ashwinmariampillai-blog

[ashwinmariampillai-blog]

THE NBA FINALS IS HERE

With the Toronto raptors now beat the Milwaukee bucks at home in 6 our teams for the nba finals have been selected and lets start predicting. With the Toronto Raptors only injuries being Og Ananoby(appendix) which has left him questionable for the series and Kawhi Leonard's ankle soreness which he is playing through when compared to the warrior star player Kevin Durant being out and both cousins and iguodala being questionable I have to with the raptors in six games

The toronto raptors have had the greatest season in their franchise history and could make this  one of the best playoff runs by any team in NBA history by defeating the juggernaut that is the Golden State Warriors. So far Kawhi Leonard has been the undisputed best player in the playoffs and with his only competition for that spot, Kevin Durant being out he is the best player in this series by far. The warriors obviously know this so they are probably going to throw Draymond green and Klay Thompson at his to slow him down so he will have to play more like an offensive administrator like he did against Milwaukee when they double teamed him. And the exact opposite can be said for the warriors there not a deep team with only 6 good players that could score effectively in a 7 game series and on offence will be trying to get the ball to curry and Klay as often as possible. So in theory if the raptor can somewhat  hold Steph and Klay they will win this in 6 games.    

The only things that could make me change my prediction is if Kevin Durant comes back and makes the warriors invincible again they will most likely win in 6 or if the raptors players(excluding leonard) choke.

[ashwinmariampillai-blog]

The Raptors Make the finals for the first time in Franchise history.

The Toronto raptors have just upset the 1 Swede Milwaukee bucks in what I would like to call the best series for the raptors this playoffs. The big story is how Kawhi Leonard dunked all over Giannis Antetakoupo and has become the new king of the east.

The Toronto raptors started this series down 0-2 to the Milwaukee bucks and every single  reporter analyst and sports commentators disrespected the Toronto Raptors and said that they would be surprised if the Raptors won a single game . Basically the entire world  and called the series right after  game 2 where the bucks blew the raptors out by 22 , but then the raptors did the impossible and won the next four games closing out the series in six at home. So many of you are asking yourselves what happened to the Milwaukee bucks.

Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse does not get enough credit for his amazing coaching as a first year coach. He was able to take this Toronto team to the next level(with some help from Kawhi Leonard) was able to elevate this team to the next level. He was able to tip the odds in the raptors favour in the ECF by change the raptors defensive setting to a man to man/2-3 zone mix

Whenever the ball was in the hands of Giannis Antetakoupo theRaptor would switch into a 2-3 zone which would clog up the paint and since the Superstar forward Giannis Antetakoupo can't shoot to save his life it made him very ineffective and slowed him down for the rest of the series and forced the other guys like Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe to step up. To their credit the other bucks players did step up but it didn't matter due to Milwaukee's lack luster defence which allowed the Toronto Raptors Superstar Kawhi Leonard to average 29 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals.

With a majority of the Milwaukee bucks player being free agents who know what Milwaukee will do from this point and if they will come back for revenge next year   and can the toronto Raptors continue this hot steak and become your new NBA Champions

[ashwinmariampillai-blog]

Dame Time is Over

That was the most disappointing Western conference finals series I have ever been alive to witness. the trail blazer built this crazy playoffs story with so many interesting moments  like in the first round Damian Lillard stepping up and showing Russell Westbrook who is boss after s long rivalry where Russel would say things like “ Ive been busting that(Damian Lillard) ass for years”. but then Damien showed the world that they were the 3 seed for a reason and were not gonna lose to the thunder, as in game five Lillard hit the second best shot(after Kawhi Leonards buzzer beater) from half court with Paul George a defensive player of the year candidate on him.

Then the blazer duelled it out with the 2 seeded Denver Nuggets who were led by start center Nikola Jokic and a group very talented player like Jamal Murray and  Gary Harris. The series was very evenly matched and the stars of each team would constantly out preform each other, then the Blazers exposed the fact that the nuggets have no true super stars that could just go and score for the nuggets since Nikola Jokic is too young, The blazers were able to force a game 7 and won the series on the backs of Damian Lillard and CJ Mcollum but then things got real scary for the Blazers

The Golden State Warriors and the Trail Blazers played in the western conference finals and the Warriors looked like they were in control of the game from the begging of the game. I believe that the Blazers were scared of the warriors as they would rush shots , chucked up threes and overall played like they were down even though  they lead for most of all four games. Then the Warriors showed why experience matters and completely embarrassed the blazers and turned them into Portland lead blowers as in three out the four games the Blazers blew double digit leads in the second half of games.

Hopefully with Portland embarrassing themselves they and all the other western conference teams will do whatever they can in free agency to improve their rosters so they can the warriors next year.  

[ashwinmariampillai-blog]

The NBA Draft(And the consequences)

SO that was one interesting draft lottery for those who didn't watch it live, i truly feel bad for you. That lottery was just filled with unexpected twist and turns that would almost make you think that it is rigged(a topic for a different time). so firstly let us just go through the notable teams in picks 5-14. Sadly for hawks/cavs/suns/bulls fans all you guys dropped out of the top 5 and wont be getting the top prospects like Zion, Morant and Barret and Reddish(who are the best prospects in the 2019 draft) but hawks fans start praying that the hawks can package the 10th and 8th pick for a higher up pick so that trae young and john collins can get some help next year.For the rest of the teams that fell out of the top 4 try to get a steal like the mavs did last year or hope the Knicks do something stupid like they always do.

So the number 4 pick went to the Los Angeles Lakers and theres only one thing they can do with it. TRADE IT NOW, the longer they wait the more likley the four pick will drop in value. if say one of the top 4 prospects were to injured( like what had happened to Micheal Porter Jr last year.) the fourth pick would drop significantly in value. If I was the Laker I would try to package this pick and some player for Anthony Davis or Damian Lillard.

The third pick had fell to the Knicks and had completely crushed all hopes of starting a rebuild around Zion Williamson. I think that this was actually a blessing in disguise because the Knicks suck at developing young players into super stars. with this pick i would do the same as the lakers and try to pick up Anthony Davis. i also think that since Memphis is basically already selling Morant Memphis jerseys Rj Barret will definitely drop to the third pick and trading that pick and Deandre jordan for Anthony Davis.

Memphis landed the second pick and I have nothing to say to them because drafting Morant at second is a really good move, but they should try to trade   Mike Conley to the suns for the 6th pick as the suns desperately need a point guard and someone at 6 would be a good pair up with Morant

And lastly the Pelicans just draft Zion and trade Anthony Davis for the third pick, Deandre Jordan and some future picks , so then your starting lineup will look like holiday ,Baret, Williamson, Randle and Jordan.    

[ashwinmariampillai-blog]

The Toronto Raptors send the 76ers home

The Toronto Raptors advanced  to the eastern conference finals for the second time in franchise history in the craziest game 7 in maybe all of playoff history. All  of the raptors had pretty good games stats wise, with Pascal Siakam nothing a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Kyle Lowry putting up 10 points and 6&6 and Serge Ibaka dropping 17 off the bench.

The 76ers players also had many notable games with  one of the top center in the league Joel Embid putting up the impressive stat line of 21 points 3 blocks and 11 rebound and star forward Jimmy Butler scoring 16 and all of the other 76ers starters also putting up ten or more points but then none of that mattered because off superstar forward had the best single player performance so far in the playoffs

Kawhi Leonard put up 41 points 3 steals and 8 rebounds and hit that amazing shot. telling you about this shot without giving you the proper background. the score was 100-98 for the raptors at the line Kawhi misses a free throw then Jimmy Butler ties the game up then Kawhi get the ball from an inbound after a time out then dribbles to the corner and chucked up a contested mid. Every person in the arena stood and waited, seeing the ball bounce all around the rim and then the crowd and the entire country erupted with joy as Kawhi Leonard had just hit the first game 7 buzzer beater in all of NBA history. Hopfully the rest of the playoffs can continue to be this interesting.