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

[Bartimaeus]

it wasn't even remotely close to as embarrassing as the bucks, but the InfoWarriors are no more

also, miami somehow moves onto the conference finals, science has yet to explain this mysterious phenomenon

Edited May 13, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[ShadySands]

Seeing a lot of GunShot Wound fans saying that the regular season is completely meaningless now. Dunno where they've been, it's been like that for a while.

[Keyrock]

The Dubs team plane must have gotten delayed, I'm still waiting for them to show up for game 6. 

In the other conference, like a horror movie monster, the Heat just refuse to die.

Edit: I hope Boston wins on Sunday only because I find the Bill Simmons podcasts where he loses his mind ranting about the Celtics blowing a game they probably should have won highly entertaining and if they lose on Sunday then we only get 1 more of those podcasts, whereas if they move on the Celtics will inevitably blow several more games they probably should have won and we get that many more of those Bill Simmons podcasts.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Keyrock

[Hurlshort]

8 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Seeing a lot of GunShot Wound fans saying that the regular season is completely meaningless now. Dunno where they've been, it's been like that for a while.

I'm not sure how the current postseason proves that. The Warriors were a flawed team all season long and that played out pretty clearly in the playoffs. The Lakers overhauled their lineup and got hot after the All-Star break, and that carried into the playoffs as well. 

[Keyrock]

2 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

I'm not sure how the current postseason proves that. The Warriors were a flawed team all season long and that played out pretty clearly in the playoffs. The Lakers overhauled their lineup and got hot after the All-Star break, and that carried into the playoffs as well. 

I'll add to that the Nugs having the luxury of taking the foot off the gas during the home stretch, I mean Jokic essentially stopped playing any defense for the last month of the regular season. They were able to do that because they had built up such a large lead. Meanwhile, a lot of other teams had to scratch and claw just to make sure they even made it into the postseason at all. This is reflected in the playoffs with a rested Jokic playing at an elite level night in night out while AD alternates between looking like one of the best players on planet Earth and no showing. Having to play hard down the stretch isn't doing him any favors right now.

[Bartimaeus]

After the Bucks were eliminated, I told a friend I thought it was the 76ers' year...but like, for real this time. I should have known better.

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

After the Bucks were eliminated, I told a friend I thought it was the 76ers' year...but like, for real this time. I should have known better.

Note to self: Find out who @Bartimaeusis backing and bet on the other team.

I keed, I keed, I don't gamble.

Jayson Tatum has been kinda shaky this postseason but he just had his statement game today. That was a monstrous performance.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Keyrock

[Bartimaeus]

That tracks - even during the Bucks' title win in 2020, I kept thinking they'd get eliminated each round. Miami in the first round? They just beat the snot outta of us the previous season. The Nets superteam? No way in hell. Atlanta in the conference finals is when I started believing...then we lost the first game at home, and then Giannis hyper-extended his leg and was out for the rest of the series. Putting faith into anything or anybody is the exact precise moment that the world stabs you in the back for it.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

Harden was terrific in games 1 and 4 but he completely no showed in game 7, as is his custom. Embiid tried but he got completely demolished by Tatum. Why did it take the Celtics 7 games to figure out that forcing Embiid to switch to get him to guard Tatum was a huge mismatch they should exploit as much as possible? Embiid is a great defender but he can't guard Tatum, the speed difference is just way too big and Tatum straight up ruined him in game 7.

[Keyrock]

LeBron and especially AD brought it in game 1, but it wasn't enough. I'll give the Lakers credit, after being down double digits for almost the entire game, they made a run late in the 4th and made it interesting. They couldn't get over the hump, though. As good as LeBron and AD were, Jokic and Murray were that much better. Jokic just casually posted a 34 - 21 - 14. No big deal.

[Bartimaeus]

been stumping for denver vs miami in the finals, might actually get it

[Keyrock]

@BartimaeusStumping?  I am not familiar with that term. I can infer what it means from the statement, but I've never heard that before.

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

@BartimaeusStumping?  I am not familiar with that term. I can infer what it means from the statement, but I've never heard that before.

It's a political term used for the practice of traveling around and making speeches to different towns. It comes from the practice of standing on an actual stump in towns that didn't have a stage. That might be a bit of an apocryphal story, but the idiom remains.

[Keyrock]

8 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

It's a political term used for the practice of traveling around and making speeches to different towns. It comes from the practice of standing on an actual stump in towns that didn't have a stage. That might be a bit of an apocryphal story, but the idiom remains.

So, basically soapboxing.

[Hurlshort]

12 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

So, basically soapboxing.

I think soapboxing has more of a lecturing connotation to it. 

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Hurlshort said:

I think soapboxing has more of a lecturing connotation to it. 

I mean, when someone gets up on a raised platform of some variety to make a speech, I fully expect I will be spoken down to...

...

/puts on sunglasses

Literally.

 

[Bartimaeus]

I may not have totally understood the usage of "stumping" myself: my understanding of the word was it meant to go around being vocally in support of something. Usually politically related, so like a presidential candidate calling it quits so that they can go throw their weight behind another candidate that they feel is the best choice (especially if they make speeches and/or go to rallies to do so), or perhaps something more like Bernie Sanders going around yelling at clouds all of us to raise the minimum wage. I figured both of those would qualify as "stumping".

Edited May 18, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

Nugs remain undefeated at home in the playoffs. Lakers made them work for it largely on the back of quite possibly the best game of Rui Hachimura's career. However, in the 4th a previously ice cold Jamal Murray got red hot and carried Denver to victory. Can anyone beat the Nugs in Denver? If the Celtics make the NBA Finals they wouldn't have to since they would have home court advantage, otherwise either the Lakers or the Heat would have to beat the Nugs in Denver at least once to stop them.

[Keyrock]

@BartimaeusIt seems your stumping is paying off.

[Keyrock]

LOL Lakers.

[Hurlshort]

2 hours ago, Keyrock said:

LOL Lakers.

This was pretty predictable. The Lakers had to play AD and Lebron a ton of minutes in a fast, physical series against the Warriors. Denver is rested and very capaple of being physically dominant. They've got a pretty good path to a championship.

[Keyrock]

15 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

This was pretty predictable. The Lakers had to play AD and Lebron a ton of minutes in a fast, physical series against the Warriors. Denver is rested and very capaple of being physically dominant. They've got a pretty good path to a championship.

That and the Nugs are, quite frankly, a better team than the Lakers.

[ShadySands]

Either way it'll be a historic series. The Lakers will be the first team ever to come back from being down 3 games or the Nuggets will make our first ever Finals.

[Bartimaeus]

I will feel a little bit better about the Bucks losing to the Heat in 5 games if the Boston Celtics lose to the Heat in 4 games.

[Keyrock]

@BartimaeusJust how much stumping have you been doing? Holy smokes!