The NBA

[Kirby101]

I was out and didn't see the game, but wow!, 79 is an incredibly low score in a playoff. Might be a good series after all.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I was out and didn't see the game, but wow!, 79 is an incredibly low score in a playoff. Might be a good series after all.

Just like the Sixers in game two, Miami couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the beach. Still, it was evident the return of Embiid gave Philly a huge emotional boost and that helped the team win last night.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

James Harden turned the clock back a few years and scored 31 points, leading the Sixers to a 116-108 win over Miami last night, tying their series at two apiece. Meanwhile, Nikola Jovic won league MVP for a second straight season, I think that was a good thing, I hope Joel Embiid uses that snub as rocket fuel to destroy the Heat tomorrow night. In other news:

Ja Morant is out for tonight’s game four of Grizzlies vs. Warriors due to a knee injury. And Steve Kerr was put on the COVID list and won’t be on the bench, Mike Brown will coach in Kerr’s place.

[frankiedetroit]

Rumor has it Jokic is gonna win MVP. I get advanced metrics and I have a lot of respect for Joker, but his season didn't seem MVP-ish to me. He was valuable, sure. But most valuable? It seemed like Embiid had to carry a heavier load and the Sixers finished with a better record. Oh well. Not the biggest deal.

[GindyPosts]

Rumor has it Jokic is gonna win MVP. I get advanced metrics and I have a lot of respect for Joker, but his season didn't seem MVP-ish to me. He was valuable, sure. But most valuable? It seemed like Embiid had to carry a heavier load and the Sixers finished with a better record. Oh well. Not the biggest deal.

I just think the fact that Jokic as MVP while Embiid as the runner up indicates that centers are starting to become a valuable asset once more in the NBA. For a few years, the speed of the game made it so that you didn't need to bother with the position, whether it was drafting a quality player, or even running a center, but it's starting to come back around to where the position is seeing utility again, although the quality is still pretty low.

[Hiromi]

Jokic is literally turning into this generation's Steve Nash. This Boston Milwaukee series is great, really getting a great NBA playoffs this year.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I just think the fact that Jokic as MVP while Embiid as the runner up indicates that centers are starting to become a valuable asset once more in the NBA. For a few years, the speed of the game made it so that you didn't need to bother with the position, whether it was drafting a quality player, or even running a center, but it's starting to come back around to where the position is seeing utility again, although the quality is still pretty low.

I've been of the opinion that Michael Jordan singlehandedly devalued centers, and the position is only just rebounding now after almost forty years of mediocrity, thanks to the likes of Jokic and Embiid.

[frankiedetroit]

I've been of the opinion that Michael Jordan singlehandedly devalued centers, and the position is only just rebounding now after almost forty years of mediocrity, thanks to the likes of Jokic and Embiid.

I always felt it was Shaq who led to centers being devalued. A lot of talented guys who would have been centers pre-Shaq (Timmy, KG, maybe Dirk) were PFs, at least until he was older, because they couldn't hope to guard the Big Aristotle. Both Duncan and KG were about the same size as Dream/Ewing, but they gave up the center role to heavier, much-less-skilled guys (not including late career David Robinson). Duncan was finally listed as a C in 2006, three years after Robinson retired and by then, he only had to face a still-good, but no longer unstoppable Shaq twice a year. Shaq retired in 2011, and KG switched to center the following season.

But do you think centers have been mediocre for 40 years, since the early 1980s? I'd match Dream with any center who came before or after him. Ewing, Robinson, Moses and Parish aren't on the Wilt/Russ/Kareem level, but I'd take them over Cowens/Thurmond/Lanier, etc.

[Kirby101]

Sixes turn to be embarrassed. There are such wild swings in this series.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Sixes turn to be embarrassed. There are such wild swings in this series.

I figured Joel Embiid would come out like a house afire after the MVP snub, but came out flat instead, and the team followed suit with that horrible performance last night. URGH!

[Deathstroke]

NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who had a 14-year career with the Bucks and Pistons, has passed away.

[frankiedetroit]

NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who had a 14-year career with the Bucks and Pistons, has passed away.

Ugh. RIP to the Dobber.

[Surf]

HELL of a series with Boston and Milwaukee, Bucks look to close it out on Friday. Poor Marcus Smart, fkn green hair, that's my guy though.

Hoping Memphis can extend this series another game. Prolly a lot to ask.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

HELL of a series with Boston and Milwaukee, Bucks look to close it out on Friday. Poor Marcus Smart, fkn green hair, that's my guy though.

Hoping Memphis can extend this series another game. Prolly a lot to ask.

I said going in that Bucks-Celtics would be the best series of the second round, and so far, I’ve been proven right. Hell of a game tonight.

[Surf]

NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who had a 14-year career with the Bucks and Pistons, has passed away.

RIP Bob Lanier. I'm old enough to remember the old timers game during NBA All Star weekend, end of them at least. Maybe it's to be expected on some level but the NBA doesn't do much by way of celebrating the past. 75th anniversary notwithstanding. Pro Basketball isnt nearly as dense as the NFL in sheer numbers of players or lengths of careers but they do a way better job of recognizing the old schoolers.