Around the League - IST Games talk

[ReddoverKobe]

Bobby Marks had the knicks in the finals

[Ayt]

I want to be all in on OKC this season even though I know they're young.

Shai is Shai, Jalen Williams is going to take a giant leap forward in year two, and Chet will have a big impact defensively even as a rookie. A bunch of their other young players will also likely step up a bit. Giddey just seems to get stronger and more confident every year.

It should be fun.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

It's hilarious hearing the commentators talk about Jrue.

It's very clear they didn't watch much (if any) Bucks games last year and just fired up Bbal Reference before the game. No shade on Jrue, I love the guy, but the takes about him since joining the Celts are nauseatingly saccharine.

Had the same thought
"playmaker"
"always makes the right play"
"never takes the wrong shot"
lol sure

I think part of it is how intelligent and well-spoken he is off the court. You listen to him and think "This guy gets it." As someone with average intelligence, my on-court intelligence is off-the-court bad. Just because someone is smart does not mean they have a great b-ball IQ. And just because they have great defensive instincts does not mean they have great basketball vision on the offensive end. There are nuances.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Boston is going to be really good. They’re a better team than they were last year.

Last year as in the playoffs where Brown was injured and Horford realized how old he was, or are you talking December Celtics where Horford was shooting 50% from 3?

I think they are somewhere in between those 2 teams. But as someone said, they don't have a Giannis stopper so they can have the regular season.

[Ayt]

I want to be all in on OKC this season even though I know they're young.

I just looked it up and their over/under is 44.5. I can't pull the trigger on that over.

[soxperry]

Boston is going to be really good. They’re a better team than they were last year.

idk about that. remember how they started the season last year? they definitely regressed after the hot start, but i dont see how this group is better than last year's group unless Tatum makes another leap. That was always going to be their limiting factor.

last year it was Brogodon who was kind of their secret sauce in the regular season, working with all that space. this year it will be Porzingis. both are injury prone. Horford is a year older and they replaced Smart/Grant/Robert with Holiday and the hope that Pritchard, Hauser, and Walsh can step up.

if they prove to be a better team this year it will be because of improved chemistry, better coaching, and luck in the health department, but i dont see this roster as a significant upgrade.

[SupremeHustle]

Cam Thomas can definitely get buckets. Legit NBA scorer.

[jimmybones]

It's hilarious hearing the commentators talk about Jrue.

It's very clear they didn't watch much (if any) Bucks games last year and just fired up Bbal Reference before the game. No shade on Jrue, I love the guy, but the takes about him since joining the Celts are nauseatingly saccharine.

Had the same thought
"playmaker"
"always makes the right play"
"never takes the wrong shot"
lol sure

I think part of it is how intelligent and well-spoken he is off the court. You listen to him and think "This guy gets it." As someone with average intelligence, my on-court intelligence is off-the-court bad. Just because someone is smart does not mean they have a great b-ball IQ. And just because they have great defensive instincts does not mean they have great basketball vision on the offensive end. There are nuances.

Could be, he's also such a high character good dude that he's easy to root for and give the benefit of doubt to. It did not feel good to be down on him as a Bucks fan. But whatever it is, he seems to have this reputation/perception that doesn't exactly match reality.

The caveat is that you have to actually watch basketball to know this so that excludes most of the national talking heads.

[soxperry]

It's hilarious hearing the commentators talk about Jrue.

It's very clear they didn't watch much (if any) Bucks games last year and just fired up Bbal Reference before the game. No shade on Jrue, I love the guy, but the takes about him since joining the Celts are nauseatingly saccharine.

Had the same thought
"playmaker"
"always makes the right play"
"never takes the wrong shot"
lol sure

I think part of it is how intelligent and well-spoken he is off the court. You listen to him and think "This guy gets it." As someone with average intelligence, my on-court intelligence is off-the-court bad. Just because someone is smart does not mean they have a great b-ball IQ. And just because they have great defensive instincts does not mean they have great basketball vision on the offensive end. There are nuances.

i had a thought that should have occurred to me a long time ago.. but this big market bias, which is clearly happening here with the Holiday discourse, is merely a tool to get these fans to continue to invest emotionally in their teams (which equals ratings and then of course money). so with that perspective, i take great joy in thinking about young Celtics fans and their Dads looking at the screen thinking, "Yep, Jrue will never let us down! This is our time!"

[tydett]

Alright, Doris and Doc, we get it, ESPN has directed you to suck Porzingis' dick all night.

[Ayt]

Alright, Doris and Doc, we get it, ESPN has directed you to suck Porzingis' dick all night.

He's been fantastic. There is no reason for anyone to direct them to suck dick.

[Milbucks96]

Boston is going to be really good. They’re a better team than they were last year.

idk about that. remember how they started the season last year? they definitely regressed after the hot start, but i dont see how this group is better than last year's group unless Tatum makes another leap. That was always going to be their limiting factor.

last year it was Brogodon who was kind of their secret sauce in the regular season, working with all that space. this year it will be Porzingis. both are injury prone. Horford is a year older and they replaced Smart/Grant/Robert with Holiday and the hope that Pritchard, Hauser, and Walsh can step up.

if they prove to be a better team this year it will be because of improved chemistry, better coaching, and luck in the health department, but i dont see this roster as a significant upgrade.

They just have more talent to me. Banking on Kp to be healthy will probably be their downfall but just looking at their team, I think they’re even better than the one that went to the finals. Is that enough to win it all or beat the bucks, I don’t think so. But I think they have a better shot than they did before they made their trades.

[rilamann]

Knicks getting gunshy in the paint is annoying. Porzinger goes flying whenever you throw you body into him, which they are doing but then they act like he’s giannis or wemby.

No matter how good Boston looks vs the rest the league, I will continue to ask the question from now until May How in the hell do they plan on slowing Giannis down in a 7 game series?

Giannis is going to bully the **** out of KP in a 7 game series. I actually like KP and I think he's an underrated defensive player, but he's not the style of defensive player who is going to have much success against a guy like Giannis.

Your only chance against Giannis is to get ultra physical with him and wear him down. That's not KP's game defensively. KP's game defensively is his length and finesse and it's effective against guys like Julius Randle. KP's length won't really help him much against Giannis and his length isn't going to wear Giannis down.

Horford is the ideal defender against Giannis, tough, physical, fundamentally sound. Problem is he's like 70 now.

Boston will still be good, they're just not as scary of a match up for the Bucks anymore.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Let's go Knicks!

[jimmybones]

To me the biggest question mark about Boston is Brown as a number two dude, I just do not see it.

[tedbrogen]

It's hilarious hearing the commentators talk about Jrue.

It's very clear they didn't watch much (if any) Bucks games last year and just fired up Bbal Reference before the game. No shade on Jrue, I love the guy, but the takes about him since joining the Celts are nauseatingly saccharine.

Had the same thought

"playmaker"

"always makes the right play"

"never takes the wrong shot"

lol sure

I guess the right play was letting Lowry just take the ball out of your hands late in the fourth quarter and toss it to Butler for a dunk?

[Ayt]

It's hilarious hearing the commentators talk about Jrue.

It's very clear they didn't watch much (if any) Bucks games last year and just fired up Bbal Reference before the game. No shade on Jrue, I love the guy, but the takes about him since joining the Celts are nauseatingly saccharine.

Had the same thought
"playmaker"
"always makes the right play"
"never takes the wrong shot"
lol sure

I think part of it is how intelligent and well-spoken he is off the court. You listen to him and think "This guy gets it." As someone with average intelligence, my on-court intelligence is off-the-court bad. Just because someone is smart does not mean they have a great b-ball IQ. And just because they have great defensive instincts does not mean they have great basketball vision on the offensive end. There are nuances.

I think it is probably more that he has played some phenomenal basketball in crunch time. People tend to forget that he was absolute **** for 46 minutes when he plays obscene basketball in the final 2 minutes. That is often how things went with him.

[Ayt]

To me the biggest question mark about Boston is Brown as a number two dude, I just do not see it.

Their two big questions are health and Tatum and Brown as the "alphas."

[Ayt]

What was Brown bitching about on that? Give him a T on the replay for being a bitch.

That is a regular foul on Giannis.

[MikeIsGood]

"We gave Boston's player a T, so it's only right we dole one out to the opposition also. Hartenstein gets a T for standing up for himself."