General NBA thread

[Max Rockatansky]

My biggest issue with the NCAA basketball tournaments is that a one and done game doesn't really determine who is "actually best."  What happened to the Celtics isn't super uncommon with teams that get a big playoff series lead. 

[Rothman]

It's called "Let's phone this one in and win it at home."

[Henry]

Sixteen years ago today, the Celtics won championship number 17. Will history repeat itself tonight?

[The Ghostbuster]

Well, it's over! The Boston Celtics have won their 18th NBA Championship, defeating the Dallas Mavericks 106-88. The 2023-24 season has concluded and I am looking forward to the 2024-25 season next fall.

[bing101]

https://apnews.com/article/mavericks-celtics-score-0cdf7b0fb7bc641a5007c8dff836832a?user_email=150ac7711ce8b1b19cf5248a92d9ad5f5d716cfc4d7bde616aa4256dbf42b199&utm_medium=APNews_Alerts&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=NewsAlert_0619_NBA_finals&utm_term=AP%20News%20Alerts

Yes Boston has the 2024 Championship.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Celtics win championship #18 at home. Finally.

[NWI_Irish96]

The Celtics are run by former Zionsville HS and DePaw University player, and Butler coach Brad Stevens. Hire a Hoosier if you want to build a winning team.

[Hunty2022]

Congrats to the Celtics on the chip!!

[JayhawkCO]

Least compelling NBA playoffs ever I'd say. Congrats to the Celtics, but I didn't feel the need to watch even one minute of the finals.

[jgb191]

The Dallas Mavericks need to return to rebuilding mode. The Kyrie experiment has been a utter failure as we all just witnessed.  Why the Mavs even traded for him (let alone extend his contract) made no logical sense.  Trade Luka to an actual title contender like Denver.  The Mavs are my second-favorite NBA team, even so I hate to see Luka waste his prime years staying with a club going nowhere.  I repeat the Mavs are nowhere near title contention.  Get a stack of draft picks by trading Luka. 

And I agree this was no reasonable Finals matchup.  If it had been Denver, the Finals would still not be over yet.  The Nuggets are the best team in the NBA as clearly demonstrated a year ago.  Why the NBA chose to pick Dallas to be in the Finals is puzzling (and yes I believe the Mavs were elected by the NBA to come out of the West).  My best guess is that the league really wanted to see an 18th banner hung over Boston that they gave the Celtics the easiest opponent to beat.  It would be like the NFL setting up Atlanta Falcons to face the Chiefs in the Super Bowl for the easy title.  Had the league let the players battle it out, the Nuggets would easily have come out of the West.

But still credit to the Celtics for winning, Brad Stevens is proving himself to be a brilliant manager and he could be the next Jerry West building something special there.  But I wish to see Luka and Nikola team up together in Denver and form their own empire (like the 1960's Celtics, '80s/'00s Lakers, '90s Bulls, and the '10s Warriors), bringing Denver several more championships.

And one more thing, the Finals could have been saved if the Celtics had put in just enough effort to battle the Mavs in Game Four in a dramatic climatic finish down to the wire than just handing the game over.  As soon as Game Four started everybody knew how it was it going to end like it did.

[CoreySamson]

^
NBA Finals appearance = going nowhere? I'm a bit confused.

[JayhawkCO]

Anytime there's a conspiracy theory about pro sports being rigged by the illuminati, I just skip the rest.

[Max Rockatansky]

I would be happy if my team was a low playoff seed and unexpectedly made the finals.

[webny99]

(and yes I believe the Mavs were elected by the NBA to come out of the West).

Technically true that they were "elected" by the NBA players from the other other 7 playoff teams in the West...

Anytime there's a conspiracy theory about pro sports being rigged by the illuminati, I just skip the rest.

... but otherwise I agree.

[jgb191]

Sorry for the rant, but really if it wasn't rigged the Nuggets or T-Wolves would have come out of the West.  So the Mavericks of all the teams making it to the Finals?  Even the play-in teams could have beaten them.

And yeah going nowhere, I believe that.  We already know they're not going back to the Finals, and besides Kyrie and Luka, the remaining talent pool looks very low compared to other teams (though Lively seems to have potential).  If Luka want to win a ring, he'll go to an actual contending (not a middle-of the-pack) team.

[JayhawkCO]

Sorry for the rant, but really if it wasn't rigged the Nuggets or T-Wolves would have come out of the West.  So the Mavericks of all the teams making it to the Finals?  Even the play-in teams could have beaten them.

No. The Nuggets didn't have the bench depth this year and you could tell the starters were tired. The T-Wolves are good defensively, but aren't built to score a ton and that bit them.

There was no conspiracy.

[SEWIGuy]

Sorry for the rant, but really if it wasn't rigged the Nuggets or T-Wolves would have come out of the West.

Why?

Anyway, if the NBA is rigged, they did a crappy job sticking an international superstar in San Antonio of all places.

[jgb191]

Sorry for the rant, but really if it wasn't rigged the Nuggets or T-Wolves would have come out of the West.  So the Mavericks of all the teams making it to the Finals?  Even the play-in teams could have beaten them.

No. The Nuggets didn't have the bench depth this year and you could tell the starters were tired. The T-Wolves are good defensively, but aren't built to score a ton and that bit them.

There was no conspiracy.

Allow me to partially disagree with your comment.  I agree that the Nuggets bench is thinner than last year even so they showed in the playoffs that they could still compete with best in the west.  I think Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player alive right now.  The Nuggets had a double-digit lead in the second half vs the T-Wolves in Game Seven but for whatever reason the floor fell from their feet and collapsed in the second-half.  If they had just hung on to win, then they could have beaten Dallas in the conference championship and at least pushed the Celtics to the distance and a far more competitive, perhaps nail-biting, Finals.

I'm not a Nuggets fan, but I see a very bright future ahead, and I'm rooting for them to bring more titles to Denver (at least until my Texas teams return to contention).  Bring in Luka Doncic from Dallas, and we could see a rivalry with the Celtics in a number of NBA Finals.

[JayhawkCO]

Sorry for the rant, but really if it wasn't rigged the Nuggets or T-Wolves would have come out of the West.  So the Mavericks of all the teams making it to the Finals?  Even the play-in teams could have beaten them.

No. The Nuggets didn't have the bench depth this year and you could tell the starters were tired. The T-Wolves are good defensively, but aren't built to score a ton and that bit them.

There was no conspiracy.

Allow me to partially disagree with your comment.  I agree that the Nuggets bench is thinner than last year even so they showed in the playoffs that they could still compete with best in the west.  I think Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player alive right now.  The Nuggets had a double-digit lead in the second half vs the T-Wolves in Game Seven but for whatever reason the floor fell from their feet and collapsed in the second-half.  If they had just hung on to win, then they could have beaten Dallas in the conference championship and at least pushed the Celtics to the distance and a far more competitive, perhaps nail-biting, Finals.

I'm not a Nuggets fan, but I see a very bright future ahead, and I'm rooting for them to bring more titles to Denver (at least until my Texas teams return to contention).  Bring in Luka Doncic from Dallas, and we could see a rivalry with the Celtics in a number of NBA Finals.

I don't disagree that the Nuggets are very good. I live in Denver and they are the NBA team I cheer for. That said, you could just tell this year they didn't have quite all of the pieces. They need another 3-and-D guy badly. Losing Bruce Brown hurt a lot more than most people outside the organization think.

[epzik8]

Poor Pistons

[NWI_Irish96]

Poor Pistons

I feel bad for my college contemporary Monty Williams. He was so close to winning it all in Phoenix. I'd rather see him take an assistant's job with a contender than get another HC job with a Pistons-esque team.

[SEWIGuy]

Poor Pistons

I feel bad for my college contemporary Monty Williams. He was so close to winning it all in Phoenix. I'd rather see him take an assistant's job with a contender than get another HC job with a Pistons-esque team.

Or just sit back and cash the checks.

[KeithE4Phx]

Poor Pistons

I feel bad for my college contemporary Monty Williams. He was so close to winning it all in Phoenix. I'd rather see him take an assistant's job with a contender than get another HC job with a Pistons-esque team.

Or just sit back and cash the checks.

And settle down to a cushy broadcast job for a couple million a year while collecting those checks. 

[bing101]

https://apnews.com/article/lakers-redick-hired-e2f1e90ef9681f77e8b19e112a77c9a3?user_email=150ac7711ce8b1b19cf5248a92d9ad5f5d716cfc4d7bde616aa4256dbf42b199

LOS ANGELES (AP) — JJ Redick is being hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, a person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press.  The person spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because the Lakers hadn't yet publicly announced the decision to hire the former guard for his first coaching job.  The 39-year-old Redick is an extraordinary choice by the Lakers, who hired a 15-year veteran with absolutely no coaching experience to lead a franchise with 17 NBA titles, one of the biggest brand names in world sports — and LeBron James, the top scorer in league history.  Redick was a proficient outside shooter for six teams before his retirement in September 2021, when he moved into a career in broadcasting and podcasting. He joined ESPN's lead commentary team earlier this year.

[KeithE4Phx]

Three guesses (and the first two don't count) as to who will be the guy calling the shots.  Hint:  He's a current player, and his son is about to join him.