Playoffs discussion

[Phenom]

Well look at that. Knicks take 2 in Boston. Good for them. No one gave them a chance. Boston has had a lot of deep playoff runs for the last 3 years. Maybe it's taking a toll on their mainstays.

[rapsuperstar31]

We scored 88 last night, Boston scored 90 tonight, and New York beat them with 91...OKC just scored 87 points at the half.

[Coolbreeze44]

I'm puzzled by the Thunder. They have a nice collection of players and they play really good defense. But I don't understand how so many of their games play out like tonight's game 2, basically over by halftime. They remind me of the 2018-19 Milwaukee Bucks. Most nights the Bucks would just kill their opponent right out of the gate. And even though the Bucks didn't win the title that year, they had just about everything you would want in a team. I don't see that with OKC but the results would suggest otherwise. Finch has said they foul a lot and get away with it, while you can't touch Shai on the other end. That could tell part of the story, but I just don't get the large degree of separation they've had over the rest of the conference.

[Q-is-here]

I'm puzzled by the Thunder. They have a nice collection of players and they play really good defense. But I don't understand how so many of their games play out like tonight's game 2, basically over by halftime. They remind me of the 2018-19 Milwaukee Bucks. Most nights the Bucks would just kill their opponent right out of the gate. And even though the Bucks didn't win the title that year, they had just about everything you would want in a team. I don't see that with OKC but the results would suggest otherwise. Finch has said they foul a lot and get away with it, while you can't touch Shai on the other end. That could tell part of the story, but I just don't get the large degree of separation they've had over the rest of the conference.

They are unique in that they aren't a star-driven team (even though SGA is a star, he seems to make quick decisions and doesn't hold the ball as long as guys like Brunson, Doncic, or Ant) and seem to play system basketball on both ends with players that fit perfectly. They are perfectly constructed now that they have a legit Center with Hartenstein and Giddy no longer holds them back with his mediocre shooting.

In addition, they have a seemingly endless reservoir of NAW/Clark types that play 100% balls to the wall and can all shoot the 3: Dort, Caruso, Wallace, Joe, Williams, Wiggins, etc. I think it's that swarming, frenetic defense that they then turn into quick offense that can create huge separation really fast like last night and a bunch of other times during the regular season.

Back to SGA, he does draw legit contact because he can change directions so quickly and gets defenders on their heels, at which point he'll initiate contact with them. I don't really like it, but most of the fouls he draws are real fouls. My issue is the amount of pushing off he gets away with using his off arm. It's almost every single time he puts the ball on the floor he's using that off arm to push, ward off, or on purposely get it tangled up with his defender and then THEY get called for a foul. He has a big enough advantage with his quickness and then the refs let him get away with murder using his off arm. It's truly unfair.

[rapsuperstar31]

Wolves, Boston, Cleveland in their first 5 games in the 2nd round plus our last game in round 1 and New York's last game are a combined 66/284 from three. 23.2%

[Coolbreeze44]

Nice game Haliburton. What a pathetic stat line, 4-0-5. I'm not surprised though.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

This OKC-Denver game 3 looks good in the 4th. Both teams look good. Aaron Gordon playing well. Shai looks good. Good game right now.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

This has been an intense 4th quarter. I love playoff basketball.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow, Gordon ties it with 25 seconds left.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Shai misses, Denver rebounds with a couple seconds left and calls the timeout to set up the last shot.