The 2nd Season - 2019 Playoff Thread
- Thread starter ElUno20
- Start date
That final Lowry three must have been so much fun for the fans in attendance. Great win based on coaching and execution; Toronto is deep and if their role players are locked in they can beat Golden State. GS dared Siakam to beat them tonight and he destroyed them; if Durant doesn't come back Golden State is really going to need something from someone other than Curry or Klay on offense.
We may have some but they're sitting behind the great Marcus Morris.
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Toronto's "role" players are very streaky. For them it all rides on how many of them show up. Gasol and Siakem were huge, Lowry and Green pretty good. Can those guys keep it up? I'd not be surprised by GS playing much better in game 2.
IMHO, this is spot on and a better read than simply calling the team who won the first game of the series the ultimate winner or telling everyone its going to be X in X games (to be clear you did neither of these things but we collectively have a bad habit of hot taking after one game).
The Raptors are a very good, deep, well coached team. But so too are the Warriors and they may well see a top three player in the world join them soon.
Again, its hard to say who will win but this series is likely to go the distance. As you noted, Toronto got great play out of their supporting cast. That isn't an easy thing to sustain, especially on this stage. And the Warriors will make adjustments too.
Yeah, it was cool for Toronto and all, but I see this going the way of the Celtics winning game one against the Bucks. I'm guessing the loss is a green light for Durant to return with a vengeance.
The best part of the night is aside from the whole Dell Curry jersey, we were surprisingly light on Drake references. I do like that he and Draymond were jawing at each other after the game. Were they to actually fight, I wonder who SoSH (ex SRN) would root for. I suspect ElUno would root for a murder/suicide.
Yup! Double up. Two birds with one stone.
Dubs need KD and, now, Iggy to get healthy.
Having watched a fair amount of Toronto this post-season, a big thing for them was how aggressive Siakam and Gasol are on offense. Siakam was sometimes very hesitant, and Gasol was too unselfish of a player and does not like shooting threes, even if he is wide-open. Golden State came out in this game and decided they were going to double-team Kawhi and force Siakam and Gasol (and whoever else would be left open due to the double-team) to beat them. Gasol took and made his open jumpers, and Siakam aggressively attacked the basket, and it killed Golden State tonight.
This was not a case of certain role players getting hot and making difficult shots, although Van Vleet did make a few lucky shots late. This was a team and players making the appropriate decisions and executing in a way that seems sustainable; it only requires Gasol to shoot when he is open and for Siakam to make a quick decision when he gets the ball and to attack the basket. Danny Green hit some three pointers tonight, but he was getting left wide-open due to the doubling of Kawhi, and he's a career 40 percent three point shooter and has played in 118 playoff games in his career.
I don't think the series is over, and I'd still pick GS to win, but Toronto made a lot of adjustments on offense and defense to show how they were going to play Golden State and they executed that strategy extremely well tonight.
Looking like a Game 3 or 4 return for KD ("barring setback"), per Chris Haynes, which sounds a lot better than not at all.
Also looking like the Warriors could use him. Who knew.
Also looking like the Warriors could use him. Who knew.
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Nobody is going to know what to say if Durant bails them out of a 2-1 series deficit and wins the title or series MVP.
"Are the Warriors better WITH Kevin Durant?" Stay tuned as our panel of hot take experts tell you how you should think after the break..."
I mean, who knows how close to 100% he’ll be if/when he gets back. Shelburne cited another Warriors source saying he’d still be a couple weeks away if it were the regular season.
On the other hand, Kawhi doesn’t look that close to 100% either, and he somehow keeps limping and grimacing his team to victory. And KD will always be 100% of 6’-11”, with a functionally unblockable shot apex.
On the other hand, Kawhi doesn’t look that close to 100% either, and he somehow keeps limping and grimacing his team to victory. And KD will always be 100% of 6’-11”, with a functionally unblockable shot apex.
Maybe, but this is still my take.
I mean, maybe if Kawhi is hurt and/or the Raps go up 2-0 I'd switch it up a bit. But I don't trust that supporting cast and I do trust Kawhi.
meaning: I'd stick with the swarm Kawhi defense and make the supporting cast carry the Raptors.
I mean, maybe if Kawhi is hurt and/or the Raps go up 2-0 I'd switch it up a bit. But I don't trust that supporting cast and I do trust Kawhi.
So this is different. Arrived in my inbox today:
Hi there
NBA contracts are paid out gradually over years - but what if we could arrange to get Kawhi his money up front if he re-signs with the Raptors?
Jai Waterman, Chief Enterprise Architect of Toronto-based firm Blockstation will tell your audience and Raptors fans how together, we can inspire Kawhi to re-sign with the Toronto Raptors using cutting-edge blockchain technology and a new process called a Security Token Offering (STO).
How does it work?
This model is an unprecedented way for fans to truly invest themselves in the success of their favorite team and provide an incentive The Klaw to remain in Toronto.
For further details, see our landing page here: www.blockstation.com/kawhicoin
Hi there
NBA contracts are paid out gradually over years - but what if we could arrange to get Kawhi his money up front if he re-signs with the Raptors?
Jai Waterman, Chief Enterprise Architect of Toronto-based firm Blockstation will tell your audience and Raptors fans how together, we can inspire Kawhi to re-sign with the Toronto Raptors using cutting-edge blockchain technology and a new process called a Security Token Offering (STO).
How does it work?
- Fans pledge to invest in Kawhi by simply signing up at www.blockstation.com/kawhicoin, showing him they mean business.
- Blockstation’s legal, accounting and business team will structure a Security Token Offering (STO) for the new “Kawhi Coin” on a national stock exchange.
- Fans can invest in the STO, providing Kawhi with payment up front, and will be paid back in full, plus dividends, as his contract is paid out by the Raptors.
This model is an unprecedented way for fans to truly invest themselves in the success of their favorite team and provide an incentive The Klaw to remain in Toronto.
For further details, see our landing page here: www.blockstation.com/kawhicoin
The logistics of getting him the money aren’t that hard, particularly since there wouldn’t be money laundering concerns. The Canadian gov would likely make any crypto-fiat exchange easy in this specific case.
The bigger issue is that this has to be a violation of the CBA, or at the least would cause Silver to step in.
The fact that they consider an up front payment of Kawhi's entire next contract to only be in the 6-7 figure range is maybe the biggest red flag here (of many).
The proposal as a whole looks scammy as fuck, but in this context, they’re talking about the price of the regulatory and logistical components of the transaction. That will probably run about 400K-2M, so that part is reasonable.
Is this at all allowable under the CBA? It would be a pretty large financial carrot for someone like Kawhi, who already has done a lot of sensible investing with his salary to this point.
I read it as 6-7 figures for setting up the security - which will allow the upfront payment
If Kawhi really wanted a lump sum payment, he could just as easily call 877-CASH-NOW. Or any bank. Or borrow money from his agent. I don't see why this is appealing to him at all.
Take a second and think about it as an investor, and you’ll see why having the cash now is significantly better than those options.
Not saying this would sway his decision at all, but it’s quite a massive difference.
Not in the leagues competitive balance and/or enriching owners interests which is why this shit will be killed dead. They didn’t have the lockout for nothing.
Not the worst question I can imagine--once in awhile a player will go into pretty granular detail about what makes a guy good at X, although usually not when they're in the middle of trying to stop him.
(Also, insert joke here about Kawhi going into detail on anything).
He said he just tried to get an arm in his face.
So yeah. Mostly he said nice but vague things about Steph’s game.
Now that you mention it, Lowry said that KL’s demeanor has really been embraced by the whole team; he credited KL with changing the team culture in a steady manner.
Horrendous. Just beyond baffling that this crew is allowed to ref in the finals.
Scott Foster and Tony Brothers, yet people will tell you Adam Silver is The Greatest Commissioner in Sports History.
