Worthless predictions:


East:

Cavs over Pistons in 6
Raptors over Pacers in 5
Heat over Hornets in 6
Hawks over Celts in 5

Cavs over Hawks in 6
Raptors over Heat in 7

Cavs over Raptors in 6

West:

Dubs over Rockets in 4
Spurs over Grizz in 4
Thunder over Mavs in 5
Clips over Blazers in 6

Dubs over Clips in 6
Spurs over Thunder in 7

Dubs over Spurs in 6

Dubs over Cavs in 5

4/14/2016 3:58:30 PM

4/14/2016 4:33:25 PM

GSW should beat the spurs in the finals in 7 but wake me up when that starts.

4/14/2016 4:37:47 PM

i predict at least two on-court arguments between lebron and one of his teammates

4/14/2016 7:18:07 PM

Cavs over pistons 5
Raps over pacers 5
Heat over hornets 7
Hawks over celts 7

Cavs over hawks 5
Raptors over heat 7 that one i almost said heat bc of refs but raptors are much better

Cavs over raptors 6

Gsw over Houston 4
Spurs over grizz 4
Thunder over mavs 5
Clips over blazers 5

Gsw over clips 5
Spurs over thunder 5

Warriors over spurs 7

Warriors over cavs 7



That being said i really think a lot of these series could go either way. I could see spurs or cavs winning it all and I could see raptors making the finals or losing 2nd rd.... I could see hornets beating heat and came very close to picking it but batum injury worries me.


I expect lebron to go absolutely nuts effort wise in the finals and if he gets any perimeter help they gave gsw a lot of trouble last year before the fatigue from their nonexistent depth set in. Thompson gave them some trouble and they've had a year to review their defensive strategy when warriors go small.

I'd love to see the warriors go 16-0 and will be rooting for it just because it's absurd people don't think this team is significantly better than the 96 bulls.... it really isn't even close

[Edited on April 14, 2016 at 9:27 PM. Reason : A]

4/14/2016 9:17:51 PM

No team has beaten Golden State more than ONCE this season. I just don't see it happening more than twice. After the Twolves loss, I thought maybe they were starting to fade, but they are about to switch gears and go into God mode, making me and everyone else who doubted them look pretty dumb.

4/15/2016 1:16:23 AM

But who have they played? Easiest schedule ever.

4/15/2016 1:21:24 AM

LOL

4/15/2016 1:25:30 AM

^^ Yeah, the Spurs have more quality loses than GS

4/15/2016 10:59:50 AM

Quote :

"hey gave gsw a lot of trouble last year"

this years team is much better than last year's team. Curry should win the most improved player award but he won't because thats not what the award is meant to be.

4/15/2016 4:03:29 PM

the most improved player should literally go to someone who came to someone from no one. i'm biased but if i was voting i'd say hassan whiteside. guy's got literally no love on any of the all nba ballots, but he's pretty much averaged a double/double, and been the top defender for miami. it's almost sad because i haven't even seen him on the ballot for defensive POY. guy can protect the rim against any team. and also leads the league in blocks.

if i made an un-biased ballot, it would be for isaiah thomas for boston (for most improved player)


[Edited on April 16, 2016 at 12:15 AM. Reason : .]

4/16/2016 12:09:48 AM

The first round of the nba playoffs is the most worthless playoff round in all of sports. Every year there is only 3-4 teams with any chance at winning it all. That is why the nba blows vs mlb/nhl/nfl

[Edited on April 16, 2016 at 12:18 AM. Reason : M]

4/16/2016 12:15:54 AM

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/story/_/page/WarriorsLossQuiz160413/name-every-team-beat-golden-state-warriors
I got 8/9.

4/16/2016 12:16:15 AM

^^ for sure. the west has already been decided. but for the sake of TWW i'll be following the miami-charlotte series lol. is batum expected back for game 1?

4/16/2016 12:21:34 AM

The nba blows vs the nhl and mlb?? Seriously?? "Welp if the 8 seed isn't gonna win it all might as well not have the playoffs derp a derp a derp"

4/16/2016 8:34:48 AM

Yes. Pretty much.

They would be better off with an nfl-style format

4/16/2016 10:56:35 AM

Just cant watch Toronto - Indiana game.

Man if Toronto loses in the first round again that would be fairly ridiculous the pacers are not good.


The more I think about it the more I almost lean towards Cavaliers over warriors in 6.

The warriors really beat the cavs because of fatigue last year. This year cleveland has so many more bodies and the gsw-spurs winner will have gone through more to get there.

I think delly, smith, lebron, frye, thompson lineup is real interesting vs golden state

4/16/2016 3:15:57 PM

nah.

4/16/2016 3:20:44 PM

Iggy has been banged up for seemingly most of the year. Bogut and Ezeli aren't really healthy. Barbosa and speights stink. Varejao is horrifying if he has to play . Greens shot has been MIA for two months. Delly played curry well last year.

Golden state doesn't really have a guy like kawhi to guard lebron. And cavs have shooters this year instead of shumpert. Delly couldn't shoot last year eithe.

Finals should be close imo

4/16/2016 3:30:39 PM

I didn't like watching Houston play last year but now that they stink i absolutely loathe watching them. And I like Beverley and harden.

I wish utah had gotten the 8 seed i like watching hood, hayward, and gobert. Plus they play the warriors tough. This series is basically unwatchable too gag.

Boston-Atlanta I'll give it try despite not liking watching either team... okc not as fun to watch this year they have too many guys i don't like as ancillary players. Dallas is miserable to watch.


The real action starts rd 2. I forget this every year until round 1 starts and you realize it's a bunch of boring series

4/16/2016 4:45:36 PM

The greatness of the Spurs and Warriors have ruined the playoffs. I don't see how anyone can watch any other team. The finals are in like 2 months. Players who are hot or cold now will probably have gone through 2 more cycles by then.

4/16/2016 4:53:34 PM

Yikes, Raptors.

4/16/2016 9:07:29 PM

Ok no homo here but kyle korver was known for being the nba pretty boy when he came into the league. ... they just did interview with him he looks like he's homeless and been smoking methe 20 years what heck happened there

4/16/2016 9:32:17 PM

Hey man, we all know that, unlike black, white does crack.

[Edited on April 17, 2016 at 4:13 AM. Reason : sdfsfd]

4/17/2016 4:13:16 AM

Kinda absurd how bad the bottom of the west is. Last year if okc had squeezed in as the 8 seed we were looking at the most stacked western 1st rd ever. This year Memphis is probably a 25 win team as currently constructed. Dallas is like 35. And Houston is one of the uglier teams to watch you'll ever see that had a legitimate playmaking star.

Cavs not looking good vs Detroit

4/17/2016 4:55:36 PM

Every single time I watch the Cavs play I get pissed at how unaware Kyrie is. Cabs can be flowing offensively, getting everybody involved, ball moving around to open shooters and then he'll decide he's going to shoot contested pull ups 3 possessions in a row.

I know he finished with 31,but he's just not a team player. I don't think they can ever win the title as long as he's there.

4/17/2016 5:57:00 PM

Who was the moron who thought taking Kaminsky over Winslow was a good idea?

4/17/2016 6:19:03 PM

4/17/2016 6:38:24 PM

Quote :

"kinda absurd how bad the bottom of the west is. Last year if okc had squeezed in as the 8 seed we were looking at the most stacked western 1st rd ever."

I thought the same thing but all the injuries pretty much derailed that completely, and a year can make a big difference...now I'm back to the "ok who gives a fuck about most of these series, they need to shorten the 1st round series or cut the number of teams out of the 1st round completely again

4/17/2016 7:13:53 PM

On wouldn't hate a 5 game first round. I don't think it's feasible to go to fewer than 16 in playoffs without completely restructuring the playoffs.

This year has been a weird one as far as top heaviness goes. West is so top heavy, spurs finished tied for 7th best record ever and they're the 2 seed meanwhile the Grizzlies are probably the worst team ever to make the playoffs.

4/17/2016 7:40:25 PM

They need to seed the teams 1-16 and make all series 2-3-2

They also need to stop dragging series out to maximize ratings. 2 and 3 day breaks should never happen

[Edited on April 17, 2016 at 8:26 PM. Reason : Every other night please.]

4/17/2016 8:24:18 PM

Yeah, but then they'd need to restructure to a more balanced schedule to make it fair. Not sure they can do that without shortening regular season because of the increase travel, which they will never do.

I think we'd all like to do 1-16, but that's a tough thing to do. Glad eliminated division winner foolishness.

4/17/2016 9:43:31 PM

Who gets screwed over? If you switched, the system, you'd only have a few different first round matchups this year. The biggest difference is that you don't have two of the greatest teams of all time meeting until the finals.

4/17/2016 9:59:25 PM

I don't think anybody gets screwed over, but I think unless you have a balanced schedule you can't seed 1-16 fairly.

I'm not against it, I'm just saying there's a lot of logistics to take into consideration before you could implement it.

4/17/2016 10:59:02 PM

Are you saying that because 41-41 team from the west is much tougher than a 42-40 team from the east? because that problem already exists today.

4/17/2016 11:49:54 PM

Kind of. My point was that you can't just seed 1-16, it doesn't really fix the problem by itself.

I think in just about all cases every sport wants the best teams in the playoffs, there are certainly plenty of times it doesn't work out. In the NFL you often have division winners weaker than wildcard teams or even teams that missed out. Unless you balance the schedule just seeding 1-16 isn't going to fix the real issue which is that the wrong teams are in the playoffs.

The NBA has done a good job addressing a lot of the issues but I'm not sure they can actually do a balanced schedule because of travel considerations. Without a balanced schedule you have to do divisions and conferences.

4/18/2016 8:54:07 AM

Who should be in the playoffs this year that could win? Maybe you could argue okc last year but they missed because of injuries, not because the system wasnt fair.

4/18/2016 9:09:18 AM

You can't really make changes based on a single year, I mean do we want to scrap the lottery because teams are tanking? Maybe, but maybe not.

Last year is a much better example. It's really hard to say if OKC would have made the playoffs last year if they hadn't played a western conference schedule.

I largely agree with your premise, I'm just pointing out that you can't just change to straight 1-16 without making other changes as well.

Frankly I'd rather cut back to 14 in the playoffs with a bye. I don't think there are enough deserving teams to do 16, just look at the historical records of 1 vs. 8.

4/18/2016 9:26:21 AM

I think the NBA playoffs are fine as currently constructed. Sure, this season the first round series are looking less competitive than in years past, but there have been years where an 8 has beaten a 1 so i see no need in dumping the 8 seeds for a bye. IIRC, the knicks were an 8 in 1999 and made the finals with like 6 players on the team.

seeding 1-16 is never gonna happen, due to the unbalanced nature of the schedules as mentioned.

the point about tightening up the playoff schedule so that the games are not so spread out, i completely agree with this - the first two rounds are WAY too drawn out now. should be one day off between games, and maybe an extra day for travel in the finals when teams are covering more distance. but yeah, for some first round series to go 16 days to get 7 games is a bit much. and that 3/4 day break between the conference finals and the finals last year seemed extreme too. let's just get it done homies.

4/18/2016 10:57:36 AM

No way the players union would go along with more condensed series. There is already alot of grumbling about the toll the players take playing back to backs and 3 in 4s during the season. Compressing the high intensity playoffs will create more strife. Plus the NBA loves having the spotlight for two months.

The NBA should strongly consider shortening the season IMO. Of course the owners won't allow that.

4/18/2016 3:13:13 PM

I feel like now is an appropriate time to remind earl that i correctly predicted the 8 seed over the 1 seed two consecutive seasons on tww.

And won like 2 grand on one of those... posted the bets prior to the series. Upsets do happen.

They are harder to pull off now though, the game has become much more of a team game due to rule changes and the defensive adaptations. Which has led to a higher emphasis on shooting and more emphasis on defensive matchups to exploit.

Significantly harder to pull upsets than it was a few years ago. If you have size the other team can just go small to pull your size off the court. Then usually you're left with a huge skill/shooting disadvantage if your team isn't flexible and deep

[Edited on April 18, 2016 at 6:39 PM. Reason : A]

4/18/2016 6:36:53 PM

If they made the first round Best of 5 again, that would help.

4/18/2016 7:06:46 PM

Yeah, 7 game series for the first round is too much. Just cut it to 5 and be done with it. Things don't really get exciting until the conference Finals or the second round.

4/18/2016 7:23:42 PM

i hate 5 game playoff because one bad game at home and a top team could be in big trouble. Also, that only compounds the real problem with the playoffs being unbalanced.

4/18/2016 7:41:35 PM

it works fine in other sports. the NBA has a real problem with unbalanced teams and lack of parity. the fans shouldn't be punished by having to endure crap 7 game series when they don't really matter in the first place.

4/18/2016 7:57:45 PM

You're talking about one extra game for the series that aren't competitive.

4/18/2016 8:07:08 PM

durant is already at golden state mentally.

4/19/2016 6:46:25 PM

they don't need/want him. he's a great player, but i bet he winds up in DC.

4/19/2016 7:45:25 PM

Durant had just about the worst body language I've ever seen in that game last night. Got frustrates and let it shown at every opportunity. If Lebron had showed his ass like that it's all we'd hear about on sports radio today.

If they somehow get bounced in the first round it will be on him 100% and it will cost him huge money.

4/19/2016 9:00:50 PM

It's pretty smart to sit Curry tonight. They'll probably win anyway, and if they don't, he should be fine to play on Sunday.

4/21/2016 8:40:44 PM