thedoper wrote:I don't think Golden State is getting lucky this year. Them handling losing Steph was impressive. They earned the 1 spot, and even if Steph is back for the WCF I can't see him feeling great at that point. If they make it through this adversity and find a way to win it all I will be very impressed. I think this is Cleveland's year as I posted earlier.
I do agree with GS being a bit over the top with the celebrations and showboating. But the NBA has been about entertainment for a while. I think it just seems distasteful when they are so good and they don't need to add that stuff.
I tend to agree about the celebrations... it is cool when teams win and act super duper cool about it. But was there a bit extra motivation/context with the Warriors win yesterday?
They lost the MVP, maybe for the season. And yet they played really good basketball and maybe showed everybody (including themselves) that they're still a title contender without Curry?
thedoper wrote:I don't think Golden State is getting lucky this year. Them handling losing Steph was impressive. They earned the 1 spot, and even if Steph is back for the WCF I can't see him feeling great at that point. If they make it through this adversity and find a way to win it all I will be very impressed. I think this is Cleveland's year as I posted earlier.
I do agree with GS being a bit over the top with the celebrations and showboating. But the NBA has been about entertainment for a while. I think it just seems distasteful when they are so good and they don't need to add that stuff.
I tend to agree about the celebrations... it is cool when teams win and act super duper cool about it. But was there a bit extra motivation/context with the Warriors win yesterday?
They lost the MVP, maybe for the season. And yet they played really good basketball and maybe showed everybody (including themselves) that they're still a title contender without Curry?
I think it would be tough for them. I think you can gameplan for Klay a bit better easier than Steph because Curry is so great with the ball. But they still look good. Iggy was such a great pickup for them. He is the big sales pitch for spending money on a Free agent.
I'm not a big celebrations guy but I also don't like some of that taken away either. I've had some really good friends that get fired up and generally in a positive way. It's one of the big positives about them.
Now GS I've seen them celebrate when it's nothing really exciting to be celebrating. Draymond Green going crazy flexing after Towns softly bumped him and he finished the layup to get the and 1 comes to mind. I'll say this about them celebrating in the playoffs. They probably earned that by playing every game of the regular season. For weeks we have heard this talk about how chasing 73 games will come back and bite them. Now Steph is down. AGAIN GS has a reason to have a chip on their shoulder so they probably celebrate when they succeed over that. Do I like it? Idk I didn't watch last night but I guess part of me doesn't mind them getting amped up crushing Houston. Besides who likes that Houston team anyway? Lol
longstrangetrip wrote:Yeah, I don't hate GS either. And I get a chuckle out of hearing them described as "lucky" in the playoffs this year. I get that other teams are losing key players to injuries, but Golden State has lost the player of the year for 2 weeks and maybe more...some luck! They really demonstrate that this is a player's league. Did they look any worse with Luke Walton coaching them? So much for the importance of coaching.
We'll have to see how Curry bounces back from his injury, but if he's significantly slowed, then the Spurs or Cavs move into the favorite's role.
History and context is important here LST. Let's reflect back to last season's playoffs and title series. Literally every team they played along that journey had key players hurt. Cleveland was without Love AND Irving! Meanwhile, all of GS's main guys were healthy.
Now, GS hits some bad luck with Curry. So what happens next? The team they would most likely face in the next round has their two freakin' best players hurt and out of the playoffs in the same damn game! Now they are going to get to play an upstart 5th seed instead of a full-strength Clippers squad.
Sorry, but that is damn lucky.
I agree with half of your comment, q. While I still thought that GS was the best team in basketball last year, they were awfully lucky with injuries compared to their opponents all the way through. But I just can't wrap my mind around the concept of a team being called lucky after losing the best player in basketball. I think a full-strength Golden State team beats a full-strength Clippers team much worse than a Curry-less (or even Curry-hurt but playing) Warriors team beats a full-strength Portland team...that leads me to the conclusion that GS has been unlucky this year, not lucky.
I guess they are unlucky and lucky at the same time. They are unlucky that Steph got hurt. They are incredibly lucky that both Paul and Griffin get hurt the day after. So they are lucky in the level of unluckiness of what was a formidable opponent....or something like that.
I don't see the game but that was some performance tonight for the Spurs against the Thunder. Hey won't keep shooting over 60% for the series but being up 43 at one point on OKC in the playoffs...wow.
monsterpile wrote:I don't see the game but that was some performance tonight for the Spurs against the Thunder. Hey won't keep shooting over 60% for the series but being up 43 at one point on OKC in the playoffs...wow.
The biggest difference between the two teams is coaching. Pop vs Donovan just isn't fair, and I love Billy D, but he's at a severe disadvantage. Hope he can make the series interesting because if he can't, it'd be a prime example of what I didn't want to happen to our guys with a young coach.
lipoli390 wrote:The Spurs were great last night. But if Curry is back healthy by the times then Warriors and Spurs meet, then I still see the Warriors winning it all.
If I was a GS fan I would be plenty worried and I said that last Sunday after watching the Curry injury. Even before Curry got hurt the team wasn't playing all that well with Curry. Even if he is pretty much healthy (which isn't certain) I am not sure they can afford a Klunker the 1st game or so 2 against the Spurs. There are plenty of games to be played out before we get there though. We have already seen a lot can happen in a playoff series.
