NBA Playoffs — Wed Apr 20

Alright, let’s get started.

Earlier I watched the Celtics take a 2–0 lead in their series against the Nets, and it’s safe to say I don’t feel bad about watching Kyrie lose again. I’m so sick of the Nets, with the needless drama of Irving sitting out throughout the season, and watching goofy Ben Simmons on the bench after the Harden trade… AND! I’m actually a fan of James Harden, so if they’re able to edge out the Raptors tonight, I think that’ll put to rest any debate about who got the better trade deal…

Is it sad I don’t even know who won MVP this year? Or have they not made that determination yet… I know that Embiid was up there with Nikola Jokic, but not sure who claimed the prize. I was watching more basketball earlier in the season but trailed off at the end of the regular season. Playoffs though are a different beast, just like with any sport, and I hope maybe I can get some others around me on board with keeping up this year. This blog could help. We’ll see.

The last game of the night this evening is the Bucks vs the Bulls, which so far is still in the first quarter but I recall the Bucks were favored by 10 points. Meanwhile, this game here is starting to get real interesting, and thus I’ll continue my discussion without even looking at what I type. Embiid just hit a super tough three to tie the game at 87 a piece with 5 minutes left in the game. Embiid is such a monster bro, so huge obviously but the way he carries himself and the burst with which he can explode past defenders is truly next level.

This brings me to Tyrese Maxey. What did he score, 38 the other night? I’m sure he’s been good throughout this game but I’ve only just started watching following that Celtics win. Tobias Harris and Danny Green are also solid role players to back up the Embiid/Harden star power. Jesus, Toronto is not going to go away though… DG w the 3 just now. He was great for the Spurs years back, and I forget where he was before the Sixers, but he’s a solid (veteran?) player at this point.

This brings me to bets. I wonder what the futures odds are for Philadelphia to win the whole thing? Sure they’ll have to somehow take down the lowkey-juggernaut which are the Heat, but they could potentially pull it off. I’ll leave the Heat discussion for when they play tomorrow night, but boy do they have a deep bench. My Dallas Mavericks also play tomorrow evening, HOPEFULLY with a healthy Luka back in the lineup. We’ll see. Dinwiddie’s got strong shoulders. Don’t even get me started about how happy I was to see THAT trade a month or two back. Let Porzingis be huge and injured on the shitty Wizards: Dinwiddie is a baller. Also, Brunson the other night had a huge night, which was great to see… but again, we’ll save those discussions for tomorrow night when the Heat and Mavs are playing.

Meanwhile, this Philly-Toronto series could be essentially over tonight, but the Raptors are definitely putting up a fight. Alright, I’m getting too distracted by this typing. I’ll check back in after these last two minutes of the game (more like 20 minutes with commercials, of course). Stay tuned for my post-game chat.

OT baby, but with a fouled-out Harden…