Game thread, cumulative…

[Beethoven]

JJ, although cerebral and methodical and though we give tremendous kudos to him for the great season he has had this year, I think he owes a lot of this season's success (and hopefully future playoffs success) to his two senior assistant coaches who are heavyweights in their own right (Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan)
Just to remind everyone, here's what I copied pasted from nba.com:

"
McMillan, who led his teams to 11 postseason appearances, owns a 760-668 (.532) head coaching record and currently stands 18th all-time on the NBA’s career victories list. On the international stage, McMillan served as an assistant coach for the United States men’s national team, earning Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2008.


Brooks was named the 2009-10 NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the Thunder to 50 wins after the team won just 22 games the previous season. Overall, Brooks led his teams to eight playoff berths, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2012 and Western Conference Finals appearances in 2014 and 2011. He has four 50-win seasons to his credit, including a 60-22 mark with OKC during the 2012-13 season.
"

I love those 2 guys, Nate has always done well and Brooks was great in OKC but a bit of disappointment in Washington.
It kind of opened my eyes that coaches can reach that limitation impacting the team if the GM OR POBO is pretty bad in hiring hardworking competent staff esp assistant coaches, trainers, scouts etc.
Equally important is having strong work ethic from your core players and that is what happened to the Suns IMO.

Yeah I was shocked to hear we hired Nate and then equally shocked when Scott Brooks came onboard my eyes were

Yes I agree with you on competent but more importanty, hard-working, communicating, consistent and dependable staff.
Especially in office environments, if your staff and/or manager is not into communication or pays attention to details, things can run down really fast even if you have great minds there and rules set in place.

[LAKESHOW]

There are rumors. And just rumors. Max Kleiber sighting. Thats a Potential and Gigantic IF

[Beethoven]

There are rumors. And just rumors. Max Kleiber sighting. Thats a Potential and Gigantic IF

Yeah I heard that too. Im not too enthused though. He hasnt been playing for a half a year. The guy is going to take away a lot of better shots from others by clanking them himself. Also, how good is he laterally defensively.

Not sure he is going to be of any benefit to the team. I was perplexed to see he made it to the final playoffs roster.

[stan francisco]

They say Redick has a few aces up his sleeve besides going small, things he hasn’t shown in games yet. Someone speculated it’s a pnr situation with LBJ and Don.


If the offense doesn’t flow — which it will because it’ll consist of mostly fast breaks stemming from defense and rebounding — insert Luka or Reaves instead of Vando.

Yeah I heard on laker analyst somewhere that we should not play vando whenever Gobert is in.


JJ, although cerebral and methodical and though we give tremendous kudos to him for the great season he has had this year, I think he owes a lot of this season's success (and hopefully future playoffs success) to his two senior assistant coaches who are heavyweights in their own right (Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan)
Just to remind everyone, here's what I copied pasted from nba.com:

"
McMillan, who led his teams to 11 postseason appearances, owns a 760-668 (.532) head coaching record and currently stands 18th all-time on the NBA’s career victories list. On the international stage, McMillan served as an assistant coach for the United States men’s national team, earning Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2008.


Brooks was named the 2009-10 NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the Thunder to 50 wins after the team won just 22 games the previous season. Overall, Brooks led his teams to eight playoff berths, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2012 and Western Conference Finals appearances in 2014 and 2011. He has four 50-win seasons to his credit, including a 60-22 mark with OKC during the 2012-13 season.
"

I’d be okay with either as our head coach. It’s a total and complete privilege to have them as assistants on our staff. Talk about over qualified.

[UglyBugBall]

There are rumors. And just rumors. Max Kleiber sighting. Thats a Potential and Gigantic IF

Yeah I heard that too. Im not too enthused though. He hasnt been playing for a half a year. The guy is going to take away a lot of better shots from others by clanking them himself. Also, how good is he laterally defensively.

Not sure he is going to be of any benefit to the team. I was perplexed to see he made it to the final playoffs roster.

As someone that was a Mavs from when Luka was drafted to when he was traded, I LOVE Kleber. He's going to Clank some shots, and more annoyingly he'll be scared to shoot many of them. But for some reason defenses still guarded him as a shooter as recently as his last few games as a Mavs. He's also an amazing defender. He would be the best Lakers defender, and more impactful than DFS or Vando because of his size. He can defend bigs and guards, and is still able to keep up with most players. He's best when playing the 4 and playing help defender, but he can play some spot minutes at 5, certainly more effectively than Rui on the defensive end.

The question will be his offense. Will he dare to shoot? If he will take at least a few open shots a game I would give him 15 min a game. When healthy he's bonkers defensively, and when less than 100 percent (which is mostly now) he's still a very good, smart switchable defender. Unfortunately he does get the yips and refuses to shoot, which is a problem, but at least teams still guard him high enough to create space for others.

I'd like to see him get minutes against MIN if he's available so we can see what we have going into the OKC series. He is a big enough defensive difference maker that I think he could meaningfully improve our chances in every series.

[Beethoven]

There are rumors. And just rumors. Max Kleiber sighting. Thats a Potential and Gigantic IF

Yeah I heard that too. Im not too enthused though. He hasnt been playing for a half a year. The guy is going to take away a lot of better shots from others by clanking them himself. Also, how good is he laterally defensively.

Not sure he is going to be of any benefit to the team. I was perplexed to see he made it to the final playoffs roster.

As someone that was a Mavs from when Luka was drafted to when he was traded, I LOVE Kleber. He's going to Clank some shots, and more annoyingly he'll be scared to shoot many of them. But for some reason defenses still guarded him as a shooter as recently as his last few games as a Mavs. He's also an amazing defender. He would be the best Lakers defender, and more impactful than DFS or Vando because of his size. He can defend bigs and guards, and is still able to keep up with most players. He's best when playing the 4 and playing help defender, but he can play some spot minutes at 5, certainly more effectively than Rui on the defensive end.

The question will be his offense. Will he dare to shoot? If he will take at least a few open shots a game I would give him 15 min a game. When healthy he's bonkers defensively, and when less than 100 percent (which is mostly now) he's still a very good, smart switchable defender. Unfortunately he does get the yips and refuses to shoot, which is a problem, but at least teams still guard him high enough to create space for others.

I'd like to see him get minutes against MIN if he's available so we can see what we have going into the OKC series. He is a big enough defensive difference maker that I think he could meaningfully improve our chances in every series.

hmmm.. I'm very intrigued now.

I figured he was just one of those typical soft-bodied Euro bigs who shoot 3s and play no defense.

[stan francisco]

There are rumors. And just rumors. Max Kleiber sighting. Thats a Potential and Gigantic IF

Yeah I heard that too. Im not too enthused though. He hasnt been playing for a half a year. The guy is going to take away a lot of better shots from others by clanking them himself. Also, how good is he laterally defensively.

Not sure he is going to be of any benefit to the team. I was perplexed to see he made it to the final playoffs roster.

As someone that was a Mavs from when Luka was drafted to when he was traded, I LOVE Kleber. He's going to Clank some shots, and more annoyingly he'll be scared to shoot many of them. But for some reason defenses still guarded him as a shooter as recently as his last few games as a Mavs. He's also an amazing defender. He would be the best Lakers defender, and more impactful than DFS or Vando because of his size. He can defend bigs and guards, and is still able to keep up with most players. He's best when playing the 4 and playing help defender, but he can play some spot minutes at 5, certainly more effectively than Rui on the defensive end.

The question will be his offense. Will he dare to shoot? If he will take at least a few open shots a game I would give him 15 min a game. When healthy he's bonkers defensively, and when less than 100 percent (which is mostly now) he's still a very good, smart switchable defender. Unfortunately he does get the yips and refuses to shoot, which is a problem, but at least teams still guard him high enough to create space for others.

I'd like to see him get minutes against MIN if he's available so we can see what we have going into the OKC series. He is a big enough defensive difference maker that I think he could meaningfully improve our chances in every series.

Thanks for this. I knew he could shoot but you’re getting me excited here with all the defense talk. Really? That would be incredible to have those defensive tools available next to Hayes.

[stan francisco]

WC Playoffs, round one:

Lakers vs Timberwolves

ABC 8:30PM EDT


Here we go!

I think this is a win. Hayes needs to watch out for Nas Reid tonight when they go small. Cut off their guards, switch it up with lots of full court pressure. The usual, move without the ball, hound them on defense.

‘The aggressor always wins’ is true for coaches too. Make them adjust, JJ. Force their hand, deal lots of blows. Be the tactical aggressor. Make them reactive by being ridiculously proactive.

The wolves with AntMan at the helm is NOT sn easy opponent. Gotta bring all the umpf we have to this series.

Defense!

[UglyBugBall]

Yeah I heard that too. Im not too enthused though. He hasnt been playing for a half a year. The guy is going to take away a lot of better shots from others by clanking them himself. Also, how good is he laterally defensively.

Not sure he is going to be of any benefit to the team. I was perplexed to see he made it to the final playoffs roster.

As someone that was a Mavs from when Luka was drafted to when he was traded, I LOVE Kleber. He's going to Clank some shots, and more annoyingly he'll be scared to shoot many of them. But for some reason defenses still guarded him as a shooter as recently as his last few games as a Mavs. He's also an amazing defender. He would be the best Lakers defender, and more impactful than DFS or Vando because of his size. He can defend bigs and guards, and is still able to keep up with most players. He's best when playing the 4 and playing help defender, but he can play some spot minutes at 5, certainly more effectively than Rui on the defensive end.

The question will be his offense. Will he dare to shoot? If he will take at least a few open shots a game I would give him 15 min a game. When healthy he's bonkers defensively, and when less than 100 percent (which is mostly now) he's still a very good, smart switchable defender. Unfortunately he does get the yips and refuses to shoot, which is a problem, but at least teams still guard him high enough to create space for others.

I'd like to see him get minutes against MIN if he's available so we can see what we have going into the OKC series. He is a big enough defensive difference maker that I think he could meaningfully improve our chances in every series.

Thanks for this. I knew he could shoot but you’re getting me excited here with all the defense talk. Really? That would be incredible to have those defensive tools available next to Hayes.

He can shoot in theory, but he's been pretty bad for the past year, going all the way back to the second half of last season. And he's been historically awful from range every time he returns from injury, and passes over open shots. That can be really frustrating and it's going to play a big role as to whether he gets minutes coming out of injury again. Defensively, he's lost a step, but he's still very good, and can completely stuff guys that think they can get a switch and drive on him. He can totally suffocate most players 2-5, with 3-4 being his ideal matchup. I think he'd be a great fit on this team, but we'll have to see how he's doing coming off of yet another injury. Unfortunately he's really been made of glass the past few years.

[Beethoven]

LETZ DOO DIS SHIZZLE
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Beethoven]

[Beethoven]

Oh. And Happy Easter.

Let us be the only team and fans who can acknowledge this, this weekend.

[Danny Darko]

Luka is pissing me off... just caught the last few min and he's played like garbage

[stan francisco]

It took until 2:37 left of the 3rd quarter until we played a good defensive possession.

[stan francisco]

Luka is pissing me off... just caught the last few min and he's played like garbage

He’s resurrecting his game right now.

[stan francisco]

I guess we needed to give away a wake-up freebie game at home in order to turn it on in game two instead…?

Lame to get out hustled when it’s do or die.

Were they hung over or wtf?

[Beethoven]

[LukaMagic55]

Luka is pissing me off... just caught the last few min and he's played like garbage

Wait…are you trolling? Luka is literally the only one who showed up. He came out, punched the Wolves in the mouth, and built up a nice first quarter lead which LeBron/AR quickly squandered. LeBron and AR were both pure, unmitigated TRASH. They owe Luka their paycheck tonight.

[MAMBAEMD]

I was at this game . So frustrating. We were totally flat on offense .l and defense.
No movement of the ball.
LBJ and AR just didn’t have it .
We looked terrible on defense too. The rotations sucked.

No excuses. Have to be ready for the playoffs .

Got to flush this one down the toilet and get ready for must game 2.

[LAKESHOW]

This is a situation. LeBron is NOTORIOUS for packing it in Game 1. Seeing what the other team does. Then adjust through out. He's always done that. That has been his MO. What he's been known for. Luka on other hand, is start fast and get on top of em quick. 2 different approaches, which creates a situation.