Who's going to The Chip?

[fbalmeida]

The epoch of the asterisk dynasty is upon us.

[Raps in 4]

Sticking with my wild but serious prediction.

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1978320

Raptors - 76ers
Nuggets - Mavs

Raptors over the Nuggets in 6.

Raptors-Nuggets final would be incredible. Both teams built on late draft picks by magician GMs. Nuggets-Mavs WCF would be fun as **** too.

[NinjaBro]

Shout out to Jonathan Givony for having our back the whole way. He's our Tim Bontemps this year.

[mdenny]

Clippers.

This break helps noone more than it does Kawhi. My guess is this will be his final dominating playoff performance. It really couldn't have worked out better for him. He'll be better than last year.

[Young Moosehead]

Interestingly Bontemp's reasoning about the raps possibly losing in the 2nd round for our worse case scenario makes no damn sense. He implies that Raps will suffer without homecourt advantage against 76ers and Cs. The 76ers suck outside of their stadium, having the worst record of any playoff team away from home. Boston also gets preferential treatment at home. If there is any team that isn't impacted by location it is us, as is proven by our even home/away splits this year. For a generally good writer, his opinions here were clearly just pulled out off his ass on this one.

I still don't know what Philly's record means (if it means anything at all). Does it mean that they need the boost from their home crowd, and that this will be bad for them? Or does it mean that they get rattled in the hostile environment of an away game, and that the Orlando bubble will take away that obstacle for them?

And maybe it's a bit of both, and despite all of their talent, they're just a mediocre team. It's going to be fascinating to find out.

I can't say which for certain either. But there is an impact. Being 10-24 on the road over 34 games is too large a sample size to ignore. So in my eyes Philly has to prove they can overcome that record before Bontemp gives them the benefit of the doubt. I can't say for certain, but I feel like Embiid picks up a lot of emotion from the crowd, particularly at home and plays a little bit sharper.

Embiid's 2019-20 home away splits are worse in every category.

Pts -2.7, Rb -0.5, As -0.7, St -0.6, Blk -0.2, FT -3.1%, FG -6.5%, 3PT -0.4%. All this with 1.1 more minutes of game time. To make matters worse he takes 1.5 fewer shots on the road, even though he takes 1 more three a game on the road, despite his 34.5% road 3PT.

Not that I am saying Embiid is bad. When he plays confidently and within himself at home he is elite, but when tries to do a bit to much on the road his numbers lose enough of the shine to take him from Superstar down to all star (and worse if Gasol is visiting). I think this is best demonstrated when you consider his 3PT percentage and number of attempts on road vs away. (He takes 2.6 fewer shots inside the arc and 1.1 more outside on the road. Not great selection for a center). I think it is also demonstrated in his blocks plus steals compared to fouls at home vs away. At home he gets a combine 2.5 blocks and steals on 3.1 fouls, on the road that reduces to a combined 1.7 blocks and steals on 3.9 fouls.

[blastttOFF]

Anyone realistically think our team can beat Kawhi?



I do.

[lobosloboslobos]

If we hit our open 3s we take the title.

[Johnny Bball]

The Lakers aren’t getting there and don’t have the depth. Houston will run up to a team that matches up to there smallball to well and they won’t make it. So that’s Clippers, Nuggets and Jazz to pick from. Clippers if the stay healthy, the other two don’t seem to be tough enough yet on the road or veteran enough.

East is Raptors or Bucks. I don’t know that the Bucks can be beaten by anyone.

And it’s “who’s going to the finals”.

[phanman]

Raptors over Milwaukee
Clippers over Lakers
Raptors over Clippers

Would be the dream scenario. Imagine how god damn satisfying it would be to go back to back over Kawhi's new team.

Realistically though, I think we'll see a Milwaukee vs Lakers finals match-up. It is hard to imagine any team beating Milwaukee 4x and I think the Lakers have enough to beat the Clippers. Even with the loss of Bradley, the Lakers still have a really good 8-10 man core of: Rondo, Caruso, KCP, Green, Kuzma, Bron, Morris, AD, McGee, and Howard.

[SFour]

All the Raptors need to do is win game 1 against the Bucks and they'll start mentally crumbling

[nabbs]

I think the Clippers will run in to issues against a team like the Nuggets. Mismatch issues with Jokic, they can put size on the court and have the wings to throw at their big guns.

Ultimately I think Lakers make the finals and the Bucks make the finals. I have Bucks over Lakers. Hate to say it

[JonasVFTW]

We are to the Giannis and the Bucks what Lebron and the Cavs were to us a few years ago.

[Chandan]

Some of you guys are so insecure and insufferable. The section is called worst case scenario.

[Kevin Willis]

I only have one question. Will the chip have some dip?

[LoveMyRaps]

I can't wait for the parade. Let's do it all again

[Westside Gunn]

Can't be dipping chips in rona season. Unless everyone gets their own dip

Even though its a fake season, I think we will go to the chip. I just can't imagine Nurse sitting around in lockdown. This man probably murdered every game tape and now has the ultimate strategy for every situation.

I'm rootin for Nurse man, he's like the star of this team to me.

[Syd-TK3]

Anyone realistically think our team can beat Kawhi?



I do.

I think we can beat the Lakers
We really don't match up well against the Clippers

[Rapsalot]

Buck over Second seed in East. Either Raps or Boston. I think whoever gets second seed with show something about how they are playing and get easier first round opponents which will help with rest.

The healthier of LA teams wins. If both at full strength Clips in 6.

Clippers in 6-7 if healthy.

[Psubs]

I think the Clippers will run in to issues against a team like the Nuggets. Mismatch issues with Jokic, they can put size on the court and have the wings to throw at their big guns.

Ultimately I think Lakers make the finals and the Bucks make the finals. I have Bucks over Lakers. Hate to say it

Well they are both #1 seeds in the conferences.


I'm hoping that Bol Bol is the X-Factor that gets the Nuggets to the Finals, then Nick Nurse counters with Boucher.

[RaptorsNorth]

I feel like we’re missing At least one consistent player to put us over the Bucks. Middleton and Giannis already look like they didn’t miss a beat. We’re putting too much faith in guys like norm catching some kind of Holy Ghost and turning into a poor mans kawhi. That could go either way and it’s like flipping a coin with guys like Norm, OG and Davis. Even if any of those guys flop we’re in trouble. Too much needs to go right for us and very little has to go wrong with our team for them to overpower us. Not to mention another random Gasol hamstring injury at the wrong time. Everything needs to go right for the Raptors to beat the bucks and I just don’t see all these things happening. Giannis is going to be getting a crap load of callS and who are those calls going against ? OG ? pascal ? Not having kawhi this time around is not a big loss it’s a HUGE LOSS!!!