[NBA] The 2025 Finals

Who Ya Got?


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If the Pacers pull this off, would it be the greatest upset in the history of the NBA? We are talking historically great defense, MVP and 60 plus win team here.
 
Man that Hali trade looking almost as bad as the Luka draft. Between Vlade’s drafts and Monte’s trades ugh. Monte tenure looking worse than the Pete tenure.

It’s worse luka didn’t prove he was a star in the league yet or show signs haliburton on the other had was baby Steph and we saw it in the league and still traded him for a ****ing center not named Jokic or Embiid
 
Pacers winning despite making 24 turnovers and having 16 less possessions is wi

That looked like a foul on the Thunder. The Thunder are choking a bit on this one. Rather than just keep on playing their style of ball they tried to beat the Pacers at their own game of finding 3 point shooters. This is a pretty interesting matchup. The Thunder are a superstar based team with role playing defenders and the Pacers are a chemistry based share the ball shooting team with no real superstars.
Alexander choked that last shot....
 
If the Pacers pull this off, would it be the greatest upset in the history of the NBA? We are talking historically great defense, MVP and 60 plus win team here.

Here's the thing, are either of these teams beating the Shaq/Kobe Lakers? The Heat with the big 3? The Celtics of either era? And so on. I think the Thunder as of now are farther away from any of the truly great teams than the Pacers are away from them at this point. Maybe the Thunder eventually get there but that will rely on Holmgren getting to that ceiling of his most likely. SGA and this squad at this point in their development would get straight slapped around by the Jordan Bulls haha.
 
Here's the thing, are either of these teams beating the Shaq/Kobe Lakers? The Heat with the big 3? The Celtics of either era? And so on. I think the Thunder as of now are farther away from any of the truly great teams than the Pacers are away from them at this point. Maybe the Thunder eventually get there but that will rely on Holmgren getting to that ceiling of his most likely. SGA and this squad at this point in their development would get straight slapped around by the Jordan Bulls haha.

I get your point but this team probably could have 70 wins if they wanted to. Their defense is suffocating. SGA is unguardable. We actually probably need them to win this so then don’t trade for Giannis or it’s night night for 5 years.
 
I get your point but this team probably could have 70 wins if they wanted to. Their defense is suffocating. SGA is unguardable. We actually probably need them to win this so then don’t trade for Giannis or it’s night night for 5 years.

But it's still SGA and a bunch of role guys/semi stars or not fully developed talent. They aren't the level of dominance of teams of the past and thus why the league has "parity" right now and why the Thunder can't get cute like they did tonight. Yeah, that parity is probably going to be changing at some point though. Personally I'd actually rather Giannis go to the Thunder because if the Spurs get him they'll probably be putting Fox, Wemby, and Giannis together which is bye bye parity if Wemby is healthy. Who would the Thunder give up? Certainly Holmgren to start and probably Williams too taking a big fat chunk of their talent core in the process.
 
But it's still SGA and a bunch of role guys/semi stars or not fully developed talent. They aren't the level of dominance of teams of the past and thus why the league has "parity" right now and why the Thunder can't get cute like they did tonight. Yeah, that parity is probably going to be changing at some point though. Personally I'd actually rather Giannis go to the Thunder because if the Spurs get him they'll probably be putting Fox, Wemby, and Giannis together which is bye bye parity if Wemby is healthy. Who would the Thunder give up? Certainly Holmgren to start and probably Williams too taking a big fat chunk of their talent core in the process.

I assume they pick between JDub/Chet then add in Topic, Wallace, and picks

If OKC were smart they’ll do it but they’ll probably ride this out with a fraud number two option
 
I'd take Hali. Much better leader and and helps everyone around him reach their full potential. His value goes much deeper than "superstar" numbers

Maybe, I remember hearing the same things about Rondo back in the day though. If you have a deep team like the Pacers do Hali is obviously a better fit because Luka would be launching while Siakam stood in the corner pouting, lol. Tonight when Hali was kind of getting exposed he took a step back and let his teammates pick up the slack. Luka probably wouldn't do that haha. Carlisle when at this best has done this kind of thing before and built off the same basic vibe. Play to your strengths and just keep going. Go down with the ship if it does, oh well. He didn't slug it out with the Heat back in the day either, he ground them down because that was his team build and he knew a slugfest would be doom against the Heat. Now to see if the Thunder are what they think they are. It's their move next.
 
Maybe, I remember hearing the same things about Rondo back in the day though. If you have a deep team like the Pacers do Hali is obviously a better fit because Luka would be launching while Siakam stood in the corner pouting, lol. Tonight when Hali was kind of getting exposed he took a step back and let his teammates pick up the slack. Luka probably wouldn't do that haha. Carlisle when at this best has done this kind of thing before and built off the same basic vibe. Play to your strengths and just keep going. Go down with the ship if it does, oh well. He didn't slug it out with the Heat back in the day either, he ground them down because that was his team build and he knew a slugfest would be doom against the Heat. Now to see if the Thunder are what they think they are. It's their move next.

Rondo? Really? 🤨
 
Do you think vlade trades Luka after seeing his potential in the league? Mistakes before the draft can be forgiven outside of passing on Wemby and lebron

And beyond that people are griping about the WRONG THING. Gripe about the Kings inability to DEVELOP talent. Or even know what the talent is in front of them. Vlades mistake was seeing Giannis in Bagley. Like WTF? If he saw a bootleg Amare he's at least able to trade out of Bagley for something useful.
 
Rondo? Really? 🤨

Yes. It was Rondo's "leadership" and the guy that made the engine work, blah, blah, blah. People forget out good Rondo was I think. Like I said, ground up you need an MVP level talent if he's your go to. Maybe Tyrese could be that guy, but I think he's a little more unselfish than you typically find in players like Luka. You design your offense around Luka's.
 
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