The 2022 NBA playoffs begin Sat Apr 16. First round matchups are as follows …
East:
(1) Heat vs. (8) Hawks
(2) Celtics vs. (7) Nets
(3) Bucks vs. (6) Bulls
(4) 76ers vs. (5) Raptors
West:
(1) Suns vs. (8) Pelicans
(2) Grizzlies vs. (7) Wolves
(3) Warriors vs. (6) Nuggets
(4) Mavericks vs (5) Jazz
One week in the playoffs are shaping up as follows with these being the top stories …
1. Booker has a hamstring pull putting the Suns’s first round hopes to the test just as the 8th place Pelicans surge without Zion suited up. Pelicans have played outstanding defense in their first 2 games vs. Suns, and between McCollum and Ingram there appears to be scoring when they need it as well. Right now (before the 3rd game) this series is almost a toss up as long as Booker is out. The Suns should still have the edge, because of depth and overall talent especially in the middle.
2. Nets are losing 0-2 to the Celtics who have looked scary-good defensively in their first 2 games in Boston. Nets have had their chances though, with Kyrie doing his thing and Drummond looking like an immovable force down low when he’s in. But KD hasn’t shot well, and it’s clear that Boston is the reason for that. Even he says so! The series comes to Brooklyn for the 3rd game however and Simmons is expected to suit up for his first game after that. Regardless, the Celtics look incredible and will be very hard to beat. Nets are one team that can do it though. Must watch TV!
3. The Wolves can score as well as any team in the NBA. It’s early, and that statement is only true in theory right now but it’s already clear that playing the Wolves well defensively may not make a bit of difference if they can score in bunches the way that they have. And they defend too! Still, they’re young and make mistakes but it appears they have what’s needed to make this first series close vs. Grizzlies who haven’t quite figured them out yet even with the series in the Grizz favor 2-1 so far.
4. Tyrese Maxey has arrived. He’s arguably the Sixers best player right now, and not because Embiid has played poorly but rather because Maxey has been so active at both ends he’s dictating how the games have gone so far. Scottie Barnes has been out for 2 games however, and the Raptors have shown signs of life. However, between Harden’s assisting and everyone else kicking in at both ends the Sixers are seemingly on their way to the 2nd round.
5. Jalen Brunson is playing outstanding ball and leading the Mavs against the Jazz with Doncic out. Mavs look deep, and it’s especially impressive that they can beat a team with a huge rebounder/shot blocker/defender in Gobert. Dinwiddie has been impressive as well. Doncic expected back soon from his short time out, but he may not be needed at all until the second round.
6. Warriors are playing exactly as they should be playing vs. Nuggets and exactly as one might expect if they had been watching all season. That’s why I have them at #6 here: it’s no surprise that Poole has improved after playing all season. It’s no surprise that Green is running the offense as well as he did earlier in the season. Curry is also playing as expected albeit off the bench now that Poole has played so well in the starting lineup. MAYBE Klay Thompson’s shooting % is a surprise but it shouldn’t be. Klay is being Klay.
7. Chicago has shown some life vs the Bucks and has made that series exciting, but even with Middleton out for several games with an MCL sprain it shouldn’t keep the Bucks from moving onto the 2nd round in 6 games tops. Portis had an eye injury that took him out of the loss two days ago, but he’s due back which is big while Middleton sits out the rest of the series.
8. Capela was injured prior to the playoffs beginning, but with Miami hitting on all cylinders I don’t see how it matters. The Heat are incredibly deep and have played well at both ends. Capela *might* be back before the end of the series, so we’ll see then if he can make a difference. In any case Butler could be mentioned as the current “best player in the NBA” right now, but until he shows that he can put up huge numbers consistently I’ll leave him off the list. Butler has scored 96 points on 55%+ FG in their 3-0 series vs. Hawks.
266 thoughts on “2022 NBA Playoffs ”
Few notes about Warriors – Nuggets game 1:
Dubs did two things to make Jokic less effective. On defense, they singled him with Draymond and Looney and basically made him a less effective passer that way. Jokic got his points, but Dubs did well to shut others down. On offense, the Dubs continually attacked Jokic, screening him on to the ball handler or attacking him in the paint. Clearly, they were trying to make Jokic work and tire him out as much as possible. The Joker only had 2 fourth quarter points.
On the Dubs side, they basically put the game in Jordan Poole’s hands. He had most minutes and easily the most points, going 5-7 from 3-pt line. Wiggs had a quietly effective game, getting 16 points, but more so with really good defense. Curry only played 21 minutes and looked a little rusty. As long as the Warriors keep winning, they may be content to keep Curry on limited minutes in this series as he shakes off the rust.
One more thing to add. Dubs took control of Game 1 in the last 6 minutes of the 2nd quarter when they debuted their new death line-up of Curry, Poole, Thompson, Wiggins, and Green. This was the line-up I predicted would eventually be used and the Dubs absolutely crushed the Nuggets with that group on the floor. They just put that unit on the floor in game 2, again at the 6 minute mark of the 2nd quarter and it looks like they’re doing it again.
OK, second thing to add. Jordan Poole has arrived as a Steph clone. Doesn’t fully have the complete package, but damn, the highlights from last night are good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybtYmu-qRtY
It’s not just the shots, but look at the assists as well. Particularly the ones that start at the 58 second mark, the 1:30 mark, the 2:10 mark, the 3:27 mark, and 3:42 mark. Hell, that’s 5 of his 8 assists from the game and all show incredible vision and skill. Some of the shots are pretty great too and a couple of good steals. Dubs have a team option on Poole next year, but he will clearly be seeking a big contract extension that I don’t think the Warriors can afford to not give him.
Poole is the Maxey of the West: the quintessential example of how a glut of young NBA talent *must* result in a few players not being well known because they haven’t done it often enough yet on the big stage. Two reasons for that at least I think: they’re young so they haven’t been there yet, and they had to wait their turns while older guys got more touches and more time of possession.
I suppose Brunson could fit here as well, but Poole has been so consistently good even Brunson isn’t as impressive.
Maxey and Poole are scarier though, in that no one can know what their playoffs’ ceiling is. Either one could average 30+ for the rest of the playoffs now and I don’t think anyone would be surprised. If you’re a Sixers fan hopefully that includes Harden as well, since he no longer has any reason to hold the ball around the arc anymore. Imagine if Steph did that with Poole just standing there wondering what to do.
Not surprised that the Nuggets were able to win a game, but it took big games from Morris, Gordon, and Hyland in addition to the Joker’s usual excellence and, even then, they just barely eked out in the end. I give them credit for not folding as the Dubs were coming back and tied it late in the 4th, but I think that’s all they get. Warriors are back home for game 5 and I think they finish it off.
As expected, the Warriors finished off the Nuggets tonight, but really good effort by the Nuggets. Surprisingly, it was Young Glove who not only played his usual great defense–Steve Kerr kept him in for the whole 4th quarter because his defense was making a difference–but who hit a couple of key late 3-pointers, one of which basically iced the game. Now the Dubs wait to see if they get the Grizz or the T-Wolves. Both could provide some matchup problems for them.
Ha. Just woke up and realized I completely forgot this game was played last night. Mainly because I wasn’t planning on watching it. I really doubted that there was any reason to watch any more of that series:-)
But the Dubs second round series? Oh yeah – this will be fun.
Gonna start some threads on other series. First up, Suns v. Pelicans. Game 1 was probably closer than it should have been thanks to a big 3rd period for the Pels, but Chris Paul was phenomenal in the 4th quarter to put it away. Really solid defense by the Suns, holding the Pels to 38% shooting. However, they’ve got to do something about keeping Valanciunas off the glass. 13 offensive rebounds and 25 rebounds overall gave the Pels a lot of 2nd chance opportunities. I’d bet that Ayton and McGee have been watching a lot of Valanciunas film as the coaches school them on dealing with the big Lithuanian. I suspect, however, this series will be over in 4 games.
I think I jinxed the Suns. Their defense wasn’t as good (Pels shot around 55% overall and from arc), Booker suffers a hammy injury, and they head to New Orleans with a game apiece. Don’t know how bad Book’s hamstring is, but if he misses significant time, that is obviously really bad news for the Suns.
The initial reports, after an MRI today, are that Booker will miss at least games 3 and 4 of this series with the Pelicans and will then be reevaluated. Really bad news for the Suns.
Saw some clarifying reports. Booker has not been declared out for games 3 and 4, but is currently considered “unlikely” for those games.
Today’s reports say that Booker has a grade 1 hamstring strain. Typical recovery time is 2-3 weeks. I think the Suns should be able to get by the Pelicans without Booker and then hopefully get him back in time for the next series.
I hadn’t realized that he has a history of this. Usually that’s a bad thing, but in this case not as bad because he’ll know it if he strains it even slightly again.
What a shot in the arm it would be, though, if the Suns get to the next round (I assume vs. the Mavs?) without Booker and with him coming back in the 2nd or 3rd game.
The reports during tonight’s Dubs’ game were that Booker may return as soon as Game 6 of the Pelicans series and, if not, likely game 7 (if it goes that far).
Suns got Booker back, a big game from CP3, and polished off the Pelicans. They’ll get 3 days off until they face the Mavs on Monday, so Book will get a little rest after playing 32 minutes tonight.
I was going to look this up but maybe you already have:
In the playoffs, has any PG ever gone 14-14 (100%) or better?
Guess this answers it. Historical.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33823744/chris-paul-perfect-night-field-helps-phoenix-suns-close-new-orleans-pelicans-advance-second-round-nba-playoffs
Unfortunately I had a high school friend with me that was equally excited about that game last night so … lots of partying and I can’t remember a whole lot. But I do remember some things well …
Most important I don’t think Ayton is a Max player even though he will probably get a Max contract. His defense was terrible last night. Really weak. He needs to move his feet faster if he wants to be a Max player IMO.
Booker’s game was excellent, because I assumed he would do worse than Klay did his first game back. I think he did well enough to establish that he’s back and ready to go to the next level.
Bridges. Not that impactful early on, but super solid after that. I’m starting to have trouble comparing him to other great defensive players. Maybe Gary Payton, but Bridge’s wingspan is much greater than Payton’s I think. He’s also more careful than Payton. Could he be Shane Battier like?
I know it’s too late now, but my GM of the year goes to David Griffin who’s be playing the wolf in sheep’s clothing for so long now I think everyone (me included) assumed he was engaged in nothing other than persistent damage control while simply waiting for Zion to grow up and get healthy. But now he looks frickin loaded with one of the most well rounded teams in the league, an outstanding coach, BIG TIME dedication to lock down and constant movement defense and of course the excellent shooting and scoring of his stars. Griffin arguably has at least 3 highly underrated scorers that can also defend and that appear to be leading by great example. Meanwhile there is no longer any need for him to tie his hopes to Zion who, for the first time in my opinion, can be traded in the off season with what’s certainly going to be a glut of offers that can get him at least two very solid players able to turn the Pels into a contender. Imagine Zion + an expensive contract to Detroit for at least Bey and Jerami Grant (if they can afford him). Just one idea among many possible.
Mikal Bridges just saved Jae Crowder from also getting tossed from the game. Crowder was going hard after Jaxon Hayes, who deservedly got a flagrant 2 for his forearm knocking Crowder down. Crowder got a technical, I guess, for heading after Hayes and threatening him. But Bridges’ quick thinking and running after Crowder to keep him from getting to Hayes was smart.
I didn’t see the game and assume you did, so I look forward to what you have to say about it. However, how does Chris Paul only put up 8 shots for only 4 points? Were the Pelicans keyed on him defensively? Ayton continues to put up very good, efficient scoring numbers, but Valanciunas continues to put up impressive scoring and rebounding numbers for the Pels. Is Ayton too slight to handle Valanciunas defensively and on the boards? I guess the good news for the Suns is that their next opponent–assuming they still manage to hold off the Pelicans–is also in a dogfight of a series. Neither the Mavs or Jazz will get to rest up before facing the Suns.
First comment probably seems obvious: Suns need to win the title this year IMO, because even if they continue to improve as they have I believe the Pels will be right there with the Warriors and Grizz as best in the West next year while the Nuggets and Suns end up sitting right behind them. Of course if Kawhi comes back the Clipps need to be considered atop the West as well as the Warriors, Pels and Grizz.
I realize that’s an extreme opinion that requires some detailed assumptions. Mostly I’m assuming the Suns keep Ayton. I’d much rather he be signed and traded somewhere. I don’t know for whom, but looking around the league there seem to be plenty of options albeit not as tall. On the other hand, Suns should have plenty of suitors for Ayton. In any case, if Suns don’t win this year pressure is on the get CP3 a title asap and Ayton simply isn’t improving quickly enough to make that happen.
FWIW, I suppose my main point is this: to get the title Ayton needs to be able to help keep Theis, Freak, Draymond, Robert Williams, Adebayo from Valancuinas-ing him. I don’t see that happening now that everyone saw how easy it was to exploit Ayton’s clumsy footing. Maybe he needs to get himself to ballet school in the off season.
Mavericks and Jazz will likely come down to whether Doncic comes back in this series. Mavs already dropped one home game and now the series shifts to Utah. Mavs are the better team with Doncic. Without him, Utah should win the series. The Mavs won’t get many 40-pt games from Brunson or 8 of 11 3-pt shooting games from Kleber to win games without Luka.
Latest reports say the Mavs are ‘optimistic” that Luka will return for either game 3 or game 4. He is officially “questionable” for game 3.
I listened to Brunson’s (looooonnnnggg) interview last night after game 3. He’s more than confident – he seems to be well aware that he can do this anytime the Mavs want to let him. Don’t have to read into it too deeply to understand he means that Doncic is the reason the media doesn’t know how good he is. So things get interesting when Doncic returns, because the Mavs have changed now and Luka needs to hold the ball less often to keep Brunson engaged. I think the Mavs have been consistently moving in that direction anyhow, but I believe this accelerates it.
I assume Jason Kidd is watching videos of Booker and Paul to see how Booker works his stuff with Paul always available to share the ball. Could work well, but eventually they’ll run into a deeper team like the Suns or Warriors who I assume will outlast them.
It looked like the Jazz response to Brunson’s big games was to pick him up full court and both make him work just to get up court and give him less time to set things up once he got to the front court. Seemed to work in the 1st half, but Mavs adjusted or Jazz got tired in the 2nd half. Of course, with Doncic back, Brunson wasn’t doing as much ball-handling anyway.
Gotta wonder if the Jazz forgot that Conley is a PG. Mitchell does the bulk of the ball-handling and the rest of the team sits around the perimeter with Gobert waiting in the paint, while Mitchell does his one-on-one thing. They are incredibly boring to watch. I’d like to see Conley with the ball and more motion in their offense. They eked out the win, but I can’t see them winning the series now that Doncic is back.
Mitchell’s usage and usage rate puzzles me, mostly because he doesn’t seem to improve in the ways Snyder might have been hoping. With these great ball handlers in Clarkson and Conley on the team, I had assumed there would be much better ball movement and decision making from Mitchell, but instead we have a coach who seems to want his “star” to keep believing he’s Kobe Bryant.
The comparison’s to Wade are so ridiculous. There’s something backwards about the comparisons even. Wade was extremely careful with the ball, knew where his teammates were always, and methodically *helped* to work the ball to where his team had the best scoring options. I don’t know what the hell Mitchell is doing or what Snyder is thinking, but it isn’t that. Mitchell plays with blinders on through significant stretches. I can’t remember Wade ever doing that.
What’s worse and sad even, before he’s even 22 years old Ant Edwards seems to have surpassed Mitchell at the same game in almost all facets. Granted Edwards is bigger, but the roles are the same on the their respective teams and even though Edwards is still raw and sometimes careless with the ball, he looks for teammates and finds them often enough to be much more effective at moving the ball and being in the right position than Mitchell.
I have to believe that at least a couple players on the Jazz get very frustrated with Mitchell. Bogdanovic and Conley in particular. The good news, I think, is that now they have Ainge and probably Wade making the bigger decisions. Bad news is that whatever the answer is, it will probably take years before they’re a competitor in the West again.
There’s been talk that even though Mitchell signed a big extension with the Jazz, he really wants out and wants to go to the Knicks. He grew up in the New York metro area and the Knicks were apparently his favorite team growing up. Given that he doesn’t seem to be making a lot of progress, the Jazz ought to see if they can fleece the Knicks in a trade. Maybe trade Gobert while they are at it and completely rebuild around some new talent.
Agreed!
Grizzlies and T-Wolves is probably the best first round series in the West. Grizz are deeper, but T-Wolves top 2 of KAT and Antman are better than Ja and Brooks. KAT just killed Steven Adams in game 1 and is far too mobile and athletic for Adams to deal with. Grizz might be better off bringing Adams off the bench and starting Jackson at center with Zaire Williams at PF. KAT will still do damage against Jackson, but Jackson would be better able to keep up with him. I’m not sure what the Grizz do with Edwards. Maybe just hope that Ja and Antman cancel each other out. Tough call here, but I’ll say Grizz in 7 games.
KAT has been so surprisingly impressive. People want to call him soft the way they did David Robinson, but I never saw Robinson be nearly as physical and quick and tough around the basket like KAT. He should get the Wolves at least one more game by keeping JJJ out with foul trouble (assuming KAT can weather his own PF storm).
Edwards is doing what he does, and with a few more games to go in this series I expect him to get better. But D’Lo has impressed me more in that he’s under control in a way I didn’t expect. He’s delegating well, doesn’t panic and plays defense well enough. Of course the main reasons the Wolves even have a chance is their impressive defensive effort and talent to go with it. The 3pt shots have been great of course, but the ability to shut the Grizz down completely for long stretches is strange to watch coming from a Wolves team? Not since Garnett was there, and even then they weren’t great defensively beyond him.
I’m reading through the comments and glad I read this and thought about it again. D’Lo was very good in stretches. I thought he showed very good judgement, played D and helped set a good pace for a few games. Later he seemed to become a bit more reckless. In a handful of big moments he took scoring chances when it probably would have been better for him to pass. He should probably be further along than that. He’s good but I think their main ball handler should be someone else.
Maybe just stating the obvious there.
In the Eastern Conference, Nets and Celts is obviously the marquee series and is another one that either team could win. Tatum’s last second game-winner managed to give the Celtics the early lead in the series, but they were playing at home and one eked out a 1-pt win. They won, in part, because of a bad night for KD–poor shooting and 6 TOs–that is unlikely to happen again, no matter how good Tatum’s defense is on him. Tonight’s game will be a key for the Celts. If they can manage another win on their home floor and go to Brooklyn up 2-0, that will be a considerable onus on the Nets at home. If Nets manage to grab a game in Boston though, the pressure will be on the Celtics. Because of KD and Kyrie, I’m still going to pick the Nets, in 7 games, but I’m hardly confident of that.
Simmons is reportedly making progress and could appear in a game soon for the Nets. Seems unlikely that he would get big minutes anytime soon, but he could make a defensive impact for a pretty weak Nets defense.
Watching the first two games of the Nets-Celtics series, it is easy to see why the Celts are the best defensive team in the league. I’ve never seen a team handle KD this well, just swarming him from all angles all the time. Clearly, they have decided they are not going to let KD beat them and so far the rest of the team hasn’t stepped up enough. Still, all the Celts have done so far is hold their home court advantage. Nets have a couple of days to figure out how to hold their home court and get back to Boston with a tied series.
I agree and with all this, and for that reason this is the one series I’m trying to watch all the way through. There are a couple reasons for that starting with knowing that no one shuts KD down ever so if I don’t watch the next few games I’ll miss his ‘response’. The other reason is an unexpected ‘finding’ I’ve apparently made wrt the imbalance of sports betting due to geographical differences in the origin of those bets as well as the fledgling makeup of possibly hundreds of thousands of bettors. Many of those bettors have no clue how to manage their ‘investments’. I’m seeing a distinct pattern while using my cellphone fanduel app (which is illegal to use in CA) which hints that when a team from a big market plays there are massively wild betting swings which lead to absurd betting conditions for a few moments in those games. And betting using fanduel is legal in NY so you can imagine the kinds of $$ moving in and out of fanduel when the Nets play and the score fluctuates as it has (and in a couple other series as well).
This series has all eyes on it as well, so the # of us with our fanduel apps ready to go while watching it is enormous and as long as clueless young people and addicts are betting I’m locked in. One assumption I’m making is that as people use fanduel for the first time and see how well they CAN do they get hooked and start betting on all the games. And so they lose money and get even more hooked as they try to win it back which is very hard to do if you’re a clueless kid or an addict.
Betting heavily on the Wolves is one of those clueless kinds of things. Yesterday over the course of about 3 minutes I saw the betting odds skyrocket against the Grizz in the first quarter. It ended with with a $10 bet on the Gizz returning $110 if they won, but it’s better than that: even if the Grizz don’t win you can cashout your bet before the end of the game. Which is what I’m doing mostly: cashing out my bets before the ends of games as I watch clueless bettors virtually giving me their $$. Tomorrow should be a fun betting day for me:-)
I know you’re not a gambler, but this is the kind of thing that’s possible with fanduel, at least it is for now …
I made 10 bets (most of them very small) on the Grizz in the 1st Q of yesterday’s game as I watched the betting odds skyrocket. By the time the quarter was over I had about $120 bets that I knew for certain ( literally) I could cash out for half of that before the half if I was someone who panics. Instead I held on and sold everything long before the Grizzlies ever had a lead, probably around the start of the 4th Q. I turned the $120 into $460 before the end of the game, and the Grizz didn’t even have to win for me to make the $$. I believe it’s possible because most people were betting on the Wolves and cashed out of their bets at the worst time.
Woj is reporting that Robert Williams is expected to return from his injury in game 3. It will probably be for limited minutes, but it potentially makes the Celtics defense even better.
Nets are in serious trouble. The Celtics have been playing unbelievable defense on KD for the entire series, but there is just no way that KD should end a playoff game with only 11 shots. I don’t know if that is a failure of coaching or a failure of KD, but the iso offense that the Nets run through KD and Kyrie does not work against this Celtics defense. At this rate, the Celts are going to sweep the Nets.
A TNT announcer–Stan Van Gundy maybe?– just described Tatum as being 6’10”, which is several inches bigger than I’ve ever heard before. I checked Basketball Reference and they have him listed as 6’8″. Tatum has long length, but he ain’t that tall. Not sure why the announcer would think that.
Really surprised that the Nets couldn’t even take one game in this series. Being both a poor defensive team and facing the best defensive team in the league was perhaps a really poor match-up for the Nets. Celtics just put DPOY Marcus Smart on Kyrie and Tatum on KD with some swarming help and basically dared the rest of the Nets to do something about it. A healthy Ben Simmons will help the defense next year, but the Nets won’t be a shoo-in. My guess is that Steve Nash loses his job as he was thoroughly outcoached in this series. Perhaps an experienced coach can get something better out of this group.
Almost a week later it’s still hard to process.
The top-seeded Heat got an unneeded break when Capela got injured in the play-in game against the Cavs. The Heat are a deep, deep team and it didn’t hurt that Duncan Robinson was playing in god mode in game 1. This should be an easy 4-0 series for the Heat.
Apparently Capela is out again tonight vs Heat. Really sucks as the Hawks do really well when they can rotate him in and out with their other bigs. It’s been a huge loss at both ends. I hope they win tonight regardless so they can have him ready with a chance at winning the series later.
Kyle Lowry suffered a hamstring injury late in the 3rd quarter and did not return to the game. That loss made a big fourth quarter difference as the Hawks came back from 8 points behind to win by one. The Heat will adjust and I expect them to win game 4 and the series even if it is without Lowry. But they’ll need him back to beat the 76ers, Bucks, and/or Celtics as the playoffs progress.
The Bucks vs. Bulls series is likely another 4-0 series. Without Lonzo Ball creating, the Bulls dropped from first in the East to 6th and have been forced to put Alex Caruso in the starting line-up. Caruso is a good, scrappy player, but he’s the guy you bring off the bench for 15-18 minutes a game to provide some energy, not a starter. Both teams do a good job defensively, but Bulls just don’t have the firepower to match the Freak, Middleton, and Holiday.
Bucks-Bulls kind of mirrors the Suns-Pels series. Key player, this time Middleton, gets hurt and team drops game 2 at home. Unfortunately for the Bucks, this injury looks like it is a little more serious as they announced that Middleton has a sprained MCL. Typically, the recovery time is 2-4 weeks, so Middleton will likely miss the rest of the series with the Bulls.
I haven’t been able to see the Bucks vs. Bulls games, but Milwaukee has responded well to Middleton’s injury and winning both games in Chicago. Bobby Portis and Grayson Allen have both had good games it appears. Meanwhile, Zach LaVine tested positive for COVID and will miss today’s game. Looks like it is over for the Bulls, but the Bucks will have their hands full with the Celtics, especially if Middleton is missing some or all of that series.
This brings us to the 76ers vs. Raptors series. Raps caught a bad break when likely ROY Scottie Barnes got his ankle stepped on in Game 1. They weren’t likely to win the series anyway, as they have no one that can guard Embiid effectively. However, with Barnes, I think they would have won a game or two in Toronto. Without him, this is another boring Eastern Conference series that may finish 4-0.
Apparently Embiid injured a thumb in the last game and may have a torn ligament. However, he is planning to play through it.
It’s a huge story. With Barnes back and Embiid in obvious pain I don’t see Sixers winning this game. Back in Philly up 3-1 I don’t see Embiid playing in that game at least much and I assume Raptors win that one as well. Can Raptors win game 6 though. We will see!
Well … Van Vleet is having issues also. Hip problems I guess. Not sure what to think about this series now.
Yeah, Embiid didn’t look right all game. The Sixers said that they will do an MRI on his right thumb when they return to Philly. I can’t see Toronto winning 3 more straight games even if the Sixers are without Embiid for the rest of this series.
Oh! I’m almost certain Raptors win the series if Embiid is out, but that also depends on Barnes’ and Van Vleet’s health. Even if one of them is out, I still have Raptors winning 3 more games. Probably not if both are having health issues though.
But again … we will see!
Excellent. I’m not far behind you with commentary and recaps. Mostly about other series. Regarding Warriors there are no words. warriors = shot making + near perfect execution at both ends. Kerr is living the dream.
Mostly on my mind is Zion. The less I hear about him the more I’m convinced he’ll play at least one game v Suns. Great news there is that Suns now have McGee and Biyombo just in case Crowder and Craig get deep into foul trouble. Bad news is that it may not matter, unless Zion is limited to less than 12 minutes.
The Hornets have fired head coach James Borrego after four seasons. This season was the first of those four seasons where the Hornets finished with a winning record and that was despite losing LaMelo Ball for a long stretch. Frankly, GM Mitch Kupchak should be the one fired. Giving a huge contract to the oft-injured Gordon Hayward hasn’t worked out well. Other than LaMelo, his drafting hasn’t worked out too well. I guess you count Miles Bridges as a draft success, but he drafted and traded SGA to get him. I think I’d rather have SGA. With Becky Hammon leaving San Antonio, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Borrego back on the Spurs bench with Pop again.
Looks like you got to it first. Yes, Borrego was clearly not the issue and possible the firing could be a sign of more changes to come. The Hayward contract is silly of course, but then so is the choice to make Oubre a significant part of your team and culture. LaMelo, as great as he’s likely to be, isn’t the leader he could be and for that matter who is on that team? The good news though is that building around LaMelo will be easy whether it takes 2 years or 6 years. But first they need more talent in the frontcourt. I assume they already have a coach in mind who is ready for a fairly long process (at least 3 years) to help prep the talent they’ll need to sign to get there.
Coaching vacancy in Charlotte. OK, so here we go! Jay Wright is a white man. Jordan can’t hire a white man immediately without interviewing others likely NOT named Mark Jackson.
Funny you mention Jay Wright as that was the first name that popped into my head as well. I’m not sure Wright would be a good hire though. 60+ long-time college coaches, who have dealt with nothing other than, essentially, teenagers who need molding, typically don’t do well with strong-willed young men. The only way it works is if you’ve got a star veteran who buys in to what the coach is selling and influences the rest of the team to follow. The Hornets really don’t have that player. For that reason, I could see Wright hired by the Lakers if LBJ wants him and buys in. However, i suspect that LBJ has some other coach in mind.
The absolute last place I expect to see Wright is LA. He’s an up and coming coach (if he decides on an NBA career) and the Lakers don’t have a chance in hell of sniffing a championship for many years. I fully expect LBJ to be on some other team before the end of next season, but if not it means they’re going to try more of this long-in-the-tooth veterans experiment with no success as about 8 teams in the west get better. The league is speeding past them and there’s no way for them to catchup anytime in what’s left of LBJ’s career. I feel strongly that he can’t win a championship with the Lakers again.
But Wright could do better than the Hornets I agree. Unless there are discussions of him having more than just a coaching role with them and putting him in charge of player acquisitions, scouting and development. As I mentioned LaMelo is among the best players possible for building a team around and there are a lot of trade possibilities for players and picks this offseason.
Here’s a funny possibility … swapping out one Whitey in Nash for another Whitey in Wright. If the Nets lose that is. Which would all be insanely stupid given the challenges Nash has had to deal with and the success he’s had regardless of those challenges.
I don’t expect Nash to be fired. I also wonder if Wright would even want that job anyhow. Who wants to ‘coach’ Kyrie?
The 76ers are done. Joel Embiid suffered a broken orbital bone in his skull and concussion in the waning moments of their series win over the Raptors. They haven’t said how long he will be out, but can’t imagine him playing at all in their upcoming series with the Heat. The Heat have some injury problems of their own with both Butler and Lowry dealing with small, nagging issues, but if the Sixers are without Embiid, they lose this series.
Just hearing about how stupid it was that Embiid was even in the game when he got injured. Sixers were up 29 with 3 and 1/2 minutes left in the game when Embiid got hurt. If Morey needed a reason to fire Rivers whenever their season is done, Doc just handed it to him. Really, really stupid to have any starters still in the game at that point.
So after the 1st round of the playoffs, the top 4 seeds in each conference have advanced. Quick predictions on each match-up:
1. Suns v. Mavericks – with Booker back, Mikal Bridges defending Luka, and more manageable big men for Ayton to guar, I’m gonna say Suns in 5.
2. Grizzlies v. Warriors – Memphis is one team that can run with the Dubs, but I think the Warriors’ experience and superior shooting win out in the end. Gonna take Golden State in 6 games.
3. Heat v. 76ers – no Embiid, no problem for the Heat. Miami in 5 games.
4. Celtics v. Bucks – this could be the best series of the conference semi-finals, but with no Middleton and Boston’s great defense, the Celtics win in 7.
While the Suns might be able to keep Luka in check, and maybe even tame Brunson a bit, their front line has no way of containing the combination of Finney-Smith and Powell. Finney-Smith because he’s quicker than anyone that might cover him with the possible exception of Craig. Powell because if Ayton is the one trying to keep him off the boards he’ll need to start moving his plodding feet much more quickly than he has been.
Of course I hope the Suns solve Ayton’s defensive slowness somewhat, or that McGee helps out a lot more this series. Regardless I’m guessing that series goes at least 6 games.
Meant to add that because of what I’ve written above I believe this will be a high scoring series with Finney-Smith playing a sort of Ceballos/Marion role where no one can keep him from cleaning up around the board, likely leading to he and Powell winning the offensive board battle handily. Unless Williams wants to play Ayton and McGee at the same time but that leaves holes elsewhere. Personally I’m hoping to see a lot of minutes for McGee and Craig at the expense of Crowder and Ayton. I’m looking forward to seeing what Williams comes up with.
Bucks vs. Celtics: really surprised that the Bucks went in and stole game 1. However, between their defense and the Freak being the Freak, they managed it. Celtics played really good defense as well, but their offense had trouble getting into the paint and they weren’t shooting the 3-ball well. Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo was repeatedly attacking the basket and when the inevitable double and triple teams came, was passing out to wide-open teammates. I’m guessing the Bucks’ coaching staff saw something in the way the Celtics play defense that caused them to decide to run the offense through the Freak even more than they usually do. The Celts’ coaching staff will need to make an adjustment for game 2.
Warriors v. Grizzlies: we’ve already said enough regarding Draymond’s flagrant 2. What was impressive though is that the Dubs outscored Memphis the rest of the way after the ejection. Kuminga got a little more run in his place, but Looney was doing some of Dray’s dribble hand-offs with Steph and Jordan.
As much as I like GPII’s defense on Ja Morant, I don’t think they should have started him. Early on, the Dubs seemed out of synch, and I think that was due to the unusual starting line-up with Payton instead of Loon. Payton got 2 early fouls and only played 23 minutes , which is probably about the right amount of time, but you can get that out of him by bringing him off the bench. Payton’s defense in the second half was stellar, but the Dubs don’t need him in the starting line-up.
Poole’s 31 points will get a lot of attention, but he had two good blocks as well. Steph also had a critical late block. Neither of those two are noted for their defense.
Warriors were perhaps lucky that Steven Adams is in COVID protocols, so the Grizz did not have as big a height advantage as they should. Perhaps as a result, the Dubs got a lot of second chance opportunities. That being said, Triple J had a huge game basically playing center for the Grizz, hitting a lot of 3s and hurting the Dubs inside as well. Grizzlies got a lot of second chance opportunities as well (both teams had 16 offensive rebounds).
Ultimately, the Warriors just stole a game in Memphis despite getting just 17 minutes from Green, despite Curry, Klay, and Payton getting into early foul trouble, despite Klay missing 2 late FTs that would have almost iced the game, and despite the refs missing the Grizz knocking the ball out of bounds with 5 seconds left. The Grizzles have to feel like they let a golden opportunity slip away.
Also, since you mentioned this earlier, here’s the rule on Flagrant 2 fouls. If Draymond gets another Flagrant 2 in the post-season, he will also receive a one-game suspension. So he’ll have to make sure he does nothing that comes close to a Flagrant 2 as his reputation will work against him on any close call.
Interesting comment about Looney. A couple years ago I wouldn’t understand your point, but Looney has been surprising all season. He keeps improving in ways I don’t expect, but especially wrt ball handling and foot movement. I might be repeating myself, but where he had immense trouble keeping a lot of guys off the block (Tristen Thompson comes to mind) he now seems able to dominate the paint in ways that make him seem like a completely different player to me.
On the other hand GPII roams the entire floor adding an unpredictable element to the warriors at both ends. And as their hallmark seems to be the quick extra pass in order to find the open man, I think GPII either helps to free up that open man or he gets so wide open he becomes the open man.
I’d like to know what Kerr says on the topic.
Will also add that Kerr may recognize something about the Grizz that’s different enough that it worried him a bit. Maybe he was unsure of how quick they’d be around the basket and wasn’t sure if Looney would be quick enough to stay with all of it. Just speculating.
I am almost certain that Kerr’s reasoning was that he wanted to put GPII on Morant from the get go. However, all that did was get two quick fouls on GPII. The Warriors should treat Ja like they treated the Joker. Know that Ja will get his, so do your best to prevent the rest of the team from getting theirs. Then bring in a fresher, foul-less GPII in the second half to follow Ja around.
Good comparison. Ja and Joker are very similar in several ways.
Playing devil’s advocate (ie taking a stab in the dark mostly) Kerr may simply not have known how it would work out. Maybe he needed to try out the idea of GPII playing much bigger minutes in this series. One way to keep his minutes high is to start him.
If Kerr’s idea was to start GPII simply to have him cover Morant from the get go he has probably come to the conclusion that there’s no reason for this. I think Morant rarely takes over the game early. I know he hit big shots early yesterday, but from what I’ve seen he doesn’t really run the show early like he does late in the game. I suppose Kerr might have had some fear that if Looney was in then maybe the Grizz would change their approach and Morant would try to run the show from the tip off. I would need to watch a lot of Grizz vids to see how often Morant dominates in the first quarter. I’m guessing it happens enough that Kerr was unsure and chose to start GPII.
There’s also this: Kerr needs GPII at the end of the game mostly, so he would never want GPII to have 4 or more fouls going into the final minutes. So part of his tack might have been to see if GPII would get into foul trouble early but considered it to have less than a 50% likelihood. If that was the case his experiment revealed information that will be useful later even though it may have failed.
I’ve seen enough of GPII to know that while he plays great defense–perhaps the best on the Dubs team–he will get called for fouls. Add Ja and his quickness and moves to the equation, it did not surprise me to see him get into foul trouble early.
There may be a point about Looney though. Ja would eat him alive and the Grizz would keep running screens to get Loon defending Ja. However, if that is what you are worried about, start Poole in Looney’s place.
Warriors-Grizz game 1
Just watched most of the second half til the end. So many comments to make but three stick out …
1. Although JJJ and Morant had great games the rest of the Grizzlies faded somehow offensively. No excuse for that whatsoever because Dray was out.
2. I think I saw a huge make-up call late when calling out of bounds on JJJ?
3. Morant could have won the game.
No question that the Grizz failed to get enough offensive help from the non Ja and JJJ players. In part though, that was because of the good defense played by the Dubs. The Grizz coaching, however, should have been telling players to keep attacking Steph, Klay, Jordan, and GPII after they each racked up early fouls. They had a chance to put them all into early foul trouble.
Not sure about the make-up call you are referring to. Can you find it on a highlight reel? Was it the one where a Grizz player pushed the ball through Wiggins’ legs where the Grizz won the challenge because it appeared that the ball touched Wiggins’ uniform when it was going through his legs?
Morant could very well have won that game. We’ve seen him make that kind of shot many times. But credit to Klay for preventing Ja from angling toward the basket at the end so as to make it a more difficult shot.
I can’t find the play that I thought might have involved a make up call. It was late in the 4th and I thought the ball went out of bounds off a Warrior but they called it off of a Grizz.
Two more observations that I should have included with the above 3:
4. Great news for the Dubs that Klay can hit the floor and scrap as well as anyone without re-injuring himself. I’m not sure if he’s fully rehabbed yet but he’s close to it. He doesn’t seem to be holding back much if at all. I doubt he’s nearly as strong as he was before the first injury. He’s certainly not as quick, but if continues at this pace he might be fully back by the finals.
5. Without Klay the Warriors lose. The late 3pt shot was huge of course, but the scrappy plays and most importantly the poise to protect the ball at the end leading to the free throws. He missed those, but he protected the ball when it appeared to me that he was going to either lose it or end up with a jump ball call. I doubt he would have won that jump.
Any Warrior was going to lose the jump at the point with the small ball team on the court at the time. I think Wiggs had to jump against JJJ after the refs couldn’t figure out who the ball went off after Klay’s 2nd missed FT.
By the way, there’s a rule that needs changing. The ball goes out off the Grizz after the missed FT, but apparently none of the refs saw who it went out on. I was expecting the refs to review the play to make a determination, but they just went straight to the jump ball. This morning, I learned why. If the refs don’t make a call either way in that situation, it cannot be reviewed without a challenge and neither team had a challenge. If the refs had made a call, either Grizz or Dubs ball, they could have reviewed it themselves to see if they were right. At least that was the rule cited on the radio this morning. That is just incredibly stupid to me. If the refs don’t know who the ball is out off of, let them go check the replay.
My understanding is that a great many things like your example will be reviewed and improved upon this offseason. Next season there will be twice as many reviews is what I understand. It should already be like that, but I think the concern has been slowing the game down too much. I think the concentration this off season will be how to keep more reviews from slowing the game down much more than it is already.
I have more observations from last night’s game …
6. The Suns won’t be able to stay with Dray. Although he won’t play the Valancuinas role entirely, he will play part of it where he should *often* be able to get Ayton out of position leaving someone open around the basket. Pick your open player: Looney, Wiggins, etc, etc … so many choices that the Suns will need to be aware of. Good news for the Suns though: they’re good at that. Bad news is that they may not be quite good enough.
7. The constant movement from Dray, Poole, Klay, Wiggins and GPII in and out and all over half court must be so exhausting for teams that by the 4th quarter their game plan must be affected somewhat. And if that means Ja needs to take over almost singlehandedly then that’s probably good for the Warriors or at least better than if the Grizz were fresh and moving themselves well and the ball well at the end. Good news for the Suns is that they won’t tire as easily from the same amount of constant movement and are always fresher than their opponents at the end. Dubs might be the one exception here. At least as far as the West is concerned.
Another ref issue from last night’s Dubs game, though this is more of a question because I don’t know how this is supposed to be properly called. Late in the game, Steph got called for a charge as he went in for a layup. The Grizz defender (I forget who) got into position first and planted his feet, but Steph saw him and tried to jump by him. The defender did not lift his feet, but very obviously shifted his body into Steph’s path. When the play went to review, the announcers kept noting that the defender had moved his body–it was akin to a hip check in hockey–but the refs called it a charge on review because the defender did not move his feet. I thought the rule was that the defender had to be basically stationary, but maybe it is simply planting your feet and not moving them?
I don’t remember the play, but my understanding is that as long as the defender’s feet are set, his body can move some but not in a direction that impede’s the offensive player’s movement in direct line to the basket. I also understand that the call is often not made when it should be. I’m guessing the refs just missed the call.
The news this morning is that Adam Silver and the NBA will NOT downgrade Draymond’s flagrant 2 to a flagrant 1. Not sure how they make that decision. Draymond did an “emergency” podcast last night about the ejection, which you can see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08vkS2WA3nw
As Draymond points out and everyone watching the play saw, Draymond was trying to hold Clarke up and trying to throw him down. Draymond also thought it was a reputation decision.
To clarify my earlier flagrant foul comment, Draymond now has 2 flagrant foul points. If he accumulates 2 more flagrant foul points, he gets suspended. So that means one more flagrant 2 foul or two more flagrant 1 fouls.
I don’t think the end of the play was nearly as important to the refs’ decision as was the “wind up”, because in order to decide if there is excessive and dangerous non basketball acts they needed to determine that the initial “windup” (or was it??) was not a basketball play and that it was excessive.
From what I saw they got that wrong. It was a hard basketball play that was dangerous *incidentally*. This happens at least once in almost every game and throughout the season! That is was a bit out of control warranted the “flagrant” modifier, but I still am unclear as to how it could be a #2.
I do realize that grabbing a jersey is also a non-basketball play. But that also happens a lot and is usually just called a normal foul.
As mentioned, I really doubt this is the result if Dubs had lost. Instead the result is that Dray will hopefully be a little bit more careful with his play but mostly the refs will hopefully understand how controversial and potentially bad for the league their decision was. I look at it like this:
For a college prof the difference between an A- and a B+ is sometimes purely subjective, so in those cases there needs to be something else to decide if the student deserves an A or a B. Clearly the refs decided that what Dray did was either an extreme flagrant 1 or a minor flagrant 2. And there’s where a good dose of perspective could have come in handy: objectively speaking everyone would say that if it was a flagrant 2 it’s not anywhere near as bad as most flagrant 2s. So like a professor (and I’ve been in this position many times) the refs should have stopped and maybe taken twice as long to deliberate on that point. If it’s such a rare type of flagrant 2 (or B grade, and it WAS!) then is there any way they can fit what he did into the flagrant 1 category (an A) without there being a huge controversy surrounding the decision?
The answer to that last question is clearly ‘yes’ to me. That the refs didn’t take more time to think through all this hints that there is poor judgement existing somewhere in the process. It’s hard to believe that what I’ve written isn’t being addressed with the refs even though the call will stand.
I’ve already prepped a bit for the Suns Mavs tonight, but haven’t mentioned much or anything about the Sixers.
Clearly the Sixers are at a disadvantage, but that’s mostly because the Heat are already deeper when Embiid is healthy so in this case Doc Rivers likely has no choice but to play his starters huge minutes. The main guy there will be Maxey who needs to Jordan Poole it at least 3 more times to give the Sixers a chance. There’s simply no way to know how good Maxey is until he shows us, but what is clear is that of all the players in the league I pick Maxey just after I pick Morant and Westbrook as most difficult to stay with and keep from getting to the hole. That includes Edwards and Kyrie and a few others that are excellent at the same thing. I just think Maxey is faster than all of them while maintaining control.
Of course the question is whether he can do it when the pressure cooker is turned up to 11. With Embiid out I think that’s the scenario he’s walking into. Of course Harden needs to cooperate by not holding the ball much. Obviously that’s a concern. Will need to wait a few hours to see if he’s going to be “stupid-Beard” tonight and forget that his best chance at a win will be to try and find Maxey in good position on most plays.
4 hours 30 minutes and counting!
Suns got lucky last night. I think this will go 7 games, and at this point I won’t make any predictions as to which team wins. A tossup.
I usually agree with Reggie Miller’s more salient points, but I completely disagree that the Mavs issue is a defensive one. Of course they could have been better, but you pick your poison and it appears the Mavs picked Ayton to be the guy that would have to beat them. He did. They played Booker well and Paul as well as any team plays him. However, last night’s game was lost because the Mavs uncharacteristically missed one easy shot after another. On the other end the Suns didn’t do the same. In the end the score was so close that it seems obvious to me that if the Mavs (Brunson mainly) made only one of those missed layups then the game is essentially tied in the last minute.
I’m going to blame the Mavs loss on Doncic mostly, though I wonder if Kidd’s to blame as well. I’m sure those two think they have good reasons for keeping the ball from Brunson most of the first half, but from what I saw that was a mistake. First the obvious point: Brunson just came off a series where he played the CP3 role with ball always in his hands, but with constant movement in order to find teammates or his own shot. Why would your strategy now be to put him in the completely opposite role of standing around doing nothing most of the time? I understand why they decided to revert to how they played most of the season, but not entirely. I don’t get it, because it’s the ball movement that will beat the Suns and not Doncic trying to be Harden and ignoring Brunson on 4 out of 5 plays in the first half. The less obvious point to make is that the entire Mavs team looked stale out of the gate. Almost with a lack of interest or knowledge that they were playing in perhaps the biggest game of their NBA careers. I think that affected Brunson in a few ways. It took him out of the rhythm he had just mastered only a week prior, and it kept him from shooting so much that by the time he needed to shoot they were down big, Suns were moving well with confidence and by the time Brunson’s scoring was needed he had barely touched the ball and seemed to shoot in a somewhat panicked manner.
And then there’s the most obvious point that Doncic is entirely to blame for the Mavs huge 1st Q deficit. I have no idea what he was trying to do, but it seemed like he was goofing off and didn’t care about much for at least 6 minutes of the 1st Q. Almost like he had already decided they would lose game 1 and showed up merely as a formality. Totally unprofessional I thought.
Everything changed for the Mavs later on, but apparently it was too late because as much as Doncic tried to right the ship Brunson kept missing easy shots and he wasn’t alone. I also noticed that Finney-Smith seemed to come late to the party and maybe for the same reasons: because of the extremely stale play early on and some really shitty shot selection by Doncic there was almost nothing for Finney-Smith to do in the 1st Q. I don’t get it at all. Shouldn’t Kidd and Doncic be trying to get the team going right out of the gate so they’re playing at 100% capacity by the midway through the 1st?
Suns defense looked great to me. Suns ball control looked great with CamJ in a surprisingly effective point forward role out there. It seemed to work really well as he slashed and dished from way outside all the way into traffic. I’m amazed at how careful he can be with the ball in that role and I’m hoping to see more of that.
Regarding Suns offense obviously Ayton dominated, but then why didn’t Williams suggest they keep feeding him? They did feed him, but since he was able to get great shots on almost every one of his touches … why not keep going to him until you need to stop going to him? I realize they want to keep the ball moving and keep everyone involved, but when you have that kind of advantage why not stay with it until there’s a good reason to stop?
I’ll be very surprised if Suns win game 2. The Mavs problems were so obvious that I can’t imagine them coming out the same way again. I’m going to look at Brunson’s 2021-2022 stats right now just to see if he’s ever missed so many shots. I’m guessing he’s never been nearly that bad in any game all year.
I just checked Brunson’s stats for the year. He’s had poor shooting games, but it looks like those were related to missed 3 pointers. Last night he took only 1 of those. I’m not sure I saw any other game all season where he missed so many 2 pointers. I do realize that some of those were pressured by the Suns last night, but some were not and he simply missed them.
On the other end Cam Payne couldn’t stop himself from making horrible decisions with his non-3pt shot selection. I don’t get why Monty Williams hasn’t stopped his consistently poor decision making with plenty of time on the clock and shooters/slashers all around him. He’s often the worst scoring option when out there but he puts the blinders on and thinks he’ll make contested shots at or near the rim. He’s the only guy on the Suns that ever tries that crap. It seems like the opposite of how Suns play, but Williams has had all season to correct it and nothing seems to have changed there. Weird.
Brunson’s 2P% is almost 55% for the year.
One other thing to mention: offensive rebounding. Mavs didn’t get a chance to win that battle in the 1st half hence the discrepancy in the final box score. Suns won that battle 13-7 even with Doncic dominating the boards for a good part of the game. Obviously Powell is partly to blame as he seemed to be stuck in the mud or maybe clumsy for most of his 16 minutes. Didn’t help the Mavs cause at all. I don’t see the same offensive rebounding issue for them next game. Maybe Kidd needs to bring in Marjanovic early next game just to see how that affects Ayton. Why not if Powell isn’t giving you anything out there? CP3 is going to abuse either one regardless so why not at least see if Boban can grab a few more rebounds? Powell had 1 only. Wow.
Steve Kerr did not mince words when interviewed between the 1st and 2nd quarters of the game. He was asked if he expected the play to be that physical. He responded, “that’s not physical, that’s dirty.” Dillon Brooks was justifiably ejected with a flagrant 2 for his shot to GPII’s head, which caused Payton to fall and land on his arm badly. After his free throws, Payton left the game and never returned, apparently taken somewhere for x-rays. Then Draymond received an elbow to the head that required stitches. Curry also received a shot to his head that fortunately did not injure him. Seems like the Grizzlies were head hunting. Without Payton to defend him in the 4th quarter, Ja Morant took over and won the game. Despite no Payton and one of the Warriors worst nights shooting from distance, the Grizz still almost blew the game and just managed to hang on at the end.
I watched most of the game. While GPII could have helped some, Morant was going to have his night regardless. Probably not 47 though. Wow.
In any case the things you mentioned led to a Grizz win. Plus one other thing: even the best of the best relax a bit when they’ve already stolen one in enemy territory. I witnessed it happening mainly wrt Curry’s careless (stupid??) turnovers. Hopefully he got that crap out of his system and will return to SF with a more serious mindset. On the other hand, he can’t do that much or at all vs. the Suns (if they get to the conf finals).
In the end the Warriors would have won last night’s game even with the dirty plays if Dray had been in longer and Steph was to take it just a little more seriously.
GREAT to see Kuminga get so much playoff experience. I can almost read Kerr’s thoughts there: The Suns will have no answers for him if he goes into that series with a few more games of high level playoff experience. Assuming the Suns get past the Mavs who I expect to win tonight.
I read up a bit on GPII’s break. There are some types of elbow breaks that can be played through, albeit painfully. If I could pick any one guy to do that it would be, well … let’s just insert GPII into the small set which includes Willis Reed, Zeke Thomas and Kerri Strug;-)
I mean when he returns during the conf finals. I fully expect Brooks to be suspended a la Grayson Allen and for the Dubs to take the next two games in SF. Hopefully one of the Grizz thugs won’t take out another Warriors player before then.
Given how careful the Warriors are with any injury, I can’t see them allowing Payton to play through it if there is any chance at making it worse. Now that we know it was a fractured elbow, it is pretty impressive that he made a free throw (his left arm is his shooting arm) before he left the game.
Apparently the NBA will be talking to people on both the Dubs and Grizzlies and will make a decision on whether to suspend Brooks before Saturday’s game 3.
After MRI today, there was also “slight” ligament damage found in Payton’s elbow. He is expected to miss at least 3 weeks, so earliest he could possibly return, depending on how healing goes, would be the NBA Finals.
dammit
What bugs me the most is that the Grizz have at least a 7 year window to win a championship. The Suns probably 5. The Dubs have more like a 2 or 3 year window, but more importantly the Dubs are better than the Grizz regardless of which metric and/or perspective they’re viewed. I’m not advocating that Silver implements some kind of favoritism, but that he takes a close look at how the Dubs play and ensures that the refs understand what they’re looking at. Often times the Dubs do everything so quickly it’s hard to see that they aren’t fouling for instance. They’re simply so good that the refs have trouble believing they do what they do without fouling.
Refs need to be giving the Dubs the benefit of the doubt on most calls in these next two games at least. If they need to review or huddle twice as often then do it. Don’t take away their entire season because of an extremely dirty play.
The latest on this…
Dillon Brooks has been suspended for Game 3 by the NBA. Meanwhile, I’ve read that the 3-week time frame for Payton’s possible return is a “rosy” one and that more likely, he’s done for the season.
Meanwhile, the other defensive star who hasn’t been playing, Andre Iguodala, has been making good progress on his neck injury, but it will still be another week before he is reevaluated.
I think the Dubs can still beat the Grizz without Payton and likely, Iguodala, but it will be a closer fight. We’ll likely see Kuminga a little more, more minutes for Porter, and maybe even some Toscano-Anderson. Warriors clearly do not trust Bjelica against the Grizz’s speed, so doubtful will see him in anything other than mop-up duty.
Mavs @ Suns last night …
Booker and Paul unbelievable performances in a 2nd round playoff game
Bridges +31 in 39 minutes 6 assists 0 TOs
Cam Johnson +19 in 17 minutes
Brunson, Powell & Finney-Smith essentially nullified
Clearly I need to change my expectations for this series. Suns are playing like a well-oiled machine. One of their best games ever, because they probably didn’t need the great shooting from CP3 to win that one. Suns defense was incredible for 48 minutes.
I didn’t see the game, but looking at the stat sheet this morning, it appeared that the Suns defense was doing something right with Brunson, Powell, and Finney-Smith. I really wasn’t as concerned about Ayton’s defense in this series because the Mavericks’ big men are not as heavy as Valanciunas, so they wouldn’t be muscling Ayton out of the way as much. I am a little concerned about Ayton’s lack of rebounds in last night’s game, but somehow his 3 boards were still more than Powell and Finney-Smith combined. Apparently, it was a night for guards to rebound. I previously predicted Suns in 5. Think I’m sticking with that.
On a non-playoff note, the Sacramento Kings are reportedly down to three potential new head coaches. They are:
Steve Clifford – former Magic and Hornets coach
Mark Jackson – commentator and former Warriors coach
Mike Brown – Warriors assistant and former Cavs and Laker coach
Of these choices, Mike Brown is clearly the best given his championship pedigree with the Cavs and Warriors. If I’m Mike Brown though, I’m not sure I’d want to wade into the morass that is the Sacramento Kings. Surely there are other head coaching openings that are better that he has interviewed for.. I can see the Kings hiring Mark Jackson for his name value. Clifford’s years in Charlotte and Orlando don’t inspire at all.
The Kings announced that they will hire Mike Brown as their head coach. Kudos to them for picking the obvious best choice among the finalists for the job. Sorry for Mike Brown for taking on such a dysfunctional franchise. Will be interesting to see what he can do with Fox & Sabonis next year.
I agree. Don’t forget Damien (last name I can’t remember – the rookie from last year). From what I saw he was a far more underrated rookie than Kuminga and the main reason the Kings felt OK parting with Haliburton. In any case, excellent to know that (some) GM’s are level headed enough to keep passing on Mark Jackson. I really don’t think he’s the right guy to “lead” any team with young players, and obviously has a record of being difficult to communicate with.
Davion Mitchell is who you’re thinking of. 11.5 ppg and 4.2 apg in 27.7 minutes last year, usually coming off the bench. Kings also still have Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes, so Brown will have something to work with if Sacramento doesn’t suck his soul away.
I meant that I watched Mitchell play and he’s way better than the stats. It’s clear (to me anyhow) they prefer that kind of SG vs. the heady passing 3D kind in Haliburton
I wasn’t saying Mitchell’s numbers are bad. I actually think those aren’t bad for a rookie coming off the bench most of the time. Mitchell could be very good going forward. With Fox, Mitchell, Barnes, and Sabonis, Mike Brown has some talent to work with. The Kings have drafted well each of the last two years. If they do so again this year, they’ll hopefully be on the right track.
Dubs with the 30-pt blowout and 142 points overall to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Although the Dubs began the game with two many turnovers, they made a number of changes that worked well tonight.
1. They were repeatedly attacking the basket, with Curry and Poole particularly blowing by defenders for either easy lay-ups or kicking out for wide open 3s. I thought the Grizzlies were quicker than this, but they couldn’t keep up with the Dubs drivers. As a result, the Warriors shot 63% from the field.
2. This kind of goes hand and hand in with #1, but apparently Kerr made a real emphasis in practice this week to have the team not take bad 3-pt shots. By taking a lot of good 3-pointers, the Dubs shot 53% from the arc.
3. The one you’ll like, Kuminga went into the starting line-up with Kerr gambling that his athleticism could neutralize some of the Dubs’ quickness. Kuminga only played 18 minutes overall, but had 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting, including coolly draining two 3s in the 4th.
On the Grizzlies’ side, it was disappointing to see Morant walk off the court with some kind of knee injury in the 4th quarter. Hopefully the injury is minor, as he was electric, as he has been all series.
I was unaware of this last night, but apparently Morant and some others in the Grizz organization think that Ja got injured on a play where Jordan Poole briefly grabbed Ja’s knee and pulled on it. Ja called it a dirty play initially, but later deleted the tweet. I saw this doctor explanation of the play that explains why Poole’s grab and pull on the knee was unlikely to have caused the injury…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BegbbyqgKA
However, Poole still may have accidentally been responsible for the injury because his knee made contact with Ja’s knee just before the grab. Or possibly, it was earlier in the game when Ja went high in an attempt to block a shot by Klay and his right knee appeared to make contact with Klay coming down and he looked to limp a little bit after the play. I think the post-game Grizz reaction was just heat of the moment, but hopefully, they are not still looking at it as a dirty play.
Thanks. It never made sense. Now I see the contact and assume there’s an MCL sprain. I guess we’ll know more soon.
Further update. The Grizzlies head coach said he expects Ja to miss game 4. Meanwhile, the NBA reviewed the play and said it was a normal basketball play and no action would be taken against Poole.
Apparently we’ve both been pre-occupied at about the same time. I *do* have a lot to write/say about the Suns loss on Friday, but no time to put it down. I can just repeat what I texted to a couple friends …
notme1: Suns had way too many turnovers, got outshot, dug a deep hole and started their 2nd half push way too late. They’ll have to watch the game film, learn from some mistakes, adjust their game plan, and come out hard to take the next one.
notme2: Plus they missed a dozen shots that normally go in. They’ll be fine
me: Careless with ball, left bullock wide open too often????, missed shots, booker took way too few, and maybe they tried to hard to find ayton too often? Probably had no idea what adjustments Kidd had made until late in the game. Ok. Now they know!
Brunson was a beast.
Finney-Smith wide open also. Kleber surprisingly effective under the basket defensively.
notme3: Game 4 may now be biggest test for Suns, has anything fundamentally changed in how these teams match up?
me:
Yes!
Ayton is being smothered close to the basket. Not at all the case in G1 & G2
Also, they’re forcing Booker to pass
On the other hand looks like Bridges is open pretty often. Bridges could start playing the Klay Thompson / Ray Allen role maybe? Run around like a madman while they look for him specifically? CamJ and Booker play that role, but if they’re hounding them then look to Bridges as 2nd or 3rd option to booker and ayton?
I didn’t see the game, but it does not surprise me that the Mavs managed to win a game. As someone (perhaps you) once said, teams that go up 2-0 in a series will sometimes relax a little in game 3. I’m guessing that is what happened with the Suns.
Didn’t realize that Suns-Mavs was happening so early today. Looks like Mavs took another one helped in part by Chris Paul fouling out with 9 minutes left in the game. There is a lot of fan outcry about the fouls that were called on CP3 and about the Mavs doing a lot of flopping. I’ll have to look for a compilation of the fouls called on CP3 later.
One of the strangest playoff games I’ve seen in maybe 15 years. I don’t exactly understand what happened and obviously am not happy about it. I’ll write up something tomorrow, but if the Suns claim there was outrageously bad officiating I’ll probably be on their side. That alone put the Suns into panic mode which isn’t how they run at all. Completely lost their poise – especially CP3.
Dallas played extremely well. More urgency, speed and precise ball movement. Kidd was easily the better coach in this one. Brunson and Doncic were studly despite the refs. Ayton is showing the league he’s no max player. Possible that his fingers are to blame this time tho – they’re wrapped in tape and he didn’t have his typical put backs and graceful touch near the rim.
The game wasn’t as close as the score showed. Suns look to be in trouble.
For what its worth, the reason CP3 may have lost his poise is the fact that Mavs fans were verbally abusing his family and someone put hands on his mother and pushed his wife, all this in front of his kids. The Mavs removed a fan from the arena because of this, though it sounds like more than one fan was involved. They’ll be back in Dallas for game 6, so Mavs might have to provide extra security near the families of the Suns players.
I wanted to write more on this, but don’t have more than a minute or so. Most of what I have to say relates to the change in the Mavs demeanor, conditioning and ability to quickly get to their spots. Kleber, Bullock and Finney-Smith in particular were moving extremely well without the ball and the result was that too often one was open at the arc for fairly uncontested 3s. Brunson and Doncic were excellent at penetrating and dishing out even if they didn’t get the assist recorded on the play. The Box score shows Ayton with 6 offensive boards, but I’m guessing a few of those were less because of his ability and more due to Suns missing easy shots that bounced his way off the rim.
Mavs were faster and mostly better overall all game, but hard to keep your poise when the refs appeared to be stealing the show, and (according to your post) when fans are messing with players family members??? Nuts.
I say the Suns appear to be in trouble because the Mavs seems to have too many guys playing at an elite level at both ends. Or so it seems to me: Doncic, Brunson, Kleber, Finney-Smith, Bullock.
Although Bridges was himself, he couldn’t make the effectiveness of those 5. CamJ looked good but just didn’t do enough. Others missed shots.
Booker was excellent and was the only reason the Suns had any chance near the end. Really good game from him. Overall, take away the refs calls and I think you still have better ball movement and defense from the Mavs. CP3 could have made it closer of course, but Suns were missing so many shots and weren’t moving quickly enough and were turning the ball over or on occasions grabbing the ball and losing it for no reason it seemed – they looked horrible at times.
I have a very hard time believing that CP3 warranted the 5th or 6th fouls. The 5th was the one I question the most. Paul was simply bringing it upcourt and slowed down slightly and I suppose moved in a way that wasn’t letting the defender *easily* get around him so they (Brunson I think) ran up his back slightly. So frickin what. I’ve seen that 100 times this year without a call being made. It was challenged and upheld which surprised the heck out of me. I was sure it would be overturned. I still don’t get it.
The 6th call could have also been a no-call. I don’t get what all that ticky-tack crap was all about. Sure as hell looked like the refs were making a statement. What it was I guess only a few people can know.
There was also a terrible call against Crowder that came later in the game – it was clearly great defense by Crowder who tied up the ball with Brunson (I think). It’s a jump ball call 99 out of 100 times. Yesterday was the 1st time I’ve seen that. With all that was going on all game that call in particular was blatantly unfair to the Suns.
So Mike Brown got named head coach twice today. First by the Kings and then by the Warriors, when Kerr tested positive for Covid.
After the Dubs were repeatedly beating the Grizz with drives to the hoop in the last game, Memphis adjusted their game plan and packed the middle with height. They blocked a lot of shots and forced a lot of steals when the Dubs tried to pass out of the crowded paint. Of course, this strategy does leave room for some open 3 points shots. While I give the Grizz a lot of credit for their close-outs, the Dubs were shooting historically bad from long range through 3 quarters. Only Porter was doing well. At one point, Porter was 4 of 6 from the arc and the rest of the team was 3 of 22. There aren’t many games when Steph, Klay, and Jordan are all shooting poorly, but none of them were doing much through the first 3 quarters.
I would also note that the refs were letting the players play and very few fouls were called. While there were probably a few times when a foul should have been called, I didn’t have a problem with the way they were calling the game.
Also would note that without Ja Morant, the Grizz really slowed down their offense and continually worked the ball inside to use their height advantage to full effect. This had the added side effect of slowing the Warriors from running so much, as even missed shots resulted in rebounds in traffic. I dare say that the Grizzlies are a better defensive team without Morant because they aren’t running as much and are preventing the other team from running as much.
Despite all this, the Dubs also played good defense and never let the game get away from them. They were down by 7 at the end of 3, though that was in part due to a lucky half-court shot at the 3rd quarter buzzer. Throughout the first three quarters, it felt like as soon as one of the Dubs’ big three shooters got hot, they would take control of the game. That shooter was Steph. He was on the bench to start the 4th as usual, but was brought back in around the 8 minute mark. He hit some 3s and drew a bunch of fouls. The Warriors slowly caught up with the Grizz and finally went ahead around the 2 minute mark. They hit their FTs down the stretch when the Grizz were forced to foul. Curry had 18 points in that final 8 minutes.
One curious coaching decision by Mike Brown though. Although Kuminga started the game, like the prior one, and played the first 5 minutes, he never came back in the game. Meanwhile, Damion Lee got 13 minutes off the bench. I wonder if there was some unannounced injury to Kuminga, because that shouldn’t happen and Kuminga’s athleticism was needed in the paint where Steven Adams and JJJ were doing some damage.
Haven’t heard yet if Ja (or Steve Kerr) will be back for game 5. I’d like to see the Warriors put this series away in the next game, but won’t be surprised to see the Grizzlies take the next one at home.
Great info. Sucks if Kuminga is hurt tho – he was on his way to making up for a lot of what’s lost with GPII out.
You wrote “the Grizzlies are a better defensive team without Morant”. I agree with that and think there are multiple reasons for it. One is related to this: when Morant has the ball in critical moments everyone on the court knows he’s almost certain to drive and try to score or make those creative passes near/around the basket. In other words, in those cases he’s less likely to do the fancy jump and pass from mid-air to a 3pt shooter. The result seems to be that most players on the Grizz aren’t engaged as much in those moments while opponents know to get ready for the outlet pass and fast break. Morant usually converts during those critical drives, but when he doesn’t he more or less awards opponents 2 pts at the other end.
I think the above is related to your point about running more, but I wanted to flesh out those specific details.
After an MRI, Ja Morant was diagnosed with a bone bruise in the right knee area and has been listed as doubtful for the rest of the post-season, which is a damn shame. Given the diagnosis though, it is even more unlikely that Jordan Poole’s grab of his knee caused the injury and even more likely that the injury occurred when he jumped out to try to block Klay’s 3-pt shot in the 3rd quarter of that game and his knee banged into Klay’s leg.
I think that report may not be telling the whole story. I definitely could be wrong and hope I am. Unfortunately, that kind of injury is often accompanied by a meniscus tear which is something the Grizzlies wouldn’t want to report publicly and maybe not even to teammates. I hope it isn’t true of course. Damn
Just want to mention that the anti-Jokic sentiment I’m hearing by some in the media is disappointing at best and is quickly becoming somewhat nauseating for me to hear. The arguments for Embiid are spot on, but the arguments against Jokic make no sense to me. Backwards even.
I completely understand why some would vote for Embiid – I have no trouble with that. Even Giannis, although I have trouble with it because he had a lot of help and wasn’t as consistent as the other 2, that’s fine as well. However, if you have a problem with Jokic repeating it’s clear to me you simply haven’t watched him play much or at all. You can’t possibly understand everything he does on the court if you think he’s undeserving or if you think that something is wrong with the voting system. It’s the latter that I’m hearing today. I don’t understand any of it. I don’t agree with a single point being made.
The dumbest argument I hear goes like this: most often a player who wins MVP is from a top 3 team. Jokic is not therefore the criteria for selecting has obviously changed.
I don’t think I need to explain the logical absurdity there.
Completely agree. I also don’t have a problem with anyone who voted for Embiid or the Freak, but Jokic is well deserving of a 2nd straight MVP. As for the issue with the Nuggets finishing 6th, their record was only 3 games worse than the Bucks and 76ers and Jokic did it without the 2nd and 3rd best players on the team. He pretty much single-handedly got them there. I doubt the Nuggets even make the playoffs if the situation were reversed and he was out, but Murray and Porter were playing.
I believe this as well, although I don’t know how many media members this applies to …
Many of those speaking out are being racist, even though they believe being anti-racist or rather practicing reverse-discrimination isn’t racism. In this case they favor blacks instead of whites for no reason other than skin color – clearyly just another form of racism. Case in point are the white-dominated media I listen to daily. Since those people are publicly speaking, they appear to want others to think they aren’t racist. The result is that they go too far with their dumb or specious arguments to make the point that they don’t prefer the white guy. It wouldn’t be terrible or even noticeable, but they do it without a single cogent argument. At least I haven’t heard one yet.
And more to that point, there’s a guy on Sirius XM radio who is the absolute worst on every topic related to the NBA. He’s also very arrogant. Why is he still employed by SiriusXM then?
His name is Brian Geltzeiler, and he’s the master of making it seem like stating the obvious with conviction means that he came up with the idea first. When he’s not stating the obvious he’s making up crap in a way that seems like he has inside info. Full of it and completely wrong 50% of the time.
Here are some opinions. Some from black media members. I am being honest when I say I don’t understand any of these points. For that reason I think there must be something else bothering these people, or rather they simply don’t watch Jokic play much if at all. I really don’t get it.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10035394-the-case-against-nikola-jokic-for-2022-nba-mvp?src=rss
https://www.complex.com/sports/people-think-joel-embiid-robbed-after-nikola-jokic-wins-mvp-reactions/tweet2
https://www.westword.com/news/nikola-jokic-mvp-troll-attacks-nick-wright-update-14062420
Or maybe I do understand it. Is it possible that it’s that I don’t understand what it means to be a truly stupid person even though I know what it is to have stupid thoughts? Could it really be that these idiots are seeing the stats and arguing that the stats are the ONLY reason Jokic won? That would be abominably stupid. It would mean they are biased against historically good stats and making some extremely asinine assumption that those voting for him did it based on the stats ONLY.
Now that’s just about as stupid as stupid can be, but reading and listening to the arguments … is this really what people are thinking?
I’ll just add this to clarify the point in case it comes up. Again, the argument I disagree with most is this:
Most often a player who wins MVP is from a top 3 team. Jokic is not from a top 3 team, therefore the criteria for selecting MVP has obviously changed, or there is some something not related to basketball performance that voters used to select Jokic.
The absurdity of the above is a simple statistical point: “Most” often a player who wins MVP is from a top 3 team. This implies that less than 50% of the time a player who wins MVP is not from a top 3 team. Did it happen only once before? Twice?
It happened five times before. Jordan, Westbrook, Moses twice and Petitt. It happened, because in those cases the winning player was so good and/or the field of players on the best teams weren’t good enough – likely because they had a lot of help to get them that best record.
So now it happened again. That’s 6 times. The only thing that tells me is that Jokic is so good at what he does and does it without getting injured that he’s on the list with those other players.
It means he’s a special player in a special circumstance. He met the eye-test for those that watched him throughout the season and he also put up historic numbers. That’s all it means, and there’s absolutely no reason to believe the voting criteria has changed or anything else for that matter.
With the Kings being the latest team to not hire Mark Jackson, the Athletic had a story today that detailed the reasons that Jackson was fired from the Warriors. It is not a good look for him. You can see a synopsis of the story here:
https://www.knbr.com/2022/05/10/mark-jackson-reportedly-used-homophobic-slurs-said-rick-welts-and-jason-collins-were-going-to-hell-as-warriors-head-coach/
The reasons included:
1. Jackson created a “cult-like us vs. them” atmosphere between the players and management, which included regularly “demeaning the bosses.”
2. Jackson was “ramping up” the religious rhetoric with the team in ways that were “extreme and divisive.”
3. Jackson accused underlings of being influenced by the devil and would “lay hands on them to cleanse them of their evil spirits.”
4. Jackson referred to team president Rick Welts and Jason Collins, both openly gay, as “penis grabbers” who were “going to hell.”
Strauss reported that ESPN had the story at the time that Jackson was fired, but rejected it for reasons other than its accuracy. Not a good look for Jackson.
And absolutely none of that surprises me. None. I really don’t like that guy.
The Lakers interviewed Jackson for their head coaching job too and LeBron was reportedly “enthused” about Jackson becoming the coach. That would serve the Lakers right if they do something this stupid.
Suns won game 5 v Mavs in a 110-80 blowout. Suns played like we’ve seen them play most of the season: everyone contributing and moving quickly defensively, while Bridges and Booker locked in and played at an elite level at both ends for every minute they were on the court. Booker was outstanding again. He is clearly the MVP of this team and is doing it consistently every night out. Bridges keeps doing what he does and shows improvement offensively even though he missed some layups he’d probably like to do over.
Three fairly significant coaching changes occurred in this game, and I expect to see more of the same for the rest of the playoffs:
1.
CamJ played significant minutes and was a key at both ends. He defended well, moved his feet constantly getting great position offensively, hit big shots, made great decisions and moved the ball extremely well. If all this means is that he’s finally getting back to his normal self after an injury (thigh bruise I think?) then that’s good news, but I think I saw more than that. I think he’s just getting better and better each game he can stay in without being abused defensively by good offensive played as well as moving to his spots better. If I remember Robert Horry correctly, then I’d make that comparison albeit with CamJ still improving defensively and not quite into big shot bob territory yet.
2.
Ayton started in what seemed like a daze. Really slow and ineffective at both ends. Biyombo replaced him and did a much better job positioning himself under the basket and staying with/contesting the Mavs down low. Biz played good minutes – this might have woken up Ayton, because when he returned I think we all thought he’d been given a shot of adrenaline. So much better defensively especially moving his feet well and being where he needed to be on time rather than a half second too late as we’ve seen for much of the playoffs. Didn’t see much McGee, but then he was kicked in the nuts on one play (I think). Whatever the contact was, he was pulled and didn’t see much time at least not when it mattered during the first 3 quarters.
3.
I’m not sure Cam Payne played at all in the first 3 quarters or at all last night. That’s welcome news to Suns fans, since he just doesn’t seem to fit into what the Suns do. Too many wasted possessions without a single pass and way too early in the clock. Suns never play that way, and it seemed to me that his omission was a good one and a long time coming. Shamet played those minutes instead and was outstanding. Even if Shamet didn’t make his shots (and he made some big ones) his quickness and good decision making created some big holes in the paint – much like Booker when he dribbles to the “nail” getting himself tons of space or passing out.
Mavs came out strong but couldn’t deal with the Suns closing out on their shooters as time passed. Doncic looked awesome, but then he didn’t. Brunson was good but couldn’t keep it up. Overall seemed to me that Suns wore them down too much and it sure seems like the Mavs had given up completely by midway through the third. Not a good sign for Kidd if he’s hoping his team will be ready for these next two games.
I saw something last night (probably Sportscenter) that the Mavs had lost the 3 games where Doncic scored the most (45, 35, and 28 pts), while winning the two games where he scored the least (26 in both). That makes a great deal of sense. Luka is most effective when he is setting up others for easy baskets. If he is taking on most of the scoring load, that means his teammates aren’t making the baskets that he is setting them up for or that the Suns are taking away everybody else and daring Luka to beat them by himself.
It makes sense but I think it’s completely irrelevant in this series. The first two games had the Mavs looked disengaged. Forget Luka. The other players not named Brunson simply weren’t moving well and didn’t hit shots. Brunson moved well but also missed shots. Doncic could have helped but it wouldn’t have mattered one whit unless he scored MORE not LESS.
Last night’s game could have been closer, but not with Doncic assisting more. Suns were closing out on shooters, so they shot less. This caused Doncic to take more shots and score more. He couldn’t have assisted much more than he did.
Luka has been awesome IMO.
I shouldn’t have written that Luka “couldn’t have assisted much more than he did”. Of course he could have. I simply meant that he tried and his teammates weren’t making the shots.
I heard Wilbon saying something along the same lines as what you saw or read. It’s too simplistic. He’s always that way, so I just ignore him. Of course Luka wants to assist more. That’s exactly what he does in almost every game. Last night it just wasn’t as easy as it had been in games 3 and 4 because his guys weren’t making shots.
Middleton update …
https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fastbreak/injuries/according-to-dario-melendez-of-wisn-12-news-khris-middleton-could-return-to-the-second-round-playoff-series-between-the-boston-celtics-and-milwaukee-bucks-in-game-6-or-game-7-nba-playoffs
That’s bad news for the Celtics after the way they blew the game last night. You can’t have your team get outscored 11-2 in the last two minutes like that.
Not much to say about that game last night. I turned it off at half-time. As the Chuckster said at half-time, the Dubs were going through the motions and played with no urgency at all. Warriors had 22 turnovers, which matched the number of assists they had. They had no focus whatsoever. Grizzlies had something to do with it, but it honestly felt more like the Dubs just didn’t care about the game. I hope that’s all it is.
It’s probably not worth wasting my energy on the Suns game last night, but I have some thoughts …
How is it possible that Monty Williams doesn’t get Craig in earlier when it’s clear that they need him to 1.) help close out more quickly on perimeter shooter 2.) get a bigger and more mobile body on Doncic 3.) help prevent some of that interior passing with his quick feet and hands?
Can Monty really be that concerned about Craigs offense when the Suns are allowing the Mavs to do whatever they want offensively?
Kidd is the better motivator and creative influence. Williams has been really disappointing for the Craig reasons above and for not letting Booker do what he’s been doing as well as anyone: running the show much like Doncic has.
If I was to give Williams the benefit of the doubt I’d say that maybe he’s too concerned that Booker will get hurt and he feels like they have such a huge advantage at home that he gave up midway through the 3rd last night. The problem with that logic, in my opinion, is that he may be assuming way too much about Kidd’s strategy which could have been to hold back in game 5 and is now ready to open his big can of whoop-ass on Sunday.
Dallas is the better team. They deserve to move on.
I’m also a little worried that both Booker and Paul are hiding injuries.
Just to clarify my point about Richard Jefferson (who announced last night’s game on TNT) …
Because I’ve become accustomed to the Dubs approaching games too loosely and maybe even with overconfidence, it doesn’t surprise me at all that they’d have 17 TOs in a closeout playoff game. I’ve come to expect things like that, because that’s the downside and maybe the only downside to their style and pace of play. The rushed passes, and especially the 3 or 4 way-too-low-and-fast bounce passes were a little different to see (just a little), but that’s better than many alternatives like some of the many lazy passes I’ve seen from Curry this year. I saw at least one of those last night by the way, and even though that’s the worst of it it’s still Dubs basketball. But all that means to me is that they didn’t give themselves a chance to be up by 15-20 at half *even if they made the shots they normally make in the first half*.
However, even with the 17 TOs overall the only reason they weren’t up by 20 going into the 4th was that time after time after time they didn’t convert on good or great shots. It’s because they played Dubs ball throughout that they had one good shot after another and, except for Wiggins and Klay from what I saw, no one else saw their good or even excellent shots drop. Not until the last few minutes anyhow.
I’lm not saying this is the first time I’ve seen that. I’m saying that the Dubs played well despite the TOs and simply didn’t hit 8-12 shots they would normally make. Jefferson made it sound like the shots weren’t dropping because they were going too fast or that the shots were contested. That’s not what I saw at all. Instead Jefferson was calling the game fully in hindsight. As if the fact that the shots missed proved that the Warriors weren’t playing their game. Sometimes that was the case, but not enough for the game to be close at all with 12 minutes left.
It bugs me because Jefferson should know the Dubs much better than he does. In any case, the West is going to be one heck of a tough conference next year and that probably means the Dubs need to win it all now. I know the Suns do, because the Grizz, Mavs, Pels, Clipps, Wolves and maybe Nuggets are a-comin fast.
The Warriors averaged nearly 15 TOs per game this year, the second highest amount in the league (behind Rockets at 16.5 TOs per game), so Jefferson is wrong about the Dubs playing too loosely. This is who they are and a natural side effect of the breakneck pace they play at. However, there are different kinds of TOs as you noted. Sometimes, there are lazy passes. Sometimes, there are fast break passes that are just off a little. There were far too many of the former in the blowout game 5 loss, which was compounded by the Dubs not hitting the shots they often make. Like you said, last night, they were not hitting a lot of those shots through the first 3 quarters though not shooting as bad as they did in game 5. In the fourth quarter, the Dubs stopped having TOs of both the bad and not-so-bad variety and started hitting all the shots they should make and thus were able to pull away.
Ah! Reminds me of another critical point that renders Jefferson’s points kind of silly …
One of the reasons the Dubs looked so good in the 4th was obviously because of three plays in a row where Wiggins dominated every aspect of the game. He hit two great shots and then I think got a steal and/or rebound and then an outlet pass (I think – maybe not). The RESULT was that the Grizz were now not only back-peddling and maybe switched over to panic mode, but they looked defeated! This is how the Dubs and the Suns roll – once the game gets to that point late, the other team can’t figure out what else they can possibly do.
In other words, as a result of all the above the Dubs now waltzed to victory though Brooks was still threatening. But that waltz wasn’t because they changed their style of play at all like RJ kept saying. It was *because* big shots were made FINALLY and *because* the Dubs played their game up til then that wore the Grizz down.
RJ seemed to think that it was magic or something. Like the Dubs completely forgot how to play their game. B.S.
I remember the Wiggins sequence you’re talking about. The “steal” was actually a turnover as the Grizz playerr dribbled the ball off his foot and it rolled away. Wiggins was extremely quick getting to the ball and took it in for the uncontested slam. That play was bookended by Wiggs draining a couple of big 3s.
There was another sequence where Steph missed a couple of 3s, but Loon kept getting the offensive rebounds and, on the last one in the sequence, he came down with the ball and immediately dished to Klay who drained a 3. I believe those were Loon’s 21st and 22nd rebounds and pretty much ended the game at that point. After the game, Klay had this to say about Loon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYTouURMnFM
Loon-ajuwon. LOL!
right. i remember the loony plays – awesome. yes, both guys were big time late in the game. ripped the hearts out of all Grizzlies not named Brooks. he was outstanding.
Klay. Always great fun.
And if you didn’t see this – great theater!
I don’t think Phoenix knows what’s about to come to town …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNF5GcbF3uw
Yeah, I caught the Dray-Perk back and forth. Will have to watch First Take tomorrow morning as I’m certain that Perk will be on it.
Even Steve Kerr would consider Jefferson’s point ridiculous. He said this on the radio today:
“We are going to be a relatively high turnover team…as long as it’s measured and tempered, then I think we’re fine. We’ve won championships being a high turnover team, but it can’t be obscene.”
Curry and Poole can’t keep missing vs. Suns, unless they really want to be in a game 7 in Phoenix. Or … Dallas?
I didn’t see the game tonight (WNP gala was happening), so WTF???
My take isn’t going to be any surprise to you, but it’s based on first half only since I started watching a movie afterwards …
First, somewhere in my comments above (or maybe in a text) I referenced the Warriors playing a game 7 in Phx. That was meant only to keep myself from jinxing the Suns. After game 4 it was clear Dallas was not only better but that they were getting better. Meanwhile the Suns showed no signs of improving, so I thought it more likely that the Mavs would win game 7. Not like that, but possibly by more than 10 points.
Dallas defense is outstanding. Warriors will have big problems with that and with Doncic and all those shooters. To beat them you have to outscore them somehow. I’ll be putting my money (literally) on the Warriors because they have so many ways to score. What should concern Warriors fans though is that Dallas may not even be playing their best yet. And here’s a thought to consider because I’d like your input …
Is Dallas possibly at their best when Doncic scores more than 40 a game? I’ve heard all the stuff about assists which seems true in hindsight only, but is this more like Jordan or Wilt who ripped out opponents hearts by being so unstoppable that NOT passing is higher % offense?
I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows yet.
The Warriors will have their hands full with the Mavericks and it will depend on whose pace the game is played at. Warriors want to push the pace, the Mavs like to be more deliberate.
On the Luka question, they were 4-3 this year, including playoffs, in games where Luka scored 40. They were 19-7, including playoffs, in games where Luka had double digit assists. Ultimately, it will come down to whether the Dubs can man up Luka (with Green, Wiggs, or Thompson), so they can shut down others. Mavs were one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, so if Dubs can crush them on the boards and limit second chance opportunities, they should be able to prevail.
Brunson could be a problem for the Warriors, as he may be faster than any of their defenders. BTW, how lucky were the Mavs that Luka had an extended absence back in December? Until then and throughout his career, Brunson was a bench guy. But he filled in for Luka during a short absence in November and extended absence in December and did so well that he’s been in the starting line-up ever since. His speed is the one thing that worries me the most.
I think you’re right, and I believe the Suns interior defense and even some of the perimeter defense was inconsistent and weak enough that Doncic just took advantage. I should say Doncic and Kidd. I don’t think all those quick hands and feet and the length will have the same problem with him toying with the defense from 18 feet in. But they will have a problem with it.
Imagine if Kidd could shoot from any range. Or Magic. They’d still be dish first today but absolutely unstoppable like Doncic within 18 feet. Suns had no answers.
Maybe a conversation for later: I don’t get why LeBron never played like Luka. I’ve seen him do that as a closer, but not all game like Luka. For some guys selfish play can be the best for their team. Not many of them but definitely some. I think LeBron would have had at least one more championship if he played like Luka.
Heard an interesting stat on the radio today. The 1st through 5th most times that Chris Paul got attacked on a screen in a game (i.e., other team’s ball-handler got their defender screened off in favor of Chris Paul defending the ball-handler) were games 3-7 of the Mavs series. So basically, Jason Kidd figured out that Luka and Brunson were good bets to get or create points if they could get Chris Paul on them. Has CP3 declined that much as a defender?
taking a breather for this must see TV …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hohlENK_xQ4
That was fun to watch, but nobody seemed to be taking it really seriously. I mean, Drexler took himself with the #1 pick. I think Jerry West started off taking it seriously, but was still said he was hoping to take an all-Laker team. Sue Bird did pretty good through 3 picks and then went off the rails after that. Quavo was picking an all-personality team. Wilt and Oscar were both drafted way too low. It made for good television, but would like to see the same thing with experts taking it more seriously.
I mainly thought Kidd and Barry were drafted way too low, but yes it was kind of silly. What I didn’t like however, and I might go back and watch it again, is there were a number of times where one team said to another team something like “you stole my pick”. Considering how out of order it got I thought that was interesting that certain players I wouldn’t have considered were being considered by some very experienced players or the info guys whose names I forgot.
So looking at the Conference Finals which begin tonight..the four remaining teams were the four best defensive teams this season in terms of points allowed. In terms of offense, the Celtics were 12th in points scored, the Warriors 14th, Heat 17th, and the Mavs were 24th.
In terms of health, the Celtics were relatively healthy during the year, but may be starting the Conference Finals without Marcus Smart, who is questionable for game 1 (I’ll bet he plays). The Heat were without Butler, Herro, and Adebayo for good chunks of the year, but all are healthy now, though Kyle Lowry isn’t and will miss at least game 1 and Tucker is questionable for game 1. The Warriors had Klay and Dray miss big chunks of the year and Steph miss a smaller chunk. All are healthy now, but GPII remains doubtful for this series and Iggy will be out for at least game 1 and likely more. Porter is probably for game 1 though. Dallas lost Doncic for a small chunk and Hardaway Jr. for a large chunk and the entire playoffs. Other than Hardaway, they are all healthy now though.
My keys for each team:
Boston Celtics: can they shut down or at least limit Miami’s 3-pt shooting, which was the best in the league. These are two pretty evenly matched teams, but the Heat can light it up from deep, so Celtics wing defense will be crucial.
Miami Heat: Presumably Jimmy Butler will get the job of defending Jayson Tatum. If Butler can hold Tatum down and force other Celtics, most of whom are more streaky, to beat them, they’ll be in good shape.
Golden State Warriors: as I mentioned previously, they need to run the Mavs down and really make Luka work on defense and try to man-up Luka with a rotating group of Dray, Wiggs, and Klay when the Mavs have the ball. Mavs like a deliberate offense, so if Dubs can push the pace and don’t turn over the ball too much, they should win.
Dallas Mavericks: conversely, if the Mavs can slow down the game, keep the Dubs from too many fast-break points and force an excessive amount of turnovers, they’ll have a chance.
Las Vegas has the Warriors as the betting favorites, but that is likely in part because they expect more action from nearby Warriors fans. 538.com gave the Celtics the best odds (43%) to win a championship, followed by the Mavs (35%), Heat (15%) and Warriors (7%). I’m not sure how 538.com arrived at that. In any event, I could see any of the four teams winning it all. It is wide open this year.
I heard that Horford is out with Covid for at least a couple games. Big loss of Boston, but if Richard Williams is good to go that might make up for the Horford loss. Smart’s absence is a big loss however.
Although the Heat won last night with a great defensive effort and Jimmy Buckets doing his thing, not sure how representative the game will be of the rest of the series with the Celtics missing 40% of the starting line-up in Smart and Horford. Granted the Heat were missing Lowry, but that wasn’t as big a loss. So the question will be, how long will the Celtics be without Smart and Horford. With Horford, it will be whether he actually has Covid or if it was a false positive. If he has Covid, he could miss the next two games easily.
From what I’ve seen these playoffs the Celtics are reliant on their big three, but offensively to keep the ball moving it’s not just the addition of White but Smart is in great position on most plays to assist or create the ball movement. He’s more important to the Celtics offense than Brown is IMO. Big omission last game. As soon as he gets back Celts are the better team. With Horford they’re probably the team to beat.
I didn’t watch much of the game, but it looks like getting Smart and Horford back was a big boon for the Celtics. What I don’t understand is why Spoelstra only played Herro for 23 minutes and Robinson for 14 minutes. Herro needs to be playing at least 30 minutes a night and Robinson should be going at least 25 minutes. I understand part of that is giving up in the 4th quarter and playing scrubs, but you’ve got to get them more court time and less for Vincent and Strus.
This is the same question many Suns fans have had about Cam Johnson. He doesn’t need to start but not sure why he wasn’t playing 30+ minutes when he was clearly at his best. Don’t know!
The NBA draft order after tonight’s draft lottery:
1. Orlando Magic (moved up from 2nd to 1st)
2. Oklahoma City Thunder (moved up from 4th to 2nd)
3. Houston Rockets (moved down from 1st to 3rd)
4. Sacramento Kings (moved up from 7th to 4th)
5. Detroit Pistons (moved down from 3rd to 5th)
6. Indiana Pacers (moved down from 5th to 6th)
7. Portland Trail Blazers (moved down from 6th to 7th, rest of order is by record)
8. New Orleans Pelicans (from Lakers in AD deal)
9. San Antonio Spurs
10. Washington Wizards
11. New York Knicks
12. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Clippers in PG13 deal)
13. Charlotte Hornets
14. Cleveland Cavaliers
15. Charlotte Hornets (from Pelicans in Devonte Graham deal)
16. Atlanta Hawks
17. Houston Rockets (from Nets in Harden deal)
18. Chicago Bulls
19. Minnesota Timberwolves
20. San Antonio Spurs (from Raptors in Dragic deal)
21. Denver Nuggets
22. Memphis Grizzlies (from Jazz in Conley deal)
23. Philadelphia 76ers
24. Milwaukee Bucks
25. San Antonio Spurs (from Celtics in Derrick White deal)
26. Dallas Mavericks
27. Miami Heat
28. Golden State Warriors
29. Memphis Grizzlies
30. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Suns in CP3 deal)
Pretty sure that no one, not even the Pelicans, thought they’d be picking as high as 8th with the Lakers pick. As part of the AD deal, the Pelicans received the Lakers 2021 1st round pick, but it was protected for picks 9-30 and, if it did not convey, it became an unprotected 2022 1st round pick. Lakers obviously expected that, with AD, they would finish with really good records in both 2021 and 2022, thus, at best, the Pelicans would get a late round pick in 2022. When they ended up with the 22nd pick in the 2021 draft, that meant the Pelicans would get their 2022 pick regardless of where it landed. Pretty sure that the Lakers would have preferred to be picking 8th this year.
Here come the Pels … and the Grizz. And so on and so on.
I’m laughing every day at segments of SiriusXM NBA radio when they get on the two subjects of “small markets” and “the big three” who have conversations unanimously drawing the conclusion that there’s a shift because of front office strategy moving away from trying to land a big fish in free agency. Of course team strategy comes into play, like what you’re mentioning here with the Pels. But that has almost nothing to do with small market teams finally coming in to their own. The main reason for parity and the rise of all these teams I can’t even count any more is, I think, so obvious that it’s some how sneaking under the radar because of the ubiquity of …
TALENT!!
Why are these old time players and old time media members unable (unwilling??) to admit that the league is now overflowing with incoming talent that it’s never seen before? Just look at the glut of MVP candidates this year compared with say 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Clearly the old time thinking goes like “well … in 1998 we had Shaq and Duncan etc and they were simply so much better than the players today”. The only problem there is that NO THEY WERE NOT!
Compared to anytime before, say 2010 for instance, there are now at least 3 times as many candidates being discussed/considered throughout the year than ever before. It makes no difference how the contest ends, but rather which players really stand out during the year leading up to April-May. That’s not a statistical glitch. I want to call into these shows and wake these guys up and just point out that Doncic wasn’t even in the running this year, or rather he was in about 12th place come Feb-Mar. That’s nuts! In any other year in history Doncic is top 4 being discussed throughout the season. After March it’s about record of course and even the great players fall out of consideration if they’re not winning.
I like what the Magic are building. That’s a good franchise and I’m guessing they improve greatly next year because of this pick.
Gotta figure the Magic pick will be Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren. Magic have had first overall pick 3 times before. They got Shaq, C-Webb, and Dwight Howard with those picks. While they immediately traded Webber for Penny and picks, they’ve done well drafting big men with the first pick. Although Holmgren is listed as a center, the Magic might be better off slotting him as a stretch 4 next to Wendell Carter/Mo Bamba at center. Magic need to improve their shooting, which Holmgren will help with, but he won’t be enough. They have a good deal of cap room, so maybe they can make a splash in free agency as well as the draft.
BTW, there’s a Serbian in this year’s draft named Nikola Jovic. He’s 6’10”, but light, and plays SF. I so want the Nuggets to draft him and he’s projected to be available at the Nuggets pick at #21 in the 1st round.
The Warriors did what they had to do last night, but we’ll see how the Mavs adjust from here. Wiggs played great defense on Luka and the Warriors threw 2nd defenders at him from all angles causing Luka to turn over the ball 7 times. That being said, the other Mavs ended up with quite a few open looks from the arc that they just didn’t hit. Gotta figure they will do better in the remaining games.
The Dubs did two of the things I said they would have to do, play the game at their fast pace and control the boards (+16 advantage). They also repeatedly attacked Luka on offense to make him work defensively and tire him out. Luka’s 2nd half stats were pretty abysmal. The Warriors ended up winning by 25 without Steph, Klay, or Jordan really going off on offense. So that bodes well for them as each of those three will likely get hot for periods of this series. It was Wiggins who was the offensive star for much of the game.
Maybe the most surprising thing, both about this game and the Warriors entire playoff run so far, is that the Dubs are not taking as many 3-pt shots as people expect from them. They only took 29 3-pointers last night (vs. 48 for the Mavs). Teams expect the Warriors to fire away from distance, so they try to defend it. The Dubs have adjusted by taking what they are given, easy 2-pt shots. They shot 56% overall last night and had a game against the Grizzlies where they shot 63%. It’s another way the Dubs are staying ahead of the game.
They may be able to play at this pace next game as well, but Kidd has proven he can take things away that were there all night last night. Most likely that will be Dray Green in some capacity. Mavs are as good as I’ve seen at getting their guys great position quickly in the middle of the paint to stop some or a lot of those waltzes or easy interior passes to slashers.
Kleber was instrumental to stopping the Suns from a lot of that. Finney-Smith and Doncic as well. By the way, Doncic has obviously lost weight in these playoffs and is moving faster/quicker. Dubs might see a surprise in game 3 and/or 4.
It may not matter though. Dubs defense killed the Mavs shot selection last night. I can already tell that the Mavs are going to go to a penetrating Doncic taking a lot of shots. As I’ve stated, I don’t agree that a high assist Doncic means Mavs at their best. I think he needs to punish the Dubs inside if he can get there.
Doncic shot 8 FTs last night. I’ll predict that’s a low for him for the series.
According to Kevin Harlan on the radio today, Doncic was up all night sick after the game last night. Perhaps that is to blame for his game.
I remember when Jordan came back after such a night. Watch out!
The Athletic is reporting that the finalists for the Lakers’ head coaching job are Kenny Atkinson, Terry Stotts, and Darvin Ham. The 76ers didn’t fire Doc Rivers, so he was not available for them. I don’t have a real feel yet for which of these three might be best for the Lakers.
If you can find the game on-line today to watch, you should. Unlike game 1, the Mavs were making the open 3s in the first half that Luka created when he was trying to penetrate. Meanwhile, the Warriors, except for Curry, weren’t shooting very well from deep early on. However, the game was still being played at the Warriors’ pace and the Dubs cut a larger deficit to just 14 at half-time. The second half was a different story.
I think the big reason the Warriors want this series played at their pace is conditioning. The Dubs are incredibly well-conditioned and the Mavs appear not to be. Although Luka has lost a lot of weight and gotten into better shape, he cannot run at this pace for a whole game. Just like game 1, his effectiveness took a steep dive in the 2nd half. Same with most of his teammmates. The 3s that they hit in the first half weren’t falling in the 2nd half as their legs tired (though Luka did hit several very long range 3s late in the game when the game was mostly out of hand). Luka’s penetration into the paint was not as effective as the game wore on. Defensively, the Mavs were fairly effective at shutting down the Dubs’ penetration in the first half, but the Warriors crushed them in the paint in the 2nd half. Basically, the Dubs got the Mavs tired in the first half and just took over the game in the 2nd half.
What has to be disheartening for the Mavs is that the Warriors still won fairly handily despite a poor game by Draymond, who got into foul trouble, picked up a tech, and was frequently barking at the officials and was probably lucky that he didn’t get a 2nd tech and tossed. Dray’s +/- was -19 in a game that they won by 9 points. The one good thing Dray did was continually push the pace.
The Warriors entered the 4th quarter down by 2 points. The Warriors start the 2nd and 4th quarters with Curry and Green on the bench. It was Poole, Klay, Porter, and Looney that put the game away. And after a worthless 5 minutes from Damion Lee in the 1st half, Kerr added Moses Moody to the mix for most of the 4th. He didn’t do much offensively, but played great wing defense.
Just like game 1, the Warriors did not shoot a lot of 3s, taking just 28 for the game. However, they did hit 14 of them and shot 56% overall, mostly because of a slam party in the 2nd half as they repeatedly attacked the Mavs weak defense in the paint. Looney had a career high 21 points with 12 rebounds, including another 5 offensive rebounds. I’m fairly certain that Steph will win the inaugural Magic Johnson western conference finals MVP trophy if the Warriors win the series, but Loon will definitely merit some consideration. Not only has he been controlling the boards, but, as I’ve noted before, he has learned much of Dray’s role on the offensive–dribble handoffs, pick-and-rolls, fake handoff turn and drives–so that the Warriors’ offense does not suffer much when Dray is not on the court.
BTW, I learned last night that Poole and Looney knew each other pre-Warriors. They are both from Milwaukee and played in some of the same leagues briefly in high school. Loon is 3 years older than Poole and Poole said that Loon was the guy he looked up and admired back in their Milwaukee days. Looney is a free agent this off-season and has earned a considerable raise from his $5 million salary . Dubs have a team option at about $4 million on Poole, but he is eligible for a new contract that could pay him more than $20 million. Dubs already have $171 million committed in salary next season, which is roughly $50 million over the cap and does not include other free agents like Porter, Bjelica, Payton, and JTA. I’m guessing the Warriors will let Bjelica and JTA go (though JTA may agree to resign for vet minimum). The Warriors will want to resign Porter and Payton, but both may become too pricy for them. I won’t be surprised to see the Warriors salary obligations shoot over $200 million next year, which doesn’t include cap penalties they will have to pay. That’s something we can get into in the off-season thread.
The Mavs got fined $100,000 today for lack of bench decorum, in part because of this play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAe33psRE3Y&t=24s
It’s the third time this postseason that they’ve been fined for this. They may be just a little too excited to be in the playoffs.
First of all, in case you didn’t see it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Ncn56I9GA
That’s Wiggs putting an end to the Mavericks. Even Luka was impressed by it even though he was on the wrong side of it.
In any event, it was just more of the same. After a fast-paced and hard fought 1st half, the Mavs just didn’t have the same energy in the 2nd half. Luka got his 40, Brunson and Dinwiddie scored a few points, but basically the rest of the team did jack. Meanwhile, the Dubs had everyone contributing on both ends of the court and they even managed to limit themselves to just 10 turnovers. They again dominated the boards You would think that with three 6’10” guys in the rotation (Powell, Bertans, and Kleber), the Mavs would be better rebounders, but all three seem to be allergic to rebounds. Honestly, the Mavs should throw Boban out there as they’ve got nothing to lose at this point. Boban would get abused on switches, but maybe they play some zone defense with him in the middle to limit that.
In any event, as they repeated often in the post-game show, no team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs. There’s a first time for everything, but this won’t be it. I will not be surprised if the Mavs win game 4 as the Dubs are likely to play with less urgency, like they did in game 4 against the Nuggets. But I doubt this series gets beyond game 5 and I will not be surprised to see a sweep.
So impressed with Wiggins and of course the rest of the crew. I watched enough to see domination and champion. And of course the Dubs win this series, but I’ll be surprised if they win game 4. Warriors are full of surprises, so I don’t mean I’ll be on them to lose only that human nature has a caged animal in the Kidd, Doncic and Brunson led Mavs against a very loose team with no real need to win this next one. Of course Kerr will say they need to win and Dray will approach it that way but I still expect a let down and a close finish if not a blowout by the Mavs.
But not betting on it;-)
Not sure what to make to make of this schizophrenic Celtics-Heat series. Except for Game 3, every game has been a blowout. The Celtics were without Smart and Horford in game 1 (and Heat were without Lowry) and got crushed. The Celtics get Smart and Horford back in game 2 and blow out the Heat. In game 3, the Heat get Lowry back, but lose Butler to an injury early and still beat the Celtics in a game that was not quite as close as the score indicated. And now in game 4, Butler is back with the Heat but they are without Herro, while the Celtics are without Smart again. Yet, the Celtics crush the Heat. Really don’t have a clue how this is gonna turn out.
I haven’t been following the last 2 games at all. What happened to butler and why is herro missing?
Herro, whether he plays well or not, is critical to the Heat’s flow and mindset. Moreso to the ball movement and everyone’s positioning/spacing than the scoring IMO.
Butler, well it’s obvious why he needs to play so no need to comment there.
Butler is dealing with knee inflammation. He missed a game in the Hawks series for the same reason. Tyler Herro is dealing with a groin issue. It’s apparently the reason why he missed the last quarter and a half in Game 3 and may explain why his minutes have been unusually low in the series.
If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to watch Steve Kerr’s pre-game comments about the Texas school shooting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5x4eHn_3tA
Kerr obviously has very personal reasons for the way he feels.
Was great to see Moody being effective last night – I didn’t expect that kind of contribution. Makes me wonder how many tens of thousands of people ask the question “how much talent do the Warriors really have?!!” not having a single clue that the most surprising talent that they’d be wondering about is sitting on the bench with a broken elbow.
I’m already looking forward to next years Western Conference Finals. Warriors vs. ???
No clue who the ??? will be. How do you pick from Pels, Mavs, Grizz, Clipps, Wolves, Nuggets?
Almost certain it won’t be Suns, Lakers or Jazz. Unless the Suns make a big time sign n trade deal for Ayton and Paul retires or moves on. Seems like wishful thinking at this point.
Go Dubs!
Moody has been getting some playing time the last few games because the Warriors trust him on defense. He’s a good on-ball defender and knows where he is supposed to be in rotations. Kuminga looks good in the Dubs’ offense, but gets lost sometimes on defense. The Warriors entire 2nd unit looked impressive in the 4th quarter with the comeback, even though it fell short. It made the Mavs stick with their starters, so they didn’t get as much rest as you would normally expect in what was looking like a blowout. I would have liked to have seen Kerr stick with the second unit till the end of the game, but he said afterward that they were beginning to look tired.
I was only half-way kidding last night that the “rain” delay was intentional. The Mavs looked tired in the 2nd half of every one of the first three games. The “rain” delay bought them some extra rest going into the 2nd half and they looked more energized.
Sure, but hard to believe Moody contributed that well in the other games. Looks like he did not and not even close hence my comment. Possible I missed one of his better playoff games, but I doubt it. That’s why I was specifically calling attention to his contribution in game 4.
Meanwhile GPII seems to be making progress, and if the media reports are correct he’ll be back for the finals. I realize Dubs will keep this close to the vest. And of course they like to protect their players, but GPII and his injury are different. Fully expecting to see him back for the finals.
I’m going to see if I can bet on the recipient of the Magic Johnson award. I assume it’s between Steph and Looney before the game today and then add Doncic to that list if the Mavs win.
It’s almost certainly Steph (if Dubs win) or Luka (if Mava make a miraculous comeback). I really like the odds you got on Loon and Wiggs though. Presumably, the payout for a Steph win is greater than the $17 you put on Loon, Wiggs, and Luka.
I’d have to bet $500 on Steph for the payoff to be worth it. Instead, I bet on Steph in order to fund the other bets. Most likely I break even.
Although the Heat have played well in a couple of games, they are probably cooked at this point. Herro is out and Butler and Lowry are playing through injuries and neither looks entirely right. And I know the Celtics defense is the best in the league, but you can’t shoot 15.6% from the arc like the heat did last night and win. I expect the Celtics will close out the series tomorrow night at home.
I feel badly for Riley. I loved the Lowry trade, more for the poise and shooting/scoring/penetration than the leadership and “winner” branding that seems less than the others to me.
I think Lowry offsets Smart in this series if he’s healthy. And I think it’s expected that Adebayo will dominate if the series continues after tomorrow. But Herro needs to get back in. He’s an outstanding ball mover and space creator. Very fast offensive player that makes Miami faster offensively.
If it’s a groin injury can’t he just get an injection? I don’t get it.
47 pts
8 assts
4 steals
9 rebs
1 turnover
Jimmy Buckets!
Lowry 10 assists and 2 turnovers
I only saw the last few minutes at a restaurant. It was tied at either 97 or 99 at the time. In those last few minutes, the Celtics just looked out of control and wilted with the game on the line, while the Heat were cool under pressure. The Heat pulled this off without Tyler Herro again. I wonder if he will be ready to go on Sunday.
So it’s the Celtics. However, no consistency from either team. The Celtics do have great defenders with a lot of length, so we’ll see if they can force more TOs than usual from the Dubs. I like the Warriors to win the series, but it is likely to be a tough haul.
Celtics can’t help but relax when they think they’re in control. Obviously the same is true for the Dubs, but not nearly as consistent. I’ve noticed that while the Dubs stick to their game plan throughout the game the Celtics do not. So Dubs lose games or give up leads because of execution while the Celtics seem to fall apart mentally. Not all Celtics of course, but Smart seems too relaxed out there at times. Robert Williams as well.
Tatum, while deserving of top billing and should be the Dubs #1 concern, is still fairly immature wrt getting everyone involved. He’s definitely better, but if he’s expecting to make the same kinds of drives to the hoop without passing he’s in for a big surprise from the super-quick collapsing Dubs D.
I expect the Dubs to mess with the Celts plans early in this series. I’d be shocked if the Celts win one in S.F.
The big talking point last night and this morning is whether Jimmy Butler should have let fly with the pull-up 3-pointer with 11 or 12 seconds left, with the Heat down by two. On the one hand, if he makes the shot, it puts the Heat up by one with little more than 10 seconds left and maybe they don’t have to go to OT. On the other hand, Butler is a terrible 3-pt shooter (25% or so in his 3 years with the Heat) and he played every second of the game (Adebayo played all but 2 minutes), so his legs were likely very heavy by that point. I think I come down on the latter. He had Horford in front of him backing up, so just keep going to the hoop and get an easier shot and possibly get an and 1 if Horford fouls him. I think the Celtics would have been happy regardless of whether Butler made the shot as he was taking a bad shot (for him) and would have left the Celts with enough time to come up with a game winning shot.
Spoelstra could have prevented that by just saying “never” to Butler. It’s just a ridiculous idea for Butler to ever be taking a do or die 3 for his team. Even if he’s wide open, because in that case dribble penetration makes more sense for him and his team.
The Lakers hired Darvin Ham as their new head coach. He’s been an assistant under Mike Budenholzer for 9 years, but spent his first two years coaching with the Lakers under Mike Brown. Looks like he’s earned his stripes to move up to head coach. Maybe the Lakers are hoping to figure out a Giannis-type offense for AD. In any event, the Lakers are not well-positioned to get better in the near future. Even if healthy, they are a middle of the pack western conference team at best. Maybe they can find some sucker to take Westbrook off their hands, but I don’t see them getting a star in return and draft picks won’t really work on the LBJ timeline.
What’s the latest on GP II?
No official word yet. I know he’s been practicing and he said a few days ago that he was getting closer to normal. My guess is that he won’t play for at least the first few games. He was, however, named the winner of the Bob Lanier Community Assist Award by the NBA yesterday, as seen in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-krI0rbifk
Awesome – I sent the vid to my entire family who are quickly becoming non-Suns hoop fans. This’ll get them rooting for the Warriors in no time!
Payton, Porter, and Iguodala all officially listed as questionable for tonight’s game.
Celts-Warriors championship series starting tomorrow night. I believe the Warriors are the slight Vegas favorite, but I think that has a lot to with more money likely to come in on the Dubs. 538.com, which was dead right about the Celtics and dead wrong about the Warriors in the conference championships, again has the Celtics as the favorite. The ESPN Basketball Power Index agrees, giving the Warriors only a 17% chance to win. However, I know that both of those prediction models are very stat driven and I’m not sure the stats can be trusted here.
The entire Warriors regular season was played with one of Klay, Steph, or Dray missing each game. Wiggins and Poole each missed some games, as did Porter and Payton. All of the starters and Poole have been healthy for the playoffs and they’ve rolled through each round never going to 7 games against teams that beat the Dubs during the regular season:
Nuggets won season series against Warriors 3-1.
Grizzlies won season series against Warriors 3-1.
Mavericks won season series against Warriors 3-1.
The Warriors and Celtics split their season series with the Celtics blowing out the Dubs 110-88 in San Francisco in the most recent game back in mid-March, also the game where Curry got hurt when Marcus Smart rolled up his leg (in a perfectly valid basketball play). The Celtics are the #1 defensive team (Dubs are #3) and the #12 offensive team (Dubs are #15). Celtics were the 5th best rebounding team (Dubs were #7). The Celtics had the best record in the NBA since January. The Celtics team is also young, so they may be better able to keep up with the Warriors’ motion. So I get why the stats-driven statistical models favor the Celtics. But unless those models compensate for injuries, I don’t know that they are applicable to this series.
Besides health, I listen to people like Patrick Beverley, who recently has been on Get Up and First Take a bunch. PatBev is a top defensive player. He says the Celtics have a hard time defending “splits.” Of course, the heart of the Warrior offense is their split action plays, where Curry, Thompson, and Poole are moving without the ball. PatBev talks about it around the 4:15 mark of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6xkUIkbHxU
Then there’s the injury factor with Smart and Robert Williams nursing ankle and knee injuries respectively during the conference championships. The three days off until the finals start will help them, but you have to wonder if they can keep up with the Dubs, particularly Smart having to trail Curry around the court. The Warriors have injury issues with Payton, Porter, and Iggy, but they are all less important to the Dubs than Smart and Williams to the Celtics. All 3 may return for the finals, but unclear if that will be right away or if they will be limited.
Finally, there is the simple eye test. The Celtics looked awful at times against Miami and even in games they won, they had trouble closing out quarters. In the game 7 win, the Heat three times came back from double-digit deficits and were a better Jimmy Butler shot away from winning at the end. This was a depleted Heat team playing without Herro for the most part and Butler playing through injuries.
Finally, thus far in the playoffs, the Warriors are undefeated at home. They’ve extend their NBA record to 26 consecutive playoff series with a road win. All in all, I’ve got the Warriors winning the series. I’ll say in 7 games, but it could be 5 if they hold court and win the first 2 games at home. I will be mightily bummed if they cannot polish off another championship this year.
Not sure if you alluded to this point, but I didn’t see it in your comments: the massive advantage warriors have because of experience in big time games. Both winning and losing.
I use the word “massive” because there are at least 2 things that should be working clearly in their favor:
#1. The obvious point that players with so much playoff experience and success know what it takes to win 4 out of 7. It’s the little things that matter, and paying attention to them for as much of the 48 minute clock as a brain and body can handle. One of those little things relates to knowing yourself as a player. When are you too tired to make good decisions and/or keep up with the pace? When are you about to get tired, meaning how can you know you’re on the cusp of letting down before it happens? How to deal with teammates who are known to tire or get frustrated or let down earlier than others? The coach can’t do all of it – as a player it needs to be imprinted on your instincts. A sort of muscle memory that stung so bad you won’t let it happen again. Warriors are probably going to blow out the Celtics in at least 2 games of this series for just this reason IMO.
#2. Trusting your teammates and coaching staff. Warriors appear to always know what they’re doing, even when they don’t execute correctly. Usually the way to correct the poor execution is to protect the ball and work a lot harder at both ends. That comes from team success over years of playoff and finals experience. They don’t start jacking up crappy shots like most other teams do. They rarely seem to be out of position at either end, and when they do it’s almost a certainty it won’t happen again anytime soon. They don’t ever seem to have trouble knowing how much time is on the clock. Celtics are nowhere near close to this kind of team-wide trust. Smart is always a wild card, sort of like how Poole was earlier this year when he tried too hard or got too excited and bad decision making resulted. Smart still seems to be a bit of a renegade, albeit with mostly good things resulting. Not always though. Williams is about to enter new territory, but the lack of experience will almost certainly screw him up these first two games with Dray, Loon and Wiggs luring him into bad fouls. I’ll be surprised if Williams plays more than 24 minutes tonight. Not shocked exactly, because possible he’ll be needed even with 4 or 5 fouls on him at some critical juncture.
Some individual comments that are related:
Tatum is a star that is rising, and sure seems he’s learning how to become a champion. But will he go full Kobe (pre-2010) on his team and try to do it all himself or will he trust his teammates to make the right decisions and take the right shots or just get ball back to him after he passes? Historically, I would say that only the greats have stepped onto the big stage for the first time and had the poise to produce in all the right ways which means by trusting the team first. Jordan might be an exception. Maybe Kobe, although the Kobe lore is way overblown, since his fans seem to only remember the games and series he helped win by trying to do it all himself. He lost too many times because of his style for it to be warranted as a game plan. I expect Tatum will have similar trouble in this series.
Wiggins. He frickin made it here and was outstanding in the conf finals. The consistency of his excellent play is one of those great surprises that come with being a long time fan of the game. You rarely see anyone change almost everything about their game and mindset en route to becoming both an all-star and one of the bedrocks of their team (by the way, how many teams in history had THREE such bedrocks in the way this Warriors team has? Dray, Loon and Wiggs have done an amazing job of holding down the fort.) It sure seems like he’ll be ready tonight, but no one can know until they see it. Sure helps that he’s become this kind of role-player-all-star, which I assume was Kerr’s idea all along. To use him as an automaton almost, where you bank on him following directions and the plan and doing it all with focus and very well conditioned energy. I’ve got to believe that Kerr saw a lot in him to help him get to where he is now, but that Kerr could never have imagined how well Wiggins would move the ball and create space. Wiggins is becoming a great decision maker if he isn’t already. No one saw that coming. If he keeps playing this way while protecting the ball this series may be a sweep if they keep feeding him.
I’d love to see a great Wiggins game tonight. In a blowout. Nothing could be worse for the Celtics.
One more thing to add, though it’s more of a wishy-washy argument…
Not only is this Dubs offense the best I’ve ever seen it seems to be far and away the best offense ever in the NBA. I’m not even sure if there’s a number #2 or just a bunch of teams tied for #2: 86 Celtics, 80s Lakers, mid-90s Bulls, mid-2010s Dubs, early 2010 Spurs. I think you could argue for any of those as #2 all time, but I don’t see how anyone with historical knowledge could put this Warriors offense anywhere else than #1. You could try to argue they lack a big man I suppose, but it would be foolish to do so in my opinion. The team is stacked with playmakers and four of those are 3 time champs. The team is stacked with scorers and three of those (if you include Iggy and I do) are 3 time champs. The team has 4 or 5 excellent shooters, and two of those are 3 time champs. The team has several excellent rebounders and two of those are 3 time champs.
I don’t see how this series can even be a contest. I don’t see how it ever gets to a 6th game. There’s just way too much going for the Warriors. Celtics are going to feel completely defeated after game 3 when they’re down 3-0. We’ll see how they do in game 4 I guess.
I don’t disagree with the experience point, but would point out that the Celtics have been in the Eastern Conference finals 4 of the last 6 years. Smart and Brown have been around for all of those. Tatum, Horford, and Theis were around for 3 of them. They finally broke through to the finals this year. So while they don’t have specific finals experience, they do have deep playoff run experience. The Warriors’ experience still trumps that, but the Celtics aren’t noobs at this.
The other thing I didn’t note above is that the Celtics are basically using a 7-man rotation in the playoffs–Tatum, Brown, Smart, Robert Williams, Horford, Grant Williams, and Derrick White. Other players really only get mop up or injury replacement time. Tatum, Brown, Smart and Horford are routinely getting 40 plus minutes per game. Meanwhile, the Warriors will easily go 9 deep with Curry, Thompson, Green Wiggins, Poole, Looney, Porter, Payton, Iguodala (the latter 3 depending on health), and will also throw in some combo of Lee, Bjelica, Moody, JTA, and Kuminga, depending on the matchups. With the amount of motion in the Warriors’ offense, how tired might the Celtics 7-man rotation get?
VERY tired?
I don’t see how the Celtics win any of the first 3 for all these reasons. There would need to be an injury to Green, Loon or Steph to change that, even tho losing Klay or Poole would be terrible I think the Dubs are still fine in those cases with one of about 5 guys being able to replace the injured player. Heck, even if Steph goes down Dubs look good.
Let’s hope Dray keeps his cool.
Seriously, what is this bizarre phenomenon convincing actual sports fans and the media that the Celtics can win this series? They weren’t even best in the East: Middleton had to be absent for them to get here.
It’s a strange study in humanity I think. I can only think one thing: they watch the warriors play and they have no idea what they’re seeing that it seems fake to them. Like those old Nuggets team with Westhead was it? They scored like the wind, but they really kind of sucked overall. It also reminds me of audiophiles who spend $150K or more on the “best” equipment that usually means ridiculous bass and power, and then one day they hear audio done the most accurate way in the best venue and it sounds so strange that they can’t associate it with something they know (because they almost never hear live jazz or blues up close and without amplification).
They walk away having no opinion and simply say “it sounded strange” and leave it at that to never listen to that “cheapo” kind of system again and forget all about it. (your dad has followed a different path than this just to be clear).
I think teams watch Dray and Poole and Steph and all that fancy quick passing and they must think “no way they’re doing that against us!”.
Can’t wait for tipoff!
The bad news for the Warriors is that all 5 talking heads on the ESPN/ABC pre-game show (Magic, Stephen A., Greenie, Wilbon, and Rose) picked the Warriors to win.
oh boy. what a turn of events. not expected!
Some quick notes on Game 1…
Celtics made some defensive adjustment in the 4th quarter as the Warriors offensive got a little static, with less motion and Steph looking to dribble around screens instead of moving as much without the ball. They completely knocked the Dubs out of their rhythm. Also, the Celtics interior defense kept the Dubs from scoring in the paint for the most part.
Jordan Poole needed to calm down. He was playing out of control when he was in the game most of the time. Kerr noticed and brought Curry back early in the 4th in order to take Poole out.
Warriors defense did a good job on Tatum and kind of dared others to beat them and the others did that in the 4th. Kudos to Horford, Smart, and Brown for coming up big. We were wondering if the Celtics would get tired chasing the Dubs around on offense. Other than Tatum, it did not appear like they did.
Derrick White as well.
Did it seem as if Kerr was gambling on the Celtics not making their threes? Why else would there be so many wide open 3P shots by the Celtics?
I think that is accurate. I believe that they showed a little bit from one of the Warriors’ huddles in the 4th quarter and Kerr was saying something about the Warriors playing good defense, but the Celts were simply hitting their shots. The Celtics shot 51% from 3 last night (they were at 35.6% during the season). That is probably not sustainable, but they have proven to be very streaky during these playoffs. The two Celtics that shot poorly from the arc were Tatum and Brown, which was probably a testament to the defense the Dubs were playing on them. However, they are likely to do better in other games. Brown still managed to get points in other ways, driving to the basket and pull-up jumpers.
I’d argue that this IS sustainable from Horford. Predictably so. I’d rather leave Brown open for 3s than Horford.
Really? Horford shot 33.6% on the season, whereas Brown shot 35.8%. Not a huge difference, but still one in Brown’s favor. Horford hit 6 of 8 last night. I don’t see that as being sustainable. Same with White (30.6% on the season, 5 of 8 last night), and Smart (33.1% on the season, 4 of 7 last night. Pritchard at least is a 41.2% shooter, so his 2 for 3 last night was not that unusual. He just won’t get enough minutes to do too much damage. If the non-Tatum/Brown Celtics continue to shoot that well from deep, they will win this series.
I’d argue Horford needs more reps. Certainly not as many, but yes I like having him play more minutes with the intent on more 3 pt shooting. He’s getting great looks. I doubt Brown gets nearly as many good looks in this series, but after last night I guess I have no idea what’s coming next.
Fully expecting a blowout by the Warriors, but not sure how exactly. I think you have to take a chance on Poole and GPII
I noticed the change with Poole’s role within 10 seconds of it happening. This is Kerr’s team, but I disagreed with the decision to not put him right back in then and I still disagree with it. Poole needed to calm down, so put him back in and force him to use up all that energy on the defensive end. Certainly he would have rendered the Dubs’ perimeter defense much better than it was, not to mention that he’s extremely disruptive which I think would have helped a lot last night.
Kerr did bring Poole back in later in the 4th (for Looney) to get another shooter in when the Celtics had gone up by 6. I don’t think Poole did anything in the 3 minutes he was in before Kerr emptied his bench. I hope this was simply a case of first game finals nerves for Poole, but I’m sure the coaches will go over the tape with him to get him to curb the nervous, out of control issues.
Quin Snyder resigned as head coach of the Jazz. There have been rumors about this for a little while. Haven’t heard any speculation yet about a replacement.
Basically, the Warriors played much better defense last night than in game 1. In part, that’s because of GPII playing, both because of his on-ball defense and how well he rotates. Horford, Smart, and White did not get all those wide open 3-pointers because the Dubs’ rotations were much better. Those defensive rotations also resulted in a ton of steals. After Andrew Wiggins shut down Tatum in game 1, the Celtics kept screening Wiggins off of Tatum, so that he could use his size against smaller Dubs’ defenders. But while Tatum shot well, no other Celtic did.
I like the Warriors chances to take a road game in Boston, where the Celtics are only 5-4 in this postseason, particularly if they can keep up this level of defense. Plus, the other Warriors’ non-Curry offensive weapons, Klay, Poole, and Wiggins, really haven’t gone off yet (though Poole hit a couple of big late 3rd quarter shots). That’s due in large part to the Celtics’ defense, but you gotta figure that one or more of those 3 will go off sooner or later. Still, this is looking like a series that will go 7 games.
As an aside, albeit one that’s extremely relevant, I’m surprised by the Warriors’ haters seemingly everywhere & not just in AZ. There appears to be a palpable “movement” where media sentiment is heavily favoring the Celtics defense. The idea is that the Warriors (especially Poole) haven’t seen any good defense like this all year and therefore it’s a done deal (and Celtics win this series easily – 6 games) because Kerr can’t play Poole much if at all and “of course” the Warriors have no answers at all for all that Celtics outside 3 pt shooting.
The main points being …
1.) Warriors aren’t all that good because they simply haven’t seen a defense like this EVER.
2.) Warriors aren’t all that good because they don’t play defense.
I write and repeat all this, because I’m tiring of these gamblers tautological arguments to justify their picks (and often bets). They all seem to be betting online against the Warriors now, or at least they’re following the betting lines. I think those that don’t put $$ down still see what others are betting on and can’t get away from the discussion. Or so it seems.
Going into game 3 my guess is that the media is much more heavily swayed by game 1, because the thinking goes that the Celtics intentionally took the night off for game 2. Even though the FACTS are that 1.) Poole UNCHARACTERISTICALLY went AWOL in game 1 and is unlikely to be a non-factor again. and 2.) The Dubs had one super easy waltz to the basket after the other in game 2, and the only reason they weren’t up by 8 or 10 going into the 3rd is that they missed about 4 easy layups for no reason at all. 3.) The media has no clue what GPII is doing out there. As you wrote, the warriors defense tightened up considerably in game 2 “In part, that’s because of GPII playing, both because of his on-ball defense and how well he rotates. Horford, Smart, and White did not get all those wide open 3-pointers because the Dubs’ rotations were much better.”
Celtics appear to be big favorites for game 2. Favorites I understand, but not by much. Again, the idea now is that this will be Celtics in 6 for many if not most people that I’m listening to.
Oh, by the way need to tell you this: I hopped in an Uber after the game Sunday and driver asked a question about how my night was going. I didn’t realize he had just been at the same sportsbar as me or that he knew about the game. I said “pretty good. I liked the result of the NBA Finals game”. The guy actually got upset! I thought it was just friendly sports banter, but get this …
He lives in Phoenix. He’s a huge LAKERS fan, and his biggest problem is with the Warriors. Not the Celtics. The Warriors. Somehow I was supposed to understand that while he went on and on explaining how I should bet on game 3 right after I explained that I’m not touching any bets on game 3. It’s a strange series already and game 3 is a game to wait on and watch. Betting on it makes no sense to me unless you have inside info. At least now I know who’s money I’m taking next time I win a fanduel bet:-)
Poole Game 2 …
23 6-14 5-9 0-0 0 2 2 3 2 0 3 1 +7 17
That’s 23 minutes. 1 foul. 2 steals. 3 assists.
The 5-9 3pt shooting wasn’t bad.
Yeah. He’ll be a non-factor because Kerr can’t play him in this series;-)
Maybe Kerr should just start him tonight to shutup all these dumbasses.
Oh, and while the Uber driver was upset that the Warriors won he claimed the 50 foot shot by Poole was “momentum”. I said huh? “You gotta think metaphysical” he said. I laughed and said, “OK, so in that case what if he missed it?”
Him:
But he didn’t! See!
Me:
No I don’t. You said you gotta think metaphysical, so I was thinking that if a bear shits alone in the woods will anyone know it?
Him:
Man! He made it! That’s because the Warriors have momentum! That’s what the Celtics are going to have on Wednesday!
Me:
Huh?
Poole is mostly playing when Pritchard is on the court for Boston. They don’t want Tatum or Brown abusing Poole on defense. Doubtful Poole starts at all in this series. Poole definitely calmed down on offense after game 1 and played much better offensively. However, defensively, he is the Warriors’ weakest link. I suspect that, like Curry, Poole will get much better on defense as he gets experience, but he’s just not there yet.
It appeared the Warriors best defensive unit in Game 2 was a line-up of Steph, GPII, Wiggins, Porter, and Green or Looney. They were the ones on the floor for the bulk of the 35-14 drubbing in the 3rd quarter. Poole didn’t come in until the final minute+ of the 3rd. His two 3s in the last 30 seconds made him +6 on the plus/minus for that minute, which was the bulk of his +7 for the plus/minus in the game.
A couple of notes on last night’s game. One, the Celtics’ interior defense was truly stellar. Even when it appeared they got beat on the floor, they made plays from behind. Their interior defense has been good all series, but they bumped it up another notch last night.
Draymond played terribly last night, which he himself admitted. Not sure what was up with him. The Boston fans went after him hard, but gotta imagine that he is used to that. Grant Williams tried to bait him into a technical early on by knocking him down with a hit to his back on a screen early on and then walking into Draymond while Green clapped about an offensive foul on Williams being called on the play, but Draymond didn’t take the bait.
Curry had three turnovers and I believe all three happened over the course of a few minutes at the beginning of the 4th quarter. A close game got out of hand as a result. None of the turnovers resulted from good Celtics defense. He was just careless. That shouldn’t happen at all and certainly not when you’ve got a close game.
Just like game 1, Tatum had another terrible shooting night, but still managed to be effective with 9 assists and good defense. You see some players lose themselves when they aren’t shooting well, but Tatum figures out what else he can do to beat the other team.
I am a little worried about Curry’s foot after Horford fell on it last night. It is the same foot that cost him the last month of the season. Curry said he expected to play game 4, but we’ll see if affects his effectiveness.
So apparently Draymond went on his podcast last night and basically said that he let all the noise of the last few days–about how he should have received a second technical in game 2 and thrown out of the game and Cedric Maxwell and Robert Parish essentially saying that if Draymond played back in the 80s, they would have taken him to the woodshed–get into his head and he played less aggressively as a result because he was afraid that, in Boston, he would be more likely to get tossed. They played a little portion of his podcast on the radio this morning, so I haven’t heard the whole thing.
Good news on Curry, the Warriors announced that they do not need to do an MRI on his foot.
Don’t know if you saw the story, but apparently they had a COVID outbreak before game 7 of the Mavericks series, with at least one assistant testing positive and sitting out game 7 and at least one player and 5 more staffers testing positive pretty soon after game 7. As such, they were unable to hold in-person end-of-season team meetings and did them by Zoom instead. The player who tested positive the day after game 7 was not named in the report by The Athletic.
However, Suns’ analyst Eddie Johnson was interviewed on San Francisco sportsradio yesterday and made a pretty startling claim. According to Johnson, CP3 was sick during much of the Mavericks series and lost his energy. While he didn’t outright state that CP3 had COVID, he heavily implied it. Of course that raises issues as to whether the Suns followed COVID protocols. They claim they did, but Johnson heavily implied that they did not. I wonder if Johnson will still have a job next year. Anyway, you can listen to the Eddie Johnson interview here:
https://www.audacy.com/957thegame/podcasts/willard-dibs-61158/eddie-johnson-joins-willard-and-dibs-1454721631
I haven’t yet heard any reaction from the Suns or CP3 to Eddie Johnson’s comments, only the Suns’ response to The Athletic article. Perhaps the local radio comments haven’t filtered back to Phoenix yet.
EJ is making bank and certainly doesn’t need the Suns job. He’s become a star on SiriusXM now, mostly due to the tutelage of Justin Termine. EJ takes over the show when Termine is off.
EJ is known for being a sort of poor man’s Barkley on air. He says many things without thinking them through, and is combative (more than Barkley) to anyone that might disagree with him. But somehow that has led to great ratings for him.
He’s also fairly intimidating physically. If he’s fired (it would need to be by Sarver only – no one else would be stupid enough), it won’t go well. He’s got a temper.
CP3 with COVID may have been a factor, but the Suns had bigger problems. What I wonder about is if Ayton simply started complaining about being exposed to CP3 and didn’t want to play for that reason. It sure seems likely based on many things I’ve heard and read.
A few observations about Game 4.
Kerr started Otto Porter because he wanted to force Robert Williams away from the basket. I don’t think it worked as Williams seemingly always leaves his man when a Warrior is driving to the basket. I was thinking to myself that the Dubs have to be cognizant of that and that whoever Williams is covering has to make themselves available to the driver. Even the announcers said something similar. I saw Draymond follow Williams in once and slam a rebound home after Williams altered the shot. But I didn’t see the Dubs looking to dish to a wide-open Porter when Williams left him.
As we discussed via text last night, the refs noticeably made a number of bad calls against the Dubs. Neither of Looney’s first two fouls were actually fouls, which even the announcers noted. There was the missed very obvious traveling call that resulted in a Warrior foul and a Kerr technical when he exploded about it. Steph was fouled on a couple of his made 3s that weren’t called. I know there was at least one more that I’m forgetting. The Warriors prevailed anyway, so there was no post-game discussion of it, but I hope Silver noticed.
Wiggins had a career high 16 rebounds and played a team-high 43+ minutes. He didn’t shoot particularly well, but still found a way to have a huge impact on the game.
An interesting observation I heard after the game from BJ Armstrong. I hadn’t noticed, but the Celtics have had Marcus Smart guarding Draymond the last two games. This prevents the Dubs from using Dray in the pick-n-roll with Steph. Dray only scored one basket last night, but still had 8 assists and 9 rebounds. Interestingly, Kerr went to Looney instead of Draymond in the 4th quarter when he had Steph, Klay, Poole, and Wiggs together. Then, after the Dubs took control and he wanted a better defensive unit out there, he was switching Dray and Poole in and out of the game, Dray for defense, and Poole for offense.
Despite the win, it is just a tied series and the Celtics have won a lot of road games this postseason. I really think the Dubs have to win game 5 at home to win the series. However, the Celtics have not lost two consecutive games yet in these playoffs.
It was a complicated game for both teams. Smart, despite some of his poor decisions wrt shot-taking (those decisions weren’t actually that bad, but a couple were), is right there with Tatum and Curry as MVPs of this series so far. Smart is everywhere and screws up so many things that the Dubs want to do. And he leads by example and keeps his team moving at the right pace. Tatum isn’t far behind.
Kerr needs to figure out how to tweak Dray’s role just a bit so Smart isn’t bothering him so much. Of course it’s not just Smart, but that’s where it starts. Dray should be doing so much more wrt getting his teammates the ball where they need it. There must be a good solution here.
Refs and Silver need to look at that game and do whatever they need to do to remove the refs from the determining the outcome of these finals. I’d argue that the Dubs are getting the worst of it by far, because the physical play vs. Poole especially and (I need to look closer at replay for this) Looney and Dray should be sending the Dubs to the line much more often than they’ve been. Mostly, Poole isn’t getting more minutes partly because he probably knows the refs won’t call it if he drives and is hacked or body checked. I don’t see ANYTHING like that on the other end.
Obviously Curry should have had at least 3 more fouls called while he was shooting.
Finally a question: what’s wrong with putting Kuminga in to bother and maybe even hack Robert Williams? Kerr doesn’t seem to be trying hard enough to get Williams in foul trouble. I know he has his reasons, but it seems Kuminga’s speed and athleticism, even if it’s just for 8 minutes, could bait Williams into fouling. I do realize that Kuminga is likely to lose the ball if he goes one on one a la Wiggs. But why not try to feed Kuminga on the block while Williams is in?
Before i get to the game, a humorous note first. When the game started, I was camped out laying down on the futon to watch it. Watched the whole first half there. The Warriors built a double-digit lead during that time. At halftime, I made some dinner and ate it while sitting on the couch and watching the 3rd quarter. The Warriors lost their double-digit and the Celtics took the lead during this time. After I finished eating around the 8 minute mark of the 3rd quarter, I returned to laying down on the futon It was then the Warriors fought back to retake the lead on Poole’s 3rd quarter buzzer beater and then stretch it to a double-digit win. I may watch all of Thursday’s game from the futon. LOL!
As for the game, there were a number of contributing factors to the Celtics losing. They turned over the ball 18 times to just 6 for the Dubs. In part, that was because of the Dubs’ defense, but it was also Tatum, Brown, and Smart shrinking in the moment and throwing the ball away. Tatum was particularly striking as he shot just 2 of 6 from the charity stripe. He shot considerably better from the 3-pt line. Tatum also threw up a couple of air balls later in the game. You look at Tatum’s numbers–team high 27 pts, 10 rebounds, 5 of 9 on threes–and it superficially looks like a good game, but his failure to distribute well, turnovers, and poor free throw shooting just looked terrible. Would also note the Ime Udoka probably made a mistake by playing Tatum and Brown for the entire 2nd half (until scrubs came in for the final minute). Both players looked exhausted in the 4th quarter.
On the other side of the ball, the Celtics switched back to having Smart guard Curry instead of Green. Smart did a great job on Curry, but the Dubs reacted by having Curry be a decoy and distributing to others, who were often wide open. Without Smart covering him, Green played more like himself, running the offense and attacking the basket more. Without Curry scoring, Wiggins and Klay took over. Wiggins was really impressive once again, relentlessly attacking the basket. Wiggs’ rebounding has seemingly taken a big step up in this series and his defense on Tatum has been fantastic. I haven’t even mentioned GPII, who played his usual great defense and also kept getting easy lay-ups with his back cuts to the basket when the Celtics defense forgot about him while they focused on Curry, Klay, or Poole. As for Poole, the Warriors have limited his minutes because Tatum and Brown keep abusing him when they have the ball, but he shot well while he was in and that 3rd quarter buzzer beater really took the air out of the Celtics after they had battled back into the lead.
One final note, back to officiating. As much as the Dubs were on the wrong end of bad officiating calls in game 4, they were the beneficiary of a bunch of bad calls last night. They fell for Poole’s acting like Brown had hit him in the face. GPII tripped over his own legs driving for the basket and the Celtics got called for a foul. There were several other bad calls that went the Warriors’ way. I don’t think the bad calls made a difference, but the NBA has to do something to make for better officiating.
BTW, I learned something new last night. Didn’t know before that Wiggins’ dad played in the NBA (he was on 80s Rockets team that reached finals. So when Warriors have Wiggins, GPII, Klay and Steph on floor, they’ve got 4 sons of NBA players out there. Probably a large reason why all four are very basketball smart.
I have many things to write about last night’s game. I’ll have to split up my thoughts into at least 2 comments. Here’s the first one …
We had a true Dubs Humdinger last night! THAT is what I thought the Celtics were too good to allow, but now it turns out that several things came into play at a great time almost as if they were scripted by Kerr. Or could it have been … THE GODS?
We saw effective ball movement last night primarily, but that’s hardly notable if the Dubs aren’t hitting their shots. What was different about last night then? Again, I have several things to write and this comment will be fairly simple and perhaps surprisingly will barely mention Wiggins. The difference? Dubs ball movement was effective and persistent for about 40 minutes. In other games that number was 25 minutes at best. Enormous difference, but how did they do it? Regardless of who moved it best (obviously Green and Curry are the front-runners there), it never stopped in large part because Klay was moving so well and getting great shots and hitting them. That alone killed the Celtics long before the 4th Q. They simply couldn’t stay with Curry, Klay and Dray who seemed to ALWAYS be a half step ahead of their man/men while GPII ran them into the ground (I think Kerr should be playing him 30 minutes plus) and Wiggins seemed to play a perfect game defensively – seemingly always in perfect position. So many details to add but I’ll sum up this comment as follows:
Warriors were fresh to a man for every single second of the 48 minutes. Everyone was focused and conditioned and giving full effort for most of that time. Dubs relaxed for only a handful of plays. Huge difference there from previous games. Why such a big difference from every other game in the series?
Grant Williams showed it first. He was visibly exhausted and constantly slow to his spots and often out of position. Then I saw the same with Tatum, though I’m guess Tatum tired first and I just didn’t notice it. Brown was trying to do too much, and while most of his ideas were great the moment he fell back into his lazy pattern of shooting long it was clear he had little left to give. Horford looked tired. Even if Udoka did what I think he should have done and told everyone to give Smart the ball that still doesn’t win, because you’re trying to beat the Warriors at their best with an exhausted Celtics team trying to get lucky.
I predicted the Celtics would be exhausted at the end of the first game. I never saw that exhaustion once until last game. Game 5. I’m very interested in what Kerr has to say with respect to the difference in physical conditioning and stamina of the two teams. Will probably need to wait until the end of the series before he can be candid on that topic.
to be continued w. Part Deux: Klay is almost back into form, Wiggs is a well-oiled machine, GPII should NEVER play less than 15 minutes per game regardless of matchups, score or opponents size advantage.
The big news for *this* fan is that Klay I’m watching now is not the same Klay from last week, or the week before that or before then.
In game 4 I saw something I didn’t expect and haven’t seen since prior to Klay’s first injury in the final’s loss to the Raptors: he began to aggressively and physically body up against a bigger opponent (might have been tatum) in a way that required full strength from his reconstructed knee. The significance there is that he probably hasn’t done that more than a few times in practice. My guess is he hasn’t done it at all since 2019. Going into game 5 I expected to see more of that, and again I was surprised. I saw it early and often, I saw him cutting faster and stopping on a dime to rise into his shooting motion. And he didn’t seem to ever stop from there. I could be wrong but I doubt it since I’ve had the same injury: very few athletes (Adrien Peterson is the only one I can remember) are able to come back from an ACL tear and exhibit full strength and side to side quickness within 2 years. Mostly, a trainer wouldn’t want that and Klay being who he is will do what they tell him which is probably something like “never go 100% side to side” or “never allow full lateral force/impact on that knee”. Klay isn’t there yet 3 years later, or is he? He’s clearly loss some muscle mass, but looked so good last game I can’t tell the difference between this Klay and the one from 2019. If anything he now appears to be in perfect condition to go full speed for 48 minutes. He’s getting to his spots faster, he’s releasing faster, he’s risking his body on defense by getting into his opponent from the moment they turn to face him with the ball.
It’s the Celtics worst nightmare. It’s what they can’t possibly be prepared for: Both Curry and Klay going at full speed in their primes. While the Celtics expended tremendous energy running around to keep in front of Curry, they had no choice but to do *almost* the same thing with Klay. Meanwhile Dray was finding his game at both ends and keeping the pace at breakneck, possibly because the extra attention to a faster and more threatening Klay was helping to open up the lanes just a hair more than last game.
The Celtics had gone 4 games being able to stay with the Warriors for 48 minutes. They’re much better conditioned than I had imagined, and for that reason I thought this was an even series. I couldn’t see how the Warriors could wield their greatest advantage of fresh bodies off the bench moving non-stop and with precision. I couldn’t see how Dray was going to pick up his pace while protecting the ball and getting into good defensive position often enough. Udoka chose to go all in on stopping Curry, but from where I sat it seems that the Celtics didn’t have enough fresh bodies to stop everything else with Klay threatening early and often therefore opening up the lane for Dray and Wiggs to lay waste to the plan from inside the arc.
Didn’t hurt that Wiggs was hitting his shots. 0-6 3pt and still shot over 50% while forcing the Celtics to make a decision: to foul or not to foul? This one is on Udoka I think, because we’ve seen it all year long: if you don’t want Wiggins to abuse you inside 8 feet you must get a big body on him rather than just near him. You need to risk the foul as long as you’re able. Apparently Udoka didn’t look at the scouting reports. That or his scouts failed him.
Didn’t hurt that GPII’s presence on the floor required the Celtics to move faster than they wanted just to try and stay with him. What an asset there, to have a 6′ 3″ 190 lb superfast athlete who jumps through the roof wearing down the opponent’s big men who have no choice but to keep a body near him around the basket.
Game 5 was dominated by the Warriors much more than the final score would seem to indicate. Celtics had nothing to give mid-way through the 4th Q. The Warriors even took a slight breather allowing the Celtics to try and come back, and it seemed that door was open for about 1 minute 30 seconds before it shut.
It must have really sucked to be a Celtics team member, coach, employee, GM, owner or fan to see how the Warriors responded after that breather. Fresh as daisies and ready to blow them out by whatever margin they wanted. That is wasn’t a 20+ point margin at the end was a courtesy.
I edited the previous comment some, so might be worth re-reading if you read it before I posted this comment.
Good for the Dubs that I didn’t hog the futon!
I wrote a lot but left out the crucial point you mentioned, even though I alluded to it in general: by going all in on stopping Curry and eventually having to concentrate almost as much on Klay, Smart was unavailable to stop Dray from getting comfortable. That’s simply put another scouting error on Udoka’s part. Kind of a stupid gamble even, because Dray running the show from *everywhere* on the court is where the Dubs are most comfortable and dominant. It’s the reason they might be considered to have the best offense the NBA has ever seen.
Udoka had done such a good job of preventing the Dubs from showing that offense very often for about 4 games. In game 5 he walked right into his own personal hell by letting Dray dictate the game according to *his* terms.
Udoka had a choice: try to stop Curry, but if that means giving Dray space and timing then switch back to what worked in the previous games. He didn’t seem to even try that. That shows a lack of flexible/adaptable planning, similar to what we saw from Monty Williams vs. the Mavs.
It’s a bad choice either way for Udoka. Smart is the Celtics best defender. Do you put him on Green to try to disrupt the way that Dray runs the Warriors offense? That leaves Curry more room to maneuver because other defenders can’t keep up with the way that Curry moves around the court constantly and you get a game like Game 4 where Curry goes off. Or do you put Smart on Curry to disrupt Steph’s rhythm? That leaves Dray to orchestrate an offense that has a lot of weapons. If those weapons are on, like game 5, the Warriors can destroy you. If those weapons are off, like game 1, you might win. It’s probably rare when all the other Dubs’ weapons are misfiring, but putting Smart on Curry is probably the best of two bad choices.
Kerr made a brilliant move by starting Porter over Looney the last two games. This had nothing to do with Porter being better or having a bigger impact than Looney. It had everything to do with Porter being a real outside shooting threat which Looney isn’t. By starting Porter, he was matched up with Robert Williams more often. When Williams is matched against Looney, he routinely leaves Loon to provide help defense against Warriors who were attacking the basket and he plays further off Loon. Williams can’t do that against Porter and the result has been the Warriors having more room to maneuver at the basket with Williams either not there or getting there late. The biggest beneficiary of this is Andrew Wiggins. I thought that after Kerr put Porter into the starting line-up in game 4, the Celtics would make some adjustment in game 5, maybe start Grant Williams so that Robert Williams was matching up with Looney more or having someone else guard Porter or playing a zone defense when Porter is in the game, but I haven’t seen any adjustment yet.
Two big positives for the Warriors in game 6. First is game 6 Klay (or game 5 Klay in the Mavs series). Klay has a history of putting up big games in close-out playoff games. Second is Curry’s 0-for-9 from 3 in game 5. Curry has a (limited) history of having big games after those few games where he hasn’t hit a 3. If both Curry and Klay go off in game 6, the Dubs will win.
Yes, BUT!!!
The Celtics have played the Warriors exceptionally well and game 4 was so extremely close that Curry’s god-like heroics were needed for the Warriors to win. I’d argue that Udoka did everything right and simply needed to be better versus Curry at the end. If Curry does it again then you live with it.
What Udoka did was gamble unnecessarily IMO. It doesn’t make any sense versus a team like the Warriors who have at least 4 other playmakers. It makes sense versus the Suns maybe. Not the Warriors IMO.
I agree that the Celtics have played the Warriors well and I still feel much uncertainty about who will win this series. The Warriors have been very consistent offensively throughout this series. They’ve scored between 100 and 108 points in every game, which is below the Dubs’ season averages. The Warriors have been less consistent defensively, allowing the Celtics to score 120 and 116 in games 1 and 3 and holding them to less than 100 in the other three games.
One thing the Warriors have done well in the wins is force the Celtics’ big three to go left. JJ Redick made this point on ESPN the other day. Tatum, Brown, and Smart are all much more comfortable dribbling and driving with their right hands. When the Warriors are successful at forcing them to go left, more errors occur. Additionally, Redick pointed out that Tatum–who just set a record for most turnovers in a season’s playoffs–has not learned to stop while driving and jump up with both feet when you are not that close to the basket. Tatum goes up off of one foot, which doesn’t give him enough height and time to find someone to pass to. Redick played 3 or 4 sequences of Tatum doing this (mostly going left as well) that led to a turnover off of hurried Tatum passes to teammates. Redick said he needs to learn how to stop on a dime, which should cause the defender to move too far away from you, which can lead to either a wide open shot or more air when you jump with both feet to find a teammate to pass to.
Outstanding comments about the Kerr adjustment to start Porter. I get it now, even though I’d argue that Kuminga could cause even more issues than Porter. Not that Kuminga should start, but should be yet another weapon against Williams. On the other hand, GP II needs minutes so …
It’s pretty damn funny and maybe a history question will follow from it one day: who shored up the middle for the Warriors in their 2022 finals matchup that beat the Celtics?
Looney, Porter and GP II.
Say what you want, but GP is an impossible problem to solve for Udoka and the Celtics big men even if they aren’t “covering him” whatever that means.
The league has really blown it by not understanding the big minutes role he can be playing for almost any team. I hope Kerr has learned to get that guy in early and keep him in.
I am a little surprised that Kerr hasn’t at least tried using Kuminga in anything other than garbage time. Kuminga and Wiggins are the two guys who have the athleticism to match Tatum and Brown. We’ve seen how well Wiggins has done in the match-up. I know the Warriors don’t completely trust Kuminga yet with knowing where he is supposed to be on defense, but don’t you at least try it out?
You are so right about Looney, Porter, and GPII shoring up the middle, though Wiggins is right there with them. BTW, both Draymond and Iggy have recently said that when the Warriors traded for Wiggins, the rumors were that his coach, Tom Thibideaux and Jimmy Butler, had been unhappy with Wiggs’ work ethic. However, both stated that Thibideaux and Butler, in fact, told them that they loved Wiggs and his work ethic. As Iggy further noted, Butler doesn’t like anybody, so when Butler told him that, he took notice.
That’s right. Wiggy is everywhere now. Same with Dray I suppose.
Christian Wood is now a Maverick. Big time move by Cuban. West is going to be stacked more than it already is, especially if Brunson decides to stay. Wow.
Saw that. Nice pick-up for the Mavs. Basically all they gave up was the #26 pick in the draft coming up in a couple of weeks. There were 4 players traded to make the salaries work, but none of them were of any consequence for the Mavs. All have expiring contracts and I won’t be surprised if the Rockets don’t just go ahead and cut a few of them. Actually, a little surprised that the Rockets couldn’t get something more for Wood.
Let me start by saying…I spent the entire game camped out on the futon watching the game. As Stevie Wonder said, “superstition is the way.”
Not enough can be said about Curry. This was the number one defense in the league and the DPOY guarding him much of the series and he still averaged almost 32 ppg. You nailed it when you said his ball-handling and decision-making are always excellent. And we’ve seen how good a defensive player he has become. Throughout the series, Tatum and Brown would run screens to get Curry or Poole on them. Poole got torched a bunch, but Steph was doing a good job on players much bigger than him. Well deserved NBA Finals MVP. Should note that he also won the Western Conference Finals MVP and the All-Star game MVP this year.
That being said, Wiggins had an amazing series. His offensive numbers and rebounds were good, but his defense, largely on Jayson Tatum was incredible. Tatum got his points in bunch of games, but his shooting percentages were horrible and he had 23 TOs in the series. That was largely because of Wiggins.
None of Draymond, Klay, Poole, and Looney had a great series, but they each had their moments. Draymond finally had the type of game we expect of him in the close-out with 12 pts, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. You pointed out earlier that Klay’s movement seemed to improve as the series went on. His game 6 numbers weren’t great, but he played a big part in the game 4 and 5 wins and with his movement getting better, his defense started returning to normal. A fully healed Klay next year could be a scary sight for other teams. Poole was suffering on defense and played limited minutes as a result, but hit some big buckets, including two long buzzer-beaters that really took the air out of the Celtics. As for Looney, he just quietly goes about his job and this is a pretty amazing stat…Loon had 21 OFFENSIVE rebounds in the 6 games of the finals.
Can’t finish this without mentioning GPII. I don’t know if you’ve heard this story yet. When Payton got cut at the end of the Warriors training camp, he applied to be the Warriors’ video coordinator before the Dubs re-signed him a few days later. To go from that to becoming a vital piece for a championship team is just incredible. Played great defense, hit some big buckets, and just always seems to be in the right place at the right time.
Klay’s defense and decision making were excellent last night. Even with all those bricks he was keeping the pressure on at both ends and doing it skillfully. Imagine if he had made just a couple of those “short rimmers” in the 2nd half. Dubs would have shut the door long before those Porter 3s were needed.
I don’t know why it wasn’t said often during this series: when the warriors decide to go with *only* their best defensive lineup(s) they’re still one of the best offensive teams in the league. That’s kind of nuts, considering that lineup (or 2) only has a couple shooters (we can add Wiggins to the “shooter” list now I think;-), and no “traditional” types of playmakers. Not one: Dray, Loon, Klay, Wiggs, GPII
We didn’t see a whole lot of that specific lineup, but I guess that’s the point: as long as Klay, Wiggs and Dray are in you can swap in/out others not named poole and curry (i.e. traditional playmakers) and you have a very dangerous offense, because of the infectious ball and player movement involving Dray from anywhere in the half court. The kinds of shots these guys get – they make excellent defenses look inept.
That infection in this time of “The Warriors Invitational” will probably need to die out before it can be eradicated by some other means. How long did it take Wiggins to learn the quick and efficient ball and player movement that Dray and Curry and I suppose Kerr spearhead? I saw it in his second year with the Dubs. I think you said you saw it his first year? That’s scary as hell. How long before Kuminga is just as good at the same game? Moody? Wiseman? GPII is already there.
Going into these playoffs a lot of people (I’m definitely one) felt that even with Dray thinking and moving the ball more quickly and efficiently than ever in his career, the Warriors might have a window closing on their title hopes going forward. After all, once Dray fades into his twilight doesn’t all that brilliance, speed and precision go with him? In two years from now won’t all those turnovers end up leading to more losses because they won’t be offset by all the easy baskets Dray had been setting up for years?
I’m starting to doubt that line of thinking. Call it a system I guess, because the Dray and Curry infection is likely to move through this team such that by the end of season next year we may very well see Kuminga, Moody and Wiseman (crossing fingers) playing the same style at the same pace while providing the same defensive effort. I look forward to a playoffs defensive lineup next year of Kuminga, Moody (or GPII), Wiseman, Wiggs and Klay that moves the ball almost or just as well but with better shooting than with Loon and Dray in. If that happens which teams can keep up with that and/or try to build a lead before Curry and/or Poole get back in?
Was great to see Bob Myers speak last night. It’s obvious that he and Kerr masterfully crafted an excellent selection of players to match the “infection” that’s not about to die out anytime soon. Really really looking forward to seeing Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody and Wiggs gel just like Dray and Wiggs and Looney have. I’m guessing the only hope the rest of the league has right now is that Wiseman doesn’t get and stay healthy. I’m thinking about the Pels and Grizz in particular. Isn’t a healthy and matured Wiseman together with all these others just too much even for these other well-balanced up and comers?
I’ve been having some of these same thoughts about how the future Warriors might look, but held them back for now because I figured they were better placed for the offseason thread, which I assume will be coming soon.
will get on it soon. when is the next event?
The NBA draft is next Thursday, June 23rd.
Hey A, I would say that Dray had an outstanding game 5 at both ends as well. He put together 2 games in a row that kept the Celtics on their heels and often punished them with his defense and quickness on the defensive block helping to keep a lot of balls away from would-be offensive rebounders. I also think Kerr’s usage of Dray was masterful. I’m looking forward to hearing more from Kerr in the coming hours and days. In particular what he was thinking in game 3 and 4 when Dray seemed handicapped by the excellent D.
Of course Wiggs and Looney were right there with him at the rim and under it.
Yep, Dray had good games 5 & 6, which is when the Celtics switched Marcus Smart onto Curry. Unlike Curry, Dray didn’t seem to figure out how to shed Smart in games 3 and 4.
Steph’s championship clincher vs. an excellent defensive team in the finals 2022
40 min
12-21 fg
6-11 3fg
4-4 ft
7 rebs
7 asst
2 steals
1 block
2 tos
34 pts
new offseason thread is here:
https://everphase.net/2022/06/18/2022-off-season
The Dubs recalled James Wiseman from the G-League. He averaged a double-double and a block in 26 minutes a game over 7 games for the Santa Cruz Warriors. The Dubs are headed out on a 6-game road trip, so probably wanted the extra body along just in case. We’ll see how much he plays if at all.
Here’s the latest edition of Draymond Green’s podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjkYBtiLcNc
He’s got Steve Kerr as guest and they talk about what it takes to be a championship team, give a little analysis of last night’s Heat-Nuggets game and end by talking about what working for Bob Myers and Joe Lacob have meant to them. Some really good stuff.
OK, finally resolution on Lillard. The trade:
Bucks get: Dame Lillard
Suns get: Nurkic, Keon Johnson, Grayson Allen, and Nassir Little
Blazers get: Ayton, Jrue Holliday, Toumani Camara, Bucks 2029 1st round pick (unprotected), and right to swap picks with Bucks in 2028 and 2030.
Starting line-ups for all 3 teams post trade:
Bucks: PG – Dame, SG – Middleton, SF – Portis, PF – Antetokounmpo, C – B. Lopez. Key reserves: Connaughton, R. Lopez.
Suns: PG – Booker, SG – Beal, SF – Warren, PF – KD, C – Nurkic. Key reserves: Allen, Johnson, Little, Ross.
Blazers: PG – Holliday, SG – Simons, SF – Kris Murray, PF – Grant, C – Ayton. Key reserves: Sharpe, Thybulle, Henderson, Knox.