2021 NBA Playoffs Gamethread

cardiacs

Admires Neville Chamberlain
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
2,993
Milford, CT
Is Ayton's current play congruent to the expectation of Oden at the time of the 2007 draft?
Ayton has really impressed me these playoffs and is a ton of fun to watch.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,673
Booker and Paul deliver really bad first half and Phoenix still in the lead at the half isn't a good sign for LA. Clippers played really physical and Paul and Phoenix did them a favor by playing at a snails pace, but they'll need someone to go off in order to win this game.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 24, 2002
48,209
The Clippers have the best defense left of the remaining teams. They are choking the life out of Phoenix. The Suns are shooting 39% from the field and Booker is even worse. The Suns are still fine but they are going to have to adjust or the next game may yield similar results.
 

ElUno20

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
6,055
The Clippers have the best defense left of the remaining teams. They are choking the life out of Phoenix. The Suns are shooting 39% from the field and Booker is even worse. The Suns are still fine but they are going to have to adjust or the next game may yield similar results.
And cp helps with slowing the game down and being so half court.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 24, 2002
48,209
And cp helps with slowing the game down and being so half court.
Its not just that. Ty Lue and his staff have made some great adjustments on Booker. And its not just his nose- lost in Tuesday's Crowder/Ayton miracle was that the Clips contained Booker then too. They really could be up 2-1.

Reggie Jackson continues to show that he loves the playoff air. What a great addition as he has helped bridge the gap left by Leonard's absence.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,673
Clippers played extremely hard and competed really well on defense and earned the win.

Paul was REALLY bad for Phoenix tonight. He couldn't make a shot and slowed down their offense and hurt the flow of all of the role players. Booker couldn't get going either, but it was hard to watch how Phoenix played in the first two games and then watch Paul walk the ball up the court and brick 18 footers. Hopefully he can round back into form in the next few games, but I thought he killed Phoenix tonight.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,731
Payne getting hurt early really hurt Phoenix too, he was their leading scorer in game 1.
 

chilidawg

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 22, 2015
5,934
Cultural hub of the universe
Paul George gets a lot of shit here, but the guy is playing his ass off. Not shooting great, but rebounding, defending, initiating the offense, moving the ball. 43 minutes last night.

Worth watching is that Phoenix was -25 with Ayton on the court last night. Clips found a way to attack him?
 

ElUno20

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
6,055
Paul George gets a lot of shit here, but the guy is playing his ass off. Not shooting great, but rebounding, defending, initiating the offense, moving the ball. 43 minutes last night.

Worth watching is that Phoenix was -25 with Ayton on the court last night. Clips found a way to attack him?
Yup. I give him shit too but he's been a dog. Started midway through that dallas series.
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
I freaking love this team. Really strong 1991 Braves vibes. And a reminder: that is the first ECF game Atlanta has ever won. So this is already their best team in post-St. Louis franchise history. (I wish I could stay up through the night to watch them live, but catching up first thing in the morning at least let's me miss all of the late-game stoppages in play.)
DVRs are great for watching sports these days!
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
that was pretty awesome
Do they review when they turn the clock ON? Certainly the shot was released in time, but it seems pretty unusual for the ball to be touched/tipped (which it was) followed by one dribble and a release all in 1.1 seconds.
 

benhogan

Granite Truther
SoSH Member
Nov 2, 2007
20,113
Santa Monica
And cp helps with slowing the game down and being so half court.
Yea that's what I saw, CP completely iced their halfcourt offense. He went into Genius coma mode and burned most of the shot clock with between the leg dribbles. It was odd and unlike him, probably some rust/timing
 

Sam Ray Not

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
8,849
NYC
It's been so long since the Bucks played some semblance of decent offense I kinda forgot they were a really good offensive team. And that the Nets and Hawks are not really good defensive teams.
 

Cellar-Door

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
34,463
Bucks should have won game 1 but shot terribly from 3. Tonight the same good shots are falling and they are washing the Hawks.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 26, 2005
30,502
One thing I found interesting as I watched how ATL was hiding Trae on defense. So ATL starts Trae on PJ Tucker. In the first half, MIL seemed content to attack other defenders (they do have some good matchups on that end) but when the shot went up, Tucker went into the lane to try to rebound, and I noticed that he invariably tried to aggressively box out Young. He's either been told or figured out that one way to be physical with Trae without getting fouls called is under the boards.

It's said that a team can attack a scorer by making him play defense, especially post defense, as that can help to take the scorer's legs away. It's super hard to isolate Trae on defense since he's good at avoiding it but getting him into box-outs with PJ Tucker on a regular basis may be the next best thing.
 

TripleOT

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 4, 2007
7,758
I bumped into this interesting read from 2013 about Giannis first emerging onto the basketball landscape. Danny Ainge is mentioned as scouting him in person, in a 500 seat arena. Apparently, the family spelled his last name differently, but the current spelling ended up on his Greek passport.


https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/sports/basketball/in-an-athens-suburb-nba-scouts-unearth-a-rare-find.html?referringSource=articleShare

(The sports media guy from The Athletic usually links a bunch of great reads on many topics at the bottom of his column, if anyone is into reading good print journalism)
 
Sep 1, 2019
170
Will be interesting to see how the TV ratings come in this year without a marquee market team in the finals (Clippers are LA, but they don't draw fan interest like the other LA franchise).

If it is, say, Bucks vs. Suns, that will be problematic. The die-hards will be there, but maybe not the casual fans.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,673
Will be interesting to see how the TV ratings come in this year without a marquee market team in the finals (Clippers are LA, but they don't draw fan interest like the other LA franchise).

If it is, say, Bucks vs. Suns, that will be problematic. The die-hards will be there, but maybe not the casual fans.
The ratings have been way up and that is with LeBron out in the first round, Knicks out in the first round, basically no Warriors, etc.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,731
Well, we've seen guys play recently who are just a shell of themselves because of injury, so that's what you can hope for.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,463
Will be interesting to see how the TV ratings come in this year without a marquee market team in the finals (Clippers are LA, but they don't draw fan interest like the other LA franchise).

If it is, say, Bucks vs. Suns, that will be problematic. The die-hards will be there, but maybe not the casual fans.
Is Bucks really worse than Atlanta? I feel that the casuals are much more likely to know who Giannis is than Trae.