Minnesota Sports Forum

Somewhere out there, when Steph Curry drained that near half-court 3 to ice game 5, Jonny Flynn smiled...

TRKO wrote:If the future of the NBA is guys jacking up threes, I don't think I like the future. I miss the inside post stuff of yesteryear.

Well, the future is the present. This is how the game is played these days, and frankly, for the past few years.

The post game will always exist, but it takes a ton of skill to develop a repertoire of moves and inside touch. Plus teams have really become advanced at how to double-team and then rotate and recover on the ensuing kick-out. It's still valuable, but it's tough making it your bread and butter offense as opposed to something you use to expose mismatches.

What's kind of crazy in this series is that the Center position has been pretty much eliminated for the past couple of games. It's basically a PF and four guards and wings playing out there.

It's one thing to start quarters with Centers and then end games with a smaller lineup - we've seen that a lot over the years. But in this case, they literally aren't playing.....at all.

I understand the game has changed. I just miss the old game.

The game has changed, but the Warriors, Rockets and to an extent the Clippers all play ugly basketball. The type of basketball that will fade, falter in the playoffs (helps when your opponent in every series was banged up, Warriors).

The three-ball DOES need to be utilized, but in the way that the Spurs and Hawks play. THAT is good basketball.

Camden0916 wrote:The game has changed, but the Warriors, Rockets and to an extent the Clippers all play ugly basketball. The type of basketball that will fade, falter in the playoffs (helps when your opponent in every series was banged up, Warriors).

The three-ball DOES need to be utilized, but in the way that the Spurs and Hawks play. THAT is good basketball.

And the Cavs got here because they played a sub .500 team and two banged up Eastern Conference teams in Chicago with no Pau for a good chunk of the series and Noah having issues again and an Atlanta team without Korver and Millsap being very injured. Cleveland had a lot of help to get here themselves. Injury luck plays a role every year. To diminish the Warriors this year when injuries have played a role every year is dumb.

khans2k5 wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:The game has changed, but the Warriors, Rockets and to an extent the Clippers all play ugly basketball. The type of basketball that will fade, falter in the playoffs (helps when your opponent in every series was banged up, Warriors).

The three-ball DOES need to be utilized, but in the way that the Spurs and Hawks play. THAT is good basketball.

And the Cavs got here because they played a sub .500 team and two banged up Eastern Conference teams in Chicago with no Pau for a good chunk of the series and Noah having issues again and an Atlanta team without Korver and Millsap being very injured. Cleveland had a lot of help to get here themselves. Injury luck plays a role every year. To diminish the Warriors this year when injuries have played a role every year is dumb.

I don't wanna hear that shit. Cleveland went against teams that weren't full strength, but we're in the same boat with their opponents in that two of their big three was either banged up or didn't play in every playoff game. Golden State has been lucky, lucky, lucky in staying healthy AND facing opponents that had multiple injuries to deal with. Give me a break.

Camden0916 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:The game has changed, but the Warriors, Rockets and to an extent the Clippers all play ugly basketball. The type of basketball that will fade, falter in the playoffs (helps when your opponent in every series was banged up, Warriors).

The three-ball DOES need to be utilized, but in the way that the Spurs and Hawks play. THAT is good basketball.

And the Cavs got here because they played a sub .500 team and two banged up Eastern Conference teams in Chicago with no Pau for a good chunk of the series and Noah having issues again and an Atlanta team without Korver and Millsap being very injured. Cleveland had a lot of help to get here themselves. Injury luck plays a role every year. To diminish the Warriors this year when injuries have played a role every year is dumb.

I don't wanna hear that shit. Cleveland went against teams that weren't full strength, but we're in the same boat with their opponents in that two of their big three was either banged up or didn't play in every playoff game. Golden State has been lucky, lucky, lucky in staying healthy AND facing opponents that had multiple injuries to deal with. Give me a break.

I won't because I'm sick of the injury bullshit. Conley was the only main piece that didn't play very much against GS. NO still had Davis, Memphis still had Gasol and Randolph and Houston still had Dwight and Harden aka most all of the guys that carried those teams all year long. Holiday is the only other legitimate injury argument and he didn't even play half the year so they got to the playoffs in the West basically without him. Cleveland had something none of those other teams had. They had the option to fall back on the best player in the world who has carried worse teams to the finals before against stiffer competition within the conference.

At the end of the day Cleveland won 2 finals games with elite level defense which they would not have had with Love and Kyrie. They became a completely different, yet still effective team without those guys whereas the other teams who delt with injuries these playoffs lost guys that led to their teams completely falling apart. Cleveland may have lost good two players, but their team success has always been on Lebron's shoulders because without Lebron, Kyrie and Love haven't won a whole lot in their careers.

GS was the best team in the league by far this year. If they close it out it will be a well deserved title regardless of the who they had to beat in the playoffs to win it.

NOLA: Holiday.
MEM: Conley and Allen.
HOU: Howard, Beverley and Motiejunas.
CLE: Love, Irving and Varejao.

I'm not arguing this any further than this post. Are they a good team? Sure, I think any team that wins 55+ games is obviously a good team. Do I think they're a typical championship level team? No, and they've had a ridiculous amount of luck and good fortune to get to this point. To stay completely healthy while facing banged up, not-even-close-to-being-healthy teams is ridiculous.

It's not the Warriors fault; don't get me wrong. They can only play who's on the schedule, but I think it's very fair to throw an asterisk on this title should they close it out because of how lucky they've been through the entire playoffs. They haven't beaten ONE team that had its three best players the entire series. That's a huge advantage and I'm probably not the only one who thinks this way.

I'll give them their congratulations and all that, but I can't say they deserved it. Nope.

TRKO wrote:I understand the game has changed. I just miss the old game.

I hear you. It's refreshing to see a young guy like Okafor come along and it will be fascinating to see whether he begins a renaissance in the post-up game or if he's just a gifted outlier in the midst of an overall transformation of the game.