NBA 2019-2020

elmo said:
There’s a reason why the Nuggets have a better defence with Jokic on than off.
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Yes, that reason is when he's not on the floor Plumlee is. The Nuggets defence was average at best in the regular season and has been poor in the playoffs as well, clippers implosion notwithstanding

The Nuggets had to figure out a way to hide Jokic against the Jazz because every pick and roll involving him ended in Mitchel either walking into a wide-open shot or giving one to a teammate

Everybody thinks he’s a bad defender and tries to target him on the court but he gets himself in positions where he just doesn’t concede that many 3s and shots at the rim.
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He is good at protecting the rim but lacks the mobility to be an effective help defender. And the reason he doesn't concede a lot of 3s(doesn't he?) is because players can blow by him and take an easier or better shot

Sure he’s going to concede some shots, but he’s going to make you take less optimal shots which helps his team.
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If he's in a position to do that. Which would represent a massive failure on the opposing coach's part, because it's not difficult to target him effectively. Just ask the Jazz
 
Irritates me that the main take away from the Clippers failure is for the usual media suspects to pile into Kawhi Leonard, as usual it springs from the obsession with GOAT placing and an unwillingness to talk about the sport beyond simple individual narratives.

Kawhi had a poor game 7, he was easily their best player in the playoffs, the Clippers were much less than the sum of their parts all season, that is on coaching as much as any individual player. Doc Rivers has had a lot of talent to work with in LA and has achieved very little.
 
giorno said:
The Nuggets defence was average at best in the regular season and has been poor in the playoffs as well, clippers implosion notwithstanding
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Tbf, they did a fantastic job on Kawhi after game 1 (led by Jeremi Grant, helped with Harris and others around him) making excellent adjustments. Something which they did against Jazz too improving in every aspect as the series went on.
People will claim that Kawhi choked which he definitely did in a way, but it looked to me like he really didn't had much answers and I've not seen many defenses that handled him so good. They played extremely physical and aggressive while he had the ball locking him down for large periods of game (something which ironically was expected from Clippers on Murray). Pretty much every single shot of his was contested, so Malone and Nuggets have to get some praise on that side. Kawhi certainly should have done better, but they could not play a better defence on him.

The fact that Clippers played one-dimensional basketball also helped in containing him.
 
Read yesterday how Doc probably won't get sacked and that he was one of the main reasons for Kawhi to choose the Clippers. More of the same next year then.
 
Moby said:
They were contested but a lot of them were from point blank or mid range which is his bread and butter. His finishing was shocking.
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Yeah, true, some of them he puts regularly without much problem, so the overall point of him being very disappointing stands. If you are in that bracket of superstars you simply need to do much better.

But, this is not the first time he struggled against Grant, previously in regular season Kawhi had 2 of 11 from the field against him with Grant blocking 2 of those shots and made 2 turnovers. Now, I didn't see much of Grant before and don't know if his defensive game is rated that high in the league, but I thought he, with a collective help, did a brilliant job.
 
Squeaky Bumtime said:
Any comments on All team selection?
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Beal not being there is wrong (first time a player averages 30 ppg and doesn't get in) and Middleton not getting at least into third team seems wrong until you know reasons - he got more votes than Simmons but they were split between guard and forward so he didn't get in.
 
giorno said:
Yes, that reason is when he's not on the floor Plumlee is. The Nuggets defence was average at best in the regular season and has been poor in the playoffs as well, clippers implosion notwithstanding

The Nuggets had to figure out a way to hide Jokic against the Jazz because every pick and roll involving him ended in Mitchel either walking into a wide-open shot or giving one to a teammate


He is good at protecting the rim but lacks the mobility to be an effective help defender. And the reason he doesn't concede a lot of 3s(doesn't he?) is because players can blow by him and take an easier or better shot


If he's in a position to do that. Which would represent a massive failure on the opposing coach's part, because it's not difficult to target him effectively. Just ask the Jazz
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Plumlee isn't that terrible but Jokic is usually on the floor with Harris, Millsap, now Craig, and often Grant - a strong defensive unit. Their backups are mostly poor defensively, Morris and (now gone) Beasley at guard usually cost them a lot of points from what I remember and Porter is a dreadful defender.
 
RobinLFC said:
Weird reasoning, how does them winning titles in the 80s impact your experience of them facing off right now?

It’s the most well-known rivalry in basketball. No one but some football hipsters would prefer Leipzig-Atalanta in the CL final over Liverpool-United.
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Hipsters? Many would be bored of another United Liverpool final just as they would Barcelona Real Madrid. my reasoning is sound. I want other franchises to build up. When is the last time the nuggets reached the finals? Also Miami are quite a fun team to get behind. I feck with Bam and Jimmy Buckets. I have always hated the Lakers.
 
Stacks said:
Hipsters? Many would be bored of another United Liverpool final just as they would Barcelona Real Madrid. my reasoning is sound. I want other franchises to build up. When is the last time the nuggets reached the finals? Also Miami are quite a fun team to get behind. I feck with Bam and Jimmy Buckets. I have always hated the Lakers.
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Fair enough, that's a perfectly reasonable explanation :D

I don't mind Miami either. Would be quite a good story for Jimmy to go from the "contenders" Sixers to Miami and get a ring in his first year there.

Haven't checked the odds now but the Lakers are the overwhelming favourites now to win it all though imo.
 
RobinLFC said:
Fair enough, that's a perfectly reasonable explanation :D

I don't mind Miami either. Would be quite a good story for Jimmy to go from the "contenders" Sixers to Miami and get a ring in his first year there.

Haven't checked the odds now but the Lakers are the overwhelming favourites now to win it all though imo.
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The problem is that I actually like Lebron and hate the hate he receives so I am torn.
 
Sarni said:
Plumlee isn't that terrible but Jokic
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I know, but he's not exceptional either and Jokic IS better within their scheme because Jokic is not a bad defender technically, he has good positioning and fast hands and is just huge and immovable. His problem is defending space and getting to the right spots on time.

And rim protection - worst in the playoffs at it

Also re: Kawhi. He had 2 poor games in the series. The other 4 he was the usual Kawhi, so i'm not sure how much of it was down to Denver's defence. Same goes for PG actually

I think Doc's explanation about lack of fitness is very believable
 
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giorno said:
I know, but he's not exceptional either and Jokic IS better within their scheme because Jokic is not a bad defender technically, he has good positioning and fast hands and is just huge and immovable. His problem is defending space and getting to the right spots on time.

And rim protection - worst in the playoffs at it

Also re: Kawhi. He had 2 poor games in the series. The other 4 he was the usual Kawhi, so i'm not sure how much of it was down to Denver's defence. Same goes for PG actually

I think Doc's explanation about lack of fitness is very believable
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Anything other than how they lacked fitness? I mean who's to blame for that, they had it the same as the Nuggets, better even since Nuggets played 7 games before meeting them.
 
Squeaky Bumtime said:
Anything other than how they lacked fitness? I mean who's to blame for that, they had it the same as the Nuggets, better even since Nuggets played 7 games before meeting them.
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Yeah, that's not a good look on Doc. Harrell you can understand given he had to leave the bubble, and maybe Lou as well, but the others yeah, that's on the coaching staff

Btw, having watched game 7 again it really jumps out how scared the clippers were of Jokic beating them. Murray's second quarter explosion happened because the Clippers were so busy pre-collapsing on him they let Murray get whatever he wanted. They accept switching Lou in him like 3 times in a row :wenger: Some defensive sequences were there were just baffling. And then by the third they were basically fecked as they kept doubling both Murray and Jokic and let him carve them apart with his passing. On offence, the lack of energy and lack of scheme were stark. They could have gotten back into it in the 4th but they kept missing easy dunks and layups...

And honestly it goes back to the mavs series as well, when they nearly let Luka force them to 7 because they kept leaving Reggie Jackson on him...I think with more luck the mavs would have beaten them. Lack of fitness, disrespect for their opponents, lack of chemistry and lack of coaching
 
giorno said:
Yeah, that's not a good look on Doc. Harrell you can understand given he had to leave the bubble, and maybe Lou as well, but the others yeah, that's on the coaching staff

Btw, having watched game 7 again it really jumps out how scared the clippers were of Jokic beating them. Murray's second quarter explosion happened because the Clippers were so busy pre-collapsing on him they let Murray get whatever he wanted. They accept switching Lou in him like 3 times in a row :wenger: Some defensive sequences were there were just baffling. And then by the third they were basically fecked as they kept doubling both Murray and Jokic and let him carve them apart with his passing. On offence, the lack of energy and lack of scheme were stark. They could have gotten back into it in the 4th but they kept missing easy dunks and layups...
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Did Lou and Harrell miss so much to be in such a bad shape?

As for other points, yeah, they doubled Jokić and let Murry run the show like that. In offense they were forcing it and were missing open shots when they got them. It was a complete clusterfuk all around for them. But it shouldnt have even come to that 7th game.
I wonder with Doc staying what will exactly be different next season..
 
Awesome game 2 tonight. Thought Boston had blown Miami out of the water by half, but the Heat made great adjustments at halftime and they never believed they were out of it. And even after Miami came back, Boston kept firing and kept it tight till the death. What a great series so far.
 
Kemba not playing like the star he's supposed to be. We're missing Hayward I guess, but then again, we could've really seen that coming. I don't even know how good he is. Also, why is Williams III benched all of a sudden? I think he did well against the Raptors.

Miami dominating on defense and are so versatile on offense. They made it very difficult for Boston to find the open man, shutting down every passing lane so quickly.
Such a hard playing, well balanced team. Bam playoffs MVP so far? And Herro! What a player. Made 4 offensive rebounds last night, which is surprising imo.
 
ZDwyr said:
If only Brooks had benched Perk in the 2012 Finals...
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That was an all timer :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sam Presti is a great GM but his decision to stick with Brooks and trade Harden are all time mistakes. You had a dynasty in the making there and he fecked it up completely
 
I would(engage Keegan) love it if the Heat won the title. With the hype so individually drive it would be refreshing to watch a team first organization win the lot. Not sure how ESPN and co would fill their time though, a day or 2 of praising them, then back to the usual Lebron/MJ tedium.
 
Jokic might need to actually murder someone to get his 5th in the 3rd qtr. even the TNT announcers are laughing.
 
I am worried about LeBrons ankle. Over time it might become sore and hope it isn’t too serious.
 
This should be over in 4-5 unless the nba intervenes via the refs to make back some of that covid money
 
Question: IF Lebron wins the lakers the championship, would that cement his place as a GOAT? Surpassing kobe? Jordan? 4 Championships with 3 different teams is impressive. And i never was a fan of his.
 
choiboyx012 said:
Question: IF Lebron wins the lakers the championship, would that cement his place as a GOAT? Surpassing kobe? Jordan? 4 Championships with 3 different teams is impressive. And i never was a fan of his.
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Nah. Jordan forever #1, but he will cement #2
 
choiboyx012 said:
Question: IF Lebron wins the lakers the championship, would that cement his place as a GOAT? Surpassing kobe? Jordan? 4 Championships with 3 different teams is impressive. And i never was a fan of his.
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Might surpass Kobe but not Jordan.
 
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