PG Nets - Comeback Falls Short

[BigO]

Clearly the most disappointing game of the season, because the Big 3 played and lost at home to a bad team.

No excuses and not really a clear explanation. That's why it's so bad. I can't blame the coaches, but Dame was very bad and KM was not much better.

[JonHeist]

the dame hate is lame as ****

25/4/8 on 61% TS this season

good luck finding an upgrade

[Brewhoopfan]

I have said it a bunch of times and I will continue to say it as long as he is a Buck.

I have no clue how anyone with even a decent understanding of basketball can actually enjoy watching Lillard play.

Damn is 110% about looking good individually and collecting a pay check. He's the classic rather look good and lose guy if there ever was one.

I get how casuals like him, he hits really cool 3's from the logo sometimes and wins the 3pt shootout. Casuals love that ****.

But he's not a winner, never has been.

This is harsh, but I guess until proven otherwise, it's hard to argue against the overall theme of this point. By all accounts, Dame has worked his butt off to be one of the best scorers in league history. I don't really subscribe to the "rather look good and lose" theory. I just think his skillset isn't championship caliber when a team needs to put the ball in his hands most of the game to maximize his impact. His defense and size are issues and always will be. IMO, he's a 6' James Harden.

[DingleJerry]

I have said it a bunch of times and I will continue to say it as long as he is a Buck.

I have no clue how anyone with even a decent understanding of basketball can actually enjoy watching Lillard play.

Damn is 110% about looking good individually and collecting a pay check. He's the classic rather look good and lose guy if there ever was one.

I get how casuals like him, he hits really cool 3's from the logo sometimes and wins the 3pt shootout. Casuals love that ****.

But he's not a winner, never has been.

This is harsh, but I guess until proven otherwise, it's hard to argue against the overall theme of this point. By all accounts, Dame has worked his butt off to be one of the best scorers in league history. I don't really subscribe to the "rather look good and lose" theory. I just think his skillset isn't championship caliber when a team needs to put the ball in his hands most of the game to maximize his impact. His defense and size are issues and always will be. IMO, he's a 6' James Harden.

And of course it ignores that he's won basically his whole career before Por tanked the last year or so and when he was hurt. He won with blah rosters and won rounds in the playoffs with blah rosters, including making a WCF. That said, Dame now is much different than Dame 5 years ago.

Phrased a bit differently the overall point isn't far off and reply above is a better summary, he's very good and was very good so enough to win but not good enough to win the title as the lead guy with the ball in his hands so much, not at all unlike the Harden comp. But not winning the title doesn't mean you suck or that you're not a winning player as the op said. Plus of course flip him in his prime onto other loaded teams for the shoot first poor D PGs and there's likely several scenarios where he wins titles. In addition, if you watched a bunch of Por games in his career, he was not a Harden type ball suck. He's always been a team player with great ball movement around him. What we've seen here is a whole different thing with how bad the coaching has been.

[Dick Tate]

I have said it a bunch of times and I will continue to say it as long as he is a Buck.

I have no clue how anyone with even a decent understanding of basketball can actually enjoy watching Lillard play.

Damn is 110% about looking good individually and collecting a pay check. He's the classic rather look good and lose guy if there ever was one.

I get how casuals like him, he hits really cool 3's from the logo sometimes and wins the 3pt shootout. Casuals love that ****.

But he's not a winner, never has been.

Condescending crap from the worst poster on the board ain't really going to change my opinion.

[raferfenix]

“Let’s not overcomplicate the game,” [Giannis] said. “We did not play well. They’ve played harder than us in three out of the four games. We did not play smart, and we just got to go back, watch the film and be better. That’s pretty much it.”

Thursday was the second-straight game in which Antetokounmpo felt as if his team was not locked in to start the game, and that led to an early deficit that continued to grow.

“When you go down 20, that’s when the clock starts for us,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s when we start to compete. We can’t do that. We cannot put ourselves in the hole and then we just gotta dig out of the hole. It takes too much out of everybody.

“We’ve done it twice now. We did it against Indiana. We did it in this game. Just gotta be more locked in, more focused. I gotta take care of the ball. We gotta all take care of the ball, make smart decisions offensively, defensively, help one another, be in a tandem as a team. We just gotta be better. Gotta be better, for sure.”

The Bucks’ lackluster effort and poor focus to start was the continuation of a worrying trend.

Repeatedly this season, Milwaukee has shown an inability to bring the requisite mental and physical level needed to win games on a nightly basis, and the two most recent examples happened against Brooklyn.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6035364/2025/01/03/giannis-bucks-nets-recap/

[-Jragon-]

If only DL could get the ball back 3x in the same possession like the great DD does... too many black holes on this team maybe

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/K8qR9SbpCUtNwmy5/?mibextid=D5vuiz

[ShootingtheJ]

If only DL could get the ball back 3x in the same possession like the great DD does... too many black holes on this team maybe

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/K8qR9SbpCUtNwmy5/?mibextid=D5vuiz

Think of how many more shots Dame could miss. They'd definitely 1 too many black holes on the team, and his name is Damian Lillard.

[ShootingtheJ]

the dame hate is lame as ****

25/4/8 on 61% TS this season

good luck finding an upgrade

Where else could we find a terrible defender who's mere presence makes the team 6 points worse while making $48.7 million?

[-Jragon-]

Dame isn't Bev on D but his quick feet make it tough to have a clean drive or shot on him -- when he chooses.. if he was so bad we probably don't make up a 20 point deficit in 6 min with him on floor --- hyperbole saying he terrible on D... it's probably safer to say that Dame fades in and out of focusing on the defensive end.. when he's focused on it his athleticism makes him rather disruptive, which often is enough to make people pass off or miss

[ShootingtheJ]

Khris leaves the game in the 3rd and we're down 20, we get it to within 10. In the 4th, KM comes back in -- down 10 -- and blink then we're down 20 again. KM leaves and we go on a run and almost win. When are the KM crew going to see there is more to basketball than what KM provides and that young, fast teams are a terrible matchup for him. He's very expendable, at this point.

The rest of us a actually watched the game. Dame went 6-20 while playing pathetic defense and turning the ball over. Brook was exposed too. Khris just spent too much time on the court with them.

We see that young, fast teams are too much for Dame. He can't even get the ball up the court against them. He got worked by D'Angelo Russel. He's not worth even half his contract.

The only problem with your theory here is that, again, in the 4th quarter KM comes in and the Nets lead expands from 10 to 20, right? KM left with 6 min, and we made up those 20 points WITH Dame on the floor scoring around half of those points. While he, indeed, missed shots, he also was disruptive all over the floor, demanded a lot of attention, made a couple big shots and drew a couple big fouls. Plus, Dame being doubled almost every time he got the ball led to a lot of space for other guys to get their shots off. Dame is having a rough time shooting, but still is an animal at getting fouls, making the FTs and making big shots.. he still is Him.

KM being in the game proved to be a tank job that spotted the Nets too many points to overcome. Our whole style of play looks different with KM; maybe it's more organized as they say but we also look like an old man team with him in (and BP). His guy, in the 4th, blew by him for dunks and layups.. KMs lack of speed/athleticism causes zero disruption, just a traffic cone/chair to go around. He was so bad that EVEN MB looked like a competent player in comparison -- just by moving around and being a disrupter. That's what GA and Dame need around them -- not traffic cones/chairs. Dame and GA thrive on a bit of chaos and need dudes that fly around and get loose balls/turnovers/etc to get rolling. Trading KM and BP for disruptive players (that are also competent) makes us instantly better as they would likely be better than MB and PC (who almost closed that game as a win) which is a low bar.

How come you don't ever talk about how slow Dame is? He constantly gets blown by defensively. Must be slow. He constantly struggles to get the ball up the court against pressure. Must be slow. In this game he repeatedly had rebounds bounce in his area that he wasn't fast enough to get to, and have up offensive rebounds. Must be slow.

Yes, I know he's not slow. This happens because he lazy as can be and doesn’t give rats ass about winning. Never did.

Dame is a poison that needs to be eradicated from this team.

[ShootingtheJ]

Dame isn't Bev on D but his quick feet make it tough to have a clean drive or shot on him -- when he chooses.. if he was so bad we probably don't make up a 20 point deficit in 6 min with him on floor --- hyperbole saying he terrible on D... it's probably safer to say that Dame fades in and out of focusing on the defensive end.. when he's focused on it his athleticism makes him rather disruptive, which often is enough to make people pass off or miss

The team is 10 points/100 better defensively when Dame sits, and that number keeps growing. He's absolutely nonexistent defensively.

[Baddy Chuck]

Dame isn't Bev on D but his quick feet make it tough to have a clean drive or shot on him -- when he chooses.. if he was so bad we probably don't make up a 20 point deficit in 6 min with him on floor --- hyperbole saying he terrible on D... it's probably safer to say that Dame fades in and out of focusing on the defensive end.. when he's focused on it his athleticism makes him rather disruptive, which often is enough to make people pass off or miss

The team is 10 points/100 better defensively when Dame sits, and that number keeps growing. He's absolutely nonexistent defensively.

The teams defense with Giannis is also exactly the same whether Dame sits or not so maybe there's some other issues and not just Dame. Unless the key is not playing either of them.

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[Bernman]

The teams defense with Giannis is also exactly the same whether Dame sits or not so maybe there's some other issues and not just Dame. Unless the key is not playing either of them.

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Giannis is 3.4 pts per 100 pace adjusted better defensively. That's lagging from others, like the young wings, so they're a swing factor, but Dame is a weight preventing them from taking off on that end. Not getting back on d is an obvious way.

[Baddy Chuck]

The teams defense with Giannis is also exactly the same whether Dame sits or not so maybe there's some other issues and not just Dame. Unless the key is not playing either of them.

Sent from my SM-S926U using RealGM mobile app

Giannis is 3.4 pts per 100 pace adjusted better defensively. That's lagging from others, like the young wings, so they're a swing factor, but Dame is a weight preventing them from taking off on that end. Not getting back on d is an obvious way.

My point is Giannis and Dame on court is 114 defensive rating. Giannis on Dame off is 114 defensive rating. So our lineups with unquestionably our best player on both ends of the court don't get any worse defensively with Dame next to him. This was also true last season where we were even better defensively with Dame on the court with or without Giannis then Giannis on without him. This season our lineups with Dame on and Giannis sitting are killing us and I don't suppose that's because from this year to last Dame is getting back on D much less.

[BUCKnation]

Not that it would have helped but ofc the sixers get neither cam tonight