Playoff matchup discussion

[spanishninja]

Wolves and Mavs in first two rounds please. Nuggets and Jazz don't scare me too. Against the other potential 2nd round and WCF opponents we better bring our A game.

Totally missed Golden St slipping back into 3rd with the Mavs loss last night. Dallas is in Milwaukee tomorrow.

I think the Warriors will shoot for the 4-seed. I would rather play us then Memphis if I were a Warriors fan. They play us tough.

Warriors win vs Jazz was nice. There is a chance now. I'll tune in for the Mavs Bucks game. Mil rested their players in the previous game and had a bad loss. This game should be a good one. Fingers crossed Bucks win. This also increases the chance they meet Nets in first round after Nets lost to the Hawks.

Sunday's game is on ABC so I don't even think the Bucks are allowed to sit starters for that one.

[RaisingArizona]

Damn, I was thinking the Warriors might drop to the 4 seed since they were down 103-87 to the Jazz midway through the 3rd but they went on a 24-4 run, including 18 in a row to take the lead at 105-103 to win 111-107.

Let Memphis/GS beat up one another. Give me the Texas route this year!

[pj0tr]

4 games today impacting the Suns in terms of possible matchups:

Bucks/Mavs - Pulling for Milwaukee (lol)
TWolves/Rockets - Pulling for TWolves
Lakers/Nuggets - Pulling for Nuggets (a loss wouldn't disappoint me, giving the Lakers hope before Tuesday lol)
Warriors/Kings - Pulling for Warriors, but they're likely sitting guys today on a B2B, if the Mavs lose, this game doesn't hurt, but if the Warriors somehow win, they are 2 up on the Mavs in the loss column, but the Mavs own the tiebreak

[sunsbg]

Wish Middleton shoots like this in some of our games. Giannis was also pretty average vs a small frontcourt and a scrub like Powell, who on top of this had a big scoring game. Now 90% Warriors fall to 4th with Mavs next three games against tanking/resting teams. I can't see Dubs winning all their remaining games.

Mavs can scare and even beat a team like the Grizz if Doncic outplays Morant. Besides those two the teams look similar - a bunch of role players.

[RaisingArizona]

Lolakers are done

[bwgood77]

Damn, I was thinking the Warriors might drop to the 4 seed since they were down 103-87 to the Jazz midway through the 3rd but they went on a 24-4 run, including 18 in a row to take the lead at 105-103 to win 111-107.

Let Memphis/GS beat up one another. Give me the Texas route this year!

It will still be close. Dallas has the Bucks but a bunch of easy ones outside of that but GS has a slightly tougher overall schedule with perhaps teams more motiated to win like the Lakers, Spurs and Pelicans...the 3 fighting for the final play in.

It shows Dallas as the easiest schedule and I think they hold the tiebreaker too, so GS needs to win as many as them. Dallas also has Detroit, Portland and the Spurs. They HAVE to lose to the Bucks I think and GS win at least 3 or they each win 2.

https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

Nevermind - I see Dallas beat the Bucks. So the Warriors may need to win out to hold their spot.

[Hitachi77]

Very likely GS falls to 4 and plays the Nuggs or Jazz. I was hoping they would fall all the way to 6, but the Jazz epic failures, and Nuggs home loss to twolves, kind of ended that. Good news is the Warrs are far from a lock in the first round, especially with Curry coming off injury. Bad news is obviously they will be terrifying if they get through that round.

[RunDogGun]

Very likely GS falls to 4 and plays the Nuggs or Jazz. I was hoping they would fall all the way to 6, but the Jazz epic failures, and Nuggs home loss to twolves, kind of ended that. Good news is the Warrs are far from a lock in the first round, especially with Curry coming off injury. Bad news is obviously they will be terrifying if they get through that round.

They are killing SAC right now. Poole is playing great, and really filling in while Curry is out.

[sunsbg]

The players will be motivated for next game after two losses, a RS wins record waiting to be broken and a home game vs Lakers. Beating the Lakers may also mean Warriors next three opponents have nothing to play for, so as long as they want 3rd seed they can easily get it.

[Hitachi77]

Yeah basically they are in a spot now where they can choose their 2nd round opponent. Will see what happens but with the way the Grizz have been playing I'm guessing they would prefer us.

[bwgood77]

Yeah basically they are in a spot now where they can choose their 2nd round opponent. Will see what happens but with the way the Grizz have been playing I'm guessing they would prefer us.

I don't think they can really choose. That all depends on the 7-8 play in game 1st, and then the 2nd one. It could still be any of 5 teams, though the Lakers are more of a long shot now. I think the Spurs and Pels are somewhat of long shots as well, at least as of now.

When it comes down to the last game for the 8th spot, say the Pelicans vs the Wolves, it's not as long of shot for the Pelicans, if they beat the Spurs (or Lakers), but I'd still favor Minnesota (or the Clippers).

[Revived]

I think both the Warriors (with Curry only) and Grizzlies are not at all afraid of a series with the Suns. Hate to say it but both those teams have the capability to beat the Suns in 5 games or less. Tied the season series with the Warriors 2-2 but the last win was very lucky and could’ve easily been 3-1 in their favor instead. They didn’t have Curry and still outplayed the Suns for basically the entire night really.

The Grizzlies HC Taylor Jenkins has pretty much figured out how to beat the Suns honestly. Forget that stacked Grizzlies roster, he can probably take the Kings or Magic roster and beat the Suns handedly. This dude comes from that Mike Budenholzer coaching tree and Suns have looked as helpless or worse against the Grizzlies as they did in games 3-6 of the finals last season. He just completely out-schemes Monty’s system and destroys it regardless of which players he’s using.

Dallas was the team that I previously wanted to avoid but without THJ, their just a one man wrecking crew really. But the Suns must avoid the Grizzlies and Warriors if they get Curry back at all costs imo. I think both these teams would much rather prefer to avoid playing against one another than playing against the Suns.

[Hitachi77]

Yeah basically they are in a spot now where they can choose their 2nd round opponent. Will see what happens but with the way the Grizz have been playing I'm guessing they would prefer us.

I don't think they can really choose. That all depends on the 7-8 play in game 1st, and then the 2nd one. It could still be any of 5 teams, though the Lakers are more of a long shot now. I think the Spurs and Pels are somewhat of long shots as well, at least as of now.

When it comes down to the last game for the 8th spot, say the Pelicans vs the Wolves, it's not as long of shot for the Pelicans, if they beat the Spurs (or Lakers), but I'd still favor Minnesota (or the Clippers).

Not sure if I was clear, I meant the Warriors can basically choose their 2nd round opponent (Suns or Grizz), by dropping one or both of their last 2 games (Mavs have a very easy end to the year). Course this also assumes the Suns and Grizz survive the first round, which likely won't be a cakewalk.

[Hitachi77]

I think both the Warriors (with Curry only) and Grizzlies are not at all afraid of a series with the Suns. Hate to say it but both those teams have the capability to beat the Suns in 5 games or less. Tied the season series with the Warriors 2-2 but the last win was very lucky and could’ve easily been 3-1 in their favor instead. They didn’t have Curry and still outplayed the Suns for basically the entire night really.

The Grizzlies HC Taylor Jenkins has pretty much figured out how to beat the Suns honestly. Forget that stacked Grizzlies roster, he can probably take the Kings or Magic roster and beat the Suns handedly. This dude comes from that Mike Budenholzer coaching tree and Suns have looked as helpless or worse against the Grizzlies as they did in games 3-6 of the finals last season. He just completely out-schemes Monty’s system and destroys it regardless of which players he’s using.

Dallas was the team that I previously wanted to avoid but without THJ, their just a one man wrecking crew really. But the Suns must avoid the Grizzlies and Warriors if they get Curry back at all costs imo. I think both these teams would much rather prefer to avoid playing against one another than playing against the Suns.

I dunno, if we look at those games:

Game 1 vs Warrs: great win all around, won with Warrs at full strength and Suns mostly missing Booker
Game 2 vs Warrs: b2b, missing some guys IIRC, can throw this one out
Game 3 vs Warrs: bad loss, no doubt, probably underestimated some of ths Warrs bench players, many of which are very capable
Game 4 vs Warrs: close win, maybe we should have blown them out without Curry, but can't overreact to a road game vs a talented team

Game 1 vs Grizz: don't think I saw this game, I just know it was before the Grizz started playing very well of coursr
Game 2 vs Grizz: Grizz were starting to play very well, Suns coming off a bad loss, great comeback and shot by Booker. Yeah we lost on a buzzer beater (basically), but the comeback and clutch shooting was encouraging
Game 3: see game 4 vs Warrs, just can't overreact to a road loss vs a confident team, they were missing a lot of guys but are also very deep, and we were technically playing for nothing, and knew this Grizz team would be nothing like what we might see in the playoffs

Anyway, there's nothing to indicate that either team would stomp us, just that both series would be tough, but we knew that already

[Revived]

I think both the Warriors (with Curry only) and Grizzlies are not at all afraid of a series with the Suns. Hate to say it but both those teams have the capability to beat the Suns in 5 games or less. Tied the season series with the Warriors 2-2 but the last win was very lucky and could’ve easily been 3-1 in their favor instead. They didn’t have Curry and still outplayed the Suns for basically the entire night really.

The Grizzlies HC Taylor Jenkins has pretty much figured out how to beat the Suns honestly. Forget that stacked Grizzlies roster, he can probably take the Kings or Magic roster and beat the Suns handedly. This dude comes from that Mike Budenholzer coaching tree and Suns have looked as helpless or worse against the Grizzlies as they did in games 3-6 of the finals last season. He just completely out-schemes Monty’s system and destroys it regardless of which players he’s using.

Dallas was the team that I previously wanted to avoid but without THJ, their just a one man wrecking crew really. But the Suns must avoid the Grizzlies and Warriors if they get Curry back at all costs imo. I think both these teams would much rather prefer to avoid playing against one another than playing against the Suns.

I dunno, if we look at those games:

Game 1 vs Warrs: great win all around, won with Warrs at full strength and Suns mostly missing Booker
Game 2 vs Warrs: b2b, missing some guys IIRC, can throw this one out
Game 3 vs Warrs: bad loss, no doubt, probably underestimated some of ths Warrs bench players, many of which are very capable
Game 4 vs Warrs: close win, maybe we should have blown them out without Curry, but can't overreact to a road game vs a talented team

Game 1 vs Grizz: don't think I saw this game, I just know it was before the Grizz started playing very well of coursr
Game 2 vs Grizz: Grizz were starting to play very well, Suns coming off a bad loss, great comeback and shot by Booker. Yeah we lost on a buzzer beater (basically), but the comeback and clutch shooting was encouraging
Game 3: see game 4 vs Warrs, just can't overreact to a road loss vs a confident team, they were missing a lot of guys but are also very deep, and we were technically playing for nothing, and knew this Grizz team would be nothing like what we might see in the playoffs

Anyway, there's nothing to indicate that either team would stomp us, just that both series would be tough, but we knew that already

I didn’t say either team would stomp us, I think both teams can stomp us. I don’t think any of the other teams in the West can do the same.

Memphis in particular has just been hot even regardless of the matchups. Warriors without Curry are not a good team, they lost to the likes of Magic, Spurs, Hawks and Wizards during that stretch when Suns barely them. Even more so than win or loss, the biggest takeaway for me from that game was Kerr & Draymond figured out how to keep the Suns almost entirely out of the paint. Especially Booker and Ayton who both had terrifying and scared looks on both their faces for most of the game. CP3 and Bridges were the only ones that didn’t play scared.

I think Suns would be favorites in a matchup with either of these teams and probably will win a potential series but these two teams are the only ones in the West I can see pulling off a big upset on the Suns. Unless Clippers get Kawhi back or Nuggets get Murray back then who knows.