***2021-2022 NBA Season Thread***

[Renegade7]

8 minutes ago, Kosher Ham said:

Last home game for the series. I get it, no idea the frequency of that though. 

And here I thought jumping on the scorers table to pound your chest was frowned upon in here : )

[Bonez3]

10 hours ago, AJ* said:

 

Boston is still a young team and I don't trust Horford to be that veteran to come up big when it mattes. They've had a lot of success at home but Game 7 is a different beast. I'll be glad to be wrong though. I wouldn't mind some new teams in the Finals this year.

You've bashed Horford a lot but don't recognize his overall role and influence for the team. I'll agree the max contact is a bit bloated, but he's every bit the all star and I for one expect a great game from him. I'll be shocked if he doesn't contribute huge in a win tonight

[Momma There Goes That Man]

 

I give the man credit. He knew he was going to have an image problem if he kept that scrawny ass goofy mouthed face and completely changed that narrative before it even happened 

Edited May 27, 2018 by Momma There Goes That Man

[Warhead36]

Get ready to witness Lebron's last game as a Cavalier tonight

[AJ*]

1 hour ago, Bonez3 said:

You've bashed Horford a lot but don't recognize his overall role and influence for the team. I'll agree the max contact is a bit bloated, but he's every bit the all star and I for one expect a great game from him. I'll be shocked if he doesn't contribute huge in a win tonight

 

For good reason. He's supposed to be the experienced veteran leading the way but instead he's been a ghost on the floor (on both ends) and letting the youngsters shoulder the heavy burden of carrying that team.I have yet to see him set any kind of example with his effort and establish some kind of tone for his team in the last 5 games. He can't post up and he's not aggressive at all offensively to make Cleveland's defense react to him. It's a trend that's continued from the semis.  26.5 million this year is a only a "bit bloated"? That's the kind of money where a player puts up 20/10 consistently. He's no all-star. All-stars bounce back after a sub-par game. Horford makes a habit of sub-par games and only has an all-star game once in a while. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Horford is a tremendous player.

[Bozo the kKklown]

When the Warriors play their game, they don’t lose.

 

Durant needs to humble himself.

 

And the Rockets struggle without ref assistance. 25 second half points is gross.

[Bozo the kKklown]

Also Golden State scoring margin is +53 this series 

Edited May 27, 2018 by BenningRoadSkin

[Destino]

29 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

When the Warriors play their game, they don’t lose.

 

Durant needs to humble himself.

 

And the Rockets struggle without ref assistance. 25 second half points is gross.

Durant is their most dominant player, but I agree that their offense looks much worse when he holds the ball too long.  That being said, I don't think the Warriors offensive struggles have been because of the Warriors choosing to play iso ball.  Houston has done a great job defensively in disrupting their ball movement.  They did it for a half last night, but without Paul leading them they just couldn't punch back after the third quarter.

[Going Commando]

Houston has had a lot to do with Golden State's ball movement issues in the series.  They're pressuring the ball well beyond the three point line and getting through the screens.  Their perimeter D has been shockingly tough.  It's made Golden state's perimeter ball handling very uncomfortable and the truth is Steph Curry has no upper body strength and he's at a strength disadvantage against basically every match up.  He doesn't have a dangerous first step either.  And for whatever reason, the refs let defenders foul the crap out of him, especially when he's away from the ball.  You can keep the ball out of his hands with tough D.  And Klay doesn't really want it to stick in his hands.  If he doesn't have an initial shot, he's going to look to pass out.  And if no one is moving, then he's going to panic and go into a two dribble move and force up a questionable shot.

 

And frankly, Draymond Green has been terrible on offense.  He hasn't handled the ball pressure well at all and he's been turning it over.  He doesn't want it in his hands either.

 

And whichever big they run at the five has zero offensive value.

 

So it's been ending up in KD's hands.  He goes into an ISO, the defenders lay off him, and he settles for a lazy jumper.

 

Iguodala makes that offense run so much more smoothly.  He's an off ball mover and a floor runner and he's a tough, tough finisher in the lane.  And when he gets the ball in his hands, it calms everyone down.  He's a comfortable, heads up ball handler who sees the whole floor and he has the strength to bully his way to the paint so defenders have to lay off of him.  He's a team ball stud who makes the other ones much better.

[Going Commando]

Problem for Houston is that you simply can't play four quarters of hard nosed perimeter D with seven guys.  Seven Bruce Bowens couldn't do it.  Not against such an aggressive, pacey offense like Golden State's where they are running and screening all game and they can hit shots from 25+ feet.

 

And it doesn't help when a guy like Harden's instinct to lunge and loaf is so strong.  He gets tired and stops moving his feet.  Chris Paul is a bull dog who will give you four quarters of intense ball pressure.  They miss his defense more than anything.  Now you've got to play Gerald Green and put Gordon or Harden on the ball and none of those guys are in Chris Paul's world as a defender.

 

Golden State is just a better team.  They're better than everyone else.  One of the best since the merger.  Sometimes even maximum effort isn't good enough to stop them.

[Going Commando]

We should give props to Ariza for how well he's guarded Kevin Durant throughout the series.  I've become so used to seeing Durant execute at a certain level that the most shocking thing about this series for me has been seeing how bad KD has looked for so much of it.  Ariza has confused KD and brought out his worst tendencies and made him into a chucker.  That is the absolute best you can do against the guy who is easily the most aggressive and skilled scorer in the NBA.  LeBron can't guard KD like Ariza has.

 

Ariza is a free agent this summer.  Any team with serious designs on taking down the Warriors probably needs to sign him.

[PeterMP]

I think GS gets lazy on offense, some of the newer players don't really know/care how to run the offense and that messes everybody else up, aren't sure if they should be moving in an iso situation, or they just forget.  Curry's and KD's instincts are clearly to play iso basketball, and then I think some of the others fall into the trap with them, which just re-enforces the iso basketball onto Curry and KD.

 

At one point, KD was isoed with the ball at the top of the arc with Young off to his right.  Livingston comes to set an off ball pick for for Young and is even waving for Young to cut, and Young just stands there.  I don't know if Young was just being lazy, didn't know for sure what to do (was he worried that he'd cut at the same time that KD started a drive and he'd just get in his way), or was just wanted to watch KD.  But among Klay, Curry, Livingston, and Green the motion was much better last night, even in the first half when they were behind.  KD managed to score.

 

Even in the first half, there was more motion in the offense.  Their issue was turnovers and most of them weren't really forced, but just lack of focus.  I called it at half time.  It was clear, they were more vested in their motion last night then they have been.  When they are vested in their motion as long as they don't turn the ball over, nobody can beat them.

 

I also liked how GS played the Capella pick and roll at the 3 point line last night in the 2nd half.  They helped more on the shooter after the 1st quarter last night and worried less about the Capella roll.  I counted 3 times after the 1st quarter last night that Capella was allowed to roll pretty much open.  Once, he traveled and it was a turnover.  Once, he made an inaccurate pass.  The Houston player caught it, but GS was able to close out before a shot got off.  The 3rd time, Capella made a good pass, but the shooter missed.

 

It'll be interesting to see if Houston can adjust.

Edited May 27, 2018 by PeterMP

[PeterMP]

Tonight, the Cavs had been running the pick with the Boston big to bet Lebron isolated on Boston big.  Stevens adjusted.

 

Then last game, the Cavs switched it and ran the pick to get Lebron isolated on a smaller player that he could use his size and strength on.  Boston didn't make an adjustment in game.  We'll see if the Cavs come out with the same approach and if Boston has an adjustment.

[PeterMP]

45 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

And it doesn't help when a guy like Harden's instinct to lunge and loaf is so strong.

 

Last night, on any drive in his vicinity, including his own man, he was playing for the steal.  It worked in the first quarter.  Not so much after that.

 

Generally, it isn't a good way to play defense, but given the situation, I can see where it makes sense.  But it isn't clear whether it was part of a larger team strategy or he was just ad libing.  There times where his teammates didn't appear to expect him to play that way and GS got some easy layups.

 

If it is just something he's decided to do on his own, that's problematic.

[Going Commando]

He does it because he's tired and doesn't feel like moving his feet.  It's bad on ball defense in any situation.  It might result in a steal maybe once a game, if that, and if the ball carrier doesn't know your habits and isn't expecting you to try and reach from behind as you blow past him.  The vast majority of the time it allows easy dribble penetration and forces rotations that break the defense and, what's worse, he's often doing it in transition situations where his defense isn't set and nobody has a shot at helping out to stop the ball without fouling.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

Media:  Game 7s are so unpredictable!!!

Outcome:  Predictably, Boston wins by 17

[Renegade7]

Just now, AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy said:

Media:  Game 7s are so unpredictable!!!

Outcome:  Predictably, Boston wins by 17

 

They either have to go out of their way to convince you there's a reason to think you don't know what's going to happen, or its a corination (like that MNF game we had in Dallas and Colt won in OT).

 

Cavilettes aren't helping LeBron for ****, good idea of a timeout.

[Renegade7]

Boston winning so many of their individual matchups its not even funny.  But LeBron, man, I was just kidding about the "Give him the Ball" strategy...they serious.

[Momma There Goes That Man]

Horgord is really good but man that dude looks like a soft punk ass. 

 

If I were walking down a back alley with him and we got jumped by 2 average size guys, I am completely certain we would get crushed unless I could somehow 2v1 them cuz I’m probably not getting any help from Horfords soft baby face ass 

 

I’d say that to his face too. Well I’m 5’7 so I’d say it to his chest 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Momma There Goes That Man

[Renegade7]

They need to do better at hiding their "LeBron please save us" offense then asking Nance to come out and halfass pick for him and the other checking their twitter account.  If that's the way they want to play, that's the way this should go.

 

 

[CRobi21]

Morris is garbage.

[Momma There Goes That Man]

If Cav role players are not going to hit wide open 3s, we can call this game now

[Renegade7]

Oh, look, they finally sent help when Al has a mismatch.  Took them long enough.

[CRobi21]

It's astonishing how uncoordinated Horford is..