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

[Bartimaeus]

How often has it happened that the two conference champions are both eliminated in the first round of the next year, I wonder? I haven't followed basketball for long enough to know whether that's common at all or not...

[ShadySands]

It's not common that I can remember but I've taken some extended breaks in my fandom.

I didn't get to watch the Nuggets game but I saw the highlights on the web after.

[Keyrock]

It just hit me that Luka Doncic is only 22, he's still several years away from hitting his prime and he's already a perennial MVP contender. 

[ShadySands]

Nuggets in 6. 

I actually got to watch that game. 

e: AD already hurt half way through the 1st quarter.

Edited June 4, 2021 by ShadySands

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, ShadySands said:

Nuggets in 6. 

I actually got to watch that game. 

e: AD already hurt half way through the 1st quarter.

I'm going to bed, hope to wake up and see that the Lakers were eliminated tomorrow. I think I read a stat the other day before tonight's game happened that Jokic has played 37 playoff games with Denver, and Denver had never even once won a game while already up one (e.g. 1-0, 2-1, 3-1); tonight finally broke that streak.

(e): Oh, also, Jokic will be the lowest drafted MVP ever, after Giannis set that record two years ago (15th pick for Giannis, 41st for Jokic!).

Edited June 4, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm going to bed, hope to wake up and see that the Lakers were eliminated tomorrow.

Your wish is granted.

[Bartimaeus]

Indeed! First time LeBron has ever been eliminated in the first round...and also, to answer something I asked earlier, apparently 2007 is the last time both conference champions were eliminated in the first round. So not a totally unique occurrence.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

The first round in the NBA finals is usually pretty boring. This year it looked like that might be different, since many of the lower seeds were considered dangerous. But it played out like every other year. 

[Keyrock]

At least one of the series went the distance (Clippers vs Mavs).  Oddly enough, I believe every game has been won by the road team. So much for home team advantage.

[Bartimaeus]

Harden hurt like a minute into the game...

(e): And he's confirmed out for the rest of the game at least.

(e): Not a great start to the series for the Bucks...not great. But they probably won't shoot sub-20s on 3s the rest of the series, particularly on so many decent looks like they got tonight.

Edited June 6, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

The Nets could conceivably still win the series and the championship without Harden (the team that wins this series is probably winning the title IMHO), but it would obviously be much easier with The Beard.

[Bartimaeus]

Well, Bucks were clicking...keyword being "were". Not getting out of the second round.

[Keyrock]

15 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Well, Bucks were clicking...keyword being "were". Not getting out of the second round.

Series isn't over yet, but I won't lie, it ain't looking good for Milwaukee.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

Series isn't over yet, but I won't lie, it ain't looking good for Milwaukee.

The good news is that one, I'm not *that* invested into basketball to begin with, and two, I'm pretty freaking used to Wisconsin sports letting me down in the playoffs in embarrassing fashion at this point anyways. It's better than not getting there at all, but boy, could it just be...not so embarrassing or as much of a trainwreck when it happens?

Edited June 8, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

The Nugs better figure out something with the quickness, because CP3 and the Suns are picking them apart.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I thought the Nuggets were toast the moment Jamal Murray tore his ACL. Got an MVP season and at least won the first round, but it's not like they were even a superteam before he died - just about impossible to hang with the top dogs after that happens. Pretty garbage, but that's just how the sport works in regards to star talent.

On a similar note, Bucks have tonight to prove that they're not an absolute flaming dumpster of a playoff team (though unlike the last couple of years, this time the Bucks have absolutely no excuse for imploding), but given how terribly they've played and have had their minutes managed thus far, I'm just about expecting to be swept outright.

Once the Bucks and Nuggets are eliminated, I'll probably be cheering for the Suns.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[ShadySands]

38 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Once the Bucks and Nuggets are eliminated, I'll probably be cheering for the Suns.

Same

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Once the Bucks and Nuggets are eliminated, I'll probably be cheering for the Suns.

I'll be cheering for the Suns even before the Bucks and Nugs are eliminated. 

/hides 

[ShadySands]

I'm not heavily invested but I'd prefer if neither the Nets or Clippers won. Maybe I'm just a hater in the superteam era but I like it when teams have drafted or developed at least one of their stars.

[Keyrock]

I was a big fan of Kevin Johnson back in the day, I've liked the Suns ever since.

[Bartimaeus]

59 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

I'm not heavily invested but I'd prefer if neither the Nets or Clippers won. Maybe I'm just a hater in the superteam era but I like it when teams have drafted or developed at least one of their stars.

Superteams are an automatic "I hope they get embarrassed" from me. It's "great" when it happens to your team, but it's terrible for parity and lessens or outright ruins the fun of the game for fans who have any kind of common sense beyond "tunnel snakes my team rules!". I'll never watch college football for the simple fact that 99% of teams simply do not and will not ever matter due to heavy inherent institutional advantages afforded to the same superteams year after year, decade after decade. The NFL messes a lot of stuff up, but they are head-and-shoulders above anything else I can think of for parity, and that makes the sport as a whole much more interesting.

Consequently, it's no surprise that I love Giannis, for both his goofball kid personality and for deciding to stay in his original small market team (and also unsurprisingly, he's predominant the reason why I chose the Bucks some years ago).

Edited June 10, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[ShadySands]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

I was a big fan of Kevin Johnson back in the day, I've liked the Suns ever since.

I was a big Suns fan back in the day as well but I grew up in AZ so they were the local sports team. Though I always wished that they would have called themselves the Arizona Suns instead of Phoenix. 

Never knew if this was true, but I guess I can look it up since I'm already on the internet, but I used to hear stories about how people outside of Phoenix hated the Cardinals when they came to town because they were initially the Phoenix Cardinals and not the Arizona Cardinals. The area where I grew up was mostly Cowboys fans and anyone but the Cowboys fans with no strong preference for the Cards.

[Bartimaeus]

Saw the last quarter of the Bucks game - just barely avoided utter embarrassment, phew. Heart started going in the last couple of minutes there...

5 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I was a big Suns fan back in the day as well but I grew up in AZ so they were the local sports team. Though I always wished that they would have called themselves the Arizona Suns instead of Phoenix. 

Never knew if this was true, but I guess I can look it up since I'm already on the internet, but I used to hear stories about how people outside of Phoenix hated the Cardinals when they came to town because they were initially the Phoenix Cardinals and not the Arizona Cardinals. The area where I grew up was mostly Cowboys fans and anyone but the Cowboys fans with no strong preference for the Cards.

Might just be a matter of inertia, but I feel like Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals sound better than Arizona Suns and Phoenix Cardinals...

Edited June 11, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

15 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Saw the last quarter of the Bucks game - just barely avoided utter embarrassment, phew. Heart started going in the last couple of minutes there...

Might just be a matter of inertia, but I feel like Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals sound better than Arizona Suns and Phoenix Cardinals...

It got a little dicey there, but it does look like the Bucks are going to try to make this a series. 

To me, any Cardinals not from St Louis just sounds wrong. It could be Arizona, Phoenix Saskatoon, whatever; as soon as I hear "Cardinals" my mind immediately thinks St Louis.

[Keyrock]

Sorry Shady, but you can pretty much stick a fork in the Nugs (and then dip them in Polynesian sauce).