OT: - 2021 NBA Playoffs | Page 28 | The Boneyard

OT: 2021 NBA Playoffs

Hey Adrien! said:
Chris Paul's average stats over the last three games:

33.7p, 3.7r, 8.3a, 58 fg% (36-62), 52.4 3p% (11-21).

Crazy he's playing his best basketball at 36.
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He's got the look of a veteran who desperately wants a ring, and is gonna do anything in his power to get one.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
I'm rooting for him. Suns are an easy team to like.

As long as the Suns have two of Paul, Booker and Payne on the floor and rolling, Bucks don't have a chance.
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Don't forget the big man in the middle. He's playing his role to perfection. Nothing fancy, but it's working. Running the floor, pick and roll game, solid D, and grabbing boards like his life depends on it.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Don't forget the big man in the middle. He's playing his role to perfection. Nothing fancy, but it's working. Running the floor, pick and roll game, solid D, and grabbing boards like his life depends on it.
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No doubt, Ayton is playing like a ten-year vet. Such a smart player and is working his butt off. I'm a Crowder fan too.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
I'm a Crowder fan too.
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I haven't followed the NBA much for years. I was impressed with the contributions of some really veteran guys I remember from years back. Crowder and of course Paul for the Suns, and the Bucks w/ Lopez and Tucker.
 
Watching the Bucks try to guard the Suns' pick and rolls yesterday was brutal to watch. You'd think that's something they would really gameplan for as it's been a focal part of the Suns offense all season.
 
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Psolo12 said:
Watching the Bucks try to guard the Suns' pick and rolls yesterday was brutal to watch. You'd think that's something they would really gameplan for as it's been a focal part of the Suns offense all season.
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There's the gameplan, the personnel, and the execution. Three different elements that success hinges on. Personnel variable has ramifications on every other aspect of the game, so you might be stuck with worse PnR defenders to gain an advantage on offense, the boards, other rim protection, etc.

The problem is that Chris Paul just absolutely eats bigs alive in PnR. So at that point, gameplan doesn't really help, because he hurts all of switches, drop coverage, blitzes, etc. So then you're looking at personnel, but the problem is that the Bucks 4th through bench guys all suck. This is where the Divicenzo injury hurts.
  • Tucker is an offense 0, lets Chris Paul rest on D, and not a great matchup with the Suns lineup (no middle height threat on Suns, not a good vertical defender).
  • Connaughton is a streaky shooter and okay defender.
  • Bryn Forbes can't defend at all. They go right after him. He supposedly can shoot, but hit 30% in last 2 series.
  • Bobby Portis isn't quick enough to hang with Paul after a switch.
  • Likely can't play Jeff Teague with Holiday and Middleton, plus he's washed.
  • Thanasis is a foul machine.
If you take Brook Lopez out, 2 (!) of these guys have to play.

If they had devleoped Nwora more, this might be the series for him.
 
auror said:
There's the gameplan, the personnel, and the execution. Three different elements that success hinges on. Personnel variable has ramifications on every other aspect of the game, so you might be stuck with worse PnR defenders to gain an advantage on offense, the boards, other rim protection, etc.

The problem is that Chris Paul just absolutely eats bigs alive in PnR. So at that point, gameplan doesn't really help, because he hurts all of switches, drop coverage, blitzes, etc. So then you're looking at personnel, but the problem is that the Bucks 4th through bench guys all suck. This is where the Divicenzo injury hurts.
  • Tucker is an offense 0, lets Chris Paul rest on D, and not a great matchup with the Suns lineup (no middle height threat on Suns, not a good vertical defender).
  • Connaughton is a streaky shooter and okay defender.
  • Bryn Forbes can't defend at all. They go right after him. He supposedly can shoot, but hit 30% in last 2 series.
  • Bobby Portis isn't quick enough to hang with Paul after a switch.
  • Likely can't play Jeff Teague with Holiday and Middleton, plus he's washed.
  • Thanasis is a foul machine.
If you take Brook Lopez out, 2 (!) of these guys have to play.

If they had devleoped Nwora more, this might be the series for him.
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Yeah, when you look at it that way it really shows Paul is an absolute matchup nightmare with the Bucks personnel. He ate Portis' lunch a few times and I remember wondering why they kept using that switch, guess they don't really have other options.
 
Psolo12 said:
Yeah, when you look at it that way it really shows Paul is an absolute matchup nightmare with the Bucks personnel. He ate Portis' lunch a few times and I remember wondering why they kept using that switch, guess they don't really have other options.
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Yeah for those who relish the mid-range game, the last two Bucks series have shown the power of the floater and the midrange pullup.

If you switch, Paul will just eat the big alive with step aside 3s or by driving by them. If you don't switch and have Holiday trail and drop the big, Paul does one of those diagonal dribble leaning pullups from the elbow that it seems like he makes 100% of the time.

UConn hedges those situations hard with the big and essentially doubles the ballhandler, which can lead to fouls on bigs who aren't mobile, but keeps the college equivalents of Paul from getting into lane where they are dangerous (you get them going horizontal instead of downhill and keep them from turning the corner). For teams that move the ball well, we can get stuck in rotation with a weakside wing on the 2nd big after a couple passes. In the NBA, the other players on the court are so good at passing that they can really dissect this type of PnR defense, but it works pretty well against college teams that don't pass well (especially the screen setting big) or aren't deep with playmakers. As with everything, it's all tradeoffs and pros/cons.

The Bucks don't have a good solution from gameplan or personnel standpoint, so they're going to really need to execute well. They'll likely get better as the series progresses once they see Paul run the play enough, but they're really missing one more 3&D player. Their guys are mostly 3 and no D or D and no 3.
 
auror said:
There's the gameplan, the personnel, and the execution. Three different elements that success hinges on. Personnel variable has ramifications on every other aspect of the game, so you might be stuck with worse PnR defenders to gain an advantage on offense, the boards, other rim protection, etc.

The problem is that Chris Paul just absolutely eats bigs alive in PnR. So at that point, gameplan doesn't really help, because he hurts all of switches, drop coverage, blitzes, etc. So then you're looking at personnel, but the problem is that the Bucks 4th through bench guys all suck. This is where the Divicenzo injury hurts.
  • Tucker is an offense 0, lets Chris Paul rest on D, and not a great matchup with the Suns lineup (no middle height threat on Suns, not a good vertical defender).
  • Connaughton is a streaky shooter and okay defender.
  • Bryn Forbes can't defend at all. They go right after him. He supposedly can shoot, but hit 30% in last 2 series.
  • Bobby Portis isn't quick enough to hang with Paul after a switch.
  • Likely can't play Jeff Teague with Holiday and Middleton, plus he's washed.
  • Thanasis is a foul machine.
If you take Brook Lopez out, 2 (!) of these guys have to play.

If they had devleoped Nwora more, this might be the series for him.
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You are right. The Bucks are terrible. Stellar analysis there.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
You are right. The Bucks are terrible. Stellar analysis there.
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This is poor bait, even for you.
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Only consistent guy on the Bucks is Giannis. Booker and Paul bring it every game and they have a bunch of other shot makers.
 
Philly really goofed when they traded Bridges, and its not even a hindsight thing everyone questioned it on draft night.
 
Holiday and middleton both just flat out suck way more often than any other “star” level player that I've ever seen. Its ridiculous. Seems like every other game (sometimes multiple in a row) where they are just terrible.
 
Bucks really should have tried to swing a trade for CP3 instead considering the picks they gave up for Jrue
 
The Bucks cant get Giannis any help. Sweep city if that continues
 
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LIuconn said:
The Bucks cant get Giannis any help. Sweep city if that continues
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I feel bad for Giannis. Hes been exorcising his playoff demons and dominating all postseason. Then completely balls out tonight despite being hurt. Gives it his all and gets let down again by those two overpaid / overrated guys.

Giannis gets a lot of crap from fans and the media but hes been let down repeatedly by his coach and “max player” teammates. Series isnt over yet, but it will be if holiday and middleton continue to play this bad.
 
JimCtheGOAT said:
I feel bad for Giannis. Hes been exorcising his playoff demons and dominating all postseason. Then completely balls out tonight despite being hurt. Gives it his all and gets let down again by those two overpaid / overrated guys.

Giannis gets a lot of crap from fans and the media but hes been let down repeatedly by his coach and “max player” teammates. Series isnt over yet, but it will be if holiday and middleton continue to play this bad.
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I've never been a fan of his playing style but he's been great this playoffs and I'm seeing him in a different light. He should've left to join Doncic.
 
aceboon said:
Bucks really should have tried to swing a trade for CP3 instead considering the picks they gave up for Jrue
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True is a much better defender than Bledsoe.

I also think he and Middleton struggle with consistently finding their grove playing off Giannis. They also need a better coach.
 
superjohn said:
I've never been a fan of his playing style but he's been great this playoffs and I'm seeing him in a different light. He should've left to join Doncic.
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They would’ve broken the NBA lol

(Which means I’m 100% for it)
 
aceboon said:
Philly really goofed when they traded Bridges, and its not even a hindsight thing everyone questioned it on draft night.
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Watching him at Nova I didn't think he be that good. Thought he be a good role player type, but with him, Ayton and Booker that might have something. I don't see them making this far again, but definitely contending in the west in floating around 4-8 for the playoffs in the future.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
This may be the worst coached game I have seen in an NBA Finals.

He is letting Phoenix run the same pick and roll on his big every time. This leaves the Bucks two options: leave Lopez on the perimeter covering Paul or Booker, or pull Lopez, a tremendous offensive player, off the court. My personal choice would be to switch with everyone but Lopez, but basically anything else but Lopez covering Booker or Paul in space is a win. Trap on the screen, play a zone, literally anything would be better than what Budenholzer is doing on defense.

On offense, it has been one and one isolation basketball the whole game. Lots of low percentage shots. Also, Bucks should pick and roll with Lopez and then have him post up or get the ball on the roll vs a guard down low.

This isn't that hard, and most high school coaches would adjust better than Budenholzer. He is in way over his head.
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Kendrick Perkins agrees with you.

 
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Hit the Squire In Chatham, great dive that helps balance the preppiness of the town
 
HooperScooper said:
Kendrick Perkins agrees with you.

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Just about every professional analyst agrees with me. This is not rocket science.

This is the NBA Finals, and Budenholzer is running an offense that would be embarrassing in a Saturday morning pickup game at the YMCA. His defense is only better because of individual talent, but the team defense is pretty bad and Budenholzer always lets the other team dictate the pace and force him to adjust. Budenholzer has been covered the last few years because the Bucks have more talent 1 to about 7 or 8 than just about any team in the NBA, but in the playoffs, when real coaches like Monty Williams have time to game plan against the Bucks, Budenholzer gets embarrassed.
 
JimCtheGOAT said:
Holiday and middleton both just flat out suck way more often than any other “star” level player that I've ever seen. Its ridiculous. Seems like every other game (sometimes multiple in a row) where they are just terrible.
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Yep. Middleton and Holiday are "terrible" and "flat out suck". Great take for two Olympians, one of whom has made multiple all-star games.
 
One of the Ringer's pods summed up Middleton perfectly: if you think he sucks, wait 24 hours. If you think he's great, wait 24 hours. Dude is like the weather. He'll have at least one monster game at home; I don't think PHX is sweeping this series.

Jrue has been so frustrating to watch. He's a lot better than he's showing. He looks exhausted and run down.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Yep. Middleton and Holiday are "terrible" and "flat out suck". Great take for two Olympians, one of whom has made multiple all-star games.
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He actually said they are inconsistent, and there are too many times for really good players that they are terrible or flat out suck. It's tough to argue with that, unless you paint it as saying they always suck.
 
Lefty2one said:
One of the Ringer's pods summed up Middleton perfectly: if you think he sucks, wait 24 hours. If you think he's great, wait 24 hours. Dude is like the weather. He'll have at least one monster game at home; I don't think PHX is sweeping this series.

Jrue has been so frustrating to watch. He's a lot better than he's showing. He looks exhausted and run down.
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