OT- NBA playoffs Lillard | Page 9 | The Boneyard

OT- NBA playoffs Lillard

Walker11 said:
What is there that you don't understand? GSW was terrific before KD and even better post KD.
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KD gave them another dimension. It's pretty obvious.

The Warriors are a good team regardless, but when they ran up against teams with experienced superstars (OKC, Cleveland) they struggled, and they were a Kyrie injury away from maybe not winning a title in their 2 non-KD appearances. The Bucks are a different beast than Portland, and the Warriors know they'll need Durant to win that series.
 
The Warriors signed KD for two reasons:
1) To beat Lebron
2) if you can sign the second player in the league without giving anything up, you have to do it.
 
the Q said:
Again, this teams title run without KD was against the Cavs without love and without Kyrie for 83% of the series....and it still went 6 games...and then they lost to them in 7 the following season.

With KD they absolutely demolished the entire NBA, twice.
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Without KD they had the best record in the history of the NBA, with KD there is a good chance they don't even make the finals last year had CP3 not gotten hurt. Do the Warriors beat the Rockets in 6 this year had KD not gotten hurt? Would they be up 3-0 on the Blazers with KD? The what if game can be spun a million different ways.

What is not disputable, without KD the Warriors are still a juggernaut and without Steph the Warriors become ordinary.
 
tzznandrew said:
KD gave them another dimension. It's pretty obvious.

The Warriors are a good team regardless, but when they ran up against teams with experienced superstars (OKC, Cleveland) they struggled, and they were a Kyrie injury away from maybe not winning a title in their 2 non-KD appearances. The Bucks are a different beast than Portland, and the Warriors know they'll need Durant to win that series.
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And if they don't play the season to get a 73-9 record, Draymond doesn't get suspended and miss game 5, Iggy doesn't get hurt, Bogut doesn't get hurt etc. They most likely beat the Cavs 4-1 to be back to back champs. Again with the what ifs...
 
tzznandrew said:
And barely made the Finals. And lost in the Finals.

And barely beat an injured LeBron team in the Finals the prior year.
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They barely made the finals last year and looked on the brink of elimination before Chris Paul went down.

This year the Warriors had just given up a 20 point lead in game 5 against the Rockets, KD went down and they then went on a run and won game 5 and took game 6 on the road against the Rockets. Something they weren't previously able to do.
 
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superjohn said:
Without KD they had the best record in the history of the NBA, with KD there is a good chance they don't even make the finals last year had CP3 not gotten hurt. Do the Warriors beat the Rockets in 6 this year had KD not gotten hurt? Would they be up 3-0 on the Blazers with KD? The what if game can be spun a million different ways.

What is not disputable, without KD the Warriors are still a juggernaut and without Steph the Warriors become ordinary.
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Chris Paul wasn’t a rocket before kd was a warrior. So it’s not even a comparison
 
superjohn said:
They barely made the finals last year and looked on the brink of elimination before Chris Paul went down.

This year the Warriors had just given up a 20 point lead in game 5 against the Rockets, KD went down and they then went on a run and won game 5 and took game 6 on the road against the Rockets. Something they weren't previously able to do.
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They won in Houston before this year and would have likely done so again.

Durant is perhaps the best player in the league. The team is better with him, just different. It's being masked because the Rockets team was designed to beat them (and still couldn't) and the Blazers' team had no hope either way.
 
tzznandrew said:
They won in Houston before this year and would have likely done so again.

Durant is perhaps the best player in the league. The team is better with him, just different. It's being masked because the Rockets team was designed to beat them (and still couldn't) and the Blazers' team had no hope either way.
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You are the one bringing what ifs into past series when talking about the Warriors team before Kevin Durant. In response I've been providing the what ifs since Durant is on the team. I think there is a good chance the Warriors don't make it to the finals last year if Paul doesn't go down. I think there is a better chance the Warriors make the finals this year regardless but I'm not sure if they do had Durant not gone down. All of this stuff is hypothetical.

What I do know is the Warriors play great with Durant and they play great without Durant. The Warriors don't play great without Steph. Warriors don't play great without Klay or Draymond as well.

Durant is the best player on the team and may even be the best player in the league but the Warriors are still a juggernaut without him. Both things can be true.
 
superjohn said:
What I do know is the Warriors play great with Durant and they play great without Durant. The Warriors don't play great without Steph. Warriors don't play great without Klay or Draymond as well.

Durant is the best player on the team and may even be the best player in the league but the Warriors are still a juggernaut without him. Both things can be true.
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I agree with this.

I think they are still a really good team without Durant. I just don't think they have the same ceiling without him because he's the best player, and they need him for those series, like the Bucks one coming up, where there're going to need to get tough buckets.
 
tzznandrew said:
I agree with this.

I think they are still a really good team without Durant. I just don't think they have the same ceiling without him because he's the best player, and they need him for those series, like the Bucks one coming up, where there're going to need to get tough buckets.
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I agree, would imagine they'll need him for the Bucks. His length can maybe give Giannis some problems too.

Would imagine he'll be back for that considering if the Warriors close out the Blazers next game they'll have a 10 day layoff.
 
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superjohn said:
What???
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KD signed in 2016

Paul was traded in 2017.

The pre kd warriors never faced a single team as good as last years rockets team.
 
superjohn said:
Did Lillard run out of gas this playoffs? He's been up and down since the first game of the Denver series and has sucked the past 4 games.
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It's who he is. He isn't matchup-proof like a true superstar is. He was dreadful against NOP last year in the playoffs--I believe he shot 35% on the series--as Rondo and Jrue controlled the series. Klay is making his life miserable this series. I heard last night on the postgame that he only has two FG in the paint all series. Pretty remarkable.
 
Kawhi is truly incredible. He is at worst the 3rd player in the league. Those 2 steals and dunks were killer. He is going to be so good on the Clippers surrounded by their awesome role players.
 
Middleton and Bledsoe have been hot garbage the whole series, while Hill and Brogdan have been playing great.
 
No Durant, no Iggy, no Boogie, no problem.

Warriors 30-1 without Durant.
 
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superjohn said:
No Durant, no Iggy, no Boogie, no problem.

Warriors 30-1 without Durant.
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The blazers match up horribly to the warriors. I don’t think it changes the fact that they still need KD.
 
superjohn said:
No Durant, no Iggy, no Boogie, no problem.

Warriors 30-1 without Durant.
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I mean they needed 3 total OT these last two games, against an injured and mismatched Portland team...

If KD isn’t back for the finals GS shouldn’t be a prohibitive favorite
 
Rocktheworld said:
I mean they needed 3 total OT these last two games, against an injured and mismatched Portland team...

If KD isn’t back for the finals GS shouldn’t be a prohibitive favorite
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Overtimes on the road to close out a sweep is nothing to sneeze at and the only Portland injury is Nurkic who has been out for a while and they got through the Thunder and Nuggets without. Warriors are missing Durant, Cousins, and no Iggy the last game.
 
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superjohn said:
Overtimes on the road to close out a sweep is nothing to sneeze at and the only Portland injury is Nurkic who has been out for a while and they got through the Thunder and Nuggets without. Warriors are missing Durant, Cousins, and no Iggy the last game.
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I just wouldn’t call 2OT and OT, along with multiple needed second half double-digit comebacks, “no problem”. Portland was already little more than a nice story with Nurkic, and that was a way bigger loss for Portland than the loss of KD/boogie we’re for GS. Those two are luxuries, clearly.

If KD doesn’t come back, how would you call a GS-Milwaukee series? I’d still say GS, but in 7 games, and wouldn’t be very confident.
 
Rocktheworld said:
I just wouldn’t call 2OT and OT, along with multiple needed second half double-digit comebacks, “no problem”. Portland was already little more than a nice story with Nurkic, and that was a way bigger loss for Portland than the loss of KD/boogie we’re for GS. Those two are luxuries, clearly.

If KD doesn’t come back, how would you call a GS-Milwaukee series? I’d still say GS, but in 7 games, and wouldn’t be very confident.
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Without KD - GState in 5 or 6
If Iggy goes down again then maybe the series is interesting as presumably Draymond & Iggie shared duties guarding Giannis - so with only 1 available foul trouble and a diminished DGreen hurts. But Golden States backcourt is going to eat Bledsoe alive. There need to be multiple injuries to Warriors for the Bucks to have a legit chance.

With KD - GState in 4
 
Rocktheworld said:
I just wouldn’t call 2OT and OT, along with multiple needed second half double-digit comebacks, “no problem”. Portland was already little more than a nice story with Nurkic, and that was a way bigger loss for Portland than the loss of KD/boogie we’re for GS. Those two are luxuries, clearly.

If KD doesn’t come back, how would you call a GS-Milwaukee series? I’d still say GS, but in 7 games, and wouldn’t be very confident.
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I think either with or without Durant it's a long series, Warriors will pull it out though IMO.

As good as Durant is I honestly think if you plug in some other athletic smart small forward/power forward in his place and they probably struggle less beating the Rockets. There is no denying that everyone else plays better without him in there. You can say they're better with him but there is no denying the others play a lot better without him.

It may sound crazy but I see the health of Iggy being more important to them than the the health of Durant.
 
Milwaukee looks like a talented, inexperienced team that is a year away from really challenging for a title. If Nurse didn't screw up the subs so badly in game 1, the Raptors would be 2-1 right now. Bledsoe and Middleton look like career "bad team" stars that are not ready for the spotlight. The Bucks have their hands full.
 
Raptors are the better team. They move the ball better and make fewer mistakes on defense. Bucks are lucky to be tied 2-2 heading back to Milwaukee.
 
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