OT: 2019-20 NBA Discussions

[jtakeda]

If you wouldve told me the nuggets come back from 3-1 against the clippers and win I wouldve told you to take a hike. unbelievable series

[xnetter]

Bananas collapse by the Clippers. Hugely impressed by Murray. Plus we share the same hometown! A+++

KJ

[FlashUNC]

Is there an emptier superstar than Paul George? Jesus that guy.

[Bob Ross]

I'm nominating Doris Burke for Minority Report Precog Of The Year: She called that Miami win before the 4th quarter even started...when they were down by 12.

[akelman]

I have no idea what to say about the Clippers-Nuggets. That Doc is one of the most overrated coaches in the league? I guess so. But he's also proven he can win when he has great players, so I'm reluctant to single him out for too much blame. That PG is one of the most overhyped players ever and/or is injured? Definitely. That the team never proved itself in ANY meaningful games? Absolutely. And yet, even if you had offered me 20:1 odds either before the series or before game seven, I don't think I would have bet on Denver.

The same will be true against the Lakers, who seem to be an even worse matchup for the Nuggets than the Clippers were, though I still have doubts about their shooting. But if they defend, they're going to the finals, where they'll meet one of two very good, very well-coached teams.

[junkfood]

The Thunder got more draft pics for PG than the Clippers got field goals from him in game 7. SGA is a solid building block for a team on top of all the draft picks.

Jake

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

[/B]

Objection. Elision of history from the fine gentleman from Colorado. Once upon a time, long before his foray into herbology, there was a man who employed 6’7 guards at center. Who was one of the earliest champions of the European game. Who had Pop as an assistant coach.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mys...cy-3457356.php

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si....-bucks-raptors

Also, FWIW, the Spurs “beautiful game” pre-dated SSOL. Champs in ‘99, ‘03 and ‘05. TD/21 4EVER.

Rebuttal: d’Antoni would be one of the first to say that Nellieball was a huge influence on him. They are parts of the same through line, not separate branches.

The “beautiful game” Spurs, to me, are the 2012-2015 teams with the peak being in the 2014 Finals. The earlier Duncan iterations were great teams to be sure, but no ones idea of aesthetic grandeur on the court.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by junkfood

The Thunder got more draft pics for PG than the Clippers got field goals from him in game 7. SGA is a solid building block for a team on top of all the draft picks.

Jake

Haha. That's hysterical. Except if you're a Clippers fan.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Rebuttal: d’Antoni would be one of the first to say that Nellieball was a huge influence on him. They are parts of the same through line, not separate branches.

The “beautiful game” Spurs, to me, are the 2012-2015 teams with the peak being in the 2014 Finals. The earlier Duncan iterations were great teams to be sure, but no ones idea of aesthetic grandeur on the court.

I'm curious if you (or anyone) have the Nuggets over the Lakers. I have to figure they'd be the underdogs. But they've ridden the "Disrespected Train" all the way to the conference finals, so...

[kevinvc]

Originally Posted by akelman

I have no idea what to say about the Clippers-Nuggets. That Doc is one of the most overrated coaches in the league? I guess so...

Any team that blows large leads in three games in the same playoff series has a lot of blame to go around. Every game is going to have some runs and stalls, but that was ridiculous. In today's superstar-driven game, the coach does substitutions and calls a few plays, but not a lot more. Their main job is maintaining the mindset of the players- maintaining focus regardless of lead or deficit. Substitutions are a big part of that and being able to change lineups, even with a short rotation, and play style to a limited extent are about it.

It's hard to say how much is the fault of the coach and how much the player, but certain coaches have a long record of under-performing in the playoffs regardless of regular season success. Doc is one of those.

Terry Stotts is, sadly, another. He has a tendency to squeeze more out of players than they show before or after their time on the team and has made the playoffs with several squads who should have been in the lottery. But once other teams make changes, either in game or mid-series, he doesn't seem able to respond. He'll stick with the same strategy and substitution patterns regardless of what's going on around him. Coaches like this can be covered when the superstars take over, but those weaknesses tend to be exploited over time.

[FlashUNC]

This is also a supremely weird playoffs. Like the 1999 lockout season, the results were always going be somewhat off-expectations. How would the Clippers and Bucks have done with home games? Some guys are clearly handling the bubble better than others.

This does not diminish what's happened at all. The Nuggets have been extraordinary. But let's also acknowledge it's really friggin weird.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

I'm curious if you (or anyone) have the Nuggets over the Lakers. I have to figure they'd be the underdogs. But they've ridden the "Disrespected Train" all the way to the conference finals, so...

I don't. It's hard for me to imagine LeBron laying a Kahwi or PG level egg in G7, for one. But I'm also done betting against the Nuggets.

I will be curious to see if the Lakers take the lessons they learned against the Rockets and apply them here, namely that there best lineup has AD at 5 and LeBron at 4 and whoever can make a shot in the backcourt. I can see the temptation to match Jokic with McGee or Howard, but I think that really makes them much easier for Denver to guard.

[akelman]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

I don't. It's hard for me to imagine LeBron laying a Kahwi or PG level egg in G7, for one. But I'm also done betting against the Nuggets.

I will be curious to see if the Lakers take the lessons they learned against the Rockets and apply them here, namely that there best lineup has AD at 5 and LeBron at 4 and whoever can make a shot in the backcourt. I can see the temptation to match Jokic with McGee or Howard, but I think that really makes them much easier for Denver to guard.

I'm willing to bet that Vogel starts the series by playing McGee and Dwight on Jokic. That's twelve fouls worth of beef to throw at a guy who likes abusing smaller bigs in the paint but doesn't totally love banging with fives who are his size.

Vogel will do that both because it's what AD wants and also because he'll hope that McDwight can keep Jokic off the blocks, where he's terrifying throwing up his baby hooks and other garbage, hitting cutters, and kicking out to shooters at the arc. In that scenario, if Jokic can hit his threes, Vogel will live with it. And then the Lakers will adjust in Game Two, which is what they've done in the previous rounds. But if Jokic doesn't hit his threes, AD gets to stay happy, and the Lakers advance easily.

[XXtwindad]

Thirty years ago, LMU's Hank Gathers died during a college basketball game. He was widely considered one of the best players in the country. One of his opponents (who was on the floor that game) was current Heat coach Eric Spoelstra.

Just read a few articles on Spoelstra. That was part of his bio I wasn't aware of. I remember that moment like it was yesterday, though. Seared into my conscious.

[Bob Ross]

Ugh. Watching last night's second half collapse in Game 2 of the Miami-Boston ECF, I was reminded of an amusing riff my wife & I developed over the years.

I learned to appreciate watching NBA games when I lived in Boston in the 1980s, during the heyday of the Bird-McHale-Parrish Big Three. And a phrase I developed from watching so many of those games -- and that my wife subsequently learned from me -- was, when your team is down 7 or 8 or 9 points with ~15 seconds left in the 4th quarter, "the Celtics could do it!"

Because they did, on so many occasions. It was especially fun watching replays of some of those classic games with the missus when she could finally see exactly what I was talking about. So for a number of years, whenever I was watching a basketball game and someone, anyone, was down 7 or 8 or 9 points with ~15 seconds left in the 4th quarter, my wife would walk into the room, look at the score and the clock, and yell "the Celtics could do it!"

In the past decade, my wife has modified that rallying cry; nowadays she yells "the Celtics could do it! oh, wait..."

Last night she didn't even have to say a thing.