ATL - Road teams now up 5-0 (Indy, NYK, Den, GSW)

[KidA24]

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[Ron Swanson]

Jokic hasn't been good in the 4th of both of these games.

He was also outright bad in the final 2-games of that Minnesota series loss last season after being up 3-2, but surprise, he got zero **** for it because his counting stats were still gaudy (29/11/7 for the series). Jokic narratives are gonna be fascinating depending on the outcome and how he plays down the stretch here, but considering I'm already seeing people prepping the "he needs help" excuses (despite Murray, MPJ, and Russ giving him very efficient scoring last night), it's probably just gonna be business as usual.

[BUCKnation]

Jokic hasn't been good in the 4th of both of these games.

He was also outright bad in the final 2-games of that Minnesota series loss last season after being up 3-2, but surprise, he got zero **** for it because his counting stats were still gaudy (29/11/7 for the series). Jokic narratives are gonna be fascinating depending on the outcome and how he plays down the stretch here, but considering I'm already seeing people prepping the "he needs help" excuses (despite Murray, MPJ, and Russ giving him very efficient scoring last night), it's probably just gonna be business as usual.

The narrative would be ugly if Giannis missed a bunch of free throws, jumpers and had a ton of turnovers in the 4th in close games of his series.

[pifhluk23]

Yeah, our problem with NY is that their two best players are the types we have the most problems with, and that’s because of how they can target brook.

We would have struggled to contain Brunson even if we had prime Jrue just like how we struggled to contain Trae.

Brunson would have attacked our deep drop, and gotten comfortable looks in the midrange, and then towns would have gotten open looks up top. If we pre-rotated, Towns then would have looked to post up the smaller defender and clear out a side.

Haliburton and Turner are better than KAT and Brunson in the playoffs. The narrative wants you to think Kat/Brunson are better but they simply are not.

[RogerMurdock]

Anyone calling Giannis overrated is insane.

Others I don't get (not that the percentages are high): LeBron - come on, he's still incredible at age 40. Kuzma - who "overrates" him besides Bucks' management? Jrue - I think he's appropriately rated at this point in his career. Sabonis - people rightfully consider him an All-Star level player, but not really higher.

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[tydett]

Anyone calling Giannis overrated is insane.

Others I don't get (not that the percentages are high): LeBron - come on, he's still incredible at age 40. Kuzma - who "overrates" him besides Bucks' management? Jrue - I think he's appropriately rated at this point in his career. Sabonis - people rightfully consider him an All-Star level player, but not really higher.

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The 2 votes for Giannis probably both came from one team in a midwestern state with a bunch of bitches on it, including perhaps the leading vote getter in this exercise.

[Wonka]

I hope Kawhi stays healthy for the rest of his career, he's a genuine FORCE when his body is right this time of year. So fun to watch last night.

[raferfenix]

I can’t get enough of the Mavs implosion.

Forget firing Nico and Kidd.

Ownership should be compelled to sell.

Even Dumont, by Harrison’s admission, initially laughed when the idea of trading Dončić was floated. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka reportedly thought Harrison was joking when trade discussions began. But it was Harrison who pursued the deal with conviction, and it was Dumont who gave him the green light. Sources informed DallasHoopsJournal.com that among the factors that led Dumont to provide the green light was an interaction he had with Dončić, focused on addressing perceived conditioning concerns. This occurred before Harrison initiated trade talks for Dončić at his coffee meeting with Pelinka in Dallas before the Mavericks faced the Lakers on Jan. 7. As one might expect, that interaction involving Dončić and Dumont did not go well. Weeks later, Dončić was traded, with a heavy run of media leaks emphasizing conditioning to follow.

The intel provided to Dumont by the Harrison-led basketball operations department enabled Harrison to obtain permission to make the controversial trade to acquire a player he had long sought, Davis. Dumont doubled down on that narrative just days after the trade, further illustrating how effective the Harrison regime’s selling of this problem proved to be. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Dumont made his position unmistakably clear. The man who had just authorized the trade of a generational superstar had publicly questioned Dončić’s commitment.

“If you look at the greats in the league, the people you and I grew up with — [Michael] Jordan, [Larry] Bird, Kobe [Bryant], Shaq [O’Neal] — they worked really hard, every day, with a singular focus to win,” Dumont said. “And if you don’t have that, it doesn’t work. And if you don’t have that, you shouldn’t be part of the Dallas Mavericks. That’s who we want. I’m unwavering on this. The entire organization knows this. This is how I operate outside of basketball. This is the only way to be competitive and win. If you want to take a vacation, don’t do it with us.”

The Mavericks' internal version of events immediately highlighted a breakdown in communication with team leadership, making trading him unavoidable.

Based on intel about Davis from earlier stages of his career, the media leaks targeting Dončić read like a scene from a twisted episode of The Twilight Zone.

Sources from previous stops in Davis’ career recall complaints from some close to the star forward that he tended to start his offseason program within a month of training camp, which was seen as a factor in his body breaking down during the season. It’s also common to hear from people from Davis’ previous career stops that an early career lack of interest in resistance work has played a role in various lower-body injuries.

https://dallashoopsjournal.com/p/nico-harrison-takeover-dallas-mavericks-luka-doncic-trade?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=621353&post_id=161812840&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=17lwnj&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

[Ron Swanson]

So that's the story that Dumont and ownership are really gonna try and sell, huh? That Nico bewitched them into trading Luka? Lulz, good luck with that.

[DingleJerry]

Their defense is that they, as owners and GMs of an NBA franchise, know less about basketball and their own team than any casual fan of any NBA team. Seems like their defense is an admission they should be fired and/or forced to sell the team. No way they're lying

[MickeyDavis]

More from the players poll

[Ryan5UW]

Bucks front office well represented on that coaching poll lol

[SupremeHustle]

OKC seems easy to root for. Guess I'll jump on their bandwagon.

[MickeyDavis]

Ric Flair in the house. His 30/30 doc (now on Netflix) is great.

[Ayt]

It's absolutely wild that Harrison hasn't been fired yet with all these other guys getting canned for mild intra-office tension or whatever.

Ownership knows they forced him into this. So he’ll stay on for a bit more.

We can all easily envision Dumont and his mother-in-law Miriam saying “What? This guy wants a $350 million dollar contract? Trade him and get the best you can. Just get it done”.

Spot on PP. I reckon it’s been a case of a cheap owner all along. This is the extreme version of Clay Bennett cheaping out on harden back in the day.

The Dumont’s aren’t basketball ppl and don’t seem to really give a **** about it. But they do care about money like all billionaires and saw that Luka contract as over the top money for a basketball player.

Nico’s prob just the patsy in all of this and did his old friends at the Lakers a favour by gifting them Luka.

This has never made sense as a theory. AD makes more than Luka.

[DingleJerry]

Had a thought during Bucks 1H last night that of everything Lebron has accomplished, which is obviously a lot, the most impressive thing might be winning a Championship with Kuzma as the #3 scorer.

[tedbrogen]

Had a thought during Bucks 1H last night that of everything Lebron has accomplished, which is obviously a lot, the most impressive thing might be winning a Championship with Kuzma as the #3 scorer.

Bubble where most teams didn’t want to be there (didn’t LeBron talk everyone into staying at one point?). AD played great. Lakers avoided real threats in their path due to the situation. Look at their path: Blazers, Westbrick Rockets, not ready for prime time Nuggets, and five seed Heat.
They didn’t have to face Kawhi, Giannis, or the last good Raptors team. In 2020, those were the three big forces to overcome.

[Wonka]

Had a thought during Bucks 1H last night that of everything Lebron has accomplished, which is obviously a lot, the most impressive thing might be winning a Championship with Kuzma as the #3 scorer.

He averaged 8.5 in the Finals on 35-31 splits, 5th on the team. KCP was their third guy. 12.8 on 37-30 splits what a series.

[Ron Swanson]

Ironically that Lakers bubble team should show everyone that the blueprint for turning this roster back into contenders should by no means be some Herculean task. Post-prime Lebron/AD going on an absolute heater at the right time and surrounded by nothing but journeyman vets and 3&D role-players. Just get a GM and coach that know what they're doing.

[DingleJerry]

Had a thought during Bucks 1H last night that of everything Lebron has accomplished, which is obviously a lot, the most impressive thing might be winning a Championship with Kuzma as the #3 scorer.

He averaged 8.5 in the Finals on 35-31 splits, 5th on the team. KCP was their third guy. 12.8 on 37-30 splits what a series.

He was 3rd in reg season and basically tied with KCP in the playoffs for PPG. That's all I looked at. And note I said 3rd scorer, not 3rd best player lol