Jaime L Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 McCollum and Lillard combined for 75 points against the best team in the league, but still give me Wall and Beal any day of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I see it's one of these games where Mirotic can't buy a 3 but just keeps gunning them up. He's such a frustrating player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime L Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 33 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said: I see it's one of these games where Mirotic can't buy a 3 but just keeps gunning them up. He's such a frustrating player. From what I can tell, no Bull except Jimmy Butler should ever take a 3 pointer. ETA: Ok, maybe Bobby Portis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Portis is having a career day. But yeah, Bulls are in dire need of some shooters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 18 minutes ago, Triskan said: Chuck said in the pre-game that Chicago had no chance of winning. Whoops. Turrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Chicago loves to win ugly. Tough to see Thomas showing no emotion the entire game, poor dude. Anyone see Barkley's comments about Isaiah crying in the pre-game warm-ups? I guess he was saying it's a bad look for Isaiah and some other bullshit. I usually stick up for Barkley, but come on dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 10 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said: I usually stick up for Barkley, but come on dude. I feel like any Charles supporter probably has to use this line a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 In what world is that not a travel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I just saw it and Shaq and Ernie Johnson did some nice damage control. I don't think Barkley knew what the hell he was trying to say. 3 minutes ago, James Arryn said: In what world is that not a travel? Our world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 1 minute ago, Ramsay B. said: I just saw it and Shaq and Ernie Johnson did some nice damage control. I don't think Barkley knew what the hell he was trying to say. Our world. You can fall down and roll with the ball without travelling in your world? I want to play there. The phrase 'he makes it look easy' is usually a compliment, but I think Harden takes it so far it kind of works against him, perception wise. It's like he's taking the dog for a walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime L Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 It's testament to Harden and Westbrook this year that they can be 18/4/4 and 15/6/5 at the half and yet both feel kinda disappointing thus far. Andre Roberson meanwhile cannot be stopped. ETA: WTF is up with the Lebron baby head commercial and why do they keep showing it?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 23 minutes ago, James Arryn said: You can fall down and roll with the ball without travelling in your world? I want to play there. I didn't even know what play you were talking about. I was just assuming it went uncalled. 17 minutes ago, Jaime L said: ETA: WTF is up with the Lebron baby head commercial and why do they keep showing it?! So weird. Beverley lit up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 17 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said: I didn't even know what play you were talking about. I was just assuming it went uncalled. So weird. Beverley lit up. Lol, gotcha. Westbrook only a couple assists short of another triple double. Just dominating out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Well that escalated quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Can't believe they're sitting RW when he's 3 assists short of owning this thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime L Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Patrick Beverly matching Westbrook in scoring seems like a problem for OKC. Clear and easy TKO for Harden in round 1 of the MVP comparison. Expect Russ to go atomic in game 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Russ was terrible tonight, and the Thunder got thrashed accordingly. These games should tighten up, as the Thunder aren't going to get murdered on second chance points and points in the paint again, but Rockets will still win the series. Just too much of a talent disparity with the rest of the roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Preach - http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19178271 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 17 hours ago, sperry said: Russ was terrible tonight, and the Thunder got thrashed accordingly. These games should tighten up, as the Thunder aren't going to get murdered on second chance points and points in the paint again, but Rockets will still win the series. Just too much of a talent disparity with the rest of the roster. People keep saying this, but it's not true. The stats say it's not true, the view on the respective talent levels before this season say it's not true. RW only missed one game this year and played limited minutes in two others and the Thunder were 3-0 in those games. Incredibly small sample size, granted, but it's what we have. There's a narrative at work here. Earlier in the year when Harden was running away with the MVP race statistically and based on team success people had them neck and neck because Westbrook is much more entertaining/less irritating than Harden, and the arbitrary triple double thing. Now that there is a statistical argument to be made for Westbrook people act like that puts it to bed. And I've always believed that if anyone is ever close to Harden they'll win because Harden's style pisses so many more people off than it entertains. So I think RW will win this going away, and Harden will be in the unique spot of losing one MVP because efficiency metrics + team success > traditional secondary stats + 'carrying' team perception, and then lost another because efficiency metrics + team success < traditional secondary stats + 'carrying' team perception. I think the only way Harden ever wins is if there's no one else with an argument or narrative. But the idea that Harden's surrounding talent just blows Westbrook's away is revisionist. Do people even remember pre-season expectations? After Howard left and none of the names went to Houston and they hired a 'fad' coach retread and many were saying the shine was off Morey's Apple and the Rockets needed to blow it up and rebuild? Pretty much any pre-season ranking you can find had the Thunder well ahead of the Rockets, and yet now they're just too loaded? Here's Simmons making some sense: https://theringer.com/bill-simmons-2017-nba-mvp-james-harden-russell-westbrook-kawhi-leonard-4f617e8d5df5 Remember when we came out of the 2016 playoffs raving about how much we liked Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, and Andre Roberson? Why didn’t they get any better? Why wasn’t Adams as devastating in OKC as the Capela-Nene-Harrell trio was for Houston? Why wasn’t Oladipo BETTER on a much better team? Why did they dump Ersan Ilyasova after only three games, and why wasn’t it a bigger deal when he thrived in Philly and Atlanta? Why such a wasted rookie year for Domantas Sabonis? Everyone acts like Russ is playing with the Washington Generals — he has two top-three lottery picks and three other lottery picks in their playing rotation. Kanter and Oladipo have near-max deals. Adams has a nine-figure deal coming. Ilyasova scored 15 a night on Philadelphia. Those guys sucked? If a superstar guarantees you 45 wins, then Westbrook dragged them to … 47 wins? What? It's worth noting that RW this season has ball hogged more than any player in history by a significant degree. He misses 14 shots a game. His usage rate is the highest in history, higher than Kobe or Iverson or, well, anyone else ever. And the base stat that seemingly separates he and Harden...the magical double digit rebounding as opposed to 8.3 or w/e is both attributable to volume and by (weird) design where RW almost never closes out on shooters but instead kicks back to pick up the defensive board. Like DeAndre Jordan has contested more 3-point shots this year than Russell Westbrook, believe it or not. But people really don't enjoy Harden, so this stuff is ignored and suddenly putting up very similar stats with greater efficiency for a team that wins more games and turning a bunch of career journeymen into an all time offence loses out to 'but triple double' and 'willpower' w/e that is. Here's Simmons again: Meanwhile, the Rockets were pegged as a fringe playoff team with only one All-Star and even lower expectations than OKC. And we didn’t know what to expect with Harden. After he finished second in the 2015 MVP voting, the Dwightbola virus turned him into a smoke-and-mirrors superstar last season. Why didn’t it seem like he cared? Was he turning into a glorified DH? This year, a rejuvenated Harden grabbed the point guard reins (why doesn’t he get more credit for switching positions, by the way?), made a bunch of role players better and transformed the Rockets into the league’s second-best offense. And not just that — they finished with one of the TEN BEST REGULAR-SEASON OFFENSES OF All TIME. (Here, look.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunderMifflin Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Trevor Ariza makes a nice case for Harden in his players tribune article https://www.theplayerstribune.com/trevor-ariza-james-harden-nba-mvp-2017/ Btw is it just me or is the Players Tribune slept on? It's by far my favorite sports site now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.