NBA Playoffs 2023

[celticsclay]

You then have KCP, Brown, Green, and Braun for Denver vs. Schroder, Hachimura, Vanderbilt, and Walker.  That pretty clearly favors the Lakers on the whole

Are KCP and Bruce Brown not the two best players?

I don't just have them as the top two among either group; I have them well ahead of LAL's guys.

Agreed, KCP and Brown are firmly on the same level as Reaves with their excellent defence. As is Gordon.

Murray is also not up and down these playoffs. Just 4 games below 20 points, and has averaged 26 on really strong efficiency

I agree Gouki this is a pretty ridiculous pro lakers argument.
For example Vanderbilt barely played in second half of warriors series. He played like 24 minutes in the last three games combined. Are people not watching the games? He is half the player brown or kcp are because they can actually shoot a little
Bit

[gouki88]

You then have KCP, Brown, Green, and Braun for Denver vs. Schroder, Hachimura, Vanderbilt, and Walker.  That pretty clearly favors the Lakers on the whole

Are KCP and Bruce Brown not the two best players?

I don't just have them as the top two among either group; I have them well ahead of LAL's guys.

Agreed, KCP and Brown are firmly on the same level as Reaves with their excellent defence. As is Gordon.

Murray is also not up and down these playoffs. Just 4 games below 20 points, and has averaged 26 on really strong efficiency

I agree Gouki this is a pretty ridiculous pro lakers argument.
For example Vanderbilt barely played in second half of warriors series. He played like 24 minutes in the last three games combined. Are people not watching the games? He is half the player brown or kcp are because they can actually shoot a little
Bit

Yeah, Brown is an alright shooter and KCP is an elite shooter. Both are really strong defenders too, and both pass and dribble better than Vanderbilt. Hachimura and Walker aren't really factors for me, too limited on offence with their weak passing.

I can't wait to see how Ham reacts to Jokic being used in Iverson screens. I don't think it will go well

[SparzWizard]

Denver is 8-0 at home
Miami is 6-0 at home
Lakers is 6-0 at home
Celtics 4-4 at home?

The Celtics are 11-11 in their last 22 home playoff games 

[Who]

Interesting take by Draymond on his punch and how it effected the team in losing the title

"We're not playing right now because when you speak about the foul and all the slippage we had on the road as a team, not being able to come together. None of those things happen if that (punching Poole) doesn't happen because of the voice and departments I lead this team in, there was a ton of slippage due to me sitting back, not saying anything, me allowing that situation to play itself out and giving it time to heal.

Why are you giving it time to heal? I would say by February I started to feel like myself again but guess what, there were five months of the season where slippage kept occurring. By February, if the slippage has been going on for that long, you are who you are. You built those habits, so try to correct them then. You may get a little better, we ended up in the second round of the playoffs, but not at a championship level."

So Draymond is saying that he was not being himself and not holding folks accountable in the early months of the season like he normally would have. That this allowed bad habits to build and even solidify. That by then, it was too late to fix those bad habits.

He didn't feel like he could put the hammer down on his teammates like he would normally & in the past. Whether that is because he felt he didn't have the right because of his bad behaviour or whether it just wouldn't be accepted because the bad blood hadn't had enough time to evaporate yet ... I don't know.

It's an interesting take anyway.

[Who]

ESPN with an interesting take today - is Jimmy Butler the closest thing today to Kobe Bryant?

Good case I reckon. In terms of mentality and toughness. Leading guy / scorer. Wing player.

[Moranis]

ESPN with an interesting take today - is Jimmy Butler the closest thing today to Kobe Bryant?

Good case I reckon. In terms of mentality and toughness. Leading guy / scorer. Wing player.

Mostly inefficient and no one seems to recall all of the bad playoff games (and there were a lot of them) and only remember the good ones.

[Phantom255x]

ESPN with an interesting take today - is Jimmy Butler the closest thing today to Kobe Bryant?

Good case I reckon. In terms of mentality and toughness. Leading guy / scorer. Wing player.

What??

[Goldstar88]

ESPN with an interesting take today - is Jimmy Butler the closest thing today to Kobe Bryant?

Good case I reckon. In terms of mentality and toughness. Leading guy / scorer. Wing player.

He’s looking like it in the playoffs: 31.5ppg, 6.5rebs, 5.5ast, 2.1stl, shooting 52/37/80. Definitely not in the regular season, though.

[Who]

ESPN with an interesting take today - is Jimmy Butler the closest thing today to Kobe Bryant?

Good case I reckon. In terms of mentality and toughness. Leading guy / scorer. Wing player.

Mostly inefficient and no one seems to recall all of the bad playoff games (and there were a lot of them) and only remember the good ones.

Haha, very true. Both guys have that in common too!

Huge games and warrior mentality sure seem to make people forget about all the times a player was a no-show.

[j804]

This is how you’re supposed to use your timeouts. Any steam of momentum you see coming call a freaking timeout. Joe is so [dang] clueless. Also you see all the different defensive adjustments the Lakers are doing on the fly when have we done anything close to that? Joes gotta go

If we manage to beat the Heat we prob get dusted by the Nuggets or LA

[angryguy77]

This is how you’re supposed to use your timeouts. Any steam of momentum you see coming call a freaking timeout. Joe is so [dang] clueless. Also you see all the different defensive adjustments the Lakers are doing on the fly when have we done anything close to that? Joes gotta go

If we manage to beat the Heat we prob get dusted by the Nuggets or LA

Yeah but look at all the valuable lessons they're not learning.

[Birdman]

Great way to start the morning is to wake up and see the Lakers lost!!! Day starting off grrrrrrreat!!!!!

[RodyTur10]

ESPN with an interesting take today - is Jimmy Butler the closest thing today to Kobe Bryant?

Good case I reckon. In terms of mentality and toughness. Leading guy / scorer. Wing player.

They're a lot of similarities. Bryant was a better scorer, while Butler is better defensively.
Funny how just a couple of years ago you'd get crucified for making that comparison.

[Roy H.]

I love Mike Malone.

Michael Malone: “You win Game 1 of the playoffs, and all everybody talked about was the Lakers. Let’s be honest, that was a national narrative: The Lakers were fine. They’re down 1-0 but they figured something out. No one talked about that Nikola had a historic performance. He’s got 13 triple-doubles now. Third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible, but the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets. The narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative is about the Lakers and their adjustments. So you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, you come back and you know what, we’re going to go up 2-0.”

[Donoghus]

I love Mike Malone.

Michael Malone: “You win Game 1 of the playoffs, and all everybody talked about was the Lakers. Let’s be honest, that was a national narrative: The Lakers were fine. They’re down 1-0 but they figured something out. No one talked about that Nikola had a historic performance. He’s got 13 triple-doubles now. Third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible, but the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets. The narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative is about the Lakers and their adjustments. So you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, you come back and you know what, we’re going to go up 2-0.”

Translation: "Eff you, ESPN"