Suns have a really nice supporting cast on the wings and in the backcourt, but they’re a PF/C away from winning this series imo. Saric minutes in the first two games have been brutal and Cam Johnson can’t match up with AD when the Lakers have him on the floor with Drummond/Gasol. Obviously the CP3 injury is big, but I think that matchup is just as important.
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NBA Twitter consensus seems to be that Lakers can’t get going until AD moves to the 5 and that seems right to me. Was the turning point last night. But also LeBron keeps turning it off and on, really hard to tell how good they can be. The first half of the play in game and the 1st Suns game he was at, like, 75%? I’m sure it’s health related but I wonder if he can really bring it enough to get through the West and then the Finals.
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The Suns are a really solid team. Apparently, according to all of the fancy advanced +/- metrics (538, epm, Lebron) they have no superstars but they are the only team that doesn’t have a player in the rotation with a negative rating. When you watch them play, you can see that everyone knows their role and does it well.
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Yeah, the big difference I’ve noticed with LeBron so far is that he’s not getting to the rim at all in the halfcourt. Basketball Reference has 33% of LeBron’s shots in the regular season coming at the rim. Based off their shot charts, 5 of his 29 FGA in this series (17%) have come at the rim. Part of it is how PHX is helping off to crowd the paint, but there are also times where he just can’t outmuscle or get past a guy like he would’ve in past years. Something to watch as the series and the playoffs grind on.
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I read the Clippers don’t have a first rounder til 2027 as well. Which is mindboggling. Don’t even play Kennard and he’s making almost $15 million a year for two more years. Kawhi might leave if they get knocked out early, so they could recoup a couple first rounders that way. But the situation looks rough.
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He can just opt out though, right? So prob no picks?
Also I’m not sure if I want the Clips to completely implode bc I’m sympathetic to the franchise but woof this team. Saw some pretty brutal cut ups of their effort yesterday in a pretty much must win game.
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Lakers aren’t helping with their 3 point shooting so far. That will revert to the mean and space the floor a bit better as well.
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Not exactly true, that’s actually against the rules to do something like that. There are several pick swaps in there. Kawhi can opt out after this year though, and OKC has to be feeling happy with the clippers current trajectory.
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Yeah the Clippers have their own in 2021, 2023, and 2025 because you can’t trade consecutive picks, but there are pick swaps with OKC in 2021 and 2023
They also gave the The Thunder Miami’s first rounders in 2021 and 2023
This year the Thunder have their own, Miami’s, and the Timberwolves 2nd rounder. If the Rockets fall out of the top 4 they can swap for it.
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Its not all on him, and there ARE bigger problems (Bam Adebayo, lack of a solid 4 anywhere) but Duncan after a good offensive game 1 has just gotten worked by Khris Middleton. When Khris is on the floor, they are searching Duncan out whenever he is there. Khris has 66 points on 47 shots, the main thing holding him back is blowouts cutting his minutes.
I just can’t tell if Ty Lue is a good coach, whatever that really means in the NBA. I know he has a ring from the Cavs but the clips seem unmotivated at times and lost. We’ll find out soon if he can light their fire.
Not sure the coaching is the problem. Last year they tried to make Doc the scapegoat. Not sure what’s going on with them but seems like there are some deep seated issues. I also think they have a roster flaw in that Kawhi and PG mostly just get themselves buckets. They don’t have anyone to playmake outside of washed Rondo
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He missed about the first 3/4 of the season.
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LeBron got him a ring.
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Only one of those people mentioned haven’t had anything in the way of notable postseason success.
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Bos - Brooklyn Game 4 — throat stepping time and hard to see Boston get out of it, but what a swing it would be if Boston wins that one. Boston gets too much media coverage 50 years after Bill Russell, but I find this team the most likable Celtics I can remember. Jaylen Brown is a fine player and seems like an excellent Homo sapien, Tatum is super, Smart is so competitive, even Williams, he is a little like McGary should have been, just a wild kinetic goof.
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Went to the game last night and it was a lot of fun. First time watching live sports since before you know what and I thought the atmosphere was pretty good given it was at 25 percent capacity. TD Garden goes to 100 percent capacity for the game tomorrow–and ticket prices rocketed up after last night–so I’d expect the crowd to be bonkers for game four. I have my doubts, but would be nice to see the Celtics make it a series.
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Poor Duncan Robinson had a great game 1 for Miami, but was basically horrible the last 3 games going a combined total of 4-16 from the floor and getting torched on defense.
I am really interested both to see how much money he gets in free agency as well as what role/team he ends up playing. His value to Miami’s offense has been well documented the last 2 years, but he is better suited to coming off the bench than starting for a team with championship aspirations IMHO.
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IDK, the threat of him on the floor opens up the lane for players like Butler. His value in the NBA based on his three ball will be at least $15M over 4 years.
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Agreed. Even think 15 million is a little low. I think it’s possible he gives Miami a discount given his development and usage there, but I don’t think a couple bad games dissuades teams from going after a proven commodity (3 pt spacer).
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