[Hoot Gibson]

As I write this, Miami is leading Boston by 31 points in the 3rd quarter of Game 3. It looks like the Celtics may be making a coaching change in the very near future. Miami has outplayed Boston badly in this series and it is difficult to imagine them avoiding a sweep. Jimmy Butler has been the best player in this series and Miami has played harder on both ends of the court and they like a team. Boston looks like an All Star team that was assembled a few days ago and coached by a rookie. The Celtics are getting outcoached and outplayed in every phase of the game.

[Hoot Gibson]

FINAL Miami 128 Boston 102

An embarassing performance by the Celtics. Denver vs. Miami is going to be a great series. If both teams win their next game, it will be the first time in NBA history that both conference champions have swept the conference finals.

At least the Lakers have played well enough to give themselves a chance to win during the 4th quarter of their losses. Boston has looked awful tonight and not much better in their two home games. Miami's bench players did most of the damage tonight.

[Cactus Jack]

Picked Boston to win in the predictions thread but felt that this year was extremely balanced in terms of the parity between the higher and lower seeds. Miami has everything that a good team needs and everyone seems to be buying in and aware of their roles. They had a highly unusual year in terms of the game-by-game point differential, lots of narrow wins and losses, to the point that it was at a near-historic level.

Butler has the dawg in him for sure, and Adebayo is playing at a very high level. Lowry has the experience and can still turn in some good performances, but he's at the end of his career. Same for Kevin Love. Martin has really stepped up, as have a number of their supporting cast. Potentially getting Herro back will help, but I don't know if he's the end-all, be-all; I think that he and a lot of shooters owe much of their contracts to the sterile shooting background in the COVID-bubble season. There were plenty of players whose shooting percentages were much higher than average there and a few were able to parlay those into bigger contracts *cough* Duncan Robinson *cough*.

[plantmanky]

NBA is rigged, 10000%

[Hoot Gibson]

If the NBA were rigged, then every championship series would feature teams from New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles to maximize the league's profits. Denver and Miami have played some of the best, most fundamentally sound basketball that you will see on any level during this year's NBA playoffs. 

Teams that trail 3-0 in playoff series are 0-150 in the history of the playoffs. Boston is more talented than Miami, but Miami has a much more experienced coach and the Heat has been the better team so far. 

If you haven't watched Denver play this season, then I encourage you to do so. Jokic and Jamal Murray are the best duo in the NBA. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are also a good duo, but they are not on the same level. I believe that the Nuggets will be too much for either the Celtics or the Heat. The Heat does not have enough size and depth to hang with the Nuggets and the Celtics lack the consistency and teamwork to beat Denver, IMO.

[Hoot Gibson]

Celtics send the series to game 7 with a tip-in by Derrick White with 0.1 seconds on the game clock after Marcus Smart missed a 3-point shot that rattled in and out in the only spot that could have prevented a Miami Heat Eastern Conference championship.

If this series is rigged, then the NBA has some alien-level technology in its arsenal. 

Now that NCAA basketball has become a sport dominated by paid athletes, the purest form of basketball is played on NBA courts by teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. The Boston Celtics have also shown that they are capable of playing good team basketball but they still tend to revert to selfish, one on one isolation plays for long stretches and that is the only reason that this series will be decided by a seventh game.

[plantmanky]

Imagine that a game 7, rigged.

[Hoot Gibson]

Imagine that a game 7, rigged.

Imagine that, another ridiculous, misinformed post. If you believe that a tip in with 00:00:00.1 seconds left on the game clock was rigged, then there is no hope for you. That dog won't hunt, even if you are trying to troll.

If you want to make the case that the NBA games were rigged to protect players like Jordan back in the 80's and 90s, then I would agree with you. Separate rules for "stars" and regular players were common back then. The referees are much better in Adam Silver's NBA.

What I am growing to appreciate about the current NBA is that most of the players on most teams will be back next season.

[Cactus Jack]

Imagine that a game 7, rigged.

Imagine that, another ridiculous, misinformed post. If you believe that a tip in with 00:00:00.1 seconds left on the game clock was rigged, then there is no hope for you. That dog won't hunt, even if you are trying to troll.

If you want to make the case that the NBA games were rigged to protect players like Jordan back in the 80's and 90s, then I would agree with you. Separate rules for "stars" and regular players were common back then. The referees are much better in Adam Silver's NBA.

What I am growing to appreciate about the current NBA is that most of the players on most teams will be back next season.

I think both can be true, as weird as that sounds.

I think the NBA superstars & certain teams getting breaks that others don't is true-- I don't know that there's any doubt about that. I'm unsure that this isn't also the case at the NCAA and high school levels as well though.

You will never convince me that Yao Ming wasn't going to be drafted by a city with a large Asian population, that it was coincidence that a team owned by the NBA that was up for sale was able to snag Anthony Davis, or that San Antonio ended up with the inside track for Victor Wembanyama.

I also have a hard time believing that San Antonio's air conditioning went out in the opening game of the 2014 NBA Finals or that Denver's shot clock issues couldn't be fixed prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals this season.

I think that the most damning evidence for games being rigged is the fact that Tim Donaghy served federal time for fixing games, including the notorious playoff game between the Kings and Lakers where the disparity in calls was obvious to even casual observers. In this instance, it wasn't the NBA that rigged the games per se, but you have to think that they become aware of what was going on at some point.

I don't think that the league does anything to get in their own way when it comes to making money-- if that means a more competitive series or a storybook ending, I think we'd all agree that they don't mind, the only question is how far they'd go to ensure that it has a better chance of happening or the kind of punishment that they'd dole out when a team seeks out an unfair advantage.

[Hoot Gibson]

Any legitimate business does what it can to maximize profits. That is a far cry from rigging the outcomes of games. I remember when MLB lowered the height of the pitchers mound by 6 inches and switched to a lighter ball after Bob Gibson and Denny McClain began dominating hitters in the 1968 season. That had a huge impact on the game but every team had the opportunity to change rosters to take advantage of the changes.

The NBA did something similar when they changed the rules on hand checking. 

Anybody who believes that the NBA roofs it's games needs to explain why none of the teams with large media markets will be playing for this year's championship. That would make no financial sense if the playoffs were actually rigged.