MavsBoard

TNT crew last night said that was normal getting ready for the playoffs, nothing to see here because Heat culture. Well, if it was the Mavs, I would be concerned.

It’s not Heat culture. It’s a Jimmy Butler thing. Everyone he works with ends up hating him. It’s just a matter of time.

(03-30-2022, 04:43 PM)Tyler Wrote: [ -> ]It’s not Heat culture. It’s a Jimmy Butler thing. Everyone he works with ends up hating him. It’s just a matter of time.

He's a psychopath. A very good basketball player but we've seen enough to see he's a locker room cancer. Can you win a championship with him? Sure. But he's a poison pill player with a 3 year countdown before you gotta move on.

(03-30-2022, 08:18 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: [ -> ]https://twitter.com/RealGM/status/1508999374491332618

Talk about bad contracts. Has his new one even kicked in yet? Poor Denver. Should have traded him and kept Grant.

LET'S GO SUNS!

The Memphis Grizzlies clinched the top spot in the Southwest Division with their 1-point victory over San Antonio tonight.



The Grizzlies are now 19-2 playing without obvious-NBA-MVP-frontrunner Ja Morant this season.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/grizzli...his-season

LET'S GO SUNS!!!

---

I'm not a fan of the Phoenix Suns, but I supported them tonight.  If Golden State is healthy, they can give Phoenix a run for their money in the 2nd round.  It's all about positioning.  And I think the 3rd seed is ideal for Dallas.  Hopefully, we can take care of business for the remaining 5 games of the season.

(03-30-2022, 11:49 PM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]

At this moment, Denver is ½-game ahead of Utah, BUT ...

Utah and Denver are TIED in the LOSS column, and  Utah swept Denver (4-0) in the regular season, SO ...

If Utah loses the same number of remaining regular season games as Denver (or fewer), then Utah will finish ahead of Denver in the final regular season standings (and playoff seeding).  


https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

(03-31-2022, 12:46 AM)Hogmelon Wrote: [ -> ]At this moment, Denver is ½-game ahead of Utah, BUT ...

Utah and Denver are TIED in the LOSS column, and  Utah swept Denver (4-0) in the regular season, SO ...

If Utah loses the same number of remaining regular season games as Denver (or fewer), then Utah will finish ahead of Denver in the final regular season standings (and playoff seeding).  

Denver's last 5 games of the season: MIN, @LAL, SAS, MEM, LAL

Utah has 6 games remaining which are: LAL, @GSW, MEM, OKC, PHX, @POR

The fact Utah has 1 more game than Denver means they can kinda control their destiny. Denver to me has 4 games that should be easy wins and the other depending on if Memphis is resting everyone by that point. 

Utah also has it easy. Warriors are fighting for their lives right now and won't be an easy win at all, even without Steph. Lakers, OKC, and POR should all be pushovers. 

Based on schedule and records alone, Utah should be the 5th seed at least. But who knows what's going to happen and if their locker room turmoil will lead to some upsets?

Looks like Memphis may get to decide our first round matchup? 

Won’t surprise me a bit if the Warriors lose 3 more though with their woes and remaining road games:

Jazz
@ Kings
Lakers
@ Spurs
@ Pelicans

And they might prefer the Griz side of the bracket to the Sun side anyways.

(03-31-2022, 06:56 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: [ -> ]Denver's last 5 games of the season: MIN, @LAL, SAS, MEM, LAL

Utah has 6 games remaining which are: LAL, @GSW, MEM, OKC, PHX, @POR

The fact Utah has 1 more game than Denver means they can kinda control their destiny. Denver to me has 4 games that should be easy wins and the other depending on if Memphis is resting everyone by that point. 

Utah also has it easy. Warriors are fighting for their lives right now and won't be an easy win at all, even without Steph. Lakers, OKC, and POR should all be pushovers. 

Based on schedule and records alone, Utah should be the 5th seed at least. But who knows what's going to happen and if their locker room turmoil will lead to some upsets?

1.  "The fact Utah has 1 more game than Denver means they can kinda control their destiny."

Yeah, that was the point of my post.

In any situation where Team #1 and Team #2 are tied in the loss column and  Team #1 has clinched the first tie-breaker against Team #2 ...

Team #1 will "control [its own] destiny" (at least vis-à-vis Team #2).


2.  As of this morning ...

Denver's remaining schedule has four home games and one road game, all five against teams with apparent [???] playoff aspirations.

Utah's remaining schedule has four home games and two road games, including one game against almost-dead Portland and one game against possibly-tanking OKC.


Utah plays the Lakers in Salt Lake City tonight.  LeBron is OUT.  Anthony Davis is "doubtful."  Utah is a 12½-point favorite.

The Laker team that Denver will face on both of the next two Sundays (April 3 and April 10) might be hard to beat, or they might be a pushover (especially by April 10).


On April 5, Utah plays Memphis (locked-in at #2 and just trying to "get healthy") in Salt Lake City.

On April 7, Denver plays Memphis (still locked-in at #2 and still just trying to "get healthy") in Denver.


Blah blah blah, ... blah blah blah ....


Assuming the Mavs have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, how much does it matter who their opponent is?  Personally, I just want the Mavs to lock up the third seed so that they can delay their showdown with the Suns (the best team in the NBA, in my opinion).  Yeah, that's the ticket ⁠— as much time as possible for the wheels to fall off the old man (Chris Paul).

Then ...

Mavs over the Bucks in seven games.  QED.

Watched the GSW/PHX game last night (because of seeding impact on DAL) and it had the feel of a playoff game. Ugly, rough and tumble basketball. Hard fouls, athletic plays, DGreen talking smack all game. Outcome in doubt until the last minute when CP3 did his magic. Of course, Booker going 5 for 21 didn't help much, nor did Poole scoring a career high.

Result is DAL wakes up in 3rd place this morning.

(03-31-2022, 10:02 AM)Hogmelon Wrote: [ -> ]Utah plays the Lakers in Salt Lake City tonight.  LeBron is OUT.  Anthony Davis is "doubtful." 

Not only is he out, but reports are he has left the team to go home and "rehab" his injury.


Heard somewhere he still needs 2 games to qualify for scoring leader awards, but haven't confirmed that yet.

Has LeBron played his last game as a Laker?