Worst gift in the pile: 2023 NBA Play-Ins

whole team shook

Hilarious 4th quarter

adam silver should descend from the rafters and say "ive seen enough. neither team may go to the playoffs" and exit unstaples to a chorus of lusty boos

beautiful drive n kick

Oh god they’re gonna force Lebron to shoot it here

Ok fine that was cool

WOOOOOWWWWWWWWW

anthony davis playing the role of KAT

oh man

flagrant??

wtf is this game

MF CLUTCHHH

this overtime is gonna suuuuuuck but pretty funny outcome

flagrant??

― k3vin k., Tuesday, April 11, 2023 9:41 PM (fifty-nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

was thinking that too but looks like he landed safely in his zone then brow ran him over after

can the wolves make another actual basket or....

4th quarter was 19-12 lakers, oof

shook vs cooked

hilarious end of regulation I love the play ins

some ugly basketball bit i can’t stop watching

This is so funny

its wonderful

that... was not a travel on ant

this is like an ncaa tournament game

not sure i’d want taurean prince taking that shot for me

shoulda taken the open dunk

d lo back on the court for that possession reminding me he’s been benched for like the entirety of the 4th Q and OT

revenge game

cant believe the heat ruined the only good lowry game theyve gotten from him in 2 years

fell alseep but it doesnt sound like that second game was of the highest quality basketball

rough night for the lad

You know I said I thought the hawks had the best center duo in the league for a reason

― Heez, Tuesday, April 11, 2023 10:37 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

youve upset them

https://i.imgur.com/trUwooS.jpg https://i.imgur.com/vHnSuPn.png

watching highlights wow fouling on the 3 with .1 left incredible

it looked like if he had tried davis couldve avoided the foul instead he turned around to watch the shot and just wiped conley out

brow ultimately is just not a true baller

yea it was pretty stunning given the situation, no time to set up a decent shot all you have to do is not foul. not only did he foul it was one of those fouls that didn't even really affect the shot. props to Conley for making all 3 in that scenario, mentally I think a lot of players would've been shook as hell in that situation. too bad the Wolves didn't win in OT, would've been a hilarious way for the Lakers to lose

lol yeah too bad

lakers grizz is an interesting match up youd think the grizz young legs will win out but if not could be close lakers are actually kind of good since the deadline deals, lakers despite being old actually play a fast pace prob to overcoming their shooting deficiency get those easy transition baskets, grizz also play fast and have bad halfcourt offense when theyre not getting offensive rebound and their main offensive rebounder is out, will be interesting to see what happens when transition opportunities dry up like they usually do in the offs could get ugly

was thinking last night it would make sense imo for the final play-in games to happen the day after the 9/10 games to make the lower seed play a back to back

fell alseep but it doesnt sound like that second game was of the highest quality basketball

― lag∞n, Wednesday, April 12, 2023 9:16 AM (two hours ago)

both games were... far from the best the NBA has to offer. the lakers game was at least dramatic in its own way even tho the t wolves didn't make a field goal for a full 8 mins between the 4th Q and OT

both those games really did remind me of NCAA tournament games. heat-hawks was a raggedy up and down game w/ tons of bad passes, botched fast breaks, guys running into each other etc. in wolves/lakers nobody could score in crunch time, the lakers turned it over inbounding *and* committed a three shot foul in the last like 10 seconds of the game, TNT threw up a "wolves have not scored in 5 mins" graphic which you see in every march madness game but never in the NBA. idk if this is good or bad... i think the play in games are generally stupid and fun

btw i just looked it up... KAT re-entered the game with 7:35 in the fourth quarter and 5 fouls. from that point forward including OT he went 0-2 from the field w/ 1 rebound

it's a very KAT-ish turn of events for KAT to be so good for three quarters in a playoff game that he sets himself up for miserable failure in the fourth quarter

xp we basically get six game 7s before the playoffs even start

heat-hawks was a raggedy up and down game w/ tons of bad passes, botched fast breaks, guys running into each other etc. in wolves/lakers nobody could score in crunch time, the lakers turned it over inbounding *and* committed a three shot foul in the last like 10 seconds of the game

hence the thread title

xp we basically get six game 7s before the playoffs even start

― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Wednesday, April 12, 2023 12:12 PM (eighteen minutes ago)

calling those games 7s is an insult to game 7s...

to be fair though a lot of game 7s are pretty ugly

yup

dollar store game 7s if you will

i get that game 7s are often ugly but there's a tension inherent in a game 7 that can't be replicated in a one game winner take all scenario. that's why i mention the ncaa tournament... you realize that you're not really watching either good or very meaningful basketball, but the concocted stakes of a one game winner take all scenario carry the day despite all the warts. but these are no game 7s let's be real

you're otm

the West was pretty ideal for this, every team in it was basically the same record and no one team really "deserved it", a scenario in which the 7th seed in another season was like 5 games clear of the next seed and didn't advance would be a bummer