2021 NBA Playoffs Gamethread

ElUno20

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No one in the nba ever says, hey let's get the ball out of this 1 human's hand and force anyone else to do something
 

osori

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No one in the nba ever says, hey let's get the ball out of this 1 human's hand and force anyone else to do something
Feels like almost every team we faced this season did this against Tatum (when JB wasn't playing)
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Nets shot 36.2% from the field. Bucks won because they made a higher percentage of shots, hitting at a 37.8% clip!

What a fugly game.
 

chilidawg

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Crazy game, Jazz come out smoking in the 3rd, get the lead up to 21, look like they're going to run away with it. Clippers have responded though, got it back to 6. Reggie Jackson stepping up big and all of a sudden they're playing D.
 

ElUno20

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Lue all kinds of idiocy down the stretch. This isn't the mavs who sucked outside of Luka. This is the 1 seed and an ass kicking.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Yeah, and he played 45 minutes. I know the nets are really thin with Harden and green out, but Nash can't do that. Kyrie isn't effective playing that many minutes.
Meh. Some of Kyrie’s best playoff games were when he played into the 40’s. Minutes in a game wear a player down over the course of time......in the playoffs when you have at least one day off between games the stars better be able to handle minutes in the 40’s. Kyrie was matched up agaiant Jrue who played 46.
 

Euclis20

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Meh. Some of Kyrie’s best playoff games were when he played into the 40’s. Minutes in a game wear a player down over the course of time......in the playoffs when you have at least one day off between games the stars better be able to handle minutes in the 40’s. Kyrie was matched up agaiant Jrue who played 46.
This was Kyrie's career high in playoff minutes, and he was quite a bit younger (and with a much shorter injury history) in those other 40+ games. He's played 40+ in the playoffs 23 times, but just 6 times since leaving Cleveland. His FG% in those 6 games? 39.1%, and not a single game over 50%. It's easy to say that stars should be able to handle heavy playoff minutes given that they have time to rest (that goes extra for stars under 30), but saying it doesn't make it so. Harden being hurt makes it all the more important that they keep Kyrie fresh - if he goes down and Harden isn't back, they are in deep shit.
 

lovegtm

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Man, the Bucks run some ugly offense. Really terrible shots down the stretch, and Giannis isn't able to generate much for others as a primary initiator. He's also a completely delusional, moronic 3-point shooter. The dude has shot 30% for 4 years straight, on WIDE OPEN attempts. He makes Marcus Smart look like Steph Curry crossed with Jesus, and yet he keeps firing away. Complete failure of coaching imo, but also complete lack of self awareness.

Also we see what happens when Durant has a bit of an off game and you get up into him some--the Nets struggle, because Kyrie is good, but not Harden.

I'm getting more bullish on one of the Suns or Jazz against the East winner, just because they can play physically enough to really muck those teams up, while being able to score themselves.
 
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HomeRunBaker

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This was Kyrie's career high in playoff minutes, and he was quite a bit younger (and with a much shorter injury history) in those other 40+ games. He's played 40+ in the playoffs 23 times, but just 6 times since leaving Cleveland. His FG% in those 6 games? 39.1%, and not a single game over 50%. It's easy to say that stars should be able to handle heavy playoff minutes given that they have time to rest (that goes extra for stars under 30), but saying it doesn't make it so. Harden being hurt makes it all the more important that they keep Kyrie fresh - if he goes down and Harden isn't back, they are in deep shit.
Kyrie missed 4 of his first 5 shots in the 1Q......was it bc he knew he wasn’t going to be able to handle 45 minutes that night? Of course not. He made 2 of his first 3 shots in the 4Q before the offense began running exclusively through Durant as it should be when Kyrie isn’t having a great night and had the worse matchup. Overall he didn’t play well right out of the gate which wasn’t totally unexpected with a 2-0 lead in the dreadful road G3. I didn’t see his minutes being any factor in this as his matchup was playing the same amount of minutes even after his slow start.
 

Euclis20

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Kyrie missed 4 of his first 5 shots in the 1Q......was it bc he knew he wasn’t going to be able to handle 45 minutes that night? Of course not. He made 2 of his first 3 shots in the 4Q before the offense began running exclusively through Durant as it should be when Kyrie isn’t having a great night and had the worse matchup. Overall he didn’t play well right out of the gate which wasn’t totally unexpected with a 2-0 lead in the dreadful road G3. I didn’t see his minutes being any factor in this as his matchup was playing the same amount of minutes even after his slow start.
It's not just that the offense began running exclusively through Durant, it's that Kyrie completely disappeared in the 4th quarter. Kyrie played the entire quarter and didn't score in the last 10 minutes. He only took one shot in the last 6 minutes (and there were shots available for Nets other than Durant). He had no rebounds, assists, steals or blocks (he did commit an intentional foul with 2 seconds left). He was completely invisible down the stretch of a close playoff game that could've essentially clinched a trip to the ECF, and I think it's fair to put some of the blame on his minutes played.
 

chilidawg

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It's not just that the offense began running exclusively through Durant, it's that Kyrie completely disappeared in the 4th quarter. Kyrie played the entire quarter and didn't score in the last 10 minutes. He only took one shot in the last 6 minutes (and there were shots available for Nets other than Durant). He had no rebounds, assists, steals or blocks (he did commit an intentional foul with 2 seconds left). He was completely invisible down the stretch of a close playoff game that could've essentially clinched a trip to the ECF, and I think it's fair to put some of the blame on his minutes played.
A thousand and one reasons could explain Kyrie disappearing.
 

Humphrey

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Man, the Bucks run some ugly offense. Really terrible shots down the stretch, and Giannis isn't able to generate much for others as a primary initiator. He's also a completely delusional, moronic 3-point shooter. The dude has shot 30% for 4 years straight, on WIDE OPEN attempts. He makes Marcus Smart look like Steph Curry crossed with Jesus, and yet he keeps firing away. Complete failure of coaching imo, but also complete lack of self awareness.

Also we see what happens when Durant has a bit of an off game and you get up into him some--the Nets struggle, because Kyrie is good, but not Harden.

I'm getting more bullish on one of the Suns or Jazz against the East winner, just because they can play physically enough to really muck those teams up, while being able to score themselves.
I couldn't believe that when the rebound on that last shot was grabbed by a Buck, he casually tossed the ball to Giannis. Wonder if he knew the Nets had a foul to give?
 

HomeRunBaker

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It's not just that the offense began running exclusively through Durant, it's that Kyrie completely disappeared in the 4th quarter. Kyrie played the entire quarter and didn't score in the last 10 minutes. He only took one shot in the last 6 minutes (and there were shots available for Nets other than Durant). He had no rebounds, assists, steals or blocks (he did commit an intentional foul with 2 seconds left). He was completely invisible down the stretch of a close playoff game that could've essentially clinched a trip to the ECF, and I think it's fair to put some of the blame on his minutes played.
But he played this way in the 1Q as well and wasn’t on a B2B. Why can’t it just be a bad night as he showed he didn’t have it early either? It was a tough spot for the Nets as they were primed to take their foot off the gas as they did in the Celtics G3.
 

Euclis20

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A thousand and one reasons could explain Kyrie disappearing.
But he played this way in the 1Q as well and wasn’t on a B2B. Why can’t it just be a bad night as he showed he didn’t have it early either? It was a tough spot for the Nets as they were primed to take their foot off the gas as they did in the Celtics G3.
He certainly doesn't need the excuse and it could certainly just have been a bad game, but that still doesn't mean he didn't play too many minutes. For all of his flaws, the most normal is that he's been injured enough to miss his team's final games 3 times in the last 7 years, and he's not getting younger. He's a guy who needs his legs and quickness to be really effective (much more so than Durant or Harden who are significantly bigger), and I don't think Nash put him in the best position to be effective down the stretch by playing so many minutes.