Nba playoffs thread

[Q-is-here]

Watching Doncic just makes my shoulders slump. Holy shit, we have to deal with that guy for the next decade. Ant is great, but he is a looooooong ways away from what this dude can do.

Now that we are through the first round and watching some of these other series, I'm getting that "we're going to need a bigger boat" feeling.

Watching Luka gets me excited for the Wolves. The Wolves get to hunt him on D for years and his lack of trying. And only 1 player in NBA history has made the NBA finals with Luka usage and that was Iverson

Interesting and valid take. The thing about Jordan, LeBron, Wade, and Kawhi (how many titles between them?) is that these guys all played on both ends of the floor. Obviously LeBron has been known to sleepwalk defensively through some portion of the regular season, but he would lock in for the playoffs.

This is where Ant indeed does have an advantage over the likes of Luka or Morant - two contemporaries (only slightly older) in the West. He legit could be a two-way stud. I think it's Luka's on ball scoring and playmaking that is a marvel to watch.

[FNG]

Watching Doncic just makes my shoulders slump. Holy shit, we have to deal with that guy for the next decade. Ant is great, but he is a looooooong ways away from what this dude can do.

Now that we are through the first round and watching some of these other series, I'm getting that "we're going to need a bigger boat" feeling.

Watching Luka gets me excited for the Wolves. The Wolves get to hunt him on D for years and his lack of trying. And only 1 player in NBA history has made the NBA finals with Luka usage and that was Iverson

Interesting and valid take. The thing about Jordan, LeBron, Wade, and Kawhi (how many titles between them?) is that these guys all played on both ends of the floor. Obviously LeBron has been known to sleepwalk defensively through some portion of the regular season, but he would lock in for the playoffs.

This is where Ant indeed does have an advantage over the likes of Luka or Morant - two contemporaries (only slightly older) in the West. He legit could be a two-way stud. I think it's Luka's on ball scoring and playmaking that is a marvel to watch.

Luka and Ja are unique offensive players who are going to entertain us for years. But one thing I feel very comfortable saying...I would not trade budding 2-way superstar Ant for either of them. For a couple reasons, I'm happy we get to see Luka and Ja several times a year.

[Q-is-here]

Watching Doncic just makes my shoulders slump. Holy shit, we have to deal with that guy for the next decade. Ant is great, but he is a looooooong ways away from what this dude can do.

Now that we are through the first round and watching some of these other series, I'm getting that "we're going to need a bigger boat" feeling.

Watching Luka gets me excited for the Wolves. The Wolves get to hunt him on D for years and his lack of trying. And only 1 player in NBA history has made the NBA finals with Luka usage and that was Iverson

Interesting and valid take. The thing about Jordan, LeBron, Wade, and Kawhi (how many titles between them?) is that these guys all played on both ends of the floor. Obviously LeBron has been known to sleepwalk defensively through some portion of the regular season, but he would lock in for the playoffs.

This is where Ant indeed does have an advantage over the likes of Luka or Morant - two contemporaries (only slightly older) in the West. He legit could be a two-way stud. I think it's Luka's on ball scoring and playmaking that is a marvel to watch.

Luka and Ja are unique offensive players who are going to entertain us for years. But one thing I feel very comfortable saying...I would not trade budding 2-way superstar Ant for either of them. For a couple reasons, I'm happy we get to see Luka and Ja several times a year.

A straight up Luka for Ant trade would give me serious pause. I agree on Ant > Morant (eventually) but I still hesitate a bit on the Luka one. If he played with a guy like KAT, I'd have to believe his usage would come down to a less onerous level. Just surround those two with defenders and corner 3 shooters.

[Monster]

Watching Doncic just makes my shoulders slump. Holy shit, we have to deal with that guy for the next decade. Ant is great, but he is a looooooong ways away from what this dude can do.

Now that we are through the first round and watching some of these other series, I'm getting that "we're going to need a bigger boat" feeling.

Watching Luka gets me excited for the Wolves. The Wolves get to hunt him on D for years and his lack of trying. And only 1 player in NBA history has made the NBA finals with Luka usage and that was Iverson

Interesting and valid take. The thing about Jordan, LeBron, Wade, and Kawhi (how many titles between them?) is that these guys all played on both ends of the floor. Obviously LeBron has been known to sleepwalk defensively through some portion of the regular season, but he would lock in for the playoffs.

This is where Ant indeed does have an advantage over the likes of Luka or Morant - two contemporaries (only slightly older) in the West. He legit could be a two-way stud. I think it's Luka's on ball scoring and playmaking that is a marvel to watch.

Luka and Ja are unique offensive players who are going to entertain us for years. But one thing I feel very comfortable saying...I would not trade budding 2-way superstar Ant for either of them. For a couple reasons, I'm happy we get to see Luka and Ja several times a year.

A straight up Luka for Ant trade would give me serious pause. I agree on Ant > Morant (eventually) but I still hesitate a bit on the Luka one. If he played with a guy like KAT, I'd have to believe his usage would come down to a less onerous level. Just surround those two with defenders and corner 3 shooters.

I had heard that Luka's defense had improved this year so I would be interested to hear if anyone else thinks so. I just didn't watch enough this season to know. For example I didn't realize how much of an issue defense was for Ja before the Wolves series but even Beverly was freaking going at him...

[kekgeek]

I want to say on this Luka topic. I do think Luka is fantastic. He is so good. He is just getting hunted on defense every play by the suns who are a damn good team. Then Ryen Russillo did a big thing on one of his podcasts talking about players with Luka usage. Only Iverson has made the finals and only season of Harden made a conference finals with that usage. That is it. High Usage hasn't been successful a ton in the playoffs. Luka game might adapt. I think he is for sure a top 10 possibly top 5 player in the NBA but his style of play and defense could hold him and the Mavs back in the long term. Just a thought

[Q-is-here]

I want to say on this Luka topic. I do think Luka is fantastic. He is so good. He is just getting hunted on defense every play by the suns who are a damn good team. Then Ryen Russillo did a big thing on one of his podcasts talking about players with Luka usage. Only Iverson has made the finals and only season of Harden made a conference finals with that usage. That is it. High Usage hasn't been successful a ton in the playoffs. Luka game might adapt. I think he is for sure a top 10 possibly top 5 player in the NBA but his style of play and defense could hold him and the Mavs back in the long term. Just a thought

Good stuff Kek.

I guess on the usage issue, is that a cause or a symptom? Meaning may be if these guys had some better team mates and creators around them, they wouldn't need to carry such a high usage. Luka is just so vastly superior on offense to every other option on that team right now. May be Dinwiddie or Brunson take another step up, but not so sure.

Remember when LeBron, Bosh, and Wade were put together and a lot of people thought LeBron and Wade would overlap too much? It worked out just fine for them, but if LeBron didn't have Wade, his usage would have been crazy high and they probably don't win multiple titles.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I want to say on this Luka topic. I do think Luka is fantastic. He is so good. He is just getting hunted on defense every play by the suns who are a damn good team. Then Ryen Russillo did a big thing on one of his podcasts talking about players with Luka usage. Only Iverson has made the finals and only season of Harden made a conference finals with that usage. That is it. High Usage hasn't been successful a ton in the playoffs. Luka game might adapt. I think he is for sure a top 10 possibly top 5 player in the NBA but his style of play and defense could hold him and the Mavs back in the long term. Just a thought

Good stuff Kek.

I guess on the usage issue, is that a cause or a symptom? Meaning may be if these guys had some better team mates and creators around them, they wouldn't need to carry such a high usage. Luka is just so vastly superior on offense to every other option on that team right now. May be Dinwiddie or Brunson take another step up, but not so sure.

Remember when LeBron, Bosh, and Wade were put together and a lot of people thought LeBron and Wade would overlap too much? It worked out just fine for them, but if LeBron didn't have Wade, his usage would have been crazy high and they probably don't win multiple titles.

Brunson decimated the Jazz. He's looking at a $100M deal. He's really good. The rub is... he's just not as good at it as Doncic, who's otherworldly. So I can see the thinking about why take the ball out of Doncic's hands?

A couple of other notes:

- I don't enjoy watching Dallas play. The deliberate hunting of switches for Doncic is meh. Now that the Suns are doing that to him in the playoffs... meh x2. I never really embraced those Cavs v. Warriors Finals in part because of the constant switching for LeBron James. I hope the iso ball trend is dying. Because as much as we all dig Edwards, it's just not going to be as aesthetically pleasing to watch if that's where this goes.

- For all the angst about Morant and Doncic defensively... their teams finished #4 and #6 defensively this season. Yes. That's the regular season. But until we go through it DEEP in the playoffs against the best teams, we can't assume anybody on the Wolves would be able to stand up to being targeted defensively. I really dig Edwards. But it's still a "fairly likely" probability that he'll be a superstar while Morant and Doncic are young superstars already. Morant already has TWO 47 point playoff games and he's only 22.

- I'm intrigued at what GSW does moving forward. I'm guessing a bunch of different looks (blitzing, zone, straight up, doubles) and maybe, just maybe... making him drive right.

[Lipoli390]

Giannis has been my favorite player in the NBA by far for a long time. If we're talking about who the best player in the League is, you have to consider Embiid and Jokic. But in my view there's been no question the past two years that Giannis is the best.

I didn't think I could have a higher opinion of Giannis after Milwaukee won the title last season. But as I'm watching him carry the Bucks through the playoffs without Kris Middleton my respect for him has risen even higher. Yes, Jrue Holiday has been really good and some other players have stepped up. But Giannis has been the man. He's in that special class with Michael Jordan as that rare player who can carry and will his team to victory. Milwaukee might not make the finals this season with Middleton out. Based on talent, the Sixers should end up in the NBA finals. Milwaukee has Giannis and Holiday. Philly has Embiid, Harden, Harris and Maxey. But if the Bucks win the East, no doubt it will be because of how special Giannis is.

[Lipoli390]

Wiggins and Kuminga combined for 35 points, hitting 15 of their combined 20 FG attempts - 75% - and 4 of their 6 three-point attempts. Pretty impressive!

[thedoper]

Ja's way out of hand to get on Jordan Poole. He was a troll against us, but I feel that was a bit next level.

Im sorry he got injured but that was not a dirty play.