NBA Thread

[IU Scott]

4 minutes ago, BGleas said:

You think I'm being dismissive by saying that WITHOUT Oladipo the Celtics roster is clearly better?

You did just see the Celtics sweep the series, right?

Well last year the Pacers with Vic and the rest was the same took Labron and the Cavs to a game 7.

[BGleas]

3 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Well last year the Pacers with Vic and the rest was the same took Labron and the Cavs to a game 7.

I dont know what more I can do than all caps WITHOUT again. I'm talking about WITHOUT Oladipo. Without Oladipo there is zero question that the Celtics roster is better. I dont care who won what quarters, it was a sweep. 

Obviously with a healthy Oladipo it's a much closer discussion and would have been a heck of a series. 

Edited April 23, 2019 by BGleas

[IU Scott]

8 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I dont know what more I can do than all caps WITHOUT again. I'm talking about WITHOUT Oladipo. Without Oladipo there is zero question that the Celtics roster is better. I dont care who won what quarters, it was a sweep. 

Obviously with a healthy Oladipo it's a much closer discussion and would have been a heck of a series. 

I never said that the roster was not better without Victor but to me the main reason the Pacers lost was due to coaching and not the rosters.

[BGleas]

2 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

I never said that the roster was not better without Victor but to me the main reason the Pacers lost was due to coaching and not the rosters.

Sorry for the confusion, but you replied to my post about the Celtics roster being better (Pacers minus Vic) with a post about the Pacers taking the Cavs 7. 

Note also that the Celtics toon the Cabs 7 without Irving and Hayward. 

There's no doubt Brad Steven's is a better coach than McMillian and that Steven's outcoached him, absolutely. Steven's also had the better roster which was clear given some of the dominating runs/quarters the Celtics had. 

[IU Scott]

7 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Sorry for the confusion, but you replied to my post about the Celtics roster being better (Pacers minus Vic) with a post about the Pacers taking the Cavs 7. 

Note also that the Celtics toon the Cabs 7 without Irving and Hayward. 

There's no doubt Brad Steven's is a better coach than McMillian and that Steven's outcoached him, absolutely. Steven's also had the better roster which was clear given some of the dominating runs/quarters the Celtics had. 

Why I think it was more coaching was that I feel the Pacers outplayed them for a lot of each game but was beaten where it comes down to coaching decisions.  The Celtics killed us either to start the 3rd quarter where coaches make their adjustments.  They also killed us to start the 4th quarter and even the end of the 3rd quarter where McMillian usually took out at least 4 starters.

[BGleas]

5 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Why I think it was more coaching was that I feel the Pacers outplayed them for a lot of each game but was beaten where it comes down to coaching decisions.  The Celtics killed us either to start the 3rd quarter where coaches make their adjustments.  They also killed us to start the 4th quarter and even the end of the 3rd quarter where McMillian usually took out at least 4 starters.

Coaching was definitely in the Celtics favor, no doubt, but talent won the games, the Celtics simply just dominated for stretches pretty much every game except game 4. They just overwhelmed the Pacers at times. 

[Hoosierhoopster]

50 minutes ago, BGleas said:

You think I'm being dismissive by saying that WITHOUT Oladipo the Celtics roster is clearly better?

You did just see the Celtics sweep the series, right?

Gleas, you didn't just say "WITHOUT" Oladipo. What you said was:

"I would say the rosters too, certainly without Vic the Celtics clearly have the better roster/team as well."

I was responding to the "rosters too" comment. BTW I wasn't taking some kind of jab at you, the capitalized WITHOUT isn't necessary. What I'm saying is that the rosters aren't the end all. Yes, with Vic it's a totally different series -- we agree on that -- but my point is not that Vic is MJ and he'll just own the series, my point is that with him the Pacers' roster is very competitive.

Any time a team loses its best player it's obviously going to be worse. That's clearly the case with the Pacers. Just saying the "rosters too" overlooks that the Pacers roster, with Vic, is pretty good, and good enough to compete very well with the top teams in the East. That's why they were in the 2nd-3rd spot in the East with Vic. And yes I saw that you said "certainly without Vic," obviously, but again I'm saying the roster is pretty solid (though as I've repeatedly said including in this thread, they need a top flight point guard).

[BGleas]

8 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Gleas, you didn't just say "WITHOUT" Oladipo. What you said was:

"I would say the rosters too, certainly without Vic the Celtics clearly have the better roster/team as well."

I was responding to the "rosters too" comment. BTW I wasn't taking some kind of jab at you, the capitalized WITHOUT isn't necessary. What I'm saying is that the rosters aren't the end all. Yes, with Vic it's a totally different series -- we agree on that -- but my point is not that Vic is MJ and he'll just own the series, my point is that with him the Pacers' roster is very competitive.

Any time a team loses its best player it's obviously going to be worse. That's clearly the case with the Pacers. Just saying the "rosters too" overlooks that the Pacers roster, with Vic, is pretty good, and good enough to compete very well with the top teams in the East. That's why they were in the 2nd-3rd spot in the East with Vic. And yes I saw that you said "certainly without Vic," obviously, but again I'm saying the roster is pretty solid (though as I've repeatedly said including in this thread, they need a top flight point guard).

I'm not sure what's happening? IUScott said the main reason the Celtics won was because of Steven's. 

I responded and said it wasnt just Steven's, that without Oladipo the Celtics clearly have the better roster, and then I said if Oladipo was healthy it would have been a much different series. 

I'm not following the disagreement to any of that?

[ChiHoosier]

2 hours ago, BGleas said:

I'm not sure what's happening? IUScott said the main reason the Celtics won was because of Steven's. 

I responded and said it wasnt just Steven's, that without Oladipo the Celtics clearly have the better roster, and then I said if Oladipo was healthy it would have been a much different series. 

I'm not following the disagreement to any of that?

Even if the Pacers have Vic, Boston still wins the series.

[dwtaylor1055]

10 hours ago, ChiHoosier said:

Even if the Pacers have Vic, Boston still wins the series.

Yes if Vic was back I think Boston still wins, however I think it is a 7 game series similar to last season. 

If the Pacers want to advance to the next round of the playoffs, they need another guy on or very close to Vics level.  If they somehow end up as a 1-3 seed then they could handle a 6-8 seeded team.  However if they continually end up as the 4 or 5 seed, another guy close to the level of Vic will be needed. 

[ChiHoosier]

4 minutes ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

Yes if Vic was back I think Boston still wins, however I think it is a 7 game series similar to last season. 

If the Pacers want to advance to the next round of the playoffs, they need another guy on or very close to Vics level.  If they somehow end up as a 1-3 seed then they could handle a 6-8 seeded team.  However if they continually end up as the 4 or 5 seed, another guy close to the level of Vic will be needed. 

Well if Vic was still healthy, the Pacers have the 3 seed and this isn't a conversation. 

Edited April 24, 2019 by ChiHoosier

[dwtaylor1055]

42 minutes ago, ChiHoosier said:

Well if Vic was still healthy, the Pacers have the 3 seed and this isn't a conversation. 

While this is possibly true, I'm not sure it would have still been enough to keep ahead of Philly especially with our schedule down the stretch.  Obviously we will never know. 

[Billingsley99]

With the season on the line Westbrook had no intention what so ever to give the ball up to the red hot PG.  Not even a little bit sad to see Lillard light em up. 

[IU Scott]

Well for the most part they should have skipped the first round and just started with the second round.

[BGleas]

3 minutes ago, Billingsley99 said:

With the season on the line Westbrook had no intention what so ever to give the ball up to the red hot PG.  Not even a little bit sad to see Lillard light em up. 

I thought it was awesome. All the trash OKC was talking in the only game they won, and Dame shut them up in an embarrassing way. It was great!

[Seeking6]

23 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I thought it was awesome. All the trash OKC was talking in the only game they won, and Dame shut them up in an embarrassing way. It was great!

Thought this was an interesting information this morning in a tweet since George trade. Of course the Pacers played 46 games without Oladipo. 

Thunder: 97-67 regular season, 3-8 playoffs (4 seed, 6 seed) Pacers: 96-68 regular season, 3-8 playoffs (5 seed, 5 seed)

[ATX_sig]

I discussed my dislike for Russ earlier in the season.  I watched that OKC game. I feel so bad for PG but he only has to blame himself for signing an extension to stay with russ. Russ got his triple double, a solid muscle flex in during their 27-6 run to take over the game, an I'm bad snarl, and his 31 shots where he made 11.  As usual in the last 3 minutes of the game he shot the other team back into position to win and the real superstar PG slammed the door.  It was only fitting that the closest OKC player to see that Lillard buzzer beater go in was Russ.   OKC should move on from Westbrook and dump him. Maybe they should trade him for Wall since their contracts match. Maybe the Pistons have concerns about Griffin's knee. Lillard even made reference to the fact that portland talked no trash for 3 games but OKC did after 1 win.  Loved the Lillard bye bye waive. 

The difference in the Pacers/Celtics was the Celtics just have to much firepower and depth. Without Vic the pacers had nobody to takeover in the 4th quarters. I do not think there is anything that McMillan could of done.  It was a good learning experience for Sabonis and Turner and the young Pacers. Hope they are successful in landing a significant Free agent or find a trade to land one with their cap space. 

[Hoosierhoopster]

1 hour ago, Seeking6 said:

Thought this was an interesting information this morning in a tweet since George trade. Of course the Pacers played 46 games without Oladipo. 

Thunder: 97-67 regular season, 3-8 playoffs (4 seed, 6 seed) Pacers: 96-68 regular season, 3-8 playoffs (5 seed, 5 seed)

Pacers in the East, OKC in the West. Not apples to apples, of course. 

[Seeking6]

1 minute ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Pacers in the East, OKC in the West. Not apples to apples, of course. 

Yep. Agree all day. And of course missing Vic 46 games isn't apples to apples as well. Just thought it was an interesting number. 

[Hoosierhoopster]

1 hour ago, Billingsley99 said:

With the season on the line Westbrook had no intention what so ever to give the ball up to the red hot PG.  Not even a little bit sad to see Lillard light em up. 

Yeah this is the problem. OKC is an extremely good team, when Westbrook is looking more to facilitate than to jack up shots at a low percentage. They're probably the best built team in the West to take GS deep (Rockets, maybe, but at best unclear). Their D is outstanding, and when Westbrook is facilitating and looking more to PG they're exceptional. But Westbrook went back to old Westbrook. Jacking up shots that he shouldn't take.

[Hoosierhoopster]

Just now, Seeking6 said:

Yep. Agree all day. And of course missing Vic 46 games isn't apples to apples as well. Just thought it was an interesting number. 

Yeah I really hope Vic can stay healthy next season. If the P's can find a way to get an elite point g, and keep the core, they can contend for the East, so long as Vic is healthy. In a way it's similar to EJ. EJ was one of the top 2-guards in the League, the guy traded for CPIII, then came multiple injuries. As good as EJ is, Vic, imo, is all around a better player and can still get even better. Just needs to stay healthy

[Billingsley99]

PG was so PG in the presser last night. Instead of saying the guy hit a tough shot lets say it was a bad shot 40 times to try and convince yourself as the reality of yet another summer starts and another 1st round exit. Even though the guy was 4-6 from shots 30 ft or beyond. The 4 he hit in the first quarter off balance were all bad shots but they went in.

[Hoosierhoopster]

32 minutes ago, ATX_sig said:

I discussed my dislike for Russ earlier in the season.  I watched that OKC game. I feel so bad for PG but he only has to blame himself for signing an extension to stay with russ. Russ got his triple double, a solid muscle flex in during their 27-6 run to take over the game, an I'm bad snarl, and his 31 shots where he made 11.  As usual in the last 3 minutes of the game he shot the other team back into position to win and the real superstar PG slammed the door.  It was only fitting that the closest OKC player to see that Lillard buzzer beater go in was Russ.   OKC should move on from Westbrook and dump him. Maybe they should trade him for Wall since their contracts match. Maybe the Pistons have concerns about Griffin's knee. Lillard even made reference to the fact that portland talked no trash for 3 games but OKC did after 1 win.  Loved the Lillard bye bye waive. 

The difference in the Pacers/Celtics was the Celtics just have to much firepower and depth. Without Vic the pacers had nobody to takeover in the 4th quarters. I do not think there is anything that McMillan could of done.  It was a good learning experience for Sabonis and Turner and the young Pacers. Hope they are successful in landing a significant Free agent or find a trade to land one with their cap space. 

Really is an interesting dilema for OKC. Westbrook is their heart and soul. He's also the reason they lost to Portland -- who they swept in the regular season while Lillard said PG should be the MVP of the League (respect). The weird thing is that Westbrook was doing a much better job earlier in the season of facilitating, a large part of why PG was in the MVP discussion. Then he goes back to the stupid jack up shots at something like sub-30 percentage. He's shooting worse than he ever has, and he does this? Just stupid.

[Billingsley99]

6 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Yeah this is the problem. OKC is an extremely good team, when Westbrook is looking more to facilitate than to jack up shots at a low percentage. They're probably the best built team in the West to take GS deep (Rockets, maybe, but at best unclear). Their D is outstanding, and when Westbrook is facilitating and looking more to PG they're exceptional. But Westbrook went back to old Westbrook. Jacking up shots that he shouldn't take.

Westbrook will never allow that. he is just worried about the stat line and if wins come thats great. I love how people say he is unselfish because of the number of assists but IMO his is one of the most selfish players in the game. 

[Billingsley99]

2 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Really is an interesting dilema for OKC. Westbrook is their heart and soul. He's also the reason they lost to Portland -- who they swept in the regular season while Lillard said PG should be the MVP of the League (respect). The weird thing is that Westbrook was doing a much better job earlier in the season of facilitating, a large part of why PG was in the MVP discussion. Then he goes back to the stupid jack up shots at something like sub-30 percentage. He's shooting worse than he ever has, and he does this? Just stupid.

RW is all about ME ME ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!