2023 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Steven43]

This should be remembered as the Aaron Gordon game. 11-15 from the field, 3-4 from 3-pt, 7 reb, 6 assists, and big play after big play. Yes, Jokic was very good as always, but Gordon was the X factor.

[FosterCoachK82]

This should be remembered as the Aaron Gordon game. 11-15 from the field, 3-4 from 3-pt, 7 reb, 6 assists, and big play after big play. Yes, Jokic was very good as always, but Gordon was the X factor.

Agree. And Porter also stepped up. He has been invisible.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Bruce Brown as well.

[Steven43]

Bruce Brown as well.

Good call. Brown was a big part of this win. I don’t remember him being this stellar of an athlete at Miami. He is impressive.

[Dwight]

Jokic was a bit off his usual game, but he made up for it with great defense tonight.

[heyman25]

Mike Bree seemed to be cheering for Miami in his much louder vocals on Heat scores. I guess he wants 7 games.
Gordon was outstanding and Brown as well. I think they will win Monday but it could be decided in the final minutes.
Maybe we get to see Jack White and Martynas Pocius at the celebration at Ball Arena Monday. Some of the fouls on Jokic were ridiculous.
Miami’s shooting has cooled off.

[tommy]

Miamis shooting did more than cool off. They again missed tons of very makeable shots. Bottom line is Denver is just an all-around better basketball team that has the best player in the world on it. They will be a deserving champion.

[-jk]

Mike Bree seemed to be cheering for Miami in his much louder vocals on Heat scores. I guess he wants 7 games.
Gordon was outstanding and Brown as well. I think they will win Monday but it could be decided in the final minutes.
Maybe we get to see Jack White and Martynas Pocius at the celebration at Ball Arena Monday. Some of the fouls on Jokic were ridiculous.
Miami’s shooting has cooled off.

Do announcers get paid by the game?

-jk

[JasonEvans]

Mike Bree seemed to be cheering for Miami in his much louder vocals on Heat scores. I guess he wants 7 games.

I think there is a natural inclination to get more excited when the home crowd is going bonkers. Game in Miami means the announcers are going to tilt a little bit Miami's way.

We also have a natural inclination to root for the underdog, Miami certainly is that.

Do announcers get paid by the game?

No, at least not to my knowledge. I know people who work in the TV sports business and someone like Breen is almost certainly under contract with ABC/ESPN/Disney for a fixed amount to call the playoffs (or perhaps to call the entire season). There may have been some kind of enumerated range of games expected in the contract but I don't think it would vary much based on how many games playoff series go.

It is possible Breen may subconsciously (or consciously) want more air time and more opportunity to have signature moments. Those tend to happen in Game 7s, not Game 5s.

[bluedevilwildcats]

On ESPN this morning JJ said Paul goes to the Lakers, JWill said he goes to the Celtics, and Stephen A says he returns to the Suns.

That and a couple/few bucks will buy you a small coffee at Starbucks.

The latest news (https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...es-nba-gm-says) is that CP3 hasn't been waived and is still a member of the Suns.

Joining the Lakers this coming season is like Gary Payton and Karl Malone joining the Lakers in 2003. About a decade too late. I think Stern vetoing the 2011 CP3 trade was the right decision, it was so unbalanced IMO, but getting CP3 for his prime would have been awesome.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I think there is a natural inclination to get more excited when the home crowd is going bonkers. Game in Miami means the announcers are going to tilt a little bit Miami's way.

We also have a natural inclination to root for the underdog, Miami certainly is that.



No, at least not to my knowledge. I know people who work in the TV sports business and someone like Breen is almost certainly under contract with ABC/ESPN/Disney for a fixed amount to call the playoffs (or perhaps to call the entire season). There may have been some kind of enumerated range of games expected in the contract but I don't think it would vary much based on how many games playoff series go.

It is possible Breen may subconsciously (or consciously) want more air time and more opportunity to have signature moments. Those tend to happen in Game 7s, not Game 5s.

Mike Breen is the consummate professional. You make a great point about the crowd and a comeback feeding an announcer's excitement level. I guarantee he has no bias and has no incentive to want the series to go longer. I am not an expert, but I'm guessing he gets paid an annual salary regardless of how long the playoffs go so in some ways he probably wants it to be over so he can do other things with his life.

It is kind of annoying that these threads constantly get sidetracked by "the announcer is biased," "the refs are biased," etc. There are definitely bad calls that merit comments but they seem to get a disproportionate amount of attention around here. I think many of these comments merit the response of "the DBR commenter is biased" but we don't go there. I would think we are better than this.

[Skydog]

Mike Breen is the consummate professional. You make a great point about the crowd and a comeback feeding an announcer's excitement level. I guarantee he has no bias and has no incentive to want the series to go longer. I am not an expert, but I'm guessing he gets paid an annual salary regardless of how long the playoffs go so in some ways he probably wants it to be over so he can do other things with his life.

It is kind of annoying that these threads constantly get sidetracked by "the announcer is biased," "the refs are biased," etc. There are definitely bad calls that merit comments but they seem to get a disproportionate amount of attention around here. I think many of these comments merit the response of "the DBR commenter is biased" but we don't go there. I would think we are better than this.

Based on what I've read on competing sports threads refs are blatantly biased against both teams. Only an idiot would fail to see how unfair they are to team A (B).

[bluedevilwildcats]

Folks have mentioned a first-year coach who is learning on the job. I think in a winning culture, that assistant is ready to take over as head coach, is not appointed head coach, or is surrounded with advisers and assistants who collectively deliver winning basketball in crunch time.

I really don't know what to say here. They went to the Finals last year- they went to the conference finals this year- overcame a 3-0 deficit and lost for the most part because their very best player got hurt 20 sec into the game. That is a "culture of winning" that almost every team in the NBA would want. Based on their record, they were expected to lose in the conference finals to the Bucks. They lost in the conference finals to the team that beat the Bucks. That elevated assistant coach had the best record up until the All Star Break. He was clearly ready to take over as head coach. I get that the Celtics lost game 7 but to claim they do not have a culture of winning just seems very strange to me.

As a follow up to our winning culture discussion, the Celtics have begun surrounding their coach with talented assistants by adding Charles Lee. And most likely giving themselves an opportunity to evaluate whether he is head coaching material: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...nt-sources-say

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Do we get a Game Six?

[brevity]

Do we get a Game Six?

Maybe. We could see the return of Herro Ball, as Tyler is available to play for Miami in Game 5.

[Steven43]

Do we get a Game Six?

I sure hope so! Well, only if Denver would be guaranteed to win game 6.

I just want more basketball. But I badly want the Nuggets to win. The zombie Heat need to be put down — like a 35-year-old horse with two broken legs. 😬

[Matches]

Do we get a Game Six?

The real Game Six was the friends we made along the way.

[dukelifer]

Denver is struggling.

[moonpie23]

i see miami miss so many EASY shots and wonder how they could ever beat denver playing like that...

[Steven43]

Denver has one more quarter in which to win an NBA championship. Down by 1 starting the 4th.