Build a Franchise Discussion- Season 3 Offseason Announcement- page 77- EL contract deadline 6/30- announcement pg 88

[El Poochio]

Oh what could have been..

[El Poochio]

The Indiana Pacers completed the upset over the higher seeded Miami Heat winning 128-121, in game six, at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. Indiana was led once again by Donovan Mitchell, who scored 35 points to go with 9 assists in the game. After a back and forth battle all night the game finally reached the fourth quarter, tied 87-87. Miami took a brief lead early in the fourth after a Jamal Murray basket put them ahead 91-89 two minutes in. But that was the last lead the Heat would have as Indiana rattled off a 7-0 run, led by Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns, to put them ahead 96-91 with just over 7 minutes to play. The final minutes consisted off both teams trading baskets but not enough stops for a Miami team who finished twelfth in the league in defense during the regular season. James Harden's three pointer with two minutes remaining pulled them with one at 120-119 but a Zion Williamson follow up dunk of a Mitchell miss extended the lead back to three. On the next Miami possession, Harden missed a potential game tying three pointer as he got distracted by his GM sitting in front row digging up Pelicans summer plans on his phone and an Indiana bucket from Towns on the ensuing possession put the Pacers ahead by 5 and all but sealed the victory. Free throws would close it out for the Pacers who will now play the top seeded Chicago Bulls in the second round beginning some time this weekend.

[El Poochio]

29 out of 30 GMs chose to start a franchise with Doncic. Guess the GM who didnt lol

Luka Doncic could become the best-ever NBA player from Europe. Trae Young has already become one of the NBA's most dynamic offensive players. Zion Williamson is the most electrifying rookie since LeBron James. Ja Morant has turned the Memphis Grizzlies into must-see TV.

But which rising star would NBA decision-makers most like to build a team around?

ESPN asked 20 members of the NBA world -- including coaches, scouts and executives -- to rank these four young talents based on their potential to lead a franchise.

It wasn't particularly close.

Doncic earned 17 of 20 first-place votes and finished second on the remaining three ballots to come away as the overwhelming favorite.

[2010]

Swiss, I’m curious who you fear most in the East. Do say? Lol

The team that knocked him out last year, prolly.

Talk your schit Mecca!

[bringbackhoffa]

Congrat to Miami on a great season, just an unfavorable first round opponent. Has several pieces to continue building off, and come back stronger

[Brazilian Knick]

Congrat to Miami on a great season, just an unfavorable first round opponent. Has several pieces to continue building off, and come back stronger

Thanks a lot Hoffa!

Very nice to get that kind of feedback from you.

I'm sure the SIM will give the appropriate respect to Siakam and Charlotte will come stronger next season.

[mpharris36]

Payton and KCP leading denver to a series win in game 6

[HEZI]

The Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-106 to advance to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. A wild game finished off a strange series which saw the road team win the final three games. The Nuggets jumped on the home team early jumping out to a 35-25 lead after one quarter thanks to a hot start from Kelly Oubre, who scored 8 of his 14 points in the first quarter. But the momentum began to turn in the second quarter when the Thunder's Damian Lillard (38 points) began to heat up. Lillard helped Oklahoma City cut the Denver lead to eight, 52-44, as the teams went to the locker room. Lillard and the Thunder blitzed the normally sound defensive Nuggets in the third quarter. Lillard continued applying the pressure scoring 15 third quarter points and trying to keep the Thunder's season alive. OKC outscored the #2 seed by 18 points in the third quarter and took a 80-70 lead into the final quarter. After the Thunder scored the first five points of the fourth extending their lead to a game high 15, and with Denver facing the possibility of being forced into a game seven, they got a lift from an unlikely source. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope took over for Denver scoring seven straight points in a 1:24 stretch to stem the tide and help get the Nuggets quickly back into the game. Both Jordan Clarkson (18 points) and Elfrid Payton (15 points) made big baskets off of the bench for the Nuggets during a huge 40-21 run over the games final 10 minutes. Andre Drummond was a dominant force throughout the series and continued his solid play with 14 points and 22 rebounds in the game. Denver moves on to play the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in the second round.

What a crazy game!

Bench mob stepped up and helped seal the deal. So proud of them! OKC is a tough opponent because Dame is just a relentless assassin. I needed the whole team and different guys stepping up each night just to pull this off.

[HEZI]

Payton and KCP leading denver to a series win in game 6

That duo should never be separated the entire BAF

[Manhattan Project]

Kudos to Smash winning the series. With that being said, Jokic is officially on the block.

[NewEra]

It is written. So shall it be.

[Smash3]

Like tonight showed, we're the best division in the league, when these teams go to battle it's must watch tv!

Let me start off with saying what a great job MP did this season with turning around his team, his team was struggling early in the season but he made all the right moves to turn the ship around. One of the most underrated pickups was getting Covington for Durant/Giannis, Durant wasn't really playing like himself this series and that credit goes to Covington. All though it always sucks to go out this early in the playoffs, I'm pretty sure Jazz will continue to be a perennial contender going forward with the right moves, especially considering DLO might be one of the best contracts in the league.

I'll finish this off later, I'm pulling up to the At&t Center center now:

[bishnykfan]

ANNOUNCEMENT

Congratulations to the eight teams remaining. Tomorrow will be an off day. All conference semifinals will begin on Saturday. Any updates to rotations/minutes need to be in before noon on Saturday.

[HEZI]

Who got next?

Oh look its the Defending Champs! This is going to be exciting

[Smash3]

[mpharris36]

7 out of 8 predictions ain't to bad brodie

congrats, I got a little to carried away with Utah winning that pivotal game right before the end of the season. But your stars showed up.

[King of Canada]

7 out of 8 predictions ain't to bad brodie

congrats, I got a little to carried away with Utah winning that pivotal game right before the end of the season. But your stars showed up.

Round 2 predictions?

[Capn'O]

Who got next?

Oh look its the Defending Champs! This is going to be exciting

[mpharris36]

East Conference Semi's:


Philadelphia vs Brooklyn:
This is the 2 vs 3 matchup but I see Brooklyn dominating this series. They won the season series 3-1 and they just matchup very well for Philly. I think we need to see a heavy dose of Faried vs Collins (who had a great season). But Embiid/Simmons/Oladipo is just too much for Philly great run to continue.

Prediction: Brooklyn in 5

Indiana vs Chicago:
What a great matchup! With the SIM starting to respect Luka this will be a tough series for Chicago to win. Chicago won the seasons series 3-1 but there last game playing each other was nearly 4 months ago (Jan 6th last time they played each other). Indiana is a much improved team since then and with the SIM bump with Luka I see this series going the distance. Kawhi ultimately will be too much and the home court should allow Chicago to prevail but this will be a wakeup call to the league that Indy is coming.

Prediction: Chicago in 7


West Conference Semi's:

Dallas vs Denver
Another very intriguing matchup. Dallas dismantled Minnesota (a team some GM's around the league thought was a sleeper team in the playoffs). Well the defending champs let everyone know who is still the team that needs to be reckoned with. Denver is one of the deepest teams in the league and there depth was huge in there 6 game series win vs Oklahoma. With the season series tied at 2-2 with both teams taking care of business at home this is a tough series to predict. Dallas just dominating there series while Denver struggling a bit in theres makes me think the defending champs have the slight edge.

Prediction: Dallas in 6


Portland vs Golden State
Golden State is power house but is Portland being slept on? They still have the most dynamic duo in the sim lead by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Will that be enough to overcome the depth of Golden State? The Warriors ended up sweeping the season series 3-0 but is this a more focused Blazers team? Will star power overcome the lack of depth? Warriors were an insane 39-2 at home this year and I believe that will be the ultimate difference maker in this series. Portland health this series will be very important because of there lack of depth. Kevin Durant was dealing with a sore leg for most of the series and was able to battle through but Golden State is a different animal. I was debating this series being over in 5 or 7. I do think the big duo might be able to push this to 7 if they stay healthy all series.

Prediction: Golden State in 7

[Deeeez Knicks]

Who got next?

Oh look its the Defending Champs! This is going to be exciting