Let's talk basketball!

Anybody know how to watch the NCAA Final four games if you are not currently living in the US? Can't seem to find a stream.

Fuuuck I got Kentucky going to the championship game but seriously though another Duke & Kentucky NCAA championship game? Rich getting richer? I have a sudden urge to root for Wisconsin to win it all.

@bobstar: Not sure if this works outside of the states but check this feed. They announced a few other ones during the broadcast so let me see if I can find them.

http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live/game/601?cid=MML2015_br_teamstream_live

* nevermind the other feed they advertised requires a cable or satellite subscription.

Since my bracket is done, I kind of want to see Kentucky lose just to cause relentless chaos.

John Callipari is sweating hair gel right now.

lol well that just killed almost everyones brackets. Well played Wisconsin, well played.

Yowza, I gotta look at our tournament site and see who the hell survived.

Andrew Harrison of Kentucky with some rather "choice words" after the loss

Oh jeez... college kids doing press conferences probably isn't the best idea.

The rich get richer... man I was hoping somebody other then Duke, Kentucky, Kansas or Connecticut would win the title for once.

I had UK winning it all cause I'm not a crazy person. Damn.

I did pick MSU to go to the Final Four, though. At least I have that.

Crazy week for basketball. Paul George returned from injury last Sunday and now rumblings have it that Derrick Rose will be back in the lineup today! Can't expect much from Rose after coming off a MCL tear 2 months ago but glad to see him back.

Yeah, he's gone back to relying a lot on jumpers and boy does he not get foul calls at all when he drives. I don't get it at all since with the amount of contact he was taking there was a lot of hits on the arm when he was driving towards the basket during that Heat game, I was really surprised he didn't get a foul call at all. I guess him not able to exaggerate the contact in the same way as Jimmy Butler (or James Harden or Ginobili) that refs are now so used to seeing contact with the over reaction.

@gaspower: Great game for Rose glad to see him shoving all the, "please lord, please let him not be the next Brandon Roy" back in all our faces.

That Final 8th seed in the West is a real nail biter. Rooting for the Pelicans to get it so I can see Clay Bennett "wincing face" again.

Soooo... good!

@i_stay_puft: Yeah, I don't know how the Thunder would be able to stay competitive vs the Warriors without Durant. At least the Pels and Anthony Davis would have the chance to finally be in the Playoffs.

Rose was great during the 76ers game. He was making a lot of slashes towards the rim and his passes were on point (the kickout to Mirotic and the pass to Gibson when he was trapped on the half court line were notable examples).

Does Brooklyn have any chance for an upset?

Excited to be going to the Pacers-Thunder game tonight. Will be my first time seeing Westbrook live.

buwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha.

>_>

* If 2005 Deron Williams and Joe Johnson find a time traveling DeLorean and use it to travel 10 years into the future to this time period, drug their current selves and play in the playoff game in their place I'll raise their chances to Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

* If Brookes Lopez gets recruited by Shield to take the maybe street legal "super soldier serum" that will turn his brittle bones into the second coming of Captain America I'd raise their chances to Eastern Conference Finals.

* Lionel Simmons finds a magic lamp and uses one of the wishes to win an NBA championship but then uses his third wish to set the genie free. Of course raise their chances to NBA Championship.

In all seriousness I don't see the Nets getting far unless Deron Williams & Joe Johnson. Where they are at physically I can't see that happening which kinda sucks for Nets fans cause like 2 years nobody had a brighter future for a franchise then them. 2 legit scorers in Williams and Brook along with cap space. That Boston trade is kinda what killed the franchise not only adding 2 large contract veterans in Pierce and Garnett but also trading away their future 1st round picks.

Westbrook has 50 points 7 rebounds 8 assists and his athleticism is insane in person. The way he explodes at the rim is crazy.

I hope he can keep it up. We'll see how a KD return affects his game and if they can coexist at this level. If so, we may have a similar situation to when Pippen stepped up his game to become a true partner to MJ.

I was also surprised how much he does for the community. He plays with such ferocity on the court, but by all accounts he's a really good, caring dude.

Oh, and guys. Curry or Harden for MVP? I'm leaning towards Steph, especially after that clutch performance the other day.

@csl316: Harden for me. He is more important to the Rockets than anyone else is to their team and he did this all without having Dwight for huge stretches.

@csl316: I've been a die hard Dubs fan since birth so I can't exactly be unbiased. I get the arguments for Harden, I really do, but for me it's Curry. Curry doesn't just get the ball everytime down the floor as the #1 option. In a way it's almost more impressive that he's done what he's done in the flow of an offensive that has a lot of good options and matchups. The ball gets spread around a lot more and if I had to guess I'd say Curry plays 5 or 6 minutes less a game than Harden. The Rockets would be a lottery team for sure without Harden and the Warriors would probably still make the playoffs without Steph, but that shouldn't be the deciding factor for MVP. It's not Curry's fault that he has better teammates.

@hippie_genocide: It kind of comes down to the "best player on the best team argument." Harden's keeping Houston in contention, but Curry's playing a big part in keeping the Warriors on top all season. I don't think Curry should be penalized, either. He makes his better teammates even better.

Another thing is defense. Golden State's D is tops and Curry's been improving on that side. He's up there in steals and is far more than just a scorer.

Harden? Well...

(yeah, that's last season, I know)

Gotta go Harden on this one. Steph Curry is deserving but he has Klay Thompson, the same Klay Thompson who put up 42 pts. on 15-20 shooting on the defensively stout Memphis Grizzlies. Harden has what? A brokeback Howard and hack-a-Josh Smith.

Jesus Wittman's face tonight was magical.

Jae Crowder just channeled his inner Bird on that game winner against the Raptors tonight.

I'm not even mad about the Heat missing the playoffs. The team gets a full offseason to heal up, we might get our pick, and Spo gets a chance to come up with a competent scheme that scores more than 8 points in the 4th quarter. 2016 should be a fun year for Heat fans.

Paul Pierce calling out Deron Williams is like sweet melodies in my ear.

Obligatory link

OKC Thunder out of the playoffs another year of Clay Bennett tears. Bring on the rain~ Those Clay Bennet tears taste so good.

Woo! Bring on NOP! I'm really looking forward to this post-season!

Yep, our guys get to heal up. Wade gets to do whatever the hell he needs to do for his knees (buy new ones at the Knee Store or something), Mario Chalmers can stop trying to dribble up and down the baseline and turning the ball over, Ennis can learn how to dribble the ball with confidence and Spo can.... um... our guys get to heal up.

Wizards finished slouching their way into the playoffs with a pair of OT losses in 3 days, including a Pacers matchup that was so sloppy on both sides I could swear it was Game 2 of last year's playoffs. Look around the town you'll find everyone hype as shit about the Capitals (hockey) while they've pretty much resigned themselves to fate about the Wizards, even though they share the same building and are both playoff teams helmed by amazing stars. Not helped by the fact that at any Wizards home game at least half the crowd is there to see the other team's stars, and the owner's response is to raise ticket prices even higher so hometown fans can't or won't bother to buy them.

I did love reading Paul Pierce's comments online, especially saying that Otto Porter should get mean. I think if Porter put on a few more pounds of muscle and stays out of Wittman's doghouse he really could a great player for the team, but we'll have to wait until next season to find out.

The Nets are in the playoffs. WHAT THE HELL?!

@jiggajoe14: That's the eastern conference for ya.

Having as many exciting series as last year's first round of playoffs eventually had is going to be tough this year, but I'm ready for whatever. The playoff matchups seem promising enough. Mostly looking forward to the Clippers-Spurs series, especially for those possessions when(/if) Leonard will be defending Paul. I love me some Pippenesque defense.

Pelicans won't be a thing. 2nd round would be either Portland or Memphis. Rather go with Portland but I think the Dubs could handle either. I look forward to breaking Rockets' fans hearts the world over in the Western Conference Finals if they make it that far.

@jiggajoe14: We should set up a pool to see what the average margin of victory will be in their series with the Hawks.

On the topic of the playoffs, the other series we have are a murderer's row of greatness. Clips/Spurs will be monumental in how much Pop will try and find ways to get into Blake's head. Bucks/Bulls will be great because we can see exactly how far Giannis and the Gang have come this year. I only wish they had Jabari because holy cow that team would be amazing to watch. Wizards/Raptors seems like it will be the NBA TV series so we won't have to watch it. Houston/Dallas will be fun to see if Playoff Rondo comes out to play and Portland/Memphis will be a bloodbath for everyone involved.

My predictions for the Conference Finals are Warriors/Memphis and Cavs/Hawks with Hawks/Warriors being our Finals matchup and the Warriors winning in 7.

@ht101: Really looking forward to seeing Jabari develop over the next few years. Milwaukee's got a bright future.

@i_stay_puft: My Brooklyn upset still has potential!

@dochaus: And you know what, as a Toronto fan I honestly think you guys will come alive and beat us in game 7 on our home court.

http://grantland.com/1990s-orlando-magic-oral-history/

Really good interview / article about the mid-90's Orlando Magics. Back in the day besides my hometown Seattle Sonics team Orlando was my other favorite team in the NBA. Too bad they disbanded before they ever got over that hump but it might've been a good thing considering Jordan was in the beginning parts of his comeback.

@longmasterwolf: I do think it could go to game 7, but I fear whoever wins will just walk right into the sharp talons of the Atlanta Hawks so it's kind of moot.

...utilize hack-a-Jordan. Suddenly my interest dropped quite a bit. For some reason I did not think of that when originally looking at the series. Watching a poor free thrower shoot dozens upon dozens of free throws is not very entertaining. The first couple might be but after that... yeah.

I'm really interested in that Cavs - Celtics series. I don't know, something about that series and the fact that Brad Stevens' end of game, in-bounds plays are really something.

I hope Stevens wins a chip with Boston 2-3 years down the line.

Believing the Celtics are winning it all until they get eliminated.

So like a week.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Celtics shut down the Cavs again, partly because @gorillamopena never stops believing. Isn't their 2010 series where we heard the Cleveland owner say Lebron quit and that they'd win a championship before Miami? With James saying we're spoiled to see him do what he does?

Just change Atlanta to Cleveland with this argument. Anything is possible.

Hoping the Spurs repeat. Pop's team is too good not to root for, especially being a Sixers fan. Need some upside to this season!

I'm as hopeful as @gorillamopena.

I love my Bulls and I also love underdogs.

All of the West teams with the exception of the Pels aren't underdogs. I'm cheering for the Brow and hoping he has a game where he just wrecks ever single thing on the court, including teammates.