Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Bulls about to go up 2-0 on Boston. They are looking pretty good. That Rondo guy looks like a totally different player.

And the Celtics look terrible. They've been exposed.

Or, more accurately, Ainge has been exposed. DO SOMETHING.

Robin Lopez is dominating that series.

Maybe. IT is so much of what that team is and so I wonder how much his sister' death that has effected the whole squad. Being down 0-2 isn't where you want to be but it's certainly not impossible they could come back and win the series.

Also Sunday Greg Anthony and his partner were talking about how the Bulls have been more of a 3 point shooting team the last couple months somewhat surprisingly shooting at hitting them at a higher rate after that trade. I looked it up they are closer to the middle of the pack than at the bottom where they had been. I hadn't been paying attention but maybe Hoiberg has the guys playing the game he always wanted to get guys to play. I'm intruiged by this series and that's a good thing.

The Celtics are generally in a good spot to either keep building with young players or go all in on a guy....or even some of both. You do look at that teamand it really only has one dynamic offensive player in Thomas. I love the team thing but in the playoffs sometimes that's just not good enough and the Bulls have some really good players and a couple guys that have been there before in Wade and...Rondo and it's not like Jimmy Butler doesn't know what playing in the playoffs is all about.

thedoper wrote:Chris Paul is an enigma. I feel like he could get 50 every game and part of me thinks he should. He always seems to wait too long to take over games.

Yep although he just poured in 2 straight buckets. He made the right play to get it to griffin...and he couldn't finish. Paul should just look to score. This Clippers team is an enigma. The Jazz are a good team but it feels like the Clippers should be winning this game easily.

On a side note Joe Ingles is a nice player.

thedoper wrote:Chris Paul is an enigma. I feel like he could get 50 every game and part of me thinks he should. He always seems to wait too long to take over games.

Steve Nash was knocked much the same way. As was John Stockton before him.

monsterpile wrote:

thedoper wrote:Chris Paul is an enigma. I feel like he could get 50 every game and part of me thinks he should. He always seems to wait too long to take over games.

Yep although he just poured in 2 straight buckets. He made the right play to get it to griffin...and he couldn't finish. Paul should just look to score. This Clippers team is an enigma. The Jazz are a good team but it feels like the Clippers should be winning this game easily.

On a side note Joe Ingles is a nice player.

I'm sick of Paul trying to make the right play, he defers and they lose. He starts shooting and they win. He's such a great shooter and can get his shot.

I like Ingles too. I think he pisses the hell out of other teams which is a nice trait. I hope this Jazz team finds a way to keep it going. I honestly think they can make up what they would lose in Hayward, but not much more than that. Hill is a huge part of what they have going right now.

I haven't watched any of the Boston/Bulls games, but is Isiah Thomas one of these players whose diminutive physical profile become more of a liability in the playoffs, where defenses get tougher and drawing fouls is a harder to come by? Or is this just a case where the tragic death of his sister has truly thrown him off his game?

I was always a little skeptical of IT's regular season success and whether it would translate in a heated playoff series, but I haven't watched the games to know how much credit the Bulls deserve versus IT simply not making plays he normally makes.

By they way, we saw the same thing with Curry in the Finals last year, where Cleveland pretty much knocked hm off his game and he physically seemed kinda weak out there.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

thedoper wrote:Chris Paul is an enigma. I feel like he could get 50 every game and part of me thinks he should. He always seems to wait too long to take over games.

Steve Nash was knocked much the same way. As was John Stockton before him.

I was thinking about those guys. I never believed that either of them could have scored like Paul can, like in the variety of ways. But those guys had some trouble in the post season like Paul because they didn't have a clear go to option with the game on the line. To me the last PG who had the proper balance was Isaiah (Magic is in a class of his own). That dude just knew when to rip your heart out, great distributor but was selfish enough to know when it was his time.

Q12543 wrote:I haven't watched any of the Boston/Bulls games, but is Isiah Thomas one of these players whose diminutive physical profile become more of a liability in the playoffs, where defenses get tougher and drawing fouls is a harder to come by? Or is this just a case where the tragic death of his sister has truly thrown him off his game?

I was always a little skeptical of IT's regular season success and whether it would translate in a heated playoff series, but I haven't watched the games to know how much credit the Bulls deserve versus IT simply not making plays he normally makes.

By they way, we saw the same thing with Curry in the Finals last year, where Cleveland pretty much knocked hm off his game and he physically seemed kinda weak out there.

I think being there matters. The TNT Bulls thing has some merit. They have guys who've been there. The whole Boston team is not following their system and their supposed steadying force for this (Horford) just isn't having that effect. I don't pin it just on Thomas, but the steady, playoff tested vets seem to help. Utah has been doing healthy doses of Hill and Fat Diaw and they're still competitive without their best player.

thedoper wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I haven't watched any of the Boston/Bulls games, but is Isiah Thomas one of these players whose diminutive physical profile become more of a liability in the playoffs, where defenses get tougher and drawing fouls is a harder to come by? Or is this just a case where the tragic death of his sister has truly thrown him off his game?

I was always a little skeptical of IT's regular season success and whether it would translate in a heated playoff series, but I haven't watched the games to know how much credit the Bulls deserve versus IT simply not making plays he normally makes.

By they way, we saw the same thing with Curry in the Finals last year, where Cleveland pretty much knocked hm off his game and he physically seemed kinda weak out there.

I think being there matters. The TNT Bulls thing has some merit. They have guys who've been there. The whole Boston team is not following their system and their supposed steadying force for this (Horford) just isn't having that effect. I don't pin it just on Thomas, but the steady, playoff tested vets seem to help. Utah has been doing healthy doses of Hill and Fat Diaw and they're still competitive without their best player.

Didn't Horford struggle last year with Atlanta in the playoffs too? I love Horford and would have welcomed him in a Wolves uniform, but it seems like there is a limit to how much he can be relied upon. To expect him to anchor the paint as an undersized Center and provide a healthy dose of offense (since Amir Johnson is pretty limited) seems like it's asking too much.

Q12543 wrote:I haven't watched any of the Boston/Bulls games, but is Isiah Thomas one of these players whose diminutive physical profile become more of a liability in the playoffs, where defenses get tougher and drawing fouls is a harder to come by? Or is this just a case where the tragic death of his sister has truly thrown him off his game?

I was always a little skeptical of IT's regular season success and whether it would translate in a heated playoff series, but I haven't watched the games to know how much credit the Bulls deserve versus IT simply not making plays he normally makes.

By they way, we saw the same thing with Curry in the Finals last year, where Cleveland pretty much knocked hm off his game and he physically seemed kinda weak out there.

They didn't lose because of Isaiah Thomas... at least not game 1.

He had 33 points on 18 shots. He wasn't as good yesterday... but he did get 13 free throws. Uncharacteristically, he missed 6 of them though.

The team is getting destroyed on the boards. I believe Chicago had 10 offensive rebs in the 1st quarter of Game 1. They had 8 more in the 1st quarter last night. Robin Lopez is looking great. He looks like a man among boys, which shows up with 12 offensive boards in 2 games. Plus, he repeatedly hit 18 - 20 foot jump shots at critical times to drain the life out of the Celtics.

6 - 9 fg in Game 1
8 - 11 fg in Game 2

thedoper wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

thedoper wrote:Chris Paul is an enigma. I feel like he could get 50 every game and part of me thinks he should. He always seems to wait too long to take over games.

Steve Nash was knocked much the same way. As was John Stockton before him.

I was thinking about those guys. I never believed that either of them could have scored like Paul can, like in the variety of ways. But those guys had some trouble in the post season like Paul because they didn't have a clear go to option with the game on the line. To me the last PG who had the proper balance was Isaiah (Magic is in a class of his own). That dude just knew when to rip your heart out, great distributor but was selfish enough to know when it was his time.

I know the guy gets ripped for not making the Finals. But I think Nash's playoff resume in Phoenix is excellent.

They made the WCF multiple times and were probably the 2nd best team in basketball each season. There's no shame in that. And they had bad luck, whether it was Nash being pulled from a game for bleeding all over the court with 2 minutes left... the suspensions... et al. As for scoring... Nash improved his scoring numbers in the playoffs most of the time. He was a 14 ppg scorer in the regular season... 17 ppg in the playoffs and went over 20 ppg a couple of times.

And there's the infamous 2005 series vs. his former Dallas team. They dared him to shoot. He scored 46 points one game... and finished the final three games against them averaging something like 37/9/9.


[Note: To be fair, there were times when I wished he'd have shot even more... including that game/series vs. SAS after the suspect suspensions to Stoudemire and others.]