in a 7 game series. I like the other 3 (Nuggs, Clips, Wolves) over LAL.

I do like LAL versus New Orleans and Phoenix. I am actually surprised both are there. New Orleans very inconsistent & immature. LeBron's brain can out-think them. He can run LAL's offense more efficiently, low mistake basketball, and just exploit their immaturity.

Phoenix is a close battle that is up for grabs for either team. I'd favour LAL slightly because AD should be the difference there, and if he is not, he should be ashamed of himself. If AD can't destroy Nurkic, it would be pitiful.

New Orleans have been very disappointing. They have the talent to compete for a title. Just no leadership. Neither Zion or Ingram is ready to lead that team. I don't think Ingram ever will be. Zion might get there someday but he sure is taking his sweet time to get there (to grow up).

[celticsclay]

Lakers are starting to turn it on a bit here, absolutely crushing OKC in LA. They’ve beat some good teams now in the last week including the Clippers and Thunder, they also gave Denver a good run for their money until down the stretch.

Yup. The naysayers here were saying otherwise. They could be a 7th or 8th seed coming in looking to upset teams esp if they draw OKC or Minnesota. Never count out LeBron James and healthy AD in the postseason

lol some guys here want this to be true so bad. I do actually think they have a chance of beating OKC cause OKC was pretty dumb to not get a big body alongside Chet. AD just dominates Chet. But aside from that we are 60 games into the season teams aren’t suddenly turning things around without any roster changes. The lakers lose to the suns, have a nice win against the clippers, play terrible against wizards and squeak by in overtime. Lose to the nuggets. Play well against the thunder. This is what they have been doing all season and why they are a few games above .500 60 games in.

the Lakers have been up and down all year, but they were 19-21 in mid January and are 15-8 since.  So that is a quarter of the season at a 53 to 54 win pace (they were also 24-25 and are 10-4 since, but that is a smaller sample size so i took the bigger one). They have 7 of their next 8 at home as well so they could keep it up even with playing some better teams in that stretch.  They then have a 6 game road trip in the central and Eastern time zones, though have several bad teams in it.

You can manipulate certain stretches of any season to make a team look like they are playing better or worse. In reality, a lot of it is scheduling and catching a few breaks (in your favor or against you). In this stretch the lakers have piled up some wins against the blazers, spurs, hornets, pistons, wizards and Knicks down multiple starters. They also had their inexplicable win against us without AD or Lebron. As the saying goes, you are what your record says you are and they are a pretty average team out west. This is a lot different than last year where they overturned half their roster before the deadline and their pieces fit together better after improving their chances. This team has been remarkably healthy in their top 4 all year and they really don’t have any new additions playing major minutes. What exactly would they have figured out? Is Lebron suddenly unlocking a new part of his game at 40? Is AD? And also to be fair, part of what was amusing about this is that there have been like 4 points this season we have had people saying “are the lakers figuring things out” on this thread (along with other teams). I guess I’m just ready for the playoffs to start. Also I do think with the right matchup the lakers could win a series and one of those good matchups for them
Is against the Thunder.

OKC might be the only top 6 seed that I think LAL can beat in a playoff series.

Everyone else will make short work of LAL.

I know the regular season doesn't always translate to the post season but against the top 6 here are the Lakers records

Min 0-2
OKC 3-1
Den 0-3
LAC 3-1
NO 2-1
Pho 3-2

So they struggle against the 2 teams with real legit big men capable of pushing Davis around, but beat the more guard and wing centered teams.  That seems about right to me and come playoff time when Lebron goes full bore every game, I think that will magnify.

Denver is the only team the Lakers need to avoid and perhaps the Wolves (though they are young I think they could get Lebronned).  Everyone else they can at least hang with, if not outright beat.

Mmm ... yeah, I'll change what I said earlier.

OKC is the only one of the top 4 teams that I think LAL can beat in a 7 game series. I like the other 3 (Nuggs, Clips, Wolves) over LAL.

I do like LAL versus New Orleans and Phoenix. I am actually surprised both are there. New Orleans very inconsistent & immature. LeBron's brain can out-think them. He can run LAL's offense more efficiently, low mistake basketball, and just exploit their immaturity.

Phoenix is a close battle that is up for grabs for either team. I'd favour LAL slightly because AD should be the difference there, and if he is not, he should be ashamed of himself. If AD can't destroy Nurkic, it would be pitiful.

New Orleans have been very disappointing. They have the talent to compete for a title. Just no leadership. Neither Zion or Ingram is ready to lead that team. I don't think Ingram ever will be. Zion might get there someday but he sure is taking his sweet time to get there (to grow up).

I agree they could beat the Pelicans for the reasons you just mentioned but it seems very unlikely they would play the Lakers in the first round and them meeting up in the second round would be two pretty big upsets.
Related, do the Pelicans blow this up if they lose in the first round this year? It doesn't seem like that core of CJ, Jonas, Ingram and Zion will have much further growth. CJ and Jonas will also be 33 and 32 next season. 

[liam]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39659718/sources-patty-mills-joining-heat-remainder-season

Of course...

[Moranis]

Lakers are starting to turn it on a bit here, absolutely crushing OKC in LA. They’ve beat some good teams now in the last week including the Clippers and Thunder, they also gave Denver a good run for their money until down the stretch.

Yup. The naysayers here were saying otherwise. They could be a 7th or 8th seed coming in looking to upset teams esp if they draw OKC or Minnesota. Never count out LeBron James and healthy AD in the postseason

lol some guys here want this to be true so bad. I do actually think they have a chance of beating OKC cause OKC was pretty dumb to not get a big body alongside Chet. AD just dominates Chet. But aside from that we are 60 games into the season teams aren’t suddenly turning things around without any roster changes. The lakers lose to the suns, have a nice win against the clippers, play terrible against wizards and squeak by in overtime. Lose to the nuggets. Play well against the thunder. This is what they have been doing all season and why they are a few games above .500 60 games in.

the Lakers have been up and down all year, but they were 19-21 in mid January and are 15-8 since.  So that is a quarter of the season at a 53 to 54 win pace (they were also 24-25 and are 10-4 since, but that is a smaller sample size so i took the bigger one). They have 7 of their next 8 at home as well so they could keep it up even with playing some better teams in that stretch.  They then have a 6 game road trip in the central and Eastern time zones, though have several bad teams in it.

You can manipulate certain stretches of any season to make a team look like they are playing better or worse. In reality, a lot of it is scheduling and catching a few breaks (in your favor or against you). In this stretch the lakers have piled up some wins against the blazers, spurs, hornets, pistons, wizards and Knicks down multiple starters. They also had their inexplicable win against us without AD or Lebron. As the saying goes, you are what your record says you are and they are a pretty average team out west. This is a lot different than last year where they overturned half their roster before the deadline and their pieces fit together better after improving their chances. This team has been remarkably healthy in their top 4 all year and they really don’t have any new additions playing major minutes. What exactly would they have figured out? Is Lebron suddenly unlocking a new part of his game at 40? Is AD? And also to be fair, part of what was amusing about this is that there have been like 4 points this season we have had people saying “are the lakers figuring things out” on this thread (along with other teams). I guess I’m just ready for the playoffs to start. Also I do think with the right matchup the lakers could win a series and one of those good matchups for them
Is against the Thunder.

OKC might be the only top 6 seed that I think LAL can beat in a playoff series.

Everyone else will make short work of LAL.

I know the regular season doesn't always translate to the post season but against the top 6 here are the Lakers records

Min 0-2
OKC 3-1
Den 0-3
LAC 3-1
NO 2-1
Pho 3-2

So they struggle against the 2 teams with real legit big men capable of pushing Davis around, but beat the more guard and wing centered teams.  That seems about right to me and come playoff time when Lebron goes full bore every game, I think that will magnify.

Denver is the only team the Lakers need to avoid and perhaps the Wolves (though they are young I think they could get Lebronned).  Everyone else they can at least hang with, if not outright beat.

Mmm ... yeah, I'll change what I said earlier.

OKC is the only one of the top 4 teams that I think LAL can beat in a 7 game series. I like the other 3 (Nuggs, Clips, Wolves) over LAL.

I do like LAL versus New Orleans and Phoenix. I am actually surprised both are there. New Orleans very inconsistent & immature. LeBron's brain can out-think them. He can run LAL's offense more efficiently, low mistake basketball, and just exploit their immaturity.

Phoenix is a close battle that is up for grabs for either team. I'd favour LAL slightly because AD should be the difference there, and if he is not, he should be ashamed of himself. If AD can't destroy Nurkic, it would be pitiful.

New Orleans have been very disappointing. They have the talent to compete for a title. Just no leadership. Neither Zion or Ingram is ready to lead that team. I don't think Ingram ever will be. Zion might get there someday but he sure is taking his sweet time to get there (to grow up).

I think the Lakers beat the Clippers. Clippers will have a hard time against Davis and Russell. DLo has been playing very efficient quality ball for over a month now and it has really gone under the radar.  And of every player in the league, I do think Lebron will up his game the mostnin the playoffs.  He takes long stretches off these days, but he won't in the playoffs. He isn't what he once was, but I do think he can play like a borderline top 5 player for the entirety of their playoff run. 

I just don't buy the Clippers.  PG and Kawhi are still high level defenders, but they don't have any other defenders and are very small up front.  The fact that Theis has mattered as much as he has, says a lot to me.

[Phantom255x]

You know those videos you sometimes see online where a Dad is playing with his kids (or just an adult going up against some children) and obviously dominating because he's taller than them and stronger. That's what Anthony Davis looked like against some of the OKC players on a few possessions lol. Idk who wins a Thunder-Lakers playoff series but OKC's downfall could come from their lack of size and interior. Even against bigger teams like the Nuggets and Wolves they could have some trouble in the playoffs if they meet.

Right now I still think it's a Wolves-Nuggets WCF, and my Top-3 in order are DEN-MIN-LAC. LAC has injuries and choking tendencies but if Kawhi is healthy he could still make a difference. OKC may finish with a Top-3 seed but unless SGA goes supernova I would be surprised if they reached the WCF.

[celticsclay]

Ben Simmonsis back to square one. For some reason his agent takes the blame for not getting him better medical care https://x.com/legionhoops/status/1765107386321383692?s=46

Got to think there is a decent chance his career may be over. Shame we didn’t really see him again after the hawks series.

[Donoghus]

Ben Simmonsis back to square one. For some reason his agent takes the blame for not getting him better medical care https://x.com/legionhoops/status/1765107386321383692?s=46

Got to think there is a decent chance his career may be over. Shame we didn’t really see him again after the hawks series.

Not winning that draft lottery is one of the best blessings in disguises the Celtics ever had.

[Celtics2021]

Ben Simmonsis back to square one. For some reason his agent takes the blame for not getting him better medical care https://x.com/legionhoops/status/1765107386321383692?s=46

Got to think there is a decent chance his career may be over. Shame we didn’t really see him again after the hawks series.

Not winning that draft lottery is one of the best blessings in disguises the Celtics ever had.

So true.  People thought Brown was a reach at three — we weren’t passing on Simmons at 1.

[No Nickname]

Ben Simmonsis back to square one. For some reason his agent takes the blame for not getting him better medical care https://x.com/legionhoops/status/1765107386321383692?s=46

Got to think there is a decent chance his career may be over. Shame we didn’t really see him again after the hawks series.

Not winning that draft lottery is one of the best blessings in disguises the Celtics ever had.

So true.  People thought Brown was a reach at three — we weren’t passing on Simmons at 1.

Looking back at Ingram (2) vs Brown (3), seeing what you see today, would you have taken Brown at 2 if you were the Lakers GM?

And where would you have slotted Jamal Murray (7)?

In a redo of the 2016 draft I kind of see these four brackets, with it being debatable about who ranks higher in Brackets 1 and 3.

Bracket 1: Brown/Ingram/Murray
Bracket 2: Sabonis
Bracket 3: Siakam/Dejounte Murray
Bracket 4: Hield
Bracket 5: Yabusele











**The Dancing Bear inclusion made you think twice!

[Roy H.]

11-year veteran Isaiah Thomas is joining the Utah Jazz’s G League affiliate Salt Lake City Stars, per @ShamsCharania

[celticinorlando]

Prepare yourselves for the Milwaukee Bucks hype train to reach full speed.

[celticsclay]

Ben Simmonsis back to square one. For some reason his agent takes the blame for not getting him better medical care https://x.com/legionhoops/status/1765107386321383692?s=46

Got to think there is a decent chance his career may be over. Shame we didn’t really see him again after the hawks series.

Not winning that draft lottery is one of the best blessings in disguises the Celtics ever had.

So true.  People thought Brown was a reach at three — we weren’t passing on Simmons at 1.

Looking back at Ingram (2) vs Brown (3), seeing what you see today, would you have taken Brown at 2 if you were the Lakers GM?

And where would you have slotted Jamal Murray (7)?

In a redo of the 2016 draft I kind of see these four brackets, with it being debatable about who ranks higher in Brackets 1 and 3.

Bracket 1: Brown/Ingram/Murray
Bracket 2: Sabonis
Bracket 3: Siakam/Dejounte Murray
Bracket 4: Hield
Bracket 5: Yabusele











**The Dancing Bear inclusion made you think twice!

For health alone Ingram isn’t even a conversation against brown. Brown has played almost a full seasons more worth of games. Then on top of that brown is just a better player and his career accomplishments reflect that. Murray is a lot closer than Ingram.

[Celtics2021]

11-year veteran Isaiah Thomas is joining the Utah Jazz’s G League affiliate Salt Lake City Stars, per @ShamsCharania

That was nice of Danny to give IT a place to show off.  I hope he lights it up.

[Celtics2021]

Prepare yourselves for the Milwaukee Bucks hype train to reach full speed.

You know, if everyone wants to forget about the C’s and hype up the Bucks, I’m good with that and will just chuckle to myself quietly in the corner.  It’s quite apparent who the best team is in the league — the debate is about who’s second, but the C’s are so far above everyone, it’s most like who’s third, because no one’s second.

[Vermont Green]

Prepare yourselves for the Milwaukee Bucks hype train to reach full speed.

You know, if everyone wants to forget about the C’s and hype up the Bucks, I’m good with that and will just chuckle to myself quietly in the corner.  It’s quite apparent who the best team is in the league — the debate is about who’s second, but the C’s are so far above everyone, it’s most like who’s third, because no one’s second.

This is exactly what I was thinking.  It is good for the Celtics that everyone seems to be talking about someone else.  Doc has the Bucks playing well.  Good for him.  It is a nice story.  DEN is the defending champs until they aren't, they earned some spotlight.

I just remember that there was a lot of talk about a year ago that no one believed DEN could win in the playoffs.  They aren't built for it, can't believe it until they win it.  Don't play "playoff defense", bla bla bla.  Turned out all they needed was to get healthy.  It is just the way these narratives go.

Tatum can't carry a team, not mentally tough enough.  Coach is too young.  Tatum and Brown can't play together (actually not hearing that one as much lately).  Rely too much on the 3.  And of course, the classic circular argument "until they show me they can win in the finals, I don't believe in them".  Just this season's bla bla bla.