2020-21 NBA Season Discussion

[MartinToVaught]

bucks and clippers had similarly mediocre/a bit above average defenses this year yet they couldnt look more different in the playoffs

Part of it is that the Mavs are just a much better team than the Heat, and Luka is a vastly better player than anyone on the Heat.

Also, for as much criticism as he gets, Bud is at least a better coach than Lue.

[Max123]

I’m a Mavs fan but because of the hot shooting I’m still kind of thinking about the Clippers winning the series in 7 despite most people seemingly thinking that the Mavs have this one in the bag? Is this reasonable?


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[MartinToVaught]

I’m a Mavs fan but because of the hot shooting I’m still kind of thinking about the Clippers winning the series in 7 despite most people seemingly thinking that the Mavs have this one in the bag? Is this reasonable?


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It would take a miracle for us to even win a game, let alone the series. This is an easy sweep for the Mavs.

[Texas Chuck]

I’m a Mavs fan but because of the hot shooting I’m still kind of thinking about the Clippers winning the series in 7 despite most people seemingly thinking that the Mavs have this one in the bag? Is this reasonable?


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It's definitely not in the bag, but being down 0-2 after playing 2 home games is pretty rough. 4 teams in NBA history have comeback from that or around 13% of the time. And considering this is a 4/5 matchup and Dallas has a coaching edge and at least an argument for the best player, Dallas should be considered a solid favorite.

Dallas is definitely experiencing the high side of variance, but the guys getting the shots are good shooters and the quality of shots they are getting is high. If the Clippers are going to give up open shots to THJ, DFS, and Maxi they are going to have a hard time slowing the Dallas offense.

And if Dallas could make FT's that game wouldn't have been close and you might feel more comfortable with Dallas' lead. But Dallas has led almost the entire way both games with the largest deficit I believe being 4 points? Dallas also won the regular season series. Good reason to simply think the best team is winning the series. Remember after that terrible start with 5 rotation guys out with COVID plus KP--Dallas has been one of the best teams in the league.

[HeartBreakKid]

bucks and clippers had similarly mediocre/a bit above average defenses this year yet they couldnt look more different in the playoffs

bucks managed to slow down a heat team going a stromg 20/50 from 3 to win a game where they shot like **** by stopping the heat stars

clippers are being shredded like a bottom team defense, is not even like the mavs role players are lighting them up but at least they slowed luka

as suspected, Bucks defense didnt randomly go from incredible to mediocre after signing jrue for bledsoe, they may actually be better defensively (or at least more resilient to play offs offense) than they were in 2020 on top of a seemingly more resilient offense that was actually better than in 2020 through the season

we always talk about which teams or players offense can survive the playoffs but it seems like great reg season defenses are just so susceptible to being exposed in playoffs

for the clippers i dont know what is the issue, kawhi, george, zubac, beverley, ibaka are all suposeddly above average to great defensive players. i am not even sure why they are sucking so hard other than lack of effort and conformism on defense (switching zubac on luka is plain laziness and stupidity)

I think a decent part of it comes down to Lue is not a good defensive coach. He can't get his players to buy in, he prefers too many switches, perhaps he picks poor man to man match ups - either way, he has a pretty bad track record of defenses when you include this regular season.

[CKRT]

this Jazz court is so good looking.

[MisterHibachi]

Someone on Twitter said Dillon Brooks looks like evil Danny Green and I can't stop thinking of it when I see him lmao

[Texas Chuck]

Someone on Twitter said Dillon Brooks looks like evil Danny Green and I can't stop thinking of it when I see him lmao

The way he looks and acts I just see the wrestler Jay Uso. But I'll look for Danny Green.

[GSP]

If Donovans bubble series wasnt a fluke the Jazz are a legit contender.

[Dupp]

No goober hot takes today?

[GSP]

No goober hot takes today?

He's played well on offense but same defensive issues.

Another guard posting Nba 2k numbers against his drop defense. Had some great defensive plays but plenty of bad ones too where his lack of speed, coordination and footwork got taken advantage of.

This wouldn't happen to Ad, Giannis, Bam, Draymond or Ben.

[mikejames23]

No goober hot takes today?

Not too long ago there was a thread on Rudy Gobert's MVP candidacy...

And someone asked "Would you guys do this to Tyson Chandler?"



People really been lost on how good Gobert was this year.

[HeartBreakKid]

Gobert contested a ton of shots, forced a ton of what would be lay ups into jumpers, got 3 block shots and grabbed nearly as many rebounds as Memphis' entire starting front court.

Imagine rating how good a center's defense based on how much the opposing point guard scored.

Watch on YouTube

Most of the buckets Ja scored on Gobert had nothing to do with lack of speed, and many of them were Gobert forcing him to take short pull ups over lay ups. That's also not including the possessions Gobert blew up because that's a highlight video for Ja.

Ja got a couple of good ones and caught Gobert once sleeping with a back door cut. Considering the Jazz were in control of the game the entire time even when Memphis made a run, I don't think it's a big deal.

Maybe Ja just had a really great game? Center defense isn't about locking down one guy. If this was Gobert's game one, then hot take poster #1 would have a totally different tune.


Also, those guys would never get blown up by a G. Booker has been balling like prime MJ against the Lakers, and Davis' problems have been on offense. Guess Davis sucks. And Ja Morant dropped 35 points against the Warriors in the Play-In game..which is 1 sample size shorter than this current series - I guess Draymond Green sucks too.


You're just salivating for star players to have bad games so you can go in on them.

[Dupp]

Gsp is somewhat right though. Come playoffs some like ADs versatility becomes more valuable than goobers rim protection. The handful of these guys he mentioned like bam and ad can’t get exploited as much in the p and r/ In Space/ on switches etc.

He’s still one of the bes defenders to have in the playoffs but not the best like he is in the regular season.

[HeartBreakKid]

Gsp is somewhat right though. Come playoffs some like ADs versatility becomes more valuable than goobers rim protection. The handful of these guys he mentioned like bam and ad can’t get exploited as much in the p and r/ In Space/ on switches etc.

He’s still one of the bes defenders to have in the playoffs but not the best like he is in the regular season.

Gobert wasn't exploited in the PnR or on switches at all in that video. Those were all Morant scoring when he had already gotten deep in the paint, which naturally your chances of scoring will be higher when they're in there. Based on that video Ja never scored in isolation on Gobert, or a switch. Never even scored on him cleanly in the PnR either.

So GSP basically just lazily stereotyped Gobert. The same way that people meme about Curry scoring on Gobert was totally different from almost all of Ja Morant's buckets.

And Devin Booker is doing pretty well against the Lakers right now and they're the #1 defense. God forbid if CP3 was healthy. Before the Lakers even realized CP3 can't shoot he was open so many times in space and in the PnR. Shouldn't AD's defense be put on blast?

[Dupp]

Gsp is somewhat right though. Come playoffs some like ADs versatility becomes more valuable than goobers rim protection. The handful of these guys he mentioned like bam and ad can’t get exploited as much in the p and r/ In Space/ on switches etc.

He’s still one of the bes defenders to have in the playoffs but not the best like he is in the regular season.

Gobert wasn't exploited in the PnR or on switches at all in that video. Those were all Morant scoring when he had already gotten deep in the paint, which naturally your chances of scoring will be higher when they're in there. Based on that video Ja never scored in isolation on Gobert, or a switch. Never even scored on him cleanly in the PnR either.

So GSP basically just lazily stereotyped Gobert. The same way that people meme about Curry scoring on Gobert was totally different from almost all of Ja Morant's buckets.

And Devin Booker is doing pretty well against the Lakers right now and they're the #1 defense. God forbid if CP3 was healthy.

I was just talking in general I didn’t watch the video or game.


And yeah ADs defense has been nothing great so far. Effort seems to be a big issue for him. But gimme ADs Defense last post season over any thing Gobert will ever do.

That’s not even an insult or criticism though, Gobert is great, not many better if any.

[70sFan]

Even if Jazz win the title this year, people would praise Mitchell, Conely or anyone else simply because Gobert has to be underrated. Giannis and Davis are far from amazing defensively so far in the playoffs, why are they held to a different standard than Rudy?

[LukaTheGOAT]

Even if Jazz win the title this year, people would praise Mitchell, Conely or anyone else simply because Gobert has to be underrated. Giannis and Davis are far from amazing defensively so far in the playoffs, why are they held to a different standard than Rudy?

Giannis has been doing a pretty good job guarding Jimmy Butler 1 on 1, which is actually something many at least on twitter got mad at him for not doing last year. I think Butler is like 8-32 in the series. He has like a 35 TS% too I think? You really can't do much better than that. And when you consider Giannis is basically a 7 footer who is fighting around a bunch of on-ball screens, I think that is worthy of praise.

AD's defense hasn't been great, and he has been making mistakes. That happens, and if you want to critique him, sure thing.

[LukaTheGOAT]

Even if Jazz win the title this year, people would praise Mitchell, Conely or anyone else simply because Gobert has to be underrated. Giannis and Davis are far from amazing defensively so far in the playoffs, why are they held to a different standard than Rudy?

Giannis has been doing a pretty good job guarding Jimmy Butler 1 on 1, which is actually something many at least on twitter got mad at him for not doing last year. I think Butler is like 8-32 in the series. He has like a 35 TS% too I think? You really can't do much better than that. And when you consider Giannis is basically a 7 footer who is fighting around a bunch of on-ball screens, I think that is worthy of praise.

AD's defense hasn't been great, and he has been making mistakes. That happens, and if you want to critique him, sure thing.

[70sFan]

Even if Jazz win the title this year, people would praise Mitchell, Conely or anyone else simply because Gobert has to be underrated. Giannis and Davis are far from amazing defensively so far in the playoffs, why are they held to a different standard than Rudy?

Giannis has been doing a pretty good job guarding Jimmy Butler 1 on 1, which is actually something many at least on twitter got mad at him for not doing last year. I think Butler is like 8-32 in the series. He has like a 35 TS% too I think? You really can't do much better than that. And when you consider Giannis is basically a 7 footer who is fighting around a bunch of on-ball screens, I think that is worthy of praise.

AD's defense hasn't been great, and he has been making mistakes. That happens, and if you want to critique him, sure thing.

Butler has been terrible so far, but I don't think it has much to do with Giannis defense. Antetokumpo still doesn't provide good ball-handler defense on P&Rs and he gets lost off ball as well. The problem is that Butler isn't agressive so far. He spends way too much time for creating open looks, which gives Giannis enough time to recover. A lot of that is caused by Bucks excellent interior defense - Butler can't just attack Lopez inside with Giannis behind him.

Overall, Giannis does decent job so far, but I definitely wouldn't say that he's the reason why Butler struggles so much. Jimmy isn't himself, he missed a lot of easy shots and he doesn't play nearly as agressive as he used to.