March brings the madness but it also brings pro basketball starting to get serious a little bit...
This is more a thread for some general discussion and whatnot as we gear up for the postseason... so here are some random thoughts in no particular order...
Jayson Tatum has had an unreal February. He is averaging over 30 ppg and has been straight up studly the last 3 games of this road trip. It feels like the all-star berth has him playing to a new level. This will be exciting to watch as the playoffs unfold.
Speaking of the Celtics...this division race with the Raptors will be fascinating. There is a big difference in the top 6 of the East and the bottom 2. Winning the Atlantic is crucial to a much shorter 1st round series in all likelihood. They have one more match-up in T-dot in around 3 weeks.
Let me jump back to who Boston just played...Utah. This team is in an absolute free-fall right now. They had the impressive stretch in the middle of the season when the schedule was pretty light. This 4 game losing streak since the break all at home is very concerning. Luckily they get the Wizards, Cavs and Stons in 3 of the next 4 games to hopefully breath some life into them. We shall see though. They have won 4 of their last 13 games overall. The defense is playing awful, and that is usually a staple of past Jazz teams. This doesn't look good.
Our favorite team to hate once the postseason hits, the Houston Rockets, have switched things up in order to make a move in the post-season. It is an interesting strategy and so far is working pretty well. The two losses are a game without their heart and soul this year (Brodie) off the win in L.A. and the buzzer beater from Bogie vs the Jazz. Otherwise, they are playing well and Harden looks healthier than he did back a month ago. I don't have much faith in them getting more than one series win if any but it is fun.
Speaking of the Western Conference, that last seed is up for grabs and that will not be the Memphis Grizzlies. This was a great story for the first few months but they are tailing off now and have a very hard schedule coming home. They play the Hawks twice and the Knicks once. That is it, those are the easy games. This team has plenty of playoff appearances coming up but they are leveling off and won't be able to hold on to that spot with the Pelicans and Kings surging.
The NBA obviously would love to see Zion n Company get that 8th seed so they play the Lakers. The story lines are great and it would be a fun series...
Kudos to the Thunder. They seemingly just keep getting better and better this season. They will be a pain in the butt for whoever they play in the first round. Obviously it would be fitting to see a series pitting them against the Clippers. Once again, great story lines.
Speaking of the Clippers...nice of them to go ahead and start the season this week with two very nice defensive performances. I do love the Kawhi interview after the Memphis game in which the reporter(Dennis Scott?) asked if maybe they would start playing in more games to get some continuity and he basically avoided that question at all costs. I loved it personally. You might as well play some back-to backs. There are none in the playoffs and you get so much rest during the playoffs. Either way, they are showing what they are capable of. They are deep and if they can get PG13 to start playing his caliber of ball then they have something cooking perhaps.
Things are getting tight in the land of tank. For what it is worth, I do not know who has traded what draft picks but we have a four way tie for 2nd least amount of wins at 17. Golden State obviously leads the pack at 12 and Detroit is right outside at 19. Always remember these situations for games in late March and April.
I went this long without talking about the best team in the league...The Milwaukee Bucks. This team is on a pretty historic pace and they rarely get talked about. If their jerseys said 'Golden State' they would be much more hyped (and obviously other big markets). Their differential is 12.2. That is disgusting. At one point early in the season they were 6-3 overall. Since that point, 44-5. They still have a game at the Lakers and play Boston/Toronto twice more each. The schedule isn't conducive to getting to 70 wins but a few kicks in the teeth before the playoffs is probably what they need. This a damn good team. As well as Boston is playing and as tough as Miami/Toronto are.... this is the class of the East.
We can discuss LeBron and LeBrow anytime you want. My main concern there is the lack of a guy who can create for themselves on the perimeter outside of James. I also do not think they have enough outside shooting to get through 4 rounds of the playoffs unscathed. We shall see...
Alright, lets make this an open discussion anything NBA related...looking ahead on bets....to the playoffs...whatever.
MVP Race...
1-A Janice
1-B LeBrom
This is more a thread for some general discussion and whatnot as we gear up for the postseason... so here are some random thoughts in no particular order...
Jayson Tatum has had an unreal February. He is averaging over 30 ppg and has been straight up studly the last 3 games of this road trip. It feels like the all-star berth has him playing to a new level. This will be exciting to watch as the playoffs unfold.
Speaking of the Celtics...this division race with the Raptors will be fascinating. There is a big difference in the top 6 of the East and the bottom 2. Winning the Atlantic is crucial to a much shorter 1st round series in all likelihood. They have one more match-up in T-dot in around 3 weeks.
Let me jump back to who Boston just played...Utah. This team is in an absolute free-fall right now. They had the impressive stretch in the middle of the season when the schedule was pretty light. This 4 game losing streak since the break all at home is very concerning. Luckily they get the Wizards, Cavs and Stons in 3 of the next 4 games to hopefully breath some life into them. We shall see though. They have won 4 of their last 13 games overall. The defense is playing awful, and that is usually a staple of past Jazz teams. This doesn't look good.
Our favorite team to hate once the postseason hits, the Houston Rockets, have switched things up in order to make a move in the post-season. It is an interesting strategy and so far is working pretty well. The two losses are a game without their heart and soul this year (Brodie) off the win in L.A. and the buzzer beater from Bogie vs the Jazz. Otherwise, they are playing well and Harden looks healthier than he did back a month ago. I don't have much faith in them getting more than one series win if any but it is fun.
Speaking of the Western Conference, that last seed is up for grabs and that will not be the Memphis Grizzlies. This was a great story for the first few months but they are tailing off now and have a very hard schedule coming home. They play the Hawks twice and the Knicks once. That is it, those are the easy games. This team has plenty of playoff appearances coming up but they are leveling off and won't be able to hold on to that spot with the Pelicans and Kings surging.
The NBA obviously would love to see Zion n Company get that 8th seed so they play the Lakers. The story lines are great and it would be a fun series...
Kudos to the Thunder. They seemingly just keep getting better and better this season. They will be a pain in the butt for whoever they play in the first round. Obviously it would be fitting to see a series pitting them against the Clippers. Once again, great story lines.
Speaking of the Clippers...nice of them to go ahead and start the season this week with two very nice defensive performances. I do love the Kawhi interview after the Memphis game in which the reporter(Dennis Scott?) asked if maybe they would start playing in more games to get some continuity and he basically avoided that question at all costs. I loved it personally. You might as well play some back-to backs. There are none in the playoffs and you get so much rest during the playoffs. Either way, they are showing what they are capable of. They are deep and if they can get PG13 to start playing his caliber of ball then they have something cooking perhaps.
Things are getting tight in the land of tank. For what it is worth, I do not know who has traded what draft picks but we have a four way tie for 2nd least amount of wins at 17. Golden State obviously leads the pack at 12 and Detroit is right outside at 19. Always remember these situations for games in late March and April.
I went this long without talking about the best team in the league...The Milwaukee Bucks. This team is on a pretty historic pace and they rarely get talked about. If their jerseys said 'Golden State' they would be much more hyped (and obviously other big markets). Their differential is 12.2. That is disgusting. At one point early in the season they were 6-3 overall. Since that point, 44-5. They still have a game at the Lakers and play Boston/Toronto twice more each. The schedule isn't conducive to getting to 70 wins but a few kicks in the teeth before the playoffs is probably what they need. This a damn good team. As well as Boston is playing and as tough as Miami/Toronto are.... this is the class of the East.
We can discuss LeBron and LeBrow anytime you want. My main concern there is the lack of a guy who can create for themselves on the perimeter outside of James. I also do not think they have enough outside shooting to get through 4 rounds of the playoffs unscathed. We shall see...
Alright, lets make this an open discussion anything NBA related...looking ahead on bets....to the playoffs...whatever.
MVP Race...
1-A Janice
1-B LeBrom
