After recording and watching enough playoff games to have a feel for the goings on:
1) Denver is great to watch. Feels like the GSW pre-Durant days.
2a) Hartenstein is living up to the (Arash?) hype. Love the gritty guys the Knicks put together.
2b) Embiid spends more time on the floor than any C I’ve ever seen (unless you call Brian Cardinal a C) and he should invest in elbow and knee pads if he’s going to keep playing that way.
3) Chet Holmgren scares me. SGA gets the hype, but it’s not an accident that they got the #1 seed this year. Something about the attitude the rookie plays with indicates he will happily rip your heart out and just consider it his due.
4) The Heat will always go toe to toe with the Celtics. Not sure this series will be like years past, but I’d be clenching if I were a Celtics fan. If only because Seeing Celtics fans crumble is soo satisfying.
5) Will Doc’s coaching magic lead to a first round exit?
6) The Warriors just need to get Wiggins and Klay going to make an extended playoff run, wait what? The Playoffs already started? Did anyone tell the Mavs and Clippers that? Never seen such low intensity playoff games in the West.
7) Not sure Durant is going to be able to carry team USA to another gold, good thing Ant’s on that team too. Someone should tell him to iso less and spot up more in his old age. Maybe it’s a lack of passing on the Suns, but they are a rough watch sometimes. Or is Minn just that good?
It really is amazing how influential New York is internationally as a cultural, financial, etc. hotspot and yet how irrelevant in sports. They've often had not one but two bad teams in the various major sports. Please please don't correct me with regard to outliers, a team over in hockey that won for a while, or some correction about what borough or adjacent city teams are located in.
Can we agree that historically, other than the Yankees, OVERALL, New York produces far fewer winning sports teams than one might expect?
I never ever ever will accept that Madison Square Garden is the Mecca of anything. If you gave me a free ticket to go see an exciting NBA game somewhere at the glorious hub of NBA fandom, I'd choose a lot of places before MSG. OKC, Sacto, GSW, Denver, hey transport me back to Seattle games. 90s Chicago. Or: I hate Boston and Lakers but ya gotta admit those have been core NBA franchises. But New York? They have sucked for fifty years and they really aren't that great right now, either. Jalen Brunson is not the MVP. He is very good. That's nice. A lot of players are very good. I'm not mad at him but he's getting overhyped. Josh Hart on the other hand is way underhyped.
This definitely is a thing, and in my view a thing that goes in the Players Can Actually be Wrong file. They have fallen for hype. It happens. I mean, if you look at that linked article, they have as their sixth greatest player of all time ... ready? PAUL PIERCE. It goes Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, Steph, Magic, Paul Pierce.
Yes, you have heard the Truth here.
It's not Kareem, it's not Bird, it's not Olajuwon or Shaq or Bill Russell. It's PAUL PIERCE. Lol.
I am with the lovers of underdog hustle here, but as a lover of beautiful basketball I am rooting for OKC to take it all. The game they played last night reminded me of the heyday of the Dubs: everyone on the floor moving with intention, passing with vision and accuracy, defending with heart. I know aesthetics only get you so far, and I wouldn't be sad to see the Nuggets repeat, but OKC's my new second-favorite team.
Unfortunately while everyone seems to l like SGa - I find him unwatchable from an aesthetics point of view. I guess basketball southpaws are just not attractive to me unlike in some other sports.
On the one hand, OKC is a very nice young team and in some ways represent the Right Way™ of teambuilding, on the other hand the OKC fanbase is annoying, petty and ungrateful. Can't bring myself to hope for them to win.
I've found it impossible to get interested in the playoffs, but mostly my rooting interests are against, rather than for, any team.
As long as neither of the LA teams win, I'll be OK. I'd be vaguely discontented to have Boston, Minny, Miami, or Dallas win, but it wouldn't last very long.
Aesthetically, yes, but the abomination of a fracking billionaire stealing the Sonics from Seattle with ecocidal blood money AND THEN stealing our mascot Thunder shall never be rewarded with a title.
And they're soft, so I don't see them winning either. I think I will enjoy watching them lose in the end, even more than some other teams I more actively dislike.
I think this might be my first comment on this site, though I subscribed pretty early. I hate to ever root for NY or LA because SF inferiority complex. My mom was born in Philly, Embiid seems like an okay human, and I do love that retro 76ers song, but I’m rooting for the Knicks because Donte. I love hustle and underdogs.
Ah, but does SF really suffer from an inferiority complex? I would venture to suggest that we revel in an indulgent _superiority_ complex more of the time :)
I don't even know what this "competition" is... I sorta get it, but mostly not really... is it a competition for highest population? Most money flowing through? Popularity?
I, like all non-NY/LA residents, get a bit frustrated by the national media coverage focus on the NY/LA stuff... as well as the east coast bias... but I understand where it comes from, even though I don't like it. I dislike people from those places who don't understand it.
One more vote for Donte and also teams really shouldn't be rewarded for intentionally being bad. Then again, the end result of the process was the Ben Simmons/James Harden fiasco so maybe that was punishment enough.
I'm happy for DDV to do well. But do I really care about this game -- or what happens in the NBA playoffs? Not so much, other than I'd be glad for LeBron and Durant to crash out -- James for obvious reasons, Durant because I'm happy for him to excel while winning his last championship with the Ws.
After thinking about it slightly longer, I'd also like LAC to be eliminated forthwith (Harden, Leonard, and Ty Lue) and for the Celtics to be upset somewhere along the way, early if possible.
The more I think about it, I am actually coming around to being OK with boston or NY in the east winning over anybody in the west - simply because Boston already had a dynasty and NY - well, they will never have one, so we dont have to worry about anybody else thinking dynasty:-)
New thread with Steph Clutch award news: https://dubnationhq.com/p/update-steph-curry-is-the-2023-24?r=3lm3s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Eric - I'm shocked about the omissions of Kelly Oubre as a former Dub and Kyle Lowry as a villain. Too early for Cancun?
What happened to the Cavs? They are being walloped by the Magic.
I'm actually surprised Lebron let Ham hang around for this long lol
Doesn't want that rep even though he's already there.
His fixers, stans, etc. have kept him relatively clean there, lol
After recording and watching enough playoff games to have a feel for the goings on:
1) Denver is great to watch. Feels like the GSW pre-Durant days.
2a) Hartenstein is living up to the (Arash?) hype. Love the gritty guys the Knicks put together.
2b) Embiid spends more time on the floor than any C I’ve ever seen (unless you call Brian Cardinal a C) and he should invest in elbow and knee pads if he’s going to keep playing that way.
3) Chet Holmgren scares me. SGA gets the hype, but it’s not an accident that they got the #1 seed this year. Something about the attitude the rookie plays with indicates he will happily rip your heart out and just consider it his due.
4) The Heat will always go toe to toe with the Celtics. Not sure this series will be like years past, but I’d be clenching if I were a Celtics fan. If only because Seeing Celtics fans crumble is soo satisfying.
5) Will Doc’s coaching magic lead to a first round exit?
6) The Warriors just need to get Wiggins and Klay going to make an extended playoff run, wait what? The Playoffs already started? Did anyone tell the Mavs and Clippers that? Never seen such low intensity playoff games in the West.
7) Not sure Durant is going to be able to carry team USA to another gold, good thing Ant’s on that team too. Someone should tell him to iso less and spot up more in his old age. Maybe it’s a lack of passing on the Suns, but they are a rough watch sometimes. Or is Minn just that good?
If the Heat go insanely unsustainably hot from three to beat the Celtics a second year in a row I'm going to laugh so hard.
OT: I didn't know they were making a film about the Donald Sterling tapes lol
Gotta say Laurence Fishbourne looks the part as Doc Rivers lol
https://youtu.be/WPIcQNMQchQ?si=AmnDxmeFs3NZ6IXM
It really is amazing how influential New York is internationally as a cultural, financial, etc. hotspot and yet how irrelevant in sports. They've often had not one but two bad teams in the various major sports. Please please don't correct me with regard to outliers, a team over in hockey that won for a while, or some correction about what borough or adjacent city teams are located in.
Can we agree that historically, other than the Yankees, OVERALL, New York produces far fewer winning sports teams than one might expect?
I never ever ever will accept that Madison Square Garden is the Mecca of anything. If you gave me a free ticket to go see an exciting NBA game somewhere at the glorious hub of NBA fandom, I'd choose a lot of places before MSG. OKC, Sacto, GSW, Denver, hey transport me back to Seattle games. 90s Chicago. Or: I hate Boston and Lakers but ya gotta admit those have been core NBA franchises. But New York? They have sucked for fifty years and they really aren't that great right now, either. Jalen Brunson is not the MVP. He is very good. That's nice. A lot of players are very good. I'm not mad at him but he's getting overhyped. Josh Hart on the other hand is way underhyped.
It’s the coolest, most historic NBA arena but yeah, it hasn’t had many memorable moments in the last 20 years
Sure it has. From the visiting teams.
I generally agree with you. However, the recent NBA player poll had MSG as the runaway Favorite Arena to play in, so the players do think MSG is (a) Mecca. https://theathletic.com/5433545/2024/04/22/nba-player-poll-2024-lebron-jordan-goat-celtics-nuggets-rudy-gobert-timberwolves/
This definitely is a thing, and in my view a thing that goes in the Players Can Actually be Wrong file. They have fallen for hype. It happens. I mean, if you look at that linked article, they have as their sixth greatest player of all time ... ready? PAUL PIERCE. It goes Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, Steph, Magic, Paul Pierce.
Yes, you have heard the Truth here.
It's not Kareem, it's not Bird, it's not Olajuwon or Shaq or Bill Russell. It's PAUL PIERCE. Lol.
They’ve probably fallen for the “…if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere” hype.
I am with the lovers of underdog hustle here, but as a lover of beautiful basketball I am rooting for OKC to take it all. The game they played last night reminded me of the heyday of the Dubs: everyone on the floor moving with intention, passing with vision and accuracy, defending with heart. I know aesthetics only get you so far, and I wouldn't be sad to see the Nuggets repeat, but OKC's my new second-favorite team.
Unfortunately while everyone seems to l like SGa - I find him unwatchable from an aesthetics point of view. I guess basketball southpaws are just not attractive to me unlike in some other sports.
He's not a lefty.
Not a Mullin fan?
On the one hand, OKC is a very nice young team and in some ways represent the Right Way™ of teambuilding, on the other hand the OKC fanbase is annoying, petty and ungrateful. Can't bring myself to hope for them to win.
I've found it impossible to get interested in the playoffs, but mostly my rooting interests are against, rather than for, any team.
As long as neither of the LA teams win, I'll be OK. I'd be vaguely discontented to have Boston, Minny, Miami, or Dallas win, but it wouldn't last very long.
I’m with you hoping OKC takes it all, and also with not being upset with a Nuggets repeat.
Aesthetically, yes, but the abomination of a fracking billionaire stealing the Sonics from Seattle with ecocidal blood money AND THEN stealing our mascot Thunder shall never be rewarded with a title.
And they're soft, so I don't see them winning either. I think I will enjoy watching them lose in the end, even more than some other teams I more actively dislike.
I think this might be my first comment on this site, though I subscribed pretty early. I hate to ever root for NY or LA because SF inferiority complex. My mom was born in Philly, Embiid seems like an okay human, and I do love that retro 76ers song, but I’m rooting for the Knicks because Donte. I love hustle and underdogs.
Welcome... well to the chat I guess. Careful, it can get addicting.
Ah, but does SF really suffer from an inferiority complex? I would venture to suggest that we revel in an indulgent _superiority_ complex more of the time :)
I agree. SF is so full of itself it thinks it competes with the biggies. I still love it. EB native NB resident.
I don't even know what this "competition" is... I sorta get it, but mostly not really... is it a competition for highest population? Most money flowing through? Popularity?
I, like all non-NY/LA residents, get a bit frustrated by the national media coverage focus on the NY/LA stuff... as well as the east coast bias... but I understand where it comes from, even though I don't like it. I dislike people from those places who don't understand it.
Lawyerball.
Gloriously done, sir.
One more vote for Donte and also teams really shouldn't be rewarded for intentionally being bad. Then again, the end result of the process was the Ben Simmons/James Harden fiasco so maybe that was punishment enough.
I root for Donte. Raises my interest slightly above coin toss.
I'm happy for DDV to do well. But do I really care about this game -- or what happens in the NBA playoffs? Not so much, other than I'd be glad for LeBron and Durant to crash out -- James for obvious reasons, Durant because I'm happy for him to excel while winning his last championship with the Ws.
After thinking about it slightly longer, I'd also like LAC to be eliminated forthwith (Harden, Leonard, and Ty Lue) and for the Celtics to be upset somewhere along the way, early if possible.
The more I think about it, I am actually coming around to being OK with boston or NY in the east winning over anybody in the west - simply because Boston already had a dynasty and NY - well, they will never have one, so we dont have to worry about anybody else thinking dynasty:-)
Yeah. Can we arrange for everyone to be eliminated?
Stolen from Reddit: “he's got a Jerry West, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem and Bill Russell trophy at home”
If ever they give a three point award in the future, it should be named the Stephen Curry trophy.
Deserved. Thought DeRozen was going to win because reasons, glad to be wrong!
I predict SGA gets MVP, cuz he didn't get the CPOY consolation prize
Jokic is going to win going away
Woo! Go Steph!
As soon as you said 7:00 shit show I immediately thought you were referring to DEN-LAL.
Sad…I haven’t watched much this year and I haven’t watched a single game since the Dubs were bounced. I’ve become a casual 😭
Let’s see if the League and referees have the balls to stand up to the Lakers aka Lebron and not award them all the FTs they need to win.