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

[Leferd]

There's too much parity in the league this year.

I don't like it.

[Bartimaeus]

8 hours ago, Leferd said:

There's too much parity in the league this year.

I don't like it.

You don't like it for your team's sake or you genuinely don't like it for the league as a whole? Any sport/league which doesn't make some kind of serious effort to have parity is one I will not ever watch, so no soccer, baseball, college football, or college basketball for me. I've been quite pleased with the level of parity in the NBA the last few years, not much in the way of superteams since garbage can man left the Warriors. I mean, he tried again in Brooklyn, but that turned into an immediate clown fiesta, so no harm done. ...And he tried again with last year's #1 seed, but it doesn't look like that's probably going to work out at least this season either.

[Leferd]

Mostly it's because I enjoy the discourse surrounding other teams in their futile attempts at beating GSW. I miss that.

[ShadySands]

As a hater, I just don't want Phoenix to win. They were my team until they picked up CP3 and my other team, Denver, is never going to make it past the conference finals.

[Bartimaeus]

34 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

As a hater, I just don't want Phoenix to win. They were my team until they picked up CP3 and my other team, Denver, is never going to make it past the conference finals.

Pheonix trading for garbage can man didn't change your tune about them any? Huh, weird...

I'm greatly curious to see how far the Nuggets get. They have kind of earned a reputation for being tough yet falling well short over the last handful of seasons...

53 minutes ago, Leferd said:

Mostly it's because I enjoy the discourse surrounding other teams in their futile attempts at beating GSW. I miss that.

Given how absolute trash the Warriors have been away this year, I do believe they may have some difficulties going all the way this postseason...

[ShadySands]

I like Durant okay enough but my like for him pales in comparison to my dislike for CP3. I mean, the Suns are the team I grew up cheering for and one player was enough to end that.

[ShadySands]

PS it's kinda the same reason I don't follow football at all anymore. I don't enjoy watching terrible people.

[Bartimaeus]

10 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

PS it's kinda the same reason I don't follow football at all anymore. I don't enjoy watching terrible people.

Yeah, I get it. Over the last couple of years, Packers football has become purely stressful without basically any of the positive stuff that used to come with it. It's why I'm relieved Rodgers is finally moving on, even though the Packers are likely to be somewhere between bad and very bad for the coming years. Have been way more excited and have had way more fun with the Milwaukee Bucks' core group of players than I have with the Packers', and it's what made their championship journey so sweet (as opposed to just...the championship itself). Meanwhile, if the Packers had won another Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers taking all the glory, I'd...certainly be conflicted. Maybe that's somewhat enabled by knowing that the Packers have already won four SBs and a pile of pre-SB championships though, as opposed to other teams who have never won anything ever and are desperate for any kind of legitimate chance at the thing. Doesn't matter either way though, as I just don't enjoy rooting for a team whose players I don't like.

My "hmm" reaction was actually more about trash can man than not understanding you moving away from enjoying watching the Suns, .

Edited March 20, 2023 by Bartimaeus
my post didn't make no sense

[Leferd]

 

I got GSW at 6/1, pre-season. I suppose I can still feel good about it.

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, Leferd said:

 

I got GSW at 6/1, pre-season. I suppose I can still feel good about it.

Wildly inconsistent teams aren't typically good for championship runs since they usually turn in a spat of bad play that they can't recover from at some point, especially playing against the best teams, but once in a while they make it all the way.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

I can't count the Dubs out given they're the defending champs and they still have Steph and Klay and Draymond. However, they're almost certainly going to be the road team in every series and they've been ABYSMAL on the road this season.

[Leferd]

With a minimum sample of 300 min played together, the GSW starting 5 of Curry, Klay, Wiggins, Draymond, Looney have (and by a significantly wide margin) the best NET Rating of any 5-man unit in the NBA this season.

1. GSW (Curry, Klay, Wiggins, Draymond, Looney) +21.9
2. DEN (KCP, Murray, Gordon, MPJ, Jokic) +13.1
3. PHI (Maxey, Harden, Harris, PJ, Embiid) +12.5
4. BOS (Smart, DW, Brown, Tatum, Horford) +12.2

I am not worrying about GSW's abysmal home/road splits. I think it is far more relevant that in the Steve Kerr era, GSW is 18-0 in playoff series against Western Conference opponents. Also during that timeframe, when healthy and not suspended - the big three of Curry, Klay, and Draymond have not last any 7-game series during that same span. I'd still take this team over the field especially when there are no dominant contenders in either conference.

[Bartimaeus]

i am hoping that in a couple of weeks, i can just quote your post and say "well, that sure didn't age well"

(though real talk, i very much expect the warriors to beat the kings - that admission won't stop me from pooping on the warriors if they did lose, though)

[Leferd]

I can accept that. I think short of winning a championship, this could very well be Draymond's last year with Golden State. And when/if that happens, that'll be the end of their dominance. 

[Keyrock]

There's a lot of "if they stay healthy" in these playoffs. I guess that's true to some degree every year, but it seems magnified this year. If they stay healthy, the Lakers can do some real damage and possibly even make the finals. Do I trust Anthony Davis to make it a couple months without landing wrong and going down? Nope. If the Suns stay healthy they're my pick to win it all. Do I trust KD to go 2 months without some weird injury? Nope. Factoring in health probabilities, I'd say my pick is the Bucks. With a healthy Khris Middletown I think they would have won last year, but that sort of what if could be applied every year.

[Hurlshort]

15 hours ago, Leferd said:

I can accept that. I think short of winning a championship, this could very well be Draymond's last year with Golden State. And when/if that happens, that'll be the end of their dominance. 

I don't think Draymond goes anywhere, for better or worse. He is a Warrior for life. There is a lot of outside noise about him, but the organization knows what he means to the dynasty.

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, Keyrock said:

There's a lot of "if they stay healthy" in these playoffs. I guess that's true to some degree every year, but it seems magnified this year. If they stay healthy, the Lakers can do some real damage and possibly even make the finals. Do I trust Anthony Davis to make it a couple months without landing wrong and going down? Nope. If the Suns stay healthy they're my pick to win it all. Do I trust KD to go 2 months without some weird injury? Nope. Factoring in health probabilities, I'd say my pick is the Bucks. With a healthy Khris Middletown I think they would have won last year, but that sort of what if could be applied every year.

Unfortunately, it remains to be seen if Khris Middleton is healthy this postseason...between Brook Lopez's bargain bin contract expiring, Middleton seemingly becomingly injury-prone and increasingly inconsistent, and everyone just being so danged old (Lopez 35, Holiday 32, Middleton 31), I fear the time of this Buck's core group of players will be soon coming to an end. It's a really nice, balanced, and likeable core, too.

[Keyrock]

That Lakers vs Wolves game... That sure was a game, alright.

 

[Bartimaeus]

I'm just glad I'm not a Minnesota sports fan. That path there only lies suffering.

[Keyrock]

25 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm just glad I'm not a Minnesota sports fan. That path there only lies suffering.

 

[Leferd]

Ideal path for GSW moving forward is to keep everything in CA until the finals. Sac -> LAL -> LAC. Only because GSW's core trio are old fogeys who hate long travel.

I have no idea who they'll face in the Finals. Hope MIL, BOS, and PHI wear each other out.

[Hurlshort]

19 hours ago, Leferd said:

Ideal path for GSW moving forward is to keep everything in CA until the finals. Sac -> LAL -> LAC. Only because GSW's core trio are old fogeys who hate long travel.

I have no idea who they'll face in the Finals. Hope MIL, BOS, and PHI wear each other out.

Phoenix is practically the same plane ride as SoCal (maybe easier, given LA traffic), so I'd still that is a fairly local matchup.

[Keyrock]

20 hours ago, Leferd said:

Ideal path for GSW moving forward is to keep everything in CA until the finals. Sac -> LAL -> LAC. Only because GSW's core trio are old fogeys who hate long travel.

If they lose in the first round then they don't have to travel at all after that.

#LightTheBeam

[Bartimaeus]

Whew, two good late games, two not so good early games. Kings manage to hold off the champs and light the beam...for now.

(e): Actually, it was the two western games that were good, and the eastern games that were a joke I forgot the Knicks and Cavaliers were in the east, too, .

Edited April 16, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Bartimaeus]

giannis breaks his butt, herro breaks his hand, rip both of these teams

Edited April 16, 2023 by Bartimaeus