Around the League - Beasley Boogies to Detroit

[Fotis St]

Luka has to find out himself that his body fat in the long postseason prevents him from doing more with his talent.

[VooDoo7]

[marson]

Coming in peace and I know we both hate the Celtics, but the City of Boston should thank the Bucks FO and build a statue of Joe Horst and Giannis for letting go of Jrue. The guy is the real deal and the reason this Boston team success.

[Fotis St]

Coming in peace and I know we both hate the Celtics, but the City of Boston should thank the Bucks FO and build a statue of Joe Horst and Giannis for letting go of Jrue. The guy is the real deal and the reason this Boston team success.

He is the 5th option in offense on Boston, so he is more focused on D. We wanted him to be the 2nd or 3rd scorer and we decided he is not good enough in that role after BOSTON out of all teams left him completely wide open at the 3pt line forming a wall for Giannis. He went 36.4FG% & 30.0 3p% against Boston which is why we lst the series. So let's be real ... Boston wins the Ring cause everybody got hurt, and you are walking to a Championship with zero pressure. If you kept Marcus Smart instead of getting Jrue, you are still winning it all. Jrue is a bit better than Marcus BUT the real gem is getting Porzingis cheap. So congrats for the 2-0.

[JimmyTheKid]

Have to admit, Jrue continuing to make clutch play after clutch play in the biggest moments, on the biggest stage, for the hated Celtics, is getting really tough for me to stomach. Will always root for him, but this is just bruuuuutal.

[Gant]

Here's an interesting article about how Jrue Holiday became so productive last night, with a revealing Jrue shot chart in the piece:

Joe Mazzulla chess move propels Celtics to Game 2 win vs. Mavs | Robb

So how exactly are Joe Mazzulla and his staff game planning to have the Celtics pick apart a Mavericks defense on the interior to a degree that they were able to withstand a miserable 3-point shooting night (25 percent in Game 2)? It all comes down to one interesting tweak.

Normally, a non-shooting center plays by the dunker spot on the block (just outside the paint). With Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis both serving as stretch shooters, Boston has had the ability to play a five-out offense all year long to maximize spacing and keep rim protectors out of the paint.

Mazzulla has thrown a bit of a curveball in this series though offensively by electing to routinely place a guard, usually Jrue Holiday, in the traditional dunker spot. His presence has provided a reliable passing option for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on drives to the rim when the Mavericks have collapsed. However, the bigger plus from this change has been the fact it has put a subpar defender (usually Kyrie Irving) as the last line of defense for Dallas in the paint. Tatum and Brown have been able to blow by their individual defenders so much, they require help at the rim. The problem is the likes of Irving and PJ Washington don’t do much to slow Boston’s stars unless they are double teaming them.

With Gafford and Lively occupied on the perimeter or stuck making rotations after drive-and-kicks, easy dump off passes were awaiting Tatum (12 assists) and Brown (7 assists) all night at the rim, as Holiday (9-of-10 from 2-point range) feasted in the paint during his team-high 26 points.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/06/joe-mazzulla-chess-move-propels-celtics-to-game-2-win-vs-mavs-robb.html

[Turk Nowitzki]

The Celtics should be commended for putting together an awesome team and good for Jrue for getting in on that. It wasn't his choice to be traded and he's fit into his new situation on a new team seamlessly. Nothing but happy for him individually. However it's actually driving me insane how people can't separate what is happening now with his role on Celtics with what his role was/would've been on this Bucks team and pretending like it's in the same galaxy. The way it's being discussed is either to intentionally push narratives or because they are incapable of evaluating something using more than one single brain cell to think about context.

[Ron Swanson]

Can't believe we're still doing this crap with Jrue. Maybe he should have made all these "clutch plays" and shot this efficiently in literally any playoff series with us since the title (or during FTM), and he wouldn't have been shipped out of town. Dude didn't even have to face his Daddy (Jimmy) in the 1st round and still put up an absolute stinker stat line (7/4/4 on 46% TS) vs. Miami for the second straight postseason.

[Bernman]

Coming in peace and I know we both hate the Celtics, but the City of Boston should thank the Bucks FO and build a statue of Joe Horst and Giannis for letting go of Jrue. The guy is the real deal and the reason this Boston team success.

You should know just as much as anyone he wasn't the real deal for the Bucks. Last year Jrue made Butler look like Michael Jordan, while not being able to make a shot, or protect the basketball.

The mistake the Bucks made was to not steer Jrue to the way and away from Boston by dealing him to a team who actually wanted him. That was the short-sighted part.

Still, it's tough to say if Jrue being an asset for them makes a difference in the playoffs given their road. They had the red carpet rolled out for them to the finals where they're playing a team they owned in the net rating in the regular season. Conversely, we're one of the teams who owned them. So if we stayed healthy, I think the narrative is the opposite. Maybe we get them next yr.

[Turk Nowitzki]

Coming in peace and I know we both hate the Celtics, but the City of Boston should thank the Bucks FO and build a statue of Joe Horst and Giannis for letting go of Jrue. The guy is the real deal and the reason this Boston team success.

Example of not using more than one brain cell when discussing this.

[Turk Nowitzki]

This might be half a brain cell. Also why are they so fixated on us? Giannis staying and the Bucks getting one title really hurt them that badly that three years later in the midst of a Finals series that has absolutely nothing to do with the Bucks we're still on their minds?

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[jschligs]

Getting real sick of the narrative surrounding Jrue. His role is entirely different in Boston. If we could have him as a 4th or 5th option he’d be crushing it here. But with injuries he was our 2nd and he couldn’t do it.

It was obvious to everyone he wasn’t a true PG and would’ve been better at the 2. The real crime is Portland trading him for nothing but scraps to Boston. Couple that with Boston getting KP and TWO FIRST ROUND PICKS in a trade and it makes it obvious that people gave them a shot at the title for nothing.

That said, Bucks were down 0-2 to the Suns and everyone thought it was over. If Kyrie gets his head out of his ass they can easily win the series.

[tydett]

Getting real sick of the narrative surrounding Jrue. His role is entirely different in Boston. If we could have him as a 4th or 5th option he’d be crushing it here. But with injuries he was our 2nd and he couldn’t do it.

It was obvious to everyone he wasn’t a true PG and would’ve been better at the 2. The real crime is Portland trading him for nothing but scraps to Boston. Couple that with Boston getting KP and TWO FIRST ROUND PICKS in a trade and it makes it obvious that people gave them a shot at the title for nothing.

That said, Bucks were down 0-2 to the Suns and everyone thought it was over. If Kyrie gets his head out of his ass they can easily win the series.

Porzingis trade is the truly mind-boggling one. Giving up Smart is something... but he went to Memphis. Washington literally got Tyus Jones and a 2nd rounder for Zinger. And Boston got the two best picks in the deal? Somehow even more of a heist than the Kevin Garnett gift from Minny all those years ago.

And you're right. Being able to trade the perpetually broken Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon for Ironman Jrue is insane.

[ReasonablySober]

Watch on YouTube

I love Secret Base.

[JimmyTheKid]

Eh, you can still agree with essentially trading Jrue for Dame, and be sickened watching Jrue, different role and all, make game altering plays for the Celtics. That doesn't change anything about how I felt, or still feel, about the deal. The "narrative" from a tiny minority only exists because their every Bucks take is a critical one.

[JayMKE]

It is what it is, different role or not it can’t be denied that acquiring Jrue was a major coup for Boston whereas the jury is still out on the Dame deal. The results on the court will speak for itself when its all said and over with.

[paulpressey25]

While 100% accurate that Jrue's role with Boston is different. There are two other factors that are part of the discussion of whether the trade the Bucks made was good/neutral/bad.

First, it wasn't just "Jrue for Dame" even up. We gave up a hell of a lot more in assets. Saying we still won the deal because "Dame is better than Jrue" isn't an accurate analysis.

Second, have been on this board many years as we've learned to debate "PPGZ" guys versus two-way guys who help you win. There are elements of a 2006 Michael Redd versus prime Iggy debate here.

(And yes, I understand Giannis needed the Dame trade to sign his extension. But that means Giannis needs to take some heat here on this stuff)

[ReasonablySober]

And yes, I understand Giannis needed the Dame trade to sign his extension.

This is really the beginning and end of the discussion right here.

[GoldenAntlers]

Summer League starts in 32 days. I'm more interested in that than this series.

I think I've watched at most a total of 5 minutes of game time in these first two games.

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[GoldenAntlers]

Sigh

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Gonna be a rough day for Horst if Jrue wins Finals MVP.

For sure, but at the same time we didn't lose because we had Dame, we lost because we didn't have Giannis (Again).

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