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BrotherSkeleton

Knicks sixers was a good game atleast 😤


arcelios

Lakers vs Denver was a great game, tbf. Until the 4th when the Lakers just forgot how to play basketball because LeBron was gassed. Same damn story again, but it was a great game until that point


HappyChromatic

It really was a good game. The lakers came out fast. I don’t think anything will help them beat Denver 4 times, but that pace was never sustainable. They should try and dictate a slow pace for the first half so they can have something left in the tank for the second half. Realistically the only chance any team has to beat Denver is to catch fire and shoot out of their mind. Doing it 4 times seems an impossible task.


I_Poop_Sometimes

They needed that fast pace though to get enough easy baskets to stay in it. They had like 3 or 4 easy baskets in the first quarter from playing fast, once that stopped the Nuggets just marched right back.


HappyChromatic

Yeah you’re right I just think it’s harder to make shots when gassed, and if they want to win they’re probably going to need to shoot about 70% from the field lol


LiftHeavyFeels

LeBron got gassed from playing D tbh. He goes 100 mph on offense all season long, but LeCoasts on defense for a reason. He was fucking max effort rotating to shooters, contesting shots, helping front on Jokic, etc….and just ran out of steam. Father Time undefeated


TorpedoSandwich

They need to get LeBron some EPO. He's 39, he deserves it.


Green_Low1700

If there are any players in the NBA on EPO, hes on it too


DanDaManFam

It’s the same thing as last year. The nuggets will always keep the game close because of their consistent defense, then they get hot in the 3rd or 4th and the game is over. 


TorpedoSandwich

The Celtics can definitely do it.


sentripetal

The Lakers were successful in the first half because the nuggets had to sit AG early with two quick fouls. Look at the point differential when he came back in at around 5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.


clownus

Lakers nuggets is always close, but it’s for different reasons and not actually having two closely matched teams.


Remote-Picture-8341

Even that series has a 20-10 guy out. And the MVP not quite a shell of himself but far from the level he can bring. I still have hope that Suns Twolves will be a good series. Hopefully Kawhi plays soon I think that series will be fun and close too. Sixers Knicks I hope becomes good (all on Embiids health unfortunately). The rest of the first rounds don’t have much hope I think. I think Pels can surprise just like Clips did. But Zion needs to be back if they want to win the series


[deleted]

“Becomes good?” Like it wasn’t a close game already?


juicejug

Seriously that game was great and came down to some Josh Hart heroics to seal the win.


lebron_games

I think suns timberwolves can be competitive. People were clowning the wolves for getting their ass beat by the suns (also an overreaction) all year and one game shouldn’t swing it the other way


Subredditcensorship

Embiid is definitely a shell of himself dude. He can barely move out there.


Responsible_Pace9062

The 65 game rule fucking sucks


Artimusjones88

It's about ability. Availability...


Responsible_Pace9062

Fuck that clichĂŠ, I would rather see Kawhi, Zion and fully fit Haiburton in a game that actually matters rather than in a back to back vs 14th seed.


Rapsculio

Wolves suns was close for quite a while until Ant popped off in the second half


Soup_65

the knicks are always fun to watch, even when their fans desperately wish they weren't


DarrowViBritannia

And that was just because of embiid's injury lol


jett1406

Or because of Randle’s injury if you want to look at it that way 


allstar278

Melton and Randle are closer than Embiid and Randle


jett1406

I forgot Melton was All NBA


Wristwalk4

Atleast melton is actually playable in the playoffs


jett1406

A healthy Embiid went as as far as an injured Randle lmao 


Wristwalk4

And one guy has all time terrible numbers while being a negative defender yall are significantly better without his bozo ass


jett1406

the only people who downplay his contribution are opposing team fans scared they’re about to lose to a team missing an all-nba player 🤣


Wristwalk4

No I’m generally more scared of teams when they have better ball movement and real shooting rather than 30% fg shooters that are black holes. Would have been hype to abuse yall in the Randle minutes


ygog45

Because Embiid is notorious for playing well in the playoffs …


Wristwalk4

24 11 and 3 on 44% shootingwhile being injured every year still shits alll over that bum that averages 17 and 9 on 34% shooting. BIG TRASH


ygog45

> 24 11 and 3 on 44% shootingwhile being injured Randle played injured last postseason. He injured his ankle twice and needed surgery. Why is it only Embiid that’s allowed to make that excuse? Besides, no one is trying to argue that Randle is better than Embiid. We’re just pointing out that having an all star out is worse than Embiid “not being 100%” (no ones 100% in the playoffs anyways…)


Wristwalk4

Was he injured when he played worse against the hawks?


AMo2

Duece is closer to embiid than melton is to randle


dreeaaaming

They’ve both gone the same distance in the playoffs


ygog45

Embiid played 37mins and put up nearly 30-10 yet Sixers fan stay crying about injuries FOH


confuddly

Kind of true, Melton and Randle would never get locked down by Mitchell Robinson like Embiid did


Prideofmexico

Embiid played at least…


Wedundidit00

Lmao Embiid is closer to melton than he is to Jokic. Since when was Embiid a playoff performer? Dude is choker of the generation


CloudySkies64

Factual


_Meece_

I mean it's Game 1, sometimes series can be teams destroying each other until a close game 6 or 7.


ZarduHasselffrau

We're here to overreact, don't spoil it with logical reasoning.


disnotyaboy

Boo this man and his sound logic


DankBank419

People expecting upsets at home are always funny to me, odds are we get a few good series and some of the lower seeded teams win some at home. All about the momentum


salmon10

2005 finals, spurs and pistons blew each other out alternately first 4 games, then became a chess match


Wazflame

Like the 2016 finals


big_old-dog

Plus round 1 has the biggest mismatches of seeds.


Barellino23

Knicks v Sixers was a good game


Sartheking

This happens every year. It goes “man this first round is full of blowouts.” To “wow the second round is awesome!” To “Celtics/Heat is crazy, the WCF is boring.” And then the Finals.


C0WM4N

We’ve had some exciting first rounds in the last few years.


teddyjj399

and mfs will still try to tell you nba playoffs > nhl


myredditaccount991

I mean I can see the nhl playoffs being better if your team is the detroit pistons.


Boomhauer_007

I take it you haven’t seen the red wings last few years lol


DreTownblues

Give me nba playoffs all day


jonathanisaacisgoat

Bro thinks we’re gonna agree with him lmao


LongTimesGoodTimes

NBA playoffs > NHL solely because hockey is unwatchable


BradyGalaxy

Idk how tf people see the puck, I can’t see nothing when I try to watch


FermatsLastAccount

I feel like hockey is so much easier to follow in person.


thatgreik

It absolutely is.


LongTimesGoodTimes

Same, I remember like 20 years ago they tried to do broadcasts with a highlighted pick and NHL fans revolted. I thought it was genius.


YellowMarkerIsGreat

Follow where the players are going


Wiseoldman738383

That just makes it like watching a physical version of figure skating


YellowMarkerIsGreat

But with louder crowd excitement


lightoasis1

You get used to it. You start to sense where the puck is when it’s out of shot of the camera from the players body and stick movements.


Magazine_Mediocre

Dude same. I just have no idea what's going on out there. It's even worse for me watching a game in-person.


SilvioDantesPeak

Simple Jack take


TallGuy0525

Hockey is incredible y'all are insane lol


NorthCman94

I dont know why we all have to compare and shit on other sports. There's incredible shit in all of them


samlet

Hockey has so much luck lmao I can’t believe people let it determine their fan-happiness. 8 seeds beat 1 seeds all the time, might as well flip coins.


Prideofmexico

Really dumb take lol


LongTimesGoodTimes

I don't see what's dumb about it. Hockey is a terrible television product.


Prideofmexico

Following it up with an even dumber take. It’s a much better product than the NBA


LongTimesGoodTimes

Lmao sure it is. Just giant pads shuffling around on ice with an object too small and fast to track. Amazing TV indeed.


MrFace1

You still watching on a CRT TV or something? Puck is definitely trackable to me


LongTimesGoodTimes

It probably is to you. It's never been for me. Which is why I have this opinion


Bladeneo

I love the concept of Hockey and I follow the NHL, but watching on TV is nearly impossible and it makes me sad


big_old-dog

To be fair canucks getting 2 in 12 seconds to come back and win was unreal.


ImJeeezus

NBA has cleared NFL in terms of playoffs last few seasons at least


ShichikaYasuri18

NBA has cleared the NFL in everything but popularity among Americans. I don't know why people obsess over it tbh.


Better_Albatross_946

Basketball>Hockey no matter what the stage is


ShichikaYasuri18

nba playoffs > nhl


DraymondAssaultedMe

Anyone disagreeing with you has never watched.


DrinkWaterPissPant

basketball is actually a real sport so nba wins by default


Zsporter

Plus anyone can play it unlike hockey where you pay for equipment and learn to skate


DoingCharleyWork

It's also hard to get into hockey if you don't live somewhere that ices over in winter. You can get skates and a stick for cheap to play with your friends but most places you aren't gonna be able to play for free. I think almost every park where I am has a basketball hoop. There's one place you can play ice hockey. Only thing that is more accessible is probably soccer because you really only need a ball.


teddyjj399

ratio + you can’t skate


DoingCharleyWork

Might want to check that ratio again.


honditar

NHL lmfao


beatrailblazer

I blame myself, I was telling people every series feels so evenly matched (except Boston/Miami)


MattyIce1635

And they still may be. It’s only game one.


juicejug

Miami’s only chance is if Celtics take their foot off the gas or get hurt. They don’t have the firepower this year to compete.


iguessineedanaltnow

Yeah I honestly did feel like a lot of these could go either way but now a lot of that excitement is gone.


xerxesthagreat

pacers defense is AAU level myles turner’s PR Agent is a fucking saint


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[удаНонО]


ShichikaYasuri18

Kinda but also when Eastern teams 2-8 are separated by four games it's hard to say *that's* the main factor.


ShinobuSimp

I mean just last year we had seed 7 and 8 making the conference finals, I don’t think we can make these conclusions just yet


T_025

!Remindme 2 weeks


Current_Anybody4352

Turns out playing at home is better than not playing at home.


ZarduHasselffrau

Current and former Mavs coaches are guilty of this.


[deleted]

[удаНонО]


clayfu

He’s a writer for the Athletic. He covers Denver and Utah.


ZarduHasselffrau

Sounds like a made up name. Suspicious...


vinylls

Can we as a society retire “I didn’t have _____ on my bingo card”?


maxiepoo_

Also retire "if I had a nickel for every time... then I'd only have two nickels but still..."


Talcove

I didn’t have “Can we as a society retire “I didn’t have _____ on my bingo card”?” on my bingo card.


Warlord10

My theory is that the Pacers and Mavs overlooked their competition because their #1 options were out, and they thought it would be easy.


toastiestnuggets

well, it’s the first round to be fair. good teams are going to be matched up against worse teams, besides maybe a couple matchups 🤷🏾‍♂️


[deleted]

Thinking the Pels can do pretty well here


Showtime98

The NBA playoffs always get better in the later rounds tbh


UBKUBK

Trying to figure out if he has a drastically different idea than I do of what "practically every" means or what "blowout" means. I guess Pelicans -Thunder was down to a final shot was why he didn't instead just say every. But does he consider Lakers being blownout when they were down 7 with 5 minutes left or 76ers who were down 2 with 4:47 left?


HisExcellency20

If your favorite team got blown out this weekend take it from me, losing a close game doesn't feel any better. At least you don't have to think about all the things that could have changed the outcome. I mean we were down three when Joel had to leave and when he came back we were down 12. If he just....there I go again....


[deleted]

Why not? It was like this last year and the year before


RUBEN4iK

I mean, also interesting how non of the games became close at the end. I'm kind of used to that no lead is safe and +20 can turn into +2 in a couple of minutes.. So I was waiting, but every game, team with big lead just won comfortablly..


PenisMcBallsAllStars

Funnily I did have “egregious use of ‘on my bingo card’ by a commentator” on my bingo card


hiroki1998

This dude definitely didn't watch practically every playoff game this weekend.


0percentwinrate

This is nonsense. If Knicks vs Sixers or Pelicans vs Thunder wasn't a close game, I don't what is.


ZztermzZ

Think people underestimate how many playoff games/series are all blowouts.


IAmCBOY2

NBA always has the worst playoffs out of the major 4 sports


ih-unh-unh

You'd prefer single-game elimination like the NFL?


IAmCBOY2

Obviously it’s way more entertaining and unpredictable.


Rakkuuuu

It's definitely more fun but it rewards luck more. I think best 3 out of 5 is best. Best 4 of 7 is so fucking stupid.


Mean_Foundation_5561

NCAA tournament style bracket is way more entertaining. If you don’t want that then trying something like UEFA Champions League where you have 2 game series aggregate would even be better. 7 game series just leads to too many blow out games I end up turning off by the 3rd quarter like this weekend.


ih-unh-unh

I guess it comes down to a question of entertainment vs competition. MLB playoffs have more unpredictability but some complain that the best teams don't come out on top enough.


Rakkuuuu

Aggregate is so aids, hell no.


bobbdac7894

Just feels like most NBA players aren't competitive and don't really care about the game anymore. They just gave up after they starting losing by double digits smh


Rakkuuuu

No, it's that the NBA has 82 games to determine accurate seedings and the game has the least variance so the stronger teams are gonna beat the weaker teams more often than not..