NBA Finals: (2) Suns vs (3) Bucks, Part 1 | Suns lead 2-0

[kwsqd]

Game 1: CP3 gets hurt, Suns win anyway
Game 2: CP3 hurt, AD healthy, Suns still managed to have a lead late
Game 3: CP3 hurt, AD healthy
Game 4: AD gets hurt, Suns had a lead when he got hurt in the 3rd
Game 5: Suns win by a million
Game 6: Suns win by a million

Clippers almost lost to a 1 player Mavs team with Kawhi. Clippers were 2-2 against Utah with Kawhi. Kawhi gets hurt, allowing other players to get those minutes and shine, showing their depth. Mann wouldn't go for 39 with Kawhi playing, and teams weren't expecting that (and weren't gameplanning around Mann or some of their other players).

You can frame it however you want, but nothing is clear cut. I can cite key injuries every single season. How about KG missing the playoffs in '09? Otherwise the Lakers likely have a road series against Boston again.

You didn’t add that James was playing hobbled and didn’t plz anything like James, i.e., shooting mostly jumpers all series and showing none of the explosiveness he did even in diminished form relative to him during g the regular season before the high ankle injury.

James certainly looked okay when he was posting up Jae Crowder and dunking alley-oops off the backboard from Caruso.

[Mamba Mentality]

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This is coming from the same guy that first correctly reported that there was no structural damage to Giannis' knee.

[NyKnicks1714]

With HCA and a hobbled Giannis, this is Phoenix's to lose, no excuses.

[Hardenstepback]

Lol at acting like Suns will overwhelm the Bucks or something

They got dragged to 6 by Pandemic P and Reggie jackson. Bucks a more polished team and Khris/Jrue is nothing to sleep on. This will be a competitive series

[All The Bucks]

GD ESPN has turned everyone into hot take artists and narrative pushers. Just hope for an entertaining series where both teams stay relatively healthy. When you have to win 12 games against other playoff teams to get here, you've done something right. Both teams have plenty of talent and their season scoring differentials prove their worth in making it this far. There's also nothing wrong with the way either team got here. The Bucks have gone through the gauntlet in previous years and gained the resilience many teams need to make those finals steps. And the Suns have collected young talent and then brought in the HOF maestro as the missing piece to bring everything together. Both teams have been built organically which is another positive for the sport. We should all be happy to see two teams that weren't built AAU style. Whichever team wins it will have been a great accomplishment given their history and the road they took over years to get here. And whichever team loses, nothing they've done will be diminished, short of a perhaps a lopsided sweep.

[spanishninja]

Lol at acting like Suns will overwhelm the Bucks or something

They got dragged to 6 by Pandemic P and Reggie jackson. Bucks a more polished team and Khris/Jrue is nothing to sleep on. This will be a competitive series

Ignoring that they won two without CP3?

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[darmani]

How many teams over the last 15 years had to go through LeBron, the reigning MVP and another All-NBA player on their way to the finals?

[Michael Jackson]

Lol at acting like Suns will overwhelm the Bucks or something

They got dragged to 6 by Pandemic P and Reggie jackson. Bucks a more polished team and Khris/Jrue is nothing to sleep on. This will be a competitive series

Ignoring that they won two without CP3?

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CP3 out and PG and Jackson were both playing great ball. They are good players when they are the best versions of themselves and they were the best version of themselves.

[darmani]

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Scott **** Foster.

[KIRAG]

Imagine growing up a Suns fan being born in Arizona to later on go against them and try to beat them in the biggest NBA series of your life.


even Mike Budenholzer himself couldn't possibly imagine this happening to him at the start of the season

[EArl]

In two games against PHX this year, Brook Lopez has:

7 pts and 5 reb
10 pts and 6 reb

He isn’t going to punish the Suns downlow.

Using the regular season as an example for a final series isn't a good indication of how the series will result in.

I’m using more than just that. I’m considering matchup as well as Brook’s offensive career and DA’s defensive history. Brook is not going to punish PHX downlow.

Do you disagree?

Not in the same way that he did to the Nets/Hawks.
Im assuming the Bucks will make him a floor spacer to get Ayton out of the paint.

[EArl]

How many teams over the last 15 years had to go through LeBron, the reigning MVP and another All-NBA player on their way to the finals?

Im not taking away anything from the Suns, but the narrative that you are making makes it seem like the Suns faced a healthy lakers, Nuggets and Clippers which is very far from the truth.
Lebron was a shell of his former self due to injuries. AD ended up getting injured as well which sealed the Lakers fate.
The Nuggets didn't have their second best player in Murray and the Clippers didn't have their best one.
Yes Chris Paul got hurt and then missed some games later as well, but the Suns aren't a top heavy team. Booker is arguable just as important as Chris Paul.

[EArl]

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This is coming from the same guy that first correctly reported that there was no structural damage to Giannis' knee.

He should sit the first game honestly. Especially if he is going to be a liability if he is hobbled.

[og15]

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Scott **** Foster.

Everyone always gets mad seeing his name, but the man has a ton of seniority, no way he's not going to be one of the officials in things like the finals

[mtron32]

I love all these pre-finals slap fights.

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It’s pretty stupid TBH, no ones seen a game yet but everybody talking ****

[skones]

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This is coming from the same guy that first correctly reported that there was no structural damage to Giannis' knee.

FWIW, the other cited twitter user in that tweet has been a long time poster on our board. I don't think many, if any, of our posters would feel that he hasn't heard something he truly believes and trusts. The last time he claimed to have info was in 2006 pertaining to our color scheme change on our jerseys. He was mostly accurate and the Bucks actually contacted him and request he take down the post as they had identified his source. Hard for me to believe a guy would be around here for 16+ years and pull something out of the blue just because.

[Statlanta]

How many teams over the last 15 years had to go through LeBron, the reigning MVP and another All-NBA player on their way to the finals?

The 2014 Spurs

4-1 LeBron's Miami Heat(Finals)
4-2 Kevin Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder(MVP)
4-1 LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard's Portland Trail Blazers(All-NBA)

All these players Healthy.

[NyKnicks1714]

How many teams over the last 15 years had to go through LeBron, the reigning MVP and another All-NBA player on their way to the finals?

You ignoring context of the first two aside, I like how you couldn't come up with an impressive-sounding accolade for the Clippers series, and went with "and another all All-NBA player". 10 years from now I'm sure we'll be talking about the impressive feat of going through Paul George to get to the Finals.

[Childs]

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Scott **** Foster.

Damn I was hoping it would just be Marc Davis, Scott Foster, and Tony Brothers.

[falcolombardi]

Game 1: CP3 gets hurt, Suns win anyway
Game 2: CP3 hurt, AD healthy, Suns still managed to have a lead late
Game 3: CP3 hurt, AD healthy
Game 4: AD gets hurt, Suns had a lead when he got hurt in the 3rd
Game 5: Suns win by a million
Game 6: Suns win by a million

Clippers almost lost to a 1 player Mavs team with Kawhi. Clippers were 2-2 against Utah with Kawhi. Kawhi gets hurt, allowing other players to get those minutes and shine, showing their depth. Mann wouldn't go for 39 with Kawhi playing, and teams weren't expecting that (and weren't gameplanning around Mann or some of their other players).

You can frame it however you want, but nothing is clear cut. I can cite key injuries every single season. How about KG missing the playoffs in '09? Otherwise the Lakers likely have a road series against Boston again.

You didn’t add that James was playing hobbled and didn’t plz anything like James, i.e., shooting mostly jumpers all series and showing none of the explosiveness he did even in diminished form relative to him during g the regular season before the high ankle injury.

James certainly looked okay when he was posting up Jae Crowder and dunking alley-oops off the backboard from Caruso.

dunking for a 6-8 player amd posting up dont require exolosivity and quickness which is the main thingh lebron seemed to be missing post injury

maybe the injury at that age zapped his explosiveness permanently (it has been down trending over the years as he ages) or maybe not, either way is clear he was not the same as at the start of the season physically speaking