Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread
2018/2019 Miami Heat 1st Round Summary
2018/2019 NBA Playoff Picture:
#1. Boston Celtics vs #8. Milwaukee Bucks
#2. Philadelphia 76ers vs #7. Detroit Pistons
#3. Toronto Raptors vs #6. Cleveland Cavaliers
#4. Orlando Magic vs #5. Miami Heat
#1. Houston Rockets vs #8. New Orleans Pelicans
#2. Minnesota Timberwolves vs #7. Los Angeles Lakers
#3. Golden State Warriors vs #6. Portland Trail Blazers
#4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs #5. Sacramento Kings
Summary: After a regular season that saw an abundance of early season injuries, middling around .500, before finally ripping off a 6-game win streak to end the year and clinch the #5 seed... the Heat should be feeling pretty good about themselves. They have a very short road distance to travel to considering Orlando is in their own state. They're all healthy with the exception of Kay Felder, so what's going to be the key? Exploiting the fact the Magic don't have a star, utilizing prior playoff experience to their advantage, and letting your big game players (Dragic, Whiteside, Waiters) go head to head with theirs (Payton, Fournier, Vucevic) trusting that yours is better than theirs. That's about it. The 3-point shot could be a slight difference maker this series but not anything over-whelming like we've seen in years past. An underrated factor? How D-Wade can contribute in spots like these.
Well, let's get on with Round #1!
Game #1: Do you want to talk about a simply epic affair in Game #1! Here’s the situation. Miami is up 97-96 with just a little over 2 minutes remaining. Jonathan Isaac has hit two massive 3-pointers for Orlando down the stretch. The Heat need a go-to bucket, and where better to rely than your point guard? Goran Dragic! 99-96 game now, Elfrid Payton walks down the floor, tries to throw an alley-oop to Aaron Gordon but it is too high on the pass! Whiteside feeds the ball to Dragic down the other end, 1 on 1 with Payton, he attacks AAAAAND-1! He misses the free throw, but still a 101-98 lead. Whiteside gets a lay-in on a pick-and-roll, and he follows it up with a HUGE steal on a Payton pass intended for Aaron Gordon! With Vucevic pressing Dragic, he finds Whiteside for one more layup! 105-98 Miami! Tragic would make his free throws when fouled to ensure victory as the Heat take Game #1, 109-102! It really is a huge win when you consider they fell behind 0-2 last year to Boston. A 27/3/7 game from Dragic, 21/11 game from Whiteside, Evan Fournier scored 24 for Orlando but it wasn’t enough. Just a huge win to open up what’s sure to be a tight series all throughout.
Game #2: Miami are proving too much for Orlando to handle this series. A tied game at 76-76 all in the final 5 minutes, the Orlando scores just 2 points the rest of the way. The Heat? They let Goran Dragic put on a show as he produced one of the best performances ever in a Heat uniform. Layup, layup+AND-1, assist to Hassan for a jumper, mid-range 2, and a free throw when he split at the line 1/2. He was involved in every point the Heat scored down the stretch, and scored 10 of the Heat’s final 12 minutes in a 88-78 victory over Orlando. He only had 9 points entering the 4th quarter, and he out-scored that all in the last 5 minutes. Whiteside had 12/17 of his own and Dion carried the way the first 3 with 21 points. What is happening to Orlando? The Heat known Elfrid Payton can’t shoot. He went 1/8 tonight, 0/2 from deep, and by clamping down on Jonathan Isaac(4/9), Jonathon Simmons(4/12), and Evan Fournier(6/12) they have proved to be ineffective in late-game situations. They don’t have a player who can create and shoot in Payton. He either needs to be benched, they need to utilize Gordon/Vucevic better, or this series could be lights out in Miami before they even know what hit them.
Game #3: With just a hash over 3 minutes remaining in the game, Nikola Vucevic hit a huge 3-pointer to gift the Magic a 84-80 lead. On the floor for Orlando was Simmons, Fournier, Isaac, Biyombo, and Vucevic. Goran Dragic was having a rough night, and knowing that Simmons was on him he gave Waiters center stage to do his thing. He found Whiteside cutting to the rim, had a layup of his own as Vucevic went to over Hassan, and slammed the ball down with authority with 2 minutes remaining to take a 86-84 lead! Timeout Orlando! Gordon of for Biyombo, Payton in for Simmons. First thing he does? TURNS IT OVER TO DRAGIC! Dragic chewed clock then went for a jumper and missed, but Hassan got the offensive rebound. He handed the reigns over to Waiters now… he got double teamed as he was driving, 11 seconds on the shot clock, he goes to Winslow in the corner for 3, what, IT GOES IN! WINSLOW HITTING A 3? Unbelievable! 89-84 lead Miami! The Magic scored on the other end, and each side exchanged misses. The Heat coincidentally got forced into two more Winslow 3’s which he missed. With 3.5 seconds remaining, the Magic trailed by 3 but had the ball now. Time running out on the inbound… Vucevic goes to Gordon in the corner who has JJ draped all over him, he heaves it, buzzer, NO GOOD! HEAT WIN! THEY TAKE A 3-0 SERIES LEAD! The Miami Heat defeat Orlando 89-86 despite the fact no other than Whiteside with 18/17 had it going tonight. We know the NBA, a 3-0 lead for all intensive purposes means this series is a wrap!
Game #4: As with all games this series, this one was back-and-forth till the very end. With 1:12 remaining, Goran Dragic connected on a layup to put the Heat up 93-92. Vucevic would miss, Dragic would get a shot blocked, and Jonathan Isaac would miss a sitter with Winslow defending him at the rim to give the Heat the ball up by 1 with about 10 second difference between the shot clock and the game being over. Spoelstra would call for Winslow to control the ball. On a pick set by JJ, Isaac would be denied from coming over. Winslow drove as hard as he could to the rim, Aaron Gordon is there going for the block but Winslow FINISHES THROUGH CONTACT! He doesn’t get the foul call but a tremendous make to put the Heat up by 3. 95-92. Orlando after a timeout called the back to Evan Fournier on an open mid-range shot for 2, and somehow… he missed it. REBOUND MIAMI! Dragic would make free throws, Orlando would miss another 3, Dragic goes 1/2 and a flukey nothing matters 3 by Gordon goes in at the end. But it doesn’t matter. Miami wins 98-95. They complete a somewhat stunning sweep of the Orlando Magic in a clean 4 games. Each game was a bit of a nail-biter, and this one was no different. Dragic had 24 while Winslow was an underrated start with 16/5/5, the Heat will move on to the 2nd Round and they await to see who they’ll face then!
Final Series Breakdown: Miami Heat win series 4-0. What was the difference maker? A few factors. First of all, Elfrid Payton was BAD this series. The Heat exploited him with Goran Dragic, and Dragic was able to play passing lanes knowing Payton couldn't hurt him with the 3-pointer. He went 0/6 from 3 in the entire series, and averaged 8PPG on 37% shooting. Nikola Vucevic also struggled for the Magic averaging 10.5/7.5 as a big which on 42/14/67 splits simply isn't good enough. Another major factor was that the Heat had playoff experience that Orlando didn't. They were in these exact same games a year ago against Boston, while the Magic hadn't made the playoffs since 2011/2012 comparatively. It isn't always a defining factor but how every game came down to the wire and the Magic lacked guys who could take over, you saw how much it hurt. Hell, when does Evan Fournier miss the open mid-range 2 on the brink of elimination in Game #4? If there's any one bright spot for the Magic, it should be on how well Jonathan Isaac played in big moments. If they can keep that nucleus together, they can maybe get back to this spot next year and give a better showing than they did in their debut this season.
Analysis: Last year it was Dion Waiters who put on a show against Boston, and this year it was Dragic who dominated. His percentages? 53/55/80 obviously that's not sustainable but he was brilliant and the catalyst behind sweeping the Orlando Magic. Hassan Whiteside wasn't as over-whelming as his 18/16 stats last year against the Celtics but 16/15 isn't too shabby. He will be instrumental on taking on our next opponent whether it be damn Boston again or Milwaukee. Dion Waiters struggled against the Magic. Not due to inability to shoot(he shot 51%) but his usage was much further down. That WILL go up next round. D-Wade was solid off the bench, Mushidi with a surprising slot being the 5th best scorer. Justise Winslow did many things that didn't involve scoring, and you saw with that 3-pointer in Game #3 and those big buckets late in Game #4 that he's ready to have a larger role. Biggest disappointments were Kelly Olynyk and James Johnson but something tells me they'll rebound next series. They can't possibly play worse than they did in this 1st Round.
2018/2019 NBA Playoffs (1st):
#1. Celtics (4) #8. Bucks (2)
#2. 76ers (2) - #7. Pistons (4)
#3. Raptors (1) - #6. Cavaliers (4)
#4. Orlando (0) - #5. Heat (4)
#1. Rockets (4) - #8. Pelicans (3)
#2. T-Wolves (4) - #7. Lakers (2)
#3. Warriors (4) - #6. Blazers (1)
#4. Thunder (4) - #5. Kings (2)
Summary: Okay, what the hell is wrong with the Eastern Conference? Giannis Antetokounmpo did his best against the 60-win Celtics and it wasn't enough. He averaged 22/10/6/3/2 on great efficiency but to no avail. Kyrie Irving scored 49 points in Game #2 in an overtime victory. He was unbelievable for them, and is currently leading the NBA in points per game in the playoffs with 31.7 overall. Already covered Orlando/Miami, but the Cavs wiping the floor with Toronto is no surprise, right? LeBron had 30/10/15 in Game #1, 50/7/7 in Game #3, and 21/14/14 to finish the job in Game #5. People thought he was done... HAH! Finally, the 76ers are a bunch of choking frauds. Sorry, but it's the truth. How are you the #1 seed last year, and lose in 6 to Toronto then do the same thing as the #2 seed except this time to Detroit? Ben Simmons with just 16.7PPG? Luka Doncic shot 35% from the field. Just pathetic. I mean, congrats to Stan van Gundy and all his depth in Detroit, but I suspect they're going to run into a brick wall against LeBron.
Over in the Western Conference, you had all the favorites winning but in some of the most unconventional ways possible. Houston went down 0-3 to New Orleans. That happened, we all thought oh well Chris Paul gagging again and James Harden is a fraud but nope... they destroyed the Pelicans in all 4 games following their collapse in the first 3 games. Game #7 was no contest, with the Rockets winning 121-102. You gotta wonder what's going through the heads of Ant and Boogie right now. T-Wolves tookdown the injured Lakers in 6 games, Lonzo Ball averaged 13.3PPG, 10.3APG, and 6.0RPG but his efficiency numbers were piss poor. The Warriors cleaned up the Blazers as fully expected. Only time Portland stole a game off them was when Lillard went off for 44 in Game #3. Finally you had the Thunder taking out the lowly Kings. The two times the Kings won was when their defense held Westbrook and George to horrific shooting percentages. In Game #6, Sacramento mustered just 73 points as they were eliminated. But still considering their recent history, this season was a resounding success for them.
There you have it... now it's Boston vs Miami 2.0 in the 2nd Round this time! Should be fun!
2018/2019 Miami Heat 1st Round Summary2018/2019 NBA Playoff Picture:
#1. Boston Celtics vs #8. Milwaukee Bucks
#2. Philadelphia 76ers vs #7. Detroit Pistons
#3. Toronto Raptors vs #6. Cleveland Cavaliers
#4. Orlando Magic vs #5. Miami Heat
#1. Houston Rockets vs #8. New Orleans Pelicans
#2. Minnesota Timberwolves vs #7. Los Angeles Lakers
#3. Golden State Warriors vs #6. Portland Trail Blazers
#4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs #5. Sacramento Kings
Summary: After a regular season that saw an abundance of early season injuries, middling around .500, before finally ripping off a 6-game win streak to end the year and clinch the #5 seed... the Heat should be feeling pretty good about themselves. They have a very short road distance to travel to considering Orlando is in their own state. They're all healthy with the exception of Kay Felder, so what's going to be the key? Exploiting the fact the Magic don't have a star, utilizing prior playoff experience to their advantage, and letting your big game players (Dragic, Whiteside, Waiters) go head to head with theirs (Payton, Fournier, Vucevic) trusting that yours is better than theirs. That's about it. The 3-point shot could be a slight difference maker this series but not anything over-whelming like we've seen in years past. An underrated factor? How D-Wade can contribute in spots like these.
Well, let's get on with Round #1!
#4. Orlando Magic vs #5. Miami Heat
Game #1: Do you want to talk about a simply epic affair in Game #1! Here’s the situation. Miami is up 97-96 with just a little over 2 minutes remaining. Jonathan Isaac has hit two massive 3-pointers for Orlando down the stretch. The Heat need a go-to bucket, and where better to rely than your point guard? Goran Dragic! 99-96 game now, Elfrid Payton walks down the floor, tries to throw an alley-oop to Aaron Gordon but it is too high on the pass! Whiteside feeds the ball to Dragic down the other end, 1 on 1 with Payton, he attacks AAAAAND-1! He misses the free throw, but still a 101-98 lead. Whiteside gets a lay-in on a pick-and-roll, and he follows it up with a HUGE steal on a Payton pass intended for Aaron Gordon! With Vucevic pressing Dragic, he finds Whiteside for one more layup! 105-98 Miami! Tragic would make his free throws when fouled to ensure victory as the Heat take Game #1, 109-102! It really is a huge win when you consider they fell behind 0-2 last year to Boston. A 27/3/7 game from Dragic, 21/11 game from Whiteside, Evan Fournier scored 24 for Orlando but it wasn’t enough. Just a huge win to open up what’s sure to be a tight series all throughout.
Game #2: Miami are proving too much for Orlando to handle this series. A tied game at 76-76 all in the final 5 minutes, the Orlando scores just 2 points the rest of the way. The Heat? They let Goran Dragic put on a show as he produced one of the best performances ever in a Heat uniform. Layup, layup+AND-1, assist to Hassan for a jumper, mid-range 2, and a free throw when he split at the line 1/2. He was involved in every point the Heat scored down the stretch, and scored 10 of the Heat’s final 12 minutes in a 88-78 victory over Orlando. He only had 9 points entering the 4th quarter, and he out-scored that all in the last 5 minutes. Whiteside had 12/17 of his own and Dion carried the way the first 3 with 21 points. What is happening to Orlando? The Heat known Elfrid Payton can’t shoot. He went 1/8 tonight, 0/2 from deep, and by clamping down on Jonathan Isaac(4/9), Jonathon Simmons(4/12), and Evan Fournier(6/12) they have proved to be ineffective in late-game situations. They don’t have a player who can create and shoot in Payton. He either needs to be benched, they need to utilize Gordon/Vucevic better, or this series could be lights out in Miami before they even know what hit them.
Game #3: With just a hash over 3 minutes remaining in the game, Nikola Vucevic hit a huge 3-pointer to gift the Magic a 84-80 lead. On the floor for Orlando was Simmons, Fournier, Isaac, Biyombo, and Vucevic. Goran Dragic was having a rough night, and knowing that Simmons was on him he gave Waiters center stage to do his thing. He found Whiteside cutting to the rim, had a layup of his own as Vucevic went to over Hassan, and slammed the ball down with authority with 2 minutes remaining to take a 86-84 lead! Timeout Orlando! Gordon of for Biyombo, Payton in for Simmons. First thing he does? TURNS IT OVER TO DRAGIC! Dragic chewed clock then went for a jumper and missed, but Hassan got the offensive rebound. He handed the reigns over to Waiters now… he got double teamed as he was driving, 11 seconds on the shot clock, he goes to Winslow in the corner for 3, what, IT GOES IN! WINSLOW HITTING A 3? Unbelievable! 89-84 lead Miami! The Magic scored on the other end, and each side exchanged misses. The Heat coincidentally got forced into two more Winslow 3’s which he missed. With 3.5 seconds remaining, the Magic trailed by 3 but had the ball now. Time running out on the inbound… Vucevic goes to Gordon in the corner who has JJ draped all over him, he heaves it, buzzer, NO GOOD! HEAT WIN! THEY TAKE A 3-0 SERIES LEAD! The Miami Heat defeat Orlando 89-86 despite the fact no other than Whiteside with 18/17 had it going tonight. We know the NBA, a 3-0 lead for all intensive purposes means this series is a wrap!
Game #4: As with all games this series, this one was back-and-forth till the very end. With 1:12 remaining, Goran Dragic connected on a layup to put the Heat up 93-92. Vucevic would miss, Dragic would get a shot blocked, and Jonathan Isaac would miss a sitter with Winslow defending him at the rim to give the Heat the ball up by 1 with about 10 second difference between the shot clock and the game being over. Spoelstra would call for Winslow to control the ball. On a pick set by JJ, Isaac would be denied from coming over. Winslow drove as hard as he could to the rim, Aaron Gordon is there going for the block but Winslow FINISHES THROUGH CONTACT! He doesn’t get the foul call but a tremendous make to put the Heat up by 3. 95-92. Orlando after a timeout called the back to Evan Fournier on an open mid-range shot for 2, and somehow… he missed it. REBOUND MIAMI! Dragic would make free throws, Orlando would miss another 3, Dragic goes 1/2 and a flukey nothing matters 3 by Gordon goes in at the end. But it doesn’t matter. Miami wins 98-95. They complete a somewhat stunning sweep of the Orlando Magic in a clean 4 games. Each game was a bit of a nail-biter, and this one was no different. Dragic had 24 while Winslow was an underrated start with 16/5/5, the Heat will move on to the 2nd Round and they await to see who they’ll face then!
Final Series Breakdown: Miami Heat win series 4-0. What was the difference maker? A few factors. First of all, Elfrid Payton was BAD this series. The Heat exploited him with Goran Dragic, and Dragic was able to play passing lanes knowing Payton couldn't hurt him with the 3-pointer. He went 0/6 from 3 in the entire series, and averaged 8PPG on 37% shooting. Nikola Vucevic also struggled for the Magic averaging 10.5/7.5 as a big which on 42/14/67 splits simply isn't good enough. Another major factor was that the Heat had playoff experience that Orlando didn't. They were in these exact same games a year ago against Boston, while the Magic hadn't made the playoffs since 2011/2012 comparatively. It isn't always a defining factor but how every game came down to the wire and the Magic lacked guys who could take over, you saw how much it hurt. Hell, when does Evan Fournier miss the open mid-range 2 on the brink of elimination in Game #4? If there's any one bright spot for the Magic, it should be on how well Jonathan Isaac played in big moments. If they can keep that nucleus together, they can maybe get back to this spot next year and give a better showing than they did in their debut this season.
2018/2019 Miami Heat Playoff Stats
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><link href="http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/osdyn.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></head><body><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn" width="575"><tr class="masthead_alt"><td bgcolor="#7F0110" colspan="10"><span style="color:#FFFFFF">Miami Heat Stats - 18/19</span></td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td width="28%">Player</td><td align="right" width="8%">GP</td><td align="right" width="8%">MIN</td><td align="right" width="8%">PPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">RPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">APG</td><td align="right" width="8%">SPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">BPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">TPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">FPG</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Goran Dragic </td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">33.8</td><td align="right" class="active">21.0</td><td align="right">2.5</td><td align="right">6.0</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">1.7</td><td align="right">2.8</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Hassan Whiteside</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">31.3</td><td align="right" class="active">15.5</td><td align="right">14.8</td><td align="right">1.7</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">2.3</td><td align="right">2.5</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Dion Waiters</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">29.8</td><td align="right" class="active">13.2</td><td align="right">1.7</td><td align="right">3.3</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">2.3</td><td align="right">1.7</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Dwyane Wade</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">17.5</td><td align="right" class="active">9.3</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">2.8</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">0.0</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Kostja Mushidi</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">14.8</td><td align="right" class="active">8.5</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">2.5</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">0.3</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Justise Winslow</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">34.2</td><td align="right" class="active">7.0</td><td align="right">4.5</td><td align="right">3.5</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">1.5</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Kelly Olynyk</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">19.3</td><td align="right" class="active">6.0</td><td align="right">4.0</td><td align="right">2.8</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">2.0</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>James Johnson</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">28.8</td><td align="right" class="active">5.3</td><td align="right">4.5</td><td align="right">2.3</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">2.0</td><td align="right">3.5</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Luc Mbah a Moute</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">10.5</td><td align="right" class="active">4.0</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">0.5</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Bam Adebayo</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">9.0</td><td align="right" class="active">3.5</td><td align="right">3.5</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.7</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Rodney McGruder</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">11.3</td><td align="right" class="active">2.8</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">0.7</td></tr></table></body></html>Analysis: Last year it was Dion Waiters who put on a show against Boston, and this year it was Dragic who dominated. His percentages? 53/55/80 obviously that's not sustainable but he was brilliant and the catalyst behind sweeping the Orlando Magic. Hassan Whiteside wasn't as over-whelming as his 18/16 stats last year against the Celtics but 16/15 isn't too shabby. He will be instrumental on taking on our next opponent whether it be damn Boston again or Milwaukee. Dion Waiters struggled against the Magic. Not due to inability to shoot(he shot 51%) but his usage was much further down. That WILL go up next round. D-Wade was solid off the bench, Mushidi with a surprising slot being the 5th best scorer. Justise Winslow did many things that didn't involve scoring, and you saw with that 3-pointer in Game #3 and those big buckets late in Game #4 that he's ready to have a larger role. Biggest disappointments were Kelly Olynyk and James Johnson but something tells me they'll rebound next series. They can't possibly play worse than they did in this 1st Round.
2018/2019 NBA Playoffs (1st):
#1. Celtics (4) #8. Bucks (2)
#2. 76ers (2) - #7. Pistons (4)
#3. Raptors (1) - #6. Cavaliers (4)
#4. Orlando (0) - #5. Heat (4)
#1. Rockets (4) - #8. Pelicans (3)
#2. T-Wolves (4) - #7. Lakers (2)
#3. Warriors (4) - #6. Blazers (1)
#4. Thunder (4) - #5. Kings (2)
Summary: Okay, what the hell is wrong with the Eastern Conference? Giannis Antetokounmpo did his best against the 60-win Celtics and it wasn't enough. He averaged 22/10/6/3/2 on great efficiency but to no avail. Kyrie Irving scored 49 points in Game #2 in an overtime victory. He was unbelievable for them, and is currently leading the NBA in points per game in the playoffs with 31.7 overall. Already covered Orlando/Miami, but the Cavs wiping the floor with Toronto is no surprise, right? LeBron had 30/10/15 in Game #1, 50/7/7 in Game #3, and 21/14/14 to finish the job in Game #5. People thought he was done... HAH! Finally, the 76ers are a bunch of choking frauds. Sorry, but it's the truth. How are you the #1 seed last year, and lose in 6 to Toronto then do the same thing as the #2 seed except this time to Detroit? Ben Simmons with just 16.7PPG? Luka Doncic shot 35% from the field. Just pathetic. I mean, congrats to Stan van Gundy and all his depth in Detroit, but I suspect they're going to run into a brick wall against LeBron.
Over in the Western Conference, you had all the favorites winning but in some of the most unconventional ways possible. Houston went down 0-3 to New Orleans. That happened, we all thought oh well Chris Paul gagging again and James Harden is a fraud but nope... they destroyed the Pelicans in all 4 games following their collapse in the first 3 games. Game #7 was no contest, with the Rockets winning 121-102. You gotta wonder what's going through the heads of Ant and Boogie right now. T-Wolves tookdown the injured Lakers in 6 games, Lonzo Ball averaged 13.3PPG, 10.3APG, and 6.0RPG but his efficiency numbers were piss poor. The Warriors cleaned up the Blazers as fully expected. Only time Portland stole a game off them was when Lillard went off for 44 in Game #3. Finally you had the Thunder taking out the lowly Kings. The two times the Kings won was when their defense held Westbrook and George to horrific shooting percentages. In Game #6, Sacramento mustered just 73 points as they were eliminated. But still considering their recent history, this season was a resounding success for them.
There you have it... now it's Boston vs Miami 2.0 in the 2nd Round this time! Should be fun!
Comment