|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 11, 2024 18:57:36 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 12, 2024 16:41:41 GMT -5
The all star break happening during the play in and turning those into a two week matchup is… *chefs kiss*
|
|
Tampa Bay Bull Sharks
Moderator
2012 NBA Champions, 2015 NBA Champions, 2016 NBA Champions, 2024 GM League Cup Champions
Posts: 2,922
|
Post by Tampa Bay Bull Sharks on Feb 12, 2024 17:18:37 GMT -5
I’m hyped
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 16, 2024 12:18:04 GMT -5
PLAY-IN GAME UPDATES We've reached the unofficial halfway point of the play-in round, which is has been split into two weeks thanks to the real life All-Star Break. So where do we stand?
Washington Wizards (5th seed) lead Memphis Grizzlies (4th seed), 5-3-1 The Wizards have played a little over 100 more minutes than the Grizz, but the real story is Giannis Antetokounmpo. After falling short in the play-in round last year, he has been a monster in the early part of this series. Through three games, he is averaging 31-11-8 while knocking down an incredible 74% of his shots. His free throw shooting has been, predictably, bad, which has allowed Memphis to maintain an advantage there... however, the Wizards have been boosted from the three-point line by Payton Pritchard, who has thrown in 7 thus far. That's been a huge help with Bradley Beal going down, again, though the expectation is for him to return post-ASB. The Grizzlies are dealing with their own major injury, as Kawhi missed a game with an adductor strain. He is also expected to return post-ASB, but we will see. At this point, Memphis' best path to a comeback appears to be rebounds, but they'll need a much better effort from DeAndre Ayton if they want that category to be competitive (he followed up a great 22-16 performance with a 2 point, 4 rebound stinker). The Grizz have also been hurt by Mathurin's absence, and the less than stellar play from Mikal Bridges. Donovan Mitchell has averaged 33-5-7, but there's only so much he can do. He and Kawhi, assuming the latter is back, both have 3 games each when the series resumes.
Seattle Supersonics (4th seed) lead Golden St. Warriors (5th seed), 5-2-2 The Warriors jumped out to a lead on Monday, but the Sonics have walked them down and gone into the (short) break with the advantage. This one is close, with the Sonics holding slight edges in free throw shooting and points. The big takeaway here is the Warriors are just crazy banged up. Despite having their own depth issues, the Sonics have managed to play well over 100 more minutes. And how about Tyus Jones? The Wizards point guard has dished out 31 assists in just two games, and he, Harden, Ingram, and Bam have pretty much wrapped up that category for Seattle. Ingram, Harden, Jones, and Strus all have 3 games left in this series. This one is still anyone's ballgame, but the Warriors desperately need guys to get healthy.
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 26, 2024 9:38:10 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 26, 2024 10:41:42 GMT -5
Just as a quick recap on a couple of fun facts in the first round previews...
Three of the four match-ups haven't happened in the playoffs in the last ten years. Time between last playoff match-up...
-Portland/Golden St. - 13 years (Portland won in 2011) -Orlando/Tampa Bay - 12 years (Tampa Bay won in 2012) -Utah/Kansas City - 10 years (Utah won in 2014)
The only match-up to occur in the last decade is Brooklyn/Washington. They played in the ECF in 2018 (Brooklyn won).
Of the potential Conference Finals matchups...
-Portland/Kansas City would be a first-time meeting -Portland/Utah would be a rematch of last year's play-in game -Utah/Golden St. last happened in 2012
-Brooklyn/Tampa Bay would be the 8th meeting in the playoffs (most in league history) -Brooklyn/Orlando has happened twice (2014, 2018) -Orlando/Washington would be a first-time meeting
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 26, 2024 12:22:37 GMT -5
I've got another crazy stat...
The East has never gone two consecutive seasons with neither Brooklyn or Tampa reaching the Finals. Any time a team outside of Tampa or Brooklyn have made the Finals in the East, the next EC winner has been either Tampa or Brooklyn.
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Feb 26, 2024 15:29:18 GMT -5
I got bored and decided to come up with a points system to determine "how fun it would be if 'team X' won the title. I might fold this into the playoff previews in the future, but the outcome kind of matched up with my own internal thought process. Open to notes lol. The "Fun Narrative" TitlePlayoff appearances: 1 point for each playoff appearance (points only count for teams that HAVE NOT won a title) Years in league: 1 point for each year the owner has been in the league Non-Finals upsets: 2 points for each year the team has been defeated in the playoffs by a lower seed (excluding Finals losses) Finals losses: 2 points for every Finals loss (upset or no, it still stings lol) Playoff drought: 2 points for each year between playoff appearances (only counting years between current postseason and most recent appearances prior to this year) Championships: -5 points for every title won Here's how each team ranks... 1. Utah Jazz - 35 pointsA lot of this was laid out in the playoff preview, but razorbacks being in the league since day 1, and coming so close to winning it all multiple times, really stacks the deck in his favor. 2. Kansas City Kings - 31 pointsAgain, the time in the league combined with the number of playoff appearances rockets the Kings up this list. They've also had three postseason exits at the hands of lower seeds. 3. Orlando Magic - 28 pointsThis one was a little surprising, but the playoff drought really buoys them here. Only the Gamblers had a longer drought (still have, actually. It's now at 9 years), and shahrom93 has now run the Bulls and Magic, so he's been here for a minute. 4. Portland Trailblazers - 19 pointsIf we added points for age of best player, Portland might be at the top, but I wasn't entirely sure how to make that make sense. Anyway, Portland Trail Blazers is closing in on a decade in the league and has built a perennial contender, so he'll hope to be moving down this list this year. 5. Washington Wizards - 9 pointsWe're reaching the "let me play the world's smallest violin" section of this list. A title for any team would be cool for it's own reasons... but I'm guessing not many folks are going to lose sleep over golicbread missing out on a title in his first year (no offense! lol). 6. Tampa Bay Bull Sharks - 8 pointsI'm not really sure how Tampa ended up above Golden St., but here we are. The Bull Sharks have suffered multiple Finals losses and playoff losses to lower seeds, which is how they have any points at all. Maybe another category should be added for series won as a lower seed. 7. Golden St. Warriors - 6 pointsA title two years ago not only docks the Warriors of points, but wipes out the points they would have accrued for playoff appearances. Sorry, no fun to be had as a recent champion. 8. Brooklyn Nets - 5 pointsAny list that has the Nets not at the bottom feels wrong. With four titles, they don't get to claim any hard times.
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Mar 3, 2024 0:43:57 GMT -5
Kind of can’t believe how close all these matchups are
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Mar 4, 2024 11:34:05 GMT -5
FIRST ROUND UPDATES
Brooklyn Nets (#1) lead Washington Wizards (#5), 6-3 This might be the only one of the four match-ups that is over, or close to over. After the first week, Brooklyn holds significant advantages in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, while maintaining a slim lead in threes. Washington more than likely has turnovers and percentages locked up, though a couple bad Giannis free throw games could technically change that. The Wizards have had some tough injury luck, losing games from Beal, McCollum, and Brunson. It didn't get any better on Sunday as Brunson hurt his knee in the first minute of the game. It does appear he escaped without serious injury, but if he misses any time, that's probably a wrap. The Wizards have just been unable to keep up, despite 31-11-4 from Giannis, in large part because Victor Wembanyama has been a destroyer of worlds. The French sensation has averaged 25-13-6, he's swatted 15 shots, knocked 10 threes, chipped in 5 steals, and he's shot 53% from the floor and 84% from the line. He, Vassell, and Irving have thoroughly outplayed their star counterparts in Giannis, Brunson, and McCollum, and the superior Brooklyn depth has overwhelmed. Something to keep an eye on: JJJ and the tanking Grizz. Memphis has held JJJ out of three straight games in an obvious tank move, and the Nets are absolutely going to need him back assuming they hang on and advance to the next round.
Tampa Bay Bull Sharks (#3) lead Orlando Magic (#2), 5-3-1 This one is anyone's ball game. Tampa can probably feel confident about assists and threes, while Orlando likely has blocks locked down, but everything else is up for grabs. Tampa Bay has had a somewhat significant minutes played advantage, but their lead in points and steals is tenuous at best. The good news for Tampa is, assuming no injuries, LeBron, KAT, and Sabonis all play four games in the upcoming week. That said, if there are no missed games, Orlando projects to have a +1 advantage in games played. LeBron, thus far, is proving to be one of the best deadline pickups of the year (duh), as he's put up 30/5/9/1/1 while knocking down 11 threes and shooting 57% from the floor. The Bull Sharks also survived a scare when Jamal Murray twisted his ankle against the Heat. He was able to come back and play the next game against LA, and played quite well, but it is something to monitor. On the Magic side of things, they need more from Franz Wagner (16-5-4), but they've gotten a really good series from RJ Barrett so far (24-4-5... but a ghastly 7/18 from the line). Immanuel Quickley has also stepped up (20-6-8). The free throw shooting, including surprisingly bad numbers from Sexton (13-19), are a killer for them. Going back to the games played advantage.. 7 of the games for Orlando this week will be Reddish, Isaiah Jackson, and Jonathan Isaac, all of whom have given the Magic basically nothing, so while it looks good on paper, in reality, they're really at a disadvantage. Those kind of weak spots just don't exist on this Bull Sharks team, so Orlando probably needs a little injury help.
Golden St. Warriors (#5) lead Portland Trailblazers (#1), 6-3 Heading out West, we've got an upset brewing in Portland as the Warriors have jumped out to the lead at the midway point. The Blazers have had some rough injury luck, though they haven't been at quite the minutes disadvantage with the Dubs missing their own guys (and with Devin Booker now hitting the shelf). Golden St. likely has the percentages, threes, and points in the bag, but assists and steals are very much there for the taking. Donte DiVincenzo has come to play for the Warriors, averaging 22/5/3/2 while knocking down 20 threes. He's probably been the best player in this series, which is both an incredible statement and a death knell for the Blazers. Portland does have a games played advantage for the upcoming week, and Devin Booker is now officially out for the rest of the series, so they're most certainly not done yet. They need more from Paul George (18.5-5-2), and with Russell Westbrook out, he'll have plenty of opportunities.
Utah Jazz (#2) lead Kansas City Kings (#3), 5-4 Utah is going to win rebounds and threes. All other categories are a toss-up right now. Both the Jazz and Kings appear to be getting hit by the real life tanking bug. KC has gotten only one game from Walker Kessler, who has sat the other match-ups with a foot "injury." Meanwhile, the Jazz just lost a game from Markkanen because of a contusion. The real life Blazers are also in no hurry to play Malcolm Brogdon, and they're about to pull the plug on Jerami Grant, further compounding the Kings' issues. Butler, Banchero, and SGA have done all they can to keep the Kings in it, but the Jazz just have depth that KC does not. Jusuf Nurkic put up an ASTONISHING 31 rebounds yesterday, outrebounding the entire KC lineup by himself and essentially putting that category to bed. Dennis Schroder has popped for 14 threes. Brandon Miller is averaging 20-6-2. Monday is probably going to be instructive, since Utah projects to have a games played advantage this week. If the Kings can keep it close, or even take the lead in some of the toss-ups tonight, they'll have a real shot. If Utah extends those leads, that's probably all she wrote.
|
|
|
Post by Portland Trail Blazers on Mar 7, 2024 12:55:38 GMT -5
Is this a discussion thread? You can delete this if it’s not but I caught up on 3’s! I’m down 13 assists, 4 steals, losing by 4 turnovers. At a glance it looks like these last 4 days we have similar amount of games, hopefully I can keep it close for an exciting finish
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Mar 7, 2024 15:46:33 GMT -5
Is this a discussion thread? You can delete this if it’s not but I caught up on 3’s! I’m down 13 assists, 4 steals, losing by 4 turnovers. At a glance it looks like these last 4 days we have similar amount of games, hopefully I can keep it close for an exciting finish This IS a discussion thread! lol I guess no one is super excited at the moment, but I've been tracking ha. Just looking at schedules, I'd say you have a much better shot than KC of overcoming your deficit.
|
|
|
Post by Miege22 on Mar 7, 2024 22:30:10 GMT -5
Portland/GS is wild lol… seems like 4 cats could flip back and forth the rest of the weekend
|
|
|
Post by Portland Trail Blazers on Mar 8, 2024 1:25:01 GMT -5
It just got extremely close!
|
|
Tampa Bay Bull Sharks
Moderator
2012 NBA Champions, 2015 NBA Champions, 2016 NBA Champions, 2024 GM League Cup Champions
Posts: 2,922
|
Post by Tampa Bay Bull Sharks on Mar 8, 2024 8:39:17 GMT -5
It’s about to be a wild weekend. Miege is the only one safe right now.
GS and Portland will both be sweating it out.
Will Utah start sitting guys after tonight?
Can Tampa Bay hold rebounds or take back points?
Going to be a fun finish!!
|
|