Iggy has 60.4% accuracy in field goals, and 42.1% from three pointers in this series semi-final. Which is insanely good.
He has shot only 29.2% from free throws though.
He has shot only 29.2% from free throws though.
NBA 2018-2019
- Thread starter altodevil
- Start date
It looks like DeMarcus Cousins will also be back for the Western Conference Finals.
https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2...ors-injury-news-demarcus-cousins-kevin-durant
https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2...ors-injury-news-demarcus-cousins-kevin-durant
Break the NBA, baby.
Houston need more variation and that doesn't come with D'antoni. Time to let him go.
This is interesting. 538 is giving slightly higher chances to Raptors to win the ring (18%) than to Bucks (17%). Warriors are given 60%.
Latest news on KD from Marcus Thompson who has been writing a biography on Durant. “KD: Kevin Durant’s Relentless Pursuit to Be The Greatest,” According to Thompson, “I feel stronger about the Bay Area than at the time (previously)’’
https://nypost.com/2019/05/08/kd-author-knicks-kevin-durant-scuttlebutt-is-way-too-much/
Over the last month or so the general consensus from the media is that Durant has already achieved his goal of being the best player in the NBA. So why leave now?
https://nypost.com/2019/05/08/kd-author-knicks-kevin-durant-scuttlebutt-is-way-too-much/
Over the last month or so the general consensus from the media is that Durant has already achieved his goal of being the best player in the NBA. So why leave now?
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I don’t get why D’Antoni or Morey are constantly blamed for the last 24 hours. Rockets do not have personnel to beat Warriors and it is tough to build one. The fact that they are even competitive against them is remarkable.
I don’t think Cousins coming back makes them that much stronger at all. He adds depth but he’s a bad fit.
i think cousins should allow them to rest their starters a bit more. play him and 1 other starter in bench heavy lineups and let them dominate the ball for a few minutes at a time
Their starters played 39 mins yesterday, and they even needed fecking Jordan Bell to play a bit. He'll add depth and allow Dubs main players to take longer rests. Don't expect more from him.
Lakers have hired Frank Vogel
Really? I get the impression it's Giannis from the media perspective.
I think before the playoffs started the media were getting ready to anoint Giannis as LeBron's successor but over the last month they seem to have changed their tune towards Durant. I've got to admit it's not an opinion I share.
My first thought after winning game 5 was that the Warriors were winning that series with or without Durant. Later my usual negativity/pessimism kicked in and I questioned my original belief but the bottom line was deep down I thought they had a damn good chance of winning whether KD played or not They are now 27-1 in the last 28 where Curry plays and KD does not. How can you be the best player in the world when people can make the argument that your team (for the most part) doesn't really need you?
However, what I think is irrelevant and I think the media as a whole for the moment have bought into the fact that KD is the man. If that is true I think his reason for leaving to "enhance his legacy" has for the most part gone away.
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Thank you
Claims that Giannis is the best in the league are extremely premature. A bit like claims that Durant was the best in the league during his MVP season.
I think that general consensus seem to be that KD is now the best player in the league, which is obviously right. Also, Warriors seem to agree that he is their best player, both Kerr and Klay said that a couple of days ago.
He’s leaving anyway, don’t try to talk yourself into him staying because you will end up disappointed.
If anything them winning against Houston without him makes him even less likely to stay.
I guess we will wait and see. To me staying is a no brainer for him.
He still gets the plaudits for the best player in the league and could end up walking the championship for the next 2-3 years and still be in his prime after that to leave for knicks or whoever gives him the most money.
Odds are divided whether he’ll stay or go and probably to me he’s still on the fence.
I think it’s 98% he goes and 2% he stays currently. The only way he stays is if Knicks for some crazy reason pull out of the deal.
It’d be ridiculous if he stays. He’s too insecure about his legacy to pull another move like this.
I really don’t buy that he gets the plaudits either. He hasn’t even been top 5 in regular season MVP voting while at Warriors. Clearly people do not rate his accomplishments at Warriors at the same level they would elsewhere.
https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/n...s-re-sign-kevin-durant-knicks-given-1-1-odds/
nah, most of the betting sites I've seen are currently locked at about 50-50.
These are almost always absolutely useless. LeBron to Miami was like 25/1.
Strange world where Rockets are getting more criticism than most of the teams who didn't make the playoffs or lost in round 1 . They have done a super job and should be looked at as a model franchise rather than being berated for losing to the warriors
Sarni has decided that KD is leaving, when absolutely no one (including KD himself) seem to really know what is going to happen.
Dubs are favourites to keep him and the bookies agree. The only team who can offer him super-max and continue giving him rings.
I noticed that too from Steve Kerr and Klay and even Steph and Draymond have alluded to the fact that KD has carried the team. Personally, I think those statements are the Dubs last attempt to hold on to Durant. They know how sensitive he is and that he needs to get credit to validate himself so why not give it to him. I think it's interesting that in the prior almost 3 years he's been there nobody's been pointing this out before but now all of a sudden it's mentioned in every other post game interview. In all honesty I think the world got a taste of what the team really feels back in December from Draymond “We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave,” but they know that KD massively improves their margin for error over wins and losses and since the team as a whole (bar KD) just wants to win and doesn't care about credit this is what you're seeing
You've got me all wrong on this issue. If I could guarantee that the Dubs would be able to put a decent bench around Steph, Klay, Draymond and to a lesser extent Iggy and also that the 4 core players could stay healthy I wouldn't mind Durant leaving at all. The two seasons 2014-15 and 2015-16 were spectacular to watch and even though the latter ended badly due to injuries/suspensions, what a ride it was!
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Kerr said last year that KD is their best player too. Because, clearly he is their best player.
Obviously the team is Steph-centric and rightly so, but no doubt who is their best player. And as Draymond said, he is their ultimate luxury whom you can give the ball and he gets you 40 points. The problem of Steph and Klay is that as great as they are, they can suddenly go missing, while with KD you have always 30-35 guaranteed points in playoff, while also very good defense and playmaking skills. Warriors can win without KD as they have shown many times, but it is much harder and the entire team needs to play better. With KD, just give the ball to him and watch.
If the Rockets get rid of MDA then surely Harden would have to be on the block as well, moving towards a full rebuild. Harden can only really play one way, total ball domination, has rarely shown an off ball game. His basic stats are remarkable but given his outrageous usage rate not as impressive as they might first appear. I think they will give it another year, the Chris Paul contract forces that, if they can find the right balance of role player, perhaps move Capella on. Add in Durant likely being on the move and their window is still open, slightly.
Durant is the Warriors best player, but they are not neccessarily a better team with him, certainly not better to watch. It is like that old argument Utds fans had about RVN v Saha, Ruud was the better player, destroyed him with stats but the play flowed better with Saha, allowed everyone else more of an opportunity to perform at their best.
Durant is the Warriors best player, but they are not neccessarily a better team with him, certainly not better to watch. It is like that old argument Utds fans had about RVN v Saha, Ruud was the better player, destroyed him with stats but the play flowed better with Saha, allowed everyone else more of an opportunity to perform at their best.
First bold - Just to point out KD's playoff scoring average is about 3 points higher than Steph's. They are both top 10 all time. Second bold - that's the problem. It's just no freaking fun. I want to be entertained. Watching KD is getting more and more like watching James Harden. It's not as bad because the Dubs still try to emphasize ball movement but if Durant had his way he'd just be getting the ball in isolation and getting his points.
When I watch KD and he scores in bunches it's the sort of thing I look at and just admire what he's doing. Seven foot monster, can't be stopped, will always get you points, blah, blah, blah............... When I watch Steph and to a lesser extent Klay score in bunches they take your breath away. It's like "WTF!" did you just see that? I want more "WTFs" in my basketball viewing.
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It can be discussed if they are more entertaining or not with KD, but they are definitely better with him. They needed both Irving and Love to get injured to defeat Cavs, and then got lost against them, to going 8-1 against them when they had KD (but a worse bench).
On important matches since they play together, it hasn't even been close who has been their best player. Obviously their averages might be similar considering that against cannon fodder neither of them needs to go for 40 points in order to win.
That's a good point. It's really weird how it is. Pretty much everyone agrees he is the best player right now but nobody even talks about him in MVP terms. Obviously partly because he doesn't need to be playing like Harden or Giannis for their team to be successful but that's the point, no? Imagine if he was doing stuff like them at the Knicks? He would even be in the MVP conversation.
Agreed. Knicks are the worst team in the league. With him in the roster they can be playoff contenders no doubt but they would be far from challenging for the title. Rest seems a bit of a long shot, apart from Clippers, but still Dubs is the best place for him at the moment.
I can understand Sarni though, as if GSW keep their star players and barring injuries can make it 4-5 in a row without a problem.
You need to chase stats and monopolize the ball to win the MVP. LeBron has been by far the best player in the league until this season, but the last time he won it was in 2013. When you reach some certain age, it becomes harder to win the MVP cause you need to play more minutes, chase stats and all the other bullshit which comes with the modern MVP. That thing affects playoff performances, as we saw from Harden the last 2 years before this.
It sucks for Durant, that in the years players typically chase the MVP award, he had to go against James who was doing the same. 1 MVP and 3 times finishing as second is very respectable though. And like every player, I think that he would prefer the fMVP rather than the regular MVP.
This narrative about the Cavs would have definitely won in 2015 if Love and Irving were playing is just crap. We'll never know! Next you'll be telling me that Houston would have won last year if they'd have had Chris Paul and we know how that went. As to 2016 and losing to the Cavs. I've said before I'll go to my grave thinking that the Dubs would have won that series without Curry's injuries but it's disingenuous for me to claim injuries weren't a factor in 2015 and then say they were in 2016. You play what's in front of you - you win, you win, you lose, you lose.
Cavs were leading 2-1, and then went 0-3 when they lost both of them. Everything could have happened, but I think it is unlikely that Dubs would have won without Cavs getting injured. Imagine Dubs losing in the same year Klay and Draymond while Cavs would have had both Love and Irving. Who would have won? Well, a lot of people claimed that Dubs lost in the next year cause they missed Green for one game. You also claimed (something that I agree with), that if Iggy didn't go off last season, Dubs would have finished Rockets in 5.
Injuries matter, like it or not. Warriors were a big contender but hardly a team that easily defeats everything (bar Rockets last season) when they didn't have KD.
Cavs lost Love against boston in the first round and kyrie in overtime of game 1. They won 2 games with LeBron+Dellavedova+Mozgov as their core. And were competitive in game 5. Maybe they wouldn'thave won the series with Love and Kyrie. We'll never know. But they did win when they had both
Dubs needed a monster game from klay and steph AND the worst game of KD's career simultaneously to avoid going out in 6 against the thunder, too
They were a geat team, but far from an invincible machine before KD showed up
Btw, KD was playing at an historic level these playoffs before the injury. And i really wouldn't read too much into 5 quarters and change, in which Looney dominated, Iggy made 5 3s in one game and the much maligned dubs bench showed up big time...
Dubs needed a monster game from klay and steph AND the worst game of KD's career simultaneously to avoid going out in 6 against the thunder, too
They were a geat team, but far from an invincible machine before KD showed up
Btw, KD was playing at an historic level these playoffs before the injury. And i really wouldn't read too much into 5 quarters and change, in which Looney dominated, Iggy made 5 3s in one game and the much maligned dubs bench showed up big time...
So in other words you are going to agree that if Steph hadn't have got injured in 2016 the Dubs would have won? Remember this was a guy who at the time was the undisputed leader of the team, the first unanimous MVP, shot 50/45/90 from the field with 402 threes and averaging over 30 ppg but by the end of the finals after being injured in the playoffs and missing games had virtually no lateral movement at all. You want to play the injury card when it suits you. Like I said you play what's in front of you - injuries are bad luck but they are just part of the game.
They were 73-9 the most dominant regular season team of all time and then Curry get's hurt against the Rockets and the whole thing starts to fall apart. There's no doubt he came back too early against Portland. If it had been the regular season he would have certainly sat out longer. Continuing to play on the injury just aggravated it further so by the end of the playoffs he was a shell of the player he had been. But like I said, you play what's in front of you and the Cavs won.
Knicks wouldn’t get just Durant. They’d get him and another big free agent, and likely a top 3 pick. That’s a good foundation.
And yes, I don’t find it fun to see the league ruined because KD has been a coward. Hopefully he shows he has some balls in the offseason.
I’m pretty sure KD knows what he’s doing already, either way.
I think him moving his company from California to New York is a big indicator. Also NY clearing salary to make a run, they have probably already had that conversation behind the scenes too.
I don’t get why people think super-max is in any way relevant here. As if KD is going to lose sleep over $2.5million a year, that is utterly ridiculous
he’s already got his rings there, now it’s time for him to show he can do that without all-time best supporting cast.It’s not just me btw. Pretty much all well connected NBA reporters have been talking about this for a long time. But yeah bookies know better, like they knew when Butler and Kawhi were moving teams last year. Warriors are not favorites to keep him at all.
He might end up staying but I really doubt he will. If they win the title he IMO 100% goes. It’s only if they fail to win that he might change his mind.
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It was Warriors fault for chasing 73 wins. Besides Curry has been hit and miss in the playoffs, he was still healthy enough to play in 2016 and had some big games so I’m not really sure how how apparent injuries in the first round hindered him.
I agree with this, watching the splash brothers destroy teams is so much more fun than kd going nuclear.