And thank the heavens! A rather meaningless stretch of basketball after the all star break, but it did lead to two interesting runs for the Heat and the Bucks.
Huge on the Bucks for the future (not as much as the Heat) but I like Miami's upset chances even more if they get the 8th seed.
Will be rooting for Miami as I don't like Chicago outside Butler at all Indiana is very vanilla to me (though playoff George is very exciting).
Barring Miami making the playoffs and playing Boston round 1 I think I'm going scratch in the East with top 4 seeds advancing.
As for the West, I like how Utah and LAC match up against each other but would take Utah. Going scratch for the other 3 matchups.
13m
Bonus watch heading into the last game:
$500k for the Trail Blazers Mo Harkless for 35.0% or above from 3.
Harkless is at 35.1%.
I doubt he attempts a 3 tonight.
This is more "in play"
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Bobby Marks Retweeted Albert Nahmad
Here is another one for tonight. $100k for shooting above 40% from the field. Rubio in 6 seasons has never shot above 40%. (currently 40.2)
Here are my predictions. I won't dignify the first round since no lower seed will win.
East: Celtics over Wizards in 5.
Cavs over Raptors in 6.
Cavs over Celtics in 4.
West: Warriors over Clippers in 5.
Rockets over Spurs in 7.
Warriors over Rockets in 5.
I'll go out on a limb and Golden State to win it all.
Fairly amazing that Minny has only one more win than tanking Knicks, given that they have two #1 picks on the team and a supposedly multi-talented PG. To me, it shows just how over-rated Rubio is--just like Derrick Rose. The stat sheet looks nice but they don't help teams win. Wiggins is also over-rated. Looking like Towns might repeat what happened with Garnett--being stuck in Minny.
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MIN might actually win tonight!
Fairly amazing that Minny has only one more win than tanking Knicks, given that they have two #1 picks on the team and a supposedly multi-talented PG. To me, it shows just how over-rated Rubio is--just like Derrick Rose. The stat sheet looks nice but they don't help teams win. Wiggins is also over-rated. Looking like Towns might repeat what happened with Garnett--being stuck in Minny.
All it really shows is young teams take time to mature. Anyone who thought that this Wolves team was gonna make a jump to a playoff team was crazy. Their best 2 players are both 21. Its so rare for any team to make that kind of jump when they're that young.
Making the jump to a good team in the NBA is REALLY hard. Most teams fail, or at least fail to be consistently good. Look how long it took the Jazz.
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In comment 13425539 giantsfan44ab said:
Quote:
MIN might actually win tonight!
Fairly amazing that Minny has only one more win than tanking Knicks, given that they have two #1 picks on the team and a supposedly multi-talented PG. To me, it shows just how over-rated Rubio is--just like Derrick Rose. The stat sheet looks nice but they don't help teams win. Wiggins is also over-rated. Looking like Towns might repeat what happened with Garnett--being stuck in Minny.
All it really shows is young teams take time to mature. Anyone who thought that this Wolves team was gonna make a jump to a playoff team was crazy. Their best 2 players are both 21. Its so rare for any team to make that kind of jump when they're that young.
Making the jump to a good team in the NBA is REALLY hard. Most teams fail, or at least fail to be consistently good. Look how long it took the Jazz.
Yup, this sums it up well. If I had to pick a non-Cavs/Warriors team to own right now it would still be the Wolves for me (Bucks would get heavy consideration from me because they are in the East, would give a quick look at Philly too). But from a talent standpoint alone the Wolves have the best core no question.
On top of relying on young players, outside Rubio, Wiggins and Towns their team is AWFUL. Gag worthy. Brandon Rush is a starter for that team. You have to give minutes to young guys but playing Dunn 18 minutes a game has been one of the best tanking strategies of the season.
Not a big Rubio fan but he's been decent. If the Wolves can get 2 defensive-minded starters I think they will be just fine. I think they can get that by trading Lavine.
No one likes Pat Riley?
They also have a bunch of upcoming team options on younger/developing players so they may be looking to give them significant minutes to showcase their skills one final time.
Maybe the most likely reason is that the Nets will receive the Pacers second round pick if Indiana misses the playoffs. A Bulls win against the Nets tonight would help that cause.