The 2nd Season - 2019 Playoff Thread
- Thread starter ElUno20
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Yep, you need to play for multiple possessions. It’s not only your best chance to tie, but also to win it in regulation
game would of been .maybe 2 seconds left with kyle free throwing. But it toronto can't win this now it on them
I mean, if the clock operator had done it correctly vs the refs stopping it and doing it correctly.
Yes, if no one caught it, then there's a huge difference.
Turned games on with like 3 minutes to go a half hours ago. Despite this game never being in doubt to anyone but Toronto.
even when he is tired and hurt and offensively out of sorts... kahwai imposes his will. best , or top 2, player in the nba?
You knew it was going to be a major problem with Kawhi going to Toronto but Danny certainly wasn’t banking on his team regressing the way that it did.
This summer will let us know how it all shakes out. If Toronto loses to GS and Kawhi goes to LAC, then it starts to look much different.
This finals reminds me of Lakers/Pistons in ‘04. An all time great team with three championships under their belts against a great defensive team.
he will make him earn it.
Kahwai vs klay?
looney vs ibaka
green vs siakam
No iggy might be the difference (assuming durant is out)
Even if Kawhi leaves it was an all time trade. Complete steal & raps fans will love him forever. You make that trade 100 times out of 100 even if he leaves.
Raps defense was amazing. Just completely clogged the lane for Giannis. Genius stuff. I hope Brad Stevens & the Celtics we’re watching every minute.
It wasn't all that complicated and was helped a ton by the Bucks continually starting Giannis 30 feet from the basket.
I was talking from the Celtics’ perspective, not the Raptors. Our price was probably Jaylen and one of the SAC/MEM picks. Clearly, that was a great trade for Toronto. It would have been more complicated for the Celtics. Kawhi’s camp was also throwing shade at him going to Boston, which is probably why Danny held off.
Andre's been practicing and Kerr says he should be good to go in Game 1 (knocking wood).
Fwiw, Steph has been better against the Raptors over his career than any other team, and by a decent margin: 28.6 pts on .679 ts / 4.3 reb / 7.8 ast in 17 games.
It's gonna be tough if KD is unavailable for more than a couple games or limited when he returns, though. Kawhi's a man possessed right now, and KD's one of the few guys in the league who tends to get the better of him on both ends of the floor.
I know its cool around these parts to make predictions and proclamations before the games are done but I honestly don't know who wins this finals.
I get that the Warriors will be favored but Toronto has shown that they are a supremely disciplined defensive team with a bevy of wings who can clamp down and make shots. Norman Powell picked a fine time to rediscover his playoff magic and Gasol looks like a different player than earlier in the season with Memphis where he looked close to being washed.
Then there is Kawhi Leonard. What he did against Milwaukee, while hobbled, was nothing short of amazing. He is like a real life John Wick except that he shows even less emotion while straight up murdering people's playoff dreams.
I also get that people want to go all negative on the Celtics for not acquiring him but the fact is that most of us here weren't privy to what, if any, negotiations Boston had with San Antonio nor what the actual price was or what the whisper talk was for him coming to Boston. Maybe that is for a different thread but for now its simply time to recognize how great he is, especially defensively.
Finally, I don't think Milwaukee got outcoached but YRMV. The better team won this series. The fact is that aside from Giannis, Middleton and Brogdon, the Bucks were depending on a bunch of misfit toys to round out their rotations. Toronto is much deeper and they weren't depending on regular season magic to work as much in the playoffs (Lopez "evolution" comes to mind here).
I get that the Warriors will be favored but Toronto has shown that they are a supremely disciplined defensive team with a bevy of wings who can clamp down and make shots. Norman Powell picked a fine time to rediscover his playoff magic and Gasol looks like a different player than earlier in the season with Memphis where he looked close to being washed.
Then there is Kawhi Leonard. What he did against Milwaukee, while hobbled, was nothing short of amazing. He is like a real life John Wick except that he shows even less emotion while straight up murdering people's playoff dreams.
I also get that people want to go all negative on the Celtics for not acquiring him but the fact is that most of us here weren't privy to what, if any, negotiations Boston had with San Antonio nor what the actual price was or what the whisper talk was for him coming to Boston. Maybe that is for a different thread but for now its simply time to recognize how great he is, especially defensively.
Finally, I don't think Milwaukee got outcoached but YRMV. The better team won this series. The fact is that aside from Giannis, Middleton and Brogdon, the Bucks were depending on a bunch of misfit toys to round out their rotations. Toronto is much deeper and they weren't depending on regular season magic to work as much in the playoffs (Lopez "evolution" comes to mind here).
I'm not sure where else you would start GA. If you put him in the post, TOR would immediately double-team him and force him to get rid of the ball. Plus, GA doesn't really have any post moves.
TOR basically went into a 2-3 zone whenever GA touched the ball. That's not new - Cs did it too - but TOR is much longer than the Cs and could get back to the shooters.
If you watch some of the Cs-MIL game while watching TOR-MIL, you will notice how much more open the paint was with BOS.
Plus, from what I saw, TOR was really able to limit the number of transition opportunities GA got.
yep, 100% agree with the bolded, actually, agree with all of it.
2-3 zone with length is extremely efficient, especially when Kawhi is your small forward (OR 3 OR mid-size wing OR whatever you want to call it).
For all intents and purposes, the 2-3 zone (or extended 4-1) is the foundation for a switchy/rotational defense. The key to paying that well is length and discipline, both of which the C's lacked at times this season.
I hope they watch too. I was most impressed by the urgency and commitment of both teams on both ends.
Normally that wouldn’t be at all remarkable for an NBA elimination game, and it’s always dangerous playing the role of body language doctor, but in contrast to what I saw from the Celtics I found it striking.
At some point down the stretch the broadcast went in the huddles and both coaches were talking about keeping the ball moving and backing each other up on defense. Normally the coach speak sounds so silly but I couldn’t stop thinking the Celtics just never seemed invested enough in either.
This part bothers me about the NBA today. I get that it's an outside-in game. Three point shooting and dribble-drive-kick-out action. Very very few post players. But shouldn't great players be ABLE to post up? I feel like to be a complete player you need all those skills. So when one thing isn't working, you can go to something else. Jordan and LeBron and Kobe all developed great post games to go with their shooting and driving. Yes that was in a different era, I get that. But why wouldn't you develop that part of your game as well, especially if you're near 7-feet tall like Giannis is? All you really need is a jump hook and a turnaround. That's basically it. Maybe an up-and-under off the turnaround but you don't need an Olajuwan or McHale level repertoire. Just a couple of post moves that you can go to when you need them.
I always felt like you need to have multiple ways to score, so if the defense is taking one or two away, you have another tool in the toolbox.
By the way, and this is a total aside, but I didn't think it deserved its own thread....how great would Larry Bird be offensively in today's NBA? Floor spacing, opening up all those passing lanes? Bird could post up, drive, or shoot. His peak years he shot .427 and .423 from three, but he only took about 2 three pointers a game. Imagine if he shot 6-7 like guys do today? Guy would have scored like 33 points a game.
Anyway, back to the thread.....
Anyway, back to the thread.....
I couldn't disagree more with this based on what I've see all season with his spin move which was essentially unstoppable all year. Giannis doesn't score a ton with his back to the basket by the Bucks offensive spacing design as when he backs down on the block defenses nearly always double team him to force a kickout where the majority of his team-leading 5.9 Assist/g come from. When they don't double it generally results in a spin move followed by a layup, dunk, or trip to the line...…..all teams would love a guy with so few post moves as Giannis to command instant doubles before he can put the ball on the floor and spin to the rim. Bud would prefer him in a secondary break going downhill where he is nearly unstoppable in pace which is certainly understandable.
I was shocked when the Raptors looked to push the ball at every opportunity in G1 and then more flabbergasted when Nurse had them doing same in G2 resulting in a pace that greatly favors the Bucks. Once their game plan was adjusted the Raptors won 4 straight because, unlike the Celtics, they had the personnel to slow down Giannis in a halfcourt game while being long and athletic enough to close out on his 3-point shooters. Maybe they needed to see what they could/couldn't do defensively but had they simply strategized from out of the gate they may have swept the Bucks.
TOR was just a better team. Some of that was the coaching, but once Kawhi started covering Giannis the whole series sort of turned. I do enjoy the hot takes though
HRB beat me to it but seriously, post up, get doubled and kick out and rotate the ball. especially since, you know, what you were doing was failing miserably. Try something else.
The arrogance of coach bud too after game 4 or 5 to say their offense was fine. What an absolute jackass.
I hate the whole "this is what we do so we won't change". This isn't boxing where you're losing every round and you dont want to risk anything because you dont want to open yourself up and get put in a coma. Dude's losing 4 straight and is just running the same garbage possession after possession.
The crazy thing is that this ISN’T what the Bucks do. They excel in controlled secondary transition which the Raptors has completely taken away. Giannis downhill from 30-feet straight from the rim is pretty much unstoppable in secondary transition......it is a cluster of an offense vs a long, athletic and focused playoff set defense yet that is what the Bucks kept running.
This is accurate. The Raptors dumped DeRozan’s disaster of a contract and a solid roleplayer In Poeltl and got back a good starting guard in Danny Green and Kawhi. That trade was a heist even if Kawhi didn’t play a single minute for Toronto. The price for Boston was very different and it’s hard to second guess not wanting to trade for Kawhi, especially since we still don’t know what his future holds and at the time didn’t even know if he was ever going to be able to play at an elite level again.
Sharp Money flowing in on the Raptors in G1. Number opened GS -1 and now is concensus Tor -1 with some st -1.5 despite 85% of total wagers on Warriors.
I took some Raptor series at +250 early. This is Kawhi’s world we only live in it. Counting on a Boogie disruption as well.
I took some Raptor series at +250 early. This is Kawhi’s world we only live in it. Counting on a Boogie disruption as well.
I know Steph is great and yeah I'd take him over Lowry of course, but Lowry was really impressive on both ends for the last four games. He made lots of clutch plays when it looked like they were falling out of the game. I feel like he was better than his stat sheet showed (and that wasn't half bad).
Just didn't want to lose sight of his performance in the shadow of Kawhi, who was obviously otherworldly.
Yup--I saw a lot of debate on Twitter as to whether the Raps were running zone, but it looked to me like they were just loading up and helping to the boxes and elbows. It was Milwaukee's default offense that made that look like a 2-3 or 1-4 zone, because they just don't have any weakside misdirection or off-ball threat at all, so an aggressive helping man defense ends up looking like a zone, but without the weaknesses a zone would have.
I think that the better team won, and that Kawhi is 1st or 2nd best player in the world right now (when healthy). But Milwaukee has a lot of the same issues that Houston does: a non-diverse, repetitive offense that is over-engineered for the regular season. I give Kerr shit-tons of credit for pushing GSW to stay out of that, even when they probably have the talent to play that way. When the playoffs start, and defenders are locked in, you need more ways to put them in tough spots than just running a base offense that they can load up against.