Why are two teams down 0-3 in the Conference Finals?

[elementally morale]

This question seems to be easy at first but I think it's not.


What is the real reason for the Lakers and the Celtics being on the virge of a sweep in their respective series?

(1) Are these teams just bad matchups for the Nuggets and the Heat? If so, why? It wasn't to be expected before either series started. Or if it was: not even close to this extent. What happened?

(2) Or, if being bad matchups is not tha case: Are the Nuggets and the Heat simply this much better than them? If yes, what does that say about the 'never before seen' parity in the West and Miami having nothing to do with coming out of the East?

(3,4) If neither of the above two are the real resons there are two more possible answers: neither the Lakers not the Celtics want it bad enough and are simply being outhustled and outcompeted being one, and sheer bad luck and a few baskets going in or rimming out being the other. But this begs the questions: why aren't these teams want it enough...they seemingly wanted it enough in round 2... any the difference is seemingly much bigger than a few shots here and there.


So what do you think the real reason is we are seeing both matchups as sweeps or close to that?

[Nb1]

I feel that alot has also to do with the chip on their shoulder. Miami and specially Denver are playing with a big one since everyone kept counting them out over and over again. Hell, even after the first 2 slaps the odds were favouring the Celtics to beat the Heat on the road game 3 lol. And what about Denver, number 1 seed, beat the lakers twice and everyone was only talking about the Lakers who found a way to win at the end of game 1,2 and are now gonna spank them at home and win them all after that.

Lakers beat the Grizzlies and the defending champs with that chip on their shoulder and then like everyone else (i feel that they got over confident bc pf that) and discounted the Nuggets and payed the price. The first 2 games were up for grabs with more effort and focus. The 3rd and 4th one now it's a mental thing that its tough to get through.

That being said Denver has a much better team than the Lakers. Not even 1 player of the Lakers without Bron had a positive playoff record before and half the cast had not even seen the playoffs. Miami on the other hand is a tough team to beat in the playoffs, specially for a mentally weak team like Boston.

[Im Still Ballin]

Performance in the clutch. The only blow-out was game 3 of the ECF.

[Duffy Pratt]

Simple. It’s rigged. The NBA couldn’t bear the idea of a Lakers - Celtics final, with an aging LeBron as the marquee player. So the refs have been under instructions.

[elementally morale]

Simple. It’s rigged. The NBA couldn’t bear the idea of a Lakers - Celtics final, with an aging LeBron as the marquee player. So the refs have been under instructions.

Not a great effort at trolling. The reffing as overall bad in one of the Lakers-Nuggets series, hurting both teams. The rest of the games, if anything, the Lakers got the more favorable treatment. I'm not sold on the idea that the NBA is rigged (though it appears so a few times but in the longer term, I think not). But if it IS rigged hy would you rig it against Boston? And why would you rig against LA and LeBron. Makes no sense, does it?

[HoopologyPhD]

NBA only resembles basketball, no plays anymore just strict one on one and jump shooting.
Massive slumps and massive streaks have always been possible but never more so than now.
I tried to watch some of the playoffs but there are now two players playing and eight guys standing around.

[JohnMax]

It's scripted. Teams are told to lie down.

Racist blacks hate foreign blacks, light skinned blacks and white players so they love it when NBA script writers tell them to throw games. That's why Marcus Smart and Jalen Brown are enthusiastically playing bad while Tatum, Horford (foreign), Grant Williams have annoyed pissed off body language. They're not happy about NBA script writers telling them to get swept. It's why Jimmy has only taunted them.

On opposing side. Racist blacks hate it when they're told to lay down for light skinned blacks, foreign blacks, or white players. That's why black female sideline reporter Lisa Salters dissed Jokic when she said she never knew he was that good because she never saw him play before. That's also why Lebron, Schroeder, AD keep targeting Jokic with cheap flops to get him in foul trouble. Remember when Dallas swept Lakers and how they targeted JJ Barea and Dirk Nowitzki with dirty flagrant fouls. That's how racist blacks react to scripted sweeps. This Lakers team is too soft for that although Deangelo Russel did do flagrant 1 foul on Murray. But we'll see what they'll do after Game 4 sweep.

[Overdrive]

The Nuggets are better, but the could be down 1-2 rn.

The Heat just gained confidence while the Celtics didn't really know what to take away from the Sixers series after Embiid's supersoft G7 effort.

[elementally morale]

I tried to watch some of the playoffs but there are now two players playing and eight guys standing around.

It's true to teams like the 76ers or the Grizzlies and to an extent the Celtics and the Suns but absolutely not true with the Nuggets, the Heat, the Warriors and some more. Even the Lakers are playing different now. The Denver and the Heat are playing team basketball and it shows. Iso basketball is over its peak now, as it seems.

[Foster5k]

It's scripted. Teams are told to lie down.

Racist blacks hate foreign blacks, light skinned blacks and white players so they love it when NBA script writers tell them to throw games. That's why Marcus Smart and Jalen Brown are enthusiastically playing bad while Tatum, Horford (foreign), Grant Williams have annoyed pissed off body language. They're not happy about NBA script writers telling them to get swept. It's why Jimmy has only taunted them.

On opposing side. Racist blacks hate it when they're told to lay down for light skinned blacks, foreign blacks, or white players. That's why black female sideline reporter Lisa Salters dissed Jokic when she said she never knew he was that good because she never saw him play before. That's also why Lebron, Schroeder, AD keep targeting Jokic with cheap flops to get him in foul trouble. Remember when Dallas swept Lakers and how they targeted JJ Barea and Dirk Nowitzki with dirty flagrant fouls. That's how racist blacks react to scripted sweeps. This Lakers team is too soft for that although Deangelo Russel did do flagrant 1 foul on Murray. But we'll see what they'll do after Game 4 sweep.
:biggums:

[JohnMax]

Don't think I don't know you white Americans hate foreign white players too. You cheated Dirk out of a championship in 2006 by sending Wade to free throw line. You cheated Steve Nash out of a championship in 2007 by suspending his teammates. You can't hide your hatred of Jokic with one sided officiating and your biased anti-Nuggets, pro-Lakers media coverage. For example NBA top 5 highlights had 4 Lakers highlights and 1 Nuggets highlights.

[elementally morale]

Don't think I don't know you white Americans hate foreign white players too. You cheated Dirk out of a championship in 2006 by sending Wade to free throw line. You cheated Steve Nash out of a championship in 2007 by suspending his teammates. You can't hide your hatred of Jokic with one sided officiating and your biased anti-Nuggets, pro-Lakers media coverage. For example NBA top 5 highlights had 4 Lakers highlights and 1 Nuggets highlights.

I'm not American. My favorite player is Jokic. Anything else?

[3ba11]

No closers

[tpols]

Performance in the clutch. The only blow-out was game 3 of the ECF.

Murray, Jokic, and Butler showing up.

Tatum, Bron, AD, and Brown choking.

[Full Court]

It actually is pretty simple.

LeShrivel dragging his team down, and Tatum dragging his team down. Not everyone has "it."

[elementally morale]

Murray, Jokic, and Butler showing up.

Tatum, Bron, AD, and Brown choking.

LeBron is playing as well as I expected him to. Good starter level. very good roleplayer level. I wasn't expecting him to carry the Lakers anywhere. BTW, I think he did show up. This is the player he now is with maybe a few more made 3s per game. But he did show up. Davis was also solid. Definitely not bad. The difference on paper still looking greater to me though than the difference I saw on the court.

[tpols]

LeBron is playing as well as I expected him to. Good starter level. very good roleplayer level. I wasn't expecting him to carry the Lakers anywhere. BTW, I think he did show up. This is the player he now is with maybe a few more made 3s per game. But he did show up. Davis was also solid. Definitely not bad. The difference on paper still looking greater to me though than the difference I saw on the court.

In the 4th quarter they havent really shown up. They've been getting KO'ed in crunchtime. Game 2 was a huge Laker choke, they were winning all game.

[90sgoat]

I think we might be seeing the decline of the 3 point spamming era.

Both Denver and Heat heavily feature the midrange and post games.

Both Lakers and Loston are primarily 3 point spamming and free throw baiting teams.

It seems both Denver and Heat have learned how to cover the PnR swing-swing offense or maybe the refs have tightened it up somehow?

In any case, Butler is killing Loston from midrange and so is Murray to a degree, while Jokic murders inside and Bam cleans up everything on the board.

If we look at it, was the 3 point spamming analytics game ever actually effective? Or was it just an excuse to hide bad AAU players that couldn't play in more sophisticated systems?

[nineiron]

because the refs carried the Lakers to the conference finals and the Celtics are just a bunch of chokers.

[HighFlyer23]

It's scripted. Teams are told to lie down.

Racist blacks hate foreign blacks, light skinned blacks and white players so they love it when NBA script writers tell them to throw games. That's why Marcus Smart and Jalen Brown are enthusiastically playing bad while Tatum, Horford (foreign), Grant Williams have annoyed pissed off body language. They're not happy about NBA script writers telling them to get swept. It's why Jimmy has only taunted them.

On opposing side. Racist blacks hate it when they're told to lay down for light skinned blacks, foreign blacks, or white players. That's why black female sideline reporter Lisa Salters dissed Jokic when she said she never knew he was that good because she never saw him play before. That's also why Lebron, Schroeder, AD keep targeting Jokic with cheap flops to get him in foul trouble. Remember when Dallas swept Lakers and how they targeted JJ Barea and Dirk Nowitzki with dirty flagrant fouls. That's how racist blacks react to scripted sweeps. This Lakers team is too soft for that although Deangelo Russel did do flagrant 1 foul on Murray. But we'll see what they'll do after Game 4 sweep.


Don't think I don't know you white Americans hate foreign white players too. You cheated Dirk out of a championship in 2006 by sending Wade to free throw line. You cheated Steve Nash out of a championship in 2007 by suspending his teammates. You can't hide your hatred of Jokic with one sided officiating and your biased anti-Nuggets, pro-Lakers media coverage. For example NBA top 5 highlights had 4 Lakers highlights and 1 Nuggets highlights.

Two of the best posts on this forum

[elementally morale]

So why?

[r0drig0lac]

It's scripted. Teams are told to lie down.

Racist blacks hate foreign blacks, light skinned blacks and white players so they love it when NBA script writers tell them to throw games. That's why Marcus Smart and Jalen Brown are enthusiastically playing bad while Tatum, Horford (foreign), Grant Williams have annoyed pissed off body language. They're not happy about NBA script writers telling them to get swept. It's why Jimmy has only taunted them.

On opposing side. Racist blacks hate it when they're told to lay down for light skinned blacks, foreign blacks, or white players. That's why black female sideline reporter Lisa Salters dissed Jokic when she said she never knew he was that good because she never saw him play before. That's also why Lebron, Schroeder, AD keep targeting Jokic with cheap flops to get him in foul trouble. Remember when Dallas swept Lakers and how they targeted JJ Barea and Dirk Nowitzki with dirty flagrant fouls. That's how racist blacks react to scripted sweeps. This Lakers team is too soft for that although Deangelo Russel did do flagrant 1 foul on Murray. But we'll see what they'll do after Game 4 sweep.:whatever::kobe: