2017 NBA Playoffs

Bulls beat the number 1 seed Boston 106-102. For me hard to believe after seeing us beat them at MSG and them trading Taj and McBuckets and getting essentially zip back with Payne wearing a suit at the playoffs and Morrow and Lavergne getting no playing time. In the pre-season Kiya asked if the Bulls could finish ahead of us and I said any team with Wade, Rondo and Butler had a chance.

Boston really should have bolstered the rebounding at the trade deadline, still say Cuz would have been a good acquisition for them.

tiger0330 said:

Bulls beat the number 1 seed Boston 106-102. For me hard to believe after seeing us beat them at MSG and them trading Taj and McBuckets and getting essentially zip back with Payne wearing a suit at the playoffs and Morrow and Lavergne getting no playing time. In the pre-season Kiya asked if the Bulls could finish ahead of us and I said any team with Wade, Rondo and Butler had a chance.

Boston really should have bolstered the rebounding at the trade deadline, still say Cuz would have been a good acquisition for them.

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Cous couldn't get the Pels the 8th seed after only being 3-4gms back at the time of trade with 27gms to play. Boston would also have to pay him $175mil next summer. Boston has a tough 1st rd opponent, it is what it is they'll have to weather this fight. Raps made trades, solid ones at that...didn't nab the 1st seed although within reach and lost their first game at home.

There are no guarantees not to mention the Celtics may have higher trade stakes this summer. It's not like their options have suddenly disappeared

Broadway said:

This Blazers/Warriors series is LITTY!

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GS played down to the Blazers level the first 3 quarters of the game
than embarrassed Blazers throughout the 4th qtr. for the win 109-121 SMH

Broadway said:

Cous couldn't get the Pels the 8th seed after only being 3-4gms back at the time of trade with 27gms to play. Boston would also have to pay him $175mil next summer. Boston has a tough 1st rd opponent, it is what it is they'll have to weather this fight. Raps made trades, solid ones at that...didn't nab the 1st seed although within reach and lost their first game at home.

There are no guarantees not to mention the Celtics may have higher trade stakes this summer. It's not like their options have suddenly disappeared

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I said I didn't expect the Pels would have a turnaround, too many bigs and not enough wings after the trade, plus them developing the chemistry between Cuz and AD. Cuz would have been less of a fit problem on the Celts, probably would have traded Amir to get him and then you could move Al to the 4 and Cuz could play the 5. It didn't happen, my thinking is maybe his ex-teammate IT didn't have anything good to say about Cuz. That Sac announcer said most guys hated playing with Cuz in his 5 years there.

tiger0330 said:

Bulls beat the number 1 seed Boston 106-102. For me hard to believe after seeing us beat them at MSG and them trading Taj and McBuckets and getting essentially zip back with Payne wearing a suit at the playoffs and Morrow and Lavergne getting no playing time. In the pre-season Kiya asked if the Bulls could finish ahead of us and I said any team with Wade, Rondo and Butler had a chance.

Boston really should have bolstered the rebounding at the trade deadline, still say Cuz would have been a good acquisition for them.

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I like the idea of the Bulls having Lopez n Grant on the court the final 6 minute of the game for the Bulls 106-102 win.

tiger0330 said:

I said I didn't expect the Pels would have a turnaround, too many bigs and not enough wings after the trade, plus them developing the chemistry between Cuz and AD. Cuz would have been less of a fit problem on the Celts, probably would have traded Amir to get him and then you could move Al to the 4 and Cuz could play the 5. It didn't happen, my thinking is maybe his ex-teammate IT didn't have anything good to say about Cuz. That Sac announcer said most guys hated playing with Cuz in his 5 years there.

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There's a lot to be said about chemistry, Cs very well may have reasoned what can they accomplish with the current roster.

They were also dealing with working Bradley back into the mix around the time of trade deadline. I'm sure they'll be excited having Brooklyn's pick no matter the results of this postseason. Because if a Top 3-4 pick can turn our franchise around then much the same can change their scope(long term) should they make a good selection.

Their ascension to the top of the East if new founded territory. If anything maybe they should've traded for Nurkic, he actually proved to be a difference maker, post trade. Trade value has to show in Win Shares along with other metrics on and off court dynamics and not just raw stats.

Would like to see Ainge be aggressive this summer if for nothing else they being the linchpin for the first domino to fall shaping the rest of the East/NBA.

The great news with NYK tying MIN is one of those late wins, the win in MIA, all but eliminated the Heat. And if CHI beats BOS.... well, as much as I loathe CHi.... knowing we played a small part in sending MIA and BOs him.... some solace at least.

Blowout in Houston. OKC waving the white flag, bench players coming in for both teams with 3 mns left and the Rox leading 112-80. Game didn't live up to the hype, Russ had 9 to's, Harden scored 37 but was 3-11 from 3. Beverly scored a career playoff high of 21 pts, 10 rbs and played tough D on Russ who took 23 shots for his 22 pts.

Rox didn't shoot the 3 that well but dominated the much bigger OKC team on the boards and points in the paint.

Broadway said:

Man I love this dude...Westbrook on his friendship with Harden this series



It sucks they have to play each other right now



Got nothing but respect for each of them

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But we are seeing tonight who the real MVP is: James Harden. Former Knicks Celebrity coach Mike Damphony put Harden in the perfect system and moved Harden to PG to get him more touches. Hopefully Harden will win this series earning his MVP head to head with Westbrook so the doubters can doubt no longer

jimkcchief88 said:

But we are seeing tonight who the real MVP is: James Harden. Former Knicks Celebrity coach Mike Damphony put Harden in the perfect system and moved Harden to PG to get him more touches. Hopefully Harden will win this series earning his MVP head to head with Westbrook so the doubters can doubt no longer

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Not really...first of all Patrick Beverly was probably the MVP of today's game and to keep it 100, The Rockets have the better TEAM. I didn't pick this series as one that will live up to the hype. It's going to be hard for both players before it's over to capture the regular season output. Harden came on strong in the second half but Beverly set the tone all night and came up with a huge 20/10 performance.

Beverly had a huge game to be sure, but it's no coincidence that the Rockets pulled away in the 2nd half when Harden took over. Don't discount Hardens' 37 points to Russ' 22 being the difference in the game along with Bevs' 21. Beverly was out most of the 4th after that brutal pick from Adams. That was a dangerous play. I'm just a little tired of the automatic MVP for Russ when Harden's season has been just as impressive in my book.

jimkcchief88 said:

Beverly had a huge game to be sure, but it's no coincidence that the Rockets pulled away in the 2nd half when Harden took over. Don't discount Hardens' 37 points to Russ' 22 being the difference in the game along with Bevs' 21. Beverly was out most of the 4th after that brutal pick from Adams. That was a dangerous play. I'm just a little tired of the automatic MVP for Russ when Harden's season has been just as impressive in my book.

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Harden kind of had a big edge first half but like a game can be of 2 halves so can a season and WestBrook passed him up. The race is gonna be close, it's not automatic Westbrook will win unanimously

I think Russ had the edge at this point because of the triple doubles, but it would be hard for me to vote for Russ if the Harden's Rockets handle OKC this easily. You are right Harden has more help, but I always wonder why the "Melo Standard" isn't applied to more players. You know that "if he was so great why isn't his team better and why doesn't he make the other players better?" I love Russ' game, but it can be argued he chased Durant away with his selfish, ball hogging ways. Anyhoo this should be an entertaining a 1st round series to watch. As Teddy Atlas says:"styles make fights."

BTW anybody see them Bullies whip the Smelldicks down the stretch??? Jimmy Butler is the best two-way player in the league next to K. Leonard. I told my sulking Bulls fans friends that they would be tough playoff out if the Bulls make it because the Bulls play to thier competition. So the same Bulls team that lost to our backups last week is gonna cause the Smelldicks a huge problem. I think the Bulls swept the season series with the CAvs. Condolences to IT hopefully he can keep it together. This should be a great series as well.

jimkcchief88 said:

I think Russ had the edge at this point because of the triple doubles, but it would be hard for me to vote for Russ if the Harden's Rockets handle OKC this easily. You are right Harden has more help, but I always wonder why the "Melo Standard" isn't applied to more players. You know that "if he was so great why isn't his team better and why doesn't he make the other players better?" I love Russ' game, but it can be argued he chased Durant away with his selfish, ball hogging ways. Anyhoo this should be an entertaining a 1st round series to watch. As Teddy Atlas says:"styles make fights."

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Russ didn't chase Durant away, Durant used that as an excuse because he's a coward and a frontrunner, plain and simple. Remember the bs Durant spewed during his MVP acceptance speech and told Russ not to change/the media criticism was unfair and that he was his little brother? I make it a point to have long term memory when it comes to sports, I forget very little. Durant the same guy who called out Lebron via Twitter for bolting to Miami and said players need to learn how to stay with 1 team.

DURANT IS A FRAUD!

OKC almost won 50gms with Durant's and Ibaka's departure, let that sink in.

Melo has absolutely nothing to do with this and there is no such thing as a Melo Standard. Melo's yet again in the Spring sitting on the couch eating Family Size bags of Pizza Rolls and Doritos along with a 3 Liter of Coke..watching the Playoffs

Durant is a complete fraud.... He publicly called out Lebron for leaving CLE for MIA.... then he becomes a hypocrite.

Also, OKC beat GSW last year..... it was Durant who choked it away.

Finally, yiu can look At last night's game as evidence as to why westbrook is MVP.... Harden is surrounded by the better team.

I get it Melo is home with us eating chips and I'm pissed we don't have a Knicks playoff thread AGAIN! And I wanted to give my Durant kicks away when he left for GSW. I couldn't even watch yesterday's game when Durant bailed out GSW. I literally changed the channel in disgust.
All the being said, Until PJAx showed up here in NY, Melo had some measure of playoff success here and in Denver. But Melo haters be hating. Where is the hate for CP3??? He is on his way to getting shot out again in the Playoffs. BTW, how did Russ,Harden, and Durant get swept in the finals while playing together???? Paul George is in the post gaming crying about not getting the ball for the last shot. Where is the hate on all that??? I'm just saying spread it around a little, don't just reserve it ALL for Melo. PJAx put this mess together and again is devaluing Melo by saying he belongs in another uniform. I don't think PJAx understands how negotiations work. If you don't value the product you are trying to move, how do expect your customer to and pay you fair market value???

bTW Russ only shot 23% and had 9 turnovers hmmm

jimkcchief88 said:

I get it Melo is home with us eating chips and I'm pissed we don't have a Knicks playoff thread AGAIN! And I wanted to give my Durant kicks away when he left for GSW. I couldn't even watch yesterday's game when Durant bailed out GSW. I literally changed the channel in disgust.
All the being said, Until PJAx showed up here in NY, Melo had some measure of playoff success here and in Denver. But Melo haters be hating. Where is the hate for CP3??? He is on his way to getting shot out again in the Playoffs. BTW, how did Russ,Harden, and Durant get swept in the finals while playing together???? Paul George is in the post gaming crying about not getting the ball for the last shot. Where is the hate on all that??? I'm just saying spread it around a little, don't just reserve it ALL for Melo. PJAx put this mess together and again is devaluing Melo by saying he belongs in another uniform. I don't think PJAx understands how negotiations work. If you don't value the product you are trying to move, how do expect your customer to and pay you fair market value???

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There is a Melo dedicated thread(Top of page at that) for Melo ball munchers such as yourself.

This is a playoff thread "for 2017" in which he-Melo has zero, zilch, nada, never, nunca, donut, nil, nothing, nope, no way, no can do, zippo, uhhhunnn to do about.

MVP is a REGULAR SEASON award and not "let's see what develops in the playoffs to determine who's MVP" award. Russ had the better regular season and last time I checked a playoff series is never won after the first game. Kudos to Harden having a big game yesterday, he was robbed 2yrs ago of the award for sure.

For the record when Harden played the better team in the 1st round last yr against GSW...Harden averaged 5.2 TOs/gm and shot 36% or worse in 3 of the 5 games. That's what can happen when you play "the better team"

The yr before in the WCF Harden shot sub .200 twice against the same GSW team

See that's what I'm talkin about. So you are giving Westbrook a pass because he is playing the "better team". Where is the similar pass for Melo???? Lemme test your long sports memory with one simple question??? Has Melo EVER played with a James Harden, Russell Westbrook, or KD??? Nope. Yet those three played together and got swept out of the Finals and two out of the three never made it back after years togetherwhich led to the defection. So Durant believes in your better team concept which is why he left for a better team.

I get Melo haters will never acknowledge these facts just like I was never a "Starbury fan". But the facts still remain that Melo is still an elite NBA scorer who played for now two franchises that never put a "better team" around him. So that makes Melo this generation on Knicks fans our Bernard King. Look him up if that's before your sports memory. I'm just saying be a little more fair as Melo deserves some of the same passes you hand to Russ. It will be a while before we see another elite scorer like that in a Knicks uni as they only come along once a decade or so.