Monzanator

People forget how basketball was played before the iso era. Spurs played it in similar fashion and won 5 rings in the Tim Duncan tenure. GSW is doing the same thing. The whole KD buzz only takes away what really makes this team a dynasty. Right now it's max stars and iso game. Nobody cares about the bench & 6th man influence anymore.

Btw, Curry & D.Green were the first two teammates to score a triple-double in a playoff game in NBA history.

47 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

Lillard  he's the 1st one responsible if Portland doesn't win today

He's another superstar wannabe who will never become THE guy in NBA. Doesn't have the mental toughness required in first place.

They got physical with him which is the only way to stop him. But they're still too Kawhi-reliant to become a favorite. I see Bucks winning Game 4 next,

Let's get real, they stymied Giannis to 12 pts and still Kawhi only took the game over once he fouled out in second OT? That was a very unconvincing win, can't see Toronto winning another game in this series.

Plus the knee injury drama. Looked like an excuse in case of a loss but they crawled across the finish line in the end.

3 hours ago, crovitlaci said:

 

He never was a megastar, and Portland already overachieved with coming to the final. Bucks, on the other hand, are whole different story, and it could get really interesting considering rumours of KD's injury being more serious than it was expected.

Yeah, both them & OKC was basically a battle of underachievers in R1 and then the upset vs Denver in SF. This is not a team to flex some muscle vs the dynasty though. Seth Curry sold a few dummies against his brother but other than that, it's a wash. GSW is still the best team w/o Durant and Bucks appear to be the only real threat. Quite frankly KD getting back in the finals could unsettle them esp. if he's hobbled.

Herein lies the difference, your 4th option guy scores a TD in a Conference final. It's more than Mariano Rivera as your closer

Well, Rockets are a better team than Blazers. Harden can still put 35 pts in a losing effort. Lillard went 5/18 tonight. That's a joke. He's not even a mega star in the league, more like a buzzer-beating highlight reel. Blazers scored 33 pts in the second half tonight. This is pathetic. Could be 4-0 sweep in both Conference finals.

Can't expect Lillard & McCollum to outscore Curry & co. Warriors need like one good half and they can still win it. Blazers need A-level play for four quarters to even think about beating them.

I see Netherlands won. Good payback when they should have won but were robbed because of the Wurst craze.

11 hours ago, phelps said:

 

I told you...this is not our place...

 

but still, this is not even a team (and in the past it was not like that)...

 

however, I wouldn't bet against a 0-0 and a win in the shootout against AUT in the last match...aka ITA has a not so remote chance to keep themselves in the top division without scoring a single goal in the entire championship (I guess they won't score a goal also against NOR, as I'm pretty sure they're already thinking only about the game vs AUT)...

 

should this happen, it would be a massive scandal and the evidence for IIHF that they have to chage format and get back to 12 teams as soon as possible (actually, they should do it even if ITA and GBR go down...it's not that this is a factor to determine if the 16-team format is competitive enough...it's already well clear that it isn't at all)...

5 games without a goal?   Better call Bruno Zarrillo like now!

It's obvious the 16 team format doesn't work at all but I bet IIHF only cares about the profit = more games, more money?

56 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

For me it's a foul , yes it's hard to count foul like this at the dying seconds , but this's NBA the biggest basketball organization world wide if there's a foul to home or away team it should be given , similar incident happend in GSW against Rockets Game 1 and a foul wasn't given to james Harden also when Rockets complained about refereeing they were given some doubtful calls in game 2 and 3 , it was just the fact that they were too bad in Game 2 , anyway this's basketball where always there'll be complains about referees 

I'm old enough to remember the Bad Boys from Detroit. This league needs a dose of Bil Laimbeer elbowing that flopper Harden & his buddies. The league has gotten ultra soft. No way I'm gonna put up with all the whining. Make a play or shut up! Blazers simply didn't know how to win a game at this stage and wanted the refs to bail them out. Not gonna happen!

12 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

And he fouled Curry outside 3 points lane in the last minute , but do u think he deserved a foul at the last play ?

Nope. Away teams simply won't get a 50/50 call in the dying seconds of the game. Moreover NBA doesn't want a Blazers/Bucks final (since I think Bucks are favorites to beat Raptors).

Lillard is a glorified fake superstar wannabe. How can anyone expect him to lead Blazers into the finals? Gone missing in Game 7 vs Denver already. And now getting clowned by Iguodala wasting a great team effort!

Not doing bad in hockey... hopefully there are no water polo predictions this year bc that would be a total guess work on my part

1 hour ago, AlFHg said:

I believe that things will change in F1 if at least 1 of these 2 things happen:

1) at least 4 different tyres available per race, with  not less than 2 kinds to be used;

2) fueling at pit-stops again (this would be the best solution in my opinion)

Two things:

1) People would bitch about tires not lasting the distance of like 10-15 laps and creating a mockery of racing. Pirelli has come under fire for being unable to provide durable tires before (they can provide them ofc but were asked by FIA to provide less durable to mirror that Canadian GP from 2011). Two or three blowouts during a single race weekend and it's a horrible look for Pirelli with drivers bitching about safety. You can take it to the bank.

2) Hah! Pitstops were removed because people complained drivers are unwilling to make a pass on the track and only wait for the pitstops to jump their opponents! So this was supposed to aide overtaking but now it's fuel-saving and undercut strategy which doesn't help passing either. These races are run from pit wall with each car having like zillion engine maps & fuel consumption modes, the driver no longer controls the fuel with clutch/gas pedal alone. IndyCar still has that old school technique but F1 is all about electronics mode controlled from pit wall.

Edit: I forgot to mention the supposed "cost saving" has limited teams to three engines per season before a penalty comes. So they're going ultra safe in first place and ain't gonna risk blowing an engine to have a driver finish 4th instead of 5th! Plus most engine changes are done in strategic spots, nobody's gonna put a fresh engine ahead of a technical track like Budapest but ahead of Monza? Most likely! You need a complete horror show like McLaren-Honda to ignore all that thinking but it's a horrible look for the company and the entire thing just blows up in your face. Fans might take cheap shots at this but some big heads are downright mad to see a millions of investements go down with a myriad of 20+ places grid penalties every other weekend!

First thing to aid the racing is to take the weight off the cars. At least 150-200 kg. F1 is turbo-powered tanks racing, increasing the power does nothing if weight goes up at similar or greater rate. The power-to-weight ratio is horribly skewed and is one of the chief reasons why we have so little passing without the obvious DRS gimmick.

The cars have been bulletproof for a while now. Back in the day even when you had the fastest car, reliabiity was always a concern. That's not the case anymore. Mercedes are averaging like 1 mechanical DNF per season so basically 1/42. Beyond that you can only count on some freak incident like Bottas running over a chunk of debris in Baku last year.

So, could they trade AD for Lakers #4 then? Lakers are a mess anyway, no way AD flips the switch with Vogel/Kidd/Rambis and all that mess in tow

Warriors didn't even have to use the high gear. This could be over in 4 tbh, Meanwhile the East could go the distance!

New Orleans Pelicans won the Draft Lottery aka Zion Williamson sweepstakes. Grizzlies #2, Knicks #3, Lakers #4, Cavs #5.

Now Anthony Davis might still remain in NO despite all the trade noise?

11 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Nope

 

I'm massively in favour of old classics coming back and very, very strongly opposed to DRS-tracks like Vietnam which is unique in absolutely no aspect at all.

Of course the Tilke-droms lack soul in first place but old school tracks are way too narrow for any serious overtaking in the modern era. Bring in Brands Hatch and it will be a snoozefest as well.

F1 is DRS these days. That's the only way they can create overtaking tbh. Power-to-weight ratio is massively skewed as the hybrid-engined cars weight is twice as big as in the early 90s and triple as much as the 60s.

Only people who haven't seen any racing at Zandvoort over the last several years can be fooled into thinking this is a major upgrade.

Sadly I have zero expectations for this circuit in modern F1. It's too narrow and lacks long straights while being in the Imola/Catalunya mood for dull racing. Maybe some heavy rain will save this from being a boring procession year after year.

Still, replacing Catalunya is probably the right choice.

30 minutes ago, nenad said:

 

I would love Denver to do something vs Warriors, but they're just out of their league. 

 

 

It's due to the system of competition as well. In NFL you have single elimination games, in MLB you have wild card one game elimination and best of five series. In the NBA everything is best of 7, so it's hard for an outsider to win entire series, 4gms in a week or two against a better team, quality surfaces eventually. 

Max free agent contracts changed everything. Until the early 00s top stars were one-team exclusive players. When Kevin Garnett joined Celtics it was the first real domino to fall and with Kobe & Duncan retired that old formula is extinct. Besides the salary cap in NFL handcuffs everything, there are too many positions there that can expose you as a team. In NBA you need 4-5 shooters and you're instant contender, you don't even have to play any defense these days.

5 hours ago, nenad said:

It does look like that Warriors will play Bucks in the finals. Warriors probably win again. There is a reason why NBA is the most predictable of all US sports. 

Because it's most dependant on single players' performance. Plus these mega stars actually run these teams these days. In playoffs you hardly play with more than 8-9 core guys anyway. NBA always had the longest-tenured dynasties save maybe for the Yankees in MLB and some of the NHL when the league only had like 6 teams for decades.

As a Raiders fan I'm more than OK with this! Harden & his overhyped clowns can eat it.

Warriors were irrelevant for like 40 years and now they've got their dynasty. Hoping for a Bucks vs GSW final