2020 NBA Bubble Ball Finals: Lakers vs Heat - Who You Got?

Do you guys pay attention to, or take seriously, 538's basketball projections? They have Miami as a 73% favourite, which seems crazy to me, but they did pick the Raptors early in their playoff run last year, and stuck with them the whole way.

they had the celtics at 60% to win it all when there were still 5 teams left lol

Yeah, they were all over the Celtics--they seem convinced the East is going to win.

me: "Lebron James"

but my heart says: "Beat LA!"

rooting heat, think lakers in 5 prob idk

I'm thinking Lakers in 6 but possibly just lebron james, he's playing pretty inspired ball right now
still don't really enjoy the bullyball/instafoul nature of his game but damned if you don't have to respect it

Seems weird to me for the Lakers to be here, I don't see any reason they wouldn't be the favorites though.

Not sure how much joy I'd get personally out of these Lakers winning the chip but hate them or not it was a traumatic start to the year for a lot of Laker fans, so good for them if they get this.

I'd like to see a long series lakers in 6

Lakes in 5, my guess

LBJ with nothing but a team of misfits and mediocrities in Cleveland snatched a ring away from a great GSW team, so LBJ plus Ant Davis with a team full of misfits and mediocrities should def be considered the favorites.

i have no real prediction cos the bubble is a strange place but im saying heat in 6 for the helluvit

"lakers in 6" is trending

its the safe easy bet

i have no read on this other than i've been wrong about everything involving the entire bubble so my pick is the lakers in somewhere between 4 and 7 games (inclusive)

i think the miami el heat will win

lakers in 7 but i wouldn't be shocked by the heat in 6 or 7

The Heat have a chance for sure.

Lakers winning would be extremely depressing

Honestly after game 4 of the last series I don’t trust any team to beat the lakers ever

the refs will decide who wins

Ugh

bron and brow must be rebuked for uniting upon the lake with no lake

"frank vogel needs a timeout"

kentavious avignon-pope

man that extremely giant finals/youtube ad on center court is very bad

AD gonna feast this series

i picked lakers in 6

i cant remember what i picked

You let the Lakers knock down open threes this will be over in four

yeah theyre getting some very easy looks

the heat look small out there

did someone grease up the basketball haha

so far doesnt seem good for the heat

i think the lakers will win

yes my earlier prediction is looking spot on

heat too small, do not have enough lebron jameses

lebron jameses are not evenly distributed across the league

i think it's a fact to which the league must wake up

will the heat dare to introduce meyers leonard to the game?

AD might have no ability to lead a team to this stage on his own without superstar help... but I don't think anyone in the league is more unstoppable or impactful on both ends once they're there than he is. Like Bam was looking like one of if not the best overall player in these Eastern conference playoffs... and AD has effortlessly dominated him while completely locking up half his team on defense.

lost the game, potentially lost Goran, and you're now a meme:

pic.twitter.com/xREKQ307EH

— rebekah entralgo fernández (@rebekahentralgo) October 1, 2020

it will really suck if this turns out to be a noncompetitive finals

Goran thing totally sucks. Bubble playoffs started off so well...

yikes, this may be a sweep if goran is done

it will really suck if this turns out to be a noncompetitive finals

The fact of a first game blowout isn't all that indicative usually. Teams bounce back as a rule. What's much more troubling is the probable loss of Dragic and having Butler hobbled by an ankle injury. At the competitive level of an NBA Finals your starting five can't be half-crippled, especially your one and two options on offense..

torn plantar fascia for goran? :(

bam was hurt, too. legit sucks for the heat.

Yikes these injuries...

Jimmy’s ankle turned and touched the ground no idea how he continued to play.

welp

The Heat say Goran Dragic (left foot) and Bam Adebayo (MRI revealed a neck strain) are doubtful for Friday's Game 2 of the NBA Finals

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 1, 2020

well that fucking sucks

lEbroN hAd a cAkeWalk fOr This TiTLe

but can he do this in the East?

gee this is kinda reminding me of last year's finals

gross

the miami hurt

i have never seen alex caruso fully close his mouth

I think this is the first finals game I haven’t watched in like 20+ years

Same.

it seems weird to me the game is even going on like there's so much going on and there's also a game???

i've got it on but just in the background, this is 100% a lakers sweep unfortunately

i think the one thing i can't really deal with is that dwight is going to get a ring

unreal display by Davis

500 year old udonis is yelling at the heat; what exactly are they supposed to do my man?

pray away anthony davis

pix
r1
lal v por, lakers in 5
lac v dal, clips in 5
den v uta, nugs in 4
hou v okc, thunders in 7

mil v orl, bux in 4
tor v bk, raps in 5
bos v phi, celts in 5
ind v mia, mia in 6

r2
lal v okc, lakers in 6
lac v den, clips in 7

mil v mia, heats in 7
tor v bos, raps in 6

r3
lal v lac, lakers in 7
tor v mia, raps in 7

finals
lal v tor, lakers in 6
AD FMVP

― methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Saturday, August 15, 2020 6:39 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

i didnt get all these right, but that last one is lookn good

lol davs wouldve busted haslems ass mb he couldve tried giving him a speech

holy fuck that Lebron block/steal

lol 16 - 47 3pt lakers
Finals record on attempts

AD is special

when AD is comfortable with the situation there is no one better, and right now he's really comfortable

No bam or dragic again no thx

oof, most anticlimactic finals in a while

when's next seasons start

Normally in a couple of weeks :/

yeah preseason would be starting just about now it's very weird

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Heat could take this one tonight

no one else watching this?

just finished chores and turned it on

I do not like rondo’s shows at all

shoes

anyone know where AD was tonight?

if Jimmy plays like this for 3 more games I dare say the Heat have a shot

if anthony davis has 9 FGAs per game for 3 more games they also have a shot

HAPPY JIMMY BUTLER DAY pic.twitter.com/MCTrAVP984

— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) October 5, 2020

jimmy got 40 without shooting a 3

down 2-0 missing your second and third best players and putting up a 40 point triple double gotta be one of the best finals performances in recent history

yeah reminded me of Dirk vs the Heatles

loving the big time kelly o minutes tonight

Per NBA PR: Jimmy Butler is the third player to record a 40-point triple-double in an NBA Finals game, joining LeBron James (Game 5 in 2015) and Jerry West (Game 7 in 1969).

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 5, 2020

Impressive jimmy game. Kelly o doing just enough too. Is bam gonna make it back for next game?

That would make it interesting for sure. I knew the lakers would lose this game.

Kelly O seems good for the job of annoying the lakers bigs, thought they should have tried playing him last two games

seems like bam is gonna be back. still no real evidence the heat have enough juice to win this series esp with dragic having a bad injury but could be interesting if bam comes back and the role player shooting evens out a bit. could see the heat winning another game if herro and robinson go off in a game where kuzma and morris can’t hit shots

feels like jae crowder hasn’t made a shot in 2 weeks

I put $15 on the heat in 6 at +900 before the series. I’d take the $150 any day.

According to Elias Sports, Butler scored or assisted on 73 points Sunday and that’s tied for the second-most in a Finals game in NBA history behind only Walt Frazier’s 74 points.

biggest gambling outright win upset in the finals since iverson took game 1 from shaq

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

jimmy butler fan club

Jimmy Butler says beating grown men as teen, not NBA Finals Game 3, his best game https://t.co/nocUXe3eSO

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) October 6, 2020

i have at times been critical of jimmy as a player but he's an amazing character and i love him for keeping it real

agree it’s “good for the league” that he’s in a place where his personality is relevant. he’s hysterical

that's a good way to put it ... where his personality is relevant. Silver should make a law that Jimmy can't leave Miami.

he was incredible last night. telling LeBron "you in trouble" after Bron said it to him is classic.

According to Elias Sports, Butler scored or assisted on 73 points Sunday and that’s tied for the second-most in a Finals game in NBA history behind only Walt Frazier’s 74 points.

Heat announce Bam Adebayo is replacing Kelly Olynyk in the starting lineup tonight.

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) October 7, 2020

downgrade wow

lol

free jelly k!!!

feeling for dragic

Goran is a warrior. He’s clearly trying as much as he can to play. pic.twitter.com/HKezEM3k2K

— Will Manso (@WillManso) October 6, 2020

aww damn

got a torn up foot bro nothin u can do

get that man a bionic leg and some floss

feel for goran. he's someone who you want to see in big games.

refs happy for the lakers to be very physical here early

heat missing dragic tonight, they need the offense badly

iguodala's unwillingness to try a contested layup is immensely frustrating

outside of a few threes, nunn’s minutes have been pretty brutal tonight. in game 3 jimmy’s transcendence covered for dragic’s absence but tonight it’s pretty glaring. spo needs to go with herro and robinson for basically the rest of the game

KCP giving rich paul huge minutes tonight

the lakers grinding one out is possibly the least satisfying result

heat just couldn’t score in the half court tonight w/o jimmy being superman. basically were running every possession at the end thru herro and robinson coming off screens

Jimmy was way too passive tonight. Tons of over passing by the whole team. Otm dragic would’ve helped so much.

Kcp has been really good

putting AD on jimmy was a nice move by vogel, i think it had jimmy psyched out. he can get to the rim/line consistently vs everyone else on the lakers (including lebron) but AD forces him to shoot which he doesn't really want to do. in game 3 they were putting davis on olynyk/leonard and the heat were just murdering them. but still jimmy wasn't really looking for his shot even into the fourth which was weird... he could've picked spots in the midrange and pulled up confidently if he wanted to but he just... didn't. prob should've got bam more involved in the offense if AD was on jimmy but it's a lot to fold into the gameplan on the fly. dragic was the heat's offensive closer all year, even into the bucks series, and it was really felt in this one

jimmy hitting another marker of star status tho in that watching it live it felt like he was weirdly passive and absent all night in a very crucial game and then you look at the stat line and he put up 22-10-9 w/ 3 steals and a block on 8-17 shooting. a truly vintage lebron-esque performance in its own way

yah but he started like 5-5 so he was pretty bad from that point on. it was aesthetics tho, like he was happy to pass to nunn and watch him dribble around a shoot a contested shot on too many occasions in the 2nd half. i love jimmy but he needed to be the player he was in game 3 for them to win. sometimes you just gotta hoist.. or at least shoot when your open which he was a lot tonight.

Miami not rolling over

Oh fuck! AD down

looks like a non-contact back of leg injury

Immediately thought achilles but he’s walking now

could be just one of those weird tweaks he always gets

re-aggregation of his heel bruise. yeah, he's always nicked up.

it’s like the 20th most important thing happening in this series but danny green’s minutes have been appalling

he’s been a dumpster fire the whole playoffs!

aside from dragic being out two other things hurting the heat this series are crowded turning into a pumpkin on offense and bam playing like C-grade games. everyone else has mostly played at expectation i think

crowder*

have to think bam is being impacted by the mysterious neck/shoulder injury

yeah... and also facing prob the best big in the NBA. but he hasn’t really been a focal point of the offense even as a distributor like he normally is and tonight is missing stuff at the rim, he just looks off

his offensive skills have been overhyped imo

it’s like the 20th most important thing happening in this series but danny green’s minutes have been appalling

― J0rdan S., Friday, October 9, 2020 9:56 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he’s been a dumpster fire the whole playoffs!

― k3vin k., Friday, October 9, 2020 9:57 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

classic weirdly over rated role player who just happened to be hanging around multiple contenders

gotta admire miami's moxy

Heat could use Robinson hitting 3s at his reg season pace. Everyone of his misses is points the other way. Lakers D on him has been v good.

playoffs is like that

robinson has been good to me considering ppl thought he might be run off the floor in the playoffs... he’s gonna be at a physical disadvantage vs grown ass teams but has mostly held up

bam might be the second best passing big in the league and does stuff in transition i feel like i only otherwise see out of giannis. he’s lacking the outside shooting you see from jokic and AD but is a very good free throw shooter and has gotten good from the mid range. just hasn’t been able to lock into this series really

dwight a bitch

how was he not ejected for that with one tech already on him

heat may wanna consider not letting lebron shoot wide open threes

Crowder physically incapable of making a 3

saw some ppl on twitter complaining abt danny green again and....he's 2-4 for 5 pts and he's +4 in 16 minutes.

5 points is that good

i think that’s a circumstance of green starting halves when bron and AD are both on the floor. his misses have been really awful

robinson has been good to me considering ppl thought he might be run off the floor in the playoffs... he’s gonna be at a physical disadvantage vs grown ass teams but has mostly held up

― J0rdan S., Friday, October 9, 2020 10:37 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he's been really, really impressive considering what a lot of us expected. he was never going to be able to play his regular season game but he's hung around, played insanely hard, and found ways to be useful. like he'll drive in a straight line and it won't be pretty but the willingness to do it matters.

5 points is that good

― lag∞n, Friday, October 9, 2020 9:52 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

on 4 shots? not bad.

it’s kinda crazy how much the heat’s offense is based on robinson sprinting back and forth around the three point line, even when he doesn’t shoot

the shooting is why he's in the nba but to use my favorite cliche he's just a basketball player.

i’m sorry to m bison and the box score but danny green has been terrible tonight & there’s a reason we’re prob not going to see him step on the floor for the rest of the game

Robinson has impressed me with his poise.

Well Robinson heard that halftime pep talk.

and he immediately sprints off a screen and gets a 4 point play

Duncan Robinson scored more points on hand offs this season than the Lakers, Rockets, and Raptors.

— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) October 10, 2020

at this point duncan has prob been the heat’s second best player in the series

fact

Duncan Robinson clearly the best player named Duncan or Robinson to ever play in an NBA Finals.

— Russ Bengtson (@russbengtson) October 10, 2020

why did vogel challenge that lol

bron prob told him to

they also had one of those use it or lose it timeouts i think

as a guy who saw every duncan robinson game in college, i must say that i did not see this coming even one bit lol

to be fair, i didn’t watch his games at williams, maybe that’s where the answer lies

imagine how good he mustve good in d3 my god

theres pick up games better than d3

yeah, we're at the duncan robinson needs to get back on the floor stage of the game

the heat’s offense suddenly has gotten incredibly desperate

he shot 56/45/88 at williams. the shooting was always there but i think he's a very rare case of the nba late bloomer.

omg jimmy

After 17 yrs of it gotta say I'm pretty sick of the best player in the league's go to move being "I'm just gonna drive and run into you with my huge frame".

Man this is great

jimmy v lebron 1 on 1 for the chip

man this is a war, i'm loving it

he also got put in the best possible situation. on another NBA team he’s prob a doug mcdermott type but the heat took what they started doing with i.e. wayne ellington like building very difficult hand off shots into the offense but really expanding it

bam has been bizarrely out of position on defense for all of these lebron drives

love this pic

Monster pic.twitter.com/00pqLRU61o

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) October 10, 2020

if lebron wins this i am at peace

lol

why is morris out there?

lol disastrous final poss

how many times has mark jackson mentioned that if he were coaching iggy would be in the game right now. it's more than two!

the miami heat!!

Great win

game 6 baby!

siick

excellent shot by danny green and pass by markief morris on the final play... not

this is the best part because we've reached the no adjustments zone. the lakers get smoked literally any time AD is off the floor. duncan robinson gets a rest and all of a sudden the heat can't score.

i... did not think the heat could take a 40-13-7 level punch from lebron and win

there’s a reason we’re prob not going to see him step on the floor for the rest of the game

― J0rdan S., Saturday, 10 October 2020 1:57 PM (forty-four minutes ago)

haha sorry jordan

love seeing morris’s punk ass throw the ball out of bounds at the end there

morris could have just gone for little face up iso when he caught that rebound, its his game

there’s a reason we’re prob not going to see him step on the floor for the rest of the game

― J0rdan S., Saturday, 10 October 2020 1:57 PM (forty-four minutes ago)

haha sorry jordan

lol

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ej8ENQEXcAAEJqa?format=png&name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ej8D8z7WsAAn1PH?format=png&name=small

Jimmy Butler since Game 1:

30.5 points
11.5 assists
10.3 rebounds

40-73 FG, 54.8%
41-45 FT, 91.1% pic.twitter.com/fk6TO7t1XM

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) October 10, 2020

yeah he’s one assist short of three straight finals triple doubles, completely nuts

also bron was wide open on the opposite wing lmao

lol how was every laker open

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ej8EMcCU4AEjejW?format=jpg&name=900x900

well, three out of five were.

a small pond between lebron and any other player but that morris court vision gene is alive and well

even davis had his man sealed

lakers were down the whole game lol

Anthony Davis: “We have to win one, they have to win two. We have to keep that in mind. But this is a tough one because we had this one in the bag.”

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 10, 2020

insane lebron has lost two finals games directly bcuz of completely boneheaded plays by jr smith and markieff morris

its a good plot detail i support it

bron's weird teammate curse outside of the heatles years is a very amusing component to his career and myth

next question is how hurt brow is... if he’s only at 50% or something the rosters start to look far more even, maybe even tilted in miami’s favor

Markieff Morris: 0 points in 23 minutes, three turnovers, four fouls, also made the biggest mistake of the game

— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) October 10, 2020

he *was* playing unreasonably well, but...

the thing about the lakers is you can play morris who was -2 or you can play kuzma who was -17.....kuz had to have been playing some of those minutes with no lebron or AD in the 1st half when AD hurt his foot but yeah, one of those guys needs to play and the results have not been strong.

honestly morris has been about as bad guarding jimmy as kuzma has, i would roll w/ kuzma's offense, which has seemed pretty good to me this series

hard to imagine a better advertisement for the concept of culture and fit in team sports than jimmy and the heat. he hasn't changed a bit, he just found ppl who can tolerate him

Duncan Robinson said Jimmy Butler has a meeting with him in his room after game 2. “He’s hard on me but that’s because he expects a lot” pic.twitter.com/eHnlfWNYHD

— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 10, 2020

Watching both Morris bros on LA title contenders want nothing to do with the ball in crucial moments has been fun to see. Whole career built on being tough hard nose players but are everything but.

The two heat wins thus far have made up for a lot and I’m happy with the finals now. Jimmy is a hero.

next question is how hurt brow is... if he’s only at 50% or something the rosters start to look far more even, maybe even tilted in miami’s favor

looked like he could barely run in the last stretch of the game

yeah. i wonder how much they'll hedge their bets if the heat get out 10 or 12 points early in the 4th if AD is a little gimpy.

bron's weird teammate curse outside of the heatles years is a very amusing component to his career and myth

― Clay, Saturday, October 10, 2020 12:34 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it’s not a curse! he’s handpicked all his teams since like 2012 at least

hard to imagine a better advertisement for the concept of culture and fit in team sports than jimmy and the heat. he hasn't changed a bit, he just found ppl who can tolerate him

Duncan Robinson said Jimmy Butler has a meeting with him in his room after game 2. “He’s hard on me but that’s because he expects a lot” pic.twitter.com/eHnlfWNYHD
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 10, 2020

― J0rdan S., Saturday, October 10, 2020 1:39 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

helps to be winning. we’ll see how well he’s tolerated next year when (presumably) the heat aren’t in the finals

yeah they will probably turn on him

it’s not a curse! he’s handpicked all his teams since like 2012 at least

― k3vin k., Saturday, October 10, 2020 1:26 PM (fifty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the ultimate curse is the one we cast on ourselves, something to think about.....

kendrick nunn’s not shy, is he?

this game was bananas.

I LOVE BASKETBALL

is there a chance dragic comes back or nah
yea this past game was a good watch

dragic's chances for playing are slim or none

herro, bam and iggy - or some combination thereof - have to get more points if the heat are gonna do this imo

bam got double digits in points actually - i would not have figured that

the formula for the heat is davis being hobbled, the lakers role players crapping the bed, and the heat getting good games from their role players. it’s not inconceivable but still requires jimmy going toe to toe with lebron again bcuz you know bron is coming with another 35-12-8 game

Totally nuts. According to Game Score, in the past week, Jimmy Butler has turned in two of the three most productive individual Finals performances in the last 35 years. https://t.co/w0X50Efqc8

— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) October 10, 2020

helps to be winning. we’ll see how well he’s tolerated next year when (presumably) the heat aren’t in the finals

...But they're winning solely because of Jimmy lol; he's leading his team in literally every counting statistic this series. People keep talking like his performance right now is a fluke like he wasn't an all-time lucky game-winning roll from being in the ECF last year over the eventual champs and didn't dismantle the #1 seed and 2x MVPs team in the 2nd round to get here in the first place. Heat are very young outside of him and their vets and will have the assets and cap space to add another star so as a team they aren't going anywhere anytime soon either. Unless you really think a post-full achilles rupture 30 year old KD or Doc Rivers with the most ill-fitting roster in the NBA is going to be the bane of their existence like LeBron was for the Raptors lmao

the celtics, bucks, and probably raptors are going to be favored over the heat next year. not saying they’re not a good team, just saying that jimmy’s well-known issues as a teammate might not get the same warm reception if they’re not two games away from an NBA championship

you’re making a tautological argument... they weren’t 2 games away from a title when they were a 4th/5th best team in the east during the regular season

the heat self selected for players who will tolerate jimmy butler before they even had jimmy butler

the devil will be in the trades - the heat are on the hunt for a big free agent, the raptors have to decide on fvv, and the celtics need to upgrade a starter who isnt tatum or brown

as great as the basketball has been i'm taking the bubble results with a massive grain of salt. it's pretty clear that neutral site has had a huge impact on the playoffs so i'll hold off on retconning that the heat were actually the best team in the east all along, etc.

i agree & have made similar arguments... that said i think the rosters are far more even on paper in the east than they are in the west w/ the LA teams heading into next season. and you could reasonably make the argument that jimmy is the playoff alpha dog in the east rn until proven otherwise. giannis, tatum, embiid etc may have better regular seasons than him but going into next year's playoffs i think the consensus will be that he is the one guy (in the east) you'd want for the playoffs. but there's no way the bucks and celtics series go the way they did if the heat had to play road games... i don't think that's very controversial to say

yup, agree completely

I for one do not think Jimmy Butler has two more historically great Finals games in him

I agree but that’s why they play the games I suppose.
I thought lakers in 6 when this started and - though I certainly didn’t imagine this route there - I still think Lakers in 6

he's 2 rebounds and 1 assist away from four straight triple doubles... i think the total point differential over the last 4 games is like 2 points. i don't think the heat will win game 6 bcuz i would never bet against lebron at this stage but i do think they can

you’re making a tautological argument... they weren’t 2 games away from a title when they were a 4th/5th best team in the east during the regular season

― J0rdan S., Saturday, October 10, 2020 10:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he could “wear out his welcome” as they say. anyway I’m rooting for it to not happen because the heat are fun

neutral court playoffs should totally be a thing from now on but obviously won’t

bruh

playoffs crowds rule and are a massive part of nba lore

yeah red card for kev, rabid home fans rule

Wishful thinking but I was imaging how awesome Klay would be in the Duncan Robinson role ... but then again every team could use some Klay in their life

Especially in a game 6

Today is the day the largest number of ILH denizens picked the Lakers to win it all. Sorrowfully, for some of us, but our allegiance to hoops is strong and this is what our collective hoops wisdom said would happen. I'd be happy to be wrong. A Game 7 would be sweet!

gotta have game 7 baby

i kinda want to be right abt picking lakers in 6, it is v important to me that i am right

Frank Vogel says Anthony Davis’ right heel contusion will likely cause him to experience “soreness” in Game 6 but said that the adrenaline rush from the competition should help him push through it.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 11, 2020

*distant chanting growing louder* contusion contusion CONTUSION

GORAN ACTIVE

activate goran-o-bot

re the jimmy butler convo upthread i think he deserves some benefit of the doubt seeing as how he was on 3 of the most dysfunctional franchises before the heat

also he was good but not great in the celtics series (not that it mattered)

Goran Dragic (foot) is on the active roster tonight vs. Lakers for Game 6.

— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 11, 2020

Must see teevee

"Our first pre-bubble game was against the Lakers, and they complained from the first to the last minute, although it was a scrimmage, no TVs or anything. It’s just how the Lakers approach games."

- Evan Fournier

neutral court playoffs should totally be a thing from now on but obviously won’t

― k3vin k., Sunday, October 11, 2020 7:34 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

bruh

― micah, Sunday, October 11, 2020 9:43 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

playoffs crowds rule and are a massive part of nba lore

― micah, Sunday, October 11, 2020 9:44 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah red card for kev, rabid home fans rule

― lag∞n, Sunday, October 11, 2020 10:30 AM (eight hours ago)

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/279/386/6aa.jpg

re the jimmy butler convo upthread i think he deserves some benefit of the doubt seeing as how he was on 3 of the most dysfunctional franchises before the heat

― lag∞n, Sunday, October 11, 2020 6:44 PM (thirty minutes ago)

the t wolves team that got the 8 seed was actually a top 4 team in the west for a period before jimmy got hurt

i can't imagine dragic doing much tonight... he has basically not been able to move in the warm up videos they've shown this series

moving is a pretty nice basketball skill to have

since I'm not going to be able to actually watch this, does anyone have a favorite live blog?

i can't imagine dragic doing much tonight... he has basically not been able to move in the warm up videos they've shown this series

― J0rdan S., Sunday, October 11, 2020 7:21 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah nunn got on the floor before him

nvm!

lakers trying very hard on defense

It must be such a crazy feeling to have an incredibly painful injury that is also “safe” to play on. I guess there’s this and turf toe?

big chance for danny green to be the first player since robert horry to lead three different teams to a title

first ballot role palyer hollafamer for sure

Heat offense plan
1. Have perimeter player get past his man
2.???
3. Profit

Heat need the qtr to end

Can’t remember the last NBA championship team I disliked this much

shaq+kobe lakers were not likable at all

kobe + gasol lakers were even less likable!

I actually kinda like the roster, hate the fact that they could only construct it because they're LA

not sure how I feel about Dwight getting a ring this way

I hated the spurs teams that tried to injure people

that was technically just two ppl

dwight getting a ring is really hard for me to reckon with

it is a cosmic felony that if i want to watch the nba finals i have to listen to mark jackson monologue about "greatness"

Are there people that enjoy hearing mark Jackson in the booth?

abc is doing a public service by keeping him in the booth instead of on some poor team’s sideline

Herro been invisible last couple games

that time was going to come for a 20 year old playing big minutes in the nba finals

abc is doing a public service by keeping him in the booth instead of on some poor team’s sideline

― covidiot wind (voodoo chili), Sunday, October 11, 2020 9:25 PM (three minutes ago)

I've genuinely wondered this too but there must be enough normies out there to make it ok

really don't like seeing these brute force, only 2 good players rosters win

jackson has a pleasant voice and cadence when he speaks provided you don't really think critically about what he's saying. and he and jvg are very well-paired in that they contrast each other but have some personal chemistry. casuals probably enjoy them a lot because as an abstracted ideal of a 3-man booth they are excellent.

I am that guy who was against the Bulls trading their young core for Kobe but I don't know how you get fully invested in a team like this as a Lakers fan. Maybe that's why one of the biggest Lakers fan I know is at the local bball court now instead of watching.

they should replace both of them with stan van, who was really great in the early rounds

i haven't been listening to much network commentary but have heard it said that jvg has been really good in the bubble. i hope it's true, he seemed like he was burnt out and bored for the last few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_cl3WIO6A

yeah svg was significantly better than his brother at the gig

Definitely the least “laker” feeling team to win a championship. Rondo getting getting a ring with the lakers is weird, and Dwight coming back to win? It’s strange for sure. I’ve loved the intensity they’ve played on defense these playoffs.

i'm not even happy for like 1 individual guy on this lakers team. completely uninspiring.

they're not nearly as hatable to me as all those other lakers teams, but they're a boring watch

I was happy for Metta World Peace back then, the greatest laker of all time

im gonna hold my judgement until i see what magic has to say

yeah, they're not hatable outside of dwight. they trigger indifference.

i guess jared dudley is getting a ring, that's nice.

this lakers squad is, like, the hewlett packard of teams, who gives a shit

idk any team with a morris brother can inspire the hate

None of you like LeBron?

i don't think my feelings about lebron can be summed up in a single word such as "like"

<3 Bron fuck da h8ers

i admire lebron of course but not in an "it's okay for him to get the lakers a championship" sorta way

Clay otm

I’m going to enjoy every minute of LeBron and don’t understand people who don’t.

He's great, feel lucky to have seen him play basketball, don't know what more you'd want

It is weird how he's just played at this amazing level forever, never really done anything bad off the court, did a lot of great things in the community, and basically seems like a decent guy and people have this weird animus towards him

Yet weirdo miserable sociopaths like Jordan and Kobe are universally loved

(talking general public more than ilh )

i respect lebron hugely as a player and as a person (from what i can see from a distance). i think he's comported himself about as well as anyone possibly could in has position as the most important basketball player for the last 18 years.

as a sports fan i think this stage of his career is boring and inorganic and it's hard for me to feel much of anything about it.

Vogel looks like a total dork.

Xxxpost Always respected MJ's talent, but christ he's a petulant dude

Including continuing to push the lie that his coach "cut" him from the basketball team in high school

and i don't think it's even totally lebron's doing! the current structure of the nba made this the best path to a title for him and he took it.

https://uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ad.jpg

cad completely otm

hahaha i've been in and out but did they not let rob pelinka talk?

Lebron should probably go in the HoF as a player and GM

very convenient when you can fit the GM and finals MVP into the same interview slot

i think pelinka got 7th place for exec of the year and he should be thankful it was that high tbh

sup @MichelobULTRA 😊🍾 pic.twitter.com/CxTcoiWqOW

— NBA Bubble Life (@NBABubbleLife) October 12, 2020

i hope there's some champagne and the guys aren't stuck with just michelob ultra :(

the champagne of low carb beers

can't believe Giannis was not the first Antetokounmpo to get a ring

can't believe Giannis was not the first Antetokounmpo to get a ring

^hearing this in Swizz Beats's voice

I begrudgingly convinced myself I'd be ok with the Lakers winning the championship when Lebron started doing great work supporting voter enfranchisement. I'm amazed by so much of his game but don't really care for his bully ball or incessant whining.

AD is forever on my shit list for how he left nola. I'm grateful that at least his ring comes with a big fat asterisk.

It doesn’t come with an asterisk sorry.

cad completely otm

― Clay

Bubble title is absolutely an asterisk

Nah

"comes with an asterix" usually always means "i don't like the team that won", modified season or not

otm

The Lakers of all franchises were literally on the championship podium begging for people to acknowledge and respect this title lmao. Disingenuous or not, when guys like TJ Warren and Jamal Murray come crashing back down to earth and the Warriors flip that #2 pick and insert themselves back into the title race next season the "Mickey Mouse ring" and asterisk takes are definitely gonna be a thing.

All I have a problem with is the bullshit "This was the toughest path to a title EVERRRRR" nonsense that some were desperately trying to push about all of this. No, resuming without a fourth of the whole league in Orlando after a 4 month break to be wined and dined by the few remaining overworked Disney World employees that weren't laid off en masse in a luxury suite in your off hours when you aren't playing in an empty gym with no travel, in front of live webcam feeds hung up on a wall with fake crowd noise piped in over the speakers is not "The toughest obstacle to a championship in sports history", sorry.

i can buy the social isolation being hard if you didnt have family there with you.

Oh cool it's trevor

I started out not liking LeBron, then he won me over, then he annointed himself GOAT, and I'm back to not liking him.

lakers were clearly the best team and will be remembered as the rightful champions... the asterisk theory is bunk

what i was thinking about tonight is how the GOAT argument would look if there wasn’t a cap spike allowing durant to sign with the warriors. we all just accept the KD warriors as like a natural part of history but it all circles back to a historical anomaly with the cap based on a decision by the union that i think is pretty agreed upon to be regrettable in retrospect. watching those warriors-cavs finals at the time it seemed pretty clear that lebron would have won at least one if KD never ended up on the warriors. he basically had 3 years of his prime wiped out by the timing of TV rights negotiations, if you wanna discuss asterisks

good post ^

Warriors' 2nd and 3rd titles have penciled-in asterisks in my mind ... in ink for KD

going to sleep happy tonight remembering that paul pierce is pissed and every possible outcome of this finals was going to end that way

i admire lebron of course but not in an "it's okay for him to get the lakers a championship" sorta way

― Clay, Sunday, October 11, 2020 7:04 PM (three hours ago)

this is the opposite for me ... i like Bron (and AD) so much, i was actively rooting for Miami to give them trouble (and extend the season) but ultimately wanted the Lakers to win. and historically, i hate them.

what i was thinking about tonight is how the GOAT argument would look if there wasn’t a cap spike allowing durant to sign with the warriors. we all just accept the KD warriors as like a natural part of history but it all circles back to a historical anomaly with the cap based on a decision by the union that i think is pretty agreed upon to be regrettable in retrospect. watching those warriors-cavs finals at the time it seemed pretty clear that lebron would have won at least one if KD never ended up on the warriors. he basically had 3 years of his prime wiped out by the timing of TV rights negotiations, if you wanna discuss asterisks

Ends up *there

LeBron has also been the beneficiary of Adventures in Cap Space though. The Heatles were a previously unthinkable phenomenon.

He kicked off the player empowerment movement he can’t be mad at anyone doing it better than he did.

That “what if” and “asterisk” mental games are a slippery slope. Lebron could easily have two less titles too if it wasn’t for the ray allen shot and the perfect storm of events in 2016.

No asterisks either. They earned it, they were the best or 2nd best team all season.

yeah but those are all things that happened on the court... unlikely events but still players deciding the game. i enjoyed the KD warriors a lot but those three championships were decided at the negotiation table

the league was essentially non-competitive for three seasons in a way that i don't think has much historical precedent... you could maybe point to the kobe/shaq three peat dynasty which has some weird origins in its own right -- magic not offering shaq the max contract (one of the stupidest decisions in nba history), kobe convincing several teams to not draft him -- but mathematically i don't think we'll never be able to see a team like the warriors again

i forget the raptors won last year lol...

xpost to be fair to Steph, Klay, Dray and Kerr, only two of their three championships were w/ KD and thus decided at the negotiation table - imo, at least. i don't think it's fair to discount 2015.

lol, now that makes sense

wait does this "Warriors 2017-2019 get an asterisk" theory *remove* the Raptors' "wouldn't have won if Klay and/or KD were healthy" asterisk?

there were three straight asterisk championships for two different reasons

i think by the time of warriors-raptors ppl were exhausted by the warriors and just happy to see someone else win but in retrospect we got robbed of seeing peak kawhi go against an end-of-their rope (for non injury reasons) warriors. he may have still been able to take them out

Lol no

every championship should have an asterisk when you think about it

No one is the champions my friend

heat spurs was the last good finals

The Lakers team bus forgot Quinn Cook at the arena so he went on JR's IG live and told them to come back 🤣

(via @TheRealJRSmith) pic.twitter.com/sthp7sjINB

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 12, 2020

asterisks are literally the dumbest sub-first take skip bayless jason whitlock horseshit

phil jackson invented the idea iirc lol

Zen master strikes again

starting to see how the lakers were able to win

https://i.imgur.com/eLWvTq5.png

to be clear, i don't really think there should be any asterisks on any championships

(but KD's are still weak)

there should be a one to four asterisks rating on each championship

denoting spice level

god what an embarrassing roster lol

bam and butler were garbage for the entire first quarter. lakers d just too good. i allowed myself to get my hopes up after game 5. but the inevitability of this was parked like a battleship on the horizon the whole time.

yup

Only asterik that is any valuable in sports is pre-1947 baseball.

Everyone else earned their freaking championship.

Only asterik that is any valuable in sports is pre-1947 baseball.

god what an embarrassing roster lol

― k3vin k., Monday, October 12, 2020 12:18 PM (yesterday)

i assume this is about the Lakers.

i thought this, too, when they restarted. nothing but pure garbage after LeBron and AD.

but i feel like i have to eat those thoughts, man.

not every rotation guy played well every night, but one or two of them stepped up most nights, and it was not only enough, it was plenty. KCP, Rondo and Caruso looked mostly good. Morris and Kuzma had moments. Danny Green was there.

they weren't asked to do much - play hard, fly around on D and chuck up open 3s - but they did it well.

i feel like Pelinka got it right, and i definitely did not think that six weeks ago. no surprise, since he is a top executive at the Los Angeles Lakers and i am not.

Rondo played like...weirdly well, one of the strangest parts of the bubble

xpost I mean, with the exception of KCP and the young 'uns (who do not exactly impress), the whole roster after AD and Bron is basically ring chasers. So I would call it embarrassing in the sense that it doesn't have much obvious cohesion or an attractive on-court identity. But yeah, guys like Rondo and Dwight rose to the occasion and played well enough to deserve the ring.

Personally, the experience of watching teams jell (or not) over a period of a few seasons and develop those cohesive identities is one of the most satisfying and entertaining aspects of following sports. As great as it is to have "competitive balance" I'll take dynasties any day if it means we get those long arc storylines. It remains to be seen if the Lakers turn into one of those but it kind of feels like, in as far as Lebron is actually able to continue playing at this level for multiple more years, they'll just keep restocking with interchangeable supporting casts. Maybe one or two guys per year will stick and they'll start to look more like a team, I dunno. It would help if KCP had more of a discernible personality or if Kuzma were a little more likeable (or had actually had a good year).

It's been said before and may be said again... playoff Rondo is a real thing.
not sure what that says about him that he goes whole seasons and stints with teams without showing that side of himself

he's also 34, one of those guys i always think should be older than what he is, just because he won a championship when he was 22 i guess

i don't think 'vet who only gives 100% on a 1 seed team' is an archetype deserving of celebration

these guys basically exist to get the lakers more rings

It's been said before and may be said again... playoff Rondo is a real thing.
not sure what that says about him that he goes whole seasons and stints with teams without showing that side of himself

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Tuesday, October 13, 2020 1:22 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm pretty sure it says that he's completely bored by regular season basketball

I mean tbf it can't compare to the levels of strategy needed to play Connect 4

i'm pretty sure it says that he's completely bored by regular season basketball

maybe he should only be paid to play in playoff games instead of drawing paychecks for 82 games of meh and then waking up in April to see if his team ended up in the lottery because they were carrying his dead carcass

hes basically derek fisher

ok that's just disrespectful

i don't think 'vet who only gives 100% on a 1 seed team' is an archetype deserving of celebration

― ciderpress, Tuesday, October 13, 2020 1:27 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

tbf hes been good in the playoffs on lesser teams too

yeah i was exaggerating but it does contribute to lack of parity on some level when teams trying to get over the playoff hump can't rely on these guys to show up and need to look elsewhere

derek fisher has way more rings than rondo ;)

So I would call it embarrassing in the sense that it doesn't have much obvious cohesion or an attractive on-court identity

yeah this is what I meant, just a totally soulless, joyless team

otm

i def feel like this lakers team would get its ass kicked in a 7 game series by either of the three previous lebron title teams

I don't know... Anthony Davis is good as hell.

Like, if Lebron is covering Lebron, who's got Tony?

I guess Bosh would be pretty nice but I don't know about that Cavs team

LeBron would refuse to guard LeBron

these guys basically exist to get the lakers more rings

― ciderpress, Tuesday, October 13, 2020 10:27 AM (three hours ago)

Is this supposed to be a criticism?

no, just an observation of the lakers/lebron vet vacuums combining

i do think the east has 4 teams that could take this team down next year with some modest offseason moves, not sure about the west or whats going on with the clipper ships

pic.twitter.com/r9uXcOXcmj

— pickuphoop (@pickuphoop) October 12, 2020

those heat teams would destroy this lakers team... better/younger lebron, bosh in his prime is a good match up on AD, wade, much better role players.

after the first two games davis’ contribution was mostly on defense, he didn’t have a dominant offensive series. the idea that you need 1 player to guard him or you will lose isn’t really borne out by this series to say nothing of the rest of his career. and even with AD on the floor, the heat had a stretch of games putting up offensive ratings thar would’ve rated above the no 1 offense in the league. both those heat and cavs teams had floor stretching bigs the lack of which hurt the heat once the lakers realized they could just leave davis in the paint all game (in game 3 they put him on olynyk and the heat shredded them). lebron and AD are a great pair of players, the current league could not overcome
that, but bron’s previous title teams had legit big 3s and better role players, particularly shooters, than this lakers team.

i think olynk should have played in game 6. and herro should have played even more, when the lakers were packing the paint the heat needed a second ball handler when jimmys drive and kick game got shut down

iirc the heats roster for the 13/14 season was pretty av

i def feel like this lakers team would get its ass kicked in a 7 game series by either of the three previous lebron title teams

herro had an awful series sadly... agree w/ you about olynyk. spo prob went w/ too much of bam -- i understand why but he played like butt for most of the series and no olynyk out there allowed davis to sit in the paint for 40 mins per game

I had a challopeno popper about Duncan Robinson being a better long term piece than Herro, I might dust that off next year

i mean really there were no adjustments in game 6 that would have covered for butler and the heat expending absolutely everything they had to win game 5.

it's funny to talk about herro as if there is any sort of established baseline for him...he's really young and has had a lot of peaks and valleys in performance already. i don't think we have any idea what he is beyond an intriguing talent who has had a few flashes.

well duncan robinson is 26 and herro is 20

when you talk about huge beneficiaries of the bubble, robinson and herro go to the top of the list for me as rookies who got to play four playoff series w/o having to ever handle the ball or shoot in front of a road playoff crowd.

that having been said i thought both played above expectations... robinson held up far better than most ppl thought and was basically the second best player for them in the finals which is pretty crazy and explains why they lost but he also had a few huge games and wasn't overwhelmed physically in a series w/ a bunch of grown ass dudes, which was my major concern. herro was a borderline revelation, the stuff he was doing as a ball handler, finishing at the rim, passing out of the pick and roll... we did not see any of that in the regular season. he was having big problems finishing over anyone and then in the bubble was like dropping and 1 mixtape lay ups on anthony davis and jayson tatum. to me the question is how much further he can push it, dan le batard said on zach lowe's pod a little bit ago that the heat think he can be better than devin booker. personally i see him as more of a supercharged lou williams type, a second unit monster who can singlehandedly win games but w/ the added benefit of having a modern killer three point/step back arsenal in his game. there's a pretty decent gap between sixth man of the year and devin booker so we'll see which end he lands closer to

yeah i mean you are saying things that basically make sense but i just need another season of herro before i'm ready to even suggest what he actually is. has to be one of the most unique rookie seasons ever.

you are saying things that basically make sense

this is the promise i make to this board ever day

nba talking heads - keep making sense

lol

i really dont buy any speculation that herro might be a 6th man. he will get starter level contract offers and he will be a starter.

i just realized that demarcus cousins is gonna get a ring

do they give those to people who have played 0 minutes for the franchise

iirc if youre not on the playoff roster the active players vote whether to give u a share of the playoff bonus/a ring

boogie will almost certainly get the nod, if just to keep AD happy.

ok

i dont think he'll get one.

really sad career trajectory for that dude.

yeah never really had a chance to establish himself outside the Bad Franchise

we never got to see what he and brow woulda looked like in the playoffs. they were just figuring it out when he blew his achilles.

i think he gets one but doesn't wear it out

https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-lakers-championship-will-have-an-asterisk-pat-riley-takes-dig-at-lebron-james-and-co-after-historic-bubble-title/

guess we need to go through the rosters and injury status of every nba finals matchup

there should be a one to four asterisks rating on each championship

― lag∞n, Monday, October 12, 2020 1:24 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

keep coming back to this

It could be like those internet polls where anyone can vote as many times as they like.

2011-2016 had minimal asterisks but they've been increasing since

all human life since the invention of agriculture should have several asterisks

(shrugs) yeah, but it was invented independently at several different times in different places, so what can you do?

pat riley is such a baby

it was just recently that i heard how riley became head coach of the lakers, what a weird story