People pointed out that the lack of call for Steph is balanced out by illegal screens and Draymond’s antics. My counter point is call it the way it’s supposed to be called so Draymond’s antics wouldn’t be encouraged and the illegal screens would stop. I’ve also been told that Steph getting calls would ruin the game because he would dominate the game so they had to nerf him somehow. My point is so what? If it’s a legit call, call it. Not swallow the whistle because Steph getting to the line multiple times a game would ruin the game.
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Draymond basically stoned him? Nearly all his points came with Draymond on the bench
I’m really amused that Draymond managed 5 personal fouls, 1 tech, 1 flagrant, and that fracas with Eason also involved him not being called for grabbing his jersey, barely missing his nuts with a kick, and then trying to yank his leg out from under him
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I was worried about it being his wrist on his shooting hand but he’s scored 36 and 37 in back to back games in Orlando and went 7 of 20 from 3. I wouldn’t worry about him. Brunson is the real injury concern in the series to me.
The thing with Jayson now is that he’s fully weaponized. He’s got the decision making down which was the biggest thing. If you send a double the ball is gone early to the right guy every time. He knows how to play through his body and he’s got a strength mismatch on basically every wing defender. He’s got a quickness advantage on most which is such a credit to him because the ball used to slow him down a lot. He settles far less because he’s so much better at getting to the rim. Yes there will be a healthy dose of Kobe fades but I genuinely mean it when I say healthy. He’s good at those shots!
OG is great but Boston will spam screens to get the matchups they want and no one else on their team can check him. Hart isnt a horrible matchup but he’s too small, Bridges is too small, Brunson and KAT are the targets.
I was talking when he took him to the hoop with ease 2 straight times.
Yeah I’m not a close watcher but it was obvious in that Warriors Finals they just could not pass the ball or attack off the dribble well enough to take advantage of their 5-out spacing. and between the personnel and coaching changes they’ve made, they’ve fully operationalized their battle station. And, yeah, Tatum is the cornerstone. If Cade is cooking Bridges, I’m very confident it’s OG or nothing in that matchup. And I’m a lot more confident that Mazzulla will run good O and get the right matchups compared to JB.
Celtics just have way way more talent than the Pistons. And more than the Knicks.
Thibs also I think has shown that he’s going to play how he wants, it’s opponent agnostic, and if he fails he’s going to fail his way, and that involves drop. I mean, the Magic are obviously better generally (defensively), but have succeeded (defensively) against the Celtics by switching everything, even if it means Corey Joseph and Wendell Carter are going to get switched on Tatum. Like the Knicks, I don’t think they even have more than 1 guy that plays big minutes you love against Tatum (it’s Franz). I don’t even know if their personnel defensively without Suggs is that good!
It’s been pretty effective in changing what the Celtics do - 53.4% of their regular season shots came from 3, only 40% in the playoffs. 62.8% of their buckets were assisted in the regular season, 50.7% in the playoffs. 50.7% of buckets assisted is insanely low - only three regular season teams were under 60%, and the Rockets were dead last at 55%.
Like, Cory Joseph is nobody’s idea of a defensive stopper and I don’t think Wendell Carter is at the top of anyone’s list of centers to switch onto Tatum, but they’ve knocked the #2 offense in the regular season down to #7 (of 16) in the playoffs. I just don’t see Thibs even attempting it though.
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So in the switch from Ime to Mazulla, the biggest win by far was just embracing full on 5 out and maxing out 3 point attempts. Like now if you play in the gaps the way GSW did, they will bomb away on you and shoot 50 3’s in a game.
But second is to your point about being able to not be so confident in your systems and make an adjustment. People will mostly remember the million turnovers and offensive struggles the Jays had in that series but just as big of an issue was Ime actually played drop against Steph the entire series. He never put two on the ball.
You have to have 5 guys who can at least survive on ball against Tatum. It’s why I don’t feel really confident in the OKC matchup. Because they’ll stay home and live with SGA or Dub taking the matchup. And if we can’t get Dort off of Tatum, that’s a huge L. Tatum still isn’t a super efficient iso scorer, even though he’s a lot better than he was and he has more space.
But against NY? I just don’t see it.
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I also frankly don’t think that the Knicks are creative offensively enough, as we’ve seen in this series - Mikal Bridges doesn’t need to just be a spot up shooter, nor does OG, they don’t create lots of system buckets, etc. I had heard commentators say that Thibs started calling more specific plays starting in game 3, and their offense definitely improves so it’s not like he’s bad/stupid or anything, just that they aren’t structured to just efficiently flow. I’ll also just be continually mystified as to why they don’t ever do Brunson/KAT ball screens - according the nba.com play-tracking he’s like 20th in starting centers in terms of how many times he’s a screener (and I’d guess he’s popping and not rolling on nearly all).
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Yeah it’s funny, I think Thibs is probably a pretty bad fit for this group and prob needs to go find a new unit to build into a group of ish kickers that want to run into brick walls for him. But I also don’t think there’s actually some incredible ceiling for this Knicks team as constituted. They fundamentally misevaluated Bridges and I dk what they can do about that now.
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yeah the Bridges thing basically destroyed their ceiling. I get the idea I suppose, but he’s just not that good anymore and they used way too many assets to get him
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would probably prefer DDV and Randle to KAT too
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I’m a Randle hater so I won’t go there
I think I agree that the Knicks are underachieving on O given the amount of talent they have.
If the Knicks had those two instead of KAT in this Pistons series, it would be 3-1 Pistons instead of 3-1 Knicks. KAT has been great, outside of NYK forgetting he exists at the end of G2.
I’m guessing your point is more big picture, but KAT has been a nightmare for the Pistons in the series.
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I think that once you factor in financial incumbrance (3 more years for $171 million for KAT!) it’s pretty clear
I like the KAT trade for both teams.
The Wolves needed some financial flexibility and they weren’t getting KAT’s full value, having to play him with Gobert.
The Knicks needed to take the scoring load off of Brunson. Adding KAT and OG raises their ceiling.
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How much would that change if the Pistons had a healthy Beef Stew?
(my error is that it’s Harris drawing the assignment, who has been solid defensively in a few games)
I don’t think that was an error in your assessment. Duren has gotten torched when asked to guard KAT. JB is putting Harris on him for that very reason.