Brooklyn nets to win title

[budwiser]

Nets actually looking pretty good now. Sixers don't have good chemistry -coach Rivers says he thinks they're getting better but I don't see it. Harden doesn't do anything for them it seems. Harris will disappear I feel. Who else is there besides these teams? Bucks are just a tough iso' team -nothing special. Latest is Simmons could be back for the 1st round...

Yeah heard that. We saw the video of simmons shooting

I was thinking possible he just hangs it up if nets can't get past the play in. Why risk it for 1 game. Extended series different

No favorite in the east as u said.

Hoping the nets get the celts as they will most likely not have williams. But it's a tough call

Luck and injuries gonna b huge as we all know. Nets were a durant toe from beating the bux last year (i was on the bux title got lucky)

[IBetYou]

Raptors might be the surprise team -I have them rated ahead of the HEAT & Celtics because they have talented guys at every position. Great switchability. Novelty aspect. S.Barnes was a helluva pick.

[budwiser]

Raptors might be the surprise team -I have them rated ahead of the HEAT & Celtics because they have talented guys at every position. Great switchability. Novelty aspect. S.Barnes was a helluva pick.

Agree the Raptors play great team ball. Record-wise they are the hottest team going on.

I don't think they have a shot to win the title, because you need a superstar. When it matters the most, you gotta have that "guy". The Nets have 2. Kyrie played a hell of a game today while Durant couldn't shoot but was an assist machine. But the Raptors are talented enough to win a few series is my guess (who knows)

If I'm the Celts I'm definitely playing for the 2 spot. There is no advantage playing the hot Raptors, and no advantage giving up home court.

Vegas line shows the Celts want to win, up to -9 now.

Celts are saying Williams doing well but they're not going to push the guy to play in the 1st round. Who knows what to believe.

All this said, the Nets have to beat the Cavs at home, which is no given.

[budwiser]

Memphis folded this game. Sat all starters.

So, nets win tuesday they play the celtics. Lose and win the heat.

[budwiser]

Best case scenario for the Nets.

Beat the Cavs. Play the Celts without Williams, win without going 7 games (get some rest). Simmons comes back, put him on Yannis.
Curry's ankle is no problem and he can play all playoffs. No health issues.

Won't happen, but we can always dream.

[budwiser]

Play in odds
Nets -8 treewolves -3 hawx -5 pels -5.5

[Fred The Hammer]

Brooklyn isn't going anywhere. Durant is only about 70% of what he was. Heard last week that the Nets were among the worst def in NBA when Kyrie is on the court. They suck. Couldn't touch Milw or Boston

[IBetYou]

Agree the Raptors play great team ball. Record-wise they are the hottest team going on.

I don't think they have a shot to win the title, because you need a superstar. When it matters the most, you gotta have that "guy". The Nets have 2. Kyrie played a hell of a game today while Durant couldn't shoot but was an assist machine. But the Raptors are talented enough to win a few series is my guess (who knows)

If I'm the Celts I'm definitely playing for the 2 spot. There is no advantage playing the hot Raptors, and no advantage giving up home court.

Vegas line shows the Celts want to win, up to -9 now.

Celts are saying Williams doing well but they're not going to push the guy to play in the 1st round. Who knows what to believe.

All this said, the Nets have to beat the Cavs at home, which is no given.

Siakam is their guy. Can't tell me Irving is better than him. No way Jose!

[IBetYou]

Shame Embiid & Siakam don't respresent Cameroon in International competition. That tiny country would have a better starting frontline than any other, including USA. Siakam's brother has played for them in the past.

Embiid wanted to play for France a few years ago... I think it was Fournier that told him to kick rocks

[budwiser]

Brooklyn isn't going anywhere. Durant is only about 70% of what he was. Heard last week that the Nets were among the worst def in NBA when Kyrie is on the court. They suck. Couldn't touch Milw or Boston

Sure re: Kyrie but the offense ticks up a notch. They don't win the game yesterday without him. Can you imagine the team without Kyrie, when they put Durant on the bench, the team has no chance.

Re: Durant he looks good to me. Maybe 85% of what he was. Surprised, I thought he was done after the achilles.

Glad someone disagrees. Usually things are good when someone disagrees with me-when everyone agrees/great bet I'm generally in trouble.

[budwiser]

Siakam is their guy. Can't tell me Irving is better than him. No way Jose!

Good stuff. Admittedly I don't follow the raptors (as do most people, they are in Canada and rarely on tv), but I will start playoff time.

[budwiser]

Shame Embiid & Siakam don't respresent Cameroon in International competition. That tiny country would have a better starting frontline than any other, including USA. Siakam's brother has played for them in the past.
Embiid wanted to play for France a few years ago... I think it was Fournier that told him to kick rocks

Agree, it's obvious Embiid is a dominant force at center. Usually you get injuries out of him/fragile, not this year.

But, the trade imo made the Sixers worse, not better. Was a huge reason for my bet, cause I thought few saw that.

[budwiser]

A lot of this stuff is huge luck. Like I said, if the Nets can win the play-in (likely), they'll face the Celtics without Williams. In 4 games agains the Celtics, the Celtics easily beat the Nets in 3, but the Nets easily beat the Celts in the one game Williams wasn't playing.

Ben Simmons if healthy is going to guard Yannis, as you expect the Bux to handle the Bulls easily (but who knows). the problem with the Bux is-and we saw it last year-they have nobody to stop Durant. Not even Holiday, who I'm assuming is on Irving. Or...you tell me who can stop Durant? On that team? Nobody. On the other hand-the Nets had nobody who could stop Yannis. So I expect the same there-UNLESS Simmons gets healthy and can guard Yannis.

It's a long haul, but I don't lose any money as I'm mainly a football guy. Here we go.

[budwiser]

One more factor re: Celts Nets, we all know about Kyrie's history in Boston. The fans are going after that guy hard, who hinted the city was racist. The whole bussing issue long time back started where-Boston.

Question is going to be, how does Kyrie respond to it. You would think it doesn't change his game at all, but who knows, it could make him play better or distract him.

[budwiser]

Nets got 7th, they got the Celtics w/out Williams to start, they got possibly Ben Simmons coming back and Kyrie playing at home and...

the odds are still high on the Nets. Superbook just came out with 10 to 1, I think they're idiots but what do I know

Bux have trended much lower, either the public is on them or the books think a cakewalk first round and a tired celts/nets 2nd round means easy picking for the Bux

Either I'm the idiot (most likely) or the books are

You can still get a high price on the Nets fellas to win the title. Value. Or fade.

[sk0002]

celtics will k.o nets first round.

[budwiser]

celtics will k.o nets first round.

Yeah the only way the Nets will get respect is by beating the Celtics. I admit, I don't get it. Kevin Durant imo is the best player in the NBA, they have Kyrie Irving, so I'm missing a link somewhere in head

gl fellas!

[IBetYou]

I'm picking Nets. Just don't think the Celtics are all that. Simmons' imminent return could be a good thing or a bad thing for them -hasn't played in a full year. THey're saying game 3 now...

[sk0002]

Yeah the only way the Nets will get respect is by beating the Celtics. I admit, I don't get it. Kevin Durant imo is the best player in the NBA, they have Kyrie Irving, so I'm missing a link somewhere in head

gl fellas!

Nets dont have a functional defense, thats a major problem imo. If simmons is back healthy and inform, then thats a different story but probably not this year.

[budwiser]

Tatum was hot and killed the Nets. He's going to have to do that over a 7 game series. Kyrie is similar-he has to work for his shots.

KD, the guy just shoots over everyone.

The Nets have been playing better defense, and blowing leads. And coming back too, they were down 17 vs the Knix.

The one game the Nets won of the 4 the Celts didn't have Williams.

[IBetYou]

Irving is not special. Everyone remembers the big game 7 in Oakland but that was an aberration. Ordinarily he's dominant vs lottery teams and trash vs elite defensive squads. I like the Nets in this series though. They have a lot of questions to answer but they have Durant.

[IBetYou]

I still think the Sixers have the best foundation for a championship run. THey will need to get better game by game but with 7-game series there;s time -that's not a problem.

[budwiser]

Irving is not special. Everyone remembers the big game 7 in Oakland but that was an aberration. Ordinarily he's dominant vs lottery teams and trash vs elite defensive squads. I like the Nets in this series though. They have a lot of questions to answer but they have Durant.

yeah noticed the same thing re: kyrie. Seems to play better against the lower-tier teams. That said, he carried the team into the 7-seed. Durant is assisting more than scoring, my guess is that is intentional. If Durant is off the floor, you have to have a superstar. Kyrie holds the fort while Durant is on the bench. That's why contending teams need 2 stars, not 1. Nets need Simmons bad because they always have some joker just running around out there, missing 3s or whatever. Granted that's Simmons, but he does everything else, unlike these guys like Edwards who is playing major minutes. That's why they also need a healthy Curry, to keep these marginal players from being on the floor for too long.

Supposedly the 6ers had a talk and everybody is on the same page. The big question mark everyone has is Harden, who is the obvious wild card here

[IBetYou]

Durant gets assists because teams are loading up on him. He's a dominant scorer so teams want him to pass even if it means giving someone else an open shot.

Re the Sixers I think Harden is finally in a place where he needs them more than they need him. He needs to figure out what they need from him. He doesn't appear to do anything well these days. Used to be great at getting to the line but since that changed it's affected him in every other way. They're a complicated team for sure, but they've got championship pedigree.

[IBetYou]

Early days but it appears the Sixers are going with Reed as their backup centre. Good move. I like this guy -he plays defense

[sk0002]

I still think the Sixers have the best foundation for a championship run. THey will need to get better game by game but with 7-game series there;s time -that's not a problem.

I cant take any shit you said seriously for saying sixers got the best foundation for championships run LMAO

[IBetYou]

I cant take any shit you said seriously for saying sixers got the best foundation for championships run LMAO

That;s OK buddy I wasn't talking to you!

[sk0002]

That;s OK buddy I wasn't talking to you!

Sixers are a fraud, zero chance they make nba finals, like zero. I bet they'd be out first round lol. The whole team got that fraud vibe, from the front office, to the coach and the players, full of fraudsters.

[IBetYou]

Yeah, that's fine. Laugh away.

[budwiser]

Well, the 6ers blew the door off of Toronto. You have to think Toronto needs to win game 2 or it's over. Sure they will miss Thybulle but he's obviously not a major part of the team.

From a Nets perspective you want the 6ers to win, even though they're the higher seed, because playing Toronto means no Kyrie in road games

[budwiser]

From what I read a slight majority are picking the Celtics in game 1, a lot of people are going over stats. Those on the Nets are mentioning the loss of Williams, that there will be a lot of back door passes to the hole

Also mentioned is the Celtics are the highest-rated defensive team in the league. They are switch-happy off screens. imo that's not a good thing against the Nets, the Nets would love to iso off a primary defender

Also mentioned is the size differential, and this is a big one. They are opposites. The Celtics are full of big guys, but no huge guy in the middle. The Nets on the other hand put out Kyrie Brown Curry Irving Mills, small guys. They have a lengthy guy in Durant who is going to have to help out on d, and big guy at center in Drummond and a lengthy strong guy but not as big in Claxton. There was talk Drummond can get offensive rebounds and lay-ins against the Celtics

Talk they will put defensive player of the year Smart on Irving. Who guards Durant will be by committee in game 1. I think Ben Simmons can guard Kevin Durant, but Ben Simmons got traded to the Nets. Durant is as expected to be the key on the offensive end for the Nets

The Nets don't have anybody who can stop Tatum. If they had Simmons they could put him on Tatum. Tatum is 6'8" and Brown is 6'4", you'd think maybe Brown guards him when he's in.

Nets-Celts is full of mystery and we'll untangle it soon.

[budwiser]

Also can't believe a lot of people, like Jay Williams, saying the Nets are better off not playing Simmons.

They are putting Edwards out there, who has close to no idea what he's doing. I mean come on.

[IBetYou]

I don't think the Nets worry about Bruce Brown on defense - that's his specialty - even vs a guy 4 inches taller. Problem for them is Curry guarding J.Brown... to have such a glaring mis-match on the defensive end while the Celtics are rock solid on their own defensive end.

[IBetYou]

Zone defense is their best bet. Celtics don't have great shooters.

[budwiser]

I don't think the Nets worry about Bruce Brown on defense - that's his specialty - even vs a guy 4 inches taller. Problem for them is Curry guarding J.Brown... to have such a glaring mis-match on the defensive end while the Celtics are rock solid on their own defensive end.

word is they may put Durant on Tatum. Affects both ends/tired, but allows Brown to defend Brown.

I'll take my chances on the rest. Maybe Horford gets hot, maybe not. of course it's all fluid, the nets aren't exactly a rules-based team. and nash has put together a new lineup just about every game with his sub patterns, other than kyrie and durant play 40+