Minnesota Sports Forum

Say what you want about him( and I'll agree) but he may be the most offensively gifted player in the league. He put on a show tonight. 50 pts on 19 shots.

They NEED him to win a ring.

Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

FNG wrote:Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

I think they are going to miss Joe Harris tho.

The other thing is how confident is anyone that Durant, Kyrie and Simmons are all healthy when the playoffs come? I'm not handing the Nets a Finals appearance yet.

I wouldn't dismiss the Heat either if they are healthy. I think it's possible Kyle Lowry has a nice playoff run in him and what if Dipo is healthy and playing well in addition to the guys they already have? You mentioned 3 point shooting. Guess who has the best 3 point percentage in the league? It's the Heat. They are also one of the best defensive teams in the league.

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

I think they are going to miss Joe Harris tho.

The other thing is how confident is anyone that Durant, Kyrie and Simmons are all healthy when the playoffs come? I'm not handing the Nets a Finals appearance yet.

I wouldn't dismiss the Heat either if they are healthy. I think it's possible Kyle Lowry has a nice playoff run in him and what if Dipo is healthy and playing well in addition to the guys they already have? You mentioned 3 point shooting. Guess who has the best 3 point percentage in the league? It's the Heat. They are also one of the best defensive teams in the league.

I feel like the field for a Finals run is much more open this year... with reasonable cases for several teams.

At the end of the day... I just hope it's not the 76ers (or Lakers).

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

I think they are going to miss Joe Harris tho.

The other thing is how confident is anyone that Durant, Kyrie and Simmons are all healthy when the playoffs come? I'm not handing the Nets a Finals appearance yet.

I wouldn't dismiss the Heat either if they are healthy. I think it's possible Kyle Lowry has a nice playoff run in him and what if Dipo is healthy and playing well in addition to the guys they already have? You mentioned 3 point shooting. Guess who has the best 3 point percentage in the league? It's the Heat. They are also one of the best defensive teams in the league.

I feel like the field for a Finals run is much more open this year... with reasonable cases for several teams.

At the end of the day... I just hope it's not the 76ers (or Lakers).

With the impact that health has had on this NBA season, I agree that the field would be the best bet. I still see Golden State and Brooklyn being heavy favorites IF both are 100%.

With the Clippers, Lakers and Nets all possible #8 seeds, this could be the first time in NBA history that an 8th seed wins a championship.

FNG wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

I think they are going to miss Joe Harris tho.

The other thing is how confident is anyone that Durant, Kyrie and Simmons are all healthy when the playoffs come? I'm not handing the Nets a Finals appearance yet.

I wouldn't dismiss the Heat either if they are healthy. I think it's possible Kyle Lowry has a nice playoff run in him and what if Dipo is healthy and playing well in addition to the guys they already have? You mentioned 3 point shooting. Guess who has the best 3 point percentage in the league? It's the Heat. They are also one of the best defensive teams in the league.

I feel like the field for a Finals run is much more open this year... with reasonable cases for several teams.

At the end of the day... I just hope it's not the 76ers (or Lakers).

With the impact that health has had on this NBA season, I agree that the field would be the best bet. I still see Golden State and Brooklyn being heavy favorites IF both are 100%.

With the Clippers, Lakers and Nets all possible #8 seeds, this could be the first time in NBA history that an 8th seed wins a championship.

FNG I think you are overlooking the Sixers a lot. Embiid Harden Maxey (yeah I said it) Harris, Thybulle as a high level defender a guy like Danny Green have been there done that and Niang who statistically has been a really nice depth piece for them. Remember this is a team that was really good before they got Harden and they play defense. Sure Harden isn't a great defender but we have seen him play enough defense when the team around him does. The Nets are still a good team in theory. The Sixers are already a good team and quite frankly Embiid might be the best player either of these teams has. I'm a big fan of Durant's talent but I simply can't be certain that he is going to be the best version of himself when it's time. Also I'll take Harden over Kyrie every day. In addition I simply have more confidence in the Sixers being healthy than I do the Nets.

While I agree with monster on the 76ers being legit...

... I wouldn't discount anything Durant does at this point. He's answered the bell plenty of times in the playoffs, including last year:

35.4 ppg
10.6 reb
5.4 apg
50% fg
1.6 stl
1.1 blk

And... fractions of an inch away from beating the World Champion Bucks without Irving and a hobbled Harden.



[Note: Now Harden on the other hand... is there a bigger star player with as odd or even dreadful of a playoff track record in big games?]

FNG wrote:Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Yeah, I use to think he was an odd guy too, but now he's one of my favorites. He stood up to something that he knew was wrong even when it caused him to be ridiculed and lose a bunch of money. Now he's been proven to be right (to anyone paying attention and being honest with themselves), so I say great job Kyrie! Way to stand for what you believe even when it isn't easy!

D-Mac wrote:

FNG wrote:Yeah, he's on odd guy, but an extraordinary offensive talent...fun to watch.

It's also been interesting to watch Brooklyn manage their season to ensure they have "visiting court advantage" throughout the playoffs. They are working hard to earn that 8th seed to guarantee 4 games from Kyrie in every 7-game series. And then add a rested Durant and Simmons to the mix plus a LaMarcus Aldrich who has turned back the clock and is having an exceptional season, and sprinkle in a couple high-volume 40+ 3-point shooters in Curry and Mills, and who is going to beat them? My god, even Bruce Brown is making 37.1 % of his threes this season...yet another target for Simmons to hit...and Andre Drummond went 20/14 last night! Miami has had a fine season, but they are destined to become only the 6th #1 seed to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Yeah, I use to think he was an odd guy too, but now he's one of my favorites. He stood up to something that he knew was wrong even when it caused him to be ridiculed and lose a bunch of money. Now he's been proven to be right (to anyone paying attention and being honest with themselves), so I say great job Kyrie! Way to stand for what you believe even when it isn't easy!

Agreed! We should all be listening to Kyrie more closely. About everything...