2021 NBA Playoffs Gamethread
- Thread starter JohnnyTheBone
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Peak Hakeem was a joy to watch. Seeing him school a young Shaq in the finals is among my favorite non-Celtics NBA moments.
His post moves were right up there with McHale’s for best I’ve ever seen. He also had a strong midrange game and he was such a beast on defense.
The big difference between Curry and Kobe on offense is the TS%. Curry is just a much, much more efficient scorer than Kobe was. That's true even adjusting for era: Kobe's TS%+ for his career is 104 and he peaked at 107; Curry's is 115 and he peaked at 124. Curry is 4th all-time in TS%, Kobe is 228th.
That's even before accounting for Curry's extreme off-ball gravity and greater portability. Bryant was a better defensive player, especially early in his career, but not nearly enough to make up the difference.
What do you make of the fact then that neither Curry nor Harden has ever been recognized?
Is that what I said? I am reminded of the line that is attributed to Mickey Mantle on Jose Canseco being the first 40/40 player: “Hell, if I’d known 40-40 was going to be a big deal, I’d have done it every year!”
That they aren't good defenders. Also they play in an era where the voters are much much better at identifying good defense and actually break down game tape.
The point was... yes Kobe was a better defender relative to the league than Curry and Harden are, but the all-defense appearances are a product of an era when the awards were a joke. He was a good defender not elite. He was like Reggie Bullock on D. Solid, but not one of the best in the league.
And pointing to his all-D appearances as a reason he was better isn't very convincing. Steph Curry is one of the truly elite offensive players in the history of the game, even era adjusted. Kobe is a very good offensive player and solid defender, era adjusted. Kobe benefits from rep, media profile, palystyle and that he played in a bit of a dead zone for the league. He's not in Curry's tier of player.
From Tara Sullivan’s piece today:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/23/sports/its-fascinating-watch-more-forthcoming-tom-brady-other-thoughts/
I like both Eastern Conference teams, so I'm just going to root for entertaining basketball and may the best team win.
Yes, this is the first playoff period in a long time where I am just rooting for entertaining basketball. Feels good.
Feels like Milwaukee can just put the pedal down and end this. But Atlanta has the ability to stay close by unconscious shooting. If I were Bud, I'd be telling these guys to get a big lead and stop fucking around.
You said “any numbers that suggest that [Kobe’s] all-around game was less than Steph Curry and James Harden would make me question the usefulness of those metrics for comparing players across eras.” So you’re now apparently questioning the usefulness of scoring volume, scoring efficiency, rebound rate, assist rate, steal rate, raw plus-minus, net plus-minus, and team winning percentage.
So apparently if Kobe had known it was important to score efficiently at high volume, rebound, and pass, he would have done so every year. I guess someone just needed to inform him.
Twice he’s said gallinari was shooting a three when he was at least 5 feet inside the line
Trae getting shot by another sniper.
never met any contact he didn’t want to hyperbolize
Edit: misspelled the name of he with the most punchable face in the league
never met any contact he didn’t want to hyperbolize
Edit: misspelled the name of he with the most punchable face in the league
I mean, he high-fived his face. Whether or not it impacted the shot, that's always called.
Marv isn't just misidentifying players. He is missing basic PBP duties like continuations. If the poor shooting doesn't grab you, Marv's alt-universe announcing will do the trick
Yes, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t listen.
Yes. Has anyone informed Steph that defense is half of the game?
Should have realized this was a trap once DraftKings put up a +100 Bucks Odds Boost.
oh well...
oh well...
