***2021 NBA PLAYOFFS THREAD***

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:
how dafuq did Miami get to the finals last year and giftwrap a championship to the lakers?

Because when the 2020 playoffs took place the Heat played better than any other team in the East and generally played well against the Lakers. It was neither the Lakers' fault, nor the Heat's fault that the rest of the East failed to show up in the playoffs and the Heat still comported themselves well in the Finals despite being a lower seeded team. Nothing was "gift-wrapped".

Originally posted by TheGore49er:

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:
how dafuq did Miami get to the finals last year and giftwrap a championship to the lakers?

Because when the 2020 playoffs took place the Heat played better than any other team in the East and generally played well against the Lakers. It was neither the Lakers' fault, nor the Heat's fault that the rest of the East failed to show up in the playoffs and the Heat still comported themselves well in the Finals despite being a lower seeded team. Nothing was "gift-wrapped".

Their defense was much better last year. This year they tried to do it more with offense. And for some reason Herro regressed, and Bam just hasn't taken the next step yet.

I still think they can have a great run, but they really need to go back to fully commiting on defense. But they way Giannis has played this year, and the Bucks as a whole, I think they're gonna come out of the East. Nets still need another year to fully gel.

Originally posted by DynastyChile:
The bubble got to most teams, including the heat. They broke down physically, and by the time the 3rd game of the series butler was really injured and I can't remember who else but they were a shell of themselves. If they had stayed fully healthy that would have been a great series they were on fire. No one was stopping a fully healthy Laker team last year though.

Originally posted by 4ML:
Butler was healthy. Bam got hurt and Dragic iirc.

But, ppl are hating on them bc Lakers won the chip and this is their way of saying that last championship has an asterisk next to it. It's mostly the fans of team that were in lottery last year and this year.

Lakers ran thru the West in 15 games. They beat Dame and CJ, Westbrook and Harden, Jokic and Murray. They can't really say anything negative about them - so they gotta pick on Heat lol

So played.