Western Conference Finals

[hpantazo]

Murray on fire!

[Phantom255x]

All that, and Jokic had 0 points that quarter lol

[Who]

They have Vanderbilt out there now as the sole big man next to LeBron effectively playing center while DEN rest Jokic. So Vanderbilt is matched up with Jeff Green who is playing center for DEN. That looks the best matchup for them.

Even then, DEN has a skill advantage with J Green over Vanderbilt. They should be able to exploit that.

Vanderbilt will have to find a different way to outplay. Jeff Green is a poor rebounder for his size. Vanderbilt is a good rebounder & a great athlete. He has to attack J Green on the boards particularly the offensive glass and come up with extra possessions for his team. That looks the only way he can help his team and avoid being outplayed by Uncle Jeff.

[Who]

There are times when Reaves has swagger and looks like he can take guys off the boune and then there are other times where you see his lack of explosive athleticism and his lack of belief that he can beat his defender one-on-one.

I am confused whether he is just an opportunistic driver as a 4th option type of player or whether he can scale up and be a legitimate consistent #3 low level star in this league.

[CelticSooner]

The pace of this game is completely different than the first two.

[angryguy77]

Be nice if brown could play like murray.

[Who]

AD does such a great job of making Jokic change his shot. If LAL got any type of weakside shot-blocking to come over and help AD out, they could suffocate a lot of Jokic's inside scoring.

Vanderbilt showed a flash of it on one possession in Game 2 but he has shown no signs yet of being able to do it consistently.

[Who]

AD does such a great job of making Jokic change his shot. If LAL got any type of weakside shot-blocking to come over and help AD out, they could suffocate a lot of Jokic's inside scoring.

Vanderbilt showed a flash of it on one possession in Game 2 but he has shown no signs yet of being able to do it consistently.

This is what LAL did so great in 2020. They had Dwight Howard (and JaVale McGee) who made Jokic's life difficult and forced him into tougher situations. Then used AD as that weakside help defender and shot-blocker to jump all over Jokic.

That is what this 2023 Lakers team does not have. They have only 1 legit big man in AD. They have Bamba who has some use against lower quality bigs but not Jokic. Bamba too raw defensively, relies on his physical gifts but has poor defensive fundamentals. He is not fit to be a stopper on Jokic. Not the way Dwight Howard. Dwight did a great job in that series.

[Phantom255x]

I knew Murray was good. I didn't think he was THIS good though 

[Who]

Haha, that is a friendly bounce for A Reaves.

[Phantom255x]

Austin Reaves gets a better whistle than most superstars in the league, including Lebron. JFC

[Who]

LAL are playing pretty decent ball. J Murray is just on fire.

[Who]

Austin Reaves gets a better whistle than most superstars in the league, including Lebron. JFC

He has got that herky-jerky style of driving that puts guys off balance, puts them into awkward positions and baits them into contact.

Looks sustainable.

[Who]

Reaves 15pts 4ast 4reb in 21min first half.

[Phantom255x]

If Jokic could show up this would be an easy Denver win. Looks bad today though.

Murray is beasting but idk if it'll be enough alone