NBA Playoffs 2015

[Tripping William]

At some risk of having this thread take a heavy statistical turn like the one about Duke's chances in The Big Dance, here is 538's assessment of the Playoffs:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/...?ex_cid=espnFB

Top 5 Probabilities of Winning the NBA Title:

Golden State at 48% (higher than UKLV's 41% of winning the NCAA Tourney)
Cleveland at 21%
San Antonio at 12%
LA Clippers at 8%
Atlanta at 5%

[Richard Berg]

Just goes to show how terrible the seeding is when the Spurs-Clips first round is guaranteed to eliminate one of the top 4 overall teams from a 16-team tournament. Put another way, in a fairly seeded bracket, their win % would be much higher than 12 / 8.

[Newton_14]

What is up with Miles playing less than 5 mpg? I thought he was doing really well in Phoenix and was surprised when they traded him to the Bucks. What's up with the lack of PT? Has he been hurt?

[Skitzle]

What is up with Miles playing less than 5 mpg? I thought he was doing really well in Phoenix and was surprised when they traded him to the Bucks. What's up with the lack of PT? Has he been hurt?

He's not good enough to deserve more is all.

[Troublemaker]

What is up with Miles playing less than 5 mpg? I thought he was doing really well in Phoenix and was surprised when they traded him to the Bucks. What's up with the lack of PT? Has he been hurt?

He was first surpassed as a starter in Phoenix by former terp Alex Len, which was to be expected since Len was an overall #5 pick and truly more talented. Then, as an expendable backup, Miles was thrown into a trade to the Bucks where he is now the 3rd-string center, perhaps partly due to having to pick up a new system.

I thought it was always a surprise that he was a starting center, but Miles is probably better than 3rd-string as well. He'll probably eventually land somewhere as a backup.

[CDu]

The stars came to play today. Steph Curry was crazy today, and Derrick Rose has looked really good in this first half with several vintage Rose buckets. And Paul Pierce turning back the clock to 2008 in a win over the Raptors and their nutbag of a GM.

[subzero02]

Curry, Davis, and Rose all had great games today. Although Curry did miss 3 ft's.

[Indoor66]

Curry, Davis, and Rose all had great games today. Although Curry did miss 3 ft's.

It is truly a b itch when humanity strikes a god.

[Troublemaker]

The stars came to play today. Steph Curry was crazy today, and Derrick Rose has looked really good in this first half with several vintage Rose buckets. And Paul Pierce turning back the clock to 2008 in a win over the Raptors and their nutbag of a GM.

Rose was terrific. That was definitely the most newsworthy item of the day to me and a pleasant surprise. We'll see if he can come close to that level in Game 2, but for one game, it was nice to see Rose have his burst and confidence back. As long as this performance wasn't some outrageous outlier, we have to consider the Bulls legit contenders in the East. Congrats to you and other Bulls fans if that's the case. You guys have been through a lot, rooting for a hard-working and likable group that's just been too injury-prone the past few years.

[CDu]

Rose was terrific. That was definitely the most newsworthy item of the day to me and a pleasant surprise. We'll see if he can come close to that level in Game 2, but for one game, it was nice to see Rose have his burst and confidence back. As long as this performance wasn't some outrageous outlier, we have to consider the Bulls legit contenders in the East. Congrats to you and other Bulls fans if that's the case. You guys have been through a lot, rooting for a hard-working and likable group that's just been too injury-prone the past few years.

The working theory by some folks has been that Rose was taking it easy throughout the season. He has had a a few games like last night throughout the season and has shown the burst all season. But aside from a few notable games (for some reason he really likes playing the Cavs) he hasn't put it together for whole games at a time. He was way too willing to just settle for jumpers, even though he has seemingly had the ability to go to the rim all season. So some Bulls fans believed that he was saving himself for the playoffs.

At first, I too believed this. And his performance against the Cavs right before the All Star break had me believing. But then he decided to have the meniscus removed, which raised questions again. When he came back, he looked like more of the same: picked his spots, took too many jumpers. He had one big game in game 81, then shut it down against Atlanta.

Anyway, last night's game has done nothing but bolster many Bulls fans' belief that he was playing possum during the season. Hopefully that is accurate, but I am hesitant to commit to that feeling until I see it a few more times.

If he is indeed healthy, we are as good as anyone in the East offensively. Gasol and Dunleavy and Mirotic can all shoot the lights out. Butler is the king of finding garbage buckets. Brooks is lightning in a bottle off the bench. And if Rose is even close to what he showed last night, we are dynomite.

Oddly, the big question for this Bulls team is defense. For some reason, Thibs has refused to split up Noah and Gasol, even though a Noah/Mirotic and Gasol/Gibson platoon is about the closest thing to a perfect pairing of offense/defense frontcourt that I can imagine. But Gasol/Noah is a bit slow as a combo, and pulling Noah out on stretch 4s hurts his defensive value a lot.

So I am certainly excited, though quite cautiously so. There have just been so many ups and downs over the past three years with Rose that it is hard to fully embrace the optimism again.

[Trey21]

Kyrie came to play today had 30 points. Love the fact he's dealt with media criticism and has risen to the occasion this year. LeBron and him are starting to gel and develop some real chemistry. I think Kyrie could crack 3rd team all nba.

[Troublemaker]

Oddly, the big question for this Bulls team is defense. For some reason, Thibs has refused to split up Noah and Gasol, even though a Noah/Mirotic and Gasol/Gibson platoon is about the closest thing to a perfect pairing of offense/defense frontcourt that I can imagine. But Gasol/Noah is a bit slow as a combo, and pulling Noah out on stretch 4s hurts his defensive value a lot.

Yeah, Thibs' use of Mirotic was interesting. Box score math indicates he played all his minutes at SF, as Noah, Gasol, and Gibson formed a 3-man big rotation. I think Chicago's offense could become even more explosive if Mirotic played the 4 some and, as you suggest, it could help them defensively as well.

I can't believe the NBA started this Clippers-Spurs game so late on a Sunday, as it should be the best series of Round 1. Gonna try to watch as much as I can, but will probably fall asleep.

[ClassOf98]

So, I turned on the Clippers game just before halftime and got to see JJ, Dahntay and Austin on the court together. Pretty cool.

I was wondering: is this the first time three Blue Devils have been teammates on a playoff roster? (I'm assuming there have been 3 Devils on an NBA roster, period, before)

[Duke95]

Paul and Griffin are just outstanding today.

JJ is struggling lately. Crawford is having a good game in his stead.

[tbyers11]

Paul and Griffin are just outstanding today.

JJ is struggling lately. Crawford is having a good game in his stead.

JJ didn't have a good shooting game last night, but if your definition of lately is more than one game we will have to disagree there.

JJ has averaged 20 pts a game while shooting 45% from 3 and 97% FT since the beginning of March. I'd say it has been one of the best stretches of his career.

[elvis14]

I can't believe the NBA started this Clippers-Spurs game so late on a Sunday, as it should be the best series of Round 1. Gonna try to watch as much as I can, but will probably fall asleep.

I fell asleep! I put the game on in my bedroom with a sleep timer on the TV and I didn't make it to half time. I was surprised they put this game on so late and kinda bummed because of all the games on this weekend it was the one I most wanted to see.

JJ didn't have a good shooting game last night, but if your definition of lately is more than one game we will have to disagree there.

JJ has averaged 20 pts a game while shooting 45% from 3 and 97% FT since the beginning of March. I'd say it has been one of the best stretches of his career.

JJ has been putting up really good numbers coming into the playoffs. I'm hoping that continues.

[rsvman]

Possibly insane idea for the playoffs that I thought of last night......

What if they seeded the 16 teams and then played a "one-and-done" tournament like the NCAA tournament, and played it all the to a winner, and then......did it AGAIN. Seven times. And then crown as champion whichever team won the tournament the most times.

Obviously if one team were to win it 4 times in a row, the playoffs would be over, or as soon as one team won it 4 times, it'd be over. If two teams won it 3 times apiece, they would play ONE GAME to decide the champion.


I know, it's ridiculous. But I still kind of like the idea.

[Nosbleuatu]

Possibly insane idea for the playoffs that I thought of last night......

What if they seeded the 16 teams and then played a "one-and-done" tournament like the NCAA tournament, and played it all the to a winner, and then......did it AGAIN. Seven times. And then crown as champion whichever team won the tournament the most times.

Obviously if one team were to win it 4 times in a row, the playoffs would be over, or as soon as one team won it 4 times, it'd be over. If two teams won it 3 times apiece, they would play ONE GAME to decide the champion.


I know, it's ridiculous. But I still kind of like the idea.

How about a single elimination tournament for lottery picks in the draft? Seed it based on regular season records, but then give the top pick to the team that earns it.

[jdk]

So, I turned on the Clippers game just before halftime and got to see JJ, Dahntay and Austin on the court together. Pretty cool.

I was wondering: is this the first time three Blue Devils have been teammates on a playoff roster? (I'm assuming there have been 3 Devils on an NBA roster, period, before)

I believe last year's Bulls had Boozer, Deng, and Dunleavy. (Edit: forgot Deng played the second half of last season as a Cav).

The 2005-2006 Clippers featured Brand, Maggette, and Daniel Ewing as well as Shaun Livingston, who would have played at Duke if he were two years younger. That team was a blown Daniel Ewing defensive play from the conference finals, and I believe DBR had the three Dukies as a front-page photo (edit: wasn't it captioned something like Duke-West?)

[pfrduke]

I believe last year's Bulls had Boozer, Deng, and Dunleavy.

The 2005-2006 Clippers featured Brand, Maggette, and Daniel Ewing as well as Shaun Livingston, who would have played at Duke if he were two years younger. That team was a blown Daniel Ewing defensive play from the conference finals, and I believe DBR had the three Dukies as a front-page photo (edit: wasn't it captioned something like Duke-West?)

That was also an inexplicable coaching decision to bring a cold Daniel Ewing - not a lockdown defender by any means in the NBA - off the bench for that crucial possession. Ewing played a total of 21 seconds in that game and hadn't seen action since the end of the 1st half when he was subbed in for the last possession of overtime. He didn't execute, but he was not put in an optimal position to execute.