OT: 2021 NBA Playoffs

[superjohn]

Kawhi with an all-time performance tonight, not often do you see the home team lose every game through 6.

 

[aceboon]

Special special stuff from Kawhi tonight and in this series

 

[superjohn]

8 points last game and 7 points tonight for Porzingis. Three years and $102 million left on his contract, he's just a waste of talent at this point.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Stotts fired in Portland. That feels about right, maybe the Blazers waited a year too long.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nets vs. Bucks should be a great series. It is a relatively rare instance where each teams' best players will be going head to head. Antetokounmpo vs. Durant, Middleton vs. Harden, Holiday vs. Irving. The Bucks have the advantage in all three matchups athletically in part because of the relative age of the players, but the Nets trio is very skilled. Harden is a better shooter than Middleton and Durant is much better from outside than Giannis. I just don't like Kyrie, and don't think he is a superstar. He is a very talented, very selfish player and I think he is going to cost the Nets a couple of games.

Lopez and Connaughton are good 4th and 5th starters for the Bucks. Lopez can still take over a game. While he is 33, he has played on bad teams that didn't go deep in the playoffs for most of his career so he doesn't have the mileage on his body of a typical 33 year old NBA big man. For the Nets, I like Joe Harris although it feels like the Big 3 forget about him sometimes. Griffin only plays about half the game. He has slowed down quite a bit in the last year.

The Bucks have a big advantage on the bench. Portis, Tucker and Forbes are great complementary players. The Bucks will use PJ Tucker a lot on Harden and Durant to avoid foul trouble. Portis is strong on both ends and can provide a lot of minutes. Forbes' shooting has been insane, and is an X factor in the series. Bruce Brown and Shamet are basically just warm bodies on the court for the Nets. I don't know if Green is coming back or not.

I don't think the fact that the Nets trio averaged 85.2 points per game in the first round is a positive. If the Nets can't spread the shots against the Celtics, they are going to have trouble doing it against the Bucks. The Bucks need to watch fouls, especially with Giannis. While the Nets are one of the best offenses in history, I am not sure how that will translate into a playoff series. This isn't running up the score in a mid-January game against the Bulls. I also wonder if the Nets have a great offense or just a few great offensive players. The Bucks play very good defense, so the Nets are going to have a hard time winning with 1-on-1 play. On the other end of the court, the Nets defense is really bad for a team that has designs on a championship.

I think the Nets have the coaching advantage Nash and D'Antoni may not be as strong with the X's and O's as Budenholtzer, but they don't have Budenholtzer's track record of choking in playoff series.

I like the Bucks in this series, but it is going to be a battle. The Bucks have been playing at a high level as a team for a few years, and Holiday will be an upgrade on Bledsoe as the Bucks go deeper into the playoffs. Ultimately though, I just don't see a team with a defense as bad as Brooklyn's beating another top team like the Bucks in a 7 game series.

 

[bazz&boujee]

Nets - collection of aging superstars and a terrible team defensively.

Whose aging? Kyrie played his best and most efficient basketball of his career this year, Harden was frontrunner for MVP before he got hurt and if you’ve watched Kevin Durant this year he looks exactly like... Kevin Durant.

 

[Lefty2one]

I really think it's going to come down to the Nets' ability to protect the rim. Giannis & Co. are going to attack the hell out of the paint. I'll say BK in 7.

 

[eebmg]

Well, harden went down with some hamstring issue 44 seconds into game. Big crap.

Just announced wont be back. There goes the series.

 

[superjohn]

Sorry performance from the Bucks, got waxed with no Harden.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Milwaukee 20% from 3, 58% from the line, nobody wins shooting that poorly. Not gonna overreact to this game.

 

[eebmg]

Loved Blake Griffin going all out. Some of those ball recoveries were better than most football plays I see. Very smart and skilled and can shoot the 3.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Bucks should fire Budenholzer tonight if they want to win this series.

 

[bazz&boujee]

Did Holiday or Middleton play? Asking for a friend

 

[aceboon]

Wow Embiid playing with that meniscus injury, very surprising

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Clippers went on a 30-6 (and counting) run. It is like they were just playing with the Mavs the whole time.

 

[Ratso]

Wow Embiid playing with that meniscus injury, very surprising

and almost dropped 40

 

[superjohn]

Clippers went on a 30-6 (and counting) run. It is like they were just playing with the Mavs the whole time.

One man team against a team with a bunch of guys who can get 20. Cuban and Donnie Nelson better get Doncic some help quickly.

 

[UConn990411]

It amazes me every year that Mark Jackson is still doing primetime games for ESPN. He’s truly as bad as everyone says he is.

 

[the Q]

One man team against a team with a bunch of guys who can get 20. Cuban and Donnie Nelson better get Doncic some help quickly.

And absolutely nothing in free agency unless kawhi opts out

And Dallas losing today made that less likely at some level.

And this is their last summer with major cap space.

And no draft picks or even tradeable picks until the Knicks pick conveys

 

[Lefty2one]

I can't believe what Porzingis has become. This dude is basically Ryan Anderson.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

One man team against a team with a bunch of guys who can get 20. Cuban and Donnie Nelson better get Doncic some help quickly.

I think the Mavericks are a well-coached, mediocre team. How did they take the Clippers to 7? This should have been a 5 game series.

 

[superjohn]

And absolutely nothing in free agency unless kawhi opts out

And Dallas losing today made that less likely at some level.

And this is their last summer with major cap space.

And no draft picks or even tradeable picks until the Knicks pick conveys

They need to find a way to make something happen but I agree with you I don't know how they do it. Without Doncic the Mavs are fighting it out with the Rockets for worst record.

 

[superjohn]

I think the Mavericks are a well-coached, mediocre team. How did they take the Clippers to 7? This should have been a 5 game series.

Doncic

 

[UofCT]

And absolutely nothing in free agency unless kawhi opts out

And Dallas losing today made that less likely at some level.

And this is their last summer with major cap space.

And no draft picks or even tradeable picks until the Knicks pick conveys

Cuban has to trade KP. I wonder if celtics would trade Kemba for him.

 

[alphasigko]

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