More Hardwood + Round Holes = Lots of Scoring in Basketball 2K19

[Hurlshort]

As an NHL fan, it always amazes me how rare upsets are in the NBA. If Memphis wins tonight it means all 8 matchups ended with the higher ranked team advancing. I know it will get a bit trickier in the 2nd round, but it still is crazy to me how predictable it is.

I'm enjoying watching the Warriors. It was crazy how they tried to handle Jokic. He is just such a massive force out there, he'd be surrounded by 3 guys and still slowly push his way to the rim and just float it in. He played great in the last few games, but the Warriors kept the tempo up and wore them down. That will be a lot harder to do against Memphis, who are big and can match the speed of the Dubs.

[ShadySands]

1 hour ago, Hurlsnot said:

Someone dislikes Chef Curry? Is that you, Charles Barkley?

I dunno, he's gone from one of my favorites to one of my least favorites

 

[Keyrock]

31 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

As an NHL fan, it always amazes me how rare upsets are in the NBA. If Memphis wins tonight it means all 8 matchups ended with the higher ranked team advancing. I know it will get a bit trickier in the 2nd round, but it still is crazy to me how predictable it is.

Despite it being 2 vs 7, a lot of people expected Brooklyn to beat Boston (those people are fools, but that's neither here nor there). The Nets were one of the odds on favorites to win the championship, again despite being a 7 seed. Milwaukee tanked at the end of the season just to get out of the 2 seed to avoid playing the Nets in round 1. My point is that it can be argued that the Celtics beating the Nets was an upset, though that argument hinges purely on the reputation of the Nets' players and if you watched the Celtics play down the stretch run then you know how ridiculous an argument it is.

[Keyrock]

I want the Grizz to beat the Dubs. I have nothing against Golden State, I just like watching Ja Morant play. He's the most fun to watch basketball player since prime Iverson IMHO.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

I want the Grizz to beat the Dubs. I have nothing against Golden State, I just like watching Ja Morant play. He's the most fun to watch basketball player since prime Iverson IMHO.

After 27 years, this year is the Grizzlies' first year ever winning their division. Kind of difficult to not want them to succeed over a team that has had entirely too much success in recent history.

[Hurlshort]

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

After 27 years, this year is the Grizzlies' first year ever winning their division. Kind of difficult to not want them to succeed over a team that has had entirely too much success in recent history.

I get that, but I also like to remind people the Warriors were terrible for about 30 years before this recent run of success.

I'm pretty upset about the Gary Payton II situation. 

[alanschu]

On 7/22/2021 at 6:04 AM, Bartimaeus said:

The Bucks are the first team I've actively followed and been a fan of for a decent amount of time (since the 2016 season, to be exact) that have won a championship (note: I only started following the Packers in 2012, so I missed their 2010 SB; wasn't allowed to watch sports growing up, so it was a pretty late development), and I have to tell you guys...I really didn't get as much out of winning as I thought I would. It sure beats LOSING (especially with how many playoff heart-breakers I've seen in just the last ten years), of course, but at the end of the day, what I really enjoyed most were the actual great game moments (plays, camaraderie, personalities, etc.) in the high stakes playoff games. So that's kind of weird. I might legitimately be one of those "it's more about the journey than the destination" people, I guess. Or maybe I just need to experience like 40 years of a losing team first to really get it.

Nah. IMO sports fandoms get a little *too* intense.

I think part of that is by overly investing in ways that maybe aren't that good? I was like this with the Bulls in the late 90s (though they were winning) but as an NHL Oilers fans, man is the fandom super toxic. Just so so so aggressive and hostile. After a decade of losing I actually found myself nicely situation in "I'm fine if the team loses, but happy for them when they win." I will get upset at bad calls or cheap shots during game etc (always against my team of course!) but at the final whistle I move on. I follow sports to relax and have fun, and some of the high intensity some people have is just not worth it.

After Jordan retired my interest in NBA fluctuated, but I did gravitate towards players I liked. Nash was the one that got me back into it. But I don't really have a team any more (mostly Bucks, then Dallas, as I love to watch Giannis and Luka play) but I find it quite nice to not have any real investment in any particular team winning and it lets me really appreciate fantastic plays at all parts of the game. I'm getting old and whatnot but I definitely prefer it this way.

 

[alanschu]

Maybe I'm an old softie now but stuff like this is what I love about pro sports.

Judge hit a solo HR and the guy caught it, and as he caught it was in mid celebration and then saw this kiddo wearing a Judge T-Shirt and immediately gave the ball to the kid. Kid started crying and hugged him. I'm glad that news got back to the players and Judge was able to make both of their days.

Highlight of the play as it happened here:

 

[Keyrock]

The Suns are a perfect 52 - 0 (including playoffs) this season when leading after 3 quarters. I guess they're pretty good at closing out games. 

[ShadySands]

I don't care who wins as long as it's not the Suns. #norings4cp3

Fandoms can get pretty bad and that's why I mostly just cheer against teams now. Much healthier.

Edited May 5, 2022 by ShadySands

[Keyrock]

19 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

I don't care who wins as long as it's not the Suns. #norings4cp3

[Bartimaeus]

7 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I don't care who wins as long as it's not the Suns. #norings4cp3

Fandoms can get pretty bad and that's why I mostly just cheer against teams now. Much healthier.

Did you see him "generate" an offensive foul against the Mavericks by pinning one of their player's arms into himself last night? I'm not sure if I'd prefer the Suns or Golden State to represent the West at this point.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[alanschu]

9 hours ago, Keyrock said:

The Suns are a perfect 52 - 0 (including playoffs) this season when leading after 3 quarters. I guess they're pretty good at closing out games. 

Damn they crushed the second half!

[Bartimaeus]

That Bucks-Celtics game was bad for my health.

[Keyrock]

Jayson Tatum had a horrific shooting night and Boston still had multiple opportunities at the end to tie it. A lot of hard, physical plays that game, but nothing outright dirty. This should be a good series.

[Keyrock]

My boy Ja with the clutch half-court 3 at the half buzzer to keep the game from getting completely out of hand. Given the ludicrous FG% the Dubs shot in the first half, a 7 point defecit is not bad for the Grizz. They may very well still lose, but at least they're in it.

Edit: Never mind.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

The Dubs shot 63% and 53% from 3. That's ABSURD.

[Keyrock]

Al Horford with a career night in game 4, he went absolutely ape$#!+ in the 4th quarter. Giannis was great as usual, but it just wasn't enough. This Boston/Milwaukee series is great, I hope it goes 7.

[ShadySands]

On 5/5/2022 at 7:11 AM, Bartimaeus said:

Did you see him "generate" an offensive foul against the Mavericks by pinning one of their player's arms into himself last night? I'm not sure if I'd prefer the Suns or Golden State to represent the West at this point.

My wife said to me that maybe it's just her toxic masculinity talking but she doesn't like how dirty players nowadays flop, act, and jump into people and back in her day dirty players might actually hurt you, no acting involved. I told her that while I generally agree, it sounds exactly something an old person would say. She hit me, I flopped.

[Keyrock]

I was happy to see the Heat beat the 76ers last night. I don't particularly care about Miami, I just want Philly to get eliminated. I'm torn because I like Joel Embiid, but it would really suck if James Harden, a guy who quit on and forced his way out of 2 teams within the span of 1 year, won a championship.

[Bartimaeus]

On 5/7/2022 at 5:27 PM, Bartimaeus said:

That Bucks-Celtics game was bad for my health.

 

[Keyrock]

The Heat eliminated the Sixers. I feel bad for Embiid but they hitched their wagon to Harden and, you're never going to believe this, but he disappeared in a big high pressure game. Weird, that never happens. 

[Keyrock]

Boston/Milwaukee is headed to game 7, which is the only fitting way for this series to end. It feels like these are the 2 best teams in the playoffs, however I hesitate to write that the winner will win the championship because this has been such a hard fought series that both teams are leaving pieces of themselves on the court. Whichever team emerges will face Miami a battered, worn out squad.

[Bartimaeus]

Atrocious game on the whole by everyone not named Giannis. Could've easily had this game if a couple of players could've just had an average game. Glad that the Bucks won last year already, because this team has been so consistently inconsistent that it's pretty remarkable they were able to earn a title - rare for inconsistent teams to win it all in sports.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

rare for inconsistent teams to win it all in sports.

Having a transcendent player certainly helps.