NBA 2022-2023

giorno said:
Bam is strong enough that Jokic would have a harder time just going through him compared to AD. Yes he's too small, but he's explosive and can make his shot a bit harder. More importantly, he can switch the Murray/Jokic p&r, and he's quick enough to recover on Jokic if they try to take advantage of the switch that way

And even more importantly, their coach is Spoelstra. Yeah the Celtics probably would have been the best team possible at finding ways to limit Jokic, the same way they managed to limit Embiid late in the series, thanks to their 2 bigs, but I trust Spo to find solutions

The key for the Heat would be to turn Jokic into a pure scorer - if he's scoring 40 or even 50 but isn't involving his teammates, the Nuggets are beatable. If he goes for 25/30 points and 10+ assists, you are dead
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I just disagree with you on Bam. Bam is brilliant, but he's not as strong or as big as AD, which I think is critical when it comes to stopping Jokic. And... AD could not stop Jokic. If you're saying the plan is - don't double Jokic and leave him to attack Bam (or an even weaker Heat defender on the switch) - I don't think that ends well at all. He's good enough as a pure scorer to quickly destroy that gameplan.

But agree obviously on Spo, and good point on Bam's ability to switch the Murray/ Jokic P&R. I think the Heat do a much better job on Murray than anyone else has managed int he playoffs.
 
Denver:

League's best player
League's best offense
Much more team talent overall
Way more rested
Home Court advantage
Play at altitude
Better RS record than the Heat
Have won all (or most) of their most recent games v Miami
Played better basketball in the conference finals than Miami
Heavily favoured by the bookmakers

So I guess I should pick Miami to win :lol:
 
Seems like Lonzo Ball is done.
 
UweBein said:
Seems like Lonzo Ball is done.
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Yeah there have been rumors for the last week. He's off for next season anyway which means it will be at least 2.5 years between his last game and the next one, very hard to see him return though Jonathan Isaac did briefly return after a 2+ year break (and then got re-injured I think). Shame because he was finding his feet in Chicago and they were looking good as a team with him.
 
giorno said:
Jokic is pretty much unplayable if his shot is falling. But there ways to make things harder for him, and most importantly his scoring is not something to worry too much about. It's his passing that's the real killer for defences. Jokic averaging 40 ppg with 4 assists is something the Heat would take in a hearbeat, and something they might be capable of forcing. And they have the defenders to slow Murray down as well

Ultimately it's not a stoppable offence, but if you can get them from 120+ in offensive rating to, say, 115, they become beatable. This series will be as much about what the Nuggets do to limit Butler and the Heat's 3P% as Jokic/Murray imo. Spoelstra will make sure of that. Add to that Lowry and Spo are champions and Jimmy and Bam played in the finals before. Only nugget with that experience is old man Jeff Green

Heat should also get Herro back at some point
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KCP nba champion with the lakers no?
 
Andrade said:
Denver:

League's best player
League's best offense
Much more team talent overall
Way more rested
Home Court advantage
Play at altitude
Better RS record than the Heat
Have won all (or most) of their most recent games v Miami
Played better basketball in the conference finals than Miami
Heavily favoured by the bookmakers

So I guess I should pick Miami to win :lol:
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One rolled ankle - God forbid - to either Jokic or Murray and tide turns.

I can't see Denver lossing otherwise.

Miami had an element of surprise against the Bucks, but now I'm not sure what they have. Butler is even carrying some minor injury according to some unofficial sources.

Response to others, not you:
Jokic, MPJ and Murray played conference finals twice. It isn't like NBA finals are a huge upgrade as far as experience goes. Jokic played FIBA knockout games which in my opinion are far more intense and tactical than NBA games. Miami has nothing really going for them in this series.
 
Jim Beam said:
Zero chance. Am not actually so good at betting but I hate that I didn't put money on Heat to win that game 7. Was pretty certain they will do it.

Have Nuggets to win, but the Heat will give them a series.
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Hope you don’t work in risk management.
 
I’ve Nuggets winning this in 5.

First 2 games will be close, but the fatigue and higher altitude will kill the Heat. There’s a certain Serbian too, who’s the current best player in the league instead of the fraud MVP who can’t get past the second round.
 
I'm really starting to like Nikola Jokic. He just seems like a really good guy.
 
ESPN should lose rights to NBA playoffs, holy shit, its hard to listen, what a fecking annoying bunch
 
Just a casual triple double. Way closer than it should have been. Don't understand those slow 3rd and 4th quarter starts 7-0 / 11-0 starts for Miami. ESPN folks went from not talking about Jokic to overdoing it.
 
Jokic is the best offensive player I've ever seen. Unreal playoff run.
 
Miami had their worst game of the playoffs. Other than Bam and Lowry nobody could score in a brothel, which hid how bad Denver's defence was most of the game

If Jokic can take 12 shots and dish 15 assists, the Heat are in real trouble. Also the zone against Jokic, yeah, it's not even good for just showing him a different look in the end :lol:

Can't wait for game 2. Big adjustments coming I feel. Neither team can afford to defend like this going forward

Oh btw, heard Jokic is producing around 54 points per game in the playoffs between points and assists which is the 2nd highest total on record after LeBron in 2018
 
giorno said:
Miami had their worst game of the playoffs. Other than Bam and Lowry nobody could score in a brothel, which hid how bad Denver's defence was most of the game

If Jokic can take 12 shots and dish 15 assists, the Heat are in real trouble. Also the zone against Jokic, yeah, it's not even good for just showing him a different look in the end :lol:

Can't wait for game 2. Big adjustments coming I feel. Neither team can afford to defend like this going forward

Oh btw, heard Jokic is producing around 54 points per game in the playoffs between points and assists which is the 2nd highest total on record after LeBron in 2018
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Miami missed a lot of open looks but part of that is down to the size and physicality of the Nuggets. The Lakers did the same to the Warriors. When you are being bumped off screens, boxing out bigger players, defending the post, basically being physically mauled etc it is hard to make shots. It fatigues you and wears your legs off and you cannot get the lift you are accustomed to.

Think Jokic defended well by waiting for the rebound, as he did not trust Miami shots. Nuggets also let Bam shoot and doubled others.
 
Vogel the new Suns coach and Young is most likely staying on as assistant. It’s not Nurse, but it’s still better than having Doc or Monty.

And with this hire, hopefully it means we’re planning to make better use of Ayton than to make him play like he’s Gobert just because he’s a 7 footer.

 
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elmo said:
Vogel the new Suns coach and Young is most likely staying on as assistant. It’s not Nurse, but it’s still better than having Doc or Monty.

And with this hire, hopefully it means we’re planning to make better use of Ayton than to make him play like he’s Gobert just because he’s a 7 footer.

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4th coach in one year for KD
 
KD is really weird one, he seems one of those that find head coaches and tactical approach to games as non important, whole just play the game, its simple, just hoop.
 
R'hllor said:
KD is really weird one, he seems one of those that find head coaches and tactical approach to games as non important, whole just play the game, its simple, just hoop.
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That's an interesting point. He does seem to play his own game regardless of context.
 
giorno said:
Miami had their worst game of the playoffs. Other than Bam and Lowry nobody could score in a brothel, which hid how bad Denver's defence was most of the game

If Jokic can take 12 shots and dish 15 assists, the Heat are in real trouble. Also the zone against Jokic, yeah, it's not even good for just showing him a different look in the end :lol:

Can't wait for game 2. Big adjustments coming I feel. Neither team can afford to defend like this going forward

Oh btw, heard Jokic is producing around 54 points per game in the playoffs between points and assists which is the 2nd highest total on record after LeBron in 2018
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Yeah watched it in full yesterday and Denver’s defence got a lot of praise, but I don’t think it was great, Miami just bricked everything. Even wide open shots.
 
R'hllor said:
KD is really weird one, he seems one of those that find head coaches and tactical approach to games as non important, whole just play the game, its simple, just hoop.
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He’s a cheat. He can basically shoot over anyone fast enough to guard him because he’s so damn long and tall and anyone tall enough to block him wouldn’t be able to stop him from driving past them.
 
T00lsh3d said:
Yeah watched it in full yesterday and Denver’s defence got a lot of praise, but I don’t think it was great, Miami just bricked everything. Even wide open shots.
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I always find it difficult to know how much is the offense bricking it and how much is the defense rushing them....I guess similar to football...did one team defend better or was the other attack poor. Still feel harder for me to figure that part in basketball compared to soccer.
 
mav_9me said:
I always find it difficult to know how much is the offense bricking it and how much is the defense rushing them....I guess similar to football...did one team defend better or was the other attack poor. Still feel harder for me to figure that part in basketball compared to soccer.
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It’s pretty rare in football that someone gets a wide open shot, no pressure, not being on the move etc etc. it does happen in basketball quite often and for me they should be going in more often than not, even from 3.
There were loads the other night where Miami worked the ball into an un pressurised shot situation then missed the fecker. Butler came out afterwards and said they didn’t attack the rim enough….which goes hand in hand with….we missed too many field goal attempts
 
mav_9me said:
I always find it difficult to know how much is the offense bricking it and how much is the defense rushing them....I guess similar to football...did one team defend better or was the other attack poor. Still feel harder for me to figure that part in basketball compared to soccer.
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I'm surprised there isn't a stat like xG in basketball. It's arguably simpler since they already track shots as 'wide open' or 'contested'. Just apply the league average of scoring from those shots from those regions on the court and you'll have an expected points total.
 
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