RD 1 GAME #2: MAVS [0-1] @ LAC [1-0]—TUES 4/23 7 PM, TNT

[esqtvd]

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[KL2]

Since it’s a no contact practice for the entire team I say he doesn’t play game 2 either. Hoping Skip is right though.

The way some of the players talked after last game about buying him more time also suggests he’s not playing.

[madmaxmedia]

Skip is sticking to his prediction. Also, I think it was actually a pretty good well-rounded discussion, I prefer when there is at least 1 guy on each side.

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[KL2]

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[MartinToVaught]

It's depressing that we're looking to Skip freaking Bayless for information because the team themselves can't just man up and be honest with their paying customers.

[esqtvd]

Since it’s a no contact practice for the entire team I say he doesn’t play game 2 either. Hoping Skip is right though.

The way some of the players talked after last game about buying him more time also suggests he’s not playing.

I have NEVER understood why you don't hold out a gimpy superstar but dress him anyway. Let him do pregame warmups and at halftime let him warm up again. MESS WITH THEIR MINDS. And then maybe even USE him if he's that close to returning.

Let QUESTIONABLE mean "questionable" for the whole game.

Kawhi at 50% is better than Coffey at 100%, let's be serious. Let alone the G-Leaguers. Dress him, even as a decoy. And if Kawhi is that close to returning, maybe he CAN play a few 4th quarter minutes if it's close.

[madmaxmedia]

That would be funny to have him dress and shoot around pregame, then not play.

I think the logic for holding him out until he is close to 100% is that the healthier he is, the longer he’ll last once he does return.

[TrueLAfan]

Keep our mouths shut. I hate it that we don't know how Kawhi's health is leading into the playoffs. Hate it. I also recognize it keeps opponents off balance waiting for the when (or even "if?") of his return. It is what it is.

About the game itself; important to stay focused early. I think Dallas will try to hit us hard coming out, to maintain/regain momentum from the end of last game, and to get an upper mental hand. We gotta be tough but smart. Go push for push and play hard. Don't flop. Don't whine. Luka is a tremendous player but already has the rep, right or wrong, of being the biggest crybaby in the league. Man (Mann?) him up hard and early. Good ball movement--Harden had 3 assists in the first quarter of game 1. Every other starter had an assist too. That kind of passing is critical. Dallas is mediocre on D in general, and worse at switching off (odd, given that's something Kidd was terrific at and would help shore up one of Doncic's few weaknesses). Make them pay for what they aren't good at.

I know the tendency to get really up or down in the middle of ballgames--or even quarters--in general and on the boards. It's a 48 minute game. I just want to be on top at the end.

[clipperlover]

Biggest key to winning this series is to not do anything to piss Luka off. He single highhandedly destroyed the Suns two years ago because they started talking smack.

Don't give him a reason to bring extra swagger. All the talking can happen when the series is over.

[clipperlover]

Since it’s a no contact practice for the entire team I say he doesn’t play game 2 either. Hoping Skip is right though.

The way some of the players talked after last game about buying him more time also suggests he’s not playing.

I have NEVER understood why you don't hold out a gimpy superstar but dress him anyway. Let him do pregame warmups and at halftime let him warm up again. MESS WITH THEIR MINDS. And then maybe even USE him if he's that close to returning.

Let QUESTIONABLE mean "questionable" for the whole game.

Kawhi at 50% is better than Coffey at 100%, let's be serious. Let alone the G-Leaguers. Dress him, even as a decoy. And if Kawhi is that close to returning, maybe he CAN play a few 4th quarter minutes if it's close.

While he may be better at lower percentages, these super star level players have their routines that they run through. He isn't going to get warmed up to then sit and come in cold later. If he is going to go through the preparation to get warm, then he is going to want to be on the court keeping things loose.

If he can't make the cuts he feels he needs to make, then he isn't going to play. If his injury was in his upper body, then he may do things differently. However, the injury is in his knee which he needs for cutting and landing. His basketball career will end in a few years and he still wants to maintain the ability to walk the rest of his life.

[esqtvd]

Since it’s a no contact practice for the entire team I say he doesn’t play game 2 either. Hoping Skip is right though.

The way some of the players talked after last game about buying him more time also suggests he’s not playing.

I have NEVER understood why you don't hold out a gimpy superstar but dress him anyway. Let him do pregame warmups and at halftime let him warm up again. MESS WITH THEIR MINDS. And then maybe even USE him if he's that close to returning.

Let QUESTIONABLE mean "questionable" for the whole game.

Kawhi at 50% is better than Coffey at 100%, let's be serious. Let alone the G-Leaguers. Dress him, even as a decoy. And if Kawhi is that close to returning, maybe he CAN play a few 4th quarter minutes if it's close.

While he may be better at lower percentages, these super star level players have their routines that they run through. He isn't going to get warmed up to then sit and come in cold later. If he is going to go through the preparation to get warm, then he is going to want to be on the court keeping things loose.

If he can't make the cuts he feels he needs to make, then he isn't going to play. If his injury was in his upper body, then he may do things differently. However, the injury is in his knee which he needs for cutting and landing. His basketball career will end in a few years and he still wants to maintain the ability to walk the rest of his life.

I understand about loosening up, but there are stationary bikes and stuff around. I still don't see why it has to be 30+ minutes or nothing. If he's close enough to be "questionable" then 12 minutes would be way better than nothing--even as a decoy--especially taking minutes from the back of the rotation.

But you're right, they never seem to do it that way.

[nickhx2]

Keep our mouths shut. I hate it that we don't know how Kawhi's health is leading into the playoffs. Hate it. I also recognize it keeps opponents off balance waiting for the when (or even "if?") of his return. It is what it is.

About the game itself; important to stay focused early. I think Dallas will try to hit us hard coming out, to maintain/regain momentum from the end of last game, and to get an upper mental hand. We gotta be tough but smart. Go push for push and play hard. Don't flop. Don't whine. Luka is a tremendous player but already has the rep, right or wrong, of being the biggest crybaby in the league. Man (Mann?) him up hard and early. Good ball movement--Harden had 3 assists in the first quarter of game 1. Every other starter had an assist too. That kind of passing is critical. Dallas is mediocre on D in general, and worse at switching off (odd, given that's something Kidd was terrific at and would help shore up one of Doncic's few weaknesses). Make them pay for what they aren't good at.

I know the tendency to get really up or down in the middle of ballgames--or even quarters--in general and on the boards. It's a 48 minute game. I just want to be on top at the end.

yeah, personally the kawhi stuff doesn't bother me at all, and if a collective, low-grade (high-grade?) fan anxiety is the tradeoff for actual competitive advantage in a playoff game, i think it's clear which route the team takes lol

I think you mention something that's fairly underrated in that the team was moving the ball pretty well, and to me that meant the team stuck to its gameplan. Like, i'd put a little bit of money that jason kidd's locker-room whiteboard said "DON'T LET PAUL GEORGE PLAY BASKETBALL", and conversely, ty lue's whiteboard saying "their whiteboard says to not let PG play basketball, so EVERYONE NEEDS TO MOVE THE BALL" - and i think that bore (beared?) itself out on the court because it seemed like most of their gameplan was hell-bent on snuffing him out, but that enabled the rest of the team to really play relatively unfettered and do big things on offense. Also wanna add that PG deserves more praise for not taking the bait and trying to force the issue, and while i'm sure we all would have liked to have seen him star as the hero of the game, he instead starred as a steady, sturdy kind of rock for the team, IMO. And that was simply by doing really good things overall, not screwing up the gameplan by taking over the offense when he didn't need to, which is something that enabled everybody else in turn. He played well enough for the team to win and that should give us a lot of confidence. As a side note, PG kinda confirmed some of this, though he did say he would try to be better for game 2.

agree with the last bit, too. it's a 48 minute game, and that's not a takeaway from last night's denver/laker game, then i don't know what is lol

[clipperlover]

I have NEVER understood why you don't hold out a gimpy superstar but dress him anyway. Let him do pregame warmups and at halftime let him warm up again. MESS WITH THEIR MINDS. And then maybe even USE him if he's that close to returning.

Let QUESTIONABLE mean "questionable" for the whole game.

Kawhi at 50% is better than Coffey at 100%, let's be serious. Let alone the G-Leaguers. Dress him, even as a decoy. And if Kawhi is that close to returning, maybe he CAN play a few 4th quarter minutes if it's close.

While he may be better at lower percentages, these super star level players have their routines that they run through. He isn't going to get warmed up to then sit and come in cold later. If he is going to go through the preparation to get warm, then he is going to want to be on the court keeping things loose.

If he can't make the cuts he feels he needs to make, then he isn't going to play. If his injury was in his upper body, then he may do things differently. However, the injury is in his knee which he needs for cutting and landing. His basketball career will end in a few years and he still wants to maintain the ability to walk the rest of his life.

I understand about loosening up, but there are stationary bikes and stuff around. I still don't see why it has to be 30+ minutes or nothing. If he's close enough to be "questionable" then 12 minutes would be way better than nothing--even as a decoy--especially taking minutes from the back of the rotation.

But you're right, they never seem to do it that way.

We don't know what him and the medical staff are doing and what imaging and scans they are performing on a regular basis. He is probably doing things the medical staff is telling him, then going back for evaluation to see how the knee responded.

I thought they were just giving him rest (maybe they are), but if there are real concerns around swelling then they have to perform their due diligence.

Each game that he can sit out is one less game of abuse to the knee. Maybe Kawhi's knees have a max number of games (think someone mentioned a trend the other day) before they flare up. Let's say that number is 20. it could take 28 games to get to through the NBA Finals. If the full playoff workload is the concern, then I would rather him rest now and the team pull through without needing him in the 1st round.

[clipperlover]

yeah, personally the kawhi stuff doesn't bother me at all, and if a collective, low-grade (high-grade?) fan anxiety is the tradeoff for actual competitive advantage in a playoff game, i think it's clear which route the team takes lol

I think you mention something that's fairly underrated in that the team was moving the ball pretty well, and to me that meant the team stuck to its gameplan. Like, i'd put a little bit of money that jason kidd's locker-room whiteboard said "DON'T LET PAUL GEORGE PLAY BASKETBALL", and conversely, ty lue's whiteboard saying "their whiteboard says to not let PG play basketball, so EVERYONE NEEDS TO MOVE THE BALL" - and i think that bore (beared?) itself out on the court because it seemed like most of their gameplan was hell-bent on snuffing him out, but that enabled the rest of the team to really play relatively unfettered and do big things on offense. Also wanna add that PG deserves more praise for not taking the bait and trying to force the issue, and while i'm sure we all would have liked to have seen him star as the hero of the game, he instead starred as a steady, sturdy kind of rock for the team, IMO. And that was simply by doing really good things overall, not screwing up the gameplan by taking over the offense when he didn't need to, which is something that enabled everybody else in turn. He played well enough for the team to win and that should give us a lot of confidence. As a side note, PG kinda confirmed some of this, though he did say he would try to be better for game 2.

agree with the last bit, too. it's a 48 minute game, and that's not a takeaway from last night's denver/laker game, then i don't know what is lol

Another takeaway from last night's Denver game is that all hands need to be on deck. Denver had 8 different players play in the 4th quarter. 6 of them scored. KCP didn't score in the 4th, but he was providing the hard defensive effort.

[KL2]

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[esqtvd]

While he may be better at lower percentages, these super star level players have their routines that they run through. He isn't going to get warmed up to then sit and come in cold later. If he is going to go through the preparation to get warm, then he is going to want to be on the court keeping things loose.

If he can't make the cuts he feels he needs to make, then he isn't going to play. If his injury was in his upper body, then he may do things differently. However, the injury is in his knee which he needs for cutting and landing. His basketball career will end in a few years and he still wants to maintain the ability to walk the rest of his life.

I understand about loosening up, but there are stationary bikes and stuff around. I still don't see why it has to be 30+ minutes or nothing. If he's close enough to be "questionable" then 12 minutes would be way better than nothing--even as a decoy--especially taking minutes from the back of the rotation.

But you're right, they never seem to do it that way.

We don't know what him and the medical staff are doing and what imaging and scans they are performing on a regular basis. He is probably doing things the medical staff is telling him, then going back for evaluation to see how the knee responded.

I thought they were just giving him rest (maybe they are), but if there are real concerns around swelling then they have to perform their due diligence.

Each game that he can sit out is one less game of abuse to the knee. Maybe Kawhi's knees have a max number of games (think someone mentioned a trend the other day) before they flare up. Let's say that number is 20. it could take 28 games to get to through the NBA Finals. If the full playoff workload is the concern, then I would rather him rest now and the team pull through without needing him in the 1st round.

Just a fan's guess but what I meant.

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[KL2]

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[KL2]

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[Clemenza]

I'm going to the game, Lets Go!!

[madmaxmedia]

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Hopefully they are not actually just doing the thing esqtvd said they should