2021 NBA Playoffs

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

28 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Agree big time. The thing about Giannis is that his basketball skills are not highly refined. He's not even an average shooter. He's not really a playmaker for his teammates on offense. But mother of God he is borderline unstoppable going to the basket or in the post, and he's a fantastic defensive player. He needs to stay in his fucking lane. They also need to shoot fewer threes as a team when they have such a mismatch inside. And James Harden should never be able to defend him one on one in the post. That was just stupid.

But I think Gainnis' strengths on defense are more along the lines of weakside help defender instead of 1 v 1 defender. And the way that Brooklyn was hunting Connaughton in crunch time. I'm not sure it would have made a difference. Even if they trapped, then you have 4 on 3 behind you and your best help defender is 25 feet away from the basket. Now trapping with a different guy when they were trying to force that switch? I would have given that a shot. Still, when Jeff Green is knocking down 7/8 from three, sometimes you just have to live with it. I would have made Green prove it more during crunch time, but whatever. B

Giannis is Shaq at the 3 or if Lebron wanted to be Shawn Kemp rather than Magic/MJ.  Everyone will beat Giannis up for what he isn't -- the best player int he world, but guy is still averaging 30.6 PPG, 12 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.2 blocks on 56% shooting.  He's damn good, he's just not really a perimeter player.  The huge thing is the Free Throws.  That's all on him and a huge hole in his game.  It's in his head now.  But Giannis is still a great player.

[Message Board User 12395]

27 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The thing about Giannis is that his basketball skills are not highly refined. He's not even an average shooter. He's not really a playmaker for his teammates on offense. But mother of God he is borderline unstoppable going to the basket or in the post, and he's a fantastic defensive player. He needs to stay in his fucking lane. They also need to shoot fewer threes as a team when they have such a mismatch inside. And James Harden should never be able to defend him one on one in the post.

A week or two ago, I posted that Giannis was a 6'11" Russell Westbrook and this series just reinforces it.  Yes, Giannis is a much more efficient player because he's 6'11" (Westbrook would be too if he were 6'11" and could finish like Giannis), but Giannis' weaknesses mirror those of Westbrook and he is as easily exposed and defended in the playoffs as Westbrook was/is.

You could replace Giannis with Westbrook in your paragraph above and it would still be about 99% accurate.  Fun to watch, but really frustrating that he hasn't addressed these weaknesses.

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

13 minutes ago, Kermit said:

Hate, what have you done? Remind me to stay on your good side.

Probably out for the series..... I guess Playoff P gonna have to carry dem.

 

[Kermit 3156]

Just now, Patrick Bateman said:

Probably out for the series..... I guess Playoff P gonna have to carry dem.

 

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

[Sbbruin 21861]

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

Yeah, no KL no win.

[d2o 1602]

6 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Giannis is Shaq at the 3 or if Lebron wanted to be Shawn Kemp rather than Magic/MJ.  Everyone will beat Giannis up for what he isn't -- the best player int he world, but guy is still averaging 30.6 PPG, 12 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.2 blocks on 56% shooting.  He's damn good, he's just not really a perimeter player.  The huge thing is the Free Throws.  That's all on him and a huge hole in his game.  It's in his head now.  But Giannis is still a great player.

He is great.    There is one thing he can control.   His shot selection.

[d2o 1602]

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Giannis went for 34 points and 12 rebounds on 64% shooting last night. He's not close to Westbrick. 

The Bucks shot selection was poor in the 2nd half though. Jrue Holliday hasn't had the best series.

[Message Board User 12395]

2 minutes ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

Giannis went for 34 points and 12 rebounds on 64% shooting last night. He's not close to Westbrick. 

The Bucks shot selection was poor in the 2nd half though. Jrue Holliday hasn't had the best series.

Westbrook's actually a better shooter from 3, believe it or not.

Again, if RW was similarly gifted to be 6'11", he'd be about the exact same player as Giannis.  Great athletes, fun to watch, lethal in the restricted area, but have not improved one iota in their shooting and don't really make their teammates better.

As it is, because of their brickiness outside the restricted area, they cannot be relied upon during winning time and they become liabilities.

Maybe Giannis will become a better shooter - there's still time (Lebron didn't hit 40% of his 3s until he was in Miami) but that time is running out.  

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

And if Lebron or KD we're 5 feet 6 inches tall they wouldn't be in the NBA. Yeah, height is important in the NBA lol.

Shaq wasn't knocking down 3s. Giannis just needs to hit his free throws.

[Machinator 32099]

If true, then it's just incredibly bad luck.

 

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

39 minutes ago, d2o said:

He is great.    There is one thing he can control.   His shot selection.

There was nothing wrong with his shot selection last night.  He shot 6 times outside the lane last night, out of 22 total shots, and hit 3 of them including 2-4 from 3.  His shot selection was fine.  He had a fantastic game, he just simply was out of his league last night because KD went supernova.  Again, his FT's are his biggest Achilles heel offensively right now (4-7).  I do think he needs to get a mid-range go to at some point.

[d2o 1602]

1 minute ago, Patrick Bateman said:

There was nothing wrong with his shot selection last night.  He shot 6 times outside the lane last night, out of 22 total shots, and hit 3 of them including 2-4 from 3.  His shot selection was fine.  He had a fantastic game, he just simply was out of his league last night because KD went supernova.  Again, his FT's are his biggest Achilles heel offensively right now (4-7).  I do think he needs to get a mid-range go to at some point.

The fade away with Harden guarding him one on one stands out as a very bad shot.   He also got a couple offensive fouls plowing into the lane.   One of those 3s was a really bad shot with him just pulling up in crunch time.    Just because he shot a good percentage doesn't mean he was taking good shots.     More importantly, its about his consistent bad shots not just one night.

[Dahobbs 17625]

1 hour ago, conVINCEd said:

You can be vaccinated and still get COVID.  I was fully vaxxed over a month ago and got it last week.  I was mildly ill and tested positive for 2.5 days and then was fine and tested negative.

Was this posted in the wrong thread, or are you making an analogy about how you can do everything in the world to stop Durant and still get schooled? 

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

Hate and Kermit getting drunk already...... let's face it, they probably were anyway, but now it's gonna get real.

 

1 minute ago, d2o said:

The fade away with Harden guarding him one on one stands out as a very bad shot.   He also got a couple offensive fouls plowing into the lane.   One of those 3s was a really bad shot with him just pulling up in crunch time.    Just because he shot a good percentage doesn't mean he was taking good shots.     More importantly, its about his consistent bad shots not just one night.

The fadeaway vs Harden was a poor shot, just like KD's dribble, dribble 27 footer was with 35ish seconds.  He should have taken it to the rack and either pulled up mid-range or got fouled.  Guys are going to have bad plays.  Guy shoots 14-22 and folks are killing him for his shot selection?  Sorry, don't see it.  Dude can't be perfect.  Now, if you want to say he's had some bad or lazy possessions for the series, then that's more interesting.  Still shooting 56% but his 3 point percentage is terrible.  Averaging about 6 jacks per game so I could see some of that criticism although shooting the 3 is part of his overall game, even though he's not great at it.  Trying to develop it I would think, but again (yikes), he's shooting 41.7% from the line this series.  That's like Ben Wallacesque and IMO his biggest problem right now.

 

[Machinator 32099]

 

[4th&Five 41558]

By the finals both teams will be playing mostly backups with all the stars on the bench in street clothes.

[Kermit 3156]

15 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Hate and Kermit getting drunk already...... let's face it, they probably were anyway, but now it's gonna get real.

 

The fadeaway vs Harden was a poor shot, just like KD's dribble, dribble 27 footer was with 35ish seconds.  He should have taken it to the rack and either pulled up mid-range or got fouled.  Guys are going to have bad plays.  Guy shoots 14-22 and folks are killing him for his shot selection?  Sorry, don't see it.  Dude can't be perfect.  Now, if you want to say he's had some bad or lazy possessions for the series, then that's more interesting.  Still shooting 56% but his 3 point percentage is terrible.  Averaging about 6 jacks per game so I could see some of that criticism although shooting the 3 is part of his overall game, even though he's not great at it.  Trying to develop it I would think, but again (yikes), he's shooting 41.7% from the line this series.  That's like Ben Wallacesque and IMO his biggest problem right now.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Hate and Kermit getting drunk already...... let's face it, they probably were anyway, but now it's gonna get real.

 

The fadeaway vs Harden was a poor shot, just like KD's dribble, dribble 27 footer was with 35ish seconds.  He should have taken it to the rack and either pulled up mid-range or got fouled.  Guys are going to have bad plays.  Guy shoots 14-22 and folks are killing him for his shot selection?  Sorry, don't see it.  Dude can't be perfect.  Now, if you want to say he's had some bad or lazy possessions for the series, then that's more interesting.  Still shooting 56% but his 3 point percentage is terrible.  Averaging about 6 jacks per game so I could see some of that criticism although shooting the 3 is part of his overall game, even though he's not great at it.  Trying to develop it I would think, but again (yikes), he's shooting 41.7% from the line this series.  That's like Ben Wallacesque and IMO his biggest problem right now.

 

Fuck him. Sucks that he got injured, but fuck him. No fucking sympathy. Maybe he can run away and hide in the hospital when the surgeons show up. 

[d2o 1602]

28 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Hate and Kermit getting drunk already...... let's face it, they probably were anyway, but now it's gonna get real.

 

The fadeaway vs Harden was a poor shot, just like KD's dribble, dribble 27 footer was with 35ish seconds.  He should have taken it to the rack and either pulled up mid-range or got fouled.  Guys are going to have bad plays.  Guy shoots 14-22 and folks are killing him for his shot selection?  Sorry, don't see it.  Dude can't be perfect.  Now, if you want to say he's had some bad or lazy possessions for the series, then that's more interesting.  Still shooting 56% but his 3 point percentage is terrible.  Averaging about 6 jacks per game so I could see some of that criticism although shooting the 3 is part of his overall game, even though he's not great at it.  Trying to develop it I would think, but again (yikes), he's shooting 41.7% from the line this series.  That's like Ben Wallacesque and IMO his biggest problem right now.

 

That's what I just said.   Not just about last night though there were some bad shots, I'm talking about his overall shot selection.    And if he can shoot 56% while mixing bad shots imagine what he shoot if he cut them in half

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Giannis is Shaq at the 3 or if Lebron wanted to be Shawn Kemp rather than Magic/MJ.  Everyone will beat Giannis up for what he isn't -- the best player int he world, but guy is still averaging 30.6 PPG, 12 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.2 blocks on 56% shooting.  He's damn good, he's just not really a perimeter player.  The huge thing is the Free Throws.  That's all on him and a huge hole in his game.  It's in his head now.  But Giannis is still a great player.

That free throw routine he does is insane. Talk about overthinking it.

Tim Duncan is another that would damn near take the entire 10 seconds and shoot 60%

[Pam Cummings 9645]

32 minutes ago, Kermit said:

 

Fuck him. Sucks that he got injured, but fuck him. No fucking sympathy. Maybe he can run away and hide in the hospital when the surgeons show up. 

He's chickenshit. And fuck his dumbass uncle and that Castleberry fuck he hangs out with too while we're at it. Let's see how long those pieces of shit stick around once he doesn't make that NBA money anymore.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18550]

Poor Kawhi. He's pretty tough though, and known to play through injuries. He'll probably be back around the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

[Braff Zacklin 13619]

6 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Poor Kawhi. He's pretty tough though, and known to play through injuries. He'll probably be back around the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

[ztejas 43477]

33 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Tim Duncan is another that would damn near take the entire 10 seconds and shoot 60%

Giannis is a step below Duncan from the line. Duncan wasn't great but maybe you aren't aware just how shitty Giannis is right now. He's shooting like sub 40% (okay that's not accurate maybe I'm thinking of Simmons). Duncan had plenty of years where he cracked 70%.

In his title seasons in the playoffs Duncan shot 75/68/72/64/76 from the stripe. The only one of those close to 60 seems like an outlier more than anything. 

Giannis playoff career he's 61% and the past two seasons he's come in at 58 and 52 and the 58% was playing in empty arenas when random scrubs were hitting like 70% from 3 in huge playoff games. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by ztejas

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Giannis has been close to 70% from the line earlier in his career. Not sure how you can get worse over time. Probably a mental thing.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Giannis is a step below Duncan from the line. Duncan wasn't great but maybe you aren't aware just how shitty Giannis is right now. He's shooting like sub 40% (okay that's not accurate maybe I'm thinking of Simmons). Duncan had plenty of years where he cracked 70%.
In his title seasons in the playoffs Duncan shot 75/68/72/64/76 from the stripe. The only one of those close to 60 seems like an outlier more than anything. 
Giannis playoff career he's 61% and the past two seasons he's come in at 58 and 52 and the 58% was playing in empty arenas when random scrubs were hitting like 70% from 3 in huge playoff games. 

Gotcha. I didn’t look but always figured Duncan was in the 60s and he took forever to shoot while staring at the rim.

[hobbes2702 13045]

1 hour ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

And if Lebron or KD we're 5 feet 6 inches tall they wouldn't be in the NBA. Yeah, height is important in the NBA lol.

Shaq wasn't knocking down 3s. Giannis just needs to hit his free throws.

Exactly. He needs to play center. This really isn’t hard

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

2 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Gotcha. I didn’t look but always figured Duncan was in the 60s and he took forever to shoot while staring at the rim.

TD was a weird one at the line.  Shot basically 70% for his career but it was a season to season thing with him.  He shot 81% one year and 60% year.  There was no real rhyme or reason.  He went from 62% one year to 80% the next.  It was confounding and the only thing about him which wasn't consistent.

 

[ztejas 43477]

Fuck. A lot to catch up on.

On Chris Paul - that sucks and I have no idea what to say about it in terms of the politics or regulations of the situation. It just sucks I guess. Fortunately they can probably afford for him to miss a game. They are looking like the best in the West. 

On Kawhi - that too fucking sucks. Maybe I accidentally spoke it into existence but him getting hurt isn't at all where my heart is. He's too much fun to watch. Clippers are done without him. He needs to get out, too, I'm not a big Juju guy but holy shit if that Clippers curse isn't a real thing for whatever reason.

On Giannis guarding KD - lol. There was literally a play last night where Giannis got crossed into oblivion at the top of the key and Durant immediately got into the paint. It wasn't a highlight because something happened after that like Durant missed or turned it over or dished it to someone that missed but Giannis just isn't quick enough. The other issue with guarding KD is that he will get you into foul trouble in a hurry. (Assuming they are actually calling blocks unlike game 4). Giannis got a dumbass, throwaway rebounding foul on Durant - I'm not sure I'd trust him to not pick up 2 in 3 possessions trying to keep KD from his spots. Tucker is by far the best KD defender on that team aaaaand he fouled out last night. 

The Bucks are just going to have to take their medicine with KD and it might be a situation where there's just nothing you can do. It basically was that last night. I mean if he comes out and lights them up for like 21 and 7 dimes in the first half of G6 and the Nets are up 12 I'm working on packing Bud's desk up and doing anything I can in FA to build a functioning offense around Giannis. 

[ztejas 43477]

12 minutes ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

Giannis has been close to 70% from the line earlier in his career. Not sure how you can get worse over time. Probably a mental thing.

Durant's actually gotten worse over time. He used to be a legit 90% FT shooter and is now more like an 86%-87% guy.

(That's half a joke and half a contributing example)

[ztejas 43477]

7 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

TD was a weird one at the line.  Shot basically 70% for his career but it was a season to season thing with him.  He shot 81% one year and 60% year.  There was no real rhyme or reason.  He went from 62% one year to 80% the next.  It was confounding and the only thing about him which wasn't consistent.

 

Yeah but he was never bad enough to where you could play hack-a-Duncan. Giannis is falling into that territory (I actually would have employed it more already if I was Nash but I'm not sure Nash really knows what he's doing yet).

[ztejas 43477]

Surfing YT listening to some talking heads talk about last night. 

This is one of those games where we can say anything about it we want - and I quantified how crazy it was multiple times last night - but I don't think it will really set in for maybe years how fucking legendary that game was for multiple reasons.

Not only did KD have one of the greatest nights ever by anyone - Harden played 46 minutes on a bum hamstring. 34 year old open-heart surgery patient Jeff Green hit 7 out of 8 threes and they were all straight bottom of the net. And Durant did this post-Achilles tear and played every single second of an NBA playoff game. No one does that shit anymore. LeBron did it a couple times in 2018 but that's LeBron - and he wasn't defending in those games like Durant was all night last night. No one even plays 46 minutes in a playoff game unless it goes to overtime and 12 hours before tip Harden was supposed to be out. It's like that game was a fuck you to the limits of modern medical science.

Maybe the funniest thing about it is that there's no way it happens with a more experienced head coach. That isn't a shot at Nash - he just shows his greenness sometimes and there's no way any veteran coach without being intoxicated past a point of reason would EVER let those two combine for 94 minutes in a REGULATION playoff game in 2021. It's just absolute insanity. And then he goes and hugs Durant after the game like, motherfucker, YOU'RE the head coach! Let your nuts hang a bit - take some credit. But it was so clearly a hug of "thank you so much I had no fucking idea what was going to happen and that could have gone so horrible in so many ways". 

I mean Bud was TERRIBLE last night at keeping that thing under control and making adjustments but the most WTF coaching by far was coming from across the sideline. Can you imagine Nash pregame getting his coaches around him and saying: "Hey so I know Harden can barely run - but dig this - I'm gonna play him 46 minutes, Jeff Green is going to have 27, Blake Griffin who was pretty much washed and hung out to dry 6 weeks ago is going to have 17 and we'll just like come back from some crazy deficit in the 3rd quarter or some shit - I don't know." And someone pipes up and goes: "What's the plan with KD?" and Nash says, "Oh I'll just like, never take him off the court and he'll create 45 points for us in the 2nd half while anchoring our defense."

And it WORKED. 

I've seen some amazing individual performances up there with what KD did - although that might be the best - but I have never seen a zanier basketball game than that. This is one you tell your kids/grandkids about and they're like "quit making shit up - Durant did not play every single minute and have 50 points and 20 rebounds. And Harden played the entire game too while injured?"

[Vic Mackey 47082]

Commissioner Lebron has spoken!

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

I’m enjoying the playoffs more without lebron, thanks tho

[Message Board User 12395]

17 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Commissioner Lebron has spoken!

Is this tweet directed towards the league, the owners....or the players?

 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18550]

26 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Commissioner Lebron has spoken!

I hope whoever wins the title this year claims it as the most difficult championship ever, having to persevere through the shortened/condensed schedule and battling injuries that took out all the weak ass bitches.

[immortal13 4059]

29 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Commissioner Lebron has spoken!

The all-knowing Commisioner LeBron has spoken

Edited June 16, 2021 by immortal13

[Vic Mackey 47082]

I think they would have been better off just taking off the rest of the calendar year after the Finals. The season ended in October but the next season opened right before Christmas. So the teams started their activities before that and the preseason. And there should have been no back to backs this season. They needed one year to make up for the Covid shortened season to get back on track. And go back to normal in the 2021-22 season. Lebron does have a point but as stated above, this was agreed upon by the players association and the league. Were they strong armed by the owners? If Lebron was this against it, surely he has the clout to change it, right?

But this is classic Lebron making this about him since he is now out of the playoffs. 

But these injuries do fucking suck. And takes away from the playoffs. If Kawhi is done, Clippers are done with. I am not a Kawhi fan but I love to see the best players on the court when it matters.

[ztejas 43477]

LeBron only cares because he got smoked out of the first round of the playoffs after The Great Glass Giant shattered yet again. I'm sure if he was in the Finals playing against a Kyrie and Hardenless Nets he wouldn't give a fuck. 

[ztejas 43477]

Also he was gunning for MVP in the regular season playing too much trying to be superman and then got hurt. Maybe if you were really so prescient you would have sat some back to backs or watched your minutes a bit more. But LeBron needs his cake and to eat it. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Also he was gunning for MVP in the regular season playing too much trying to be superman and then got hurt. Maybe if you were really so prescient you would have sat some back to backs or watched your minutes a bit more. But LeBron needs his cake and to eat it. 

Nah he would’ve then had to play in the 9-10 play in game had he sat out more games…which he was all for until his team had to play in it, then he was against them

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

I'm thinking this may be a false positive, if he truly was vaccinated, but we'll see....

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by Patrick Bateman

[ztejas 43477]

Chris Paul: has arguably the finest game of his playoff career at 36 years old and has his team in the conference finals as the prohibitive favorite 

Basketball Gods:

[d2o 1602]

1 hour ago, Patrick Bateman said:

I'm thinking this may be a false positive, if he truly was vaccinated, but we'll see....

 

You can still get it while being vaccinated.    The vaccine just minimizes the possible symptoms and keeps you out of the hospital.......or morgue

 

[Patrick Bateman 3917]

2 minutes ago, d2o said:

You can still get it while being vaccinated.    The vaccine just minimizes the possible symptoms and keeps you out of the hospital.......or morgue

 

Yea, I get it.  I understand how it works, but dependent on which dose he got, the likelihood could be higher for a false positive then actually getting it.  I'm sure he's getting the best care and we'll see how it all plays out.  A positive test though may be enough to keep him out 10 days per the league protocols.  That's sort of a nightmare scenario for the league so we'll how they're going to figure it out as well.

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Didn’t the CDC put a kabosh on reporting vaccinated cases unless they’re hospitalized or died from it? I doubt cp3 has the vaccine.

[Machinator 32099]

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Like go to work like the rest of us?

[ztejas 43477]

17 minutes ago, Machinator said:

 

I don't know if they have been significantly higher or not - but I do know that injuries ruining playoff runs is not a new thing. It's happened a ton lately:

2013 - Westbrook torn meniscus on defending conference champions. I think Kobe tore his Achilles this year, too

2014 - this was actually pretty injury free but maybe there's one I'm forgetting.

2015 - Lol. Just a clusterfuck all around. Like all time bad to rival this year.

2016 - I think this one was a fairly healthy year, too?

2017 - Kawhi/Zaza incident the big one. Feel free to add others.

2018 - Curry misses first round - CP misses time in WCF. Maybe some others. 

2019 - Durant Achilles fiasco. Klay gets hurt too. LeBron hurt and misses playoffs. 

2020 - Woof. Another zinger up there with this year and 2015. No KD. No Curry. Heat decimated in the Finals. 

Maybe this year just feels different because there's bigger names involved? Not sure.

 

[TommyGufano 6021]

16-20 from the field for Philly. Is that any good?