Phx-Suns.Net

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 28, 2023 11:08 pm

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 28, 2023 11:02 pm

What a 4th quarter in that Kings v. GSW game. The Warriors made so many dumb mistakes.

And the inevitable CP injury.

Him standing injured in the tunnel talking strategy with Curry and Draymond was so..

So after we beat the Lakers we’ll play the winner of Kings/Pelicans

Kings with a huge comeback against the warriors. Wouldn’t surprise me if Draymond or Klay say some stupid shit after the game about how they only care about real championships not tournament games to cope with an absolutely demoralizing loss and realization that warriors being contenders with Curry-Green-Thompson trio are pretty much done.

Thompson is probably gone after this season and Draymond’s CTE is at unprecedented levels. Expect some major retooling for the Warriors this offseason.

The only thing stopping me from taking my victory lap on calling the Warriors trash in the preseason is the potential trade they have in their back pocket.

I hear there's a team in Chris Paul's home state that will be without their starting PG for quite a while.

Jamal Crawford likes us.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-mailbag-november-28-2023

Which teams do you think will make it to the Knockout Round? And who do you think will win the In-Season Tournament?
– from Mikal in Miami, FL

The field is too wide open before Tuesday’s games to predict who will advance to the Knockout Round. We’ll have to watch and find out! But if the Suns make it, then I predict they’ll win the Tournament.

One flaw in this IST is that the teams that lose the quarter and semi-finals have to face presumably superior opponents in the following games (which count towards season standings) than the teams who didn't make the knockout stage.

Are you sure about that? The way I understood it, these quarterfinal games and the subsequent "loser" matches just replaced existing match ups scheduled later in the season.

I might be missing your point. Are you saying the Suns will end up playing the Lakers 5 times this season?

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 29, 2023 12:54 am

Are you sure about that? The way I understood it, these quarterfinal games and the subsequent "loser" matches just replaced existing match ups scheduled later in the season.

I might be missing your point. Are you saying the Suns will end up playing the Lakers 5 times this season?

Yes. I think they will be. I saw somewhere else that this is the first time some teams will play each other 5 times since there were 29 teams in the league.

That's interesting and I don't really like it. I think they should make the schedule a bit more flexible.

Ok bracket time…who do you got in each game of the knockout stage?

I’ll go

Suns over Lakers
Kings over Pelicans

Suns over Kings

Bucks over Knicks
Celtics over Pacers

Celtics over Bucks

Suns over Celtics

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 29, 2023 5:32 am

Ok bracket time…who do you got in each game of the knockout stage?

I’ll go

Suns over Lakers
Kings over Pelicans

Suns over Kings

Bucks over Knicks
Celtics over Pacers

Celtics over Bucks

Suns over Celtics

Same or Bucks vs Suns.

Here are my completely whacked-out predictions, because why not:

Suns over Lakers
Pelicans over Kings

Pelicans over Suns

Knicks over Bucks
Pacers over Celtics

Pacers over Knicks

Pacers over Pelicans

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 29, 2023 8:24 am

Here are my completely whacked-out predictions, because why not:

Suns over Lakers
Pelicans over Kings

Pelicans over Suns

Knicks over Bucks
Pacers over Celtics

Pacers over Knicks

Pacers over Pelicans

We’re gonna get PP championship game? Nice.

A couple notes from Inside the NBA:

Only Kenny predicted a Suns win over the Lakers. Candace and Barkley (of course) picked the Lakers.

Barkley thought it was crazy that the top two teams in the West didn't make the tournament.

I still just am not into the tournament. I hope the actual bracket part, the part coming up, will be better. So far it's just regular season games that people are pretending mean something, and a bunch of over-complicated lists about point margins teams need and tiebreakers and such things. I think the scoring margin stuff has been a real turn-off for me, and it has played way too big a part in the tournament. I much prefer it to be about winning games, not about running up the score. I think having the tournament later in the season, and having more games count toward it, would make it so that there were fewer ties that needed to be broken by scoring margin. I hear people saying the tournament has been fun and they've enjoyed it, and great for them, but it just hasn't worked for me so far at all.