OT: NBA season has begun! [Potential Spoilers]

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

What's your standard for amazing then? He took that game over for the last 20 minutes. There's like 4 or 5 guys that can just own a game by force of will the way Westbrook can.

Agree that the Jazz contributed to their own demise.

Westbrook is an amazing talent. He is not that great on defense and he stalls an offense. Next time you watch him watch him just get out of the play when he does not have the ball. His amazing talent allows him to get away with his lack of bball IQ

[Jaybee]

I've seen probably 60% of the Thunder's games over the last 5 years, so I fully understand the pluses and minuses of Russell Westbrook. He's not efficient in an era where fully realized basketball is James Harden math-ing people to death. Defensively he alternates between poorly calculated gambles and disinterest. If he doesn't have the ball, I expect to find him chilling at the 3 pt line, hands on hips - if he would cut or screen, I think OKC could use that to bend a defense.

I still think the God of War version of Westbrook of the best sights in sports, and ultimately, isn't this all entertainment? He provides a rare piece of humanity in a game that is otherwise trending to Morey-ball sterility.

[Greenpea]

Westbrook is no Cleaner. He is a closer. He will be remembered as a great talent but not one of the elites like Jordan, Kobe or Wade

[cadence90]

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[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by cadence90

Westbrook is 29, Oladipo 25. I wonder how Oladipo will be viewed at age 29, given that he's pretty great right now.
.

I'm going to guess that VO won't have 6 All NBA teams and an MVP on his mantle 4 years from now. Come on.

Jazz were really good when they needed to be. Mitchell is special. Shocked that PG didn't get a chance to tie it from the line. That's been 3 FTs all year

[velotrack]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

I'm going to guess that VO won't have 6 All NBA teams and an MVP on his mantle 4 years from now. Come on.

Jazz were really good when they needed to be. Mitchell is special. Shocked that PG didn't get a chance to tie it from the line. That's been 3 FTs all year

That should have been a foul for 3 FT's, but PG leaned in and to the right to draw it. He should know better - it's the playoffs, and in deciding moments, refs will choose to not dictate the game so you have to shoot with the intention of scoring.

Russ ends the series on 39% shooting but at least he actually cared about winning games. He never gave up. I can't say the same about PG... 5 points, 2/16 shooting, really? Paul George? Just go to LA already.

[Jaybee]

George looked gassed to me, like he never completely recovered from playing the whole second half Wednesday.

Pacers looked awesome last night. So stoked for G7, anytime you get to see G7 LeBron you should do it. Hasn't lost since 2008, averages something like 33/11/8

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by velotrack

That should have been a foul for 3 FT's, but PG leaned in and to the right to draw it. He should know better - it's the playoffs, and in deciding moments, refs will choose to not dictate the game so you have to shoot with the intention of scoring.

Russ ends the series on 39% shooting but at least he actually cared about winning games. He never gave up. I can't say the same about PG... 5 points, 2/16 shooting, really? Paul George? Just go to LA already.

Shooting 39% and caring are not hallmarks of a great player. Utah played excellent team ball. My beef with Westbrook is he does not do that.

[velotrack]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Shooting 39% and caring are not hallmarks of a great player. Utah played excellent team ball. My beef with Westbrook is he does not do that.

I can't say I don't agree, but just think it would be a very different game 6 if PG wanted to win as much as Russ.

[Jaybee]

LeBron. Ridiculous. This is year 15 and there is no whisper of a hint that he doesn’t own this league.

We are blessed to watch him.

[cadence90]

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[B^2]

hard to believe the celts are up 3-0 on philly. total team effort on Boston's part.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by B^2

hard to believe the celts are up 3-0 on philly. total team effort on Boston's part.

Philly's ahead of schedule by pretty much every metric. All their best players are still essentially kids. Most of them are barely of drinking age. If Embiid stays healthy and Simmons gets any kind of jump shot, they're going to be very good for a very long time.

[93legendti]

SVG was just fired. Geez, I was right again.


https://www.freep.com/story/sports/n...ndy/518825002/

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Philly's ahead of schedule by pretty much every metric. All their best players are still essentially kids. Most of them are barely of drinking age. If Embiid stays healthy and Simmons gets any kind of jump shot, they're going to be very good for a very long time.

I'm kinda curious to see what happens if he doesn't develop any kind of range outside 7 feet. He's so big, strong, fast with such good vision that I think he could compensate for it, but what's the ceiling then? What kind of component pieces do you put around that Embiid/Simmons core? (10 clones of Robert Covington is my guess, but we will see)