NBA Playoffs 2023

[gouki88]

MPJ just did a good Blake Griffin impression on KD

[gouki88]

Murray killing Denver, that's the game

[SparzWizard]

Jokic got robbed of the MVP

[SparzWizard]

Suns in 6 

Still in the race! 

[gouki88]

Jokic got robbed of the MVP

Yes, he did.

[scaryjerry]

Jokic got robbed of the MVP

So much better at basketball than Embiid, really don’t care what anyone else says. The mvp meant the world to Embiid though and he was hunting it, exact opposite for Jokic.

[Birdman]

Jokic wow!!!! But still loss

[Who]

Jokic got robbed of the MVP

So much better at basketball than Embiid, really don’t care what anyone else says. The mvp meant the world to Embiid though and he was hunting it, exact opposite for Jokic.

Can you imagine how scary Philly would be if they had Jokic instead of Embiid?

Embiid just makes me relax. He is comfortable to play against. Yeah, he'll put up some numbers but he'll impede his teammates and make his team's offense comfortable to defend against. Comfortable is the #1 word I think of when it comes to BOS facing Embiid. He just makes them easy to defend against.

[Phantom255x]

Looks like more drama with Ayton and the Suns. He was bad last night, and his effort looked bad too. And the coach went out of his way to praise Landale for his performance as he did well.

Ayton's another guy that I feel will go down as one of the more disappointing picks in recent Drafts. Guy is consistently inconsistent and in bad games, it looks worse because it's like he takes plays completely off or has stretches where he shows no effort. If Ayton was as good as he can be, Suns would be a much bigger threat along with KD + Book (even with CP3 out)   

There's still time this series, but Ayton needs to show up and help if PHO wants to rally back and win this series. Booker and KD aren't going to be able to each put up 35+ every single game.

[Who]

One thought I had last night, was how much did Phoenix miss Chris Paul? How good is Chris Paul now?

I was doing some PG rankings a while back when I was wondering if Derrick White is a top 10 PG in the league or not. I ended up with White in the 10-15 range. I had CP3 in that range also.

Is that fair? Is that too high? Has CP3 decline more than that? Or is that too low? Is CP3 still a top 10 PG?

I saw a stat there before the playoffs that said CP3 had the 2nd lowest (to PJ Tucker) number of made baskets at the rim this season out of players who played big minutes. CP3 just does not get to the rim like he used to. He is more reliant than ever on the midrange and his outside shooting which thankfully for him he is very good at.

Next questions I was wondering about was is Ayton now more important to PHO (and/or better) than CP3?

[Who]

LeBron 2020 Bubble playoffs = 27.6ppg on 64.6% TS% along with 8.8apg and 10.8rpg.

LeBron 2023 playoffs = 22.3ppg on only 54.1.% TS% with only 4.8pg while maintaing the 10.2rpg

Huge drop off in scoring efficiency. A 10% drop-off in TS% is gigantic.

His 54.1% TS% is almost two and a half percentage points below the playoff league average of 56.5%. In 2020, his 64.6% was almost 7 whole percentage points above league average of 57.5%. So +7 to -2.5 relative to league average for TS%.

Also a huge drop-off in assists. That 8.8apg down to only 4.8apg. This is what I was talking about in terms of LeBron not being able to beat his man one-on-one off the dribble. How LA is routinely turning to A Reaves as their main dribble drive threat instead of LeBron because LeBron cannot do it anymore.

Also a 5ppg drop-off in scoring.

And that is before we even talk about the defense where there has been another large drop-off in effectiveness. LeBron was a much better defender in 2020. Still a well above average defensive player.

[SHAQATTACK]

Wonder if Gallo might suit up this Sunday for game 4 with Philly

[keevsnick]

LeBron 2020 Bubble playoffs = 27.6ppg on 64.6% TS% along with 8.8apg and 10.8rpg.

LeBron 2023 playoffs = 22.3ppg on only 54.1.% TS% with only 4.8pg while maintaing the 10.2rpg

Huge drop off in scoring efficiency. A 10% drop-off in TS% is gigantic.

His 54.1% TS% is almost two and a half percentage points below the playoff league average of 56.5%. In 2020, his 64.6% was almost 7 whole percentage points above league average of 57.5%. So +7 to -2.5 relative to league average for TS%.

Also a huge drop-off in assists. That 8.8apg down to only 4.8apg. This is what I was talking about in terms of LeBron not being able to beat his man one-on-one off the dribble. How LA is routinely turning to A Reaves as their main dribble drive threat instead of LeBron because LeBron cannot do it anymore.

Also a 5ppg drop-off in scoring.

And that is before we even talk about the defense where there has been another large drop-off in effectiveness. LeBron was a much better defender in 2020. Still a well above average defensive player.

Ya, it's pretty obvious watching him that he just doesn't have the ability to go into complete takeover mode for a full series anymore. Maybe not even for a full game on both ends.

You can see him on just about every possession deciding whether he will put in max effort or save it. He can still dial it up when he wants to, but he has to pick his spots carefully now.

I think he's probably still dealing with that foot issue which likely isn't helping.

[Phantom255x]

Miami's homecourt is probably the least hostile. Stands only about 50% filled even on a weekend day. And even at its loudest it just sounds like a general crowd.

It's pretty clear those "White Hot" crowds in the early 2010s in the all-white apparel were largely Lebron bandwagoners. Once he left, it got emptier again

[CelticSooner]

Miami literally mugging the hell out of NY. Refs letting them today.