2018-2019 NBA Season Thread : The One Where the Spurs Miss the Playoffs

[Andalusian girls]

WE GOT

PASCAL

JEFFREY

SIAKAM

boutta smallball 5 against donkey from Shrek man i can't wait for the Finals to start. wish OG was playing the Raptors matching the death-lineup would work a lot better with some Danny Green size on Klay, VanVleet or Lowry too tiny to do much. wonder if Marc can hang on the perimeter / his life actually gets easier with Boogy playing minutes. and can't wait to see Kawhi body Klay. lowkey fascinated by the matchup these two teams have never played each other in anything resembling their current forms when has that ever happened in Finals history.

[Krandor]

Calm down there Skeeeeep

[Moss]

It's a shame Kawhi isn't at full strength

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[Deejay]

lol this will end the same either way barring some horrific space jam event from the dubs

[Moss]

538 surpringly favoring Raptors

It gets lost amid the sweep but I think the blazers led by 15+ or something in three of the games?

The point differential without KD was only +5.0 which isn't amazing

I stand by my pick of 5 games but I may have overrated their chances a tad

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[Andalusian girls]

yuh i figure the Dubs are being p dubiously overestimated. Portland's defense was never very good, CJ and Dame are both clear minuses there, and they lost their Nurkic anchor. they are very very poorly equipped to deal with the brothers splash whereas the Raptors have ultra-switchy all-NBA defenders in Siakam-Leonard-Green, and very good though less versatile defenders manning 1 and 5 in Lowry and Gasol, and a backup big in Ibaka who moves as well as any along the perimeter and should get serious smallball 5 run. their defense is ferocious, intelligent, has elevated their play in the postseason, and is more capable of stifling GS's offense with switch or blitz schemes than even Houston was last year.

problem, as ever, will be their offense. but Curry is something of a liability after facing monster defenders at the 1 in Simmons + Bledsoe, and their halfcourt stuff shouldn't be as gummed up given the point of vulnerability. ultimately tho they just need the roleplayers to step up. they need the 10 points a game VanVleet and Gasol hitting enough shots to open up his passing and Danny to be more than a decoy. they need them confident and playing up to their potential.

with Durant, another story. but if he doesn't play this series Toronto can do it.

[Krandor]

The 538 melo rankings notably can't really factor in that the Dubs play very differently without Durant, to the degree that losing a player of his caliber doesn't necessarily hurt them as much as it would other teams. Even if you want to discount the series against Portland there was still the game and a half against the Rockets that on paper, should have been taken by Houston.

I feel like the big matchup to watch in this is gonna be Klay's defense on Kawhi.

[Andalusian girls]

think Klay is too weak physically to stop Kawhi from going anywhere he wants once he lowers the shoulder. Iggy is prolly their #1 option for Leonard and should be on him 30+ minutes a game. whether or not he can physically carry that burden who can say. he got up huge for the Houston series but his body started falling apart a lil vs Portland.

but if i'm GS i don't even get cutesy with the 1 on 1 coverage i'm blitzing help defense off Siakam + Gasol and making them prove they can hit enough from 3.

[Deejay]

you guys made some interesting points

warriors in 5

[Andalusian girls]

great stuff as usual from Lowe he's got Dubs in 7

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...nse-nba-finals

[Krandor]

DeMarcus Cousins is active for Game 1 tonight.

[Moss]

Three cheers for a new finals matchup my friends. I'm pumped

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[Andalusian girls]

extrapolating from the existing data set the Raptors will win the next 15 quarters and sweep Golden State

[Moss]

And they played old town road going into commercial. Amazing

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[Andalusian girls]

that might be the best half of basketball Marc Gasol has played

14 point on 6 shots and he and VanVleet played Curry pick & rolls p much perfectly, Steph was a negative out there

it's obv not sustainable but had you told me Lowry and Kawhi were gonna puke up 3-12 in the first half i would not have seen a double digits Raptors lead

[Andalusian girls]

LESGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Moss]

Thankful to watch good flowing basketball and not a slow-ass Bron iso-fest

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[Krandor]

extrapolating from the existing data set the Raptors will win the next 15 quarters and sweep Golden State

Might be on to something, especially with it looking like Iggy got hurt again

[Andalusian girls]

yeah the Dubs are proper fucked if Iggy is out and Durant don't return

[Roranora]

Raps in 4