Playoffs thread

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Would you guys give Iggy 4 years $70 Mil? It may take an offer like that to pry him from the Warriors.

Pass. That's too much money for too many years for a guy that is already 33.

Also pass, for the reason Monster presents plus the burden it would put on us when it comes time to sign the Big 3. I don't see Iggy getting that much money...he's an aging one-way player. That said, I would love to see him on the Wolves, and I would offer him about what he's making now ($11 million) for 2 years. Some team will likely outbid us, but it won't be the Warriors. They're going to be at $90 million for just 4 players once they pay Curry, and are going to have to fill out their roster with guys making $4-5 million or less.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I was watching The Meaning of Life on Netflix last night and I had forgotten the Rugby game where the pros play the students. I thought it was kind of appropriate. I know ratings were high for the first couple of games but I tuned out for the last 2. I just don't know how the NBA can be excited about this product.

Last night's game was the highest rated ever. Game 5 elimination drew more viewers than any game 7 ever. That's what the league cares about. The longer their great play goes the more people will want to tune in to see them fall. That's sports and dynasties. The viewership grows because of the added dimension of wanting to see them fail more than just having feel good stories get to the end and half the country doesn't care about another city winning a title because of a feel good reason. Everyone thinks it's bad for the NBA, but this is the stuff that grows casual fans and most of the die hard fans aren't leaving the sport anyway. That's how the game grows. Die hard fan's don't matter for growing the league and making the TV deals worth it. It's all about brining in the casual fan market and giving them a narrative to root for and the narrative for a juggernaut conveniently goes from wanting to get to the top and then the longer they are on top the more people will want them to fall. The numbers just don't reflect that this is bad for basketball and both times basketball exploded in popularity before this recent 3 year stretch was with the show time Lakers and Celtics and Jordan in the 90's. It's actually what's best for basketball on a grander scale than what the die hard fan's think is best for basketball.

The NBA was (re)built on superstar players. This series had a top 3 player all time average a triple double and 32+ ppg.

The other team had a guy average 35+ ppg. Both teams had star-studded lineups. And narratives. And talking points. And legacy discussions.

That's what casual fans dig... and capturing the interest of more casual fans is the NBA's present and future. It seems to be working.

[Monster]

I personally think Golden State is probably the best NBA team ever assembled. You literally have three of the greatest shooters of all time on one team and one of the greatest role players of all time. You can't beat them unless you score 110-115 points or more, as they are impossible to defend well over a long stretch of time. And speaking of defense, they are also an elite defensive team.

I think one of the areas that surprised me, and this was mentioned before, is how well Golden State rebounded the ball. That was one areas where I thought a front line of LeBron, Love, and Thompson could take advantage of them. Nope. They had that base covered too, with great team rebounding.

I honestly don't think there is much to learn by watching Golden State (other than beholding their Greatness). They are an aberration created by a multitude of fortuitous circumstances. I mean adding Durant to a 73-win team.....ridiculous. The NBA can't let that happen again.

Honestly, the Curry rebounding numbers in the finals couldnt even be done in NBA2K...

Yeah nobody is even talking about how Curry filled up the stats sheet. He put up Finals MVP numbers but of course there were 2 or more other guys that were even better.

[Monster]

It's a hypothetical thing and some people won't agree with me but honestly I am not sure the Warriors win this series or it for sure goes 7 games if they don't have Durant. There were so many times in this series he hit a shot when they needed it. He was terrific offensively and defensively he was an asset. The Cavs were very good opponent even with their flaws and they showed that the last 3 games of the series.

[thedoper]

It's a hypothetical thing and some people won't agree with me but honestly I am not sure the Warriors win this series or it for sure goes 7 games if they don't have Durant. There were so many times in this series he hit a shot when they needed it. He was terrific offensively and defensively he was an asset. The Cavs were very good opponent even with their flaws and they showed that the last 3 games of the series.

Durant should have signed with the Wolves last summer.

[MinneapolisMatt [enjin:18416495]]

It's a hypothetical thing and some people won't agree with me but honestly I am not sure the Warriors win this series or it for sure goes 7 games if they don't have Durant. There were so many times in this series he hit a shot when they needed it. He was terrific offensively and defensively he was an asset. The Cavs were very good opponent even with their flaws and they showed that the last 3 games of the series.

I agree..

I think the Cavs really missed Delly though. He bully balled curry into two years of uneventful finals statlines. I think the Warriors pull it out even without Durant because of that this year.

[AbeVigodaLive]

It's a hypothetical thing and some people won't agree with me but honestly I am not sure the Warriors win this series or it for sure goes 7 games if they don't have Durant. There were so many times in this series he hit a shot when they needed it. He was terrific offensively and defensively he was an asset. The Cavs were very good opponent even with their flaws and they showed that the last 3 games of the series.

I agree..

I think the Cavs really missed Delly though. He bully balled curry into two years of uneventful finals statlines. I think the Warriors pull it out even without Durant because of that this year.

To be fair... Curry's 2015 Finals seems underrated at times.

26 ppg
5.2 reb
6.3 ast
44.3% fg
38.5% 3fg

Much like this year's Finals... he had one poor game. He was 5 - 23 fg (2 - 15 on threes) in Game 2 of that series. He shot 50% from the field and 46% on three pointers in the other 5 games...

[foye2smith [enjin:6593248]]

I was watching The Meaning of Life on Netflix last night and I had forgotten the Rugby game where the pros play the students. I thought it was kind of appropriate. I know ratings were high for the first couple of games but I tuned out for the last 2. I just don't know how the NBA can be excited about this product.

I agree with your last sentence. I think the league is in a weird spot. I read a http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-how-the-warriors-dominance-can-help-forge-a-better-nba/Matt Moore article this morning stating how this Warriors juggernaut were going to be good for the league, but in it he concedes talent can't be matched, but style of play can change.

I think we've already seen worse teams try to emulate style and sometimes it turns into a different rock fight from long distance. At their worst a Celtics or Rockets game is every bit as ugly as the ball pounding offenses of the late 90s early 00s and they're actually good teams. Now think of all the teams worse than they are trying to keep pace, like the Wolves.

Pick and pop, shoot a 3.

3 on 1 break, shoot a 3.

Opponent is shooting 6/15 from three and while you're only shooting 3/15, shoot back to back 3's.

I think the league is in a good place now, but I don't see why three point attempts would level off as everyone chases the Celtics, Rockets, and Cavaliers chasing the Warriors.

I feel like we're heading toward peak three point attempts where it will start detracting from enjoyment of the game. Is the game going to be better to watch as all 30 teams near shooting three pointers as 40% of their total shots?

[Monster]

It's a hypothetical thing and some people won't agree with me but honestly I am not sure the Warriors win this series or it for sure goes 7 games if they don't have Durant. There were so many times in this series he hit a shot when they needed it. He was terrific offensively and defensively he was an asset. The Cavs were very good opponent even with their flaws and they showed that the last 3 games of the series.

I agree..

I think the Cavs really missed Delly though. He bully balled curry into two years of uneventful finals statlines. I think the Warriors pull it out even without Durant because of that this year.

Delly only played 46 minutes in last year's Finals. Could they have used him this year? Maybe...

I think what people forget is that the Cavs added players like Deron Williams (24 games) and Korver (35 games) mid season. Those were somewhat key players for that squad. GS had Durant go down for a while and added Matt Barnes but he was a limited player in the playoffs. Everyone else on GS roster was there from the beginning. I don't know if Williams and Korver come back next year but he fact that the Cavs likely never really were able to hit on all cylinders for games in a row wa a partly due to adding those new guys even if they are league vets. I think both of those guys (not unlike many players) benefit from being in a system for at least a whole season. If Deron Williams comes back and they are able to get him to be much more effective that would be a big boast especially since there were games he gave them next to nothing.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The Cavs just need more defense. They clearly don't trust the weapons around Lebron outside of Kyrie to generate an offense so they need a wing defender that can give Lebron rest on the defensive end. He can't do both anymore and they don't trust the offensive players they have to get it done without him so they need defensive help more than the shooters they put around him.