I would love this. Young coach, excellent defensively. As long as he agrees to work with assistants who are offensive specialists I'm good.
NBA 2015-2016
- Thread starter Eboue
- Start date
I would love this. Young coach, excellent defensively. As long as he agrees to work with assistants who are offensive specialists I'm good.
Was surprised we held on after Valanciunas went off, but again the Heat lost Whiteside too so it evened out somewhat.
We'd be fecked without him though for the rest of the series. Forget Lowry and DeRozan, JV has pretty much been the unsung hero of this team.
17-point lead against the Warriors with 9 minutes to go, do not feck this up. Big night from Lillard and Aminu.
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Great win Blazers. Lillard is just immense. Now opportunity to tie the series in front of the home crowd on Monday night. Shame about that finish to game 2 as it could have easily been 2-1 to Portland here!
Wade is a massive dick.
What you guys think about the rumours that Durant could go to Spurs.
I think Spurs must go all out for him because if one thing Pop can learn from last games against Oklahoma is that the old trio Duncan, Man Utd and Parker is really on their last legs, especially Man Utd and Duncan. Aldridge and Leonard are great but they will not be able to do it by themselves. Durant is a player I like for a long time and he is clearly unhappy especially because he must play alongside Westbrook. He surely can't be happy playing alongside a man who take 31 shots just to hit 10 and he had often better options than taking a shot, many times a free Durant next to him.
Edit: and if Spurs let Durant go to the Warriors they can wave goodbye to a title for a long time.
I think Spurs must go all out for him because if one thing Pop can learn from last games against Oklahoma is that the old trio Duncan, Man Utd and Parker is really on their last legs, especially Man Utd and Duncan. Aldridge and Leonard are great but they will not be able to do it by themselves. Durant is a player I like for a long time and he is clearly unhappy especially because he must play alongside Westbrook. He surely can't be happy playing alongside a man who take 31 shots just to hit 10 and he had often better options than taking a shot, many times a free Durant next to him.
Edit: and if Spurs let Durant go to the Warriors they can wave goodbye to a title for a long time.
Nah he will come to Portland
he knows he can achieve more with Lillard and McCollum than Westbrook.Would be interesting to see what the perception of Durant would be if he left to join the team that (most likely) will eliminate him. Just looks like him taking the easy way out. Similar to if he went to the Warriors too I guess. Although at least at the Spurs he would be 'the man' whereas he would be fighting for that with Curry and even Draymond at GSW.
He'd be one of four top players at Warriors. Almost definite championship for him but he will not be remembered as the man.
If Warriors and Spurs are after him and can get enough cap space for him I think he will choose one of those two options.Nah he will come to Portland
No one is talking that Aldridge took easy way out. Similar will be with Durant and his latest comments on David West taking pay cut to go to Spurs suggest that he is thinking about similar path, not taking pa cut of course but about going to a team where he will have much bigger chance of winning.
Correct, but Aldridge (as good a player as he is) is not Kevin Durant. Durant is an MVP. However many time scoring champion. And at his best arguably the best player in the world. The perception is that he shouldn't need to join Curry or Leonard to win a ring. I just think that if he joined either of those two teams it would him essentially giving up on trying to cement a very impressive individual legacy. With OKC/Seattle from the beginning, playing with another top 5/10 player in Westbrook and then just taking the easy way out? Joining a team that's, let's be honest, going to win a title comfortably.
He might go to either of them but I think it will definitely alter some views and opinions of him. It will for me anyway.
But you could argue that he have almost ass good player as they are playing alongside him in OKC (Westbrook). What happens if he stays and Spurs and Warriors lure other all-star players resulting in making their teams even more unbeatable.
Edit: in the end of the day I trust Spurs board that they will do the right thing, if getting Durant is the right thing they will lure him, if not they will get someone else. It is nice supporting a team which has a coach and the board who know what they are doing. Wish we could say the same thing about United...
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Yes but he didn't join Westbrook. Westbrook joined him and they developed together. It is a little different.
If that happens then it happens. Durant and Westbrook should look to improve themselves regardless. Yeah their supporting cast maybe isn't as strong as the Warriors or the Spurs but those two aren't good enough anyway. They are careless with the ball and are lazy on defense. If they just tried to improve those things I have no doubt they would be able to beat this Spurs team and be competitive with the Warriors. But for whatever reason they don't.
Also to actually counter my overall point on Durant, he might be worried - as he should be IMO - that his best is behind him. He isn't the same player he was pre-injury and he might not think he can win a title unless he is surrounded by another two or three elite players. If that is the case then bailing to win a ring would be a good decision. A shame for OKC but a good one for him.
How do you fit Durant, Aldridge and Leonard in one team anyway? Do you play Aldridge at center, Durant at 4 and Leonard at 3?
He is a simple fit at Warriors, just replace Barnes with Durant.
He is a simple fit at Warriors, just replace Barnes with Durant.
Durant/Leonard can share the 2/3 role. It's not that different, Kawhi is a great perimeter defender anyway and Durant isn't a bad second option ball handler.
Probably correct, Leonard is the one whose transition to a shooting guard would be easier IMO. It's not like Man Utd has another 5 years left in him anyway.
Aldridge at 5 would not be tragic either IMO. He's got the defence, he's good close to the basket and he's a good reboundee too.
Probably correct, Leonard is the one whose transition to a shooting guard would be easier IMO. It's not like Man Utd has another 5 years left in him anyway.
Aldridge at 5 would not be tragic either IMO. He's got the defence, he's good close to the basket and he's a good rebounder too. Blazers would be challenger with this season's LMA at 4 though I imagine a lot of his form is down to Popovich work.
Jonas out for the rest of the series...Raptors are screwed. He's had a very good series so far.
Durant should go to Atlanta, he'd fit in perfectly.
A man can hope right?
A man can hope right?
Yeah like I hope he comes to Houston but I already know he is not coming.Durant should go to Atlanta, he'd fit in perfectly.
A man can hope right?
This may just be Cleveland's year.
Hard to fault Atlanta, Cleveland have been able to adjust against every wrinkle of their offense. Plus 3's out the wazoo are hard to counter.
Hard to fault Atlanta, Cleveland have been able to adjust against every wrinkle of their offense. Plus 3's out the wazoo are hard to counter.
Wow OKC have tied it up again. Finally a good playoff game from KD this post-season.
I still don't see them getting to the conference finals (even if they go 3-2 up I'd bet on them choking), but I'm enjoying the hell out of this series. I'm also curious to see the Spurs offence in game 5 now that Aldridge's numbers have regressed to the mean.
I still don't see them getting to the conference finals (even if they go 3-2 up I'd bet on them choking), but I'm enjoying the hell out of this series. I'm also curious to see the Spurs offence in game 5 now that Aldridge's numbers have regressed to the mean.
Kings of ball movement Spurs had 12 assists, while iso-heavy Thunder had 23. Funny game.
This is what happens if you take the ball of Westbrook's hands and give it to Durant.
How do you feel about LeBron?
I actually got fully into basketball just after he had moved to Miami. But I think joining with Wade and Bosh was definitely something that lowered his legacy in the eyes of many. It was a little different though because Miami were not an elite team when LeBron joined were they? I think they were the 5th or 6th seed. So it's not like he joined the team that he couldn't beat, which is what Durant would be doing if he joined Spurs/GSW. The whole 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' thing just seems like such a weak way to get a title.
No one can win championships on his own though. Jordan had others HOFers around him, Kobe had a prime Shaq when he won his rings and later one of the best bigs in the league in Gasol. The 2008 Celtics were brought together to win a ring as well and they only managed one in their first year. It's just the way LeBron left Cleveland which pissed a lot of people off, and rightly so. He won 61 games with an above average Cavs team in 09/10 but they weren't great by any means, which showed their 18-64 record the first season after he left. I think LeBron will retire happily if he can bring Cleveland a championship, it's a shame he couldn't do it in his first stint there and had to leave to do so but that's professional sports and especially the NBA for you, players want to win rings instead of going after the big money like some of the NFL stars do. I'm not his biggest fan but still, I can't fault him for joining the Heat at that point.
Regarding Durant, I'd much rather he joins the Spurs than the Warriors. The Duncan-Gino-Parker trio is running on its last legs, only Parker looks like he's able to play a couple of years on the highest level right now. If it becomes Aldridge-Leonard-Durant, they're good to go for another five years or so. They'd compete with another elite squad in the Warriors and it would be epic battles. But if Durant joins the Warriors and Duncan/Ginobili retire, the West could become very one-sided over the next few years unless the Spurs find a way to renew their squad without losing too much quality, which they always seem to do anyway over the last twenty years.
Russell Westbrook gets too much flack.
Playoff defenses do not want Durant shooting the ball, period. I've seen 5 years of KD being hounded by the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Tony Allen (the latter in 3 series alone). The iso heavy tendency of their offense means that if KD isn't open, Russ is forced to either over-facilitate (which is useless if Kanter, Morrow et al can't get open/make shots), or try and make things happen on his own. When the defense collapses on Russ every time he drives to the basket, the only option left is for him to shoot the ball and force the issue. Trying to over facilitate is just begging for turnovers into the hands of Green and Leonard.
The difference in this game is that Faye and Morrow started making shots, keeping the Spurs defense honest, and allowing space for Russell to drive, removing the need to jack up from three. And more importantly, KD just went off in the fourth, despite being covered excellently by Kawhi. He's that kind of player where you can do everything right against him and he still makes the shot.
Playoff defenses do not want Durant shooting the ball, period. I've seen 5 years of KD being hounded by the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Tony Allen (the latter in 3 series alone). The iso heavy tendency of their offense means that if KD isn't open, Russ is forced to either over-facilitate (which is useless if Kanter, Morrow et al can't get open/make shots), or try and make things happen on his own. When the defense collapses on Russ every time he drives to the basket, the only option left is for him to shoot the ball and force the issue. Trying to over facilitate is just begging for turnovers into the hands of Green and Leonard.
The difference in this game is that Faye and Morrow started making shots, keeping the Spurs defense honest, and allowing space for Russell to drive, removing the need to jack up from three. And more importantly, KD just went off in the fourth, despite being covered excellently by Kawhi. He's that kind of player where you can do everything right against him and he still makes the shot.
I know OKC are excellent rebounding the ball (with that cnut Adams), but West and Diaw are just a disaster in that department. It's a miracle they managed to stay ahead of OKC until the 4th quarter, with Duncan facing foul trouble.
When does Curry returns?
He's listed as doubtful for tonight's game. I don't think he will play but he'll probably get minutes on Wednesday and play full game on Friday if Warriors don't end this in 5.
Cool mate,eagerly waiting for his return.
Yet another 10-point lead for Blazers going into half time, and this is against Golden State WITH Curry. Don't drop this now, 10 points against this mob is nothing as we had witnessed in Game 2. Tying the series tonight would be absolutely massive deal even if we go on to lose it 4-2.
Crap, this is the worst moment for Lillard to have a poor game. It's looking very weak at the minute with Warriors holding a 3-point lead in the final quarter and Blazers not hitting anything...
Close this, come on Blazers
Curry's a monster.
Feck, should have closed in regular time when 3 up with a minute to go. Curry's killing this in overtime.