2024 NBA Playoffs - West 1st Round: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #8 New Orleans Pelicans (OKC SWEEPS 4-0)

[slick_watts]

do people not realize that the thunder were an elite team this year? they beat other top teams often, even boston? 7+ SRS, 8+ for most of the season before shai got hurt? all this handwringing about wanting zion in there to 'see where the thunder are at' is silly. the thunder weren't given the #1 seed, they earned it.

[Bob8]

I would hope these of all playoffs would put to bed the importance of the regular season matchups.

I would hope that people should watch other teams too, before making big conclusions about their team.

Absolutely, I've watched quite a bit outside of OKC this season.

And you didn't notice that Mavs were 1 of the worst teams in D before the trade and the best in last 20 games? ( Last against OKC doesn't count, because they played with C team.)

[Patches Perry]

I would hope that people should watch other teams too, before making big conclusions about their team.

Absolutely, I've watched quite a bit outside of OKC this season.

And you didn't notice that Mavs were 1 of the worst teams in D before the trade and the best in last 20 games?

I did notice, not sure what that proves though.

[Wargreymon]

So many premature takes after Game 1 win by 2 points saying the Thunder weren't ready or legit. Now they up 3-0. Looks to me that they are more than ready to challenge Denver.

You're saying that takes after first game was premature and takes after 2 convincing wins against pretty bad Pelicans about OKC already being in WCF isn't a little premature?

Yeah I think they will handle business vs Mavs/Clips next round, whomever wins that series.

[Bob8]

Absolutely, I've watched quite a bit outside of OKC this season.

And you didn't notice that Mavs were 1 of the worst teams in D before the trade and the best in last 20 games?

I did notice, not sure what that proves though.

Luka + Kyrie and great D is kinda dangerous for opponents. And OKC was the first team to play new Mavs after the trade.

[Bob8]

So many premature takes after Game 1 win by 2 points saying the Thunder weren't ready or legit. Now they up 3-0. Looks to me that they are more than ready to challenge Denver.

You're saying that takes after first game was premature and takes after 2 convincing wins against pretty bad Pelicans about OKC already being in WCF isn't a little premature?

Yeah I think they will handle business vs Mavs/Clips next round, whomever wins that series.

Based on 2 good wins against Pelicans without their best player? Talking about premature takes...

[slick_watts]

You're saying that takes after first game was premature and takes after 2 convincing wins against pretty bad Pelicans about OKC already being in WCF isn't a little premature?

Yeah I think they will handle business vs Mavs/Clips next round, whomever wins that series.

Based on 2 good wins against Pelicans without their best player?

based on how they played better than both teams in the regular season by a decent margin. the thunder should be betting favorites against both teams.

[Bob8]

Yeah I think they will handle business vs Mavs/Clips next round, whomever wins that series.

Based on 2 good wins against Pelicans without their best player?

based on how they played better than both teams in the regular season by a decent margin. the thunder should be betting favorites against both teams.

You mean head2head?

Odds for winning WCF are pretty close at the moment, OKC a little in front, because Mavs are 2:1 and Thunder 3:0.

[Patches Perry]

And you didn't notice that Mavs were 1 of the worst teams in D before the trade and the best in last 20 games?

I did notice, not sure what that proves though.

Luka + Kyrie and great D is kinda dangerous for opponents. And OKC was the first team to play new Mavs after the trade.

Dallas looks incredible but I don't think the regular season matchups mean too much

[slick_watts]

Based on 2 good wins against Pelicans without their best player?

based on how they played better than both teams in the regular season by a decent margin. the thunder should be betting favorites against both teams.

You mean head2head?

no, they were a better team over the course of the 82 game regular season, which is the most reliable predictor of playoff success.

[zeebneeb]

Man, as a Piston fan I'm salivating at all these teams losing in the first round. All of them have a player that would fit beautifully with Cade.

Sucks Zion can't play.

If you guys trade all your picks and young players I think you could manage a Cade, Beal & Ingram super team!

Thanks for making me throw up in my mouth.

Beal can stay in his PHX hole.

[Bob8]

based on how they played better than both teams in the regular season by a decent margin. the thunder should be betting favorites against both teams.

You mean head2head?

no, they were a better team over the course of the 82 game regular season, which is the most reliable predictor of playoff success.

Mavs played with 34 starting lineups, OKC with 12.

Mavs most used lineup 176 minutes, OKC most used lineup 799 minutes.

I'm pretty sure that Mavs record would have been a lot better, if they have played with best players as much as OKC. Hopefully we will see, if Mavs beat Clippers, the best lineups between Mavs and OKC. And you can forget RS record in that case.

[Funcrusher]

Man, as a Piston fan I'm salivating at all these teams losing in the first round. All of them have a player that would fit beautifully with Cade.

Sucks Zion can't play.

If you guys trade all your picks and young players I think you could manage a Cade, Beal & Ingram super team!

Thanks for making me throw up in my mouth.

Beal can stay in his PHX hole.

But we can unload BI on you guys, right?

[slick_watts]

You mean head2head?

no, they were a better team over the course of the 82 game regular season, which is the most reliable predictor of playoff success.

Mavs played with 34 starting lineups, OKC with 12.

Mavs most used lineup 176 minutes, OKC most used lineup 799 minutes.

I'm pretty sure that Mavs record would have been a lot better, if they played with best players as much as OKC. Hopefully we will see, if Mavs beat Clippers, the best lineups between Mavs and OKC. And you can forget RS record in that case.

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

[Bob8]

no, they were a better team over the course of the 82 game regular season, which is the most reliable predictor of playoff success.

Mavs played with 34 starting lineups, OKC with 12.

Mavs most used lineup 176 minutes, OKC most used lineup 799 minutes.

I'm pretty sure that Mavs record would have been a lot better, if they played with best players as much as OKC. Hopefully we will see, if Mavs beat Clippers, the best lineups between Mavs and OKC. And you can forget RS record in that case.

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

You're comparing 1 of the most injured team in Nba with 1 of the most healthy team in Nba. Hopefully Mavs will play with healthy roster the whole playoff and that healthy roster had pretty good record in RS. Mavs best lineup had 15.5 netrtg, unfortunately they didn't play much with it, but hopefully they will in playoffs.

It depends how series with Clippers ends. If it ends quickly, OKC won't be favoured. But first Mavs should win Clippers, anything can happen in that series.

[ChipotleWest]

no, they were a better team over the course of the 82 game regular season, which is the most reliable predictor of playoff success.

Mavs played with 34 starting lineups, OKC with 12.

Mavs most used lineup 176 minutes, OKC most used lineup 799 minutes.

I'm pretty sure that Mavs record would have been a lot better, if they played with best players as much as OKC. Hopefully we will see, if Mavs beat Clippers, the best lineups between Mavs and OKC. And you can forget RS record in that case.

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

You're ignoring the context that Mavs got 2 of the top contributors at the trade deadline, and the Mavs had tons of injuries. Yes just if you look at the w/l column OKC was the better team obviously, but this Mavs team did not exist before the trade deadline and it was not healthy. Kyrie missed over a month. You don't think having him wouldn't have contributed to more wins? If you pace out the Mavs wins/losses since the trade deadline over the season they would have had around 60 wins and been the #1 seed. Adding PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford made a huge difference.

[slick_watts]

Mavs played with 34 starting lineups, OKC with 12.

Mavs most used lineup 176 minutes, OKC most used lineup 799 minutes.

I'm pretty sure that Mavs record would have been a lot better, if they played with best players as much as OKC. Hopefully we will see, if Mavs beat Clippers, the best lineups between Mavs and OKC. And you can forget RS record in that case.

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

You're ignoring the context that Mavs got 2 of the top contributors at the trade deadline

no, i understand the context. the thunder were a 8+ SRS team in games that shai and jalen williams played. maybe the mavs would have been as good as that with their current roster for an entire season, maybe not. seems unlikely to me.

i don't really care if you say the mavs would be favored anyway. my main beef is with folks not acknowledging how good the thunder are in their own right.

[GusFring]

no, they were a better team over the course of the 82 game regular season, which is the most reliable predictor of playoff success.

Mavs played with 34 starting lineups, OKC with 12.

Mavs most used lineup 176 minutes, OKC most used lineup 799 minutes.

I'm pretty sure that Mavs record would have been a lot better, if they played with best players as much as OKC. Hopefully we will see, if Mavs beat Clippers, the best lineups between Mavs and OKC. And you can forget RS record in that case.

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

What happened in the rs is becoming less and less relevant with how the defensive rules just straight up change come PS.

[Bob8]

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

You're ignoring the context that Mavs got 2 of the top contributors at the trade deadline

no, i understand the context. the thunder were a 8+ SRS team in games that shai and jalen williams played. maybe the mavs would have been as good as that with their current roster for an entire season, maybe not. seems unlikely to me.

i don't really care if you say the mavs would be favored anyway. my main beef is with folks not acknowledging how good the thunder are in their own right.

Point is that OKC won't play against RS Mavs, if Mavs qualify, but against after the trade Mavs with everyone, hopefully, healthy. If you compare RS Denver and OKC you might have realistic picture, but you haven't with Mavs, because of important trades and a lot of injuries.

But hey you're entitled to believe OKC is far better team, you might be even prove right in the end or not.

[itsxtray]

we'll see what? what happens in the series won't change what happened during the season. the thunder were the better team. the thunder played like an elite team all year. doesn't mean they'd beat the mavs, but they would be favored.

You're ignoring the context that Mavs got 2 of the top contributors at the trade deadline

no, i understand the context. the thunder were a 8+ SRS team in games that shai and jalen williams played. maybe the mavs would have been as good as that with their current roster for an entire season, maybe not. seems unlikely to me.

i don't really care if you say the mavs would be favored anyway. my main beef is with folks not acknowledging how good the thunder are in their own right.

True, also the playoffs are about matchups. Just because you're better against the field over 82 games doesn't mean the wrong match-up won't take you out. You can be the"better" team and still lose.