2023 NBA Playoffs
- Thread starter BaseballJones
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There’s a chance the 10 year old Kings fan is really insightful. We can’t rule that possibility out.
We can absolutely rule out the possibility that Skip Bayless is going to say something insightful - 100%
Shooting % doesn't really matter when you rebound literally every miss. Haven't seen anything like that 3rd quarter in awhile.
The chef is supposedly a bit of a douche, too. But he’s good at something, anyway, so score one Rick.
Sabonis shot a hair under 50% from 10 feet to the three point line, and 36.4% from three this season. Him refusing to shoot, which allowed Looney and Green to guard him while planted in the middle of the lane, helped cost the Kings the series.
As the thrill of the Kings' 2022-23 "coming out party" dies down, I wonder if it may slowly dawn on them that Haliburton-for-Sabonis remains a pretty bad deal, on balance, as talented as Sabonis is. Haliburton is not limiting on either end of the floor in the same way Domas is, which I think makes him more of a "16 game player;" and by all accounts he's off the charts in terms of intangible/leadership qualities, whereas Sabonis seems more like just a guy on that count. Basically, seven-foot wingspanned PGs with elite playmaking, shooting, and leadership skills are more valuable than traditional, offense-minded, non-stretch bigs. Ty had also declared his undying desire to be a King for life, even before their mini-renaissance this season; and he's three years younger than Domas, so a better "age fit" with Fox and Murray.
You could argue that giving Fox full leadership rein and an elite-passing big was part of what allowed him to level up to first-team all-NBA this season, but if I'm the GM, I'd sooner have kept the Fox and Haliburton duo (both A+++ character guys with complementary skills, and big enough to stay on the court together defensively) and built around them with big defenders and shooters (starting with Keegan Murray). Teams built around players of Sabonis' profile tend to have fairly limited ceilings.
You could argue that giving Fox full leadership rein and an elite-passing big was part of what allowed him to level up to first-team all-NBA this season, but if I'm the GM, I'd sooner have kept the Fox and Haliburton duo (both A+++ character guys with complementary skills, and big enough to stay on the court together defensively) and built around them with big defenders and shooters (starting with Keegan Murray). Teams built around players of Sabonis' profile tend to have fairly limited ceilings.
I think Golden State handles the Lakers pretty easily. Sacramento's biggest strength was having explosive guards that could get to the rim and GS lacking the perimeter athletes to stay in front of them. LA is a bigger team that doesn't have those kinds of players. I don't know how LA is going to guard Steph, and as long as Draymond doesn't completely melt down, the Draymond/Looney combo is a great duo to throw at Davis. LeBron will maintain a good stat line, but with his injury/age and playing every other night, I don't know if he can summon the kind of consistent excellence the Lakers are going to require to topple GS.
GS is just a much, much better team than LA imo. This might not even be an interesting series.
From your lips to God's ears. I appreciate Lebron, but it's always good when the Lakers go down.
I think the path to victory would have to be Reaves causing the same problems for GS that Monk did, but Monk is I think, significantly better than Reaves as an offensive player. That plus getting random big games from supporting players, like the random big D'Lo game, a big game from Rui, a random game where Malik Beasley makes six threes, etc.
Steph just has the eye right now and he's not losing to a team that has nobody to guard him. The Lakers would kill for someone like Davion Mitchell.
Game 1 is going to tell us a lot. If the Lakers can’t steal one 48 hours after the Warriors win an emotional G7 it may be a very quick series. Should the Lakers win G1 then a lot changes and we could easily see this get down to a Best of 3.
The Lakers don’t have the ability to run the Warriors out of their comfort zone so these games will be play right into the Warriors pace. Tough matchup for LA.
In order for me to agree with you, I'd have to know more about how you define "bad deal." But a couple of points.
First, I don't think SAC is at the stage where they are worried about "16 game players" versus "82 game players." The number 1 they needed to do was to make the playoffs. Making the playoffs and restoring some excitement in the franchise makes me think that to almost everyone on the SAC side, the deal was a "win" for them.
Second, while I didn't see a lot of SAC when Fox and Haliburton were together, I'm a little skeptical about how they could co-exist in playoff series. I mean neither of them strike me as a shut-down defender but one of them is going to have a guard a really pure scorer.
Finally, the way Sabonis can handle the ball was a key to unlocking SAC's effective and fan-friendly style of play. I'm not saying that Brown might not have been able to implement something similar with Haliburton instead of Sabonis, but Sabonis was obviously critical to SAC's offensive flow over the year and just because of that, SAC is likely pretty happy with the trade.
To me, the key is what happens to Sabonis when his deal is up. It's rather unlikely that he's going to sign an extension so SAC is going to have sweat out what happens in FA. If Sabonis re-signs, I think most of SAC will be happy with the trade. If he bolts ship, then 2 years of Sabonis for Haliburton looks a lot worse.
They would be not great but I'd be surprised if either LAL or GS make it out of the West. Feels like Joker's year to make a run (and hopefully come up short against the seasoned Cs).
LAL would surprise me a lot (would probably require injuries to other teams), but I would not be at all surprised if GS makes it out.
People are making wayy too much of their regular season road record. They have the reps, they know how to play together, they are decently deep, and they have the clear best 16-game player in the world on their team.
Yea, and Wiggins will be up to speed by the Finals. Vegas has Warriors v Celtics
Celtics are better prepared. Brogdon addition + White uptick
At the end of ATL Game 6: CJM was making the C's play faster. Less JAYs ISO-Coma dribble-fest.
Smart flashing to the foul line, when Tatum gets doubled. All promising developments.
Draymond is still an absolute beast on the defensive end. I suspect he was coasting a lot this season.
He’s still freakin really good on that end while his offensive skillset/passing is the perfect match with Curry.
Suns/Nuggets game is going to the half with Phoenix up 42-40. The 76ers/Celtics contest was 38-31 after one quarter. I would have guessed that the scoring would have been reversed for these two series.
The NBA, where surprises happen regularly.
The NBA, where surprises happen regularly.
So Jokic really is an MVP player -- doing everything when it is needed.
And maybe I am being repetitive, but Aaron Gordon is quietly a stud.
And maybe I am being repetitive, but Aaron Gordon is quietly a stud.
Joker is such a monster. 39/15/5 on 55 percent shooting in a game where his team hasn’t cracked 100? No big deal.
And gathered all the defensive rebounds.
Murray must feel like a massive blockage was finally pooped out.
Jokic is really kind of unplayable. What do you do? He's too big where you can't stop him from getting in reasonable position, and he can get his shot off in contested areas and has such a soft touch that he can make tough fall-aways all day. And you absolutely can't double him, especially if he has good shooters and aggressive cutters around him.
Waiting to get confirmation on Paul’s groin. If he’s definitely out all playoffs then KD forces his way out
Definitely. His touch on shots and touch/accuracy/timing on passes are so good for a player at ANY position that it seems like he is playing - in a good way - in slow motion sometimes. He just flat out dictates play.
I dont think there's a card to play for Monty outside of Booker and KD getting 45 each. They almost threaded the needle of slow boating this one to death but cp goes down as usual.
I was stunned at all the people who picked the suns before the series.
I was stunned at all the people who picked the suns before the series.
Jokic showing what a real superstar can do to elevate a team of jags. Gordon and KCP were at least efficient, if unimportant. Murray and Porter were junk. Bench is junk. Didn't matter. Guy is a horse.
You just have to attack him on the defensive end and make him a liability there. I mean, there's no real easy answer, which is why the dude is a back-to-back MVP.
Suns are in real trouble as a franchise if they crash out now. I guess they could play the hot-potato game of moving KD to reset, which makes some sense with Booker and Ayton there long term. Hard to match what they sent out though: nevermind the picks, Bridges and Johnson are very good complementary players.
They won't move KD though; they'll run it back and try to add vets who want playing time, in the offseason.
They won't move KD though; they'll run it back and try to add vets who want playing time, in the offseason.
I'd think that with an off-season and more time to work on things, the Suns will have a better chance at picking up some useful supporting players than they did this year, by trading almost all their good supporting cast at the deadline for KD. You'll get some vets looking for a ring and maybe an interesting rookie (like the Nuggets have with Christian Braun) and stand a better chance at holding up in the playoffs with more depth.
It was really hard for them to just get KD right at the deadline, and then hope you can integrate a bunch of guys who haven't played big minutes and hope they can play at a playoff-level intensity.
It was really hard for them to just get KD right at the deadline, and then hope you can integrate a bunch of guys who haven't played big minutes and hope they can play at a playoff-level intensity.
I think Ayton’s gone. Not sure what they are going to get for him but I would be stunned if he was on the team next year. I think pretty much everyone associated with the Suns (fans, coaches, teammates, organization) is sick of him and I think he would rather be elsewhere too
Butler participated in shootaround today and said he’s good to go. Miami has still not made an announcement so they could decide to sit him out.
if I’m the Heat and he can go I’m certainly not punting a game by sitting him in a 7-game series. He’s right there with Curry and Jokic imo on importance to their team in the playoffs.
if I’m the Heat and he can go I’m certainly not punting a game by sitting him in a 7-game series. He’s right there with Curry and Jokic imo on importance to their team in the playoffs.
Right, if he has any chance of being even somewhat effective you play him to start - worst case, he’s a decoy and you can sit him if he’s getting exposed and effectively punt the game anyway if the Knicks go up big.
The only reason to hold him out entirely is if the team thinks he could aggravate the injury by playing more without fully recovering first.
I kind of like it as an FU game, as well. Expectation is that Embiid will be announced and while I have no particular argument against that (it's about the regular season, blah blah) there was a good bit of dissing of Jokic going on, too. Good on him for reminding the world of just how worthy he is (while Embiid is injured).