Any chance Denver can win the title? They seem like a bad matchup for the Warriors

No.

Not at all a given that the Warriors beat Houston right now. That series seems like a major coin flip. That being said, the Warriors curb-stomped Denver multiple times this year, so I don't think they would represent a solid value bet as a bad matchup.

5-7 years ago Jokic would have been a huge problem for the Warriors, but the way the game is played now he’s probably a liability for Denver trying to chase those Golden State shooters around. It’s probably a very good matchup for the Warriors if they get through Houston.

If it’s the Bucks in the final I can see that being more problematic. Even if you take Lopez out of the game they can match the smaller lineup and still have a ton of shooters who can get hot and steal a game or two. Throw in Giannis continuing to morph into the prototype and that one could be close. You still wouldn’t bet on the Bucks but could be a close series.

Haven't watched a lot of Celtics basketball this year (or NBA in general really), but these Celtics are a shell of the team from last season offensively. Straight up selfish on a lot of possessions that first Q, with nothing resembling a halfcourt offense.

Selfish is right - seems like the first unit just wants to get their shots up before going home for the summer. Kyrie's shot selection has just been absurd.

Win or lose, Stevens should not check Irving back into this game. Stick with Smart and Rozier.

Rozier's sucked too. Give me Point Marcus!

And at least Tatum decided to show up for the second half.

Someone should tell Kyrie that the only thing flat are the Celtics chances with him on the team.

Yeah, our only hope was getting matched up vs the 76ers & there being an injury for the winner of the Bucks/Raptors semi.

Kyrie's career trajectory has to be one of the most disappointing I can think of in my lifetime. Genuinely seemed like he was destined to be one of the best and most exciting players in the league a few years ago, and now at 27 it feels like it won't be injury or misfortune that stops him from getting to that level, but just having a terrible attitude.

He and Durant hate the media speculating about them. I almost want them to go to New York; watching them try to deal with that media attention at the first road bump would be entertaining.

All these high picks and cap space and awesome Brad Stevens and this celtics team sucks.

Stephen A. floating LeBron trade rumblings

I know for a fact that getting Zion will allow me to resurrect my Knicks fandom that got killed during the Layden/Thomas years. Just love watching the kid play.

I also know for a fact that no Zion and getting Durant/Kyrie will ensure that fandom stays dead and buried.

I'm enjoying the hell out of this Bucks team. First conference finals since 2001.

Curry and Thompson are bricking all the fuck you 3s they normally make

KD torn achilles?

Hope not. But if it is, I feel like I just watched the NBA landscape shift dramatically in a matter of minutes. So many dominoes to fall.

How does State Farm ever expect me to consider their insurance with Chris Paul and Harden as the spokespeople.

Is Curry just not good anymore?

He had 16 points on 9 shots after Durant got hurt. More embarrassing is Harden with one layup in the last 7+ minutes with Durant out.

They were overrated after last year, but they were again a 50 win team despite poor chemistry. And we can go down the road and rehash the Celtics problems for the 50th time, but saying they suck right now undersells the Bucks team they just lost to. They got a real coach, Giannis made another leap, and unlike the Magic/LeBron Lakers they nailed the depth signings/trades around their unstoppable driving but questionable shooting point forward. We'll see what happens next two rounds, and I still hate Eric Bledsoe enough idk if I can root for them, but it'll be great to watch them vs the Raptors and Warriors if that's how it plays out.

Celtics don't suck at all. But if this stretch is the height of this era of Celtics teams, then the Ainge draft and stash and deal plan failed pretty miserably. They are facing a critical offseason. Kyrie is likely gone, but Boston still has a lot of talent and assets. Will they acquire another star? Or will they turn to Tatum to be the star (and can he do it)? Can Heyward get back to form? Will they get where they need to before Horford completely falls off?

Lots of unknowns.

Non playoff related comedy: So the plan for the Lakers' offseason is what exactly?

Ainge's draft stash & deal plan so far has gotten us two very good young wings in Tatum and Brown, a failed shot at a superstar in Kyrie, and a little bit of +ev flotsam (I think Smart is on a good deal, Rozier's RFA rights & the ability to sign & trade Kyrie matter, TimeLord could still be decent, and we have the Memphis & LAC picks), but really it's gotten us Tatum & Brown.

The Gordon Hayward part could loom as the great what if - can't blame Ainge or Stevens for what happened there, and it cap ties us out of the max free agent market. I still think he looked much better last couple months, and will be better next year a year removed from the injury, but there's a chance with LeBron's decline/departure & Giannis' ascension they missed a narrow window.

The Kyrie gamble I would still take 100% of the time because you need a guy with that talent level as your crunch time alpha to win a title, and even with it ending poorly you can't say the Celtics lost considering IT's hip & the pick turned into #8 & Collin Sexton. If we look to the future, after what we just went through with Kyrie, are we willing to trade Tatum or Brown + for another mercurial superstar in Anthony Davis?

The one thing the NBA seems to be trending towards is even shorter windows and greater upheaval, so I'm still really happy we have Ainge/Zarren running things, but it does make medium/long term planning and all our fantasies seem as silly as speculating on Game of Thrones when it gets taken over by incompetents. (And in this analogy Kyrie is Benioff&Weiss. And maybe Bran too given his proclivity for ignoring the pressing issue & saying obtuse things.)

Your fun Clippers are going to hit this weird point soon too, especially if they sign Kawhi. It's weird given the media narrative of NBA championship or bust, but give me the scrappy 45 win team all day. I mean, give me any scrappy team that cares, but it's only once in a blue moon you get an '08 Celtics team that wins 60+ and still fights every game.

I think Boston has done things well. The Hayward thing isn't their fault. And he did look a lot better at the end of the year. Let's see how he works out next year.

My only knock on Boston is if they were going all in, maybe they should have gone after Butler earlier in the year. Him and Kyrie are close friends and that likely improves chemistry. And if it means losing Tatum or Brown, I think I could deal with that.

But we weren't going all in, and I don't see how having impending free agents Kyrie & Jimmy Butler would improve any team's chemistry. Trading Jaylen or Jayson for half a season of Butler without a long term commitment from Jimmy or Kyrie would've been idiotic. Doing it with a long-term commitment from both is still something I'd have to think long and hard about.

Slightly premature to ask after a single bad(ish) playoff series, isn't it ?

Yeah, I think the Celtics have done alright with their strategy. If you look at who they took in 2016 and 2017 vs the players taken right after, they probably did as well as they could possibly be expected to. Yes DeAaron Fox looks like he's going to be a great player but they could have ended up with Josh Jackson and Dragan Bender. Oof. They really fell victim to making the right moves and ending up with top 5 picks in drafts without more than 1 or 2 great players.

Where I'm a little less sure is the Hayward signing. Obviously, nobody could predict the injury happening and he was a borderline top 20 player that least season with the Jazz, but I do think there could have been a little more thought into taking 2 wings at #3 overall and then signing one to a max contract right after. Just feels like one of those picks could have probably been dealt to maximize the value at that point.

Can't fault the Kyrie signing either, even if it didn't work out. At the time Kyrie had won a championship and been the guy taking many of the big shots. The entire situation outlines just how difficult it is to win in the NBA.

Seriously Frank Vogel is the best the Lakers can do?

At this point LeBron is basically Hulk Hogan. Still a huge draw. But he's gotta have a bunch of yes men and Beefcakes around.

As much as I would be inclined to hang this one on Lebron (and I do believe he was a part of it), most of this is not on him. Jeannie Buss has allowed a labyrinthine power structure to develop under her, peopled by executives and influences with competing agendae, and the organization as a whole is just a terrible mess right now.

Honestly, the fact they all finally agreed on someone to hire and didn't piss him off with poor contract offers or by putting in conditions to be met for his hire is probably their most successful achievement since they signed Lebron (in itself a questionable achievement, since he was coming here anyway).

So they are making it sound like the Lakers wanted Jason Kidd to be their coach but couldn't sell it to the public because of his domestic violence/drinking issues?

Wouldn't the Milwaukee Bucks last year versus this year be enough to realize they couldn't sell it to their fans?

Or did they just find someone who had pretty low standards for the offer they'd accept?

I mean, it looks like they pretty much made similar offers & conditions and just had to find somebody willing to bend the knee to those.

Yeah I think Vogel is ok, but bringing in Kidd just dooms Vogel from the beginning.

True. Vogel had a lot less things going on.

:banghead: Nice choke job for the Nuggets at home.

Really our only hope is we trade everything for Davis but can someone keep Tatum, 2 of 3 from Brown, Rozier and Smart otherwise blow it up again keep Tatum and dump it. The NBA as we all know you know need two or three stars and a strong bench to be close to the top of the league.

I have zero confidence anyone on the Raptors can make a basket except Kawhi Leonard. I mean I legitimately surprised every time it happens.

ICE COLD!

Quoted for emphasis!

Brown has to go. Same story all year. When they need to come up with an offensive play he has nothing for them. They lost this when they had 3 straight possessions without getting a shot before the shot clock ran out because they had no play.

What a freaking unbelievable week of sport all around. Didn't even think Leonard was going to get the shot off there.

Nuggets choked. And I'm sure the Sixers will propose adopting the FIBA goaltending rules this off-season.

First Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history. I hadn't thought about that and am kind of surprised about it really.

I think that shot is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in sports. It was like a shot at the end of a really bad basketball movie and not real life.

Yeah. Actual technical buzzer beaters are more rare than people realize (as opposed to shots that go in with .5 left on the clock or something). But over the long history of the NBA, I would have figured that there would have been a random second round game seven in the 70s or something that would have ended with an actual buzzer beater.

Either way, one of the coolest endings to a game I've seen in a while.

Who?

The most remarkable thing about that shot IMO was how unbelievably quiet the place was as the ball took that final bounce. I rewound it 5x just to listen to it. It was honestly incredible.