₦airaland Forum

ESPN is just trolling people with their rankings. There is no planet where Lillard is ranked ahead of Harden atm.
Give Harden that Portland team and he will at least take it to the conference finals.
We have given Lillard too much leeway for many years for the sake of faux loyalty while he keeps enjoying supermax dollars.
Even Jamal Murray has had more playoffs impact that dame Lillard

Talent wise that Portland team is at worse 4th in the west behind the Lakers, Clippers and Nuggets.
Let's see the usual excuses again at the end of the season.

lol finger injury? I thought he broke his forearm, had some complications following surgery and had to have a repeat procedure aquote author[=steady986 post=96244107]Man, Klay can't just get a break. Season ending injury for the second year in a row? Damn. Quick recovery to him.

But on a different note, I'd love to see Steph lead a team without Klay. That thing that he ran away from last season, he must do it this time around . Unless he want to fake another season-ending finger injury. Then maybe the Warriors can tank and get another early first round pick next year. I wonder how a finger injury can rule you out for the season .

One thing is sure though, you can't cheat the game.[/quote]

Warriors adding Kelly oubre. Mehn! steph, Kelly, Wiggins, draymond and Wiseman, Paschall, Kevon looney, marquies Chriss + a few roster adjustments is still a dangerous squad.
They are definitely not contenders but that's a mixture of vets and young hungry athletic players.
They could be a dangerous lower bracket playoff team that's going to but sand in a top team's garri In a 7 game playoff series.
Chocking Clippers beware!

As much as I really enjoy the LeBron vs Jordan debates. I think too much of everything gets boring,
Its like 80% of the basketball content of espn and fox sports now.

We need to put more respect on curry's playoffs performances. The guy has had 3 bad games in the NBA playoffs finals out of 5 trips to the finals and suddenly he's a choker.
Iguodala was never finals mvp but the media voters who had this old school bias couldn't wrap their head around the fact that a PG who is relatively small, unathletic, white skinned, jump shot shooting and supposedly soft can be the best players in a championship team.

steady986:
What's the definition of superstar? Is the superstar tag given based on reputation or performance? You can call Giannis a superstar, who couldn't take his team to the finals on two occasions even though they were favourites. But you can't call Jimmy Butler a superstar, someone who took his team to the finals and is busy dropping 40 point triple doubles. Even Steph or Kawhi have never dropped a 40 point triple double in the finals. And don't even get me started about how Steph comes up smaller in the playoffs than the regular season, just like una MVP Giannis. Those are who you call superstars abi?

Depending on the extent of Ads injury, the Lakers maybe in trouble.
The heat definitely smell blood

TokyoBulls:
Not adding up but you still invested. Interesting . . .

Took a gamble with a small amount of money.

etidy:
My take is that themap.ng is either an elaborate scam or they have entangled themselves in unprofitable deals.
Going forward it is invest at your own risk with them.

I got my first ROI on CRMI too this evening.
My take though is that in the long run, it's not a viable investment option.

Putting aside greed, it's not sustainable to run a business that pays out 110 % profit within 3 months.
Something just doesn't add up.

My take is that themap.ng is either an elaborate scam or they have entangled themselves in unprofitable deals.
Going forward it is invest at your own risk with them.

Nothing oh. I am fed up with this people

Backcheck:
Did anyone receive Credit from themap today?

Today’s supposed to be my first Roi for CRMi, but nothing yet

WeissVonner:
He is the most desirable and probably most feasible but he's not the only one. Theres a reason Lord Pelinka ensured all the Lakers contracts are ending in 2021. They're making a run at someone that's for sure.

Most desirable? I think the lakers will do better by pairing AD with a perimeter player.

The problem is that, is there another
marquee free agent in 2021 not named Giannis?

WeissVonner:
I really hope so. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but AD was on fire in the third and barely got much of the ball in the fourth. They were pissed about defensive lapses last game but the body language was different. And Bron having to go whisper something into ADs ear after the game was over and when asked about it he said "in house", if it were about defensive lapses I don't think he'd have to have to be so obscure. Like I said, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Things like this are bound to happen but I hope they figure it out. They have something special here and I would hate to see them ruin it. If Bron does win FMVP like it looks like he will, his legacy is set in stone and I hope he hands all the keys to AD next season and allows him to fully come into his own. Push him for MVP and DPOY. Allow him to fully take control of the team and maybe he can ride his coattails to a few more championships. Bron on the other hand can focus on things like another assist title, another all NBA team and maybe even another all defensive team (should have made one this year but for those...narratives) I know the Lakers will get a marquee free agent in 2021 so they will be a championship team for the foreseeable future. Two or three more championships aren't completely off the table for them.

The fact is the lakers has been the best team in the league this season, wire to wire.
They finished number 1 in a tougher conference, faced more adversity than most teams and will deservedly win the title.
This title takes LeBron to at least on equal pedestal with Jordan and whatever the haters say, this has been one of the toughest NBA playoffs ever.

To win in a bubble is the ultimate test of character. No home court advantage despite earning it in the regular season, no fans to give you energy. Just your own efforts mano a mano on equal footing against your opponents.


I see the likes of skip are already bringing up an asterisks because of the injuries to dragic, bam and butler which is ridiculous.
But then again, it's also ridiculous that
Some part of the media and fandom still hold it against steph for beating an underhanded cavs team in 2015.

I am sorry, it's my fault. Why should I be arguing with a kid on the internet because of my love for basketball run along kiddo.

WeissVonner:
You called me a "lebtard", now you want to talk about being rude? Lol FOH bozo.

Bro can we disagree without being rude?

WeissVonner:
Who TF is this idiot? Did I say anything about the media being against the Lakers in this series? I'm taking notes of those going for hot takes so they don't call it cake walk when the Lakers destroy the Heat. I am also taking note of the fact that a considerable amount of people jumping on the Miami bandwagon.

You expect Lakers to win, no excuses, and who TF are you? What if they don't win, what are you going to do? Look at this little small fry thinking big of himself. Boy if you don't F-ck outta my mentions.

WeissVonner:

Can lebtards stop making this look like the media is against LeBron and the lakers when nearly everyone tips the lakers to win.

I expect the lakers to win. No excuses

Let's for one moment imagine the heat wins the final. LeBron will be 3-7 yikes
Mehn! I think this one reason for him to rather die than lose this NBA title.

He wins and he's equal or has overtaken Jordan in most people's books.

He loses and the haters will forever remind us that he had 3
7 finals loses.

Mehn the heat offer a dangerous opposition to the lakers oh.
Bam to anchor the interior, wing defenders like butler, iggg and crowder and reliable wing shooters in Tyler, Duncan and dragic. Very dangerous team.
They move the ball well too, Brad Steven describes their cutting like that of the warriors, High praises.

Unlike the the previous opponents of the lakers where once you cut of the head usually with double teams like Harden, Lillard and Murray + jokic you paralyze the team. The heat's offence can run through any given night and we should expect lots of jerami grants.

The defining factor will be lakers supporting case.
If KCP, Kuzma, Caruso, Danny Green and Morris all take turns to hit perimeter shoots, the laker will win and it will open the driving lane for LeBron.

Why did the lakers cut Quinn Cook for Jr Smith?. JR Appears even more useless

Doc rivers is a good coach, he's definitely not elite.
He has had several good teams with the clippers and can't even make a conference final.

I have at least Eric spo, nick nurse, Greg popovich, Rick Carlisle, Steve Kerr, Brad Steven's ahead of him

And right now Mike Malone is also doing a better job

Afr0mentalist:
It does not make him an average coach though. Rivers is elite.

If anything the Coaching cast around him is too loaded.. how can you have almost 3 first teams coaches in the same bench and not lead to conflicting opinions and strategies and some form of lethargy.

Doc rivers is the only coach in American sports to have blown multiple 3-1 leads (3)

He has also blown three 3-2 leads

BascoVanVeli:
Let me get it straight u blame the players when it comes to white coaches but on the other hand the black coaches are the problem?

Make no mistake Doc Rivers is an absolute legend. Even what he did last year with an 8th seed was absolutely incredible. U sound crazy even questioning Doc. Should he win every championship before u know he is the man? If a team beats u 3 times straight that should tell u they are not average. If a team does it twice.....

Imagine having a championship and people making noise. Why wasn't this same noise made about George Karl who has won over 1000 games without a trophy?

Bud had Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. He just couldn't get the best out of those guys when it mattered. We have seen Josh win games for Harden in Houston and Joe is quality. Yea bud lost to LeBron but he never competed. U are number one seeds for a reason. So it's not like that team was so much better for them just to roll over every single time.

Mark Jackson played point guard for the new York Knicks how does he not know Xs and Os? He made the splash brothers. He gave that team the confidence to do what they do today. The only complain was religion as he is a pastor.

U keep talking about one off situations when the NBA is majority black. Why on Earth should black people not get a good number of the jobs? We don't reduce the number of white coaches when a white coach messes up so why now?

My takes on this game

1. Rebounding was essentially the difference maker for the lakers. Cleaned up defensive possessions and also got a shit ton of second chance points

2. Playoff rondo

3. LeBron and Jokic look spent yikes.
I have never seen LeBron this tired. Age is definitely telling.

4. LeBron did a fair job guarding Murray in the 4th quarter

5. The nuggets panicked at the end and stopped moving the ball.

6. The nuggets are still very dangerous but I don't think they are coming back this time time around.

Lakers in 6.

Tyler herro is the next in the line on the splash bro succession. Young king

Barring a collapse by the nuggets, this will be a long series. They found something in game 2 and the lakers escaped with that win.
This could easily have been 1-1 with the nuggets looking to make it 2-1

Correction Siascam

steady986:
Can't believe I forgot that people on this thread mentioned Siakam and AD in the same sentence. Tragic

I was thinking about the clippers and bucks collapse, both teams have some good shooters then something struck me. No team has won the NBA in the last decade without one of the following
1. An elite facilitator or
2. A team of multiple average facilitators/intelligent players playing In a coordinated offense.

You look at the clippers the best facilitator was Kawhi averaging 4.2 assist, on the raptors he had Lowry averaging 8.7 Assists in the finals.

It's not enough to have shooters but when the game grinds to an half court offense in the playoffs you need some coordinating the offense and creating easy buckets. This is why LeBron will always be a big plus in any team in the playoffs.
Get Giannis a Chris Paul who is a an elite facilator + respectable shooter and he can play more off the ball. He can get some easy buckets off alley Oops, offensive rebounds etc.

It's one deficiency that Giannis can't shoot. It's another problem that he's the best creator on his team.

A40:
I see where you're coming from however I think we are being a bit unfair on Giannis.

This is only his second postseason where he has been expected to do anything. Other big names got multiple opportunities to try and fail so he deserves it too. What I will say is it appears to me like he is now conscious of his limitations and it is clearly fuqin with his head. I am no longer seeing the Giannis that wants all the smoke but a confused Giannis

I think it's become abundantly clear that he needs to either develop a post game or get elite perimeter players. Milwaukee either surround him with that or let him leave

You guys have one big problem right now, : Kemba! he's a defensive liability but you can live with that if he plays to his offensive potential. But now his offense also stinks (injury?) I suspect he's not 100% fit, there were rumours of that going into the bubble.

In addition, Tatum is yet to be confident with regards to closing out games, he's not a choker (aka George fraud Paul) but he's not yet a closer.

Kemba needs to be that man.

Roland17:
On the contrary, I think this is much needed. Smart saved our season against Raptors when he rallied the team in the 4th Q of game 7 during a timeout. You have to understand that this is a young team with players who have the potential of getting distracted.

Brad Stevens is yet to figure out how to counter the Zone when teams employ it. N. Nurse employed it throughout the Raptors series, Spoelstra definitely watched that series and is employing it to a better effect, if not that B. Brown is a scrub, he would have employed that tactics and maybe get some W against us.

We are a bad 2nd half team and it is a combination of indifference, lack of discipline and tactical coaching. I love Brad but he needs to force the discipline of moving the ball and players making cuts to beat the zone on the players. We approach the Heat half and one player dribbles the ball for 15 seconds before realizing he needs to move the ball around in order to beat the zone!

It was a bad loss, a frustrating one at that and I am with M. Smart on this one.

Dragic has been low key heat's mvp in the bubble.
He's has been dropping steady 20+ points, clutch shots, and he's significantly outplaying kemba

This Clippers collapse is so funny sha
1. Kawhi rejects the lakers, stalling their free agency to sabotage them
2. Show an ad saying he's the new king of LA
3. PG rejects the lakers+lebron after a feminine documentary to stay back in OKC only to abandon Westbrook to join the clippers
4. Ty lue rejects once in a lifetime opportunity to be the lakers coach to take an assistant role with the clippers
5. Marcus Morris choose the clippers
6. Reggie Jackson choose the clippers
7. Magic abandoned ship and bad mouthed Lakers management
8. The media especially WOJ labeled the lakers dysfunctional and that Vogel was an inferior coach.

All this for the darling Clippers to collapse

The nuggets maybe the new warriors. Talented young team lurking in the shadows while everyone was busy yapping lob city, OKC and spurs they suddenly learnt how win from the blues tasted blood and the championship windows of other teams closed

A40:
I have been hyping Denver the last 3 seasons now because I legit believed something was brewing there, and really they should be back to back conference finalists tbh

As for Kawhi and Clippers I blame and will always blame Doc Rivers and the coaches. They set the tone for all of this all season long and it's only right they reap the rewards

birdman:
After the shock, in hindsight, I realize the clippers did not have a defensive answer for a skilled big man like Jokic. Just watched some clips of how Harrell was trying to guard Jokic. Several times he gets lost in defensive rotations and leaves Jokic open at the top of the key.

Guys like Harrell are very good at traditional big man defense, as in put a body on the opponent in the post, make him feel you. But once you start to throw screens and move the ball, the game becomes more mental and bruisers like Harrell can blow your defense. And a skilled big man will make you pay. We already saw signs of it in the matchup with Dallas when Porzingis played.

Bottomline, this was a bad matchup for Clippers. They loaded up their team in anticipation of a matchup with Lakers - I could see Harrell bothering Lebron all day. They really didnt think any other team could give them problems. Doc Rivers made the matters worse, as in no adjustments. Even when Nugets were leading in the fourth, he was like CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN. Nah, that was the time to go into overdrive!

Lakers cant look down on this team - they are for real

I agree 100 % and what makes jokic so deadly is his passing and shooting range . you double him and he finds an open man, you choke the paint and he makes the jump shot.
Giannis needs to go and learn from jokic.

birdman:
likewise lebron woulda been chewed out

The clown actually ran ads for new balance implying that he's the new king of LA.

Meanwhile Patrick Beverley 's tears is every nba players delight. Lillard and cj go wild on Twitter

Paul George in elimination games:

17.6 PPG
37.7% FG
31.1% 3PT

1-9

(h/t @fastbreakbreak ) https:///wuPLBqoEqo