2021 NBA Playoffs Gamethread

HomeRunBaker

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If Luke Kennard and Joe Ingles switched uniforms at halftime I’m confident that at least some players on the floor wouldn’t notice.
 

Cellar-Door

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Utah winning the Kawhi v. Bogdanovic minutes and losing the Kawhi bench minutes was not something I expected in this series
 

Sam Ray Not

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Imagine if someone had told you in the early 80s that one day you'd be seeing 92 three point attempts in a playoff game.
 

Cellar-Door

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You have 2 max players and your game deciding shot is.... Marcus Morris being defended by the DPOY?
 

Euclis20

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Imagine if someone had told you in the early 80s that one day you'd be seeing 92 three point attempts in a playoff game.
The 81 Celtics were 3rd in the league in the regular season in 3 point attempts, and in their entire postseason (17 games), they made 10 3 pointers. It's a different game.
 

HomeRunBaker

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You have 2 max players and your game deciding shot is.... Marcus Morris being defended by the DPOY?
That’s on Lue. I get not using a timeout when you have the ball in the hands of Rondo, Kawhi and George......but once the secondary play breaks down and George loses his footing you have to be in the refs face screaming for the timeout and give yourself a chance.
 

johnmd20

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Ingles did a great job on him. That was on Lue to call timeout. Terrible coaching fail (once the initial push down the floor stalled).
I know. I was being glib.

But I will confess that I am rooting hard for for The Jazz. So I will try to find ways to mock Kawhi any chance I get.

You know, I just rewatched the play a few times. Kawhi could have found a way to get a shot off and he passed it up to a worse player, who had a worse shot, when there was less than 5 seconds left on the clock.
 

lovegtm

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I know. I was being glib.

But I will confess that I am rooting hard for for The Jazz. So I will try to find ways to mock Kawhi any chance I get.

You know, I just rewatched the play a few times. Kawhi could have found a way to get a shot off and he passed it up to a worse player, who had a worse shot, when there was less than 5 seconds left on the clock.
If you want to criticise anything, it should be that he didn't call timeout.

Kawhi is going to take a ton of blame if the Clips flame out 2 years in a row. May as well be for the right things.
 

johnmd20

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If you want to criticise anything, it should be that he didn't call timeout.

Kawhi is going to take a ton of blame if the Clips flame out 2 years in a row. May as well be for the right things.
There are 15-20 players in the NBA who take the shot that Kawhi had. He passed it to Morris being guarded by the best defensive player in the NBA. So I criticize him for passing up the shot and not taking the time out. Two wrongs definitely don't make a right.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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You know, I just rewatched the play a few times. Kawhi could have found a way to get a shot off and he passed it up to a worse player, who had a worse shot, when there was less than 5 seconds left on the clock.
It may be that Kawhi had flashbacks to Game 5 against the Mavs, where he airballed the potential tying 3 and had Rondo giving him some business. I tend to think Kawhi as a cold-blooded player who keeps no memory of shortcomings, but that seemed like an odd ending from him...
 

HomeRunBaker

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If you want to criticise anything, it should be that he didn't call timeout.

Kawhi is going to take a ton of blame if the Clips flame out 2 years in a row. May as well be for the right things.
Watching that replay at game speed and trying to put myself in Lue’s shoes.

:08 Kawhi gets tied up with Ingles on the flare and almost goes down. - I’m reaching up ready to scream for the timeout but then George gets him the ball still in decent rhythm but Ingles in his face. Tough spot but I’m holding back here.

:04.5 Ingles slides w Kawhi and doesn’t allow him to rise for the 3 as Kawhi finds MaMo in the corner with Gobert ready to contest. - I’d like to think I’m calling the timeout once Kawhi can’t get shot off and before it reaches MaMo. Hard to say if Lue has a good enough angle, at game speed, to recognize Gobert’s proximity.

It’s easy for us to say it’s on Lue (which I also did upthread) but at game speed on the floor it is obv much different. Could you imagine the uproar if Lue gets the timeout just as MaMo is catching, up faking Gobert, and drawing a 3-shot foul? It’s an easy job from our couch and with the benefit of replay.
 

Kliq

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I feel like its pretty rare for a TO to be called on a final possession because the star player can't get a good look at the basket. I feel like conventional wisdom would tell you that if your best player can't get the ball or a good shot off, it's probably because the defense is going all-out to stop that and if you move the ball you can get a good shot from another player.
 

Cellar-Door

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Yeah, I don't see that as on Lue at all. You have to trust your players to make the right reads.
Kawhi is the one who has to make that call, he's the last guy who has the ball in a spot where there is enough time to feel good about a reset.
If Morris calls TO, there's going to be 3.5 seconds maybe? That really limits your ability to get a good play design for a 3 off an inbounds. Kawhi takes it and there's more like 5.5 seconds, that lets you do more things.
 

chilidawg

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It may be that Kawhi had flashbacks to Game 5 against the Mavs, where he airballed the potential tying 3 and had Rondo giving him some business. I tend to think Kawhi as a cold-blooded player who keeps no memory of shortcomings, but that seemed like an odd ending from him...
Even the best players don't always convert. I'll give him the rest of the series before dinging him.
 

Kliq

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Field goal percentage as a whole was very low in the 50s/60s, so putting George in that company is like comparing Franchy Cordero's slugging to guys from the dead ball era.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Paul George true shooting % this playoffs: 577
Paul George career playoff TS%: .559

Some other notable career playoff TS%

Carmelo Anthony .513
Kobe Bryant: .541
Paul Pierce: .554

He’s not Durant (.601), LeBron (.583), or Kawhi (.621), but he’s not exactly “pathetic,” either.
 

terrynever

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When you guys slam Ben Simmons for his offensive shortcomings, I remember how Bill Russell’s Celtics carried KC Jones because his defense could shut down almost any guard, or make West and Oscar work hard for shots. You could carry a non-shooter in that era.
 

Jimbodandy

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Paul George true shooting % this playoffs: 577
Paul George career playoff TS%: .559

Some other notable career playoff TS%

Carmelo Anthony .513
Kobe Bryant: .541
Paul Pierce: .554

He’s not Durant (.601), LeBron (.583), or Kawhi (.621), but he’s not exactly “pathetic,” either.
We really need a way to adjust TS by era. Not to stan for Pierce here, but .554 when he played is much better than .559 now.

.577 is definitely not pathetic. It's not elite in 2021, but it's not pathetic.
 

Cesar Crespo

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We really need a way to adjust TS by era. Not to stan for Pierce here, but .554 when he played is much better than .559 now.

.577 is definitely not pathetic. It's not elite in 2021, but it's not pathetic.
It's right on basketball reference. Kind of.

Pierce's TS was .568 for his career. During that time, the average TS was .530.

Tatum is at .569 while the league is at .564.
 

luckiestman

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What is up with the row of dudes wearing different shades of lavender shirts sitting courtside?
 

jon abbey

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Really would have liked to see this series with a healthy Jamal Murray, ah well.
 

Rook05

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I tuned in toward the en did the third. The only thing I’ve seen Kyrie do is get blocked into the second row. He’s always going to need a better player than him as a teammate.