Board 8 > NBA playoffs overtime

(+) Yeah! (+)

ShatteredElysium posted...

rely on name value to magic a championship team

Nice

And I get why they're saying it, but I see it the other way. It's more like "the Lakers are about to make the Finals again". Miami making it feels more refreshing than the Lakers even though they were there more recently. 10 years wasn't enough to cure Laker fatigue

Actually it's probably just cause I'm a bitter Lakers hater

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i could understand resenting the celtics for their fleecing of the nets and what we did to isaiah thomas.

but yeah, i hate the way just being the lakers means the lakers get to be good. tbf lebron has that impact on teams too. but i greatly dislike it.
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The Lakers have missed the playoffs more the past 7 years than the last 50 years combined

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yeah I feel like they got AD because LeBron was there more than being the Lakers

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But they got Lebron because they are the Lakers

KommunistKoala posted...

yeah I feel like they got AD because LeBron was there more than being the Lakers

it's both. the celtics would have traded brown or tatum for him to pair with kyrie, but it's harder for us to retain free agents.

i mean look at the clippers, who have a lot less glamor but still have the los angeles advantage. they bombed out but were able to get paul george and kawhi leonard. leonard even left a superior team to do it.

lakers have zero fear of that.

ShatteredElysium posted...

But they got Lebron because they are the Lakers

and yes very much this. can't compete with space jam 2
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SeabassDebeste posted...

it's both. the celtics would have traded brown or tatum for him to pair with kyrie, but it's harder for us to retain free agents.

actually they couldn't do that because AD and Kyrie were both on the Rose rule and you can only have one such player per team. Unless trading for AD this offseason could have convinced Kyrie to stay but I feel like he was already out the door

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Denver looks tired. Even this little comeback feels labored.

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Spoke too soon, it seems. Although Murray is too hurt for them down the stretch, I can't see them winning this.

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bye bye Nuggies

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Good try Nuggets. Jamal Murray is for real, looking forward to his growth. Grant was balling too, and feel like Porter Jr grew a lot this series

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Game 1 of the Final will be LeBron's 50th (FIFTIETH) finals game

that's nuts

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when you consider that he's played in 9 Finals, it's not that nuts. That's an average of about 5.5 games per series

for comparison, Jerry West played in 55 finals games in 9 appearances (in which he went 1-8, yikes)

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Yeah, Jamal Murray is the real deal.

Happy for the Lakers obviously, should be a fun final with either East team.

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MZero posted...

when you consider that he's played in 9 Finals, it's not that nuts.

its not nuts if you consider the nuts part

I mean I was mostly just recontextualizing it

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who wants my nuts

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Celtics fans just don't want to talk about this team anymore huh

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the preferred final out of the 4 remaining teams

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My favorite team vs My favorite player in the league right now.

Can't lose.

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good night sweet prince

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weird to watch the C's completely collapse in the 4th there. They were only down 7 and just started chucking up three pointers and not running any offense

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Hoping to see LeBron win it all, but a Heat victory would be fun as well.

Regardless of the outcome, this was an amazing playoff series.

Ideally, if LeBron wins the chip, he somehow cobbles together 2 more to cement the GOAT (of which he currently is, but people argue anyway cuz rings)

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MajinZidane posted...

Ideally, if LeBron wins the chip, he somehow cobbles together 2 more to cement the GOAT (of which he currently is, but people argue anyway cuz rings)

LOL

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ha ha

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I think trying to declare who the best is in any sport with so many different eras and massive changes in areas like conditioning and medicine is just dumb.
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fun season for the celtics. didn't expect to be in the ECF. still a bitter loss since they had such a good opportunity with a less talented miami team - i think fatigue had a lot to do with this loss.
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MajinZidane posted...

Hoping to see LeBron win it all, but a Heat victory would be fun as well.

Regardless of the outcome, this was an amazing playoff series.

Ideally, if LeBron wins the chip, he somehow cobbles together 2 more to cement the GOAT (of which he currently is, but people argue anyway cuz rings)

boko no

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if LeBron wins this one it just about settles the GOAT debate. If he were to get to 6? Removes all doubt.

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LeWin

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IDK the fact that he's playing at the level he is in year 17 and just the overall eye test is what does it for me.

38-16-10 in a close out game of the WCF in his seventeenth season. just ludicrous

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this year is the worst

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ExThaNemesis posted...

if LeBron wins this one it just about settles the GOAT debate.

i think you have to consider context/opponents here... this is like saying that curry's 2015 ring made him the best player in the league. they'd be playing a 5 seed in the finals, and AD is better than any playoff opponent's best player.
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Can COVID still end the season somehow. If I had picked the worst final possible from a personal preference standpoint at season start, this would be it.

it's not philly/lakers at least?
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ShatteredElysium posted...

Can COVID still end the season somehow. If I had picked the worst final possible from a personal preference standpoint at season start, this would be it.

I feel like having Boston lose to LA would be way way way worse. I can tune out most anything at this point, but I think it'd be too much.

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ExThaNemesis posted...

IDK the fact that he's playing at the level he is in year 17 and just the overall eye test is what does it for me.

38-16-10 in a close out game of the WCF in his seventeenth season. just ludicrous

I think longevity is overrated in these arguments, but if Jordan skipped college (and that one year of minor league baseball I guess) he would have been in year 17 in his last year with the Bulls (he was 35, just as Lebron is now). You could make the argument he might have broken down sooner if he went straight to the league, but still at age 35 Jordan was playing just as well as Lebron is.

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neonreaper posted...

I feel like having Boston lose to LA would be way way way worse. I can tune out most anything at this point, but I think it'd be too much.

I'm a Magic fan so Heat in the finals is a lot worse than the Celtics

It's not really LeBron's fault that MJ retired twice tho, so yeah the longevity is definitely something in LeBron's favor.

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yeah longevity is lebron's argument, and that's not a bad thing
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One game for your life who do you want

In before no one mentions Bill Russell

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Also Tim Duncan was 11-5 against Lebron in the Finals and has two more rings so slow your roll on "better than Jordan"

(Seriously though Duncan needed that 5th ring to end the ludicrous discussion that Kobe was a better player than him so I get it)

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One game for my life probably prime Shaq tbh

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Whoever wants you dead employs hack-a-Shaq

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Bird or Jordan. I'm fine dying because of Larry Bird.

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Leonhart4 posted...

One game for your life who do you want

it depends if Jordan is taking that game personal

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KommunistKoala posted...

it depends if Jordan is taking that game personal

He'll find a way to make it personal, this is the least of my concerns

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ExThaNemesis posted...

It's not really LeBron's fault that MJ retired twice tho, so yeah the longevity is definitely something in LeBron's favor.

The second retirement was after his age 35 season, so it's not relevant until next year! Regardless, longevity isn't really a basketball skill and is largely based on luck so I don't think it deserves much weight (not zero but just not very much) in the GOAT debate. Basically If you think Lebron is better (eye test) that's fine, but longevity shouldn't move the needle imo

Leonhart4 posted...

Also Tim Duncan was 11-5 against Lebron in the Finals and has two more rings so slow your roll on "better than Jordan"

(Seriously though Duncan needed that 5th ring to end the ludicrous discussion that Kobe was a better player than him so I get it)

Should have been 12-3 if Pop didn't take him out imhotbbq

One game for my life give me MJ

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this is true but the 2014 revenge Spurs are one of my favorite teams ever so I've almost come to think of the Ray Allen shot as a necessary evil

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i'm still bitter that they stopped the game when there should have been zero timeouts remaining. miami was a terrible transition defense, and 5.3 seconds is more than enough to traverse the court and get a good transition look off. instead they stopped the game, letting miami get back on D.

anyway, i'm probably taking lebron simply because i've seen the most of him. but it depends on the team, of course.
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Longevity is a little bit of luck and also taking care of yourself, which LeBron has done better than almost anyone ever.

We'll see if he can keep it up through years 18, 19, and 20 though. That'll be the real test.

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