Just seen what the Clippers have done, fecking hell. We live in their heads rent free, what a bunch of small time wankers. I hope Luka single-handedly destroys them this season like he almost did last one.
NBA 2020-2021
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Win number 50!
Can't believe it's only 2 seasons ago where we only won 19 games
Now that the regular season is basically over, here's my choice for the awards
James Jones for EOTY
Thibs for COTY
Jokic MVP
Ball ROTY
Gobert DPOTY
Ingles 6MOTY
Randle MIP
All NBA ( Minimum at least 58 games played to qualify in my view because being available to play is one of the best quality for a player, which rules out quite a lot of big names. 58 games this season would be slightly just above 80% of all games in the regular season.)
1st team CP3 - Steph - Giannis - Randle - Jokic
2nd team Westbrook - Luka - Harris - Sabonis - Gobert
3rd team Dame - Beal - Middleton - Bam - Vucevic
All defensive team - voided because defense wasn't really played this season so they can all suck it.
Can't believe it's only 2 seasons ago where we only won 19 games
Now that the regular season is basically over, here's my choice for the awards
James Jones for EOTY
Thibs for COTY
Jokic MVP
Ball ROTY
Gobert DPOTY
Ingles 6MOTY
Randle MIP
All NBA ( Minimum at least 58 games played to qualify in my view because being available to play is one of the best quality for a player, which rules out quite a lot of big names. 58 games this season would be slightly just above 80% of all games in the regular season.)
1st team CP3 - Steph - Giannis - Randle - Jokic
2nd team Westbrook - Luka - Harris - Sabonis - Gobert
3rd team Dame - Beal - Middleton - Bam - Vucevic
All defensive team - voided because defense wasn't really played this season so they can all suck it.
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OKC v Clippers tomorrow night is setting up to be an absolute barnburner. The Clippers will more than likely be resting everyone they can find, with possibly a few coaches thrown in as well. What they don't understand, however, is this OKC team is not the Rockets. Houston could play to win, because they had nothing to lose. Even if by some misfortune they happened to beat the Clippers they were still guaranteed to have the worst record in the league. Kawhi and the boys will have to be craftier than they were against those hapless Rockets (even if it's only from the sidelines). If OKC wins it could easily drop them two places in the draft so there is a lot on the line. Don't be surprised if you see Steve Ballmer checking out the crowd to see if can offer some of them 10 day contracts to get them out on the court. He knows OKC will not win without a fight.
Let the games begin.
Let the games begin.
Nervous. But the team has been preparing for this. We've put together 4 solid months of tanking. Every player knows how to not execute their role. We've cut the rotation considerably to ensure We've got our worst players out their most of the time. It'll be tough but hopefully we can come out of it with a loss.
Not sure Brad Beal should have played today. He was obviously not moving well and even though the Wizards eventually won I'm not sure how wise it was to play him. Hope he's fit for the play in.
As an aside Steph needs 3 to win the scoring title.
As an aside Steph needs 3 to win the scoring title.
So Steph becomes the latest player with multiple scoring titles, joining the likes of Kobe Bryant, James Harden, and Tracy McGrady with two each.
I can’t believe that;
1) The Wizards made it to the 8th seed after the start to the season they had. I think we’re going to get a Wizards-Nets series, and it’s going to be incredible. Every game going to 148-146, no defence, Westbrook having the series of his life. Will be carnage.
2) That Bucks chose to beat Miami yesterday. They effectively had a choice between resting their starters and playing the Knicks in round one, vs. giving themselves the ludicrously tough path of Heat/ Nets/ Philly to the finals. Also massively helps the 76ers with their half of the draw, who surely have the easiest path of any team to the conference finals.
1) The Wizards made it to the 8th seed after the start to the season they had. I think we’re going to get a Wizards-Nets series, and it’s going to be incredible. Every game going to 148-146, no defence, Westbrook having the series of his life. Will be carnage.
2) That Bucks chose to beat Miami yesterday. They effectively had a choice between resting their starters and playing the Knicks in round one, vs. giving themselves the ludicrously tough path of Heat/ Nets/ Philly to the finals. Also massively helps the 76ers with their half of the draw, who surely have the easiest path of any team to the conference finals.
Knicks v Hawks is going to be super fun.
I don’t really get Bucks either. It’s not like they’ve been blowing teams in the playoffs and Heat destroyed them last year.
Wizards have been one of the best teams in the league for the last 6-8 weeks. I think they should beat depleted Celtics as well.
That 4th quarter just sums up the dubs , it's genuinely impossible to know what you are going to get from this team minute by minute. Happy to win this though but we are probably going to play Memphis again on Friday
Minute by minute is right. When they're good they can be very good but when it goes bad, it can go bad in spades. Seventeen point lead to start the 4th and within a little over five minutes the lead has gone. Then all of a sudden from being down by two, a 3 by Jordan Poole and three quick 3s from Steph and the Dubs are up by 12. Its exhausting, but damn, it's currently the best show in town. Phew!!!
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Thought I would dig up some of your quotes as they tend to be quite snobbish and misinformed. You also had another post about how the Suns were nailed on to drop out of the top 2 due to their schedule but that seems to have been deleted. Interested to know how you justify your thoughts now as a Blazers fan, especially considering they went 0-3 vs. the Suns and the last game was without Ayton or Cam Johnson (I live in Portland by the way and could have told you years ago that Stotts is a terrible coach).
For all you know the Blazers could put it all together and beat the Suns in a 2 vs. 7 matchup but considering a lot of your takes were based on the regular season, it's a fair point to bring it up now.
Clippers don’t have the incentive anymore though. They will be resting players just to have them fresh for the playoffs but they can’t go into a series vs Lakers anymore.
I don’t really have to justify anything, I was wrong and I have said quite a few times I am disappointed with this season from the Blazers though the last few weeks have been encouraging. Still think we will be out in the first round of the playoffs. Suns will be too if they go against Lakers though. I don’t really believe Jazz or Suns are capable of winning the championship but they had a very good regular season. Doesn’t really matter, I’d still take Blazers in a series over them.
The bolded one definitely was not mine. I don’t really follow schedules that closely.
But they can more than likely avoid the Lakers until the WCF if they lose. I'm still hoping for a fun(ny) game anyway.
Good luck.
I doubt they will meet anyway. Blazers will probably end up 6th and get Nuggets/Clippers. I don’t think we will beat Nuggets even without Murray, and definitely wouldn’t fancy a series against healthy Clippers, but even if we do somehow manage it, Lakers from 7th should beat anyone that comes 2nd (which I don’t like as we would also get destroyed by them again). There’s an outside chance of Warriors beating Lakers to get 7th seed, or Blazers losing tonight (which would be so much like Portland) of course. If there was no play-in I would want us to lose and drop to 7th or 8th though as I would much rather play Jazz or Suns than Clippers or Nuggets and I don’t even think it’s that controversial to say that.
Generally when it comes to the playoffs whoever has the best player on the floor is usually better positioned to win, unless they surround them with crap which isn’t really the case for many teams this year. You shouldn’t pay too much attention to regular season, it exists purely to get you to the playoffs where the real game starts. Young teams usually struggle the first couple of years. Nuggets barely beat Spurs and got beaten by a poor Blazers team the first time.
Jazz should get through the first round unless they get Lakers. They will struggle in the second though.
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The underlined logic doesn't make sense as if the Nuggets and Lakers win (Lakers play Pelicans who may be without Zion, Ingram, Ball, and Steven Adams), the Blazers are put into the play-in game, so there is a great chance they meet one of the top 2 seeds in the 1st round.
On the bolded part,
, I've probably watched the NBA much longer than you have and have attended more games, don't need tips from you. It's fairly obvious that the playoffs will be determined by injuries: if the Lakers stay healthy they will make the finals, no team has a chance against them. If the Nets stay healthy they will win it all at a canter, the Lakers may take them to 5 max.The only reason I brought up your past posts was to laugh at how you thought the Blazers ever had a chance. Seen them enough in person over the years to know that 1) their coach is arguably the worst coach in the playoffs this year and 2) Lillard and McCollum as an undersized backcourt dooms you in the long run against the teams with the best wing players. The improvements this year they made are but a drop in the bucket and never addressed the fundamental issues the teams has faced for many years now. Any half-knowledgeable NBA fan would know this.
EDIT: Always have vivid memories of how Jrue Holiday of all players annihilated Portland in the playoffs. Still makes me chuckle to this day. Portland was the 3 seed and got swept!
That is right. It’s actually silly that because Jazz and Suns got to finish 1st and 2nd and Lakers dropped to 6th/7th we are getting in all this silly nonsense of teams ‘choosing’ who they want to play.
Nuggets will probably rest most of their team tonight as well though, they just played last Friday in Detroit and don’t really need a win at all as it makes not difference to them (considering circumstances I wouldn’t be 100% sure Blazers win even if they face a team of Campazzo, Dozier and Bol Bol). I’d prefer to drop to play-in if I had full confidence in overcoming Warriors or (likely) Grizzlies but I don’t.The underlined logic doesn't make sense as if the Nuggets and Lakers win (Lakers play Pelicans who may be without Zion, Ingram, Ball, and Steven Adams), the Blazers are put into the play-in game, so there is a great chance they meet one of the top 2 seeds in the 1st round.
On the bolded part,
The only reason I brought up your past posts was to laugh at how you thought the Blazers ever had a chance. Seen them enough in person over the years to know that 1) their coach is arguably the worst coach in the playoffs this year and 2) Lillard and McCollum as an undersized backcourt dooms you in the long run against the teams with the best wing players. The improvements this year they made are but a drop in the bucket and never addressed the fundamental issues the teams has faced for many years now. Any half-knowledgeable NBA fan would know this.
EDIT: Always have vivid memories of how Jrue Holiday of all players annihilated Portland in the playoffs. Still makes me chuckle to this day. Portland was the 3 seed and got swept!
Lakers will probably win just to avoid that extra game and get some reps though it may actually do them good to have it to get their up to speed.
I’ve wanted Stotts gone (and still do) and been an advocate of trading CJ for a better fit (this ship has sailed) for a while so don’t really need you ‘educating’ me on that.
That playoffs take is not reasonable though. They are favorites but I wouldn’t be so bullish about it. Both have issues that go beyond injuries. On a good series they could be beaten.
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51 wins!!Win number 50!
Can't believe it's only 2 seasons ago where we only won 19 games
Now that the regular season is basically over, here's my choice for the awards
James Jones for EOTY
Thibs for COTY
Jokic MVP
Ball ROTY
Gobert DPOTY
Ingles 6MOTY
Randle MIP
All NBA ( Minimum at least 58 games played to qualify in my view because being available to play is one of the best quality for a player, which rules out quite a lot of big names. 58 games this season would be slightly just above 80% of all games in the regular season.)
1st team CP3 - Steph - Giannis - Randle - Jokic
2nd team Westbrook - Luka - Harris - Sabonis - Gobert
3rd team Dame - Beal - Middleton - Bam - Vucevic
All defensive team - voided because defense wasn't really played this season so they can all suck it.
Utah will still be first seed though. You seen the Kings injury list? Yeesh
But still, 19 to 51 wins
. In a shortened season as well.Don't really care about who to get in the first round tbh.
Rested their main guys again tonight.Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Blazers leading the Nuggets 50 - 31 early in the 2nd quarter.
Congrats to the Clippers they pulled it out. Tough on OKC they fought pitifully the whole game but just couldn't hold on. When you start players 7 through 11 on your roster and your bench still scores 74 that is just tough to compete with.
@ZDwyr just console yourselves with the fact the win only cost you 1 draft position since it appears the Mavs were tanking just as hard as the Clippers and lost by double figures to the Wolves.
@ZDwyr just console yourselves with the fact the win only cost you 1 draft position since it appears the Mavs were tanking just as hard as the Clippers and lost by double figures to the Wolves.
So the crazy regular season finale comes to an end.
Sixers will never get a better shot at reaching the finals so fully expect them to lose to Celtics/Wizards in the first round itself. Bucks paced themselves well this season instead of going for the most wins but a Heat/Nets/Sixers path is as tough as it gets. Also Knicks WTF Who expected them to finish 4th!!
Would be so funny if after all the drama to avoid Lakers in the first round, Warriors beat them and the Lakers end up on the Clippers side after all.
Sixers will never get a better shot at reaching the finals so fully expect them to lose to Celtics/Wizards in the first round itself. Bucks paced themselves well this season instead of going for the most wins but a Heat/Nets/Sixers path is as tough as it gets. Also Knicks WTF
Who expected them to finish 4th!!Would be so funny if after all the drama to avoid Lakers in the first round, Warriors beat them and the Lakers end up on the Clippers side after all.
Would be funnier after all this they got beat by the Mavs.So the crazy regular season finale comes to an end.
Sixers will never get a better shot at reaching the finals so fully expect them to lose to Celtics/Wizards in the first round itself. Bucks paced themselves well this season instead of going for the most wins but a Heat/Nets/Sixers path is as tough as it gets. Also Knicks WTF
Would be so funny if after all the drama to avoid Lakers in the first round, Warriors beat them and the Lakers end up on the Clippers side after all.
Also Thibs or Monty would be my COTY. I'd prefer Monty because I'm biased, but Thibs has done fecking wonders in NY, wouldn't begrudge him at all if he wins it
What a weird as tanking last 2 games or so, holy shit.
I let out an audible 'feck the Clippers' when I saw that OKC had won. Gives me more of an incentive to hope that the Mavs, Lakers or whoever else squashes them in the playoffs.
To be fair the Wolves have been around average since the ASB and weren't tanking.
That one is really super incredible. I remember listening to NBA podcasts before the season, everyone basically wrote off Knicks as their offseason moves were uninspiring and their draft pick wasn't a game changer. Noel worked out great for them, Rivers had some good games before they released him and that Rose trade really contributed at all. The biggest one though is the improvement from their young players - Barrett and Randle - who have basically become great overnight. Randle who was considered a bad contract at the time of signing is easilly All-NBA this year.So the crazy regular season finale comes to an end.
Sixers will never get a better shot at reaching the finals so fully expect them to lose to Celtics/Wizards in the first round itself. Bucks paced themselves well this season instead of going for the most wins but a Heat/Nets/Sixers path is as tough as it gets. Also Knicks WTF
Would be so funny if after all the drama to avoid Lakers in the first round, Warriors beat them and the Lakers end up on the Clippers side after all.
They may well beat Hawks as well, it's really 50/50. Next years free agency isn't super packed but they should finally be able to bring decent players on board - obviously not Kawhi or anything but maybe someone like Lonzo. They drafted well in late 20s last year too with Quickley and will have #18 and #23 this year so may add some decent depth (though those picks usually don't work out).
Wolves didn't really have a proper incentive to tank as they lose their pick unless it's top 3, and at the very best they would have ended up with about 40% odds to get a top 3 pick. Now they are at 37% to get top 4 and I think around 25% to get top 3.
Toronto with 7th best odds is pretty cool actually. I understand them taking a year off this time, with shorter bench and playing in Tampa. They didn't even have to tank that heavily to get there, only taking off the last 3-4 weeks properly but still being competitive in many games during that time. I hope they get a high pick.
I know that. It's just seemed like Charlton was likening OKC and the Wolves. The Mavs just lengthened their bench in that game but even then the Wolves haven't been an "easy" opponent for a while now.
The Lakers will play Golden State in the play-in and will surely have enough to beat them, but if Steph catches fire, anything is possible.
I really hope the Warriors get in alongside us, would love to see Steph against Paul (or just in the playoffs in general).
Are you a Phoenix fan? I'd love to see him as well, but I truly don't think they actually have a shot of making it to the playoffs by winning 2 consecutive play-in games against better teams.
Nah I'm a Lakers fan. They don't need to win 2 consecutive though do they? If they lose against us they'd play the winner of the Grizzlies-Spurs game for the #8 seed, very winnable if Steph is on his game.
No I really didn't mean to pick on the Wolves at all. I was essentially throwing all my scorn at the Clippers and the Mavs. I was actually irritated that the Wolves did try so hard because it cost them a draft spot which impacted the Warriors.