NBA Playoffs

[Yardigan]

It's just a 3 jack contest now...looks like game GS....

 

[tzznandrew]

33-15 for the Warriors in the 3rd Quarter.

Good luck, Rockets. The Warriors have it rolling...

 

[Horatio]

Never seen so many dumb 3’s. Lucky to still be in good shape.

 

[superjohn]

Pretty down on the NBA right now, the refs ate terrible and it's just a three point contest. Rockets 0 for last 23 on three's, Harden 0 for 20 on three's at one point.

 

[intlzncster]

Never seen so many dumb 3’s. Lucky to still be in good shape.

You watch the Celtics game yesterday? haha

 

[Yardigan]

You watch the Celtics game yesterday? haha

Feels like I'm watching it again tonight....just different color laundry...

 

[Horatio]

Rockets missed 25 3’s in a row.......

 

[intlzncster]

Rockets missed 25 3’s in a row..

 

[tzznandrew]

Rockets missed 25 3’s in a row..

I mean, at some point shouldn't the strategy be to do something different?

 

[superjohn]

They made one!!!! 1 for last 28.

 

[tzznandrew]

Rockets have to outscore the Warriors by 11 in the next 6 minutes... when they can't buy a bucket and Curry/Thompson/Durant are 15-31 from 3...

 

[intlzncster]

I mean, at some point shouldn't the strategy be to do something different?

That's what I was yelling at Brad Stevens yesterday.

Edit: my second point was stupid seeing as the Rockets have gone 1-28. removed.

 

[traitor71]

The loss of Paul is showing big time. He can get into the lane and get Houston offense in a different, and much needed way. They have played hard as hell, but they are worn out and it shows in their shot selection, and in how many they are missing.

 

[intlzncster]

The loss of Paul is showing big time. He can get into the lane and get Houston offense in a different, and much needed way. They have played hard as hell, but they are worn out and it shows in their shot selection, and in how many they are missing.

They played balls out the whole time (kudos), while the Warriors coasted. Little did we know they were rop-a-doping.

 

[tzznandrew]

The Rockets go into the summer with one of the greatest what-ifs in NBA Playoff history:






















what if they made some 3s?

 

[HooperScooper]

The home team in game 7 of the conference finals goes ice cold. When have we seen that before? Oh yeah, yesterday.

 

[champs99and04]

Cleveland, Boston, Golden State, and Houston combined to hoist 157 threes in their respective game sevens. That's 49% of their total attempts.

In game seven of the 2010 NBA Finals, the Celtics and Lakers combined to take 36 threes, or 23% of their total attempts.

I'm sure the splits aren't quite that pronounced league-wide, but boy, you don't have to go back to the George Mikan era to observe the radical change our sport has endured. The triangle with Fisher/Kobe/Odom/Gasol/Bynum may as well be from the 1600's.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Remember when 30 three point attempts in a game was a lot? Now, two top teams miss that many in one game. How do you sit there and watch your team continue shooting 3s after missing 15 in a row....let alone 25 in a row. People who consider D'Antoni a good coach are nuts.

 

[MadDogRevival]

That was laugh out loud terrible.
Curry - well done - dude showed up.
Thompson - clutch - kept them in it when it mattered.

Everything else about the game was pathetic.

Which is the most pathetic?
1. Harding is going to win MVP over LeBron (awful!).
2. Rockets just pulled a choke so bad it makes the 16 Warriors look like swallowers.
3. Durant plays so-so when it matters, then great after Curry shows up.
4. Refs looked bought and paid for - terrible. LOL.
5. Harden couldn't get his patented BS foul me on a 3 call. I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, what a BS play to jump into guys and throw up crap 3s when a guy touches your arm - on the other hand, Rockets got jobbed!
6. The NBA game has degenerated into a 3 point bombing contest - unpleasant, at best, to watch, at times.
7. How did it take almost 40 years for the NBA to figure out that bombing 3s is much better, mathematically, then working for 2s? It's simple math. 33% from 3=50% from 2. DUH.

 

[champs99and04]

I think the whole "try something else when the three isn't falling" philosophy sounds good, but to my knowledge it's been disproven by research. I just think it's tricky to pinpoint the exact moment at which you're "not feeling it" from deep, especially when those attempts are scattered across a half-dozen players. Is James Harden supposed to stop shooting threes because he's missed four in a row? When he's a 37% shooter on the year? Is that how great shooters think? Is that how you break out of a slump? I think it depends who you ask.

It's not always fun to watch, I'll say that. And it has to take a toll on a player to miss that many shots in a row. Human nature tells you to hunt an easier shot, and basic psychology can only be separated from math for so long. Players want to see the ball go in the basket and so do fans. When you're hunting a three and everybody else in the building knows you're hunting a three, they become extremely difficult shots. I don't care to sift through every attempt and qualify them by difficulty, but if you're trying to differentiate between variance and skill, that's probably what you have to do. The quality of Golden State's attempts were obviously far better than Houston's. Is that the difference between 41% and 16%? Probably not. Are their methods validated if they shoot 25% from three instead of 16%? I don't know. There are so many competing variables at every given point in time that it's damn near impossible to isolate the hypothesis you're trying to prove.

Usually when the wrong team wins it means the better team lost. After seven games of that, I've come to the conclusion that the wrong team won despite being noticeably better. CP3 or not, the Warriors outscored the Rockets by 63 points in that series. Four of those games were played without Andre Iguodala and as many were played on Houston's home floor. They conceivably could have won four of the five games Paul did play, and their bizarrely bipolar approach gave you the sense they were just toying with Houston all along. It's no surprise that they open as significant favorites against Cleveland; more so, certainly, than Houston would have been.

But it felt like Houston deserved it more. They had less depth, even when the Warriors were without Iguodala and Paul was healthy, and when it came time to close the series with a strong second half, it felt like Houston's players had given all they could. It was like watching a prideful, well-coached FCS program hang with Bama for three quarters before their quarterback got hurt and their defense wore down. Nothing about the final result was satisfying.

 

[tzznandrew]

Is James Harden supposed to stop shooting threes because he's missed four in a row? When he's a 37% shooter on the year?

I take your point, but I'm not suggesting a ban. You miss four in a row, maybe go to the rim, do things to get you back in rhythm. Feel a couple made shots. Then launch again.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

7. How did it take almost 40 years for the NBA to figure out that bombing 3s is much better, mathematically, then working for 2s? It's simple math. 33% from 3=50% from 2. DUH.[/QUOTE]

3 big reasons:
1) Shooters weren't as good overall
2) The zone was illegal so everyone played man-to-man
3) You could hand check you man so it was harder to get the space players get today (This is the main difference)

 

[Lefty2one]

I mean, at some point shouldn't the strategy be to do something different?

It's Mike D'Antoni; the word "adjustment" is not in his vocabulary.

What a disappointing postseason. The two prohibitive favorites were vulnerable and playing poorly and it didn't matter. We still get Cavs/Warriors IV in the end, once again proving the NBA regular season is the biggest farce in pro sports.

 

[MadDogRevival]

3 big reasons:

3) You could hand check you man so it was harder to get the space players get today (This is the main difference)

I have to disagree here. There was plenty of space - what was lacking was the strategy.

 

[Kemba429]

I think the NBA is getting really bad with the refs. That game had way to many no calls on Hardens jumper. Even though the Rockets missed a boatload of 3's, they still shouldve been in the game.