12/21/24
May 31, 2017
NBA Playoff Pick 'Em: The Finals: The NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers begin Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern. ic23b leads with 28 points followed by three players at 27. Pick the NBA champion and the number of games played, plus five bonus categories. The winner receives NBA 2K17.
posted by rcade to basketball at 11:25 AM - 14 comments
The second round standings also were updated with the Boston/Washington winner and top scorer. grum@work gained 3 points while Howard_T, ic23b and rcade gained 2.
posted by rcade at 11:37 AM on May 31, 2017
???? You say Ufez Jones is leading with 28 points but you list me as leading with 28 points.
Winner: Warriors
Games: 5
MVP: Kevin Durant
Top Scorer: LeBron James
Top Rebounder: Draymond Green
Largest Margin Victory: 23
Highest combined score: 226
Tiebreaker: 130
posted by ic23b at 04:50 PM on May 31, 2017
You say Ufez Jones is leading with 28 points but you list me as leading with 28 points.
You are leading, sources close to SportsFilter confirm.
posted by rcade at 06:58 PM on May 31, 2017
Winner: Cleveland
Games: 7
MVP: James
Scorer: James
Rebounder: James
Margin: 17
Combined Score: 217
Tiebreaker: 167
posted by grum@work at 07:05 PM on May 31, 2017
LeBron James did not look particularly healthy against Boston. Since Cleveland was better at every position on the floor than Boston, even with a generally sub-par series from LeBron, they won handily. Now, when I say that, I realize that LeBron led all scorers in the conference finals, was, I believe, the top rebounder, and in general did much to humble my Celtics. Golden State has players that can match up to Cleveland, position by position, so I do not expect Cavaliers to put together any blowouts, nor do I expect anything similar from Golden State. In other words, the games will be reasonably close, but I do not believe the series will be. Of course, the wild card in the whole thing is what the TV networks and the league bosses want from the series. I can see a lot of calls being made, or not made, depending on whether or ot the series needs to be prolonged. Wait, what?, are you saying that this is fixed? Well, not exactly, but there has been a tendency for calls to go in one direction depending on the situation in the series. We shall see.
On to the picks:
When the dust settles it will be Golden State emerging the winner after 5 games.
Kevin Durant is on a mission this year, and he will be the MVP.
Despite Durant's heroics, he will not be the leading scorer. Look for Curry to take this honor.
Keeping the glass clean will be more important in this series than in any of those that have preceded it this season. Draymond Green will be the leading rebounder.
I mentioned that I expect the games to be reasonably close. The largest margin of victory will be 14 points.
Either of these two teams is capable of running up a high score, but each has enough defense to hold the other down to something reasonable. A 230 point combined score is a likely result.
Three point shots are the staple of both offenses. With that in mind, even in a 5-game series, the total will be in 3 digits. The prognosticator in chief (aka our tortoise shell female cat) says there will be 127 made 3-point goals in the series. Just for fun, I think there will be 322 attempted, but there's no payoff for that.
I'm looking for this to be a very good, competitive series, and one that fans will enjoy. For me the big night is June 22, when we find out what Danny Ainge has cooked up with the first pick in the draft. I will try to be at the draft party at TD Garden, but I'm due for a minor surgery on the 20th (removal of a cyst on my neck), so I might not be able to make it. We'll see how it goes.
posted by Howard_T at 11:30 PM on May 31, 2017
Cleveland in 6
MVP: LeBron James
Scoring: Stephen Curry
Rebounds: LeBron James
Largest Margin: 19
Combined Score: 199
3-pointers: 107
posted by bender at 11:42 AM on June 01, 2017
Kept showing up late to the pick em threads but I'll take the Warriors in 7.
posted by tron7 at 01:01 PM on June 01, 2017
In Cleveland, they are referring to Howard's prediction as "negative press cofive".
posted by beaverboard at 01:55 PM on June 01, 2017
CLE in six
MVP: James
Points: Curry
Rebounds: Tristan Thompson
Margin: 16
Combined Score: 223
Tiebreaker: 96 threes made
posted by Ufez Jones at 03:12 PM on June 01, 2017
Golden State in 5
MVP: Curry
Top scorer: Curry
Rebounder: Love
Largest margin: 18
Largest combined score: 238
Tiebreaker, total three pointers: 139
posted by rcade at 05:44 PM on June 01, 2017
Results (after game 1)
Largest margin: 22, game 1 (ic23b, bender)
Largest combined score: 204, game 1 (bender)
Total three pointers: 23
posted by rcade at 09:50 PM on June 02, 2017
After one game, only ic23b and bender are capable of winning the point for largest margin. That doesn't bode well for a competitive Finals.
posted by rcade at 09:55 PM on June 02, 2017
I mentioned that I expect the games to be reasonably close. The largest margin of victory will be 14 points.
Well, that didn't take long to explode. After watching last night's game, I believe there will be at least one more blowout. I should have been a bit more aware of Cleveland's defensive deficiencies after watching them against Boston. In that series, had Boston been able to shoot from the perimeter on a consistent basis as well as Golden State, they might well have been able to pull the upset. Cleveland is trying to run Golden State's perimeter shooters off the 3-point line, but in so doing they have left the inside wide open. If Cleveland clogs the paint, Curry and company will go wild. The adjustments by Cleveland will be interesting to see.
posted by Howard_T at 10:23 PM on June 02, 2017
The scores and results of the third round are in the previous discussion.
Standings
Picks
Pick the team that will win the Finals: 3 points
Pick the correct number. of games: 3 points
Who will win MVP: 1 point
Top scorer (total points): 1 point
Top rebounder (total rebounds): 1 point
What will be the largest margin of victory (come within +/- 3 points): 1 point
What will be the highest combined score in a single game (+/- 8 points): 1 point
Tiebreaker: How many total 3-pointers will be made in the series? (closest to actual value wins, first to post wins in case of an additional tie)