West Conference playoff thread

[Q-is-here]

Suns won again tonight and the series is tied 2-2. Durant had 36 points highly efficient points and 11 rebounds while Booker had 36 points and 12 assists. They each had 5 turnovers. I can see KAT and Edwards having similar playoff performances in the future and that’s what it takes to win.

Yeah, think this one is going to 7-games. Just elite talent on display.

That 3rd quarter was one of the best displays of offensive brilliance I've ever seen. Jokic, Booker and Durant... incredible.

And after going 6 - 6... along with 3 three pointers in the 3rd... and Denver throwing everything at him... Booker was still key in the 4th while only taking one shot.

He helped get the ball moving, so Shamet had wide open looks. He had 4 assists in the 4th.

- The Nuggets shot 58% with only 2 TOs in the 2nd half.
- The Suns shot 66% with 10 three pointers in the 2nd half.

If we're learning anything, it's that the Timberwolves don't have the horses to compete with these teams. As everybody knows, it only happens if Edwards can become THE guy like we all hope he will be. Even then... he's gonna need help.


[Note: Jokic... 53 points and 11 assists. Has now shot at least 50% in 70 of 75 games. I can't help but chuckle at him shooting only 8 - 29 fg mostly vs. KAT... and not hearing ONE positive word about Towns' defense.]

Jokic is incredible. The guy literally never has a bad game on offense. His last two or three seasons are all-time great when you look at his body of work. However.....I do think Denver's ultimate undoing may end up being on the defensive side of the ball. Him and Porter, Jr. just aren't going to give them enough resistance in the paint.

The good news with Ant is that teams are starting to send two guys at him. That is a big freakin' deal. It's one thing to double the post. It's a whole other thing send two at someone when they are 30-feet away from the hoop. This is why getting role players that can shoot the damn ball without being disasters on defense (e.g. more Prince-like guys) is critical. Shamet punished Denver time and again.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Landry Shamet one night.

Lonnie Walker the next.

Damn. I'm gonna hate the Conference Finals if this stuff continues.

Lakers
76ers
Heat

Those might be my three least favorite teams in the league. I'm a hoops junkie, but I can't imagine tuning in for a single second of Philly vs. LAL. And that's still my prediction for who's battling for the title.

[thedoper]

Landry Shamet one night.

Lonnie Walker the next.

Damn. I'm gonna hate the Conference Finals if this stuff continues.

Lakers
76ers
Heat

Those might be my three least favorite teams in the league. I'm a hoops junkie, but I can't imagine tuning in for a single second of Philly vs. LAL. And that's still my prediction for who's battling for the title.

If the Lakers somehow managed to get by Denver or Phoenix I would probably go full NBA conspiracy. But it seems that way. Lakers Celts final again I guess.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Landry Shamet one night.

Lonnie Walker the next.

Damn. I'm gonna hate the Conference Finals if this stuff continues.

Lakers
76ers
Heat

Those might be my three least favorite teams in the league. I'm a hoops junkie, but I can't imagine tuning in for a single second of Philly vs. LAL. And that's still my prediction for who's battling for the title.

If the Lakers somehow managed to get by Denver or Phoenix I would probably go full NBA conspiracy. But it seems that way. Lakers Celts final again I guess.

You interested in me providing updated stats on the Lakers FTA differential immediately following the "we lost sleep" after the bad call on LeBron vs. the Celtics back on January 29?

It's literally unprecedented since the NBA started documenting FTA differential.



[Note: That's not why the Lakers are beating the Warriors. I think they've simply played better. But the FTA thing has now been going on for 40+ games. I'm less sure how often it affected some of those other games.]

[Q-is-here]

Landry Shamet one night.

Lonnie Walker the next.

Damn. I'm gonna hate the Conference Finals if this stuff continues.

Lakers
76ers
Heat

Those might be my three least favorite teams in the league. I'm a hoops junkie, but I can't imagine tuning in for a single second of Philly vs. LAL. And that's still my prediction for who's battling for the title.

If the Lakers somehow managed to get by Denver or Phoenix I would probably go full NBA conspiracy. But it seems that way. Lakers Celts final again I guess.

You interested in me providing updated stats on the Lakers FTA differential immediately following the "we lost sleep" after the bad call on LeBron vs. the Celtics back on January 29?

It's literally unprecedented since the NBA started documenting FTA differential.



[Note: That's not why the Lakers are beating the Warriors. I think they've simply played better. But the FTA thing has now been going on for 40+ games. I'm less sure how often it affected some of those other games.]

Another mitigating factor in the pro-Laker conspiracy theory is that just by the way they play, Golden State is not going to get to the line a bunch. They were 30th in the league in FTAs during the regular season.

Meanwhile, AD and LeBron are physical specimens that are going to draw a lot of contact in the paint. I have been especially impressed by one-time power forward AD being an absolute monster as a Center. He is a legit defensive menace. Makes me shake my head watching him operate down there versus all the flopping, fouling, and flailing we've seen from KAT over the years.

[Lipoli390]

I’m hoping for a Celtics/Suns or Nuggets Finals. The worst would be a Sixers/Lakers finals - the two teams I despise. Celtics/Lakers would be intriguing because of the historic rivalry. I would expect the Celtics to crush the Lakers and that would make me happy.

[Lipoli390]

DLO said he felt constrained by the Wolves. I think he said the Wolves “didn't let him fly.” Well, the Lakers let him fly last night and he hit 1 of his 10 shots. Fortunately for the Lakers, Davis and LeBron were really good while Klay Thompson was terrible.

[Q-is-here]

DLO said he felt constrained by the Wolves. I think he said the Wolves “didn't let him fly.” Well, the Lakers let him fly last night and he hit 1 of his 10 shots. Fortunately for the Lakers, Davis and LeBron were really good while Klay Thompson was terrible.

DLO is what we thought and knew he was....yet here he is about ready to advance to the WCF while his former team got ousted by Denver in 5 games. A lot of Wolves fans thought he was this massive albatross. Well, he just wasn't, nor was he a savior. He's a highly flawed starting-caliber NBA PG. I think he could eventually be a potent 6th man someday.

[AbeVigodaLive]

If the Lakers somehow managed to get by Denver or Phoenix I would probably go full NBA conspiracy. But it seems that way. Lakers Celts final again I guess.

You interested in me providing updated stats on the Lakers FTA differential immediately following the "we lost sleep" after the bad call on LeBron vs. the Celtics back on January 29?

It's literally unprecedented since the NBA started documenting FTA differential.



[Note: That's not why the Lakers are beating the Warriors. I think they've simply played better. But the FTA thing has now been going on for 40+ games. I'm less sure how often it affected some of those other games.]

Another mitigating factor in the pro-Laker conspiracy theory is that just by the way they play, Golden State is not going to get to the line a bunch. They were 30th in the league in FTAs during the regular season.

Meanwhile, AD and LeBron are physical specimens that are going to draw a lot of contact in the paint. I have been especially impressed by one-time power forward AD being an absolute monster as a Center. He is a legit defensive menace. Makes me shake my head watching him operate down there versus all the flopping, fouling, and flailing we've seen from KAT over the years.

It's not only that the Lakers get fouled a lot. They do... more than any other team and up significantly since January 29. The bigger advantage has been that they simply don't put opponents on the line. That's been a more precipitous drop... whether playing GSW, Memphis, Charlotte, Minnesota or any other team.

For example, even though they were #30 in the league... GSW averaged 20.2 free throws through its first 82 games. They averaged 25.1 FTA vs. the Kings. They're averaging 12.8 vs. the Lakers.

- Opponents have shot more FTA than the Lakers in only 3 of the past 40 games.
- On January 28, the Lakers led the league with +2.9 FTA differential. The team was 23 - 27.
- Since January 29, the Lakers have a +9.8 FTA differential. (The Kings were #2 in the league at +2.1 this season.)

The Lakers are 27 - 15 since... and arguably the favorites to win the NBA title.


[Note: Maybe not a great conspiracy theory... but just to add to the narrative... TNT had an infographic that showed the 4 greatest FTA differentials over the first few games in a playoff series in the past 15 or 20 years. 3 of them were LeBron James' teams. Incidentally, those Cavs teams he was on did not have awesome FTA differentials... in the regular season.]

[Lipoli390]

DLO said he felt constrained by the Wolves. I think he said the Wolves “didn't let him fly.” Well, the Lakers let him fly last night and he hit 1 of his 10 shots. Fortunately for the Lakers, Davis and LeBron were really good while Klay Thompson was terrible.

DLO is what we thought and knew he was....yet here he is about ready to advance to the WCF while his former team got ousted by Denver in 5 games. A lot of Wolves fans thought he was this massive albatross. Well, he just wasn't, nor was he a savior. He's a highly flawed starting-caliber NBA PG. I think he could eventually be a potent 6th man someday.

You nailed it, Q. DLO was neither the problem nor the savior on the Wolves. He got more attention in this forum than his impact one way or the other merited. Are we better with Conley than with DLO? I’m not sure. If NAW can become a reliable, positive rotation player then getting him plus the two second-round picks for DLO makes the deal worthwhile in my mind - especially given the uncertainty surrounding the what if anything it would take to re-sign him.