NBA playoffs 2018
- Thread starter DeJesus Built My Hotrod
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Thompson is a free agent after next season, Iguodala is 34. There’s some potential cracks there.
Thompson is already talking about staying. Iggy is a role player at this point and figures to have a couple more solid years left.
Chris Paul just turned 33. Houston’s window is now and they just don’t have the horses. Nobody else in the West is even remotely close.
We’ll see what LeBron does but this Warriors run is basically going to have to be stopped by the Celtics, injuries, or LeBron going to the Lakers and bringing Kawhi with him or something.
Harden should be disqualified from the MVP voting for his defense or lack thereof tonight. That turnstile attempt at Livingston was awful.
And Trevor Ariza wants no part of fighting with Draymond. Talk about fake tough guys.
And Trevor Ariza wants no part of fighting with Draymond. Talk about fake tough guys.
Ball, PG13, LeBron, Kawhi, ??. It might be enough, but their depth would be limited. I'm assuming Ingram would get shipped for Kawhi.
Reggie Miller is seriously suggesting the Rockets give run to 80 billion year old Iso Joe Johnson.
Great series for hate-watching CP3 -- there's a reason his teammates hate him. The whole "sports reveals character" cliche holds true for him. From cheap-shotting Julius Hodges when he was in college to being unable to lead the Clippers anyway -- and leading them to one of the major 7th game collapses in history -- to shoving off to a wanna be super team and then playing like a dog.....the guy is great but so majorly flawed.
It amazes me how Harden is never really called out for how little effort he expends on defense. He'll flick at the ball as the guy is waltzing by, and that's it. To his credit, he's quite good at taking it away. But he won't stop anyone with his feet.
Golden State hasn't lost a home playoff game since Game 7 versus the Cavs in 2016. That's 16 in a row now. Juggernaut.
And they barely lost that one. It’s going to be ridiculously difficult to beat these guys 4 times in 7 tries in the next couple of years, particularly if you don’t have the best player in the league.
Too bad we couldn’t see the 2014 Spurs against this team. That would have been a basketball clinic.
Watched most of the game; I think he's moving okay. With regard to his shot, given how quick his release is during games, maybe the issue is that it takes a while to get his shot back to game speed and accuracy after not being able to shoot for several weeks?
Didn't look like he was favoring anything. I don't watch GSW much so not sure if Curry's lateral movement is off from pre-injury (or particularly pre-ankle injury).
A fully loaded Celtics team next year could give GS a run. Other than Durant (not a small exception, obviously), they match up pretty well with the Warriors.
Curry - Kyrie
Thompson - Brown (that would be a great matchup)
Green - Hayward
Iguodala - Tatum
Durant - Horford (at least has the requisite length and is pretty nimble; Durant won't punish him in the post)
You bring Smart, Rozier, and Morris off the bench as your main subs against this team because they don't really pound you inside. Smart and Rozier, obviously, are very tough defensively and can get in guys' grills very well.
Curry - Kyrie
Thompson - Brown (that would be a great matchup)
Green - Hayward
Iguodala - Tatum
Durant - Horford (at least has the requisite length and is pretty nimble; Durant won't punish him in the post)
You bring Smart, Rozier, and Morris off the bench as your main subs against this team because they don't really pound you inside. Smart and Rozier, obviously, are very tough defensively and can get in guys' grills very well.
I felt Curry's mobility improved noticeably with the extra rest. Aside from the shooting he was also moving much more fluidly in the first half from my seat. How much is home/away affect? How much is injury recovery? Probably a combination.
Isn't Green mostly playing the 5 for them? Realizing of course that they have no actual center in their starting lineup.
I'd have put Brown on Durant, frankly. Horford can't get around screens fast enough to stop Durant's perimeter shooting. Put Horford (or Baynes / center-of-the-month) on Green, and let Tatum and Hayward take whoever, including Durant if that's the rotation they get.
What I like most about the matching up is that the Celtics' defensive style really suits perimeter defense, because of how well they help the helper and how rarely they make mental mistakes that leave an open perimeter shooter. They can adjust that style, as they obviously did for Milwaukee who had few outside shooting threats, but watching them just smother JJ Redick was a joy. And what is Klay Thompson but a rich man's JJ Redick?
Ugh, Andre (probably) out for tomorrow's game after banging knees with the Beard.
Latest example of why not to get out over one's skis with the early Warriors coronation, let alone the next two or three. (Andre's messed up back, along with a broken Bogut and Ezeli, were underplayed aspects of the 2016 collapse).
Latest example of why not to get out over one's skis with the early Warriors coronation, let alone the next two or three. (Andre's messed up back, along with a broken Bogut and Ezeli, were underplayed aspects of the 2016 collapse).
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Iguodala being out means they still have two MVP caliber players, and two other all-stars (one a DPOY and the other one of the greatest shooters in history). They'll be fine even if they lose Iguodala for the rest of the postseason. They were already a juggernaut before they added Kevin friggin Durant.
Yeah you make good points. I was just thinking that Horford moves pretty well for a guy his size, and his length would be important in putting up some kind of barrier to Durant's shooting. KD will just shoot over Brown pretty effortlessly. I mean, he's a total freak and he's basically Giannis with a deadly outside shot. No matter who the Celtics put on him, that's the matchup GS would need to exploit.
Mostly agreed, though Iguodala was always a quietly big part of what made them a juggernaut in the first place (Finals MVP, e.g.); and his defensive IQ and ability to guard 1-5 is especially useful against Houston. He was the primary defender on Harden yesterday, and did a better job on him than KD had done in games 1-2.
In his absence, they'll probably give Shaun, Swaggy, Looney and Cook (and maybe Bell) a bit more run, which may be okay for a game as long as at least a couple of those play as well as they did yesterday (Swaggy in particular has looked shockingly decent this series). I just don't like any change of pace after yesterday's beatdown. If the Rockets can steal a win, they're right back in the driver's seat.
Klay
Besides being a great shooter, Klay is an an excellent defender (what, capable of defending 1 through 4, 4 in a pinch?). Looking it up, I was surprised he hasn’t made an all defensive second team.
Klay's an overrated defender. He's good, he tries hard; he's not bad or anything like that. Couldn't stop Kyrie if his life depended on it in the last two finals, though. Is typically the fourth-best defender in his own starting five (behind Green, Durant and Iggy) which is more a testament to how deep the Warriors are on defense; but still, if we are talking about great defenders, it has to be considered that when he is on the floor, he has an amazing cast of supporting players to help him out. He's good at defending bigger two-guards, but he isn't Draymond or even Iguodala on the defensive end.
I think people are slightly overreacting to last night's game. Yeah Golden State was amazing, but Houston also played horrible, terrifying basketball. Scroll up in this very thread and see the reactions after Game 1 of this series; people were saying the same thing they are saying after Game 3; that GS is going to roll through everybody and nobody stands a chance. The funny thing is that in Game 2; Houston played really well and obliterated Golden State, showing that they can in fact, hang with the Warriors.
Now the mark of a great team is not playing well, it is playing well on a consistent basis. Given their talent; Houston really shouldn't be crapping their pants like they did in Game 3. However, I believe that Houston has the talent and the playmakers to beat GS in this series. That doesn't mean I think they are going to, but it's a very real possibility that Houston comes out in Game 4; hits a bunch of three pointers and Harden goes for 38-10-15 and they head back to Houston with the series tied.
I think people are slightly overreacting to last night's game. Yeah Golden State was amazing, but Houston also played horrible, terrifying basketball. Scroll up in this very thread and see the reactions after Game 1 of this series; people were saying the same thing they are saying after Game 3; that GS is going to roll through everybody and nobody stands a chance. The funny thing is that in Game 2; Houston played really well and obliterated Golden State, showing that they can in fact, hang with the Warriors.
Now the mark of a great team is not playing well, it is playing well on a consistent basis. Given their talent; Houston really shouldn't be crapping their pants like they did in Game 3. However, I believe that Houston has the talent and the playmakers to beat GS in this series. That doesn't mean I think they are going to, but it's a very real possibility that Houston comes out in Game 4; hits a bunch of three pointers and Harden goes for 38-10-15 and they head back to Houston with the series tied.
I mean ... PJ Tucker (or maybe Ariza?) is Houston's 5th-best player — I'd feel marginally more confident with one of those two guys out.
And I know the Cs are a poor comp since they've lost so many key guys, but Marcus Smart is probably their #5 guy (after Horford, Jaylen, Tatum, Rozier) and I'm pretty sure no one would relish going into a playoff battle without him.
As Kliq notes, the Rockets are really good. Losing Iguodala may not be a huge deal, but the margin for error is smaller than people are making it out to be based on one lopsided game (that was actually fairly close at halftime). We've blown a 3-1 series with a little suspension here and and an injury there, so Dubs Nation has a right to stress out!
Iguodala not playing hurts but the Warriors are still loaded. In addition to S Dot, Looney, Cook and Young, they also have Bell who got run last night. They should be fine.
Houston's problem isn't on the offensive end btw - they are going to score just fine, Iguodala or not. Its on defense where Harden's toreador approach to covering his man is leading to wide open buckets. That wasn't a problem when they were playing the Dallases and Orlandos of the world during the regular season. But it is when he is trying to cover a team that runs at least three elite scorers out there at any given time and has a bevy of other players who have the IQ and skill enough to take advantage of Harden's contempt for doing anything other than swatting at opposing players as they run past him.
Houston's problem isn't on the offensive end btw - they are going to score just fine, Iguodala or not. Its on defense where Harden's toreador approach to covering his man is leading to wide open buckets. That wasn't a problem when they were playing the Dallases and Orlandos of the world during the regular season. But it is when he is trying to cover a team that runs at least three elite scorers out there at any given time and has a bevy of other players who have the IQ and skill enough to take advantage of Harden's contempt for doing anything other than swatting at opposing players as they run past him.
Of course you want everyone there, but when your #1 through #4 go by the names of Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Green, that's a slightly different thing.
True. But I’ll get back to you next year at this time when your fifth best player is Al Horford.
I came here to quote the first paragraph to say how much I agree with all of it. Then I read rest of post and agree with it in its entirety as well.
Good News - All we need to do is hold serve at home in G5 & G7.
Bad News - Like the Bucks and Sixers, the Cavs are adjusting to our game on both sides of the ball.
Bad News - Like the Bucks and Sixers, the Cavs are adjusting to our game on both sides of the ball.
He's taken playful jabs at IT before, but it seems like the little guy is generally admired by the kids there. Kuzma seems pretty likable, which is annoying.
Embiid, on the other hand, is getting pretty tiresome:
Punching down to a role-player whose team is the reason you're tweeting from your couch is next-level salty. But it's nice to know that Baynes and the Celtics are in his head.
Embiid, on the other hand, is getting pretty tiresome:
Punching down to a role-player whose team is the reason you're tweeting from your couch is next-level salty. But it's nice to know that Baynes and the Celtics are in his head.
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A role player who played him pretty damn well that series. And meanwhile Embiid is afraid of water slides. Like, for real, he's afraid of water slides.
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As far as I'm concerned, this just means that Embiid didn't understand Baynes's role in spacing the defense and shutting down passing lanes in transition.
Sign Baynes immediately after the playoffs.
Looking forward to Aron coming back as a knockdown 3pt shooter and rendering Embiid's low post defense useless
Looking forward to Aron coming back as a knockdown 3pt shooter and rendering Embiid's low post defense useless