Around the League: Week 23 3/28-4/3

[Mori Chu]

Whether they win this year's title or not, I think they have learned not to go all-out during the regular season any more. Hope next year they start actively testing their guys Pop style.

[Superbone]

Related: Warriors are playing the Blazers today at 5pm PST. Every game down the stretch is kind of a must-watch at this point. Going to flip back and forth between that and the Suns/Jazz game.

There should only be about a 30 minute overlap. I'm recording them both so I'll just watch the Warriors game after the Suns game.

[Superbone]

Celtics are going to pull it out. Up 4. Game is actually on ESPN.

Like many other times, the Ws had a shot at it after a missed shot and an offensive rebound, but Barnes tried to be the hero and ignored a wide open Curry. Curry gave him a bit of stinky eye.

Yeah, saw that. He should have flipped it to Steph for a wide open 3. He was facing the basket ready to shoot but instead Barnes runs back to the three point line and hoists a turnaround heave.

[Shabazz]

The Nets are resting Thaddeus Young and Brook Lopez for some reason for the rest of the season. They don't have their pick this year, so not sure why they would tank.

[Superbone]

The Nets are resting Thaddeus Young and Brook Lopez for some reason for the rest of the season. They don't have their pick this year, so not sure why they would tank.

Sounds suspicious. Money under the table from the Celtics?

[Superbone]

It's going to be close down the stretch. We currently have only a half game lead for the third worst record. One and two aren't changing. Three and four is where the battle is. Brooklyn just proffered the first strike with this news. How do we respond? Hopefully, Knight is out for the rest of the season. If we continue to play lineups in the fourth quarter like we did against the Wizards, we might be able to pull it out. I'm afraid we might have to go 0-6 to pull it off though. However, Brooklyn could go 0-5 to tie us.

It's going right down to the end of the season. Thrilling!

[dragickingdom]

It's going to be close down the stretch. We currently have only a half game lead for the third worst record. One and two aren't changing. Three and four is where the battle is. Brooklyn just proffered the first strike with this news. How do we respond? Hopefully, Knight is out for the rest of the season. If we continue to play lineups in the fourth quarter like we did against the Wizards, we might be able to pull it out. I'm afraid we might have to go 0-6 to pull it off though. However, Brooklyn could go 0-5 to tie us.

It's going right down to the end of the season. Thrilling!

If we both lose out the rest of the games, we stay 3rd since we currently have 20 wins and the Nets have 21.

[Superbone]

It's going to be close down the stretch. We currently have only a half game lead for the third worst record. One and two aren't changing. Three and four is where the battle is. Brooklyn just proffered the first strike with this news. How do we respond? Hopefully, Knight is out for the rest of the season. If we continue to play lineups in the fourth quarter like we did against the Wizards, we might be able to pull it out. I'm afraid we might have to go 0-6 to pull it off though. However, Brooklyn could go 0-5 to tie us.

It's going right down to the end of the season. Thrilling!

If we both lose out the rest of the games, we stay 3rd since we currently have 20 wins and the Nets have 21.

Oh, right. So I think it's probably going to take us losing out to stay third outright.

[carey]

Why would Brooklyn shut down Thad & Lopez? They don't have a pick. Seems weird unless they are battling health issues.

[Indy]

Why would Brooklyn shut down Thad & Lopez? They don't have a pick. Seems weird unless they are battling health issues.

It's Brooklyn. They don't need a reason for showing stupidity.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Why would Brooklyn shut down Thad & Lopez? They don't have a pick. Seems weird unless they are battling health issues.

They have nothing to play for, even if you are not keeping your pick, why risk injury, specially for Lopez? Any nagging discomfort, should be reason to rest the guy. The times for playing for your fans, to be proud to battle every game, are sadly gone, business trump it all.

[pickle]

Regarding DAR situtation, I remember that long ago somebody said in an interview that the only NBA player who didn't cheat was Grant Hill.

AC Green?

[pickle]

Like many other times, the Ws had a shot at it after a missed shot and an offensive rebound, but Barnes tried to be the hero and ignored a wide open Curry. Curry gave him a bit of stinky eye.

I might have to rewatch the ending there, but that didn't feel like a hero shot to me. There was maybe half a second left for him to fling the shot up, doesn't matter how open Curry is if you can't get the ball there in time before the final buzzer...

[pickle]

Warriors look much more vulnerable than for the majority of the season. Maybe they peaked too soon, like Hawks last year.

There's gonna be mental fatigue doing what they do on a nightly basis. They've pulled out an incredible percentage of last second shots and miracle comebacks. The poise that they displayed during those times of desperation are particularly impressive. But eventually it catches up to you. I think that the Warriors are indeed a bit banged up and might be more so after two rounds of playoffs, so I also think Spurs will beat them in the WCF.

I don't know if the Hawks last year peaked too soon though. They were just not *that* good of a team. Everything clicked and they played beautiful basketball that brought more out of each player, but ultimately not enough star power and in particular defensive prowess to deal with Lebron.

[Superbone]

Like many other times, the Ws had a shot at it after a missed shot and an offensive rebound, but Barnes tried to be the hero and ignored a wide open Curry. Curry gave him a bit of stinky eye.

I might have to rewatch the ending there, but that didn't feel like a hero shot to me. There was maybe half a second left for him to fling the shot up, doesn't matter how open Curry is if you can't get the ball there in time before the final buzzer...

It would have been quicker for him to shovel pass to Curry than run back behind the line and heave. There was enough time to get Curry the ball and Curry was visibly displeased that he didn't get it.

[Ring_Wanted]

Regarding DAR situtation, I remember that long ago somebody said in an interview that the only NBA player who didn't cheat was Grant Hill.

AC Green?

Ha!

[pickle]

Like many other times, the Ws had a shot at it after a missed shot and an offensive rebound, but Barnes tried to be the hero and ignored a wide open Curry. Curry gave him a bit of stinky eye.

I might have to rewatch the ending there, but that didn't feel like a hero shot to me. There was maybe half a second left for him to fling the shot up, doesn't matter how open Curry is if you can't get the ball there in time before the final buzzer...

It would have been quicker for him to shovel pass to Curry than run back behind the line and heave. There was enough time to get Curry the ball and Curry was visibly displeased that he didn't get it.

Ok... I completely missed that.

[Hermen]

There's gonna be mental fatigue doing what they do on a nightly basis. They've pulled out an incredible percentage of last second shots and miracle comebacks. The poise that they displayed during those times of desperation are particularly impressive. But eventually it catches up to you. I think that the Warriors are indeed a bit banged up and might be more so after two rounds of playoffs, so I also think Spurs will beat them in the WCF.

I agree, they played very well in clutch moments, they were very close vs Boston as well. But that's what impresses me about the Spurs, they seem to be in chill mode and they still lost only 4 more games.

[Mori Chu]

Ws now have 70 wins. Wow.

[JCSunsfan]

Regarding DAR situtation, I remember that long ago somebody said in an interview that the only NBA player who didn't cheat was Grant Hill.

AC Green?

Ha!

Didn't Doug Christie's wife travel with him or something?