Playoffs thread

[thedoper]

I don't think Klay stays when his deal is up in 2 years. Once you have multiple titles, what's the point of staying and being 3rd fiddle? I could see Draymond staying, but not Klay. And their quality depth like Livingston and Igoudala are about to start leaving because they won't have the cap space. Honestly I'm not sure how they keep the big 4 after this year. Durant has to fit in their cap space which involves renouncing a lot of guys who you then also have to fit in cap space at that point after renouncing their rights. And while KD said he'd take a discount I don't think that's gonna be like 10 million in salary for a year or two. I think he's still gonna want 20+. So I think they have two more years maybe of unstoppable power and then they become beatable again. That's good for us because that's right when our guys hit their prime playing years. Of course all their role guys could take minimum deals to keep the band together, but you just can't do anything about that.

I was saying this tonight to a buddy when they interviewed Steph and KD and asked them if they're the best duo ever. Klay's not a splash brother anymore, must feel weird.

[Monster]

It would certainly be interesting to see how old school teams would play the Warriors. They all played significantly better defense than this year's Cavs team and the games were much slower in pace. Would Jordan and Pippen be able to hold Steph and KD in check and score enough themselves (I think they could)? Would putting a dominant big man like Shaq against them just crush them on defense and get all of them in foul trouble? Draymond is good, but he's not even close to being able to even be an inconvienience to Shaq and forget about Zaza and Javale.

On this years finals I don't feel bad for Lebron or the Cavs. Their defense is terrible and frankly should have been punished much more in previous rounds, but their joke of a conference couldn't capatalize on it. Nobody on Cleveland is playing good defense including Lebron. They just keep getting beat by easy plays that could be stopped with an ounce of hustle and giving a shit defensively for 48 minutes. They have legitimately no shot to win even a game in this series if they keep giving up as many open shots at the rim from backdoor cuts and general hustle plays from the Warriors.

The game now compared to then is just played and officiated so differently. It's hard to even wrap my mind around how it would work especially if Shaq was part of the equation. I think people do forget how much he changed the league for a few years. The way the league is right now there are probably only a couple guys that would have a prayer of guarding Shaq and he was a terrific passer.

[Lipoli390]

Superteams have ruined this league. Worst regular season, playoffs, and now finals i have ever watched. There was not even a chance anything else would have happened. Durant going to golden state may very well be worse than lebron going to the heat with the big 3. I cant stand watching blowout after blowout. Damn curry was sleeping on the sidelines in the finals.if that doesnt tell you all you need to know i dont know what does. I am so disappointed in the nba. Really not looking forward to another 5 or so years of this crap every season. I want to see close games, clutch shots, and and most of all competitive games. Competetion brings out the best of the greats. We dont get to see that cause the greats want to play with the greats instead of against them. I have never been so down on the nba.

I agree. But you used the plural "teams." I've only seen one true super team in the last 10 years and it's the current Warriors team. Even LeBron's Heat teams weren't super. They won only 2 of the 4 years LeBron was there. Dallas took them out in 6 games LeBron's first year and the Spurs took them out in 5 games his last year. In between, it took 7 games to beat the Spurs in LeBron's second to last season with the Heat and they barely got by the Spurs in game 6 with Ray Allen's incredible buzzer shot. Had the Eastern Conference not been so weak during that period, they might have failed to even make the finals in one or more of those 4 seasons. The Warriors were close to a super team before this season, but not quite there. With the addition of Durant they are effectively unbeatable in a 7 game series. It's ridiculous. Watching Durant pound his chest after making a play is comical.

[Lipoli390]

Given that the Warriors are effectively unbeatable in a 7-game playoff series, it's even more important that the Wolves take the long view. The goal should be to have the Wolves in a position to be at their best in 3-5 years. Maybe by that time, we'll see some some falloff from the Warriors. They'll still be relatively young, but perhaps Curry's ankles will start to catch up with him. Iggy won't be much of a factor by then either. So draft the highest upside player available, look for young talent in free agency and keep developing the young guys we have.

[Monster]

A couple thoughts on the game.

Lebron did plenty in this game. He had a couple turnovers that weren't good but he was pretty damn good. That hammer dunk on Iggy in the first half was awesome.

Love overall played well but he missed some easy baskets at times at the rim that could have gave them a chance and kept them in it.

Kyrie has allay following him around but he has to be better than he was tonight if they want to win a game. He missed some easy shots (for him) and just wasn't good enough.

The other guys did more but they got outrebounded by GS but a healthy margin. You can't have that happen. Shump played well JR had some terrible fouls but he had some big hustle plays especially early on but Curry was living at the line and JR helped him get there. They need more from the other guys if they want to win a game.

Durant was a monster...defensively. 3 steals and 5 blocks. Yikes.

Curry with a triple double.

I was one of the people that talked about whether the Warriors would be good enough on the interior with the guys they had. Right now they have kept TT from beating them (partly because Love is playing a lot) but that's a big deal. TT is supposed to be a guy that's a big impact guy in the series. McGee played like 3 minutes and had 2 points and 3 rebounds. They have been able to get some good stuff from him most of the year.

Does anyone else think that GS seems to have gotten a little more out of David west than the Spurs did last year?

[Papalrep]

Lip--Given that the Warriors are effectively unbeatable in a 7-game playoff series, it's even more important that the Wolves take the long view. The goal should be to have the Wolves in a position to be at their best in 3-5 years. Maybe by that time, we'll see some some falloff from the Warriors. They'll still be relatively young, but perhaps Curry's ankles will start to catch up with him. Iggy won't be much of a factor by then either. So draft the highest upside player available, look for young talent in free agency and keep developing the young guys we have.

Taking the long view, should we draft Markenen? KD was a drink of water and a defensive joke when he first came into the league. Maybe Markenen could build on his shooting prowess the way KD has.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

It would certainly be interesting to see how old school teams would play the Warriors. They all played significantly better defense than this year's Cavs team and the games were much slower in pace. Would Jordan and Pippen be able to hold Steph and KD in check and score enough themselves (I think they could)? Would putting a dominant big man like Shaq against them just crush them on defense and get all of them in foul trouble? Draymond is good, but he's not even close to being able to even be an inconvienience to Shaq and forget about Zaza and Javale.

On this years finals I don't feel bad for Lebron or the Cavs. Their defense is terrible and frankly should have been punished much more in previous rounds, but their joke of a conference couldn't capatalize on it. Nobody on Cleveland is playing good defense including Lebron. They just keep getting beat by easy plays that could be stopped with an ounce of hustle and giving a shit defensively for 48 minutes. They have legitimately no shot to win even a game in this series if they keep giving up as many open shots at the rim from backdoor cuts and general hustle plays from the Warriors.

The game now compared to then is just played and officiated so differently. It's hard to even wrap my mind around how it would work especially if Shaq was part of the equation. I think people do forget how much he changed the league for a few years. The way the league is right now there are probably only a couple guys that would have a prayer of guarding Shaq and he was a terrific passer.

Yes, Shaq would cause serious problems for Golden State's interior defense, but Shaq notoriously laid back on pick and roll defense and wasn't great at closing out on shooters. I think Golden State would give up the interior 2's and probably foul him a bunch with the likes of Zaza and McGee, but then on the other end they would pick and roll him to death and probably get a bunch of clean 3's as a result.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Given that the Warriors are effectively unbeatable in a 7-game playoff series, it's even more important that the Wolves take the long view. The goal should be to have the Wolves in a position to be at their best in 3-5 years. Maybe by that time, we'll see some some falloff from the Warriors. They'll still be relatively young, but perhaps Curry's ankles will start to catch up with him. Iggy won't be much of a factor by then either. So draft the highest upside player available, look for young talent in free agency and keep developing the young guys we have.

Curry turned 29 in March and Durant will be 29 in September, so yeah, they have 3-4 years left in their prime before a slow falling off will begin. But as long as they keep Curry-Durant-Green-Thompson together, they can plug practically anyone else into those other roles and be fine. It's amazing how when your core guys are elite, your role players suddenly look great too.

But forget the Warriors. The Wolves need to just effing make the playoffs for once. Or even play ,500 ball. Let's start with that.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Fuck Kevin Durant that's what I have to say. He has ruined the playoffs for the foreseeable future with his wimpy move and now we have the news that he is open to taking a small paycut to stay with GSW. I will give him credit for 0.3 rings he wins this year I don't care how salty it sounds it's honestly all he deserves

Meh.

In a basketball culture obsessed with rings... Durant put himself to get his ring(s) with teammates he likes to play with. Or, he could have stayed in OKC and been ripped for not winning rings while playing ISO ball. LeBron James set the course here in a couple of ways.

1. Teaming up with stars. See Miami.
2. People forget... if you win. Think about all the bad will with James' Decision. Yet, he soared up the "all time best player" list while with Miami AND was able to return to Cleveland a fucking hero. What?! That's a far cry from all the negative nancy coverage he had initially.
3. We're victims of the moment in all aspects of life. In 15 years, people are going to think about HOW Durant got those possible rings a lot less than the sheer number of them. Likewise, he would have been labeled "career loser" had he stayed in OKC and didn't win... regardless of the "warrior going down with his team" and context and everything else that might have prevented a title. MOST fans simply don't get that deep into it.

While I prefer stars staying with teams and building champions that way... the cats already out of the bag. So I find it disingenuous to rip Durant but not others (see James) for thinking all-time legacy via rings.

[AbeVigodaLive]

A couple thoughts on the game.

Lebron did plenty in this game. He had a couple turnovers that weren't good but he was pretty damn good. That hammer dunk on Iggy in the first half was awesome.

Love overall played well but he missed some easy baskets at times at the rim that could have gave them a chance and kept them in it.

Kyrie has allay following him around but he has to be better than he was tonight if they want to win a game. He missed some easy shots (for him) and just wasn't good enough.

The other guys did more but they got outrebounded by GS but a healthy margin. You can't have that happen. Shump played well JR had some terrible fouls but he had some big hustle plays especially early on but Curry was living at the line and JR helped him get there. They need more from the other guys if they want to win a game.

Durant was a monster...defensively. 3 steals and 5 blocks. Yikes.

Curry with a triple double.

I was one of the people that talked about whether the Warriors would be good enough on the interior with the guys they had. Right now they have kept TT from beating them (partly because Love is playing a lot) but that's a big deal. TT is supposed to be a guy that's a big impact guy in the series. McGee played like 3 minutes and had 2 points and 3 rebounds. They have been able to get some good stuff from him most of the year.

Does anyone else think that GS seems to have gotten a little more out of David west than the Spurs did last year?

Durant's improvement on defense (we saw that improvement a lot even in that series last year vs. GSW)... allows them to put him at center.

That's crazy.

D. Green at center seemed crazy and caused all sorts of matchup problems. Now, GSW can go with Durant as a center and not have it hurt them defensively? That's fucking nuts.