NBA playoffs 2018
- Thread starter DeJesus Built My Hotrod
- Start date
Was it an out of bounds play? I’m probably the biggest hater of NBA replay on the planet, so you can take anything I say on the matter with a grain of salt, but I think every non-obvious oob call should just go to whoever had inside position, because if the outside guy makes a move on the ball he’s usually committing a foul anyway.
This is how it used to be and it’s probably the most fair, until they allow refs to call over the back and shit on replay.
is playoff harden a real thing?
Perhaps not (that is, he doesn't suck in the playoffs)
Perhaps not (that is, he doesn't suck in the playoffs)
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I love Rondo. I love the playoffs. I really love Playoff Rondo. Seriously, for all his faults and epic saltiness, he's such a brilliant and hard-assed floor general, that combined with his unique personality, I just find him to be one of the most interesting guys in a league filled with them.
If Steph is back and close to his normal self, the dubs will be a tough row to hoe, but that's gonna be a fun match-up for fans. It usually take the Warriors until the Finals before they play a game without having the best player in the series wearing their uniform, but alas, there's no denying Playoff Mirotic. (Seriously though, he's been incredible). Plus Brow is awesome and I've always liked Jrue. Fun team.
Harden, Paul, Lowry, DeRozan, pre-injury Isaiah.......there are a lot of guards who have historically struggled against the game planning and defensive intensity of a playoff series.
The combined 88 points Davis and Holiday scored is highest ever in playoff history. Previous high was Baylor and West with 86 in 1962.
Jordan and Woolridge combined for 87 against the Celtics in 86. Or am I misreading you?
I'm rooting for Utah because they're fun to watch. Neither J or J are doing much to help them though.
Westbrook's limitations in half court, playoff offense being badly exposed. Billy Donovan's too. Rubio and Mitchell both abusing Westy on both ends.
The Jazz just straight up look like the better team; their offense is better, their defense is better; they move the ball better and shoot better. The big thing tonight was they just crushed OKC on the boards; which is hard to do since OKC is one of the best rebounding teams in basketball; but Utah's entire team was crashing the boards tonight.
Kudos to Quinn Snyder; as brilliant as Brad has been, it is hard to argue against Snyder as Coach of the Year. I imagine Billy Donovan will not being getting a ton of votes.
Kudos to Quinn Snyder; as brilliant as Brad has been, it is hard to argue against Snyder as Coach of the Year. I imagine Billy Donovan will not being getting a ton of votes.
I guess I don't understand you since 88 (Davis and Holiday)) > 87. One thing I'm noticing that I didn't mention is that lists I'm seeing requires each player to score at least 30, though I'm not sure that ultimately makes a difference.
Also as Jmm notes, Jordan / Woolridge came in OT.
Davis and Holiday tied the record of 88, set by Havlicek (54) and Jo Jo White (34) set in game 1 against the Hawks in the 1973 playoffs. ESPN posted about this: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23281459/new-orleans-pelicans-duo-anthony-davis-jrue-holiday-combine-88-points-tie-nba-playoff-record
They were -11 and -10 respectively in a 13-point win.
Combined 4 points, 3 rebounds and 0 assists in 29 min (mostly Jae's). Remember when people were freaking out about the thought of moving Crowder after we signed Hayward?
Warriors still have some work to do today, but hypothetically: probably? Jrue gives up 3 inches to Klay, but he’s long, strong and quick, so should be able to hang with him.
Much more problematic (again, hypothetically) is the Durant matchup. KD’s a problem for most teams, but with AD now a full-time C, I don’t see anyone on New Orleans who seems like they could even pretend to defend Durant. Mirotic, I guess? Or Solomon Hill?
Meanwhile (knocking wood) Curry’s apparently progressing well and looks like he may be back for Game 1, or soon thereafter.
But again, the Spurs may not want to go gently into that good night on their home floor (where they’ve been beastly all year), so first things first.
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Retweeted David Simon (@AoDespair):
All credit to NO musician Davis Rogan who has long argued that New Orleans should rechristen the Pelicans the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and shame Utah into giving the name back
https://t.co/xZublaBw1Y
All credit to NO musician Davis Rogan who has long argued that New Orleans should rechristen the Pelicans the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and shame Utah into giving the name back
https://t.co/xZublaBw1Y
Davis playing defacto Center on offense really shouldn’t impact who he guards on defense. Ben Simmons is the PG for Philadelphia but he mostly guards opposing wings. If New Orleans thinks Davis has the best chance at stopping Durant (and he definitely does) than that is who he will guard.
It would be a bigger deal if the Warriors had a legit big man who could punish mismatches; but New Orleans can live with Mirotic/Hill on Green and McGee.
Agreed — I was talking more about the fact that he's also, more importantly, their full-time C on defense. Their current defense is built around his ability to defend the rim; without him patrolling the paint, it risks being a total layup line for the Warriors. JaVale in particular is averaging 22.3 points pr 36 on .765 true shooting this playoffs, after putting up 23.0 on .732 ts in last year's playoffs. It's entirely debatable whether NO can "live with" guarding him with Mirotic and 6'-7" Hill.
The Warriors are now 18-0 in the playoffs against the western conference with the KD/JaVale combo, the vast majority of those games blowouts, so if NO is able to live with them, I'll tip my cap. (And honestly, if it weren't for the Ws, I'd be all over the Pels, cos I really like AD, Jrue, Rondo, not to mention Warriors-for-life Alvin Gentry and Ian Clark...)
My general sense though is that AD is not really quick enough to be chasing KD around the perimeter all day in the first place. He may end up doing it because of their absence of long, defensively versatile wings, but with KD's passing skills (6.6 assists per 36 in the playoffs so far) it could easily destroy any semblance of defensive integrity for the Pels, especially when Steph returns.
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The Pelicans can live with Mirotic on McGee; Javale is basically a scrub. Your always good for pulling out stats that make Warrior’s bench players look like all stars though.
Haha, JaVale's their starting center, last I checked. He can't play big minutes, both because he has occasional issues with asthma and foul trouble, and because Kerr likes to mix it up by going small/switchable for stretches with Looney/Draymond at C. Also, his shock-and-awe style tends to work best in small 15-18 mpg doses. But man, if you think he's been a "scrub" in his limited minutes, you haven't been paying very close attention (or you're trolling?). His huge fingerprints were all over last year's beatdowns of Portland and Utah, and are all over their dominance of the Spurs through three games.
17 mpg in the playoffs, which is the relevant sample v. NO. On a per minute basis, he's been one of the most productive and efficient bench players in the league over the last couple seasons, including the playoffs. "Everyone in the NBA who doesn't play starters' minutes" doesn't seem like a very useful definition of "scrub," but okay.
Anyway, good show Spurs! Not going gentle into that good night. Huge props to the ageless Manu and co.
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Sorry; I’d argue the 9.5 mpg he played this season is a more relevant sample than four games; particularly considering San Antonio plays big and New Orleans will play more small ball. He’s been a low-impact player for most of his career and has played a couple of decent games; he is still not a particularly good NBA player and is compensated as such.
My original point is that McGee is not someone New Orleans is going to worry about on offense; and they can get away with Mirotic playing him because he isn’t going to be able to take advantage of a mismatch the way Durant would on a smaller defender.
You know, when I made the original post about Davis being the logical option to guard Durant, I joked to myself that you would jump into a counterpoint that New Orleans has to worry about Javale, and of course, here we are. Do you ever feel ridiculous when you post the per 36 numbers like that? Like you know they are not really relevant when someone plays 10 minutes, right?
I gave a clear disclaimer that it was in limited minutes. But if it were that easy to be as productive and efficient on a per minute basis as JaVale is, everyone would do it; and yet very, very few players do. (I’d give you the complete BB-Ref list, but you’d probably mock me for doing so, lol). His early career when he was far less productive and efficient doesn’t make him a “scrub” now, nor does his vet min contract,
In the context of the Pels series, I also noted that JaVale is one of the problems — not the only one — that the Pels would have to deal with AD spending most of his time out on the perimeter. The layup line of rim runners could also include Klay, Andre, Shaun, Draymond, Looney, et al. Basically, I disagree with your central point that they can “live with” AD guarding Durant full-time. I think they’ll need to keep AD at home in the paint a lot of the time if they don’t want to get wrecked defensively. Am I allowed to disagree with you without all the personal shots?
Those teams did play a few weeks ago without Cousins, and AD rarely guarded Durant. Yes, KD got his, but Davis had a big game, and the Pels snapped an 11-game losing streak against GSW. I'd be surprised if they didn't start out the series at least the same way.
If the Warriors get by San Antonio, of course.
If the Warriors get by San Antonio, of course.
KD scored 41 points in 35 minutes on 16-26 fg that game, which may partially support Kliq’s plan to put AD on him (a bit more, anyway), but may also support my original claim that he’s a massive matchup problem for them — even more so than for Utah, OKC or Houston, who at least have long wing defenders in PG, Brewer, Ariza, LMaM, Ingles et al. to bother him while the big men anchor the interior.
I agree that taking Davis away from the paint is a big factor in how well their defense is going to perform.
We can agree to disagree about McGee’s value; didn’t mean for it to get personal.
Initially I agreed with you. But he did stick his leg out. It wasn't a great call, but it wasn't a travesty, either. Beal's got 5 fouls, he can't trip someone rolling into him.
I don't think he intentionally stuck his leg out. DeRozan(I think it was him) initiated the contact and to me they got tangled up inadvertently.
Agreed on DeRozan initiating, but I think Beal definitely kept his leg extended. He didn't stick it out because it was already stuck out, so it was still a trip. In my opinion, of course.