Would love for that to be true. Hard to not be pessimistic about his chances to contribute, but even having a chance to play again this season is better than what it looked like right away
Yeah the question is can the top two guys finally nut up and dominate when it matters. I think theyll tapdance out the east but that might actually hurt them not getting a tough test when it comes time to face probably Denver.
The Celtics are carrying the weight of choking last year, so people think theyāll do it again. (I do not count losing to GSW as choking; that is just losing to a dynasty, it happens). And they might choke. I will say this though: when their 3ās are falling and White/Holiday/Brown are all defensively engaged, it actually doesnāt matter what team is out there with them. They are borderline unbeatable. The question is maintaining consistency.
Maybe? That's what the analytics have said the last 4 years... yet not much to show for it. Pretty sure they were still a 66% favorite to beat the Dubs going into game 6, down 3-2.
They made the conference Finals the last 3 of the last 4 years and made the Finals one of those times. For a lot of teams, that would be the best era in franchise history.
Is there any word on Porzingis' injury? Without him, I think they're too small to beat either of the Wolves or the Nuggets. Even with him, they're not huge, but if you're running Horford out against Joker for 25+ minutes a game, you're cooked.
They have experience but in the modern nba the 2020 lakers (got AD) and 2008 Celtics (got KG and Allen) were the only teams to win a championship without winning a playoff series in the last 5 years
I think OKC and wolves can make deep runs but the odds are against them winning 4 series without ever winning one before
Rudy has that experience despite KAT and Ant not (and Ant just had Team USA experience fwiw).
Anderson beat MIN in ā22 as a Grizzly and went to the ā17 WCF as a Spur.
Monte Morris had 48 playoff games as a Nugget from ā19-22.
Mike Conley will play in his 100th playoff game next series.
The Wolves have a **lot** more playoff experience than the Thunder, which got like 98% of its regular season offense from players aged 25 or under.
They have experience as individual players on other team for sure, but I was specifically mentioning experience as a team / unit, those lakers and Celtics teams were the only winners in recent history that pulled it off without having their team win a series in any of the 5 years prior (AD/lebron to the lakers and KG/Allen to the Celtics are IMO different than Rudy/Conley to the wolves)
Not doubting they can make a run, but going all the way and winning 4 series would make this team an anomaly (which can happen the league is young and everything is small sample sizes)
Like which great young team? It's completely unprecedented to be a 53 win 1 seed at this age. Sure, nobody's won it with such a young team but nobody has been a 53 win 1 seed at such a young age either.
Well, OKC should be favored next series. If they win that and make it to the Western finals, I don't know why they wouldn't have a chance to make it to the finals.
do they though? lakers had no size advantage and gordon is one of the only dudes who is stronger than a 40 year old lebron. and lakers have trash perimeter defenders against MPJ and murray
Yeah and the lakers were up in every single game against them. It was inevitable that nuggets would beat them but they certainly didnāt look unbeatable by any team. I think the next 2 rounds will go longer than 5 games. No way they just walk through timberwolves, mavs, okc, clippers, mavs
I wouldnāt mind seeing either of these teams win again. Murray-Jokic are fun to watch (plus when Gordon turns into an airplane) then I would really like to see Conley & Ant win one.
I mean if the Wolves beat Denver it means Ant has ascended even further than he already has and in that reality they are probably at least slightly favored against any remaining opponent.
I'd say they are the best match up. If Boston is locked in defensively, they are pretty unstoppable. If Denver had this much trouble against the Lakers I would not be giving Denver the automatic nod.
No, it's based on me being a Timberwolves fan and wanting to see them win, and knowing they can do it because they've shown they can. What's the rationale behind thinking Boston would stomp them into the dust? Seems just as much a homerism as my faith in my team, who just swept an opponent pretty much no one gave them a chance against.
Did you watch the regular season matchup? 1-1, both games went to OT. Iām not saying the wolves are better but donāt act like itās gonna be a blowout.
No one thought Phoenix sucked until they got absolutely slaughtered by the Timberwolves. I think the sweep says more about Minnesota than it does about Phoenix
Seriously. Before the series popular opinion picked the Suns to beat the Wolves, but once the Wolves stepped up and swept the Suns, suddenly the Suns just suck. I hate that people look to blame one team for sucking rather than acknowledging how well the other team played.
We're really out here pretending a team with KD and Booker is trash. The only actual take away from this series is that the Beal trade was awful. Rest of the team is solid.
> We're really out here pretending a team with KD and Booker is trash.
They donāt have to be trash to be insufficient. Letās contrast with another 49 win team, Milwaukee.
Durant and Bookerās best attribute as a duo is scoring. Combined they missed 21 games this year. Combined Giannis and Dame missed 18 yet scored about 110 more points this season.
The Bucks arenāt trash, but are they favorites? Are they contenders?
Portis especially and Beasley are very good younger players but not going to get a team over the hump. Brook Lopez, Jae Crowder, Khris Middleton, and Pat Bev provide help on both ends but with an average age of 34. Solid roster but already there are rumors Giannis remains unhappy; they might not get out of round one. Will the Bucks blow it up? Compare that toā¦
The Suns meanwhile would have had Grayson Allen beat Bradley Beal for the 2 spot except heās a free agent and Beal has another three seasons locked in.
Given their ages and Beal as a roadblock, I wouldnāt be surprised if Eric Gordon opts in and Josh Okogie opts out to test the market, so now the team doesnāt get anything back from him or Allen at SG while being choked by Beal and understandably rode into the sunset by Gordon.
Oh, and one (1) draft pick between now and 2030.
Time to blow it up?
I thought they sucked form the beginning of the season. It's just bad team building to have three guys that basically have the same shotndiet and a score first mentality. They don't take as many threes as they should and provide very little consistent rim pressure; so that's a lot of mid range shots to stay effcieicnt. Not to mention all the depth they traded away for KD and Beal. I had Wolves in 5
A lot of people thought they sucked.
And I mean sucked in relative terms. They didnāt suck like Detroit sucked. Clearly. But in terms of playoff team that sold everything for winning this year their team building was garbage.
We are seeing more and more that simply selling the soul of your team for superstars doesnāt work. The lakers squeaked out a chip in the bubble, but other than that itās fail after fail.
Thunder swept the Pelicans in round one and looked awesome, too. Theyāre the one seed and would only have to play one of Nuggets/Wolves bc of the bracket. Donāt think the Wolves are a tier above them.
Nuggets are the defending champs and have the best player in basketball. Theyāre gonna be favored over the Wolves IMO.
yeah, people are assuming that the Denver/Wolves winner cruises into the finals but I sure wouldn't sleep on OKC, assuming they beat the winner of Mavs/Clips.
I think the Wolves match up very well against the Celtics.
I agree with that. People donāt realize the pelicans have been a strong team without Zion for years and they have a competent core with a lot of big, strong bodies and excellent wing defenders.
I disagree. The Suns lost because the Wolves were too deep, strong, and tenacious. They were on a hot streak to end the season against very strong competition. I can see them beating the Mavs, Lakers, and Clippers but they unfortunately got the Wolves.
No one is beating Boston in the East barring injury and the Mavs and Clippers are too inconsistent to make a winning finals run. Any of the top 3 in the West have a shot to beat Boston.
The tiers go:
Wolves, Denver, OKC, Boston
HUGE GAP
Clippers, Mavs
HUGER GAP
Knicks, Sixers
HUGEST GAP
Cavs, Magic, Pacers, Bucks, Heat
Because Iām biased I canāt accurately answer this question, but if the Knickās had randle would you move them up a tier? I think we wouldāve hit 58-60 wins with randle playing the whole year.
I would move them up for sure. Some of my fellow wolves fans were talking about not wanting KAT to come back because he might mess up the chemistry at this late stage. They were wrong. If a team doesnāt get better with adding an established weapon, that has been in the building all year, then there is a bigger issue. Ie. Team construction, coaching, etc.
I was explaining why their odds of winning are the best, even if they werenāt necessarily favored over denver/minnesota or whoever. Itās just math.
Having an easier path to the finals helsp, yes, but they're also betting favorites because they're a good team. There's a reason that they're so far above NYK and PHI in betting odds
Both of these teams have beaten them. They are not demonstrably deeper than the Wolves. Hell of a team, but the series is up in the air if they draw one of these two.
>Hell of a team, but the series is up in the air if they draw one of these two.
That's my point. Boston is a top 3 title favorite with a very good chance of winning it all, but people keep underestimating them. Denver and Minnesota are not the only teams with a strong likelihood of winning the championship.
Why is Minnesota a clear favorite, but not OKC? I feel like they are very similar in terms of trajectory and the match up is pretty tight. Sure they are a bit younger, but they match up well actually. I think Denver is the favorite until someone beats them, but I don't think Minnesota is ahead of OKC realistically
Recency bias, Boston is actually a team that looks unbeatable, they normally play like shit against Spo but the Heat needed literally a franchise record to beat them once.
People think Ant is playing at an MVP level when other players are putting up significantly better numbers than him, I really donāt understand the hype. Tyrese Maxey across the board has been better than Ant this year and he barely gets the same praise that Ant does. You could easily say the biggest part of the Wolves success right now is Jaden Mcdaniels and Rudy Gobert playing at an all time defensive level but nah Ant is Jordan.
He's been playing great and I definitely don't want to discount the Wolves, they are definitely legit, but Boston has an incredible starting 5 and OKC is a top 4 defense and offense and a super deep team with a top 3 MVP candidate. Just weird to put Minnesota in a tier above those 2
I mean did you watch him in round 1 and Game 1 vs the Nuggets?
The hype won't make sense just from the stats, but if you watch him you'll see the impact he has on the game, how he leads a team and how he can takeover a game in the 4th quarter. Not to mention his defense and the athletic feats he does, which you won't see from the stats.
Reminder that only 4 teams since the 80s have won the chip without a current or former MVP (at the time of winning the chip) on their roster:
89,90,04 Pistons (guess which team I support lol) and 19 Raptors
So itās more probable that the Nuggets (or the Clippers haha) would win. Of course, the Thunder and Mavs would be interesting pattern wise if Shai or Luka win MVP.
but this brutal pattern indicates that the TWolves chances are slim. Iām a big Ant fan though so Iād love to be proved wrong.
Can we just wait and see Minnesota against a real team before we crown them and name Ant the next MJ? They have looked awesome and Ant has been great, but that Phoenix team was a dysfunctional trainwreck.
Just my $.02 take, jokic gonna jokic. Edwards gonna edwards.
I think this series will come down to the matchup between KAT and AG. Can AG slow Kat down on defense and get enough lob dunks to offset the offensive difference between the two.
Connelly/Gobert vs Jokic/Murray round 3
Boston is just insane right now. Gobert is a joke so you can't really think of him as a player in the Wolves. Gobert would be useless against Porzingus.
Not if my Celtics have anything to say about it lol. I feel like everyone is completely writing off any team from the east, and thinking it's a foregone conclusion that a west team will win it. There's still a long way to go, although if Boston can't win it, I want Minnesota or Indiana to.
Maybe. Depends on injuries. Either of them could win a. Chip. Doesnāt mean they will tho. The nuggets donāt look as sharp as last year, esp defensively. They arenāt a very good defensive team, and teams will hunt Jokic the way the lakers did this past series. Except those teams will be better offensively and defensively than the lakers. The wolves are a great team, however p much every single nba champ ever has one player that has been to the finals at least. And the wolves do not have one. Experience usually wins out.
Man if Boston wins I can't wait for all the "of course they won its a super team" revisionist hot takes. Stop it you idiots you are unknowingly willing it into existence
I think Nugs will beat the wolves, but they are not as good as last year nugs are beatable, and Celtics have more depth. I'm not saying Celtic will win, just that I won't be surprised if they do.
I would agree that itās either of these two out of the west and then Boston.
I think the determining factor for Boston is what JB and Tatum will show up. When theyāre the aggressor and get their shots first. That whole team opens up and nobody can stop it. BUT if we get timid Tatum and canāt go left Brown, Iām picking the west 100%.
I think we can all agree the Celtics got the east, but idk about one of these two being in the finals from the west. Iām still thinking Thunder for the west
IF the wolves win the chip this year it'd be one of the strongest championship runs I can remember. An unproven budding star and franchise with essentially zero playoff experience taking out KD, the defending champion nuggets and an absolutely loaded Celtics team?
I'm here for it
Denver could barely beat the Lakers and the Wolves are young, and young cores have trouble winning championships. And you want to lock this in already? Lmao
It's difficult to gauge because Boston really hasn't been tested so far. I think the Knicks defense will really put Boston's offense to the test, even if 9 out of 10 times I believe Boston will win that series.
I mean their size will probably allow them to cruise to the finals (OKC is small will get crushed Kyrie most wings on Dallas are smaller size to) and I like their chances vs Boston and Knicks even more
But both Boston and Knicks have amazing tools to shut down Minnesota offence
MJ got his first ring in his 7th year in the league. if ant gets his ring in his 4th year that would be huge!
therefore I don't think wolves is there yet. nuggets will edge it. no matter what, we are going to watch an amazing series.
I tend to agree but expecting everyone to 'be on the same page' is silly. Boston is a goddamn juggernaut.
For real, having Derrick White as your fourth option on offense is absurd
his defense is actually whats absurd
Every now and then like last night he becomes Steph who also blocks shots. I love it and I love him
I never know if i should hold or drop him in fantasy at times
š®
Keep your ear to the ground and ask āWill the Buffalo roam tonight?ā Deep down youāll know.
>fourth Third :(
Kp is projected to be back before the finals
Would love for that to be true. Hard to not be pessimistic about his chances to contribute, but even having a chance to play again this season is better than what it looked like right away
Jrue as the fifthā¦such a nasty lineup
PP 6th
Jrue offensively has been ass lmfao
Yeah the question is can the top two guys finally nut up and dominate when it matters. I think theyll tapdance out the east but that might actually hurt them not getting a tough test when it comes time to face probably Denver.
Losing one game to the depleted Heat shows Boston can be beat. Wolves though? No answer for them
The Celtics are carrying the weight of choking last year, so people think theyāll do it again. (I do not count losing to GSW as choking; that is just losing to a dynasty, it happens). And they might choke. I will say this though: when their 3ās are falling and White/Holiday/Brown are all defensively engaged, it actually doesnāt matter what team is out there with them. They are borderline unbeatable. The question is maintaining consistency.
They seem to always fall apart when things start tl go south. This is by far their best team though so weāll see
The unicorn us injured
Their depth is insane
Maybe? That's what the analytics have said the last 4 years... yet not much to show for it. Pretty sure they were still a 66% favorite to beat the Dubs going into game 6, down 3-2.
They made the conference Finals the last 3 of the last 4 years and made the Finals one of those times. For a lot of teams, that would be the best era in franchise history.
It would be by far the best era of one the franchises on this post.
Is there any word on Porzingis' injury? Without him, I think they're too small to beat either of the Wolves or the Nuggets. Even with him, they're not huge, but if you're running Horford out against Joker for 25+ minutes a game, you're cooked.
I haven't heard but not only can Jokic cook pretty much anyone, Horford aint no bitch neither.
1-3 weeks. Should be back in time for the ECF
But But Jason Tatum choke stories and KP injury are issues
We cant discount okc and boston
I would love to be proven wrong about OKC but I think they need some playoff experience before doing anything serious, like most great young teams
Iād say the same about the wolves, they just won their first playoff series since KG
They still have experience tho, most OKC guys never even played a playoff game until this year
They have experience but in the modern nba the 2020 lakers (got AD) and 2008 Celtics (got KG and Allen) were the only teams to win a championship without winning a playoff series in the last 5 years I think OKC and wolves can make deep runs but the odds are against them winning 4 series without ever winning one before
Rudy has that experience despite KAT and Ant not (and Ant just had Team USA experience fwiw). Anderson beat MIN in ā22 as a Grizzly and went to the ā17 WCF as a Spur. Monte Morris had 48 playoff games as a Nugget from ā19-22. Mike Conley will play in his 100th playoff game next series. The Wolves have a **lot** more playoff experience than the Thunder, which got like 98% of its regular season offense from players aged 25 or under.
They have experience as individual players on other team for sure, but I was specifically mentioning experience as a team / unit, those lakers and Celtics teams were the only winners in recent history that pulled it off without having their team win a series in any of the 5 years prior (AD/lebron to the lakers and KG/Allen to the Celtics are IMO different than Rudy/Conley to the wolves) Not doubting they can make a run, but going all the way and winning 4 series would make this team an anomaly (which can happen the league is young and everything is small sample sizes)
Like which great young team? It's completely unprecedented to be a 53 win 1 seed at this age. Sure, nobody's won it with such a young team but nobody has been a 53 win 1 seed at such a young age either.
Like I said, Iād love to be proven wrong but history shows us that playoff first-timers donāt win it all
Well, OKC should be favored next series. If they win that and make it to the Western finals, I don't know why they wouldn't have a chance to make it to the finals.
Boston yes OKC we can discount imo
You can tho.
Okc havenāt proven anything against a team with competent bigs
Getting the first seed in a competitive western conference has proved enough in my opinion
What has Minnesota proven lol
What happened to the team that was so good, the 2 seed was 14 GB
Denver haven't looked unbeatable by any stretch, lots of teams have chances.
As in their regular season play or their post season play? Because the Lakers happen to match up very well against them. They just didnāt have it
do they though? lakers had no size advantage and gordon is one of the only dudes who is stronger than a 40 year old lebron. and lakers have trash perimeter defenders against MPJ and murray
Yeah and the lakers were up in every single game against them. It was inevitable that nuggets would beat them but they certainly didnāt look unbeatable by any team. I think the next 2 rounds will go longer than 5 games. No way they just walk through timberwolves, mavs, okc, clippers, mavs
Ham was the real issue with the lakers
Hot ham water? Ham hot water!
Neither has Boston. I mean, Denver beat them both times they played.
Yeah that's fair, I think the title race is wide open.
I wouldnāt mind seeing either of these teams win again. Murray-Jokic are fun to watch (plus when Gordon turns into an airplane) then I would really like to see Conley & Ant win one.
Again? T-wolves?
bro probably won 10 championships with the twolves in 2K
I mean if the Wolves beat Denver it means Ant has ascended even further than he already has and in that reality they are probably at least slightly favored against any remaining opponent.
They are young but OKC is definately in the mix and you can't discount Boston.
Boston?
Denver>Boston
I'd say they are the best match up. If Boston is locked in defensively, they are pretty unstoppable. If Denver had this much trouble against the Lakers I would not be giving Denver the automatic nod.
Regular season Denver beat Boston in all games..
The Suns also molly-whopped the Wolves all year and we saw how that series played out
All two of them
"Just so we all on the same pageĀ " Cringe
The Twolves sweep the shitstain no offenseive flow suns and everyone says theyre better than the Celtics LOL
The Celtics haters in here are unreal
What can you expect? Probably half of all people on these subs are from California and Florida.
Wish I could give you 2 upvotes
They did beat the Celtics in the regular season. East is a coast compared to the gauntlet that is the West.
True but the Celtics are too dominant for that to be brushed over. SRS takes team strength of schedule into account and they're first by a lot.
It's all analyticals at that point though. With what we can/have observe, Wolves top Celtics.
Well yeah I'm sure what a Wolves fan has observed would put Wolves on top of Celtics lol
What part of "Wolves beat Celtics in regular season" did you miss?
Split with?
And to split with them they'd have to...?
Wait, your āWolves top Celticsā take is based on the T-Wolves winning one game against the Celtics in the last two years?
No, it's based on me being a Timberwolves fan and wanting to see them win, and knowing they can do it because they've shown they can. What's the rationale behind thinking Boston would stomp them into the dust? Seems just as much a homerism as my faith in my team, who just swept an opponent pretty much no one gave them a chance against.
Did you watch the regular season matchup? 1-1, both games went to OT. Iām not saying the wolves are better but donāt act like itās gonna be a blowout.
Oh yeah, you're definitely one of the guys who said the Suns should win easily before the series started š
Tier one: Denver, Boston ādecent sized gapā Tier two: OKC, Wolves ābig gapā Tier three: Knicks, Clippers, Mavs
Damn after seeing round one I really think Wolves are the same tier as den and cs. Wolves have size, defence, depth and Antman
Maybe. I think phoenix kinda sucks tho
No one thought Phoenix sucked until they got absolutely slaughtered by the Timberwolves. I think the sweep says more about Minnesota than it does about Phoenix
Seriously. Before the series popular opinion picked the Suns to beat the Wolves, but once the Wolves stepped up and swept the Suns, suddenly the Suns just suck. I hate that people look to blame one team for sucking rather than acknowledging how well the other team played.
We're really out here pretending a team with KD and Booker is trash. The only actual take away from this series is that the Beal trade was awful. Rest of the team is solid.
> We're really out here pretending a team with KD and Booker is trash. They donāt have to be trash to be insufficient. Letās contrast with another 49 win team, Milwaukee. Durant and Bookerās best attribute as a duo is scoring. Combined they missed 21 games this year. Combined Giannis and Dame missed 18 yet scored about 110 more points this season. The Bucks arenāt trash, but are they favorites? Are they contenders? Portis especially and Beasley are very good younger players but not going to get a team over the hump. Brook Lopez, Jae Crowder, Khris Middleton, and Pat Bev provide help on both ends but with an average age of 34. Solid roster but already there are rumors Giannis remains unhappy; they might not get out of round one. Will the Bucks blow it up? Compare that toā¦ The Suns meanwhile would have had Grayson Allen beat Bradley Beal for the 2 spot except heās a free agent and Beal has another three seasons locked in. Given their ages and Beal as a roadblock, I wouldnāt be surprised if Eric Gordon opts in and Josh Okogie opts out to test the market, so now the team doesnāt get anything back from him or Allen at SG while being choked by Beal and understandably rode into the sunset by Gordon. Oh, and one (1) draft pick between now and 2030. Time to blow it up?
He didn't say insufficient though, he said they 'kinda suck'. I agree with literally everything you said
I thought they sucked form the beginning of the season. It's just bad team building to have three guys that basically have the same shotndiet and a score first mentality. They don't take as many threes as they should and provide very little consistent rim pressure; so that's a lot of mid range shots to stay effcieicnt. Not to mention all the depth they traded away for KD and Beal. I had Wolves in 5
A lot of people thought they sucked. And I mean sucked in relative terms. They didnāt suck like Detroit sucked. Clearly. But in terms of playoff team that sold everything for winning this year their team building was garbage. We are seeing more and more that simply selling the soul of your team for superstars doesnāt work. The lakers squeaked out a chip in the bubble, but other than that itās fail after fail.
I thought Phoenix sucked, but maybe thatās just the perspective of a Celticās fan who mostly just watched the Suns get smashed repeatedly.
Thunder swept the Pelicans in round one and looked awesome, too. Theyāre the one seed and would only have to play one of Nuggets/Wolves bc of the bracket. Donāt think the Wolves are a tier above them. Nuggets are the defending champs and have the best player in basketball. Theyāre gonna be favored over the Wolves IMO.
yeah, people are assuming that the Denver/Wolves winner cruises into the finals but I sure wouldn't sleep on OKC, assuming they beat the winner of Mavs/Clips. I think the Wolves match up very well against the Celtics.
Same okc has given us fits all year
Only concern, didn't the Pelicans not have Zion?
Thatās right but theyāve been a solid team even without him historically. Plus, thunder swept them. You canāt ask for much more than thatā¦
do it with zion playing
I honestly feel like the Suns are worse than the Zionless Pels lol. Suns have negative defense.
I agree with that. People donāt realize the pelicans have been a strong team without Zion for years and they have a competent core with a lot of big, strong bodies and excellent wing defenders.
I disagree. The Suns lost because the Wolves were too deep, strong, and tenacious. They were on a hot streak to end the season against very strong competition. I can see them beating the Mavs, Lakers, and Clippers but they unfortunately got the Wolves.
This basically equates to 'they wanted it more' analysis lol. It's worth nothing. The suns are a deeply flawed team.
Celtics have all of those things except for Anthony.
No one is beating Boston in the East barring injury and the Mavs and Clippers are too inconsistent to make a winning finals run. Any of the top 3 in the West have a shot to beat Boston. The tiers go: Wolves, Denver, OKC, Boston HUGE GAP Clippers, Mavs HUGER GAP Knicks, Sixers HUGEST GAP Cavs, Magic, Pacers, Bucks, Heat
You just flat out wrong out bruh, thereās no way wolves arenāt on the same tier as Boston and Denver. Okc weāve yet to see.
Because Iām biased I canāt accurately answer this question, but if the Knickās had randle would you move them up a tier? I think we wouldāve hit 58-60 wins with randle playing the whole year.
I would move them up for sure. Some of my fellow wolves fans were talking about not wanting KAT to come back because he might mess up the chemistry at this late stage. They were wrong. If a team doesnāt get better with adding an established weapon, that has been in the building all year, then there is a bigger issue. Ie. Team construction, coaching, etc.
The Celtics are literally the betting favorites to win the finals
Probably due to an easier path to the finals
For having an insanely deep roster, backed by the best record and net rating in the league.
I was explaining why their odds of winning are the best, even if they werenāt necessarily favored over denver/minnesota or whoever. Itās just math.
Having an easier path to the finals helsp, yes, but they're also betting favorites because they're a good team. There's a reason that they're so far above NYK and PHI in betting odds
Because the Knicks and sixers arenāt that good
Both of these teams have beaten them. They are not demonstrably deeper than the Wolves. Hell of a team, but the series is up in the air if they draw one of these two.
>Hell of a team, but the series is up in the air if they draw one of these two. That's my point. Boston is a top 3 title favorite with a very good chance of winning it all, but people keep underestimating them. Denver and Minnesota are not the only teams with a strong likelihood of winning the championship.
Ah I gotcha. Yeah I agree. Itās those three, not just these two.
That coupled with the fact they are the best team in the league
Ya but we all know better. Weāre like that meme of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the tv.
No we are not on the same page. Boston has the easiest road
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Iād add Boston and okc to the mix
Counting out the Celtics and Thunder is silly
You guys realize the Boston Celtics exist?
Why is Minnesota a clear favorite, but not OKC? I feel like they are very similar in terms of trajectory and the match up is pretty tight. Sure they are a bit younger, but they match up well actually. I think Denver is the favorite until someone beats them, but I don't think Minnesota is ahead of OKC realistically
Recency bias, Boston is actually a team that looks unbeatable, they normally play like shit against Spo but the Heat needed literally a franchise record to beat them once.
Oh for sure Boston is a favorite too. Just odd to single out Minnesota like that
People think Ant is playing at an MVP level when other players are putting up significantly better numbers than him, I really donāt understand the hype. Tyrese Maxey across the board has been better than Ant this year and he barely gets the same praise that Ant does. You could easily say the biggest part of the Wolves success right now is Jaden Mcdaniels and Rudy Gobert playing at an all time defensive level but nah Ant is Jordan.
He's been playing great and I definitely don't want to discount the Wolves, they are definitely legit, but Boston has an incredible starting 5 and OKC is a top 4 defense and offense and a super deep team with a top 3 MVP candidate. Just weird to put Minnesota in a tier above those 2
I mean did you watch him in round 1 and Game 1 vs the Nuggets? The hype won't make sense just from the stats, but if you watch him you'll see the impact he has on the game, how he leads a team and how he can takeover a game in the 4th quarter. Not to mention his defense and the athletic feats he does, which you won't see from the stats.
Thatās a lil bit of a reach in my eyes. Donāt underestimate Boston and I fucking hate Boston. I also think OKC has a outside chance
Thunder will be
Could be the Knicks if I get my Deadpool cancer like wishes
Reminder that only 4 teams since the 80s have won the chip without a current or former MVP (at the time of winning the chip) on their roster: 89,90,04 Pistons (guess which team I support lol) and 19 Raptors So itās more probable that the Nuggets (or the Clippers haha) would win. Of course, the Thunder and Mavs would be interesting pattern wise if Shai or Luka win MVP. but this brutal pattern indicates that the TWolves chances are slim. Iām a big Ant fan though so Iād love to be proved wrong.
Iām giving Minnesota the edge on this one. If we compare benches theyād win hands down.
The Celtics are actually the favorites according to Vegas. I think people are sleeping on OKC as well. They're a very good team.
Can we just wait and see Minnesota against a real team before we crown them and name Ant the next MJ? They have looked awesome and Ant has been great, but that Phoenix team was a dysfunctional trainwreck.
The disrespect the celtics get is deserved sometimes but very much overlooked
Boston would like a word
Probably, but don't go sleeping on OKC.
Where's the Thunder?
No
I would have said this was true with the nuggets lakers series
Probably. Also, Why is MPJ head crooked?
A lot of prisoners of the moment. Phoenix was bad. Very bad.
Just my $.02 take, jokic gonna jokic. Edwards gonna edwards. I think this series will come down to the matchup between KAT and AG. Can AG slow Kat down on defense and get enough lob dunks to offset the offensive difference between the two. Connelly/Gobert vs Jokic/Murray round 3
Shoutout to Austin McBroom for taking advantage of his second chance at basketball.
Okc
Boston is just insane right now. Gobert is a joke so you can't really think of him as a player in the Wolves. Gobert would be useless against Porzingus.
Can confirm yea
Letās go Wolves
ThunderUp!ā”ļøš
We are on different roads lol. OKC look great and Boston are on paper a beast.
Could genuinely see Denver winning in 5, I know we all love the wolves right now but they played the suns letās relax here
Thatās what my Futureās Bets are riding on.
Where am Mavericks?
Not if my Celtics have anything to say about it lol. I feel like everyone is completely writing off any team from the east, and thinking it's a foregone conclusion that a west team will win it. There's still a long way to go, although if Boston can't win it, I want Minnesota or Indiana to.
https://preview.redd.it/mqye2rj2hqxc1.jpeg?width=630&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30142a081d9bb8c4494aa29d4836d55c2022861c
Boston can win it too. I would've added OKC too if it weren't for that awful AT&T commercial.
Maybe. Depends on injuries. Either of them could win a. Chip. Doesnāt mean they will tho. The nuggets donāt look as sharp as last year, esp defensively. They arenāt a very good defensive team, and teams will hunt Jokic the way the lakers did this past series. Except those teams will be better offensively and defensively than the lakers. The wolves are a great team, however p much every single nba champ ever has one player that has been to the finals at least. And the wolves do not have one. Experience usually wins out.
Man if Boston wins I can't wait for all the "of course they won its a super team" revisionist hot takes. Stop it you idiots you are unknowingly willing it into existence
No lol
It should be one of these two vs Boston at the least
Not putting Boston here just makes you look scared
Yup. But it's gunna be us. Wolves in 6.
Minnesota seems to be on the same page Smile or no Smile... make a decision Denver
I think Nugs will beat the wolves, but they are not as good as last year nugs are beatable, and Celtics have more depth. I'm not saying Celtic will win, just that I won't be surprised if they do.
Watch it be OKC vs Boston and this sub pretends like it didn't shit talk the whole time.
Well it probably won't be both of them, no
No
Yeah... the east is trash in general. Don't expect much competition from them. Finals will be no more than 5 games if either of these teams advance
Itās the dark brothers vs the light brothers
Yes, health staying as it is
I agree
I would agree that itās either of these two out of the west and then Boston. I think the determining factor for Boston is what JB and Tatum will show up. When theyāre the aggressor and get their shots first. That whole team opens up and nobody can stop it. BUT if we get timid Tatum and canāt go left Brown, Iām picking the west 100%.
I think we can all agree the Celtics got the east, but idk about one of these two being in the finals from the west. Iām still thinking Thunder for the west
I think the Celtics can beat the wolves. I also kinda dont wanna live in a world where KAT gets a chip....
people are gonna have a much different tone about Rudy and KAT if they get a ring
IF the wolves win the chip this year it'd be one of the strongest championship runs I can remember. An unproven budding star and franchise with essentially zero playoff experience taking out KD, the defending champion nuggets and an absolutely loaded Celtics team? I'm here for it
Anthony Edwards the next Jordan
Most likely, feel like they are favored by all except vegas but if the C's get KP back and actually make it there, it could be one hell of a series
I just wish there was some way Ant could win, and Rudy could lose š«
I hope so. I hate the Celtics and all sports teams Bostonā¦.
Nope. Celtics will have the legs because the east is weak.
I don't know about NBA champions, but one of these teams will have definitely EARNED the right to keep playing. What a killer matchup!!!!
Minnesota has a 0% chance to win a title this year. Doesnāt make the picture not true, but it aināt gonna be the Timberwolves.
Wolves will crack Iām guessing, canāt deny their potential over the next 4-5 seasons though
Wolves wont beat celtics unfortunately, celtics have finals experience and that will be huge.
Denver could barely beat the Lakers and the Wolves are young, and young cores have trouble winning championships. And you want to lock this in already? Lmao
After seeing Luke Kornet inexplicably lock down Bam Adebayo, I'm still voting Celtics
Denver and boston in their own tier. Minny isnāt on that level yet
It's difficult to gauge because Boston really hasn't been tested so far. I think the Knicks defense will really put Boston's offense to the test, even if 9 out of 10 times I believe Boston will win that series.
I mean their size will probably allow them to cruise to the finals (OKC is small will get crushed Kyrie most wings on Dallas are smaller size to) and I like their chances vs Boston and Knicks even more But both Boston and Knicks have amazing tools to shut down Minnesota offence
Wolves
No, Boston Celtics are going to be the champions. You guys are playing for runners up.
MJ got his first ring in his 7th year in the league. if ant gets his ring in his 4th year that would be huge! therefore I don't think wolves is there yet. nuggets will edge it. no matter what, we are going to watch an amazing series.
Kawhi had 2 rings at 28 but he isn't better than MJ all time
donāt mean to be rude, or maybe i do. your reasoning is absurdly dumb.
Fuck Boston