His music isn't my thing, but if Venus Williams saw fit to date him, in my mind that gives him the benefit of the doubt in most areas.
The 2nd Season - 2019 Playoff Thread
- Thread starter ElUno20
- Start date
Definitely not definitely, but possibly. He's apparently getting close, and said he'll know more tomorrow morning.
Klay sounds like a go, knocking wood.
I don't like to try to precisely rank players but two of the top five players in the world were on the floor tonight . Both Kawhi and Steph are fun to watch and the amazing thing to me is its each in a completely different fashion.
I still think this thing goes the distance btw unless the Warriors cannot get one of Klay or KD back. In which case, GS may not win one more game.
I still think this thing goes the distance btw unless the Warriors cannot get one of Klay or KD back. In which case, GS may not win one more game.
This next game is going to drive Vegas crazy. No one knows what to think about KD and Klay. As I said earlier, I bet KD is closer to playing. Not sure what that really means tho.
Admirable effort from Curry, but minus Klay and Looney the depth for Golden State just isn't enough against Toronto, particularly on defense. Toronto is a bit underrated in that every single person in their main rotation can shoot from three (except Ibaka, who is great mid-range guy) and they also have two players that can create their own shot and create shot for others in Leonard and Lowry (outstanding tonight) and they have a big man who can really pass. You need all hands on deck to defend these guys and even with HOF'er Andre Igoudala out there, GS was too exposed with all of their injuries.
KD hasn’t even practiced in a competitive setting yet. He’s going to participate in 3-on-3 halfcourt drills to see if he can play in a Finals game the following day......read this again and let it sink in . Even if Durant is physically able to play I would never count on much out of him and he’d be placing himself at risk if he came back without the calf being fully healed.
They're missing Looney and Klay more than most casual fans understand. Since Looney can't be back, Klay has to. I think they can win without KD, but Klay and Iggy have to be healthy, for defense, and they need one of Cous/Bogut/Bell to play great. Yu can;t beat the Raptors playing 3 on 5. Also seems to me that Dray plays better when Klay is playing. You can't be giving Cook 27 minutes in an NBA Finals game and have a great shot to win.
What’re Klay and KD’s contract statuses and how does that fit in to their willingness to aggravate injuries?
Both free agents on June 30. Can’t speak to either’s willingness to aggravate injuries, but both are getting max contracts, injured or not.
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Toronto shot 52.4% / 44.7% / 95.2%.
Tough to beat any team in the NBA when they're shooting that effectively. Curry put up 47 and was -8.
I know GS has tons of great players, but they're missing a top 3 NBA player in Durant and another all-star in Klay. Not to mention Looney. Most teams don't even HAVE that...and GS is MISSING that.
Steph, of course, is mind-bogglingly good.
Tough to beat any team in the NBA when they're shooting that effectively. Curry put up 47 and was -8.
I know GS has tons of great players, but they're missing a top 3 NBA player in Durant and another all-star in Klay. Not to mention Looney. Most teams don't even HAVE that...and GS is MISSING that.
Steph, of course, is mind-bogglingly good.
Except he is an excellent passer and screener and offensive rebounder. I get that you don't like the dude and his whining is obnoxious, but he is an absolutely incredible basketball player on both ends of the floor
El Uno hot takes aside, Green did have a bad game last night — probably his worst of an otherwise stellar playoff run. He was the first to admit it postgame. Terrible/forced decisions with the ball, airballed threes (hit a couple late when it was basically out of reach), and nowhere near the defensive energy he normally brings.
Hard to win a playoff game against a great team with Durant, Klay and Looney out; Andre on a bad calf; Cousins coming off a ruptured quad and barely ambulatory; and Dray$ having his worst game of the playoffs.
Really the only Warrior other than Steph who really brought it last night was Andrew Bogut, of all people.
Hard to win a playoff game against a great team with Durant, Klay and Looney out; Andre on a bad calf; Cousins coming off a ruptured quad and barely ambulatory; and Dray$ having his worst game of the playoffs.
Really the only Warrior other than Steph who really brought it last night was Andrew Bogut, of all people.
I couldn’t help but watch last night and appreciate how incredible Steph played. But I also thought, “Oh, now he knows how practically every other NBA superstar feels.” I hope SRN puts this stat in his pocket the next time he quotes LeBron’s +/- stats. For all their injuries, that GSW team last night was still better than the Cavs team that went to last year’s finals.
Per Micah Adams:
There are 35 Players in Finals history to attempt 50 threes.
- Under 50%.... 34
- Over 50%.... 1
Who is that lone sniper?
Danny. Green.
There are 35 Players in Finals history to attempt 50 threes.
- Under 50%.... 34
- Over 50%.... 1
Who is that lone sniper?
Danny. Green.
Neither injury is careee threatening or even next-season threatening. It’s a non-factor imo.
I hope you understand that when I cite plus-minus, it's either the adjusted number (regressed for level of teammate, boxscore numbers, etc.) or at least the net number (i.e on/off as opposed to just on). Neither of those is nominally affected by quality of teammate. And I certainly never cite small-sample / single-game plus-minus as evidence of anything.
LeBron at 34 is still great, but not quite as elite as he was at his peak. His defense in particular has dropped off significantly. Is that a controversial stance? Net on/off per 100 possessions, last five seasons:
Player A: +16.7, +16.5, +17.1, +2.5, +8.1
Player B: +17.9, +22.2, +17.5, +13.0, +16.2
Tell me which of those two looks an elite player who is slightly past his prime and which one looks like the elite player who's still in his late prime. Or you can just wave your hands and say "crap teammates."
As far as last night's skeleton crew supporting Curry v. last year's Cavs supporting cast, I think it's pretty close. The Warriors skeleton crew has the best player in Draymond, but last year's healthy Cavs roster imho was significantly deeper: JR Smith, Kevin Love, George Hill, Jeff Green, Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson. I wouldn't have minded a few of those guys on the floor in place of broken Boogie, Old Man Livingston, Swedish Larry, McKinnie, Bell and Cook.
Then again, I never argued that LeBron's supporting cast last year was good.
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The story of the series so far has been how well the Raptors' role players shoot. When they shoot well, the Raptors win. When they don't, they lose. Leonard is going to get his, so it comes down to the other guys. When the Raptors shoot 17/38 on 3s, they aren't losing.
The problem for the Raptors is that they faced a Ws team missing 3 of its top 6 players, shot 52/45/95 with 17/38 on 3s (including 11/25 for 44% on above-the-break 3s), and 7/11 on long 2s, and still only won by 14. With that shooting against that team, they should have won by 25. They're not going to shoot that well every night; they're a good shooting team but they'r'e not thaaat good. The question is can they shoot that well 2 out of the next 5. Maybe they can.
The problem for the Raptors is that they faced a Ws team missing 3 of its top 6 players, shot 52/45/95 with 17/38 on 3s (including 11/25 for 44% on above-the-break 3s), and 7/11 on long 2s, and still only won by 14. With that shooting against that team, they should have won by 25. They're not going to shoot that well every night; they're a good shooting team but they'r'e not thaaat good. The question is can they shoot that well 2 out of the next 5. Maybe they can.
Nope. Sorry but he's not. He isnt an excellent passer at all. Im tired of hearing this. He's a decent passer for his position and often gets a blowjob for making the obvious pass to wide open guys when the defense is concerned about kd, klay, or steph. But i dont think he's on the level of Jokic (an excellent passer).
I'll give you the rebounding and screening (if we're not going to discount how fn illegally he screens since it never gets called)
I couldn't help think last night, "oh they only have one superstar and a really good player? Welcome to how the rest of the league has to operate"
They need klay desperately to help their defense and keep the Raptors D honest.
The argument is hes not a good passer because he's not as good as the best passing big man ever? He makes obvious passes? If they are so obvious why do so many bigs fail to rack up assists?
Both these posts are spot on. Watching the game I thought this was an opportunity for Steph to put some noise behind him, to show he can do it alone. I thought he was for a while too.
I kind of side with ElUno on this. Most of his passing comes from setting a screen for Curry (or KD or Klay) and when the defenses jump out to stop the shooter, he will get the pass and free lane to drive to the basket. When the defense rotates over to stop him, he kicks it out to an open shooter. He’s great in that role, but that doesn’t make him an amazing passer. Other bigs don’t rack up as many assists because they are not setting screens for the greatest pull-up shooter of all time, and don’t have two other all time great shooters to kick it too.
What, you wanted more from Steph last night? He had 47/8/7, with .633 TS% on 37.7% usage, for a team with basically no other offense, that's insane. That was probably one of the 10-15 best Finals performances of the last 30 years.
Nobody wins championships in the NBA alone.
@samraynot my post was mostly in jest. I was just simply pointing out that a player can be absolutely wonderful and still not have an impact on winning if the team around him is flawed and limited, which is an obvious point but one that it feels like you’ll forget when you compare players (particularly Curry with anyone who’s not Curry).
Turns out the spectator who shoved Lowry last night is a part owner of the Warriors, billionaire venture capitalist Mark Stevens. While the Warriors say he will not be attending any more of the finals, I wonder if he'll get the same treatment from the NBA as would any random fan doing the same thing.
College non-guards to post an assist% > 24 and a TO%<17, sorted by BPM:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&class_is_fr=Y&class_is_so=Y&class_is_jr=Y&class_is_sr=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&games_type=A&qual=pts_per_g&c1stat=ast_pct&c1comp=gt&c1val=24&c2stat=tov_pct&c2comp=lt&c2val=17&order_by=player
If you're just looking at major conference guys, it's basically just Draymond and Ethan Happ. Note that in the two season that Draymond did it, Adriean Payne is the closest thing he had to an NBA-caliber teammate. Happ and Draymond are also the only major conference bigs to put up Assist% > 30, regardless of TOs
Playing with Steph and Klay obviously helps him (though his elite screen setting and passing helps them too), but Dray was a good facilitator before he ever played with them.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&class_is_fr=Y&class_is_so=Y&class_is_jr=Y&class_is_sr=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&games_type=A&qual=pts_per_g&c1stat=ast_pct&c1comp=gt&c1val=24&c2stat=tov_pct&c2comp=lt&c2val=17&order_by=player
If you're just looking at major conference guys, it's basically just Draymond and Ethan Happ. Note that in the two season that Draymond did it, Adriean Payne is the closest thing he had to an NBA-caliber teammate. Happ and Draymond are also the only major conference bigs to put up Assist% > 30, regardless of TOs
Playing with Steph and Klay obviously helps him (though his elite screen setting and passing helps them too), but Dray was a good facilitator before he ever played with them.
And now he's banned.
SportsCenterVerified account @SportsCenter 1h1 hour ago
The Warriors have confirmed that team investor Mark Stevens was the man who pushed Kyle Lowry last night during Game 3. Stevens will not be in attendance at any of the remaining games of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Yeah I’m with you here. Draymond was a fat 4 in college but still made The Big Ten’s Top-10 assist list each of his last 3 seasons. His BBIQ is off the charts which allows for his passing to be one step or one rotation ahead of the defense. It isn’t only because of Curry’s shooting he has always been an elite passing 4.
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She made a mock "cry baby" gesture towards LeBron. I wouldn't exactly lump that in with physically pushing a player while they are trying to get up.
Where did you hear this? Kerr said yesterday afternoon he was done for the year.
Amen. The passive aggressive posting about LeBron -- particularly the stuff about his +/- reminds me of those who hated Jordan back in the day. Sometimes players are so great that even if you root against you should also just get a bit of perspective: LeBron is arguably the greatest of all-time and yet he's picked apart here like he's chopped liver. I don't get it.
So just for fun.... let's say that the Warriors go down 3-1 and Durant returns for game 5. The Warriors run the table and win 3 straight to take the series in 7, with Durant averaging 30+ points a game and clearly being the difference for GS. But let's also say that for the series, Curry averages 35+ even though without KD, they were down 3-1.
Who gets the series MVP?
Curry; it would be similar to the 1980 Finals. Magic is remembered as the hero due to the monster Game 6 filling for Kareem, but Kareem ended up winning the series MVP by averaging 33-13 through the first five games.
On a side note; if Toronto wins and Kawhi is the MVP, Kawhi will join Willis Reed, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Jordan, Hakeem, Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, LeBron and Durant as the only players to win two Finals MVPs. That is quite the pantheon and puts Kawhi in the "best player of his generation" conversation.
Stevens banned 1 year + fined $500k.
Shams CharaniaVerified account @ShamsCharania
The NBA and Warriors have banned Warriors investor Mark Stevens from NBA games for one year and fined him $500,000 for altercation with Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry.
5:17 PM - 6 Jun 2019
Shams CharaniaVerified account @ShamsCharania
The NBA and Warriors have banned Warriors investor Mark Stevens from NBA games for one year and fined him $500,000 for altercation with Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry.
5:17 PM - 6 Jun 2019
Is there another angle of the push? When I saw it didn’t look that aggressive, and the commentators live seemed to agree.
Yeah, it should be Curry. He’s still contributing to those last three wins in the hypothetical. Do they still win if Curry goes down when Durant returns?
I listened to Kerr’s game day interview and when referring to Looney he said how Kevon had a great season then specifically said that he was out for the year. That’s why I asked when this was said and why whom.......it looks as thought the Warriors found their Gilbert Mudge.
It was unbelievably unaggressive and toothless. It was a very mild push. It wasn't remotely a "shove". But he did put his hand on the player, and had to reach to do so, so he's gotta be punished in some way. You can't let any fans put their hands on the players. Because then the next one is a shove.
I can’t even really see it from the video, though I saw some stills from another angle that show it more clearly. But yeah, can’t have that. I’d be pretty pissed if an opposing teams part-owner did that to a Celtics player. Unless it was Smart. Then I’d just troll his widow’s instagram.
I guess. Just seems excessive for what was likely a reflex. If a 200+ pound dude comes hurtling at you, I don’t see how you don’t kind of push him off you. Who knows whether Lowry landed on his nuts or diaphragm or whatever. Seems more a logistical problem with seats so close to the court, but obviously they can’t change that.
Hopefully, there’s a loose ball near Drake next.
Hopefully, there’s a loose ball near Drake next.
He apparently also told Lowry "go fuck yourself" several times.
Commissioner Lebron had this to say:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/bxj2kc/lebron_james_response_to_kyle_lowry_and_warriors/?ref=share&ref_source=link
I haven't seen it but there's supposedly another angle that makes it look worse than the initial broadcast angle.
Commissioner Lebron had this to say:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/bxj2kc/lebron_james_response_to_kyle_lowry_and_warriors/?ref=share&ref_source=link
I haven't seen it but there's supposedly another angle that makes it look worse than the initial broadcast angle.
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You know that we occasionally disagree but I consider each of you to be very knowledgable basketball fans. However I think like many of us, your biases are clouding your judgement here or maybe I simply misunderstand your point.
I also don't doubt that it helps to play with elite shooters like Curry, Thompson and Durant (as well as the other very good rotation players the Warriors have had during Green's career). That said, Draymond Green has been the leader amongst "power forwards" in assists per game for the past four years. Prior to this season when Giannis averaged just one APG less than, the delta between him and others classified at his position was in excess of two assists per game. Five years ago, he ranked second overall.
In short, he has been a top assister in his position/role in five of his seven seasons. Its entirely understandable if you dislike Green and his style of play. But he is pretty clearly a demonstrably good passer and I would even refer to him as elite. You may disagree but the data isn't on your side.