NBA Season - now 24/25
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No Ice Trae and the Hawks offence hasn’t missed a beat.
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Clint Capela with a Bird-esque shot with the shot clock expiring. Love it.
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CP3 drops a 40-piece with zero turnovers to win an away close out game and defeat the evil empire death star Clippers (formerly the KD-Warriors). Love it.
If he wins his first ring in his 16th year in what is(was) viewed as a non-elite, non-main market team, it will be an amazing story.
Meanwhile the Bucks are in a massive scrap against the not-very-good Hawks. Giannis' knee hyperextension was horrible to watch in real time and he won't play Game 5.
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@kiwimurph said in NBA Season 20/21:
Suns fanbase in the Finals is gonna be wild.
It’s been a long time between drinks. Happy for them. I went to a Suns game 5 years ago and the team was a joke, there was more in-fighting and drama than an episode of Big Brother, no problem getting tickets though!
Congrats @shark
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@mariner4life said in NBA Season 20/21:
@shark I bet she's a dud root
Good to look at but
Hawt No cans. But good on him.
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@act-crusader I was 7th form last time the Suns made the NBA Finals. It was a dream year with Sir Charles, KJ and Thunder Dan in the prime of their careers plus a great supporting cast. But we could only take two games off the Bulls. And John fucking Paxson of all fucking people sunk us in the last seconds as we almost forced a game 7. My Dad even let me bunk school to watch one of the finals games.
I'd become aware of and started loosely following the Suns the season prior. That might have been the first year Sky showed NBA ball in what must have only been Sky's second year. The 1992 Dream Team also created massive global awareness of basketball. Pre-Charles it was the KJ and Tom Chambers show. But for 1992-93 the Suns pulled off a major coup in signing Barkley and were instant contenders. In the new 'Sunburst' strip they took the NBA by storm and it seemed like every second game on TV featured the Suns. I was obsessed and started collecting player cards and managed to find an up to date Suns cap. There was a store at the Moorhouse Ave end of Manchester St which sold heaps of NBA gear, and I subscribed to an Australian publication dedicated to whatever the NBL was called then, and the NBA. I lived and breathed basketball then and played at school also.
So yeah, I'm pretty excited about this.
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@bovidae said in NBA Season 20/21:
@shark 1991 was the first year the NBA was on Sky. I know this as I got it to watch the Lakers vs Bulls in the finals. Bloody expensive back then as you had to buy the Sky box.
I remember the days of KJ, Chambers and Majerle well.
The closest they got was to lose to MJ and the Bulls in a 7 game series. Barkley played in that squad too
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@shark @Bovidae I’ve said it before on here, that 92-93 Suns team was deeper than the Bulls team - Sir Charles, KJ, Thunder Dan, Dumas, Chambers, West, Ainge, Ceballos, Oliver Miller (when he could move) - but it was Jordan factor.
Phil Jackson knew that it would take a massive effort from MJ to get through the Suns. That’s why MJ basically played every minute in those Finals and averaged 40+ ppg.
Lots of big moments in that series, the triple OT game, MJ going for 55 in game 4, Suns winning in Chicago to stave off the series loss, Pax shot in game 6.
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@act-crusader Richard Dumas was a bit of a sad story. He could have been anything. Yes, we were deep, but we were also small. Oliver Miller was an under-sized centre, as was Sir Charles at PF. Chuck had always played above his size, but the general height issue created match up problems throughout the season and in the finals. But that season was a helluva ride.
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@shark said in NBA Season 20/21:
@act-crusader Richard Dumas was a bit of a sad story. He could have been anything. Yes, we were deep, but we were also small. Oliver Miller was an under-sized centre, as was Sir Charles at PF. Chuck had always played above his size, but the general height issue created match up problems throughout the season and in the finals. But that season was a helluva ride.
Huge fan of Dumas as a player, an amazing athlete, but the drugs and other issues made for a sad story.
Through that series the Bulls basically played a core of MJ, Pip, Grant and BJ - and then they would rotate and go with a bigger lineup that had a mix of Cartwright or Scott Williams; or go small and have Paxson on and Horace playing centre.
The way Westphal played suited the smaller lineup. It also enabled them to do a lot of switching on MJ - Dumas, Majerle, Ceballos, Ainge and even Barkley all having a go at him. Not that it mattered because it was MJ!
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So, Suns - Bucks for the finals, which is going to be nice. I'm pleased as I don't really care which team wins as both have a player I'd like to see get a ring. I might be leaning Suns after seeing CP3 go so big to get them there, but equally I'd like the Greek to win so that some other small market teams might be able to stay relevant.
Fun couple of weeks coming up with this, AB tests, and the TDF.