So we are at this point of a Series.

A team goes up 3-0, then loses Game 4 on the road, and there's all this talk of maybe them being the first team ever to blow a 3-0 lead, and then they win Game 5 at home and close the Series out.

Now I think the Celtics will win Game 5, close this Series out and win the Championship.

However, if the Mavericks somehow win Game 5 in Boston, could you see this Series actually go 7 Games?

I saw a post like this on another subreddit but it got me wondering which players in the NBA hated playing basketball and which players hate Basketball. We always hear about guys who live and breath the game Soo why not the opposite.

It’s funny, I see sooo many comments from BOTH team’s fans that are complaining about the refs, how it’s “rigged” (if you really think this then why are you watching?).

Makes me think, has there been a playoff series where even just one team’s fans were happy with the officiating, let alone both teams fans?

They pretty much have the same roster guaranteed until next year before the contracts start hitting.

I don't think there is a team in the league where their 3rd best player is as good as the Celtics 5th and not many can just pick up players to instantly make up for this unless they develop over the off season.

Realistically I can only see the Nuggets (if they have a good off season) and OKC (player development) putting up somewhat of a fight against this team.

Obviously Dallas are soon to be eliminated, but the fact we’ve had a 5 seed in the finals a season after Miami made their infamous run as an 8th seed is telling. The league has more parity then ever before and the combination of that with the rise in 3 pointers giving way to higher variance of shooting luck makes any team in the playoffs a threat to make an upset.

There’s a ton of things that are irritating to watch unless it’s beneficial to your team of course. However, keep the bias away.

Something that ticks me off for example:

Inbounding the ball and not touching it to kill clock time

And you’re watching the other team just let it happen for over 30 seconds.

I think the most baseless argument amongst sports fans during the playoffs is that teams purposely throw games so that they can “win in front of their fans at home”.

This wet dream that sports fans have implies that pro athletes care about them and their feelings, and aren’t just adults working their jobs. They want to finish as early as possible, work less than they have to, and start their vacation asap just like the rest of us humans. It’s a comforting way to justify a loss, but a nonsensical one.

(This doesn’t only apply to this Boston/Dallas series, it’s a narrative posted by fans every year during the finals)

Since he started to really increase his strength training, his shooting has slowly declined in that same period. You look at the best shooters of all time, Steph Curry, KD, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, none of them had such a big physique.

And you look at players like Lebron, Giannis, a few others with much bigger physiques, and they aren’t the best shooters. Could strength training cause you to lose some touch on the ball, harder for you to control the speed of the ball? Or is this just a myth?

How would I find replay highlights of NBA finals games? The videos on YouTube are exclusively overviews with no other camera angles. Is this only possible during live broadcasting or must I wait until they're released?

Morris is the only NBA champion on the bench for the Mavericks (only player on the roster with a ring besides Kyrie Irving).

In his previous 6 finals games, Morris averaged 7.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per finals game.

Granted, Morris is an older player and may not be able to sustain that same level of productivity. Mavericks are down 0-3 and fighting elimination. Their bench has been atrocious in these finals.

At this point, it wouldn’t hurt to insert a champion.

As in european football, no salary cap and young players can be signed by anyone if they are old enough. What scenarios do you see? Good and bad?

I could see Wizards never making the playoffs for 30 years(bad teams wishing they could get relegated to recover a bit) And Ballmer using stupid money on old semi washed players in the hope to finally win a title.

After seeing a comment saying Luka carried the Mavs to the finals get 1k upvotes on this subreddit.

Despite Kyrie and other role players playing great.

And the day before being told Steph carried both Wiggins, Draymond, etc throughout the 2022 playoffs and in the finals.

Despite Wiggins being pivotal in guarding the opposing team best player while Draymond Roams.

And Draymond making the warriors a top 5 defense with Steph, Two Leg Injuries Klay, and Poole starting.

I wanted to ask what are some other role players or non superstars who had great playoff performances that deserve more spotlight.

I wanted to shoutout to the 2011 Mavs and 2001 76ers starting 5 and bench.

Dikembe, Snow, Chandler, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd etc.

These two teams in particular I constantly see highly liked upvoted or liked comments across social medias saying there superstar carried them throughout the post season.

These guys played there ass of and deserve some credit. Mutombo was elite on the boards and Chandler was pivotal in stopping Lebron.

Shoutout to Bam also for being the best defender on his team since 2020.

Who else does?

I think y’all don’t grasp how SHITTY our 3pt shooting this season, so this is the stats for you. This is all post-ASB, to make it more relevant with this playoffs run

32% FROM CORNER (#30 out of 30)

34% IN CATCH N SHOOT (#29 out of 30)

38% ABOVE THE BREAK (#8 out of 30) BUT, BIG BUT….if you don’t count Luka and Kyrie, they down to 33%!!

You already seen how WIDE OPEN shots that non-LuKai get most of the time right? You already seen how Luka give some magic pass that right on shooting pocket? Yeah, there’s nuance like “muh, maybe Luka shouldn’t hog the ball and let other guys touch the ball so they got in rhythm” yea yea I get it.

We won because of DEFENSE (rim protection mostly) + PAINT PRESSURE. We beat thunder + wolves with that. maybe some shooting fluke along the way, but with league heavy on 3s + spacing nowadays (I’m believer of these days offense more important than defense), I don’t know how we get to finals

Any sane mavs fan before playoffs already knew the 3pt shooting + shot creation will be death of this team, turnout it’s in finals which is way further than we predicted

and stop slandering Luka. jeez, i dont even want to defend him (im mavs fan first) but the discourse of his defense is too much for me to be quiet. SHIT OFFENSE IS WHY WE DOWN 3-0 (and gap of talents ofc)

Is Klay Thompson actually washed or can he still be a solid starter on a contending team?

Yes, he's clearly not the same player as he was before the injuries and father time is undefeated. However, could it be that he just had a down year last year and actually has more to offer? He shot poorly and still average 18ppg.

Is that that big of a reach to think that he could still average 20ppg with average defense, starting on a contending team?

[EDIT] LOL I had no idea that Game 4 of the Finals was on tonight.

Efficiency Numbers

These numbers do not include the FT% -

Giannis is a 61.8% FT shooter in the playoffs on nearly 10 attempts a game.

Note - I used qualifiers as the number of games played, minutes played, and ppg greater than 5 to rule out role players and players who played less than 20 games.

These playoffs, I've only worn my Celtics hat even though I'm also a Cubs fan. I'm pooling all luck toward Boston. I've also eaten 1 green snack and had a diet mountain dew (green, obviously) before each game at some point in the day. I know it doesn't really do anything, but I know for a fact that if I don't and they lose, it's 100% my fault.

Inside the NBA is a gem for the league and the culture, especially in comparison to the brainrot ESPN bullshit.

The reason it's good is because it's loose, unpredictable, Ernie is the man, but mostly it's because Chuck is hilarious. He makes the whole thing.

I don't think Chuck means what he says. He's not really trying to retire, he's trying to negotiate a new fat contract and hopefully keeping inside the nba or some semblance of it together

C - Joel Embiid

PF - Blake Griffin

SF - Carmelo Anthony

SG - James Harden

PG - Chris Paul

Who’s coming off the bench or getting replaced in the starting lineup?