bigger upset story these playoffs from the elite...

[r15mohd]

bias/agenda aside (hard but do try ISH), who do you think faces the most heat ...

Giannis: out in 1st round to the Heat (Giannis hurt 3 games)

Durant: losing to the Nuggets in 2nd round (Nuggets are best team in the league IMO)

Curry: loses to the Lakers in 2nd round (older Lebron and an inconsistent AD)

Embiid: loses to the Celtics in 2nd round (MVP asterisk* ?)

Lebron: loses to the Warriors in 2nd round (defending champs)

[Johnny32]

it's clearly mil/giannis.

[r15mohd]

it's clearly mil/giannis.

i think the injury gives him a pass, which I agree with ... but they've tossed the coach already, so they've admitted it being a fire already

[Real Men Wear Green]

Lakers losing would not be an upset, Warriors have a better record and are the defending champions.

On the flip side if James winning is an upset the Warriors losing could not be an upset... but that's all just me being semantic. Avoiding the area where I would be biased if the Lakers beat the Warriors that is the biggest upset. Davis needs bigger breaks between games than he's going to get and any game he doesn't dominate will be a Laker loss.

[Johnny32]

i think the injury gives him a pass, which I agree with ... but they've tossed the coach already, so they've admitted it being a fire already

i don't. especially the team as a whole. should have beaten mia without herro. giannis played the last two games of the series and they lost both.

embiid/phi is the dog vs bos. same with lal/bron vs gsw. curry/gsw losing to bron/ad with new cast wouldn't be a big upset imo. pho was the betting fav vs den but den is the 1 seed so hard to argue that one. really only one choice for me.

[Full Court]

Giannis, and none of the other ones come close.

[r15mohd]

Lakers losing would not be an upset, Warriors have a better record and are the defending champions.

On the flip side if James winning is an upset the Warriors losing could not be an upset... but that's all just me being semantic. Avoiding the area where I would be biased if the Lakers beat the Warriors that is the biggest upset. Davis needs bigger breaks between games than he's going to get and any game he doesn't dominate will be a Laker loss.

i do think warriors losing is an upset - they are clearly a better/deeper team, and defending champs + higher seeded. Lakers had no shot going in to me, 2 games max is their ceiling against them given the inconsistencies and reliance on Lebron at this age


i don't. especially the team as a whole. should have beaten mia without herro. giannis played the last two games of the series and they lost both.

embiid/phi is the dog vs bos. same with lal/bron vs gsw. curry/gsw losing to bron/ad with new cast wouldn't be a big upset imo. pho was the betting fav vs den but den is the 1 seed so hard to argue that one. really only one choice for me.


well that's the devils advocate - the team shouldnt have faulted so bad with Giannis being out 3 of the 5 games. but the 1 vs 8 knockout headline will always remain

[Wally450]

bias/agenda aside (hard but do try ISH), who do you think faces the most heat ...

Giannis: out in 1st round to the Heat (Giannis hurt 3 games)
This one takes the cake for me. Was Giannis injured? Yes. But he was still putting up some big numbers when he played and they still lost. Plus the whole 1 seed losing to an 8 seed thing.

Durant: losing to the Nuggets in 2nd round (Nuggets are best team in the league IMO)
Durant would get flamed for this. But like you said, the Nuggets are a good team and the #1 seed for a reason.

Curry: loses to the Lakers in 2nd round (older Lebron and an inconsistent AD)
I don't think he comes out of this with much heat. Unless there's an epic choke later in the series.

Embiid: loses to the Celtics in 2nd round (MVP asterisk* ?)
Embiid has been losing to the Celtics his whole career. Even as the MVP, it doesn't move the needle much.

Lebron: loses to the Warriors in 2nd round (defending champs)
Same as Curry and the Warriors. Everything here for LeBron is just the cherry on top of his already accomplished career.

..

[hold this L]

Giannis losing is far & away the biggest story by a significant margin. #1 seed losing to an #8 seed in 5 games. Double digit leads in the 4th. Giannis turning into a terrified Ben Simmons with a legendary choke. People will gloss over it, but it's up there. There's a case where if you have a legendary choke in the finals, it's far more significant than any other round, less so in the first round despite this being far worse. I forgot their 3rd best player missed nearly the entire series due to injury as well. Yikes. There's an entire conversation about Giannis that needs to be had, but nobody wants to touch that with a 10 foot pole.

Lebron or Curry losing is not an upset. Two best players of the generations, but it will have some very fun stories regardless on whose the victor/loser. Embiid losing to the Celtics is what you call business as usual. The upset is if Celtics fail to beat him. KD losing to the Nuggets is a story but he will get excuses for it as he has his whole career when things go wrong in the playoffs.

[hold this L]

i do think warriors losing is an upset - they are clearly a better/deeper team, and defending champs + higher seeded. Lakers had no shot going in to me, 2 games max is their ceiling against them given the inconsistencies and reliance on Lebron at this age




well that's the devils advocate - the team shouldnt have faulted so bad with Giannis being out 3 of the 5 games. but the 1 vs 8 knockout headline will always remain

Lakers have been the best team in the league since the trade deadline.

[BarberSchool]

Giannis, and none of the other ones come close.

This.

And firing Budenholzer only made it worse.
Now Bucks will enter a downward trend line with Nick Nurse, Lopez will get PAID by Dallas or win a chip with the Warriors, and Giannis will leave for greener pastures.

[Jasper]

history of the game - Bucks.

two years ago win it all ,,, 5 years best win record and an oust in first round against literally Jimmy Butler.

The question is no one in NBA history ever came back to when it all.... so can Bucks do that in the next two years will be their window.

[iamgine]

It just depends on how they play. Giannis, despite losing, played quite well. I think the consensus is they will come back next year with a better coach and contend again. Where's the heat in that?

Now if Embiid got backdoor swept and not play well, he'd face some heat. Maybe to the extent that tip the MVP voting favor against him next season.

[hold this L]

It just depends on how they play. Giannis, despite losing, played quite well. I think the consensus is they will come back next year with a better coach and contend again. Where's the heat in that?

Now if Embiid got backdoor swept and not play well, he'd face some heat. Maybe to the extent that tip the MVP voting favor against him next season.
No he didn't. He shot like garbage and choked too many FTs which directly led to them losing the series. Literally threw the ball away from his hands like Ben Simmons, something we've never seen before at that level. And as usual in Giannis fashion, the team's half court offense without Middleton going nuclear, was absolute garbagio at the end of the game. Which explains the double digit 4th quarter chokes.

Did you watch the games, or did you just look at the boxscores?

[Axe]

No he didn't. He shot like garbage and choked too many FTs which directly led to them losing the series. Literally threw the ball away from his hands like Ben Simmons, something we've never seen before at that level. And as usual in Giannis fashion, the team's half court offense without Middleton going nuclear, was absolute garbagio at the end of the game. Which explains the double digit 4th quarter chokes.

Did you watch the games, or did you just look at the boxscores?
He was injured in game 1 so he didn't finish in it. Thus, he missed game 2 as well which was their only win in that series. Despite that, he was able to get his stats (tho it doesn't necessarily mean he played well).

[iamgine]

No he didn't. He shot like garbage and choked too many FTs which directly led to them losing the series. Literally threw the ball away from his hands like Ben Simmons, something we've never seen before at that level. And as usual in Giannis fashion, the team's half court offense without Middleton going nuclear, was absolute garbagio at the end of the game. Which explains the double digit 4th quarter chokes.

Did you watch the games, or did you just look at the boxscores?

Not sure what people are expecting. He's a 65%FT shooter. There will be games where he miss free throws. i.e game 6 of '21 finals. I think he played quite well despite late game failure.

I think people mostly put the blame on Bud for Bucks fall. So there's not much heat on Giannis.

[bdonovan]

IDK the Warriors losing will be an upset. They've had team chemistry issues all year and have never been dominant during any stretch this year.

Celtics are the best team left in the game so don't think 76ers losing to them would be a surprise.

Bucks losing was the biggest surprise; even if it was injury-related.

Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are maybe the biggest surprise.

[DMAVS41]

i think the injury gives him a pass, which I agree with ... but they've tossed the coach already, so they've admitted it being a fire already

Why?

Giannis missed 2 full games. In the first game he missed the Bucks were losing...they could have won, of course, but it isn't like they were dominating with him. Then the Bucks won a game without Giannis...and lost the next.

Then he came back and lost the two biggest games of the year. He was hurt, not injured...and still clearly healthy enough to play a lot of minutes and at a high level.

He didn't even win one game in the series.

I love Giannis and have defended/supported him for years, but I have no idea why he should get a pass for not being able to win one game against an inferior team with a team good enough to win a playoff game without him.

Same things goes for Joel...as a Dirk fan who watched Dirk get crucified at times in his career...I'm sick of giving a pass to players that are supposedly much better that have never been out of the 2nd round like Joel...whose team won a road playoff game without him.

Also, being healthy is part of what makes one a great NBA player. Being hurt or injured is a negative thing and should impact the all-time rankings. Even if we say Giannis lost because he was hurt...which I don't think is true...him being hurt just cost his team a chance to win a title as he probably has the best supporting cast in the league for a star player. That's a negative...

[SATAN]

bias/agenda aside (hard but do try ISH), who do you think faces the most heat ...

Giannis: out in 1st round to the Heat (Giannis hurt 3 games)

Durant: losing to the Nuggets in 2nd round (Nuggets are best team in the league IMO)

Curry: loses to the Lakers in 2nd round (older Lebron and an inconsistent AD)

Embiid: loses to the Celtics in 2nd round (MVP asterisk* ?)

Lebron: loses to the Warriors in 2nd round (defending champs)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b58glke4ZIQ

"tHe GoAt" :roll:

[John8204]

Based on the eye test Durant, Giannis got injured and The Heat are having an all-time run by the true MVP in the league. Durant was once a player who was making a top ten run and the last five years he's fallen out of the top twenty for me.

[r15mohd]

Why?

Giannis missed 2 full games. In the first game he missed the Bucks were losing...they could have won, of course, but it isn't like they were dominating with him. Then the Bucks won a game without Giannis...and lost the next.

Then he came back and lost the two biggest games of the year. He was hurt, not injured...and still clearly healthy enough to play a lot of minutes and at a high level.

He didn't even win one game in the series.

I love Giannis and have defended/supported him for years, but I have no idea why he should get a pass for not being able to win one game against an inferior team with a team good enough to win a playoff game without him.

Same things goes for Joel...as a Dirk fan who watched Dirk get crucified at times in his career...I'm sick of giving a pass to players that are supposedly much better that have never been out of the 2nd round like Joel...whose team won a road playoff game without him.

Also, being healthy is part of what makes one a great NBA player. Being hurt or injured is a negative thing and should impact the all-time rankings. Even if we say Giannis lost because he was hurt...which I don't think is true...him being hurt just cost his team a chance to win a title as he probably has the best supporting cast in the league for a star player. That's a negative...

game 1, he played 10 mins - pretty hard to display entire domination into the 1st qtr only.

and you can be sick of whatever you want, however this series wont remain a negative light or stain on Giannis and that's is because he was injured/hurt. as you said, they had the #1 seed and likely the best supporting cast all year, but the Bucks losing to the Heat this year doesnt even come close to an upset like what the Nuggets did to the Sonics, or Knicks to the Heat in their respective 1 vs 8 upsets.

given all on the list - KD is the bigger story if it were to happen. he put himself and the Suns in a finals, really championship, or bust scenario. anything less than that is a complete failure

[ArbitraryWater]

IDK the Warriors losing will be an upset. They've had team chemistry issues all year and have never been dominant during any stretch this year.

Celtics are the best team left in the game so don't think 76ers losing to them would be a surprise.

Bucks losing was the biggest surprise; even if it was injury-related.

Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are maybe the biggest surprise.

Warriors losing isnt an upset.

The team even last year was never as good as the post-trade Lakers have been.

The team won 53 games last year. The experience and pedigree was just enough for the Grizzlies, but if the Celtics and Tatum hadnt laid an egg in the finals, they probaby lose that series. Never the less if the Bucks had Middleton. They played themselves into a rhythm and were a formidable machine on offense, but part of that was abusing the lowly Nuggets and Mavericks defenses.