NBA 2023-24 Season Thread - The Lakers Lose, America Wins

Kaines

Kaines

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I was traveling on vacation, so I missed the game. Therefore I cannot comment specifically on the officiating. But I expect it was utter garbage.
 
Araxen

Araxen

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Joker is going to replace his Larry O'brien trophy on his mantle with the one his horse just won.

 
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1987

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He can't get it, but the MVP is Brad Stevens. Ridiculous team.
 
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Blitz

Blitz

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Tatum is such a fucking front-runner lol - dude has been meh this series and of course he's ball hogging his ass off to try and steal this MVP from Brown.
 
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Quaid

Quaid

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This Celtics team is an absolute masterclass of great drafting, internal player development, and asset management. Which other recent champion still had FOUR tradeable first round picks?

Unreal.
 
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Springbok

Springbok

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Congrats legumers. Brown is great, Boston has a very good team.

Kyrie no showed the finals, Luka shot like shit, and we have no real 3rd scorer. Great fun season for Mavs, Luka will learn and get even better because of it. Roll on the offseason, where THJ gets shot out of a cannon to Shanghai.

Ni hao mother fucker!
 
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Lenardo

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Brown improved this year significantly, he matured his game. Imo he deserved the MVP of series, was better than tatum all series except for tonight. Imo holiday was better than Tatum too. Getting rid of Smart before the season was the best thing for both brown and tatum. Imo they, would have not won if smart still here.
 
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Brahma

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Prepare the duck boats!

ddd.gif
 
Quaid

Quaid

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Springbok said:
Congrats legumers. Brown is great, Boston has a very good team.

Kyrie no showed the finals, Luka shot like shit, and we have no real 3rd scorer. Great fun season for Mavs, Luka will learn and get even better because of it. Roll on the offseason, where THJ gets shot out of a cannon to Shanghai.

Ni hao mother fucker!
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I’d get absolutely clowned on if I posted this on r/NBA, but the Mavs best move might be to consolidate their 3 end of rotation guys (THJ, Green, Kleber) into a single dominant scorer who also happens to be a distressed asset… Zach Lavine.

Having a $43mil salary as your 6th man would be unorthodox, but that backcourt would be near unstoppable. Three guard lineups would also be a sight to see when the situation called for it.

You’d have to convince Derrick Jones Jr to take $5.1mil on a 1+1 contract though, which would be easier said than done.

Aside from that, the Mavs only realistic options right now are Jerami Grant… Malcolm Brogdon… Corey Kispert… MAYBE Bobby Portis. Potentially Jonathan Isaac or Naz Reid as Kleber upgrades if the stars align. All are flawed, and I’m not sure any of them push the Mavs into title contention against the Celtics. We’ll see what the Knicks, 76ers, and Thunder do too because they all have war chests I expect them to open.

They don’t have many avenues to upgrade this offseason, so other than a Hardaway salary dump to free up money for DJJ, I expect them to run it back.
 
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Kaines

Kaines

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Quaid said:
I’d get absolutely clowned on if I posted this on r/NBA, but the Mavs best move might be to consolidate their 3 end of rotation guys (THJ, Green, Kleber) into a single dominant scorer who also happens to be a distressed asset… Zach Lavine.

Having a $43mil salary as your 6th man would be unorthodox, but that backcourt would be near unstoppable. Three guard lineups would also be a sight to see when the situation called for it.

You’d have to convince Derrick Jones Jr to take $5.1mil on a 1+1 contract though, which would be easier said that done.

Aside from that, the Mavs only realistic options right now are Jerami Grant… Malcolm Brogdon… Corey Kispert… MAYBE Bobby Portis. Potentially Jonathan Isaac or Naz Reid as Kleber upgrades if the stars align. All are flawed, and I’m not sure any of them push the Mavs into titles contention against the Celtics. We’ll see what the Knicks, 76ers, and Thunder do too because they all have war chests I expect them to open.

They don’t have many avenues to upgrade this offseason, so other than a Hardaway salary dump to free up money for DJJ, I expect them to run it back.
Click to expand...
If Kyrie doesn't go 41-99 shooting (41%), this is a different series. Running it back isn't the worst thing.
 
Quaid

Quaid

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Kaines said:
If Kyrie doesn't go 41-99 shooting (41%), this is a different series. Running it back isn't the worst thing.
Click to expand...

I think Kyrie shot 41% because
Boston’s (elite) defenders could sag off under performing Mavs corner shooters, who can’t put the ball on the deck when contested, which allowed the Celtics to clog Irving’s driving lanes and contest at the rim.

Their third and fourth options just aren’t threatening enough to open the paint for Luka & Kyrie… so in games when their 3s aren’t falling their offense becomes totally ineffective.

Hardaway’s disappearance is the real reason the Mavs lost this series unfortunately.
 
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Lenardo

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mavs imo need 1 maybe 2 more players either maturing their game on the court or via trade/signing and they will be a contender again.

luka needs to do a bit more conditioning to make his game elevate a bit more-he was gassed at the end, but was playing his butt off.

funny thing on celtics brown and tatum, both their games matured significantly this year vs last year(brown more than tatum), both
scored slightly less per game, and took fewer shots per game, but got more assists, and overall the TEAM was BETTER due to them creating opportunities for the OTHER players on the team.(Getting rid of Smart was imo the best thing for BOTH players)

imo Celtics keep the core together of brown tatum holiday and porzingas imo they could win the next 2 or 3 titles- depending on injuries.
 
Quaid

Quaid

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Alex said:
Kidd couldn't adjust either.
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Ya I dunno about that. You can only use the tools you have.

How do you match the offensive output of a 5-out offense (Porzingis) without an effective stretch 5 (Kleber)? How do you space the floor for your paint scorers without 3-point shooting threats (THJ, DJJ, PJ)? How do you push the pace when your bench playmaker (Exum, Hardy) is facing the opponent’s all-defensive point of attack defender (White, Holiday) or all-NBA wing scorers (Brown, Tatum)?

The Celtics are an absurd playoff matchup for every team in the league. People can say the Nuggets or the Wolves would’ve fared better, but frankly I disagree.
 
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Alex

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Quaid said:
Ya I dunno about that. You can only use the tools you have.

How do you match the offensive output of a 5-out offense (Porzingis) without an effective stretch 5 (Kleber)? How do you space the floor for your paint scorers without 3-point shooting threats (THJ, DJJ, PJ)? How do you push the pace when your bench playmaker (Exum, Hardy) is facing the opponent’s all-defensive point of attack defender (White, Holiday) or all-NBA wing scorers (Brown, Tatum)?

The Celtics are an absurd playoff matchup for every team in the league. People can say the Nuggets or the Wolves would’ve fared better, but frankly I disagree.
Click to expand...

People had a lot of same criticisms about the Warriors roster against the Celtics two years ago after three games. That the match ups just weren't in the Warriors favor. And then Kerr tinkered with the lineups in ways no one would have predicted like starting Otto Porter Jr while also switching up assignments.
 
Quaid

Quaid

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Alex said:
People had a lot of same criticisms about the Warriors roster against the Celtics two years ago after three games. That the match ups just weren't in the Warriors favor. And then Kerr tinkered with the lineups in ways no one would have predicted like starting Otto Porter Jr while also switching up assignments.
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Respectfully, those people were kinda dumb. That series the Celtics were running a center rotation of Robert Williams III and...Grant Williams. That's a far cry from the rim protecting 5-out juggernaut that Porzingis allows for. This roster is a ridiculous puzzle to solve when the J's are both showing up.
 
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Blitz

Blitz

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Mavs need to land LeBron, or take a shot on getting a Jerami Grant-type and getting him to play defense again along with his added length and scoring.

Also a step up for Lively and OMax getting minutes would help majorly.
 
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