*** Official 2014-2015 NBA Playoff thread ***

[IAteYourMother]

It's always great to hear from the great basketball minds of ATOT - as though getting down to the Pelicans before winning the game means you're overrated and can't beat any other top WC team.

The Pelicans are good, mostly because Anthony Davis is unbelievable on both ends of the court and they can largely match Golden State's speed with Davis at the 5. Golden State doesn't have a post-up guy who can command double teams, so Davis can roam easily to contest every shot in the paint and on the perimeter. Dude covers so much ground, but it's exhausting, which is why he and NO falters in the 4th quarter.

Also, more concerned with the Wiz than the Cavs? I don't even...

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think, had that been a different team in the same circumstances, GS wouldn't even have the chance to come back. The guy guarding Anthony Davis had two early fouls and fouled out in OT. How is that even possible? They should have worked Davis against him constantly. With GS being as cold as they were during 3 quarters, it shouldn't have been as close as it was.

I agree, but you're saying that the 42 minutes Golden State played poorly in that game is somehow indicative of how they may play going forward in the playoffs, while ignoring that the 6 minute stretch where they were +17 is more representative of their entire season. Even if they had lost that game, they could come back and win the next one by 20 and it wouldn't be shocking. They're an extremely good team and they're very, very difficult to beat. Your comment about how they can be "easily beaten" doesn't make any sense when considering their season as a whole, or even just the outcome of that single game where they were "easily beaten" until they won.

 

[lupi]

good job of mavs to get within 2 but couldn't complete the comeback.

 

[DesiPower]

wow, Clippers have 51 points, with 9 minutes to go in the 4th qtr... trailing by 27 points... pretty amazing game by the Spurs! Given they had some help from the officials but still...

 

[smackababy]

I agree, but you're saying that the 42 minutes Golden State played poorly in that game is somehow indicative of how they may play going forward in the playoffs, while ignoring that the 6 minute stretch where they were +17 is more representative of their entire season. Even if they had lost that game, they could come back and win the next one by 20 and it wouldn't be shocking. They're an extremely good team and they're very, very difficult to beat. Your comment about how they can be "easily beaten" doesn't make any sense when considering their season as a whole, or even just the outcome of that single game where they were "easily beaten" until they won.

All I am saying is that GS have to play damn near perfect to beat some of the better teams in 7 games. The way they've played all season has been phenomenal, but it hasn't been against the same team for 4+ games. I mean, they could just come out on fire and blow out everyone in 4 games. That is certainly possible. However, they aren't invincible. The better teams will slow some of the scoring and exploit the droughts much better than NO.

NO isn't really a great team. They have one of the best players in the league (who is incredibly young), but they don't have much else. GS played great in the 4th to come back, but they had help from NO not playing their best.

With that said, next year FAs are going to want to go to GS. Give them one good starter in the post and a couple guys who can come off the bench and they are legitimately scary.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Spurs are looking like themselves.......scary. They will be hard to beat.

Houston/Dallas game was pretty good.....

 

[lupi]

so clippers follow up a coke job at home by no showing first road game, nice job.

 

[lupi]

nets beat the lolawks and bucks making a strong case to win this one from the bulls.

 

[vi edit]

Wow. Kudos to Kidd for punking Chicago on that inbound pass play for the win.

 

[Carson Dyle]

so clippers follow up a coke job at home by no showing first road game, nice job.

WTF is a coke job?

 

[Carson Dyle]

We could still have five series sweeps in the first round. One down, four to go. I wonder what the record is.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

We could still have five series sweeps in the first round. One down, four to go. I wonder what the record is.

This is the worst first round I've ever seen. I don't remember where I read it (it may have been a Bill Simmons column), but I fully embrace a playoff system where you have a best of 7 unless one team wins the first three, in which case the series ends right then. Teams have, for all intents and purposes, a zero percent chance of coming back from a 0-3 deficit, so why risk injuries to the team that has clearly proven themselves superior? I'm sad to see my Blazers bounced from the playoffs early, but anyone arguing that they have a chance against Memphis at this point is a fucking idiot, and it's not fair to Memphis to risk further injury in meaningless games when it's obvious Portland won't miraculously string together four in a row on account of it's literally never happened in NBA history. And it's service for the fans who get to move on to the next round when a result is never in question. You win three games to start a series? You won, congrats, rest up for the next round.

 

[DesiPower]

Spurs didn't show up for the game today... was an important game... Defense sucks.

 

[lupi]

looks like celtics knew they were going out so went douchebag. perkins should have kept going hard until they did finally eject him.


clips played good all around including their bench. if not for griffin going fubar in game 2 this would be a 3-1 series.

 

[Attic]

Still like the spurs in GM5 and I don't think the Clips can beat SA back to back at home.

Must win GM 5 for both teams.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I fully embrace a playoff system where you have a best of 7 unless one team wins the first three, in which case the series ends right then. Teams have, for all intents and purposes, a zero percent chance of coming back from a 0-3 deficit, so why risk injuries to the team that has clearly proven themselves superior?

Right on cue, Kevin Love offers up an excellent argument in support of the three game sweep victory. Wouldn't we all be better off as fans with a healthy Cavs team in the second round, rather than a team that suffered a crucial injury in a meaningless game that Boston still lost? Bulls fans may be secretly delighted (in as much as anyone delights in an injury), but it's making a worse product for the fans, and that's the only reason they play these games to begin with.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Spurs didn't show up for the game today... was an important game... Defense sucks.

They didn't play bad, the Clippers just played really well. This series has been really back and forth. I still think the Spurs win, but it may well go 7. Every time I write off the Spurs as done, they end up winning a series or a title or whatever.

 

[smackababy]

They didn't play bad, the Clippers just played really well. This series has been really back and forth. I still think the Spurs win, but it may well go 7. Every time I write off the Spurs as done, they end up winning a series or a title or whatever.

I think the Spurs didn't play as well as they could, but the Clippers played fantastic. I really love watching Kawhi Leonard play. I hope he continues to improve.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think the Spurs didn't play as well as they could, but the Clippers played fantastic. I really love watching Kawhi Leonard play. I hope he continues to improve.

Yeah, Kawhi is amazing. It's kind of unfair that the Spurs keep finding gold like that. But at least they're a likable organization. You can't feel too bad when they win, even if it gets annoying how often they do it.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Wow. Kudos to Kidd for punking Chicago on that inbound pass play for the win.

Between the final turn over (or 1 million of them that Chicago had) and the inbound play.....that was ALL on Rose. Bad D.

 

[JTsyo]

The cavs vs CHI series is about the only one that's catching my interest. I wish my DVR had an option to record games from a certain team.

 

[edro]

The Love injury is just sickening.
It's going to make the Cleveland/Chicago series much more interesting though.

 

[Vdubchaos]

The Love injury is just sickening.
It's going to make the Cleveland/Chicago series much more interesting though.

It does, to Chicago's benefits (I'm not complaining).

But at the same time, we will never hear the "if Cavs had Kevin Love they would've won"....if we win of course.

 

[lupi]

For some reason I'm more concerned with the Wizards/Hawks than I am with the Cavs.....

lol

 

[Carson Dyle]

Milwaukee/Chicago suddenly became a LOT more interesting, didn't it? Next game is in Milwaukee.