The 202 NBA playoffs begin Monday Aug 17th in Orlando, Florida. First round matchups are as follows …
East:
(1) Bucks vs. (8) Magic
(2) Raptors vs. (7) Nets
(3) Celtics vs. (6) 76ers
(4) Pacers vs. (5) Miami
West:
(1) Lakers vs. (8) Blazers
(2) Clippers vs. (7) Mavericks
(3) Nuggets vs. (6) Jazz
(4) Rockets vs. (5) Thunder
Looking at this by series, maybe most appropriate to start with the reigning champion Raptors …
While the near-sighted view might put the Nuggets and Thunder into the category of “most pleasant surprise”, that prize goes to the Raptors who have been doing it all season long. And while the Thunder might be coming together team-wise at the right time, it’s the Raptors that have been there since the beginning of the season. The roles are well defined. Everyone plays defense on every play, and the switching and paint protection is as swift and accurate as any team in the playoffs. Their best player (Siakem) is an unselfish passing and rebounding scorer/defender who allows other players (all scorers) to touch the ball often enough to make the right decision quickly. A la Warriors and the Spurs before them, no coincidence there. It’s turned Van Vleet into one of the leagues most feared point-per-minute scorers, it’s brought Anunoby into the spotlight as a #1 or #2 option offensively and has resurrected Ibaka’s offensive abilities turning him into a threat and matchup problem for any team when he’s shooting it well. They don’t have Giannis but they do have the better team than the Bucks. They might be even better than last year’s team headed into the playoffs. There shouldn’t be any surprises when they sweep the Nets in the first round. The Nets might win one game, but it won’t be without a lot of raised eyebrows. They’ll need to shut down Toronto’s offense which seems near impossible.
Elsewhere, the Blazers face the Lakers in round 1 …
Portland may be the team that benefited the most with the long break in the season. With year-long injuries to Nurkic and Collins, their front court took a big hit for much of the season. On the season, Portland scored 115.1 ppg and gave up 116.2 ppg. In the bubble and with Nurkic and Collins healthy though, Portland’s offense took off, scoring more than 120 ppg in all but two games. Of course Dame was brilliant. Defensively, however, Portland is still giving up a lot of points. It appears it will take their defense longer to coalesce, but with a first round match-up against the Lakers, there may not be enough time for that to happen.
On the Lakers side, the long layoff may have been a blessing in disguise. LBJ and AD both averaged more than 34 mpg on the season. Now rested for the playoffs and any nagging injuries healed up, they should be ready to go. They have some question marks though. Avery Bradley opted out of the restart and Rajon Rondo is injured and out for the rest of the season. Both were key contributors to one of the best defenses in the league. The Lake Show went 3-5 in the bubble, but they had little to play for once they wrapped up the top seed early. Still, their defense in the bubble was not nearly as good. They should still get past Portland, but this could be a problem the deeper they go in the playoffs.
I expect to see Dame Dollar go off against the Lakers in this series, but it won’t be enough. Nurkic looked good in his return, but facing off against AD will be a bigger challenge. LBJ and AD will likely have to play a lot of minutes, because they are not deep. I see the Lakers winning the series 4-2.
Looking at #1 vs. #8 in the East, Bucks vs. Magic…
The Magic had one of the best defenses in the league, giving up just 108.3 ppg. The problem is that they scored just 107.3 ppg. Orlando lost SF Jonathan Isaac to an ACL tear during a bubble game. He was probably the best defender on the team and had a team-leading 1.6 spg and 2.3 bpg. That will put a crimp in their defense, which hurts big time when going up against the best offense in the league. Vucevic and Fournier lead the offense, but Aaron Gordon seemed to take a small step back with his shooting.
The Bucks went 3-5 in the bubble, but like the Lakers, they had nothing to play for with the #1 seed wrapped up early. They had the best scoring offense in the league and a top 10 defense, resulting in a league best 10 point scoring margin. There is pretty much no stopping the Freak in the paint, so as long as the distance shooting from Middleton, Bledsoe, Matthews, Korver, and Hill stays true to form, they’ll be hard to stop. The Bucks enter the playoffs at full strength.
If this was a normal season, I might give the Magic a chance to win one game at home. Even though all the games are in Orlando, they won’t have a home crowd cheering them on. I see the Bucks mopping the floor with the Magic and winning the series 4-0.
Moving on to the second match-up in the West, #2 Clippers vs. #7 Mavericks.
The Mavericks played poorly in the bubble (3-5 record), except for Luka of course. Luka averaged 30 ppg, 10 rpg, and 9.7 apg despite playing just 13 minutes in the final bubble game. However, outside of Luka and Porzingis, the Mavs don’t get consistent games from anyone else. Against a deep team like the Clippers, they probably don’t stand much chance.
The Clippers only went 4-4 in the bubble, but they didn’t have much to play for with their spot locked up early enough. They also had various players miss games because of quarantine, minor injuries, or rest. Kawhi & PG are one of the top duos in the league, perhaps better than LBJ/AD because of how well they play defense. Kawhi is also the very definition of clutch. Consider the bubble to just be a warm-up for the Clips with the real thing to begin in the playoffs.
The Mavs don’t have enough depth to compete with the Clippers. The Clips may be missing a few players for the first game or two, so I can see the Mavs winning a game or two, but that is as far as it gets. Figure the Clippers to win the series 4 games to 1.
While the Clippers might be the most talent-laden team, the Nuggets aren’t too far behind them. More importantly, the amount of fresh talent coming off the bench allows the Nuggets to maintain their frenetic offensive pace while giving both Jokic and Murray time to rest. And now with Michael Porter Jr. rising to the level of a superstar, both Jokic and Murray should have more room to operate in order to do what the Nuggets do as well as any team: get high percentage shots while forcing defenses away from their game plan(s). But this is the Jokic show regardless – he looks nimble and energetic after the 25 lb weight loss and conditioning. For the first time in his career Jokic appears driven to perform at the highest level, and that means faster footwork that was already the best in the league. Expect the Nuggets to create matchup nightmares for all teams they face – opponents will likely be getting in foul trouble early and often starting with their first round opponent in the Jazz. It’ll be interesting to see how the refs call the contact down low in this series, as Gobert is not only the best in the business protecting the paint he’s also been the beneficiary of many-an-unblown whistle in 2019-2020.
However, as odd as it may seem, if the Nuggets face the Clippers in the second round they’ll be outmanned. Even if Jokic abuses (or just neutralizes) Harrell for most of the series, it will likely come at the expense of fast break opportunities for Kawhi and company who, better than any other team, dictate ball movement and pace at both ends of the court. Regardless, that series if it happens won’t likely be about shot selection or even foul trouble but rather FG%. Maybe that seems obvious, but with both teams able to get their shots and defend extremely well on average, that series (if it happens) may simply come down to which team has more guys hitting their well-selected shots.
The Rockets open up against the Thunder. While Harden wouldn’t surprise anyone by getting straight back to his MVP form, that’s not going to be what decides the series. Before the recent injury to Westbrook (quad) the Thunder was already playing at a higher level at both ends, and with Chris Paul’s squad coming together in all ways at both ends this isn’t the matchup D’Antoni wants in the first round. The first game of the series will be revealing, as it shouldn’t be close with Houston having no way to replace the impact of a sitting Westbrook. Against almost any other team the Rockets could be expected to compete on scrap and energy alone, but that’s also where the Thunder lives. Unless Westbrook can return in the second and third games to play big minutes at his usual off-the-charts level, the Thunder will likely win the series because of the poise and teamwork they’ve displayed and improved upon all season long.
The 3-6 matchup in the East was supposed to be a good one. The Celtics and the 76ers were both conference semifinalists last year, both have fairly young squads that could be expected to improve this year and both brought in new studs–Al Horford in Philly and Kemba Walker in Boston. This series should have been a great rumble. Then it fell apart for the Sixers. Budding superstar Ben Simmons went down with a knee injury and is out for the season. Superstud Joel Embiid has been battling nagging ankle and hand injuries. They managed a 4-4 record in the bubble, but 3 of the wins were against non-playoff teams and the 4th was against a Westbrook-less Rockets team that also wasn’t letting any starter play more than 24 minutes in the final bubble game. Against teams fighting for the playoffs or playoff-bound, the Sixers couldn’t manage a win. The loss of Simmons will be virtually impossible to overcome.
On the Celtics side, they went 5-3 in the bubble and one of those losses was in the last game when they rested all their starters. Those starters form one of the best starting groups in the league. They’ve got 3 starters averaging better than 20 ppg, 3 averaging better than 4 apg, 3 averaging better than 6 rpg, and 3 averaging better than 1 spg. Jayson Tatum made a big jump toward superstar status this year and is still just 21 years old. Jaylen Brown did too and he’s just 23 years old. Gordon Hayward finally got healthy after two lost years and started to look like himself again. Kemba Walker replacing Kyrie Irving at PG looked like a much better team fit. When you get past the starters though, the Celtics don’t have a great bench. They also lack a solid inside presence. If Embiid is healthy enough, he should have big games against the Celtics. It won’t be enough though. No Simmons makes this an easy series for the Celts. We’ll give the Sixers one game. Boston likely to prevail 4 games to 1.
Finally, we come to the Pacers and Heat, the 4 and 5 seeds in the East. Coincidentally, they played each other in the final bubble game with the seeding up in the air and…neither team cared. Both teams rested their stars and the Pacers scrubs beat the Heat scrubs for the 4th seed. Unfortunately–for the Pacers–they played each other two games earlier at full strength and the Heat pasted the Pacers by 22 points. The Pacers are hamstrung with Sabonis’ injury and it is unclear if and when he might be back. He averaged almost twice as many rebounds as anybody else on the team. That will be hard to replace. And while the long layoff gave Oladipo additional time to heal, he still doesn’t look like he is completely back. The Pacers are deep though, going nine deep of players averaging 20+ minutes per game and 7 of them being double-digit scorers.
As deep as the Pacers are, the Heat are even deeper. 10 players average 20+ minutes per game with 8 of them going off for double digits in scoring. Then there’s the Jimmy “I don’t suffer fools” Butler factor. It appears that Butler found a team this year that were all on the same championship mentality page, unlike last year’s 76ers. Pat Riley/Eric Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler are a good fit of player to management. Butler appears to have brought out the best from Bam Adebayo, turning him from a bench player to an All-Star. There’s just no way that Butler doesn’t get out of the 1st round. The Heat are a dark horse in the East and won’t have a problem with a Sabonis-less Pacers. At best, the Pacers win 2 games in this series.
183 thoughts on “The 2020 NBA Playoffs ”
Interesting stat from Nuggets/Jazz #1: Gobert 5PF, Jokic 2PF
Time and again Jokic went down low vs. Gobert and every time Jokic opted for the 3-4 foot fade away instead of using his positional advantage to force Gobert into body contact. From what I can tell, this may be the only thing missing from Jokic’s game. I don’t know how you can stop him once he figures out how to just lean in ever so slightly – if he draws contact it won’t matter if Gobert blocks his shot or not as the foul would come first.
Maybe it’s just a matter of Jokic learning that refs will favor him once he starts to dominate down low. From what I saw today it’s just a matter of time before he gets all those same calls that Embiid gets.
I wrote the Celtics-76ers preview before seeing how game 1 of that Series turned out. Pretty much as I expected. Embiid had a big game, but Celtics have too many weapons. Without Simmons, it looks like the Sixers were running their offense through their forwards. Harris had 8 assists and Horford had 6 assists. Nobody else with more than 3. Tatum had a monster game…32 points and 13 rebounds. Celtics squad is much more complete.
Should probably mention here that, after an initial spate of positive tests as players entered the Orlando bubble, the NBA has had zero positive COVID-19 tests. Seems like their bubble plan is working, unlike baseball’s non-bubble plan, which has caused numerous postponed games already. I wasn’t confident earlier that the NBA would make it to the Finals, but now I am.
So, Trump was elected largely because he ran on the platform of “I’m a businessman and I know how to get things done” or whatever. Fine, but if that’s such an appealing platform to so many Americans, how well would Adam Silver do at the polls (and/or post office)? The guy has the ENTIRE skillset needed to get the job done. Whatever that is, but at least he’d understand the whole govt “for the people, by the people” thing. Yeah. That would be one massive difference at least. What a frickin stud.
Adam Silver for President!
WTF just happened? I did not foresee the Bucks losing a game to the Magic, but Orlando pulled off the game 1 upset. The Freak seemingly had a big game by the numbers, but was held scoreless over the last 11 minutes. Milwaukee had a poor shooting night, including just 64% from the charity stripe. The Magic definitely concentrated on stopping Giannis and the rest of the team failed to pick him up. The Bucks will need a better effort by all of they want to go far in these playoffs.
They did???? I haven’t glanced at the NBA all day, but assumed the big surprise was a half time OKC deficit. WOW. That’s completely messed up.
Two #1 seeds go down in Game 1s. I’m less surprised by Portland upsetting the Lakers. Los Angeles got big games from LBJ and AD, but little else. They will lose the series if they continue to shoot 15% from the 3pt line and 65% from the FTline. And they don’t have a defender that can guard Dame. Carmelo had a double-double. Who knew?
I could try and break down Nuggets/Jazz part deux, but it would just be stats. More important than stats though: the confidence and poise and precision on both ends by Utah. Didn’t see that coming!!
They play like I’m expecting Denver to play. They looked like the Raptors today, with all the pieces working together and attacking on both ends. They’ll need to do it again and then again after that, and I don’t see why they can’t. Today they were as good as any team I’ve seen all year.
Looks like both the Lakers and Bucks were embarrassed by their Game 1 efforts. Bucks came out strong and led by over 20 at half-time and won their game by 15. Lakers are leading right now by 30 points early in the 4th quarter. Nonetheless, looks like Middleton had another poor game. He needs to right himself for the Bucks to have a chance.
Forgot to mention that Dame suffered a dislocated finger (left index finger) in the game. I doubt it will keep him out, but we’ll see if it affects his play. They will probably tape his index and middle fingers together. I believe he shoots right-handed, so probably won’t affect his shooting much, but it could affect some of his ball-handling.
The NBA draft lottery was tonight. Results are:
1. Minnesota Timberwolves
2. Golden State Warriors
3. Charlotte Hornets
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Cleveland Cavaliers
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Detroit Pistons
8. New York Knicks
9. Washington Wizards
10. Phoenix Suns
11. San Antonio Spurs
12. Sacramento Kings
13. New Orleans Pelicans
14. Boston Celtics (via Memphis Grizzlies)
As a Warriors fan, I’m happy with their spot. If Wiseman is their top guy, he probably won’t get drafted by the T-Wolves who already have Towns at the center spot. Guessing the T-Wolves will go with Georgia’s Edwards. I’m good with Wiseman or Obi Toppin for the Dubs.
I agree regarding Dubs likely selections, and I think Wolves pick Edwards especially since there’s no reason to go with Wiseman. However, I keep hearing about Deni Avdija. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if, provided the Warriors don’t trade the pick, they select Avdija for his strength on the maturity-talent metric scale.
I’m going to divide this into two comments. First is whether the Warriors should pick Wiseman or Toppin.
Wiseman is a classic big man. 7’1″ with a huge wingspan. He is not an outside shooter. In the three college games he played, he attempted one 3-pointer (missed it), but went 20-25 from 2-pt range, likely mostly in the paint. He also gobbled up 10.7 rpg and swatted 3 bpg. He is very agile and moves up and down the court well.
Toppin runs the court very well and shoots really well (39% from 3-pt range last season). He is not great defensively, but is not bad either. Last season, he averaged 7.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 1 spg, and a measly 2.2 apg.
Toppin probably fits the up and down the court shooting style of the Warriors better, but plays the same position as Draymond. While the Warriors could employ Toppin and Green together in a small-ball offense, that will compromise them defensively. Wiseman isn’t a shooter, but he a good defender and a great rim protector. He also runs the court well. In terms of what the Warriors need right now, I think they’ve got enough shooting between Steph, Klay and Wiggins. The defensive improvement and size that Wiseman offers probably makes him the better choice for the Warriors.
So the second part of this is whether the Warriors should trade the pick. Woj was reporting today that the Warriors really want to trade the pick and there was a lot of speculation today as to who the Warriors could. Remember besides this year’s 2nd overall pick, the Dubs own the Timberwolves 2021 first round pick, which is only top-3 protected. So in any trade conversation, they’ve got two really good first round draft picks that they could offer.
Obviously, if the Warriors can turn these picks and some combination of players (not including Steph or Klay) into the Greek Freak or Embiid, they should jump all over that. I have a feeling that the Bucks will be unwilling to do that unless Giannis forces their hand and says he will be leaving in free agency after next season. Same goes for the Sixers and Embiid. So assuming they aren’t getting the Freak or Joel, who would be worth trading the pick(s) for?
What the Warriors need is interior defense. They, of course, love great shooters. Bradley Beal is often rumored to be up for grabs, but he is only 6’3″ and won’t help the Warriors defensively. I think I’d rather live with Wiggins and his extra five inches of height. The Pacers could make Myles Turner available with the emergence of Sabonis. Turner is a good shooter and a very good interior defender. He might be a decent fit, but I’m not going overboard with my trade offer for him. The Magic may decide that Vucevic isn’t necessary any longer, but while he is a really good shooter, he leaves a lot to be desired as an interior defender.
Ultimately, where I come down is that the Dubs should not trade the pick unless they can get the Freak or Embiid. Instead, they should pick Wiseman and then look to beef up the roster elsewhere. They’ve got a $17 million trade exception, so they can trade someone lesser on the roster and take back an extra $17 million in the deal without having a cap problem. They will also have a mid-level exception to offer some veteran player who may be ring-hunting. Would someone like Ibaka or Marc Gasol come in for the mid-level? They already got rings last year, so maybe not if they can get bigger deals elsewhere. Kent Bazemore or Robin Lopez might be good fits at the mid-level.
What it comes down to is that the Dubs have the ability to beef up the squad with the trade and mid-level exceptions, so keep the pick instead of trading it. They can use this year’s pick and next year’s T-Wolves pick to set themselves up nicely for the future.
My take goes like this: Warriors will trade the pick + assets but not for a superstar. Instead, they’ll be forced to respond to the deluge of offers coming from young teams trying to cement their cores. Case in point are the Suns who have a strong need for several players that could go at the #2 spot. And the Suns have the #10 pick as well. Who do the Suns have that the Warriors want? Easy: Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges, either of which could fit right in and be ready to play the Dubs style. The Kings have the #12 pick and Buddy Hield that could be turned into Wiseman who would fit well there. OKC … how do the Dubs snatch up Steven Adams. Miami has several guys that would flourish in SF, and Riley may see a guy (Advija?) who could be the ideal complement to Butler. Imagine Dragic and Herro playing on the Dubs next year. New Orleans will want to re-organize with all that talent, and maybe it starts with Wiseman at the 5. Chicago seems ready to take the next big step forward and they have the #4 pick which could easily be turned into that #2 with a minor trade in a win-win with the Dubs.
The point isn’t to pick apart the likelihood of each idea above, but rather the need all these younger teams have for that one piece they want at the #2 spot. I think the pressure will be too high and the available players too good for the Warriors to pass up. And then there’s this possibility: the Warriors may very well like a player in this draft who won’t go at #2 no matter what. Again, Advija probably fits right in and can hit the ground running better than any other player going in the top #10.
I forgot to mention the Nuggets who have both the need and the assets to trade for that pick. Obvious players involved would be some combination of Bol Bol, Morris, Craig, Plumlee. I’m guessing that Nuggs will want to keep the core of Jokic, MPJ, Murray, Grant. Or they may choose to shop Murray who, I assum, will be too pricey for takers.
It’s occurring to me that what works for the Warriors most is a guy to defend Jokic, Davis, Nurkic, Gasol, Lopez, Ayton, Adams, etc. Or if not defend, maybe just wear them out like Bogut did on occasion.
What the Warriors probably need is Marc Gasol. A passing and smart and somewhat mobile big man. I really doubt that’s Wiseman. Just looking at that list above at a glance … Gasol and Adams seem most likely as I think both Raptors and Thunder would be interested in Wiseman.
Gasol will be a free agent. I don’t know what the interest will be in a 35-year-old free agent center, but perhaps he’d be interested in the Dubs mid-level exception. Adams will make $27 million next year, so the Thunder will have to take at least $10 million salary back to make the deal work with the Dubs’ trade exception. That’s hard to do with the Warriors, because after Steph, Klay, Dray, and Wiggins, everyone else is making peanuts.
I agree that a strong net defender is the Warriors biggest need. In their championship years, that job was filled with Bogut and then McGee. I think Wiseman could be that interior defender, but it may take a few years for him to get there.
While I could see the Warriors trading the #2 pick for a player and some other team’s lottery pick, they are not going to get a superstar that way, while the pick could turn into a superstar and will be salary controlled for a number of years. However, if the Warriors can drop back 3-4 spots, get some kind of useful but not too expensive player and still get a Toppin or Avdija, I wouldn’t be unhappy.
I need to look more closely at the 35 year old version of Gasol. I haven’t watched Raptors enough lately. It’s possible he could have a big impact. Now would he be worth the gamble injury wise? Let’s say the #2 goes to the Raptors, and they decide the best complement to Siakam is LaMelo (for instance). How much is LaMelo worth to them? Gasol and what else?
Gasol fits extremely well if healthy. Doesn’t even matter if he’s slower or if he plays 18 minutes a game in the 2021 playoffs. However, who else makes it worth it for the Dubs?
I get that Gasol is a FA by the way. But I assume they’ll sign n trade and that he’ll trust them to get it done right.
Just occurred to me that I’ve never said this before:
There are at least 9 NBA teams that can win the title this year: Bucks, Raptors, Celtics, Lakers, Clippers, Denver, Utah, Houston, Mavs
What amazes me most is the very good Celtics and Mavs teams are probably the ‘worst’ of the bunch. And then that the Heat might be just as good as any of these teams.
Nuts.
Agreed. It is pretty wide open this year. I’m not sure how to handicap this.
Wow! The Jazz just destroyed the Nuggets today. I guess that’s what happens when you shoot over 50% overall (while holding your opponent to 37.5% shooting) and nearly 50% from 3-pt range. The Nuggets only played Porter for 15 minutes. He wasn’t in foul trouble, so not sure what was going on there. I guess Malone wasn’t liking what he saw from Porter. This makes two straight very convincing wins for the Jazz. Not looking good for the Nuggets.
Toronto also dusted off the Nets for the 3rd straight game. No surprise there.
With no Demo convention tonight, I actually watched a couple of playoff games.
The Sixers played better defensively tonight, but still couldn’t overcome the Celtics because they couldn’t shoot for shit (just under 30% shooting overall). Embiid went for 30 points, but almost half of that was from the FT line. He was 7 for 20 from the floor. The Celts didn’t shoot a whole lot better, just 41% overall, but everytime the 76ers pulled close, Kemba or Jaylen Brown would take over and put them back up by a couple of buckets. With the 3-0 lead for the Celtics, this series is basically over, though I won’t be surprised to see the Sixers pull out a win in the next game.
Kawhi was Kawhi tonight for the Clips. 36 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and a block Paul George couldn’t shoot tonight, but still chipped in 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. But it was a total team effort and it was clear from the start that they were out for blood. They played physical and it seemed to wear the Mavs down. Bad news for the Mavs as Luka rolled his ankle in the 2nd half. He spent some time in the locker room, tried to come back later and couldn’t. I’m not sure he will play again in the series and, even if he does, he may not be his full explosive self.
Didn’t see Bucks-Magic game 3, but it looks like the Bucks were closer to being back to normal. The Freak had a huge game and Middleton shot a little bit better, though still not as good as he could be. The Bucks starters dominated the Magic starters building a big lead by the end of the 3rd quarter. A couple of guys off the Magic bench did well against the Bucks’ bench in the 4th, but the game was out of reach.
I did watch the Heat-Pacers game. Though the Pacers played well, especially Brogdon, the Heat are just a well-oiled machine. Butler wasn’t shooting very well, so he kept attacking the basket and getting to the FT line. And while Butler is the clear offensive emphasis, when Duncan Robinson got hot, Butler didn’t demand the ball and instead worked as a decoy while the team kept feeding Robinson for awhile. I also didn’t realize how well the Heat run the Princeton back-cut offense. The Pacers are technically the higher seed in this match-up, but it feels like the other way around. Miami is now up 3-0 and the series is basically over.
Rockets-Thunder last night was a battle of poor shooting. Harden takes a lot of bad shots (12 of 27 overall, 3 of 13 from 3), but gets so many foul calls that he still racked up 38 points. Eric Gordon shot just as poorly. But for Jeff Green shooting decently off the bench, the Thunder would have won this game in regulation. As it was, the Rockets blew a late lead as Chris Paul went off late in the game and OT. To be fair, the Rockets lost Harden when he fouled out early in the OT (Thunder lost Stephen Adams in the 4th because of a knee contusion), but Paul dominated and made some incredible 3s. Although the Thunder won this game, you gotta figure that the Rockets won’t shoot at 41% rate every game.
In the late game, neither the Lakers or the Trail Blazers looked like they could play defense. Time and time again, players on both squads drove the lane for easy lay-ups. On a guard-dominated team like Portland, it perhaps is not too surprising that the interior defense is suspect. However, the Laker front line is LBJ, AD, and McGee. With that kind of height and length, their interior defense should be better. Portland looked like the better team in the 1st half, but the Lakers dominated coming out of half-time. Carmelo Anthony and the always great Dame Lillard led a comeback in the 4th, but it petered out in the end. In particular, Nurkic, who played 35 minutes, looked absolutely gassed in the 4th quarter. Portland will hate themselves for this game, because it was in their grasp at times.
Some quick hits on today’s games:
Celts-76ers: didn’t see the game, but not as I predicted, the 76ers weren’t the same without Simmons. Really not surprised that the Celtics swept the series. Gotta wonder with the Sixers’ repeated playoff failures if they will move on from Brett Brown or break up the Embiid/Simmons duo.
Raptors-Nets: didn’t see this game either, but as you predicted, this was an easy sweep for the Raptors. They threw down 150 points in this one with much of it coming from bench players who got a lot of playing time because of the huge lead.
Clippers-Mavericks: Luka, just WOW. Playing on a bad ankle and with Porzingis sitting out with an injury, he goes off for 43 pts, 13 assists, and 17 rebounds and the absolutely killer 30-ft trey to win the game in OT. I was so wrong about this series. I thought the Clips would win it handily. Now the series is tied at 2 and with Paul George playing poorly, anything could happen.
Nuggets-Jazz: best game of the day. Back and forth battle with Murray and Mitchell trading 50-pt games. One tiny thing I noticed in the game. Porter was taking a 3 at some point and a Jazz defender jumped at him to defend it. Porter flinched to avoid contact and missed the shot. Probably just inexperience. Should have stayed true to the shot and taken the contact. Probably would have gotten 3 FTs out of it. With the Jazz up 3-1, it ain’t looking good for the Nuggets.
Since the Nuggets woes are old news now, and none of us should be surprised by Luka (and yet he keeps surprising!), the most important thing I got from yesterday is more poor play from Paul George. A great example of the best laid plans of mice and men going awry. He and Kawhi looked excellent together just two weeks ago – it all looked like it was going to work. And yet now a significant question is “will George continue to be a liability on the offensive end?” – it seems so clear that if you took his 45 minutes away and re-distributed them among 4-5 players that would have been a win rather than a loss.
Meanwhile, even if George comes back strong the Mavs are going to be a tough out playing with this amount of confidence and knowing they don’t need their home court fans. From what I heard, Burke has been a stud lately and as mentioned Porzingas will be back soon most likely. It’s an amazing story for a team going up AGAINST Kawhi who has been the story line these past 2-3 years.
Hon. mention goes to Mitchell yesterday. I didn’t see the game, but that stat line is dangerously solid. 17-18 FT for him alone. And while I still expect the Clippers to win their series in 7, I’m also preparing for a Donovan-Luka matchup. Intriguing!
Well there goes the first shoe to drop. The Sixers have fired Brett Brown and may make changes in their front-office structure, though Elton Brand’s job is safe. Early thoughts on a potential replacement for Brown include Ty Lue and Villanova coach Jay Wright.
The second shoe to drop…the Pacers have fired Nate McMillan. I’m a little surprised by this one. I thought McMillan had the team performing better than their talent, but I guess two straight years of a first round playoff sweep loss was too much to overcome.
Didn’t watch yesterday’s game, but a few thoughts based on highlights and boxscores:
Bucks-Magic: The first game blip looks long gone now. Bucks have series under control now. Another huge game from the Freak, but more importantly for their future in these playoffs, they also got a good game from Middleton.
Heat-Pacers: I didn’t expect the Heat to roll over the Pacers like they did, but they swept the Pacers out the door. Impressively, they did so with little contribution from Jimmy Butler, who only played 23 minutes and scored just 6 points because of a shoulder strain. Heat vs Bucks should make for a good East semi-finals series.
Rockets-Thunder: Thunder evened the series up as sub Dennis Schroder went off for 30 points. Looks like the Rockets didn’t play poorly. They shot nearly 40% from the 3-pt line (on 58 attempts!). It appears the difference was that the Thunder got to the FT line 28 times, while the Rockets only got there 10 times. Harden only took 5 FTs, so I’m guessing the officiating crew wasn’t falling for his usual foul-baiting.
Lakers-Blazers: Like the Bucks, it appears the Lakers have gotten beyond their first game blip. LBJ was his usual brilliant self. On the Blazers end, Dame had to leave with a knee injury in the 3rd quarter. Guessing the Lakers close out the series in the next game.
I’m glad the Lakers are getting it together. If neither of the LA teams gets to the WCF there’s going to be an asterisk on this season blaming it on covid. This way at least Lakers won’t have the excuse of being rusty or some such thing.
Assuming the Rockets get by the Thunder (no sure thing), Rockets vs. Lakers will be an interesting conference semi-final match-up. The Rockets do their small ball thing, while the Lakers have a big front line (LBJ, AD, McGee, Kuzma, & Howard) with lots of length. Which will work best against the other?
Back to the Warriors draft decisions … they’re so good with player development and have brought Dray along in the point forward role … is there a place for Ben Simmons on the Warriors? Dray would probably need to go though. Maybe that’s messing with things too much.
Simmons is a tough call where the Warriors are concerned. Obviously, his passing and defense would work well with the Dubs, but his poor shooting creates problems for a team whose offense is geared around all the wings being able to shoot from anywhere. Even Green can nail the occasional 3-pointer. With Simmons, opposing defenses can lay off of him anytime Simmons is behind the arc. I really don’t think Simmons (or Embiid) are going anywhere. I think the Sixers would like to see if a new coach can build around them first before they move on from either.
Interesting response, as I’d guess there might be a lot of reasons for not “swapping” Simmons for Green but never occurred to me that shooting would be atop the list. Especially since there have been signs that Simmons shot is improving and he looked pretty good in stretches this past year. Surprisingly, Simmons 3FG% was actually better than Drays for 2019-2020. Didn’t know that!
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=Draymond+Green&player_id1_select=Draymond+Green&player_id1=greendr01&p1yrfrom=2020&player_id2_hint=Ben+Simmons&player_id2_select=Ben+Simmons&player_id2=simmobe01&p2yrfrom=2020
FT% on the other hand … atrocious
Pretty much across the board, Simmons had better numbers than Draymond this year, except at the FT line as you noted. To be fair to Draymond, Simmons took 7 total 3-pt attempts this year against 129 attempted by Dray. For that matter, Dray’s numbers have been declining overall for several years, which is why I don’t consider him untouchable in trades.
If we’re talking about a Simmons-Green swap, I might consider it, though I doubt the 76ers would. What gives me a little pause is Simmons’ unwillingness to shoot the long ball, which affects his ability to get better at it and I’m unsure if Simmons brings the same toughness to the team that Draymond does. But Simmons is 6 years younger and his numbers project upwards. So I would definitely consider the swap.
I shouldn’t have used the word “swap”. Definitely did not mean Dray to the Sixers – that wouldn’t make sense. As always, I mention trades or player changes in the sense David Griffin means them: all teams that know what they are doing are constantly talking and considering all possibilities. In this case that means Warriors would be considering some other home for Dray if they were having discussions with the Sixers about Simmons.
I see the NBA has started giving out regular season awards. Nick Nurse as Coach of the Year is hardly a surprise. The Raptors lost Kawhi and still finished with the 2nd best record in the league. Siakam looks like a budding superstar and VanVleet looks like a stud.
Today, Giannis was named Defensive Player of the Year. He easily had the best defensive rating in the league, so no surprise with the pick. He should win MVP as well.
Watched bits and pieces of tonight’s games.
Nuggets-Jazz: At the end of the 3rd quarter with the Jazz up by 4, it was beginning to look like the Nuggets would be embarrassed in these playoffs. With about 3 and a half minutes left, it was a back and forth game that was tied at 101. Then Jamal Murray happened. In the space of two minutes, he scored 9 straight points putting the Nuggets up 110-101 and the game was effectively over. Murray finished with 42 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. The Nuggets live to see another day, but still have to win two more to escape the first round.
Clippers-Mavericks: There’s been a Paul George sighting! After three straight games of terrible shooting, PG finally found his touch. He went off on 12 of 18 shooting (4 of 8 from the arc) for 35 points. Kawhi kicked in 32 points as well. It seems the Clips have had enough their poor play against the Mavs and were on a mission tonight. A 19-point 1st quarter lead expanded to a 43-point lead by game’s end. Luka had a less than spectacular game, which still would be good for other players, but was not up to the standard that we now expect of him. He was also missing Porzingis again tonight. I’m betting on the Clippers closing out the Mavs in the next game.
It’s being reported today that Paul George hasn’t been dealing with the bubble isolation well and has had anxiety and depression. He said he was mentally checked out of Games 2-3-4 of the Mavs series. He credited teammates and team officials were helping him deal with it. This may be something that isn’t being talked about enough. Remember that no family was allowed in the bubble with the players until after the 1st round. So it’s been about a month now that players have been away from their families. I wonder how much this has affected some players.
My first thought after reading goes back to when George was being pursued by the Lakers. It was reported to be really important to him to have fishing available. That completely made sense to me if he likes fishing! Different, but not weird. I know a few people who like to fish, and I’m certain that for some of them it’s a kind of therapy.
I’m all for whatever PG needs. Silver should be helping to figure this out, and I’m guessing he is doing just that (in all his spare time:-)
The Bucks have decided not to play tonight’s Game 5 playoff game against the Magic to protest what has happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin these past few days (police murdering black man and then white teen murdering two people protesting the first murder). I’m unclear what will happen here, i.e.,will they forfeit or will the game be rescheduled for another day. I’m guessing the latter (Raptors and Celtics also considering boycotting their game tonight). In fact, I’ll be surprised if there are any games tonight. However, not sure how long this refusal to play games will go on.
Also wondering if these Wisconsin murders of a black man by police and murders of BLM activists by a white teen (whom police originally allowed to leave state before having him arrested today) might be a reason for Antetokounmpo to tell the Bucks to get him out of there and to a place where black men aren’t as big a target.
Doc Rivers last night talking about the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha was really powerful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahPuQSsiagw
He starts talking about it at the 2:30 mark.
There was a players-only meeting inside the bubble tonight. Apparently each team voted on whether they wanted to continue the season. Every team, including the Bucks, voted to continue, except for the Lakers and Clippers, both of which voted to end the season. LeBron reportedly walked out of the meeting at some point. There is supposed to be another players-only meeting tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. All of tomorrow’s playoffs games are expected to be postponed. At this point, things are really up in the air. Would the Lakers and Clippers really stop playing if the other teams all continue? Will the Lakers and Clippers decide to keep playing since all the other teams wish to do so? What happens if there is another police shooting of a black man before the playoffs are over? If the playoffs continue, will some players nonetheless decide to opt out now? Suddenly, I’m not so certain that the season will finish.
Here’s the video of Kenny Smith walking off set that we talked about yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n79AJupR96Y
After Kenny left the set, Inside the NBA brought on Chris Webber and Stan Van Gundy to talk about the situation. Chris Webber’s comments at the beginning are really powerful and the rest of the discussion is good too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JUuOW_sUM8
The WNBA canceled yesterday’s games in solidarity with the NBA, but before that happened, the Washington Mystics made a provocative and powerful statement by showing up in t-shirts that spelled out Jacob Blake’s name on the front and seven holes in the back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYjwVXsxXP4
thanks!
I’m certain it will continue, or rather I’d put the chances at 98% plus.
James is so powerful here … thinking ahead. Impressive in my opinion, but if it was to happen he’ll have tremendous pressure to actually DO SOMETHING. He really hasn’t done anything at all in support of CVD safety awareness (eg helping to facilitate testing), and if he’s done something wrt BLM awareness or helped to make changes I’m not aware of it.
Time for him to put his millions where his mouth is. If he’s going to have influence on canceling the season he needs to get busy IMO.
James is doing something. He has started a voting rights campaign, called More Than A Vote, to make sure that typically disenfranchised voters across the country are able to vote. His campaign worked with the Los Angeles Dodgers to make Dodgers Stadium a polling place (where it will be easy to socially distance while voting). He has repeatedly made statements on social media in support of BLM or against police violence against black people. While the voting rights campaign is not directly tied to COVID-19 safety or BLM awareness, he understands that until we vote out the current administration, nothing will change. So he has taken action to make sure that happens.
Thanks Arnold. I wasn’t aware, and am not sure why there isn’t a large group of athletes pooling resources and contacts. Sounds like it’s a good start, but honestly not close to what I would have done or tried to do if I was him.
Sorry A. These replies are getting associated with the wrong comments. No idea why.
Raptors down 17 at the half? Completely unexpected. How they respond in the second half will be critical. Wow.
Looks like the Celtics figured out how to keep Siakam in check. Not just that they held him to 13 points, but they kept him off the boards as well as he only had 3 rebounds. Where the Celtics excel is that they have a very balanced attack. Points, rebounds, and assists all spread out among many players. They are not very deep though, so they will have trouble with deeper teams. I suspect that they will beat the Raptors though.
Man, what can you say about Jamal Murray. Another 50 point game. Nuggets live to see another day, though they don’t have a good record in game 7s.
Not surprising to see the Clips close out the Mavs. Once Porzingis got hurt, the series was over, despite Luka’s best heroics.
I did note that Murray was a different player this season pre-covid. And was expecting him to get back to that, but he disappointed. Or rather took his own sweet time coming back from whatever injury he had. I’ll never call him a good complement to Jokic, but who cares. It’s about the final scores of games and he’s clearly the man right now. Very much Harden like in that way. And exactly what Siakam needs to become by just taking-the-fuck-over.
So many different teams that have “that” guy with that kind of potential. Sure seems like the champ will come down to which one is most dominant …
Kawhi
Murray
Giannis
Harden
LeBron
Mitchell
Siakam
Tatum
I have a hard time believing Celtics win the series though, because I’m almost certain Siakam has some big games coming up *and* “VanVleet and the Fleet” won’t settle for another loss like that (yeah, I just made that one up. I know … ughh). Just way too many guys that can make things happen on both ends. I’ll put another bet down that they make the finals. You takin that bet? dinner??
You’re saying the Raptors will make the finals over the Celtics, Bucks & Heat? That is very tempting. Let me stew on it a little.
Oh Yeah.
come on now. 1 game down and let the record show that you picked Celtics for that series.
I take Raptors vs the West.
Game 2 Celts/Raps starts at 2:30. You have until then to accept – bet is off afterwards.
Raptors vs. the West? I think you mean the Raptors vs. the East. I assumed the bet would be off once Game 2 started and yes, I will take that bet. I think the Celtics will beat the Raptors, but would not have bet on that series alone. I don’t think the Raptors can get by both the Celtics and the Bucks/Heat winner.
Either way depending how you look at it. My bet is that for the 2020 title it will be Raptors vs. the West after they finish off the East.
OK, so … you’re on!
Oh. I see … there’s some ambiguity there. “I’ll take Raptors vs. the West” to be the bet, as in it will be Raptors in the finals. I won’t be betting on the eventual champion. At least 5 teams can come out of the West.
4
Which 4 of the 5? I’m assuming Lakers, Clippers, and Nuggets. So Rockets or Thunder? I’m guessing the Rockets won’t make it out of the West. They’ll lose to either the Thunder or the Lakers and then D’Antoni loses his job. I wonder if they regret trading Chris Paul, 2 1st round draft picks, and 2 first round draft swaps for Russ Westbrook. Paul was draining 3s in crunch time while Westbrook was committing crucial turnovers.
As for Nuggets-Jazz, what a battle of wills. The way the Nuggets played in the first half, I thought they might run away with it, but Mitchell did his thing on offense and Gobert did his thing on defense and the Jazz battled back from the big deficit. Conley got a really good look at the end. It just didn’t fall. I don’t think the Nuggets will get by the Clippers, but I think it will be a really good series.
Rockets can surprise IMO. I’m not picking them for the finals, but Lakers have plenty of weaknesses to exploit. And while I doubt Rockets can get by the Clippers, they have a chance vs the inconsistent Nuggets. For me the Rockets are the wild card in the west. I no longer think of the Nuggets that way.
Celtics vs Raptors 102-99
Outstanding game plan and poise by the extremely tough Celtics. Tough on both ends, but especially on defense in the second half with Theis masterfully covering large swaths around the basket. Getting Gasol in foul trouble and limiting the Raps ability to penetrate with some kind of rhythm. Anything Siakam tried to do inside was met with quick switching …
And yet Siakam was effective when he decided to work his way inside. He passed well and forced the Celts to collapse and open up passing lanes. Siakam ended with 2 fouls and took only 4 FTs making all 4. Somehow he went missing for stretches, giving up the ball early in the clock. Choosing not to penetrate as he had early in the game.
The game was up for grabs at the end as it should have been with Celtics controlling the pace all game. However, without Smart’s outstanding offense, Gasol’s ejection, Siakam’s lack of aggression and uncharacteristically boneheaded Raptors’ TOs at the end … this one was the Raptors to lose and they did just that.
You’ve been hammering for some time about Siakam needing to be more aggressive and learning how to take over games. I wonder if he lacks that killer instinct or if there is something else that is holding him back.
Should note that the Celtics have been playing for two weeks without Gordon Hayward after his sprained ankle against the Sixers. Hayward left the bubble for treatment and is supposed to return to the bubble soon, though he will have to quarantine for awhile when he returns. The Celtics have been starting 3 guards (Kemba, Brown & Smart) in his absence and pushed Tatum into the PF spot, which makes them smaller, but also quicker. So maybe Hayward’s injury was a boon to the Celtics’ switching while defending Siakam. I have to think that Siakam on offense would be eating Hayward alive.
If I recall correctly, you are not a Chris Mannix fan, but here’s a nice story on the relationship between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who knew each other prior to the Celtics.
https://www.si.com/nba/2020/09/01/celtics-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-relationship
Siakam is remarkably careful. No recklessness about him, and yet his body and skillset demand that he penetrate and draw contact. Much like KD learned to do with the Warriors. It’s easy to lose the ball, trying to force the drive into the trees. I’m guessing that really bugs him. Both losing it and the thought of losing it, but to become good at that you need to keep at it.
I remember watching Grant Hill vids during his first years as a piston. Same thing. He’d drive and lose the ball but kept at it and became great at stopping on a dime and pulling up for the 8-12 ft jumper. Obviously KD is the master of that skill. Kawhi just behind him. Siakam should still have time to get there, but maybe worried about screwing it up in the playoffs. However, now that he’s 2 game down … really no choice left.
after thinking on this a bit, this careful lack of recklessness thing regarding Siakam … Kawhi and Tatum are, for the same position and similar height (+/- 1-2″) and skillset, much further along wrt getting to the rim with excellent ball control. hard to believe Siakam won’t get there soon. he’ll have to try harder for the rest of these playoffs regardless.
The games we’ve seen these last two days, just wow. Celtics-Raptors goes down to the wire with VanVleet missing a 3-pointer that could have tied it. Jazz-Nuggets goes down to the wire with Conley missing a 3-pointer that could have won it. Heat-Bucks goes down to the wire with Jimmy Butler hitting 2 FTs with time expired to win it. Thunder-Rockets goes down to the wire with Harden blocking a 3-pt attempt that could have won it for the Thunder and then Rockets blowing up the Thunder’s final in-bounds play. How often do we see so many games in a row come right down to the final seconds?
The Celtics-Raptors game makes five straight games with amazing finishes. The Raptors defense repeatedly broke down in the final minutes allowing the Celtics easy dunks. Yet, VanVleet and Lowry made a series of difficult drives and lay-ups to stay in it. When Walker dribbled out of the double team into the lane where he was met be another double team and made the great pass to Theis for the dunk with 0.5 seconds left, I thought it was over with an amazing finish already. But Lowry found Anunoby, who the Celtics defense managed to lose on the inbounds play, and Anunoby came up big in the clutch for an even more amazing finish. The Raptors stay alive!
Well the streak was bound to stop. The Clippers mopped the floor with the Nuggets tonight. After the emotional high of coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Jazz, it was probably inevitable that the Nuggets suffered a letdown. We’ll see if they offer a better effort in game 2.
normally I don’t disagree strongly with Stephen A, but to this comment …
“Stephen A: Nash will do ‘hell of a job in Brooklyn,’ but being hired with no coaching experience is white privilege”
And what about being one of the few white players in decades to with the NBA MVP award? Is that also white privilege? I that not relevant here????
That’s not how white privilege works. The NBA is a black player majority league and African-Americans win a majority of the player awards including MVP. So Nash didn’t win MVP because of white privilege, but because he earned it. However, the coaching ranks, both in the NBA and in the NCAA do not reflect the number of black players in the league (as coaches largely come from the retired player pool). So Smith was arguing that Nash getting a head coaching job without coaching experience was white privilege because former black players do not get head coaching jobs without coaching experience.
If what Smith was saying was correct, then he’d be right about the white privilege argument. However, Richard Jefferson adroitly pointed out how wrong Smith was as there have been former black players who have gotten head coaching job without coaching experience. Jason Kidd with the Bucks, Derek Fisher with the Knicks, Isiah Thomas with the Pacers, heck go all the way back to Bill Russell with the Celtics and Lenny Wilkens with the Sonics. A few others like Wes Unseld and Avery Johnson were elevated to head coach shortly into their first seasons as assistant coach. What I don’t know is whether there is a full accounting somewhere of how many black former players vs. how many white former players get head coaching jobs without coaching experience. The examples above are off the top of my head. Some white players who fit the same mold are Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in the recent past and Dolph Schayes and George Mikan in the distant past.
Furthermore, I’m not sure it is accurate to say that Nash has no coaching experience. Nash has been a player development consultant with the Warriors for five years. Player development is coaching, just not on the sideline. Also, point guards are basically coaches on the court.
So I don’t think Smith is correct with regard to Nash getting white privilege, but he’s not wrong generally that African-Americans are underrepresented in the coaching ranks in the NBA.
Whoaaaa … you completely misunderstood my comment and I’m not sure how!
Let me try this again…
BECAUSE Nash won an MVP for being a floor general and well known on the court LEADER he is more qualified to be both considered for and appointed to a head coaching position than those who have NOT won MVP for the same reasons. The comment I made was making a mockery out of the fact that THIS white guy was somehow privileged more than all the other NBA MVPs who won that award for the same reasons AND that were candidates for the job. How many were there? I assume none, but if there were any others does it matter what their color is?
That he was all of the above puts him in a class of PEOPLE of any color that may be damned well qualified for that job. Making this a race issue is absolutely foolish, otherwise they would be choosing to NOT pick Nash because of his race and then what the heck is that all about. Black Privilege?
My statement was making pure folly of Smith’s myopic point. THIS white guy wasn’t privileged to win an MVP so how the hell is he privileged to be strongly considered for this job?
Any team in the league with a coaching vacancy now or one that was coming up soon should have jumped at the chance to consider Nash. Who knew he was available? Did teams intentionally not consider him because of his race?
Let’s go here instead … what other coaching candidates are available right now with NBA MVPs won because of their leadership and floor generalship? Was Duncan available for the Nets job? How about … hmmm … I’m drawing a huge blank wrt guys that won that award for the same reasons OR that were widely known to be among the best leaders and floor generals. Curry and James aren’t available. Who else was? Mark Jackson’s had his chance – should they have gone that direction in order to appear NOT biased? Was Billups available?
Winners who were leaders have shown themselves to be great coaches often enough that people of any color like Nash SHOULD be considered if you want a coach who knows about winning and leading. This is just dumb to be even talking about race here. An insult to one of the greatest players to play the game.
In other words I completely disagree with your statement that “If what Smith was saying was correct, then he’d be right about the white privilege argument.”
You are still misunderstanding white privilege. In this context, it has nothing to do with whether Nash was qualified to do the job. Even Smith said that Nash will be a great coach given his background and the type of person he is. In the employment situation, white privilege has to do with white people getting jobs that similarly qualified black people don’t get. Nash is highly qualified despite the lack of coaching experience. There were black people with similar or better qualifications than Nash (Duncan, Cassell, Billups, Lue) who would be great coaches for the Nets as well. Generally speaking, Smith is correct. White people get NBA coaching jobs at a far higher rate than similarly or better qualified black people, although the NBA has a much better record in this regard than most other sports. Smith was wrong about his particular point that, unlike Nash, black players with no coaching experience do not get NBA jobs. In fact, as I noted above, many black players with no coaching experience have gotten head coaching jobs. Again, white privilege has nothing to do with qualifications for the job, but with who gets the job given similar qualifications.
There is nothing about this that I misunderstand. You are parroting “White Privilege 101”.
Any comments I’m making are ahead of this mindset. I’m mocking this limited point of view. It’s harmful IMO.
Let’s get real with the discussion if it needs to come to that. Instead this is pitter patter playing around with politically correct BS. This only limits the discussion wrt change and how to make it happen. This stifles the discussion therefore blocking avenues for change.
Two games yesterday. One was hugely surprising and has big time Vegas-odds-moving consequences, the other resulting in a normalization of expectations in the East…
Starting with the latter, no one expected the Raptors to sweep the Celtics. Expectations were that Toronto would move the ball extremely well and get their shots. That’s what they do, or rather it’s what they do when the opposing team isn’t Boston. All told their record vs. Boston has been horrible in the bubble: 5-1 in Boston’s favor going into game 4 of the second round, and Toronto’s ‘lucky’ buzzer-beater win in game 3 didn’t convince anyone that Raps would continue to buck the trend. And yet they did, in a sense, with the series’ lowest scoring output in their 100-93 victory on Saturday. It was hardly a “pivotal-game” worthy effort though. Boston shot like shit, but continued to play their solid & stifling defensive brand of basketball. There was no difference in that department – Boston once again put on a defensive clinic with super-quick and tight switching almost always filling the middle regardless of the much improved Raptor ball movement and penetration. This time it was by committee with Williams III and Theis both having an enormous impact complicating the Raptors’ game plan at the rim. The defense was as good as it gets again, but it wasn’t enough. Lowry’s midrange penetration was masterful as it kept the team moving their usual pace. Ibaka and Van Vleet scored well enough this time to keep the Celtics at bay. Siakam forced the issue just enough to convert even though he lacked efficiency. It was a much better offensive effort from the Raptors, but it wasn’t enough to win this game. The Celtics would need to be horrific from the 3pt arc to allow the Raptors a comfortable lead for long stretches. And that’s what happened yesterday. The Raptors won by only 7 points. They can’t feel good about that going into game 5.
What came next shouldn’t have surprised but it did, or at least it did almost everyone outside of Colorado. The Denver Nuggets put together a wire to wire shooting clinic to punish the Clippers early and often. Some of it was due to lazy coverage on Jokic who played like the top MVP candidate that he is, but the Nuggets were anything but a two man show even with Murray once again taking-the-fuck over. This game was about the Nuggets full-team shooting effort. Millsap, MPJ, Harris and Morris were outstanding in stretches as well and not just offensively. The game was an all around humdinger on both ends decided because Denver wouldn’t take their foot off the gas. The Clippers weren’t out of it completely, and a more ‘normal’ offensive effort from Kawhi could have made it close at the end. Kawhi is unlikely to be that bad offensively again, and yet the Denver win did more than just even the series. This game showed some of Denver’s truer colors: outstanding all around talented efforts by Millsap and MPJ in particular. As great as the others were, and even with the added benefit of Morris’ and Harris’ shooting, Millsap and the second year phenom were outstanding in their collective impact on the outcome. They may be even more important going forward if only because the Clippers can’t expect to cover everyone. What to do if you need to be constantly in front of those two while getting up on Jokic at the arc and while keeping Denver’s resident scoring-passing-penetrating speedster from taking advantage of the wide open lanes? Maybe you do what Boston has done for 4 games straight: stop the pace or at least try to. And hope for poorer shooting in order to keep things close at the end, because keeping the Nuggets from getting good looks all game long seems damned near impossible. All meaning this: Clippers will likely need 3 more games at their usual scoring pace to win this series.
I made a comment above that I corrected: Lowry’s shooting from midrange wasn’t what kept the pace going, although he operated efficiently from there regardless. He was 8-8 from FT – some of those came directly because of the penetration.
I did not see much basketball this weekend. Bits and pieces of yesterdays Lakers-Rockets game more than anything else. From some highlights, it looks like Jaylen Brown had a bad shooting night in game 4. It doesn’t matter the reason for the Raptors win, just that they found a way to do it (as in game 3).
Although the Bucks found a way to win game 4 of their series, gotta figure they are done. Apparently, the Freak’s right ankle was already hurt, but he was playing through it. Re-injuring it in game 4 didn’t look good and he exited the game with only 11 minutes played. They will be playing game 5 either without Giannis or with a hurt Giannis. Either way, not a chance they can win 3 straight against this tough Heat team.
Although the Lakers won game 2, hardly surprising, gotta hand it to the Rockets for coming back from a double-digit first half deficit in the 3rd quarter. I think the Rockets are showing that their small line-up can find a lot of open shots from the perimeter against the Lakers’ tall trees. When those shots fall, they do well. The question is can they make the Lakers pay for their poor perimeter defense. Westbrook is a terrible outside shooter. If I’m the Lakers, I dare him to shoot the 3-ball whenever he has the ball. Harden is a better shooter, but has never been an efficient shooter. He gets his numbers from his bulk shooting. Both Westbrook and Harden are terrific drivers though, so whenever one of them heads for the basket, the defense collapses on them leaving the real shooters (Gordon, Green, Tucker) open. I’m not quite sure what to make of this series yet.
Didn’t see any of yesterday’s games, but it looks like the Celtics put a defensive stranglehold on the Raptors in the game, holding the Raptors to less than 40% shooting. In fact, the Celtics are having one of the best defensive postseasons in recent memory. Saw the stat last night that they are holding the opposition to just 40.1% shooting so far in the playoffs. Only one team has done better in the last 15 years (I believe it was the Jazz 3 or 4 years ago). Without seeing the game, it is hard to know what the Celtics did to hold Siakam to just 9 shots, but Nick Nurse needs to figure out how to get Siakam the ball in the paint because good things happen when he drives to the basket. On the Celtics side, Jaylen Brown returned in a big way after his poor shooting performance in Game 4, which made up for Tatum not shooting as well. Celtics have been the better team so far in the series, but I don’t see the Raptors folding. Should be a really good game 6 and possible game 7.
After their poor performance in Game 1, the Nuggets have played much better in games 2 & 3, but only managed one win in those 2 games. The Clippers have obviously place a priority on stopping Jamal Murray after he went off against the Jazz in the prior series. Guessing Kawhi and PG have something to do with that. Nuggets have to what they can to take advantage of the fact that the Clippers’ defense is concentrating on stopping Murray.
Some injury notes…
The Freak will miss at least tonight’s game 5 with his right ankle sprain. Assuming the Heat win (good bet), the speculation will only grow about whether Giannis asks out of Milwaukee.
Serge Ibaka was in a walking boot today. His status for tomorrow’s game 6 is uncertain.
The next shoe has dropped as the Thunder have parted ways with Billy Donovan. Not sure I understand this as the Thunder performed much better this year than was expected. Surely Donovan gets some credit for that. They’ve got a crapload of draft picks over the next few years, so if they draft well, they ought to remain pretty good.
Thanks for the updates. Haven’t had a chance to watch any the last two days. Apparently missed a LeBron and Rondo performance for the ages last night. Hopefully more of that to come.
With the Bucks eliminated by the Heat, speculation turned immediately to Antetokounmpo’s future with the Bucks. He could have said many different things after the game, like “I’m not thinking about that yet,” or “We’ll see what happens,” but he chose to be definitive, saying that he’ll be back with Milwaukee next year and won’t demand to be traded. Of course, he could change his mind later, but sounds like he’s sticking around for at least one more year. That doesn’t mean he will sign a max extension which the Bucks can and surely will offer him this offseason. If he doesn’t, the Bucks could proactively decide to trade him so that they don’t lose him for nothing, but my bet is that they would see who they can lure to the team to make another run at a tile next season with Giannis on the team.
regarding the MPJ comments which aren’t surprising to me since he’s really not much beyond the age and experience of a child …
The easy response is that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and should just shut up. I think that’s true but only partially so. My take isn’t related to the fact that he needs to produce in other ways (like if he wants the ball then go down to the other end and get it off the rim somehow). My take is that while this is true: his statement was foolish, because regardless of how good he is, he apparently has NO CLUE what it means to be playing with an MVP type player who DOES know everything that needs to be done. However, this is also true (IMO): Murray needs to spend more time looking for his teammates. I’ve always felt that, and nothing’s changed in the playoffs. MPJ is right on point here: no way no how can Murray beat the Clippers in the same way he beat the Jazz.
To Malone and Murray: MPJ is a problem for any team. Exploit it!
If I was Malone I would tell the team this, “Michael is probably right, so we’re going to go to him early and often if the chances present themselves. Let’s get a few minutes into the game and then after that start looking for Michael on every play. Only if the chance presents itself, but since the alley-oop is almost always there with Michael … ”
Something like that.
Apparently Malone wasn’t listening to you. Porter took all of 3 shots in the game and only played 22 minutes. Nonetheless, Denver found a way to win by shooting much better than the Clippers tonight. Clippers have two more games to win 1 and break their cursed string of never making the conference championship.
I don’t know why he wasn’t listening, and I think what he did was a mistake. He may have gotten lucky with his “strategy” if that’s what you can call it….
MPJ put immense pressure on himself and the team by the stupid comments, so IMO Malone had no choice other to deal with that EARLY in the game by getting MPJ involved. That he didn’t almost backfired when he put Porter in for Millsap late and THEN expected the kid to make good decisions. Stupid IMO.
Porter Jr. played a big role in the win last night. Obviously it was Millsap’s night and that enabled every other Nugget to keep their foot on the gas, but MPJs presence on the floor presents the Clippers D with a difficult chore always needing to stay in front of him at any range while switching should he slash into the lane.
Murray’s shooting wasn’t good enough to get the win but the low TOs and the Assists were huge. He and Malone need to stay on point: get Harris, Morris, Millsap and MPJ more shots and stop shooting so much!
Really great defensive game by both the Celtics and Raptors tonight with both teams holding the other to around 40% shooting. If you look at the base numbers, you’d think the Raptors won the game, as they had a slightly better overall shooting percentage, a better 3-pt shooting percentage, and a much better FT shooting percentage. But the Celtics took a lot more shots because they created more turnovers. The Celtics scored an absurd 1/3rd of their points off of turnovers. In the 2nd half, the Raptors fell too much into one-on-one play instead of moving the ball around. Perhaps it was because of the suffocating defense that Jaylen Brown (mostly) was playing on Siakam. As a result, Lowry and VanVleet kept dribbling around and either pulling up for a bad shot or making an ill-advised drive into traffic. Overall, the Celtics played better than the Raptors in the series, but it was a very close series that Toronto could have won. Easily the best series of the playoffs so far.
I was wondering what that final minute or two of offense would have looked like with Stephens in Nurse’s place.What I saw then was exactly what I saw middle of last season but with Kawhi: isolation and standing around a la Harden in Houston. What I don’t understand is that as stifling as the defense was, Boston still allowed penetration to 16-18 feet. If that were the Celtics or say the Warriors or even the Suns that would have been exploited to cause the defense to collapse and then you get your guys involved by moving the ball. Considering that even though Boston’s defense is excellent in that circumstance as well, it would have produced much higher % shots than what Raptors were seeing from 26 feet.
In any case, Celtics deserve the series but I think it says a lot that this one would have gone to the Raptors if Siakam played just a slightly below average game last night. Instead, the 5 turnovers and 13 points once again gave the Raptors what they deserved: a loss in the game and the series.
As you noted, the Raptors were often able to penetrate to 16-18 feet. I think the main reason for that is that both Lowry and VanVleet are incredibly quick and can turn the corner on the defense with the best of them. However, recognizing that, the Celtics defense would roll a secondary defender over to cut off the lane to the basket. Since Lowry and VanVleet are both small, they were faced with trying to get a shot up against bigger defenders. The alternative, of course, is that the secondary defender rolling over leaves another Raptor open on the perimeter somewhere. Neither Lowry or VanVleet seemed to be looking to make that pass. And the rest of the team really isn’t moving around much, perhaps because they know that a pass is not coming. In fact, if you look at the Game 6 first OT, the Raptors had the ball in the waning seconds with the game tied. Nurse put the ball in Norman Powell’s hands and he did the exact same thing, dribbling around, trying to penetrate and ultimately taking a bad shot. On the rare occasions when Gasol got the ball on the offensive end, even he would try dribbling a bit into a post-up position to put up a shot without looking to pass out.
I didn’t watch the Raptors enough this season to know if this lack of movement and passing on offense was a season-long issue. When they fell into it last season, at least Kawhi had some signature moves and height to find himself a good shot. Lowry, VanVleet, and even Powell are all Curry-size or smaller and none are as good a shooter as Curry is, although VanVleet seems to think he is. They should not be running a one-on-one offense. Again, not seeing enough of them this season, I don’t know if this is the way that the Raptors always operate or if the Celtics’ defense was so suffocating that they lapsed into it. The inability to get Siakam involved much was inexcusable.
VanVleet, Ibaka, and Gasol are all free agents. Lowry has one more season (at $30 mil) and is 34 years old. I’m thinking that they will try to resign VanVleet and let Ibaka and Gasol go. That will give them some salary cap space to see if they can bring in some younger talent. If I’m the Raptors, I also try to trade Lowry’s expiring contract. Then they build around Siakam, VanVleet, Powell, and Anunoby, none of whom are older than 27.
agree to everything you’ve written. the alternative of NOT penetrating often left them with a bad 3pt shot also against a bigger defender. if I were to pick my poison as a coach I would insist on at least trying that midrange penetration regardless. at least then you’re trying to create even if a turnover is more likely. so what since a pass and a better shot is even more likely. agreed that Kawhi could do this and not get rattled (and turn it over), but Lowry isn’t that bad at this part of the game either. I think Nurse blew it by not insisting Lowry penetrate in that final minute.
Agreed that Lowry and VanVleet should be penetrating. Both are really good at it because of their quickness. When the defense rolls a secondary defender over to cut off the lane, the rest of the team has to be moving to open spots to take advantage and Lowry and VanVleet need to be looking to make that pass.
I’ve been listening to sports radio the last few days, and the TNT show with Chuck, Kenny and Ernie (i don’t really listen to shaq). I think everyone was saying Nuggets have no chance. I’ve been trying to figure out what they mean by that. At the same time I’ve listened to a long sports radio discussion with some good minds involved talking about how Clippers are so makeshift in almost everything they do. Offense and defense being conducted with the outstanding talent, athleticism, quickness and instincts but not with a true game plan in mind. Or rather, without an apparent game plan in mind. Somehow this is viewed as a Clipper advantage – this ability to figure things out on the fly. Hmmm … that might be an outstanding quality for a team to have but why is it an advantage? I haven’t been following that logic and for good reasons that we saw last night: it’s NOT an advantage!! and it won’t be until these guys play together a lot more.
Murray’s penetration is as effective as any offensive weapon in the playoffs right now. To say the Nuggets have no chance is to lose sight of the FACT that when you add to that weapon a huge and mobile MVP candidate with outstanding floor vision AND a bunch of guys who can also penetrate and shoot …
I actually don’t see why anyone thinks the Clippers have the advantage in this series. I think it goes either way EXACTLY for the reasons the Nuggets won last night.
I could see how operating that way could be an advantage for reacting to offenses or defenses that are new to you, but you need a game plan for dealing with the other team’s strengths and for specific situations. We just saw what happened with the Raptors who seemingly had no game plan other than to put the ball in Lowry or VanVleet’s (or Powell’s) hands and let them work one-on-one for a shot. Doc Rivers is a good enough coach to do this. Kawhi came out of a very structured Spurs system, so he should want to be operating with a good game plan. I haven’t noticed whether they are or not as I have not seen enough of their games to tell. But if the radio analysts you are listening to are correct, I agree that is not an advantage for the Clippers.
I called it…kind of. The Rockets and Mike D’Antoni have parted ways.
https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/mike-dantoni-leaves-rockets-head-coach-free-agent
I mentioned somewhere above that when the Rockets lost in the playoffs, they would get rid of D’Antoni. Apparently it was D’Antoni who informed the Rockets that he would not be returning (his contract had expired). So I was right about the end of his time as coach of the Rockets, but wrong about who precipitated it.
I’d like to see him with new orleans
Apparently the early buzz has D’Antoni as a 76ers candidate.
I’m going to save my next analysis for game 7, because for this one I’m not sure there’s a lot to say other than after Jokic gave the Clipps a thorough beat down all game long, Murray tore their heart out and stomped on it. There’s more to it – it was a great Nuggets team effort, but suffice to say yesterday’s win by Denver was due to an inexorable offensive pummeling which started from an 18 point deficit in the 3rd.
Can’t stop thinking about MPJ and how impressive he’s been, even with the TOs and looking lost every now and then. What a game for him to be part of and understand what’s involved with winning at this level. What a game for him : 27 minutes, 4-7 FG, 3-6 3FG, 7 REBS,1 BLK. He’s not going to forget this one. He certainly won’t be texting his crap all over the place either, at least not any time soon.
I assume you heard about Daniel House of the Rockets getting kicked out of the bubble for having an “unauthorized guest” in his room. That’s why he missed the last 3 games of the Rockets-Lakers series. Although House denied the allegation, an NBA investigation found that he did.
Other reports I’ve read about the incident state that the “unauthorized guest” was a young woman who was part of the COVID-19 testing crew. Apparently when questioned, the young woman never gave up House as the person she visited, but there was some kind of video evidence showing which room she went in and out of. House is married with children, but they weren’t in the bubble with him. The implication, of course, is that House and the young woman were engaged in some hanky-panky, but there’s no evidence of what went on when she was in his room. Harden said the House situation was a distraction for the team. Enough of a distraction to cause them to lose all three games that House missed? Who knows.
Really amazing post-season run these Nuggets are having. A monster triple-double for the Joker and a 40-pt game from Murray. Beyond the great offensive performances, it was the great defense of the Nuggets that sealed the deal. They held the Clips to 38% shooting and just 26% from the arc. Kawhi and PG were a combined 10 of 38 from the floor. More than that, neither of them seemed all that willing to attack the Nuggets’ defense. It’s what you mentioned above, the Clippers seemed to have no plan.
10 of 38
It seems that every single media person I’ve listened to over the past two weeks completely disregarded the Nuggets defense. Could it really be something as stupid as thinking Jokic is liability therefore the Nuggets aren’t good defensively? And even as dumb (and horribly FALSE) as that is, where is the evidence that the rest of the team doesn’t come with outstanding defense and a great defensive plan, and hasn’t done so most of the season?
I wish I knew what all these guys were thinking. All the guys that I respect and listen to constantly gave the Nuggets NO chance. What is it about this team that made them underdogs in the first place???
There are reports today that several Clippers were tired in the 4th quarter last night and several asked out of the game after a few minutes. No names attached to who that was. But the way the Nuggets were running circles around the Clips and hustling more, there’s some credibility to those reports.
Yes! That doesn’t surprise me at all now that you mention it. Kawhi looked tired for instance.
If true this is another reason to question Doc’s leadership. How can Denver be in better shape when everyone is in the same location with access to the same facilities?
Guess its not just reports of poor conditioning. Doc Rivers outright said it during the post-game.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29895810/coach-doc-rivers-says-take-blame-la-clippers-eliminated-playoffs
Rivers said he would take the blame and Kawhi said the team needed better basketball IQ. The Clippers will probably point to Beveley, Williams & Harrell having to leave the bubble early for funerals, but that doesn’t explain poor conditioning this far into the playoffs.
BTW, Rivers is first coach to blow 3-1 playoff leads three times in his coaching career.
LMAO thinking about when I lived in Boulder finishing up grad school at the age of 32-33 working my tail off on the basketball court and then a few hours later biking up to flagstaff mountain or even much further and doing that daily. if I wasn’t in shape i got there in about 20 days once I let my quads rest a day here and there.
if there’s a conditioning issue it’s impossible that it’s related to the leaving the bubble violation issue. Four weeks TOPS to get into just as good condition as the Nuggets.
Yeah, lack of conditioning at this point is incredulous. Makes you wonder…when the Bucks went on strike and playoff games came to a halt, there was a league-wide vote as to whether to continue the season. Two teams initially voted to stop the season. The Clippers and Lakers. I wonder if some of the Clippers who voted to stop did so because they weren’t in shape and didn’t want the public to see that.
Heard the stat today that Jamal Murray shot an absurd 60+% over the last two games of the playoffs. Remember when people thought that pairing of Kawhi and PG, many saying they were 2 of the top 5 arc defenders, would result in some of the best wing defense in the league? Where was that wing defense against Murray? It almost seems inconceivable that Kawhi and PG disappeared that much (besides 10-38 shooting, they were combined 0-11 in 4th quarter) when it mattered so much.
I’m not sure what the Clippers can do to right the ship. They are basically already over the salary cap for next season and that is before resigning Harrell, which I assume they wish to do. Unless they draft really well or get somebody really good to agree to their mid-level exception, it’ll be the same group coming back next year.
My guess is fire Doc and look at the Suns for how they’re doing things without the typical PG especially when Rubio is out. The Suns (and Warriors of course) and I suppose even the Mavs do this great job of both spacing with their shooting PG (often Booker for the Suns) setting the pace while the rest of the guys aren’t just spacing but moving constantly.
I think either Kawhi needs to play that role or they need someone who can. Chris Paul would be an obvious choice, but that aint happening:-) Either way they need to restructure the offense somehow.
Regarding Murray’s FG % – no clue. He was in a zone.
Is it even worth stating that the Nuggets are probably not the matchup the Lakers wanted? Although … not exactly clear who will cover LeBron in addition to Grant and Craig – Nuggets have all those smaller guards, and MPJ isn’t exactly up to the task. Millsap will need to spend some time on that task as well.
MPJ is rebounding so well and is a potential matchup nightmare for Kuzma … Will be interesting to see what Malone does.
Just occurred to me the Pop must have been shaking his head last night. Kawhi went from the most structured team always with a game plan on both ends to … well, to whatever the hell that was we saw last night. Is this Kawhi’s choice to not be in that kind of “system”? If it is/was he’ll have to change his mind now. There was no offensive plan vs. the Nuggets and there needed to be. There needed to be structure if not a system. Instead there was no space to maneuver for anyone but Lou Will. Doc needs to be replaced IMO. Even if he was just doing what Kawhi wanted (which seems unlikely), he still needs to move on. Why not D’Antoni with the Clippers? Billups?
This brings some new theory into why Kawhi wanted out of San Antonio. What we heard was that he felt that the medical staff did not treat his injury properly. Perhaps Kawhi also didn’t like Pop’s structured game plans and wanted to be able to free wheel a little more often?
It’s a new theory for me and you but i’ve heard it before and always thought it was BS. This idea that Kawhi wanted out partially because he wanted to be allowed to create on his own without some kind of system in place.
So i never thought it was true. But then I’ve seen the same unstructured “plan” around Kawhi the last two years in a row. You’ll remember I mentioned the same thing about Nurse’s offense – it never made sense to me how Kawhi was being utilized as essentially your PG but with the idea of keeping teammates on the perimeter while waiting for Kawhi to create space while taking his defender out of the play. So it’s all about watching Kawhi to see what happens for both his teammates and the opposition. I guess this is what Houston does with Harden or something close to it, but there’s it’s more structured with teammates staying put on the perimeter and Harden gets to waltz into the lane because of that. i don’t know what Doc’s plan is or was.
It’s still a stretch to say this is what Kawhi wants and even more of a stretch to say he didn’t like the Spurs structure, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he needs more structure than he’s had on the Raptors and now the Spurs. I also don’t think the Raptors would have beaten the Warriors the way they were playing if KD and Klay were healthy. Not without more structure around Kawhi.
There was a sportstalk radio discussion today that started out about how good a passer the Joker is. It morphed into how good European players generally are at passing. Joker, Doncic, Dragic, Rubio, and going back a little, a pre-NBA Arvydas Sabonis (he was largely immobile once he got to the NBA). I wonder if it is a teaching thing at the junior levels in Europe that high school and college students don’t always get here.
Would just like to note that of the 4 remaining playoff teams, I am really rooting for the Nuggets. Sports media will be rooting against the Nuggets because that would mean no LeBron in the finals, but next to the Warriors, the Nuggets are my next favorite team. They’ve never been in the finals before, so I’d like to see them break through.
I find myself wanting Jokic to be taken seriously for MVP in the following years, but at the same time thinking that the best basketball coming up will occur if LeBron shows up in GOAT form. Not every game, but can he do it enough to win the title? If he can get by Denver it’ll mean some excellent basketball most likely. Either way I doubt the East is ready for either Western team. The only way I see the East winning the title (beyond injuries to the West team) is if Adebayo keeps improving as he has been. He has the skills, but not sure the composure to do it in the finals against LeBron, Davis, Howard, Kuzma, McGee or Jokic, Millsap, MPJ, Grant, Plumlee. He’ll need to play big time minutes.
If Boston gets there I don’t know how they stop any of the bigs. Theis can only do so much. I’d like to see how much:-)
Quick note on last nights excellent showing by the Heat: I’ve heard from a few ‘experts’ that Dragic is playing his best basketball ever. this is what they say when they act like they’ve watched him closely all these years.
Dragic was a dominant PG at Phx the year before Bledsoe joined. Just as potent as Lillard on the offensive end. Absolutely a top PG in the league. He hasn’t been needed to do the same things so he hasn’t. That’s all. This is how good he is and has been for a decade.
thoughts ahead of first Lakers Nuggets game:
– wondering what Denver can do to keep LeBron from waltzing into the lane over and over again
– LeBron should be able to get in the paint pretty often off the fast break, so will there be a game plan to have him operate from there before Nuggets defense is set?
– if Murray doesn’t go off will it be the combined effort of Rondo and Green or something else?
I haven’t been watching the game (combination of history group event and following Ruth Bader Ginsberg death coverage), but Lakers have 70 points at halftime and I see LBJ is 6-9 shooting and 3-4 FTs for 15 points with no 3-pt attempts and AD is 4-8 shooting and 9-12 FTs with just one 3-pt attempt. That tells me that they are pounding the lane as you suggested they would do.
The way I see it, this series doesn’t really begin until the Lakers are up 3-1. LOL!
Denver wasn’t playing their game and it doesn’t matter. Lakers looked great on both ends and that’s what it’s going to take to stop Nuggets from going off. Hopefully they won’t get down 3-1, but I’d say that this series won’t start until the Lakers are down 16 points and we’ll see how they respond.
The Nuggets had the win within their grasp tonight. Nothing you can do about a great effing shot by AD. I would guess that 8 of 10 times, he misses that shot. Still a great comeback by the Nuggets after being down by double digits in the 2nd half. It was all Joker at the end of the game. In the last few minutes he made a 3-pointer, a baby hook over AD and a running tear drop.
That game was all Joker – maybe the best I’ve ever seen him. Played like The Man. Did everything. 2 TOs. Moved the big body at a different pace – the lighter weight has made this Joker-Brow matchup into something really special. Like watching Shaq vs. Olajuwon out there. A superpowered offensive Shaq that is.
Once again Denver lulls the opponent into believing it’s all going according to plan … and then the Nuggets run and shoot them out of the gym. Nuggets were in control for a good part of the 4th in just the same way they beat their last 2 opponents. The difference here from the Lakers: much better defense and an amazing shot to stop the bleeding.
And now just as was the case with the Jazz and Clippers the Lakers can continue to play their game with the same stifling defense, but unless they continue to score a lot more than they did yesterday they’ll quickly find themselves reeling against an unstoppable force.
That was a good game by the Nuggets. Every time the Lakers tried to battle back from the leads built by Denver, the Nuggets always found a way to take control back. Jokic was a big reason why early, but it was Jamal Murray in the 4th quarter. He made some outrageous 3-pointers to take the wind out of the Lakers.
Despite the loss, it was an impressive 2nd half comeback by the Lakers. They did it with defense and forced a lot of turnovers. Rajon Rondo in particular was a menace on defense in the 4th quarter. I thought Vogel was an idiot to take him out of the game with 4 fouls. Why are you worried about him fouling out? He was killing the Nuggets. Run with him. Also, how did LBJ only end up with 2 FT attempts in the game? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him take so few FTs in a game.
I do wonder if the Nuggets are better conditioned than all the other teams. They play better than anyone in the 2nd half of games and the longer a series goes on, the better they do. AD was looking gassed in the 4th (Vogel played him for 43 minutes). James seemed a little slower at the end. The Nuggets can win this series if they keeping running the Lakers into the ground.
Good analysis. some things to add …
Davis had only 2 rebs all game. Maybe he was gassed as you mentioned, but he should have had at least 4 by the half.
I was more impressed by some of Murray’s 4th quarter dimes than I was any of the 3 pt shots. It’s like having two elite passer-playmakers out there together, which I suppose is a bit like the LeBron-Rondo pairing except Denver’s pair are also both elite scorers. How great would the Warriors have been ( or will be ) if in addition to Curry they had either Klay or KD consistently making plays while operating inside the arc? KD was getting good at this, but not close to where Murray and Jokic are right now.
Also, as impressive as Lakers comeback was (they looked like the Warriors out there doing it all on every possession), I was equally impressed by Denver’s resilience at both ends. Or maybe that was mostly just Murray, but if that was the case it’s because he got everyone involved and fired up.
Great game.
Should also mention the huge contribution by Jerami Grant to not only extend Denver’s lead but to maintain it. Whatever Lakers are telling themselves about that game this they can’t deny: Denver has about 6 guys that can create their own shots and plays with potential to score 20+ on any given night. Lakers have two? It reminds me of how devastating the warriors were when Iggy and Livingston could come in with that second unit and sometimes not miss a beat. Nice luxury to have. Right now both the Celtics and the Heat are looking good in this dept as well with Hayward back, Dragic looking great and Herro and Adebayo rapidly getting better at creating their own shots. No easy outs for the Lakers the rest of the way.
Just noticed that the Heat shot abysmally from 3pt range last night. Duncan robinson was the worst at 0-4 3FG and 0-5 FG . Herro picked a great night to take over the game.
We talk about how some players play “hero” ball (Kawhi at times, Harden), but “Herro” ball last night was something else. Hard to believe that Tatum had zero points at half-time. If he hits a few of those first half shots, Celtics could have won. Watching the game though, it mostly looked lackluster for large swaths of time. I wonder if the players were having trouble focusing in the wake of the news that Breonna Taylor’s killers will not be charged with her murder. This ESPN segment on SportsCenter talked about how they were feeling about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00pZuroxMk0
I’d never heard of Malika Andrews from ESPN before the bubble, but she did a really good job dealing with her own emotions on the issue and explaining how the players felt about it.
Well, we’ve got our 3-1 Lakers lead over the Nuggets. Wouldn’t it be something if the Nuggets made yet another comeback from a 3-1 deficit?
The Lakers impressed tonight in two areas. One, they kept stifling Nuggets comebacks with tough defense and two, they absolutely dominate the offensive boards. The Lakers had so many second-chance points. It helped that Jokic got into foul trouble and missed too much of the 4th quarter as a result.
I’m still rooting for the Nuggets, but I doubt they can manage another 3-game comeback.
Forgot to mention the play of the game…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btg9CLNfoco
Freaking Jamal Murray is definitely the break-out star of these playoffs. When the Nuggets signed him to a max deal last summer, that kicks in next year, I wasn’t sure he was worth it. It is beginning to look like he will be well worth it.
As good as Iverson ever was in the playoffs. Seems like he does all the same things. Maybe better.
Great ball and body movement by Lakers for almost the entire 48 minutes. Rondo is setting them apart from the Nuggets – outstanding decision making. Keeping them focused and on pace. In 22 minutes 4-6 fg, 1-1 3fg, 7 ast, 5 rebs, 1 to
Nuggets seemed to forget to make sure Jokic was engaged early. Maybe worried a bit too much about foul trouble? Not sure how they can win that way when they need him in his groove down the stretch.
Really strong, complete game from the Celtics tonight. They played really great wing defense and constant ball movement on offense that got them a lot of good looks. They held Jimmy Buckets to just 11 shots and kept Herro in check. The Celtics didn’t shoot particularly well, but shot much better from the arc than the Heat and got far more 2nd chance points with all the offensive rebounds they got. If Tatum can get himself going in the 1st half, they’d be in a much better position to win. They overcame it tonight unlike the last game. Can they do it two more times?
I didn’t understand the Heat’s strategy last night if that’s what it was. It was great to get Butler looking for his shot early and often, but as good as Dragic is even against the Celtics D I don’t see how Dragic should ever be the #1 option when he’s the one guy on the Heat that allows Boston to settle into position. And why especially one game after Herro did just the opposite of Dragic by never letting them get settled?
It can’t be intended to keep to TOs down since the Heat had only 8 TOs in the previous “Herro Ball” game. In any case, the Heat went 7-36 3FG … some of that is Celtics D but the rest is hard to say. “Lackluster” is what I’d call the Heat’s performance last night.
My sisters aren’t really into sports, but my mom was. Last night they (2 of the 3 sisters) saw and heard how excited I was about the game and especially LeBron so they joined me to watch while making “mom noises” the whole time. And they got a full on tutorial on the NBA, The Brow, The Joker and this kid Murray that was hobbled (they felt very sorry for him and kept worrying if he was ok:-)
Of course I wasn’t expecting that they’d see THAT LeBron last night. I think they didn’t understand that “no, when someone shoots from out there it doesn’t always go in like that”.
The consensus was “Gosh, he makes it look so easy!”. Yep. It got me to thinking about KD and his game and whether they’ll be saying the same thing about him next year.
Which reminds me about all the chatter around Duncan Robinson and how he really is outstanding and even within the context of other great shooters. Specifically 4 of the greats that aren’t even in the playoffs this year …
Curry
KD
Booker
Beal
Lakers are a very good if not great team. I’m anticipating the finals happening earlier next year in the West Conf Finals. From what I’m seeing, and assuming Klay is ready for prime time, Warriors will be better than every team
except for the Lakers.
Didn’t see any games this weekend because of other things going on. I suspect in the finals that the AD/Adeboayo and LBJ/Butler match-ups will be fun to watch. The Heat are a deeper team beyond the top duos, but LBJ/AD is a better duo, so it could be a good series. I’ve got no rooting interest in the series.
Yep. LOTS going on. Not sure how I could find time for NBA without YouTube DVR. I’m probably able to watch about 15-25 minutes of each game which wouldn’t be possible if the games were earlier or later.
Still able to fit some things in like this and do my best to remember the few parts that I’ve watched.
2020. Sigh. As director of operations staffing THE biggest mail in ballot processor in the nation i meet tomorrow with the director of operations of the machines and operators of that very same company. I’ll be the guy getting him fired, so yeah … that and all the other things …
Heat will have no answer for Rondo though, and I can easily see a sweep with LeBron and Rondo insisting on it.
still, there’s LeBron vs. Jimmy. and you’re right about Brow vs. Bam. Bam will take center stage before the finals are over. he might be way better than any of us can guess. like Doncic and I suppose Herro the rate at which he’s improving is unexpected. and for that matter the play that convinced me the Celtics had no answers last night. Lakers will need to prep for this. I think it means a lot of Dwight and Davis on the court at the same time …
https://youtu.be/cpFB-d2BOYA?t=341
You called it. Doc Rivers has been fired by the Clippers. With Houston looking for a veteran coach, Doc will probably be on their shortlist. I’m guessing the 76ers will also consider him. As for the Clippers, would they promote Ty Lue to head coach? Lue will be on the radar of several other teams. Gotta figure that Warriors assistant Mike Brown and Lakers assistant Jason Kidd will get some interviews.
I wonder how serious Billups is about coaching. The Clippers coaching position has to be incredibly appetizing for anybody serious about imposing their will and style on a top tier contender.
This whole thing about Point Forwards … it’s exactly where the league is going. Even if Doncic is considered a PG he’s doing the same things as LeBron in the half court set. As is Butler. As is Jokic (plus 5 inches). As Siakam will be somewhere down the road. As Barrett and KD are expected to do in NY.
Who can coach point forwards best? Clippers have two of the best of them on the same team. Not sure but wouldn’t Balmer and West want someone like Billups for this kind of role? Who else?
Tim Legler’s commentary is consistently awesome. As good as any I’ve heard. Maybe the most aware NBA vet I’ve listened to ever. I’m sure he could coach well, but he’s a shooter scorer offense guy. What does he know about defense?
It’s a question that owners and GMs must ask all the time. Just because Legs wasn’t a good defender does it mean he didn’t understand defense? Who knows. I’m guessing that’s the answer and response to why we won’t see him in the league anytime soon.
Same with Nash. D’Antoni. or .. wait. umm ….
Basketball coaching is getting increasingly specialized like football coaching has been. Offensive-minded coaches usually have a top lieutenant on their staff that is defensive-minded. Ron Adams has been the defensive mastermind for Steve Kerr (with Jarron Collins beginning to take over that role as Adams semi-retires). Jeff Bzdelik filled that role for Mike D’Antoni. I assume Nash will hire a defensive wizard for his coaching staff. For a defensive-minded head coach like Tom Thibodeau, I would guess he will hire an offensive whiz for his coaching staff in New York.
Billy Donovan had Mo Cheeks as his defensive assistant in Oklahoma City. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Cheeks rejoin Donovan in Chicago, but Nash should give Mo a call.
In any event, if Legler is interested in coaching–I don’t know that he is given his top reputation for reporting and commenting on basketball–it wouldn’t be hard to pair him with a defensive assistant.
Maybe fun to stay on the Bam thing? It might be the most surprising topic going into next season. How good is he really, and if he’s THAT good what player in NBA history is he similar to?
I come up with nothing. Not Kemp. He’s better than Kemp. He does so much more on both ends than Kemp, even if Kemp was a better shooter (and he was). Who else compares?? Big Athletic dude. Puts the ball on the floor?? Almost always in control. Passes the rock with a good amount of care.
Stays in his wheelhouse though. Very careful to not slip outside of it.
Incredibly selfless for this type of player. Stoudemire is what I come up with, but STAT wasn’t nearly this good defensively. So .. is Bam going to be a defensive minded STAT??
That’s fricking scary.
The best comparison I can think for Bam–a tough, good 2-pt shooting, great defensive player, good passer–is Chris Webber, but Bam is already a better shooter than C-Webb was. There may be no true comparison for him.
No argument, but have to say incredibly impressive that you and I are mentioning Webber and Stoudemire and Bam is not only a better defender he’s potential excellent.
Still trying to figure out if the league has seen anything like him. Rodman + Ben Wallace on the defensive end maybe. Doubt he’ll be as good as Webb or STAT on the other end though. But if he way it would be via the air. Like well … webber and stat!
wait. bam BETTER shooter than cwebb?? can you support that?
if you can then this list is unexpected for me …
MIAMI
Butler
a slightly lesser lebron in almost all ways except one: more aggressive and faster when needed
Bam
can cover all Lakers big men AND move WELL on offense. demands double team or relent and foul him.
Robinson
one of best shooters ever
Herro
so scary that Lakers need to follow and watch him all game every game. He’s KD right now.
Dragic
this is the weakness. also he’s better than Kuz, Green, CDP, Smith, Waiters, Kief, McGee
So that’s good news for Miami?
Caruso
Rondo
Howard
All three of those. Just an outstanding makeup that smells of a champion. Extremely impressive personnel.
Just look at their shooting percentages:
Bam: .553 FG% (he’s been over .500 all 3 years) and .710 FT%
C-Webb: .479 FG% (he only shot over .500 in 3 of his 15 seasons) and .649 FT%
Neither shot much from the 3-pt arc. C-Webb took more shots, so scored more PPG than Adebayo, but I image that Bam’s shots per game will be going up in the future.
wow. agreed!
So right now, there are six NBA head coaching jobs open. Four of them fall into the playoff-caliber team looking to be champions category: Clippers, Rockets, 76ers, and Pacers. One falls into the rising young stars team looking to be a playoff team category: Pelicans. And the final one falls into the we don’t know, possible complete rebuild or possible look to remain a playoff team category: Thunder.
With the 4 teams looking to become champs, I suspect that they will look for a veteran coach maybe with a championship pedigree. Ty Lue, Mike D’Antoni, Doc Rivers, and Mike Brown all would fit this mold and you could throw in Mark Jackson and the Van Gundys as well. The Sixers are apparently hot for Doc and have talked with Lue & D’Antoni. Clippers already have Ty Lue on their staff and Mike Brown would make a lot of sense there too. The Rockets have talked with Lue. The Pacers are a bit of a wild card. They were initially looking at a lot of veteran assistant coaches, but D’Antoni has been mentioned and they are also reportedly considering Chauncey Billups. The Pacers could also decide to tear down a bit, trade Oladipo and build around younger players, in which case a star assistant coach could work.
For the rising star team, the Pelicans, they could go either way…a veteran coach or rising star assistant. Besides the 4 veteran coaches noted above, former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, former Kings coach Dave Joerger, and former Nets/Bucks coach Jason Kidd could fit here. Some assistants that merit consideration are Nuggets assistants Wes Unseld, Jr. and David Adelman, Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin, Mavs assistant Jamahl Mosley, Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, and Ime Udoka or Becky Hamm from the Spurs staff.
My guess is that the Thunder will trade Chris Paul (Milwaukee has been talked about as a possible landing spot for him) and go full rebuild this offseason with their treasure trove of upcoming draft picks. They should look to some of the top star assistants mentioned above to be their new head coach. No reason to waste huge money on a big name coach when the team will likely be out of the playoffs for the next several years.
First I’ve heard Hammon’s name. Has she announced something, or are there reports that she met with anyone? That tells me Duncan is even more likely than before to be the next coach of the Spurs.
btw – that brought a chuckle. i’ve often thought of Mia Hamm when trying to remember Becky Hammon’s name:-) from a distance they seem similar beyond just the name.
Just my opinion, but the Pels opening has to be appetizing to the most number of coaches available, or as appetizing as the Clippers job. I’m not saying most appetizing, but I’m guessing almost every one of those guys puts it in top 3 on their wish lists. Griffin is the guy I’d trust most as well. I think almost everyone on the list should be considered a candidate for the Pels job unless they’ve opted out for some reason.
I like your comments about the Pacers. They don’t need to restructure but why wouldn’t they? They’ve got talent with or without Oladipo. A LOT of teams want an Oladipo and would be willing to take a chance if he passed a physical in flying form (can he do that? I bet he will once he needs to – will never count that guy out of anything ever again). All these teams should take a chance on him: Raptors, Philly, Charlotte, Warriors (why not?), Cleveland. Probably others. At the right price why not?
No idea to make of what’s going on in OKC. Agree Paul will probably be traded.
Hah! Yeah, I must have Mia Hamm’s last name on my mind when I meant Hammon. In any event, I haven’t heard any rumors about her getting interviews, just noting that she has a long-enough and respected resume to merit consideration.
Didn’t take Doc Rivers long to move on. The Sixers hired Doc on a five-year contract to be their next coach. The deal is strictly to be the coach with no front office role like he had in LA. Rumors are that Alvin Gentry is in line to be his top assistant. That’s a pretty formidable top of the coaching staff. Let’s see if they can maximize the talent of Embiid and Simmons.
Just now realized how much is on Butler’s shoulders and wondering if it even fazes him. Now that most guys on both teams are fairly known commodities I’m not sure that’s true of butler. Seems like a wildcard to me.
Just over an hour before tipoff and thinking “this could be an awesome game!”. I doubt it will be boring. Both teams will score.
There will be even more on Butler’s shoulders if the injuries to Dragic and Adebayo cause them to miss games. If that happens, this series is effectively over. That would be a real shame.
So Dragic suffered a torn plantar fascia. It is possible to play with the injury, but you can’t expect him to be as effective. No word yet on whether he will play game 2. Adebayo has a left shoulder strain, which he also dealt with in the Celtics series. He is expected to play in game 2, but we’ll see if the injury affects his play at all. Butler, who rolled his ankle in game 1 but continued to play, said his ankle is sore, but that he will be playing. I don’t like the Heat’s chances.
Bam didn’t play. That’s 100% of my thoughts on game 2.
Yep. Without Bam, there was no stopping AD (a ridiculous 8 offensive rebounds) and LBJ.
Where has the Butler been? That Butler could make this series interesting.
my gut tells me that was equal parts human nature (i.e. Lakers relaxing). sorry Heat. That wasn’t the same Lakers team. I’m not sure if any aspect of the Lakers game was as good as it was in game 2.
of course, bam could change a few things. stay tuned!
The Lakers definitely did not play as well, though perhaps in part to great defensive work by Butler and others. AD, in particular, played poorly after looking like the series MVP in games 1 and 2. There also should never be a game when AD takes less than 10 shots. Really hope Adebayo plays tonight.
Lakers championship 2020 – Summary Part 1 (pre-champ)
Season started with Kuzma disappointing and months went by knowing he wasn’t going to be the #3 guy nor would LeBron + AD be enough. Great hopes were placed on Rondo – that he’d be ready to go come playoff time. Also that KCP could be solid enough to remain in the lineup. Bradley … a smaller non-scoring defender
wasn’t what the Lakers needed to win a championship. Bradley would help but not what would be needed to win it all. In short, the Lakers weren’t good enough to win.
Kief Morris
Rondo
Caruso
This is why the Lakers will be champs this year. It’s been a team effort in the bubble and while that’s partly because of LeBron being LeBron the leader and inspiration, those three guys are playing championship basketball. This Lakers team has great all around chemistry. Some flaws due to the inexperience of Kuzma and inconsistency of KCP & Green, but as long as Rondo stays Rondo and they can hold onto Kief and Caruso they’ll be contenders for some time. Am looking forward to the Warriors-Lakers games next year!
Granted, Adebayo and Dragic getting hurt put a bigger load and pressure on the rest of the non-Butler Heat players, but there has been a noticeable drop-off by most of them. Herro was a big star earlier in the playoffs, but has been pretty ordinary and has not been shooting well in the finals. Until the last game, Robinson had pretty much disappeared. Crowder shot pretty well in the first two games, but lost his touch in the last two games. Crowder seemingly gets worse with each passing game. Iggy didn’t playing a whole lot the last 2 games and doesn’t look like he can handle LBJ on defense anymore.
Going into the series, I thought the Heat had a deeper team. But they haven’t been playing like it and, as you astutely pointed out, Lakers not named LBJ or AD have been rising to the occasion. The Heat losing Dragic looks like it was a bigger loss than we might have expected. Dragic is a calm, reliable, and solid presence for the Heat offense. In his absence, I think Herro and Robinson are trying to do too much and their play looks to be suffering as a result. I suspect this series will be over after Game 5.
Even though I know Dragic’s game well and don’t think he’s the right guy for the Heat going forward, I think you’re spot on that without him they have a huge problem mainly for two reasons: First, Duncan Robinson is slow. Regardless of his ability to defend he’s just slow at every aspect of the game. Dragic is fast at everything and could obviously be shooting as well or better than Robinson. Second and more obvious, Nunn isn’t a decision maker. I didn’t realize that until this week. Can’t have someone like that playing PG.
Sad that it might come down to that: a single injury to your #3 or 4 guy which could result in ousting the in Heat in 5 games when this should be at least a 6 game series.
Dragic alone could be preventing Rondo and Caruso from waltzing into the lane the way they have been.