Series Thread: 2023 Western Conference Finals: 1) Nuggets vs 7) Lakers (Bubble Rematch)

[DJ Fieri]

Congrats, Denver fans....

 

[DJ Fieri]

Somebody help him.

Irving...

 

[bksballer89]

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Nothing left for him to achieve other than chase Jordan

You got beat by the better team. Period. End of story. See ya this time next year when you front run the Lakers again.

Clearly

 

[bksballer89]

Nothing left for him to achieve other than chase Jordan

I think next year is his last only because i cant see him going out without a farewell tour. The espn article i read made some good points. One being how he softened his stance on playing with Bronny a few weeks ago then the other was he told AD that he may not be playing by the time the 2024 summer Olympics got here. All i know is lakers are fucked if they're stuck with AD and no Bron

 

[redseat]

Ok, I was completely wrong with this series going 7. I fully admit that.

Nuggets v Heat Should be interesting

 

[Mebert]

Ok, I was completely wrong with this series going 7. I fully admit that.

Nuggets v Heat Should be interesting

Heat has been the 27th ranked 3 shooting team in the regular season. Playoffs they are 1 at damn near 40%. Can they keep shooting like this for all the playoffs? I am concerned in the finals they return to their average and get destroyed.

 

[shopson67]

Oof.

Have fun with this one, Yall.


View attachment 329222

I don't see that as controversial at all. Reaves game is more mental, whereas Poole is a mental case. Physically yes, Poole should be the better player but he has a key void in his game...between the ears.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

I don't see that as controversial at all. Reaves game is more mental, whereas Poole is a mental case. Physically yes, Poole should be the better player but he has a key void in his game...between the ears.

Meh

I'm not huge on Reaves (in terms of him being a big contract player) but to say he's nowhere near Poole is kinda ridiculous to me.

 

[redseat]

Heat has been the 27th ranked 3 shooting team in the regular season. Playoffs they are 1 at damn near 40%. Can they keep shooting like this for all the playoffs? I am concerned in the finals they return to their average and get destroyed.

They just need one more game to get there and I just don't see any fight in the Celtics. Now will they (Heat) shoot like that in the Finals who knows

 

[shopson67]

Is it game 2 already lol?

 

[shopson67]

Meh

I'm not huge on Reaves (in terms of him being a big contract player) but to say he's nowhere near Poole is kinda ridiculous to me.

Nowhere near is definitely an exaggeration, but Reaves is no physical marvel.

 

[tabascojet]

it will be interesting to see how the lakers go about kyrie. i thought i saw a report when the playoffs started that the lakers didnt have any interest but after russell got exposed maybe they revisit that.

"Please send kyrie to the lakers" - fans of every other nba team

 

[redseat]

Making too much of what Lebron said after the game.. Dude just got swept and was upset... He will be back next year

 

[tabascojet]

And then....

Fify

 

[shopson67]

The name on the front of the jersey is more important than the one on the back.

Especially when it’s not James.

Unfortunately, the focus on James in the first half while impressive, was ultimately the Lakers' downfall last night. Lebron wore himself out and tried to defer in the 2nd half, only to realize he had frozen out his teammates the first half of the game. Rui and Reaves still played hard, as well as AD (although still not a featured part of the offense inexplicably), but Lebron's dominance from the first half left a giant hole in the offense in the 2nd half. Of course, good chance that without Lebron's first half the Lakers aren't in a position to win in the second, but at least they would have a chance at regaining momentum.

Congrats to the Nuggets, they answered every bell and got it done. Well fought 4 games.

For the Lakers, I'm still a bit astounded when I step back that they were in the WCF finals given the majority of the season they had. Once Lebron decides his path forward (he dropped some tasty troll food last night about considering retirement - was just just trolling the Nuggets to take the media focus away from them again?), they have a lot of personnel decisions to make. I don't understand not giving Beasley a shot somewhere in this last series, or how guys drop completely out of the rotation suddenly like Vando (more rookie head coach stuff?), is Ham secure? I would think so, but given the names currently available, who knows?

Sigh. Lakers trolled me again last night with the 15 pt half time lead, but I had the sound off and the game basically playing in the background by the middle of the 3rd, knowing the unavoidable outcome.

 

[shopson67]

Making too much of what Lebron said after the game.. Dude just got swept and was upset... He will be back next year

...and possibly trolling the Nuggets after their complaints about being ignored. Will he make his decision to return during the final game of the finals to troll them again? All spotlights on Lebron lol.

 

[shopson67]

Irving...

Only if he's taking the MLE

 

[redseat]

DJ said:
And then....

 

[redseat]

...and possibly trolling the Nuggets after their complaints about being ignored. Will he make his decision to return during the final game of the finals to troll them again? All spotlights on Lebron lol.

There is no way Lebron has made his mind up. Though this could turn into another Brady situation, I do see the potentiality of that happening