Second round playoff predictions

Warriors in 4
Bullets in 6
Cavs in 4
Comments
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Our Clippers bandwagon already imploded?allpurpleallgold said:Rockets in 5
Warriors in 4
Bullets in 6
Cavs in 4 -
We had a good run. One game.
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Rockets in 6
Warriors in 5
Hawks in 5
Cavs in 7 -
Clippers in 6
Warriors in 5
Hawks in 7
Cavs in 6 -
Clips
Wars
Hawks
Cavs -
Go Mavs!
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When does football season start?
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ThisTierbsHsotBoobs said:When does football season start?
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x9999999TierbsHsotBoobs said:When does football season start?
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San Diego Clippers
Pacifists
Hawks (still)
Cavs -
Penis
Penis
Penis
Penis -
#MyGrizz aren't getting swept. Warriors in 6.
Rockets in 5
Cavs in 6
Hawks in 7 -
Warriors in 3dnc said:#MyGrizz aren't getting swept. Warriors in 6.
Rockets in 5
Cavs in 6
Hawks in 7
Rockets in 6
Cavs in 6
Who fucking cares in 6 -
Warriors in 5
Rockets in 7
Hawks in 7
Bulls in 6 -
Do the Cavs need Love or not? If not they should have kept Wiggins.
If the Bulls don't win this one they never will.
Cavs v Warriors in the Finals. No one else matters -
Love helps the Cavs stretch the court ... much like Bosh did. It's not even about how much production Love/Bosh have playing with LBJ, it's the threat of what they can do that pulls guys just an extra step away from the lane to open up the driving lanes to the basket.
The only way that the Cavs can get the spacing against the Bulls would be to play LBJ exclusively at the 4 and surround him with 3 shooters. The problem is that the remaining bigs for the Cavs (particularly Thompson) are more or less non-factors when it comes to being able to hit mid-range shots so it turns into what LBJ had with the Heat with Birdman and guys like Joel Anthony allowing bigs to help clog up the lane. If you recall when he was with Miami, when guys like Birdman were on the floor, if he wasn't getting offensive boards or easy baskets off of dives, the offense tended to clog up.
I also would expect that the Cavs will really struggle with guarding the bigs of Chicago in this series, particularly if they go small. If they stay big to matchup, then that will force LBJ into being much more of a jump shooter in this series. Best chance that Cleveland has IMO is to go small and cause more problems for Chicago (notably strong shooting from 3) than Chicago is able to cause from Cleveland. -
the nba still sucks
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The only big that Chicago has offensively is Gasol. And the Cavs have Mosgov and Thompson to guard him. The rest can be guarded by LeBron or whoever else is playing the 4. I'm sure Shawn Marion will get more playing time this series. Noah is mainly a passer/screener. Gibson shoots mid range jumpers and Mirotic is a stretch 4 that can be guarded by smaller guys.Tequilla said:Love helps the Cavs stretch the court ... much like Bosh did. It's not even about how much production Love/Bosh have playing with LBJ, it's the threat of what they can do that pulls guys just an extra step away from the lane to open up the driving lanes to the basket.
The only way that the Cavs can get the spacing against the Bulls would be to play LBJ exclusively at the 4 and surround him with 3 shooters. The problem is that the remaining bigs for the Cavs (particularly Thompson) are more or less non-factors when it comes to being able to hit mid-range shots so it turns into what LBJ had with the Heat with Birdman and guys like Joel Anthony allowing bigs to help clog up the lane. If you recall when he was with Miami, when guys like Birdman were on the floor, if he wasn't getting offensive boards or easy baskets off of dives, the offense tended to clog up.
I also would expect that the Cavs will really struggle with guarding the bigs of Chicago in this series, particularly if they go small. If they stay big to matchup, then that will force LBJ into being much more of a jump shooter in this series. Best chance that Cleveland has IMO is to go small and cause more problems for Chicago (notably strong shooting from 3) than Chicago is able to cause from Cleveland. -
It's not what the Chicago bigs can do per se by their ability to shoot the ball or score in the low post as much as what they will be able to do on the glass. Both Noah and Gibson are very strong rebounders.
Take your prediction that a smaller guy can guard Noah (let's say either LBJ or Marion). You are absolutely right that Noah is a terrific screener. Put LBJ in a position to guard him. Noah will go out and put a solid screen on which usually results in a strong hedge from a big to allow the guard to get back in position. LBJ on the other hand is far more likely to direct switch in such a situation due to his skill set and an unfamiliarity with a strong hedge and then switching back onto his man. The end result here will be Noah then being guarded by a guard and whether the ball goes to him directly or the resulting rotation will end up with him being in tremendous rebounding position against someone that is probably 6-10 inches shorter than him.
It's not going to be the direct scoring but instead the rebounding and ability to control the paint on both ends of the court that are going to be a tremendous advantage for Chicago in this series. -
I got the coveted up AND down vote in one thread from APAG. I am a special snowflake.
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Only thing that would be better is if you got the same in a basketball thread from EdwinUWSwaye said:I got the coveted up AND down vote in one thread from APAG. I am a special snowflake.
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Chicago finished in the bottom half of the league in rebounding. They are not the strong rebounders you think they are.Tequilla said:It's not what the Chicago bigs can do per se by their ability to shoot the ball or score in the low post as much as what they will be able to do on the glass. Both Noah and Gibson are very strong rebounders.
Take your prediction that a smaller guy can guard Noah (let's say either LBJ or Marion). You are absolutely right that Noah is a terrific screener. Put LBJ in a position to guard him. Noah will go out and put a solid screen on which usually results in a strong hedge from a big to allow the guard to get back in position. LBJ on the other hand is far more likely to direct switch in such a situation due to his skill set and an unfamiliarity with a strong hedge and then switching back onto his man. The end result here will be Noah then being guarded by a guard and whether the ball goes to him directly or the resulting rotation will end up with him being in tremendous rebounding position against someone that is probably 6-10 inches shorter than him.
It's not going to be the direct scoring but instead the rebounding and ability to control the paint on both ends of the court that are going to be a tremendous advantage for Chicago in this series.
Also your Lebron switch logic makes no sense. Yes that's most likely what the Cavs will do, switch. But how exactly does the "resulting rotation" leave Noah in tremendous rebounding position? That's the whole point of switching, there is no rotation when you do it. You don't give up any positioning, that's why teams do it.
The offensive rebounding idea is nice in theory but Indiana tried it the last 3 years against Lebrons Heat. -
Miamis offense only clogged up when it had a big that couldn't shoot and Wade on the floor. And even then it was only when Wade wasn't playing at a high level. Lebron with Birdman and 3 shooters were some of the Heats best lineups.Tequilla said:Love helps the Cavs stretch the court ... much like Bosh did. It's not even about how much production Love/Bosh have playing with LBJ, it's the threat of what they can do that pulls guys just an extra step away from the lane to open up the driving lanes to the basket.
The only way that the Cavs can get the spacing against the Bulls would be to play LBJ exclusively at the 4 and surround him with 3 shooters. The problem is that the remaining bigs for the Cavs (particularly Thompson) are more or less non-factors when it comes to being able to hit mid-range shots so it turns into what LBJ had with the Heat with Birdman and guys like Joel Anthony allowing bigs to help clog up the lane. If you recall when he was with Miami, when guys like Birdman were on the floor, if he wasn't getting offensive boards or easy baskets off of dives, the offense tended to clog up.
I also would expect that the Cavs will really struggle with guarding the bigs of Chicago in this series, particularly if they go small. If they stay big to matchup, then that will force LBJ into being much more of a jump shooter in this series. Best chance that Cleveland has IMO is to go small and cause more problems for Chicago (notably strong shooting from 3) than Chicago is able to cause from Cleveland. -
James and Irving are the best players on the field
Nuff said on that -
So what APAG is saying is that LBJ switching onto a guard isn't going to compromise a defense because of the guard's ability to penetrate causing future rotational problems.
And I also like to use the thought that the Bulls can't rebound by looking at regular season stats ... particularly when it's well known that the Bulls coasted through the regular season in many respects not to mention had a number of injuries. I also like to ignore that the player with the most double doubles on the year was Pau Gasol.
And offensive rebounding does have a major factor. The Pacers took Miami to 6 or 7 games each year with a roster that wasn't as good top to bottom as this Bulls team.
And BTW, what I'm seeing right now is that the Bulls are controlling the paint and able to consistently compromise the Bulls defense with dribble penetration. -
You basically made the point I was making. When LBJ plays the 4 and he has a non-shooting big he's fine. But if he's playing the 3 with 2 bigs clogging up the floor, that's a problem.allpurpleallgold said:
Miamis offense only clogged up when it had a big that couldn't shoot and Wade on the floor. And even then it was only when Wade wasn't playing at a high level. Lebron with Birdman and 3 shooters were some of the Heats best lineups.Tequilla said:Love helps the Cavs stretch the court ... much like Bosh did. It's not even about how much production Love/Bosh have playing with LBJ, it's the threat of what they can do that pulls guys just an extra step away from the lane to open up the driving lanes to the basket.
The only way that the Cavs can get the spacing against the Bulls would be to play LBJ exclusively at the 4 and surround him with 3 shooters. The problem is that the remaining bigs for the Cavs (particularly Thompson) are more or less non-factors when it comes to being able to hit mid-range shots so it turns into what LBJ had with the Heat with Birdman and guys like Joel Anthony allowing bigs to help clog up the lane. If you recall when he was with Miami, when guys like Birdman were on the floor, if he wasn't getting offensive boards or easy baskets off of dives, the offense tended to clog up.
I also would expect that the Cavs will really struggle with guarding the bigs of Chicago in this series, particularly if they go small. If they stay big to matchup, then that will force LBJ into being much more of a jump shooter in this series. Best chance that Cleveland has IMO is to go small and cause more problems for Chicago (notably strong shooting from 3) than Chicago is able to cause from Cleveland.
If he plays the 4 in this series, I don't think the Cavs will have enough in the lane defensively. If he plays the 3 and they plug the lane defensively, the offense will get too clogged and turn into a bundle of jumpers. -
If Cleveland can't win the fucking dreckfest that is the Eastern Conference with LeBron, he sucks.
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Tom Thibodeau teams don't coast. Do you even NBA bro?Tequilla said:So what APAG is saying is that LBJ switching onto a guard isn't going to compromise a defense because of the guard's ability to penetrate causing future rotational problems.
And I also like to use the thought that the Bulls can't rebound by looking at regular season stats ... particularly when it's well known that the Bulls coasted through the regular season in many respects not to mention had a number of injuries. I also like to ignore that the player with the most double doubles on the year was Pau Gasol.
And offensive rebounding does have a major factor. The Pacers took Miami to 6 or 7 games each year with a roster that wasn't as good top to bottom as this Bulls team.
And BTW, what I'm seeing right now is that the Bulls are controlling the paint and able to consistently compromise the Bulls defense with dribble penetration. -
So you missed the memo during the season where people were questioning whether or not Thibs was losing the Bulls, discussing options for next year's coach (i.e. the Mayor of Ames), and general sluggish play from the Bulls?
BTW, wouldn't you say that the Bulls shooting 56% so far (and Cavs at 42%) would be a sign that the Bulls are controlling the paint? -
I'd say the shooting percentages are a sign that Chicago made jump shots and Cleveland missed them. Chicago shot 55% from 3 and the Cavs shot 27%.
Rebounding, which you said Chicago would kill Cleveland on, was dead even. The exact same amount of offe eive rebounds for each team.
You're either not even watching the game or you're twisting what happened to fit into the points you made.