I wanna be happy for the Lakers demise, but I am afraid we re gonna be in the same position tomorrow.
2023 NBA Playoffs
- Thread starter BaseballJones
- Start date
I know it’s happened a few times in hockey. Could someone here please remind me if it has ever happened in baseball?
8-27 so far in this series, pretty rough considering the only thing he's even average at is shooting. Good to see him resuming his regularly scheduled postseason failures, it was annoying to see him actually have a few good games in the early rounds.
Cool. My ex used to live right there on Larrabee.
Fair. I guess what I mean is, it hasn't been a hip place which attracts big acts for many years. So all you're left with is a dump.
Tonight’s game was the opposite of the Miami-Knicks series. 5 beat 8 tonight.
I hate the Lakers just like most Celtics fans. But I think the officiating this series has been fine. Lakers get to the line more but seems like Denver moves the ball so well that they get open shots over trying to get to line. The Jokic 4th looked bad at first but replay showed contact to the legs. Murray was irate in first half after he kept his hands away on a foul. Replay showed him using his midsection to bump the offensive player off his path. If the refs were trying to screw Denver then they wouldn’t be getting those close goaltending calls in game 2 or calling fouls on LA when the game was still close. Regarding officiating Id say:
A) basketball is a difficult sport to officiate
B) We don’t always have a great view/angle of the play on our screen. When we get a replay it’s in slow motion.
C) the vast majority of fans don’t know the rules as well as they think they do.
I was boozing with friends all night, and this is a pleasant score to see. It sucks that the Celtics are in a deep hole, but the Lakers are in the La Brea tar pits.
If and when an NBA team goes 2004 Sox, it had fucking well better not be the MFL.
So funny to see a gamethread where all anyone can talk about is officiating (the fix is definitely in!) and minor coaching decisions (who is the real Mazzulla, Malone or Ham??? Get your story straight, SoSH!).
Meanwhile, in the actual basketball game, the Nuggets players execute really well on both ends down the stretch to pull away convincingly. Nice little adjustment by Malone to go with Jeff Green over Gordon for shooting.
The NBA is a players' league, and the team with better and better-executing players wins 7 game series.
Meanwhile, in the actual basketball game, the Nuggets players execute really well on both ends down the stretch to pull away convincingly. Nice little adjustment by Malone to go with Jeff Green over Gordon for shooting.
The NBA is a players' league, and the team with better and better-executing players wins 7 game series.
Then why are the Celts down 2-0? What prevents better players from executing better? Pressure? Coaching? Cohesiveness (i.e., JB and JT are both wings so they can’t PnR in close late games)?
The death of Marcus Smart and Al Horford has a lot to do with it. Sometimes a team gets hot at the right time, or a team starts to fall apart at the wrong time.
That's not to say that everyone else has been perfect either, including Joe, but there's not always an easy answer to your first question (despite what talk radio shitheads say).
If the players can't execute, you have to start questioning the premise that they are, in fact, better players. At least at that time.
Jaylen Brown was like the 8th best player out there last game, and that's mostly on Jaylen Brown, unfortunately.
It's more of a Butler whistle, and it's because he's really good at getting to the same spots Butler does and making pivots/fakes that lead to fouls.
Watch Jaylen in those same spots: he's not nearly as good at it, and gets far fewer fouls, because he's mostly shooting fadeaways or passing once he stops in the outer paint.
I expect Reeves to keep drawing lots of fouls no matter whom he's playing for next year.
I blame Belicheck for convincing an entire generation of New England sports fans that coaching trumps all factors in all sports.
There are multiple posts 1-2 pages back here saying what an awful job Malone was doing, while in the real world his team is up 3-0 because Jokic and Murray fucking balled out and made his minor adjustments look nice.
It’s much older and more universal than that. Coaching is far more approachable to fans. Like, anyone can make substitutions and call timeouts. So it’s easy to imagine yourself doing the same (or different). Even the best casual players would get crushed in the G league.
You're probably not wrong that BFB is part of it. When you have a HOF coach in a sport that's fundamentally discrete and can be planned to a large extent, folks get to thinking that everything is like that.
This team lives and dies by its defensive effort and focus. So far it has lived by the skin of its teeth. They need to dig deep soon, or it's lights out. Miami is shooting eFG% of .568 for the series.
With all the resources online, I actually seek out resources to learn about the rules and how the game is called. It makes watching more enjoyable and leads to less frustration. Takes some work but it’s better than screaming “how is that a charge…his feet weren’t set?!?!?” and all the other nonsense you read online/hear at games.
The call I don’t get is the Strus inbound violation. Rule book states player gets one step in either direction. That was a a very generous sized step that was upheld by the last 2 minute report. The whole notion the NBA = WWE is ridiculous considering we’re on the verge of Denver-Miami if the heat pull it off tonight.
I doubt it continues into next season. Reaves is literally just jumping into people and get free throws. He even passes up wide open shots to do it. Coincidentally, this has been happening since right around the lakers resurgence (feb/march).
I disagree. I think he’s genuinely good - I just hope he’s genuinely good for OKC or the Spurs next year.
He won’t get those calls if he leaves the Lakers. If he is smart, he signs for whatever they offer him. Even if he is great at generating contact, he is still getting the benefit of being on the Lakers and being an afterthought for the defense. You can’t focus on Reaves when you have to deal with LeBron or AD.
He’ll command more on the open market than the Lakers can offer him. The only question is whether they will match, IMO.
https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10076740-lakers-rumors-at-least-1-team-will-give-austin-reaves-bigger-contract-than-la-wants.amp.html
Same with officiating. This board — one of the most rational in sports — genuinely seems to believes the refs were conspiring last night to make the Lakers win but Denver was too good and the officials would have to be too blatant about it so surrendered and let Denver win.
It’s all just about narratives. Sports is about narratives. People need a story to explain a result they don’t want to happen or don’t want to accept. You just run down the list. The opposing fans are not classy is usually where it starts to get absurd. Mid game you start to build up defenses for a Laker win by getting your narrative in order.
Joe may be objectively bad. I don’t know Xs and Os, but focusing on a first year head coach is easier in some respects than asking hard questions about players we love.
The other thing is that coaches are uniquely subject to second guessing because we only know there was a bad result and can never see what would have happened. Every time out stops a run and every pitching change always works. In our imagination.
Overall, I agree that players going cold at completely inopportune times combined with completely boneheaded turnovers are the biggest reasons for the 0-2 start and thats not on Joe.
However, isn’t defensive effort and focus kind of on the coach?
I dislike the Lakers as much as the next person but Reaves is legit good as you note. He has really impressed during this whole run.
On another note, there wasn't a lot of complaining about the officials here last night imo.
Has anyone seen any Boston sports game-thread here before? Based on my ample consumption of that particular strain of online content, its a wonder a Boston sports team can even get on the playing surface let alone compete given how tilted it is against them.
Also, the point that player execution is what wins/loses these games is 100% correct.
I'd love love love to see Reaves on a team where I could root for him without needing to take a shower afterwards. He has a fun game, and would be great on a team like San Antonio imo.
Fantastic post. With respect to referees being corrupt and fixing games we are only a decade and a half away from Donaghy pleading guilty to federal conspiracy charges. Add to this that referees make multiple mistakes every game (because their job is extremely difficult) that we can see on an endless loop of replays. As a result it is particularly easy to blame outcomes that we don’t like on incompetent or biased referees.
I just read that the Lakers have never so much as win a single playoff game when down 3-0. They are 0-8. Front runners gonna front run.
Through the past 3 seasons I think the biggest flaw of this team is mental discipline. They just don't consistently do the important little things that are concentration based... Being where you supposed to be on offense, following off ball defense rules, finding your man to box out, making the easy pass instead of trying to make the sexy play, running offense instead of freelancing, not worrying about whose turn it is..
A lot is made of Jimmy having "that dog in him" but to me one of his best qualities is he always executes the little things every play and demands his teammates do the same. It's why he shot his way out of town in MIN and those guys continue to underachieve while Jimmy thrives with guys who just do their job every play.
Smart said something in a post game this playoffs about how the team gets bored doing the little things... It was true, but seemed like not much introspection given he's a prime culprit in crunch time of not just doing his job.
There was a lot of discussion last 2 years about whether Smart could be a "real PG" and he mostly can, but late in games he falls into terrible habits and stops doing all the things he focused on improving.
A lot is made of Jimmy having "that dog in him" but to me one of his best qualities is he always executes the little things every play and demands his teammates do the same. It's why he shot his way out of town in MIN and those guys continue to underachieve while Jimmy thrives with guys who just do their job every play.
Smart said something in a post game this playoffs about how the team gets bored doing the little things... It was true, but seemed like not much introspection given he's a prime culprit in crunch time of not just doing his job.
There was a lot of discussion last 2 years about whether Smart could be a "real PG" and he mostly can, but late in games he falls into terrible habits and stops doing all the things he focused on improving.
Research confirms. And the Celtics were the first ever to do so!
-2013 FR vs Spurs
-2011 Semis at Mavs
-1999 Semis vs Spurs
-1998 WCF vs Jazz
-1989 Finals vs Pistons
-1983 Finals vs 76ers
-1977 WCF at Blazers
-1959 Finals vs Celtics
The only Celtic player I can think of who consistently executes in the clutch and does the little things is Al Horford….and he forgot how to shoot.
Hopefully the entire team can lock in and turn it around
It can be, yeah. And maybe even somewhat is. But it's the NBA. You can't fire the team, and the players know that. At the end of the day, you need guys with that mental discipline and desire too. They did this shit to Brad and Ime too.
I think that if Al was still able to buzz guys inside with his heater or if Rob was able to pick up the slack, things would be different.
If they go out like lambs to Miami, people will hang this on Joe. But I think that the team is still missing some things, mostly an "edge".
This. Looking at how these guys perform, I think that growing up under Brad helped them develop their skills and athleticism and grow into confident players. But the mental discipline is just not consistent.
Jimmy is the perfect foil. He's the same dude playing nerf hoop with his nephew as he is in the NBA finals. His on-off switch only has "ON". Kobe, for all of his personal flaws (and he's overrated by a lot of people) had that hardo streak too. Bird, Jordan. Nobody on this team has it, even Marcus, who has it more than most. Al, but Al is clearly the car at the end of The Blues Brothers right now.
Denver has the best scorer/playmaker in the world, a secondary star, a versatile supporting cast, and mental discipline/toughness to go with that. It's not no-offense NYK or whatever the hell the Celtics are doing out there.
The gap between Jokic and anyone Miami has faced until now is massive; sorry, Tatum.
The gap between Jokic and anyone Miami has faced until now is massive; sorry, Tatum.