JujitsuFlip wrote:JonFromVA wrote:JujitsuFlip wrote:Geeked is synonymous with happy, hence why i said his vibe was just happy to be there (the playoffs/NYC/MSG).
His play is what showed he was overwhelmed by the moment.
In the 2 road playoff games his statline was 16.5 ppg/-1.0 A:TO/5.5 rebs/3.5 fouls on atrocious shooting splits 37.8% FG, 16.7% from deep, and 60% from the charity stripe.
Oof.
Mitchell has a career 28/5/5 playoff average, I'm not assuming he was overwhelmed or the moment was too big for him or any of that. He was dealing with a groin injury, and if anything he might have been a bit too excited, running on adrenaline, etc.
And credit to the Knicks who had a plan that worked to steal home court and even adjusted it after game 2 to lock down the series.
Who cares what his career playoff averages are, tbh.
It's a what have you did for me lately league, especially given the assets surrendered for Mitchell... An All-Star, 3 unprotected first round picks, 2 unprotected pick swaps, draft rights to a lottery pick, and Collin Sexton.
The past 2 seasons Mitchell has been putrid in the playoffs... 24.5 ppg means nothing if it is on 46.2 eFG% - 51.1 TS%.
As for the bolded, that is a problem with the league and its fans. Its better to not base your opinions on players based on small sample sizes while ignoring context.
Case in point, Jokic who has been regarded as "not a winning player" since he has "never done anything in the playoffs" and that "you cannot win with him because of his defense". None of this has ever been true, but its been repeated for at least the last three years, completely ignoring the actual context of his play and the team surrounding him.
The narrative is now flipped, and if they lose the finals it will flip right back.
I know we've said this multiple times, and you don't like this due to the assets given up, but the Mitchell move was a move for the future, not this season. We have a lot more sample size left to decide if this trade was a failure or success.