Lakers probably in the West, in the East they'd probably be good against MIA and NYK
2023 NBA Playoffs
- Thread starter BaseballJones
- Start date
I'm not sure anyone matches up all that well against the Nuggets... I think they've been sneaky good all year...as the no. 1 seed.
And Bruce Brown is a pretty fucking sweet 5th guy in that crew. He can make open threes, attack mismatches, and annoy the hell out of the opposing teams best offensive wing
It's like they cargo-culted the idea of elite midrange guys being useful in the playoffs (they are!), and so tried to maximize the number of elite midrange guys they had.
The whole point of those elite midrange guys is that they require a lot of attention, and so open up the floor for 3s and attacks from complementary players (or, ideally, from other stars).
The Suns just don't have the other guys to capitalize on the attention KD and Booker require.
Miami with Butler are a good example of the way this should be done: they are more than the sum of their parts because they have shooting around him, and Jimmy is less focused on getting to his shot than he is on the things that his shot loosens up. (Obviously he gets his pointz too.)
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Agree. I interpret it simply as bet-hedging in the absence of any obvious favorite. You can never be made to look truly stupid for picking the team with three likely hall-of-famers, and there's always coulda/shoulda/woulda factors to point to when they fail. Whereas picking... I dunno... the Knicks (just for example) takes real conviction.
Edit: yeesh, 13 of 17 ESPN "experts" picked the Suns to beat the Nuggets. What the hell.
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The Suns just feel paper thin… Durant will get his.. Booker too.. Paul is a huge question mark and then Ayton and…. Durant and Booker can’t play 48.
Paul’s stat line tonite is very underwhelming.. 0 rebounds and fewer assists than Booker.. pretty much a no-show in game one.
Demver is a problem in the West..
This is all true, but Denver’s bench is thin also, 90 year old Jeff Green is their 7th guy.
I think SAC could win the West if they can win today, they’re the best ‘team’. Big if though, Curry and co. will have something to say about that.
I agree. I would say that, according to the story, it is amazing that he was able to elevate the play of the “g leaguers”. So, it wasn’t that Jimmy was just single handedly dominating, but rather was playing team basketball.
It was a bit difficult to understand, but I also heard that the "first team" kind of wasn't taking it seriously. And when they decided to take it seriously and went to "find Jimmy for a rematch" ... he had left the facility. And an hour later was giving an interview about what happened.
IOW: the story isn't as golden as it appears.
OTOH: it might be true anyways (given Minny's performance that year)
I know that 2023 Suns are not the 2022 Nets: they have a lot more scoring around Durant. But... I still see evidence of Durant being disruptible.
He doesn't seem to reliably adjust while making a move. Too often he doesn't react to hands coming out of nowhere.
IOW: in 2022 he had a lot of turnovers and other faux pas, due to well applied Celtic pressure. And Denver seems to be causing similar headaches (perhaps not as
well as the Celtics did, but not insignificant)
In a similear vein: Jokic can be frustrable, with enough attention. But with Denver's talent this year he won't be as exposed to this much attention?
I just read that this morning, too and...face palm. Durant and Booker are obviously great and the Suns are a bit difficult to read just because they've played so little together w/ Durant. But did those 13 "experts" not watch the Clippers without Kawhi and PG (and led by Russ Westbrook!) be perfectly competitive vs the Suns?
Perhaps more to the point: have they not watched the Nuggets all year long?
Same as the consensus pick of the Warriors over the Kings, I get the sense that a lot of east coast based experts don't watch non-sexy west coast teams -- the sexy Lakers and Warriors, sure, but not teams like the Kings or Nuggets. The idea that the Warriors would just stomp the Kings was flat stupid, as is the Suns as the overwhelming pick vs the Nuggets.
Yes, all the takes about how the Lakers are suddenly Finals contenders are lol. No one cares about Sac and Denver, so they just assume the 2 seed must have been good.
I’m not going to get too down on a team’s chances in the West until it loses a home game. I think that Denver is the stronger team, but Phoenix could certainly hold serve at home and steal a game in the Denver if KD and Book go off. Same with the Lakers. LeBron and AD are similarly capable, in either Sacto, or SF.
I do feel like people have slept on Denver because they played meh once the one seed wasn't in doubt, like 90% of one seeds ever.
Phoenix's problem isn't even that they don't have depth qua depth, it's that they're scrabbling around to find playable fifth and sixth men. If they bumped Craig and Shamet down even one spot, it looks a lot brighter.
Phoenix's problem isn't even that they don't have depth qua depth, it's that they're scrabbling around to find playable fifth and sixth men. If they bumped Craig and Shamet down even one spot, it looks a lot brighter.
True, although not unrelated - if they had a reliable 3 and d wing, they'd probably kick it out more often.
Have you been watching the Lakers in the playoffs? To me LeBron is not the LeBron of old.. he feels like Pedro without his fastball.. very good but finding other ways to win. AD is confusing since he shows up some games but not others. I think the real key for the lakers are Reaves, Russell and Hachimura… Those three made the difference against Memphis. It felt like LeBron was much more of a facilitator this series.. still got his, but I felt like he was looking to pass a lot. Hachimura and Russell’s 3 point shooting were huge… the supporting cast is who I’d worry about.
Denver’s not deep but they have 7 legitimate rotation players (I’m combining Jeff Green and Christian Braun into one here)
The Suns barely have 5. Not only do they really not have a bench, they are starting one of Josh Okogie or Torrey Craig. The only reserves Monty seems comfortable playing is whoever he’s not starting between Craig and Okogie and Bismack Biyombo.
In order for the Suns to win this series Booker and KD are going to have to play 40+, CP3 is going to have to turn back the clock at least 2 years and they are all going yo have to sacrifice some of the midrange game for 3’s….I don’t see it happening
What the hell is with Cam Payne? I assumed he was hurt, but instead he just ain’t getting minutes.
Bismack Biyombo got the ball inside the free throw line last night with an uninterrupted path to the basket and couldn't make the layup. It was maybe the least athletic play I've seen from an NBA player this year. I'd take Kornet over him all day long.
Oh, absolutely, I don't mean to dismiss the Suns -- Booker/Durant have to be respected, and we've seen what Jimmy Butler can do with an even worse supporting cast; stars matter more than anything and the Suns have 2 legit studs. I just think Sac/Denver are being dismissed way too easily.
For the record, my picks would be Denver over the Suns; Kings over the Lakers but Lakers over the Warriors. Per Warriors-Kings, I went with the Kings from the start so will stick with that for game 7, though sure won't be shocked by any result.
And will pick Denver over whichever of the Lakers/Kings/Warriors is in the conference finals (though the Kings will be fun vs them).
Denver vs Boston would be a really fun match-up.
He’s been injured for awhile with a lower back, tried returning, and reinjured it. He was listed as Out for the first several games of the first round so probably isn’t 100%.
No surprise since the Kings have been overlooked all season long including prior to this series.
Thanks - if the telecasts mentioned Payne’s back issue, then I missed it. They were always tempting fate by going like 5-6 deep with the KD trade.
Disagree with this. He nearly toppled Milwaukee singlehandedly the year Milwaukee won the title. He averged 35/11/5 on .594 TS% in that series playing 43 mpg, with Harden and Irving both injured, and the Nets would have won the series if Durant's toe was two inches farther out on his buzzer-beater in Game 7.
Knicks Heat I find it about impossible to root for either team.
Knicks sit in a distant 3rd place in my NBA sports hate list and have for over 50 years.
And Riley & the Heat is like rooting for Satan in the Exorcist.
Knicks sit in a distant 3rd place in my NBA sports hate list and have for over 50 years.
And Riley & the Heat is like rooting for Satan in the Exorcist.
Gonna go out on an early limb and say Herro is a bigger loss for Miami than Randle is for NY. The Heat got by the Bucks because they shot an unreal 45% from 3, I don't see that happening again. Nor do I see Jimmy averaging 38 ppg again. They just don't have nearly enough scoring.
Miami seems to think that taking only threes is a market inefficiency. On pace for almost 70.
And 1st round hot shooting aside, they are really bad at it. 27th in 3p% in the regular season, and that's with Herro (led the team in 3PMs) shooting .378 and not playing in this series.
I think you guys are nuts counting out these Heat against a team like the Knicks. Haven’t we learned anything about Spo, Butler and that supporting cast? They grind, grind, grind for 7 games.
There is nothing more beautiful or disgusting, depending on your POV, than the Coach Thibs turnover face.
It always amuses me how many illegal screens Bam sets. Maybe I am wrong and they are legal but I can’t imagine you are allowed to spread your legs apart as much as he does, correct? He never gets called so maybe it’s a legal screen.
With the obvious caveat of C’s fans wanting to see a grueling, 7 game war of attrition, I can’t decide who I’d rather face in a potential ECF IF (see the large, all caps qualifier, basketball gods?) BOS makes it by Philly. MIA can give us fits, but I’m not sure how comfortable I am playing in a wild, raucous MSG.
As annoying as I find NY fans (present company excepted) the city deserves to have a decent basketball team. Miami couldn't care either way, so Knicks I guess.
Assuming the Celtics advance, it’s kind of one of those things where we will convince ourselves that whichever team advances is tougher, but largely because they advanced.
They certainly play better than their talent, but their talent (especially without Herro) is abysmal. Grind grind grind is good, but Butler just had by far his best series ever, and Miami is leading the playoffs in 3 point shooting despite being 27th in the regular season, and without their most prolific 3 point scorer. On a neutral court with a healthy Herro I think this series is a tossup, but Miami's offense is destined to fall back to earth and there isn't a bigger contrast in home courts between any two teams in the league.