Jmpasq wrote:

fishmike wrote:If the Bucks are healthy they can smother anyone and are terrible matchup for us. After that the Knicks have punchers chance against any team.

The Bucks were a bad match-up for us. The Heat aren't great either. With Randle we would win the series. Without him things get tough. We will have to shoot better. The Heat aren' going to let us slauhter them on the offensive boards like the Cavs did.

Agree about the Bucks. Mitch would have his hands full. As good a defender as he is. In good company vs. Giannis.

Its a mixed bag with Randle vs the Heat. Throw in that this is the playoffs. I'm not making any predictions.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/julius-randle-vs-the-heat

Hopefully Obi can keep delivering in the second round. Especially if Randle's reinjured ankle is limiting his mobility.

Might be better for Hart to start over Grimes. We bounced back really well from that game 2 beatdown, with Hart in the starting lineup. Hart has a chip on his shoulder like the team we'll be facing.

A speedy I/Q Grimes backcourt, off the bench, might pay dividends as well. Because they're also A+ defenders.

But all that said, I'd rather play them than Milwaukee. Herro's given us fits, so him being out is huge. Missing Randle and Grimes though, will be tough. Need Star-J and Obi to keep up with their good play.

GustavBahler wrote:I'm seeing a path to the Finals. But who knows who will be coming out of the West? Matchups.

Jumping WAY too far ahead here, but could you imagine a Knicks/Lakers finals? Knicks would have home court advantage in the goddamn Finals!!!

Nalod wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I’m really shocked about that Miami series. How did a team that lost in the play-in to Atlanta able to absolutely dominate Milwaukee like this ? I know Giannis was hurt but it’s not like they didn’t get some dominant Giannis games. And Middleton and Lopez have been good too. Miami just always seems to figure it out when it matters more often than not. They dominated this series the same way the Knicks did theirs. We need a healthy Randle and grimes, but this is a great opportunity. No Herro either. I wonder if that’s a good thing or bad thing though.

They are build for playoffs. I know we beat them 3-1 and Herro is hurt. They play very good team defense.
“But we beat them 3-1!”……….
But we did not play them in a series
“But we beat them 3-1”………
You see what they just did to Milwaukee?
“But we beat them 3-1”………..
I hope we sweep them, and we should prevail as we are the higher seed and have home court advantage!
But, those ****ers don’t go down easy. They have a grit and focus to be respected.
“But we beat them 3-1”. They were close games as recall. They eat leads and seem to enjoy it that way.

I can see the general idea that they are built for the playoffs because butler and Adebayo are great. But they are all mostly made up of undrafted guys who found their ways to the league in unorthodox ways. It’s hard to quantify how all of these guys are made for playoffs.

SergioNYK wrote:I'm not as crazy as Briggs just yet but I will admit I feel a tiny bit more optimistic with Giannis eliminated. I considered the Bucks the toughest opponent for us to play because of their size, defense, shooting and of course Giannis. But we still got KD/Booker, Embiid and Jokic still alive. And don't count out Butler. He can will his team over us if we don't match his heart, desire and hunger in this next series!

I think that speaks for all of us

Knixkik wrote:

Nalod wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I’m really shocked about that Miami series. How did a team that lost in the play-in to Atlanta able to absolutely dominate Milwaukee like this ? I know Giannis was hurt but it’s not like they didn’t get some dominant Giannis games. And Middleton and Lopez have been good too. Miami just always seems to figure it out when it matters more often than not. They dominated this series the same way the Knicks did theirs. We need a healthy Randle and grimes, but this is a great opportunity. No Herro either. I wonder if that’s a good thing or bad thing though.

They are build for playoffs. I know we beat them 3-1 and Herro is hurt. They play very good team defense.
“But we beat them 3-1!”……….
But we did not play them in a series
“But we beat them 3-1”………
You see what they just did to Milwaukee?
“But we beat them 3-1”………..
I hope we sweep them, and we should prevail as we are the higher seed and have home court advantage!
But, those ****ers don’t go down easy. They have a grit and focus to be respected.
“But we beat them 3-1”. They were close games as recall. They eat leads and seem to enjoy it that way.

I can see the general idea that they are built for the playoffs because butler and Adebayo are great. But they are all mostly made up of undrafted guys who found their ways to the league in unorthodox ways. It’s hard to quantify how all of these guys are made for playoffs.

Because they were the 8th seed who was on their last leg and had to win to get in......They did.
Because they just knocked off the 1 seed.
Because on paper is not logival, but they in finals two years ago and semi's last year losing in game 7.

Mostly undrafted players and vet roster is formulaic to the specs of how they play and coached.
Hard to quantify? It does not wrap around my brain either but this is what's been happening and here they are exceeding once again.
Thus, I don't take them lightly.