ATL - Bane to Orlando for 4 FRP+

[Profound23]

1-15 from non Jokic nuggets in the 4th.

Wow.

Problem is if they go 12/15 then Joker gets all of the credit but when they go 1/15 the blame is on him. Let's be honest dude is a great passer, but if you really watch the game compared to his stats they love to credit him with an assist any time his teammates make a shot. Used to do the same thing for Lebron. Kind of pathetic.

[Profound23]

I have been seeing the ATL 2015 vs Cleveland 2025 comparisons and I must say it is spot on. Garland-Teague, Horford-Mobley, and of course Atkinson-Bud.

[RogerMurdock]

I've only watched the fourth quarter. While Jokic is obviously a great offensive player, he's terrible on defense. OKC is abusing him.

Come on man. Even in a losing effort this was a legendary carry job.

I specifically watched him every play because I don't watch non-Bucks enough. He was targeted on defense. Put forth no effort on that end. Luka gets tons of **** for being a turnstile. If what I saw, albeit a very limited sample, was at all accurate, Jokic should get just as much ****.

[emunney]

I've only watched the fourth quarter. While Jokic is obviously a great offensive player, he's terrible on defense. OKC is abusing him.

But he's gotten better! Look at his steals! /s

Have you considered that he sometimes kicks the ball

[BUCKnation]

Denver got killed by their slow start in the 4th in last 2 games. Jokic was starting to grift heavily when things were really a struggle before hitting a couple shots himself last night.

For all the unethical talk surrounding SGA this season, Jokic has been a joke in that regard these playoffs.

[jschligs]

Denver blowing this series would remind me of when we lost to the Heat. Every 4th quarter we'd be up by about 10 and I just sat there waiting for us to blow it (and of course, took Miami Heat ML liveline every time). Completely changed the series and we could've been up 3-2 or tied 3-3 but instead we got bounced in 5.

[engelmartin]

Denver really needs a real shooting guard. Braun gets so many open threes and bricks the majority of them. From my count he missed at least five without a defender near him yesterday.

[buckboy]

I highly recommend Lowe's podcast about his night at the lottery drawing.

Interesting insider stuff that I've never heard before about the process, the reactions, etc

[emunney]

Denver really needs a real shooting guard. Braun gets so many open threes and bricks the majority of them. From my count he missed at least five without a defender near him yesterday.

This has been so interesting to me. He was a 40% 3pt shooter in the regular season on very selective shooting. Teams see that he's essentially a non-shooter relative to the volume guys like Porter and Murray and decide to deprioritize him in their coverages in the playoffs... so he gets more of the same kind of shots he was taking and making at a fairly high rate. Which is on its face kind of a weird decision: these are shots he's shown he can make. But he can't make them now!

[BUCKnation]

Denver really needs a real shooting guard. Braun gets so many open threes and bricks the majority of them. From my count he missed at least five without a defender near him yesterday.

This has been so interesting to me. He was a 40% 3pt shooter in the regular season on very selective shooting. Teams see that he's essentially a non-shooter relative to the volume guys like Porter and Murray and decide to deprioritize him in their coverages in the playoffs... so he gets more of the same kind of shots he was taking and making at a fairly high rate. Which is on its face kind of a weird decision: these are shots he's shown he can make. But he can't make them now!

Some are playoff risers (Nembhard 30% to 50% from 3) and some are playoff fallers (Braun 40% to 28%).

[Profound23]

I highly recommend Lowe's podcast about his night at the lottery drawing.

Interesting insider stuff that I've never heard before about the process, the reactions, etc

I appreciate Simmons for saying the Celtics loss before Tatum's injury. Seems like this postseason humbled him a little bit. Spent all season talking about how the Bucks were doomed and Celtics had a bright future. Now he sees they are both in trouble.

[Willie Colon]

I've only watched the fourth quarter. While Jokic is obviously a great offensive player, he's terrible on defense. OKC is abusing him.

Come on man. Even in a losing effort this was a legendary carry job.

I specifically watched him every play because I don't watch non-Bucks enough. He was targeted on defense. Put forth no effort on that end. Luka gets tons of **** for being a turnstile. If what I saw, albeit a very limited sample, was at all accurate, Jokic should get just as much ****.

If that's truly your takeaway then there's no point in even having a conversation. You're just looking for reasons to dismiss his performance. Much like convos regarding Giannis on the general board.

[machu46]

I highly recommend Lowe's podcast about his night at the lottery drawing.

Interesting insider stuff that I've never heard before about the process, the reactions, etc

I appreciate Simmons for saying the Celtics loss before Tatum's injury. Seems like this postseason humbled him a little bit. Spent all season talking about how the Bucks were doomed and Celtics had a bright future. Now he sees they are both in trouble.

I think part of this is also that Simmons and Russilo have been harping on certain issues with the Celtics for years now and basically all of those issues have reared their ugly heads in this series. So I think part of is the realization after like 5 years of this that those issues probably are just never going away with this core.

[machu46]

Denver really needs a real shooting guard. Braun gets so many open threes and bricks the majority of them. From my count he missed at least five without a defender near him yesterday.

This has been so interesting to me. He was a 40% 3pt shooter in the regular season on very selective shooting. Teams see that he's essentially a non-shooter relative to the volume guys like Porter and Murray and decide to deprioritize him in their coverages in the playoffs... so he gets more of the same kind of shots he was taking and making at a fairly high rate. Which is on its face kind of a weird decision: these are shots he's shown he can make. But he can't make them now!

Ordinarily I'd assume this is at least in part just small sample sizes; like he's two good shooting nights away from shooting at a pretty good % for the playoffs this year. BUT kinda hard to ignore the trend:

22-23: 35.4% in the regular season to 20.0% in the playoffs
23-24: 38.4% in the regular season to 22.2%
24-25: 39.7% in the regular season to 28.6%

Three straight years of just totally falling off a cliff in the playoffs.

I don't know really what to say lol; he's a player I believed in a lot in the draft and he's mostly been good so far in his career/has certainly outplayed his draft position but that is a very troubling trend.

[Ron Swanson]

He was obviously great last night which is gonna lift his overall efficiency/box numbers, but Jokic has had an aggressively mediocre playoff run for a player people are gonna still try and claim is the "undisputed best in the world" type dude. This was supposed to be the series where at least his numbers would look great because OKC didn't have the beef to contain his interior scoring, but his scoring (55% TS) and turnover efficiency (25 TO's to only 26 assists) have been pretty dreadful. I'm sure we'll get some dumb "kicked balls" stat and small on/off sample that people will try and spin as him being an underrated defender still, but if he goes out with a whimper again in a 2nd consecutive Game 6 stinker, then maybe he'll finally start copping some blame.

[Willie Colon]

He was obviously great last night which is gonna lift his overall efficiency/box numbers, but Jokic has had an aggressively mediocre playoff run for a player people are gonna still try and claim is the "undisputed best in the world" type dude. This was supposed to be the series where at least his numbers would look great because OKC didn't have the beef to contain his interior scoring, but his scoring (55% TS) and turnover efficiency (25 TO's to only 26 assists) have been pretty dreadful. I'm sure we'll get some dumb "kicked balls" stat and small on/off sample that people will try and spin as him being an underrated defender still, but if he goes out with a whimper again in a 2nd consecutive Game 6 stinker, then maybe he'll finally start copping some blame.

According to who? He was expected to be ultra efficient against a historically great defense; the best and deepest team in the league? Don't get me wrong, he's had some awful games - he's said so himself, but to get nitpicky after a performance like that is ridiculous. This was like game 1 of the Pacers - Bucks series but even worse. Jokic was damn near heroic. His teammates went 1/15 in the 4th. Even then they might've still won had Lu Dort not had one of luckiest shooting nights of his career.

[RogerMurdock]

Come on man. Even in a losing effort this was a legendary carry job.

I specifically watched him every play because I don't watch non-Bucks enough. He was targeted on defense. Put forth no effort on that end. Luka gets tons of **** for being a turnstile. If what I saw, albeit a very limited sample, was at all accurate, Jokic should get just as much ****.

If that's truly your takeaway then there's no point in even having a conversation. You're just looking for reasons to dismiss his performance. Much like convos regarding Giannis on the general board.

I didn't dismiss his performance on offense. Just said he sucked at defense.

[rilamann]

If Doc was coaching the Nuggets, he would say that Russell Westbrook air balled those open 3's because he didn't get enough touches and couldn't get into a good rhythm.

Doc would come out next game and force touches for Westbrook.

Doc would start Westbrook and play him 46 minutes because Westbrook won MVP in 2017 and Doc's game-plan would be to set an offensive tone with Westbrook taking the first 5 shots.

Because Westbrook won't shoot air balls on wide open shots if he gets more shots.

The logic of Doc

[rilamann]

1-15 from non Jokic nuggets in the 4th.

Wow.

He should seek a trade.

(Props to the Inside the NBA crew to unanimously recommend Giannis to stay).

I was surprised that they all agreed that Giannis should stay.

They get props from me as well.

[Matches Malone]

Lot of Knick fans in the Garden tonight.