2024-2025 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 4: (2) Boston Celtics at (7) Orlando Magic - 7pm ET

[basketballRob]

Passing him in what way? Certainly not on the basketball court in any capacity.

Paolo has been overall better than Tatum in this series.
Franz has been overall better than Brown.
Combined our duo is beating their duo.
The difference in the series is the support pieces (Jrue, White, Porzingis, Horford, Pritchard).

I’ve said it for over a year, Paolo is the next American MVP. Tatum will never win MVP as long as Paolo is healthy because starting next season Paolo will finish in MVP voting ahead of Tatum.

Paolo had a bad Game 4 because he was gassed the entire second half (thus the short misses). It’s not a fitness thing. He’s played a lot of minutes, it’s just the toll of all of the hacking finally caught up.
I am not ruling out Paolo winning Game 5 and bringing the series back.
We beat a championship team with two guys in Game 3, and would’ve won Game 4 if Franz hits an extra open 3 and Paolo doesn’t miss those midrange shots he normally buries because he was worn down.
It’s a learning experience for our 23 and 22-year-old studs.

I feel great about Paolo but come on. Tatum owned the game last night. He took over when he had too.

Paolo learned what it'll take to make the next jump. He thought he was in great shape, but he needs to be in better shape

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[eyriq]

Losing the free throw rate battle when you are also completely outmatched from the perimeter is tough to overcome.

We are reliant on the whistle and it's not going our way.

We are just fouling a lot, that's not on the refs, it's the way we play. We were 29th in the league in opponents free throw rate while Boston were 1st in that category. We are using the good old "they can't call us for a foul on every possession" strategy. Sure, there were some missed calls when Boston was defending too, but I can't really complain when we were for example basically fouling Porzingis almost every time he posted up against a smaller player and usually got away with it.

I'm pointing out that our recipe for success includes winning the free throw rate battle. If we can't do that we are cooked.

[AdamTheGreek]

Passing him in what way? Certainly not on the basketball court in any capacity.

Paolo has been overall better than Tatum in this series.
Franz has been overall better than Brown.
Combined our duo is beating their duo.
The difference in the series is the support pieces (Jrue, White, Porzingis, Horford, Pritchard).

I’ve said it for over a year, Paolo is the next American MVP. Tatum will never win MVP as long as Paolo is healthy because starting next season Paolo will finish in MVP voting ahead of Tatum.

Paolo had a bad Game 4 because he was gassed the entire second half (thus the short misses). It’s not a fitness thing. He’s played a lot of minutes, it’s just the toll of all of the hacking finally caught up.
I am not ruling out Paolo winning Game 5 and bringing the series back.
We beat a championship team with two guys in Game 3, and would’ve won Game 4 if Franz hits an extra open 3 and Paolo doesn’t miss those midrange shots he normally buries because he was worn down.
It’s a learning experience for our 23 and 22-year-old studs.

I feel great about Paolo but come on. Tatum owned the game last night. He took over when he had too.

Tatum isn’t the reason they won the game. He played fine. Porzingis and Horford’s defense were the reason.
That and we left the game in the refs’ hands.

[AdamTheGreek]

Losing the free throw rate battle when you are also completely outmatched from the perimeter is tough to overcome.

We are reliant on the whistle and it's not going our way.

We are just fouling a lot, that's not on the refs, it's the way we play. We were 29th in the league in opponents free throw rate while Boston were 1st in that category. We are using the good old "they can't call us for a foul on every possession" strategy. Sure, there were some missed calls when Boston was defending too, but I can't really complain when we were for example basically fouling Porzingis almost every time he posted up against a smaller player and usually got away with it.

We are fouling a lot. We always do. We’ve given up very poor and-1s.
However, Boston is committing the same amount and types of fouls only not getting called for them.
They can’t stop Paolo and Franz without hacking the **** out of them.

[GelbeWand09]

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

Ultimately his position is determined by Mosley and it's been point guard regardless of your or my opinion.

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

[GameOver25]

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

Ultimately his position is determined by Mosley and it's been point guard regardless of your or my opinion.

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

Just let it be man. Eyriq is dying on that hill and there's nothing this board can do about it.

[basketballRob]

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

Ultimately his position is determined by Mosley and it's been point guard regardless of your or my opinion.

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

AB is doing what he asked to do this season.

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[RichCollab]

Ultimately his position is determined by Mosley and it's been point guard regardless of your or my opinion.

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

AB is doing what he asked to do this season.

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AB does what coach asks it seems. Jett on the other hand defaults to what he thinks he knows.

AB is already top 4 most valuable in my opinion on this team but he doesn’t augment Paolo and Franz well.

We need to make a move and if AB is needed. Are we going to pay him for overlapping skill sets?

We need a guard who is settled and ready to go.

[basketballRob]

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

AB is doing what he asked to do this season.

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AB does what coach asks it seems. Jett on the other hand defaults to what he thinks he knows.

AB is already top 4 most valuable in my opinion on this team but he doesn’t augment Paolo and Franz well.

We need to make a move and if AB is needed. Are we going to pay him for overlapping skill sets?

We need a guard who is settled and ready to go.

We need another two-way guard we can add to AB, Suggs, and KCP.

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[Bergmaniac]

Ultimately his position is determined by Mosley and it's been point guard regardless of your or my opinion.

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

AB is doing what he asked to do this season.

And Mosley asks him to do what he does because he knows AB's limitations. Our team desperately needs more playmaking, Mosley is not dumb, if AB could do this successfully against NBA defences, he would have him play such a role. But he knows currently AB is at his best playing as a 3&D wing.

[basketballRob]

How? He doesnt play PG under Mosley. He plays a 3&D wing. Again, just because the TV channels still label all the players to the same old 5 positions doesnt mean someone is a PG. When you dont do PG things, you are not a PG. When you arent used as a PG, you are not a PG.

AB got a very good future as a combo guard/wing 3&D role player. A very important and influential position. Why cant you live with that? Its just completely unrealistic that he ever becomes a PG with his skillset. He is a great defender, he scores per fastbreak, hustleplays, open 3's, closeouts & cuts. Thats not the skillset of a lead ballhandler. He cant do anything with the ball against a good defense like Boston. He doesnt have the ballhandling & explosiveness to attack/collapse a halfcourt defense.

AB is doing what he asked to do this season.

And Mosley asks him to do what he does because he knows AB's limitations. Our team desperately needs more playmaking, Mosley is not dumb, if AB could do this successfully against NBA defences, he would have him play such a role. But he knows currently AB is at his best playing as a 3&D wing.

Exactly. They don't want to put too much of the offensive burden on a young guard. They will give him more responsibility next season.

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[eyriq]

AB is doing what he asked to do this season.

And Mosley asks him to do what he does because he knows AB's limitations. Our team desperately needs more playmaking, Mosley is not dumb, if AB could do this successfully against NBA defences, he would have him play such a role. But he knows currently AB is at his best playing as a 3&D wing.

Exactly. They don't want to put too much of the offensive burden on a young guard.

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Great point. Paolo and Franz are clearly our team's best and primary playmakers. They aren't point guards, though. Role <> Position.

[pepe1991]

[eyriq]

some posts here really bring collective IQ to Down's level.

Tell me how you really feel lol

[basketballRob]

some posts here really bring collective IQ to Down's level.

Tell me how you really feel lol

Don't argue with him

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[pepe1991]

Funny how fast you found yourself

[Knightro]

Tatum isn’t the reason they won the game. He played fine. Porzingis and Horford’s defense were the reason.
That and we left the game in the refs’ hands.

Tatum had 37 points on a .594 TS%.

He led all players in rebounds.

He played very good defense.

He played 42 minutes with the ball in his hands a huge amount (more than anyone else on their team) and only had 2 turnovers.

He was great.

[Skybox]

If AB was remotely a PG...CoJo would still be a happy "retiree in a uniform" - certainly not a playoff starter against the champs.

I love AB and I'll love him more if we unload KCP and let AB fill that role and even expand it with his marginal playmaking and ability to finish. He's already a better KCP without the history of success behind him. IF AB can shoot at last year's 3pt % and double the volume, we got something.

[Knightro]

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

Why does Cory Joseph have 12 assists in the series?

Why does Cole have 5 assists in 32 minutes and Black have 0 in 68 minutes?

Just more silliness.

[eyriq]

Game 4 net points

Tatum +8.9
Paolo -6.3