Celtics will come back and win this series.
- Thread starter Son_Of_Saul
- Start date
I didn't watch enough Heat games this year. But a lot of folks seem to think the Heat are better right now (or at least have been playing better) with Herro being injured. Now idk if that's more so because teams don't have as good of scouting on them or what..
I think this also kind of shows that while the East has been better as of late.. the Western Conference is still king.
Who scares you in the East when the 8 seed advances to the Finals? Bucks, 76ers, Celtics, Knicks.. all have some big flaws. I'm not sure, as it stands right now, that I'd place any of them in the top 3 or 4 in the West. Give me Denver, LA, GSW and Sacramento over anyone in the East, I think..
Who scares you in the East when the 8 seed advances to the Finals? Bucks, 76ers, Celtics, Knicks.. all have some big flaws. I'm not sure, as it stands right now, that I'd place any of them in the top 3 or 4 in the West. Give me Denver, LA, GSW and Sacramento over anyone in the East, I think..
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West has been generally better for many many years now. Sure the east has won some championships but over all the west has had the larger share of top tier teams.
There were some years back around the 2010s where like the 10th team in the west would have been 4th in the east lol. It was REALLY lopsided back then..
The Nuggets and Heat played twice this year. Denver won by 5 and 4.
Heat were up 5 in Denver going in to the 4th and down 6 going in to the 4th at home. I don't know that it means anything actually, but the games were close.
Heat were up 5 in Denver going in to the 4th and down 6 going in to the 4th at home. I don't know that it means anything actually, but the games were close.
I think Denver might smack Miami in 4 or 5 games for the same reasons about the East above.. Miami is having a great run and all, but I think the competition is a good step back from the West. Denver is NOT Mil or Boston. They are a firm step ahead of them, and they basically got an extra week of rest.
I didn’t think it was possible for so many players on an nba team that I absolutely dislike strongly lol..
I realize you're joking, but I told my wife there'd be at least one person on the board saying MiTcH NeEds To HiRe SpOlEsTrA!!!1!!
Couldn't you also say that an 8th seed advancing to the finals show how deep and well rounded the East is though? And I also really dont know about taking SAC, and maybe even GSW over everyone in the east.
To be honest? No. I dont think Miami pulls off this run in the West. A top3, top10, top30 and soon to be top30 player of all time are in the West. The east doesn't have a Lebron, Steph, KD or a Jokic... they have a Tatum, a Giannis. an Embiid, a Harden.. meh.
Sacramento might be a little young. But I'm taking them next season over every team I've seen in the East in these playoffs. GSW needs to stay healthy of course.. but they are always a threat. And if you don't want to include them, you could still throw in Phoenix with KD having a full season with Booker.
The ghost must have got Tatum because I've never seen a star roll that ankle so fast. He must have parked in a handicap spot with no sticker when he got to the game tonight. Talk bout horrible luck, or he kicked a leprechaun on the way in.
Sacramento needs a big man to help down low and maybe even steal Horford when Boston blows it all up now. Not for sure if that Sacramento team is going to get to conference finals unless they add someone to help sobonias.
The H2H records between both conferences were just way too wide for me to say the west is as better than you claim it is IMO.
Warriors, 14-16 against East
Lakers, 16-14
Kings- 16-14
Suns- 15-15
Nuggets- 19-11
Celtics- 23-7
Philly- 20-10
Bucks- 23-7
Heat- 20-10
And I think Giannis is very clearly better than all those west players outside of Jokic, and you could argue Embiid is as well. Both are surely better than current day Lebron and KD without a doubt.
We got the best of both worlds. If Denver goes off, Murray becomes the face of the modern elite guard corps as Steph continues to decline.
If Miami wins, Herro and Bam get rings while playing enormous roles (assuming Herro returns in the finals).
Meanwhile, Tatum the Dookie was a complete no-show. 5/13 from the field for only 14 points in a game seven where his team got smashed by 19 points.
You can't ask for much more if you're a UK fan.
2 things:
Tatum turned his ankle on the 1st play of the gm last night; thus 0-151 for teams trailing 0-3 in best of 7 playoff series.
Herro will probably not play much at all, if any, broken wrist and all the time off he will be ineffective. He will sit.
I’m of the mind Miami doesn’t make the Finals if Herro had been healthy. His minutes went to Martin and Vincent who both played good defense. Herro would have scored but also gives up lots of points. Martin went on a scoring spree during the playoffs in big games. With him in you got production on both sides of the floor. Maybe you beat the Bucks with Herro but no way you beat the Knicks with him playing 30+ minutes a game.
I think it's funny that Celtic fans are saying they would have won if Tatum hadn't gotten hurt but totally ignore the fact that if Herro played it likely would not have made it to game 7.
Giannis and Embiid might be better individual talents at this point.. but their team situations are worse IMO. Giannis reverted back a bit, Embiid totally choked in the playoffs. I'm not really high on those teams going into next year.
Jokic and Denver are the best team in the league.
KD is still new to Suns, and he has Booker
Steph and Golden State are still a big threat until we see otherwise
Lebron is lebron, and they were one of the best teams after the trade deadline.
SO yes, I think I'd pick all of the above teams to win a 7 game series against anyone in the East. And I'd also potentially put Sacramento in there as well.
Agree...I just see this playing like the bubble/covid NBA finals did a few years back. Miami got to the finals and Lakers solidly defeated them.
Nuggets should win in 5ish games IMO.
1. They score so easily and puts pressure on Heat to score with them to keep up. And Nuggets will look to score early and often and not be satisfied with walking it up and going 1 on 1 vs. Heat set defense.
2. Joker is so big....Bam/Zeller are like 6'9. His size feels like it will a problem when he starts backing dudes down and collapsing Heat to zone back on him. And then his passing will be a problem for Heat to zone. Spacing/shooting/passing/movement are a real problem for zone. Celtics had spacing and shooting but they basically stood still at 3pt line and they can't pass very well.
3. KCP Is a decent matchup for Butler defensively.....then Bruce Brown will get his turn. I can see Porter/Gordon getting turns as well.
4. Who guards Murray. Is it Butler...or is it Gabe Vincent....or is it Struss?
5. Heat had a huge advantage of Spoestra vs. Mazulla. Why Mazulla was content to jack up eons of threes vs. Heat.....he was out of his element. Mike Malone is a better strategy and wont' concede that much to Heat./
The main positive I see for Heat is Nuggets dont' have great rim protection. So if they can get to rim vs. Joker with Butler or Bam....they can make some buckets.
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