Tatum set the tone for this team and that’s what stars do. 20 first half points when I think the next highest guy had 8 or 9. Brown was the closer but Tatum put the team in position to build a big lead.
The whole team had ups and downs tonight, but like it doesn’t matter lol.
Just writing out a summary of what I thought was an interesting game by Tatum while it’s fresh in my mind. Think it’s context beyond what you would see in the box score, wasn’t intending to drag your boy. Overall, I think it was a solid game from him
He, and his teammates, missed some open 3's in the 4th; had even 1 of them gone in, our view of his game likely changes.
31/6/5 with 2 TO’s and plus defense in a monster finals game is still 31/6/5 with plus defense in a monster finals game lol.
I’ll just echo something similar to your post to my original post.
I said to my son that was an old school 4 play. Like Kevin Willis or Barkely, just too strong, too quick.
Such a winning play by Tatum to muscle in to get that ball.
Not at all convinced that Booker is going to pass Tatum. He is 18 months older than Tatum and had a worse 3-point shooting season than Tatum this past season. They may be both equally efficient, and certainly demand the attention of the opponent's defense. But Tatum is a much better rebounder and a better defender and overall a bigger player.
Re: Brunson and Booker, I don't think it's at all likely either. That's why I wrote 'conceivably'.
Amen.
It's not a trade ranking list per se. It's about: if you (generic media person) are going to say Tatum isn't top-6, then who are 6 players you could reasonably have above him? I assume that when most pundits make this claim, they are talking about current value (not trade rankings), so I'm trying to rank players on the same terms as whatever the hell they are talking about.
With Brown’s emergence, I’d 100% trade Tatum straight up for Wemby. Tatum is better now but it won’t be long before Wemby is the best player in the world.
Boredom? SGA has an amazingly smooth and effective offensive game. People over emphasize grace and aesthetics, I feel like. Tatum's shot is a little unconventional, he initiates and plays through contact, which is not always pretty so he must not be as good. It's dumb but so is the general practice of ranking guys instead of just going with tiers, in my opinion.
As far as aesthetics, SGA foul hunts, like Luka/Harden, a little too much for my liking.
Def fair, but you only get to see the foul hunting if you watch complete games and don't rely on highlights, which most commentators and almost all fans do.
This is also true for JT versus Giannis. Giannis is showing some wear and tear on his body.
I wonder if JT would be graded more highly if people saw him as a 6'9" point guard (which I understand that he grew up as) rather than a wing.
This is spoken like a true PG.
People don't understand how basketball offense works, so they need big assist numbers to treat someone as a PG.
Absolutely on OKC being graded on a curve.
100% agree.
Yep.
I'll push back a little: Giannis could be on the downward slope of age-and-injury related decline. He's been hurt the past two postseasons but did play 73 games last season. With Embiid, the trend is overwhelmingly clear, and onus is on him at this point to prove he can actually play a healthy postseason (or make a conference finals, for that matter). I don't feel these two are at all the same (yet).
He looked bad vs the Heat in 2023, but that was three games, and he was hurt. I don't really see how he was successfully 'exploited' in 2022— it took 7 games and a barrage of Grant Williams threes to beat him even with Middleton sidelined. His postseason play has generally been very good with the exception of 2023.
I used to hate when NBA players would bring the kids to the games and press conferences, probably because of Jason Kidd and his kid, but Deuce Tatum is so adorable that I’m now ok with it. We got to watch JT grow up as an NBA player and we’ve got to watch his son just grow up. I hope they give Duece a little championship ring.
I like that comparison. Like Tatum, Tim was drafted on a championship ready team, despite the skillful tankjob that Pop engineered the year before he was drafted. Unlike Tatum, he didn’t start his career on a team with a dysfunctional roster, and played from the jump with another true superstar. They are both fundamentally sound, but not particularly flashy.
According to this article - Giannis Antetokounmpo injury history during his NBA career with Bucks (jsonline.com) - prior to 2018-19, Giannis did not miss consecutive games for any reason.
Also that article is over a year old and doesn't include his 2024 injuries!
I think the biggest reason that JT doesn't get the respect he deserves (BTW, I'd put him as 2nd best all-around player in the NBA as Jokic is good enough on defense that his otherworldly offensive skills make him better) is that he's not like any other player who has come before him. He's not a PG that sprays flashy assists all over the place like Magic. He's not a surreal shooter/scorer like Bird and Curry (etc.). He's not an otherwordly-athlete like MJ or LBJ (etc.). He's not Kobe either (thank God).
Yeah should have mentioned that. Giannis has had a lot of lower body injuries for someone who is tall as he is and works out as maniacally as he does.
Agree with you. Also Luka’s 4th quarter performance throughout the Finals has been awful. 2.7 points per 4th quarter with 20% FG%, 0% from three and nearly 2 turnovers. In addition to being a traffic cone on defense his reputation as a clutch 4th quarter performer has taken a hit.
