NBA Playoffs - Play In? PLAY-IN It Cool

[Proudfeet]

Unfortunate to see any injury, but the Suns already have Paul injured, so no sympathy for the Lakers to have Davis out. Ideally we want to see both, and everybody else for that matter, at full strength, but matchup wise its more or less even with a key player injured each.

Nice to see Boban get some minutes. Pity the Mavs finally cooled off for a bit. Also, three pointers aside, they really need to make some of their put backs. It's the same as the previous game, they get some offensive rebounds but its worthless if they can't convert.

[Red Tiger]

LeBron will bring it home tomorrow.

[DireWolfSpirit]

I'm starting to wonder whether Sir Charles is correct and that the Clipps are going to beat Dallas 4 straight. They certainly looked capable of it last night.

[Maithanet]

3 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I'm starting to wonder whether Sir Charles is correct and that the Clipps are going to beat Dallas 4 straight. They certainly looked capable of it last night.

Dallas is even more reliant on Doncic than lal are with Davis.  Without Luca, they are a lottery team.

[Proudfeet]

I don't think anything much has changed with the Clippers. Its just that their plan A of Kawhi and George making something happen is succeeding. I've always felt that the problem is that they lack a plan B where the team helps them out. I don't know, maybe its Rondo making cuts or hitting them when they are cutting that enables them, but they did fine with him off the court too. But yeah, if Dallas doesn't have Luka healthy, its not looking good for them.

3 hours ago, Maithanet said:

Dallas is even more reliant on Doncic than lal are with Davis.  Without Luca, they are a lottery team.

It's interesting to consider how a team copes without their best player, especially with all the injuries we have this season. Sixers without Embiid, Jazz without Mitchell, Wizards without Beal. Or even a key player, as with the Suns without Paul, Celtics without Brown, Nuggets without Murray, just to list a few prominent ones.

Its worse in the playoffs too, as you don't have fodder teams to beat up on and improve your stats and therefore look worse than you would otherwise.

8 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

By not answering the question you're admitting that you're not right.

Taken from another thread, but that's the biggest joke I've ever read, especially since the preceding quote comes from you avoiding a specific quote and trying to obfuscate for two pages. Its clearly a pattern with you, so I'm putting you on ignore. Just letting you know so that you don't try to engage with me.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Lillard is fucking cold. I've always wondered what the NBA world would have looked like if he and Curry switched places over the last decade.

Also, the Lakers are in a bad place right now, but like above, these playoffs have had so much variance game to game.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Lillard, again. JFC he's clutch.

[WarGalley]

Lillard is so consistently clutch. If only someone else on the Blazers could hit a 3.

[WarGalley]

Even with the extra coverage, I would have tried to get the ball to Lillard for the last couple of possessions instead of CJ. Especially when he was that on fire. I would have let him take half court 3s in double coverage than give the ball to anyone else.

Really think the Blazers should trade McCollum or make some otherwise big offseason move to get Dame some help while he still has some prime years left.

[WarGalley]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:59 AM, Red Tiger said:

LeBron will bring it home tomorrow.

I thought so as well but he was not a big playmaker and still appeared to be deferring to his teammates at times when he'd normally take over the court. 

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Lillard is fucking cold. I've always wondered what the NBA world would have looked like if he and Curry switched places over the last decade.

Yeah I've often wondered this as well. Lillard is a local legend here in Berkeley, Oakland and much of the East Bay. I've never met a Warriors fan who wasn't supportive of Lillard and wanted to see him win a ring (if not the Warriors obviously). His play style is similar to Curry though I give Curry the edge overall. I want to say he'd have (at least) 1 ring instead of 3 on the Warriors but I'm not sure. Klay, Dray, even Igoudala made a lot of difference on the Warriors championship runs and their line-up, offensive scheme and spacing would benefit Lillard quite a lot. And then would Durant still come to the Warriors with him instead of Steph? Who knows, just too many questions that can't be answered.

 

[Proudfeet]

I wouldn't put one bad game by McCollum against him. On the other hand, this is the closest the Blazers will likely be at full strength, missing only Zach Collins. It is worrying that they have so much trouble against the Nuggets without Murray. Maybe the Nuggets are still just that good, but it is hard to imagine them competing for a championship with their current roster at this point. Although you never know with all the injuries across the league. If they make it out against the Nuggets, they're facing an injured Lakers/Suns team.

Anyway, even if they want an upgrade to their roster, who can they get and who do they get rid of? McCollum for Kawhi if Kawhi wants out? Is Beal still available? They don't have obvious holes, except maybe needing more production from their bench. Ideally they get that from existing players (Simons?) improving, but it'd probably take a star to improve their starting lineup. 

[Red Tiger]

LeBron has 18 seasons on his legs and this game showed it. It was painful to see, but on the other hand I feel like im asking too much of the guy.

That being said, what happened to Dame was just fucking awful. He puts up a godlike performance only for his teammates to fuck it all up.

That guy needs to go to Milwauckee or something.

[Proudfeet]

Oh, come on. He shot 1 for 10 the previous game and his teammates helped him out then. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, Red Tiger said:

LeBron has 18 seasons on his legs and this game showed it. It was painful to see, but on the other hand I feel like im asking too much of the guy.

Plus over three full seasons of playoff games combined and international play. 

[Argonath Diver]

Man, of course I had to work during the best game yet between my two favorite Western Conference teams. Missed Dame's amazing game and all that. Ah, well. I know stakes will be higher, of course, in the coming weeks, but this series is precisely what I want to watch - my two favorite players in the league, on two very entertaining teams, duking it out. I wish Portland v Denver could just be first to 10 or something, and skip every other series. I'll be rooting for the victor regardless.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Brooklyn's starting 5 produced 99 points in only 59 FGA's tonight. How do you beat that?

I guess you just pray the big 3 have a shooting slump.

 

[Red Tiger]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Plus over three full seasons of playoff games combined and international play. 

This as well. Other than 2019, the guy was constantly in the playoffs, doing internationals or both.

I really hope the Lakers hold onto LeBron, hold onto AD and make a trade for Dame. I know Dame is loyal to the core, but at the same time I can't imagine him being happy with his team letting him down over and over again.

6 hours ago, Proudfeet said:

Oh, come on. He shot 1 for 10 the previous game and his teammates helped him out then. 

Granted, but it's not just this game or this series, though. A guy with Liliard's skillset should have gone to the finals years ago, but his teams over the years just haven't been anything special.

[Proudfeet]

18 minutes ago, Red Tiger said:

Granted, but it's not just this game or this series, though. A guy with Liliard's skillset should have gone to the finals years ago, but his teams over the years just haven't been anything special.

Over whom? The Warriors? And you can say that of a lot of players. What about Chris Paul? Paul George? And one or both of Giannis and Embiid is going to miss out this year, so their count is going to increase as well.

I take your point that he has only ever had good but not great rosters around him, but that's the best you can hope for. The first Warriors team wasn't heralded before they broke through. And look at the other rosters that disintegrated without making it. Atlanta, Indiana, Houston to name a few. 

Separately, what are the Lakers going to use to trade for Lillard? Their picks are owed to the Pelicans for Davis, and the value of their other players are taking a beating so far.

[Red Tiger]

1 hour ago, Proudfeet said:

Over whom? The Warriors? And you can say that of a lot of players. What about Chris Paul? Paul George? And one or both of Giannis and Embiid is going to miss out this year, so their count is going to increase as well.

I take your point that he has only ever had good but not great rosters around him, but that's the best you can hope for. The first Warriors team wasn't heralded before they broke through. And look at the other rosters that disintegrated without making it. Atlanta, Indiana, Houston to name a few. 

Separately, what are the Lakers going to use to trade for Lillard? Their picks are owed to the Pelicans for Davis, and the value of their other players are taking a beating so far.

Im very glad you mention CP3, because I think that is actually one of the bigger problems here: many players don't really take control over their careers.

Unlike a guy like LeBron or KD, too many players sign long extensions and put the power in owners' hands. I would like to see more guys like Dame and Giannis sign 4-year deals they can opt-out after. If they win with another team they can make up the money "lost" via sponsorships and such.

I would argue that the reason why Chris Paul will most likely retire without a ring is not because of a lack of skill, mental game or killer instinct, the man has all of that in spades. It's because he never took control of his career. He always got traded, signed extensions with the teams he got traded to and gave management all the power. Now imagine if years back he had signed a smaller deal and then a year or two later an opportunity came up for him to sign with Milwauckee and play alongside Giannis? Or earlier, maybe sign up with the Warriors before 2015. He could have done all of this if he just didn't sign those extentions.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Red Tiger said:

I really hope the Lakers hold onto LeBron, hold onto AD and make a trade for Dame. I know Dame is loyal to the core, but at the same time I can't imagine him being happy with his team letting him down over and over again.

What would they trade for him? Schroder is a FA after the season, Kuzma's value has eroded and I don't think they control many of their picks over the next handful of seasons.