Official NBA Playoffs Thread

willbcocks · Post #241 » by **willbcocks** » Mon May 14, 2012 12:27 am

The grizzlies need a point guard in the worst way. No one could bring up the ball or initiate the offense--the two most basic tasks required of a pg. I know Chris Paul has great hands, but he has Clippers backing him up. This was not the championship Pistons defense

Some of this must fall on the coach, but Mike Conley is not adequate.

closg00 · Post #242 » by **closg00** » Mon May 14, 2012 2:25 pm

The Pacers are complaining about the 38-28 FT discrepancy, they were not surprised by numbers.

Post #243 » by **Ruzious** » Mon May 14, 2012 2:41 pm

willbcocks wrote:The grizzlies need a point guard in the worst way. No one could bring up the ball or initiate the offense--the two most basic tasks required of a pg. I know Chris Paul has great hands, but he has Clippers backing him up. This was not the championship Pistons defense

Some of this must fall on the coach, but Mike Conley is not adequate.

I disagree with that. Mike Conley is very solid in every aspect of the game at the PG position. Memphis just doesn't have a star quality go-to guy on the perimeter - Gay is just solid and Mayo is very undependable - while Allen is a great defender but lacking offensively. Frankly, Gay and Gasol were the only Memphis players that showed up in the last game. Chris Paul is a legit great player.

FAH1223 · Post #244 » by **FAH1223** » Mon May 14, 2012 5:25 pm

Bosh out indefinitely. Miami has the worst front court left in the playoffs at the PF and C.

I guess LeBron will play PF now.

Post #245 » by **nate33** » Mon May 14, 2012 5:32 pm

FAH1223 wrote:Bosh out indefinitely. Miami has the worst front court left in the playoffs at the PF and C.

I guess LeBron will play PF now.

I think he should have started playing PF about 4 years ago. It gives his team such a matchup advantage and great floor spacing.

Nivek · Post #246 » by **Nivek** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:19 pm

Bad news for Miami. They're pretty much Lebron, Wade and Bosh, and not much else. I agree their best alternative will probably be to slide Lebron to PF and give Miller and Battier more minutes. If you're a Heat fan and you were picking one of their top 3 to lose, it'd be Bosh. But it's still a blow.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #247 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Mon May 14, 2012 7:05 pm

Rony Turiaf gave Miami a lift. He kept Hibbert off of his spot on the deep post. They might have missed Bosh's scoring but Rony came in and played with a lot of intensity. He missed 4 FTs in the third, but the fouls he drew slowed Indiana IMO.

I don't know how much the Heat will miss Bosh this series. Haslem and Turiaf bring physicality they don't get from Chris Bosh.

closg00 · Post #248 » by **closg00** » Mon May 14, 2012 7:17 pm

FAH1223 wrote:Bosh out indefinitely. Miami has the worst front court left in the playoffs at the PF and C.

I guess LeBron will play PF now.

Hibbert gets into foul-trouble easily. Miami could throw Pittman/ Ronny
at him for the fouls and take him out long-enough for Miami to make runs.

Post #249 » by **Ruzious** » Mon May 14, 2012 7:17 pm

It's Eddy Curry time! Dexter Pittman time? Juwan F. Howard time? Actually, if James Jones is healthy, I'd put him in the rotation for 15 or so minutes a game. Miami should be fine for this round, imo. They're still up 2 all-time greats to none. They could put me and CCJ in there for a couple minutes and get by. :eek2:

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #250 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Mon May 14, 2012 8:14 pm

Ruzious wrote:It's Eddy Curry time! Dexter Pittman time? Juwan F. Howard time? Actually, if James Jones is healthy, I'd put him in the rotation for 15 or so minutes a game. Miami should be fine for this round, imo. They're still up 2 all-time greats to none. They could put me and CCJ in there for a couple minutes and get by.

They could put YOU in there, Ruz. :lol:

I can't even catch up to the young guys well enough to give a good foul any more. No, I can only post angry rhetoric on the Internet now. That's all I have.

I can cheer you on, Ruz.

I just had a thought: Is cherry picking legal? What would stop a team from conceding 4 on 5 defensively, and just leaving their player under their own basket. That way, the other team would have to leave one back. Otherwise, the cherry picker just keeps getting layoffs off of inbound, full court passes.

Benjammin · Post #251 » by **Benjammin** » Mon May 14, 2012 8:24 pm

Cherry picking is absolutely legal. There are no offsides rules in basketball. Now they would likely be criticized for "ruining" the spirit of the game, and a rule could then be made to stop it. In fact, I believe I read in the early days of basketball teams would employ almost like a "goalie", who would stay on the defensive end the whole game until someone realized it's a lot easier to score 5 on 5 than 4 on 5.

MJG · Post #252 » by **MJG** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:16 pm

I've always assumed teams wouldn't try cherry picking because the backlash against them would be too harsh. Nobody, not even the team's own players or fans, would approve. And if they didn't care about that, and tried it, and it worked, then the league would put in some sort of rule to prevent it going forward.

7-Day Dray · Post #253 » by **7-Day Dray** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:22 pm

willbcocks wrote:The grizzlies need a point guard in the worst way. No one could bring up the ball or initiate the offense--the two most basic tasks required of a pg. I know Chris Paul has great hands, but he has Clippers backing him up. This was not the championship Pistons defense

Some of this must fall on the coach, but Mike Conley is not adequate.

Completely disagree. I think Mike Conley is one of the most underrated players in the league.

They need to trade Gay. He prevents them from playing inside-out.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #254 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:32 pm

I agree, 7DD. They lost that huge lead in game one IMO because Memphis relied on outside shooting. The Grizzlies advanced last year by being an inside out team. IMO Rudy Gay messed their identity up by taking poor percentage, outside shots with a lot of time left on the shot clock.

When the Clippers face the Spurs, one match up I will watch is at SF. I expect Kawhi Leonard could come up huge for the Spurs because he is not like Rudy Gay. Leonard is going to rebound, defend, and only take good shots. I think he's going to score a lot on put backs, much like Faried did against the Lakers.

7DD, I'm not much of a fan of Rudy Gay.

queridiculo · Post #255 » by **queridiculo** » Mon May 14, 2012 10:58 pm

Losing Bosh hurts, but let's be real, that Heat team is still more talented than anything Cleveland was able to put on the floor.

Lebron is having a special season and while I don't quite expect the Heat to sweep the Pacers, I doubt it'll take them more than 6.

That said, without Bosh, I could see them struggling mightily against a veteran Celtics team that understands how to slow down the pace and forces the Heat to beat them in the half court. Bosh is damn near automatic from mid range, and those are exactly the kind of shots the Celtics concede with their trapping defense against Lebron and Wade.

Even with Bosh though, my money is still on whoever emerges out of the West. The Heat simply don't have the depth and overall talent level to keep up with the Spurs or the Thunder, and there's no doubt in my mind that that's who they'll face in the finals if they make it out of the East.

Higga · Post #256 » by **Higga** » Tue May 15, 2012 3:18 am

Pretty good chance of Philly vs. Indiana in the East Finals, though I still think Miami has enough to beat Indiana as they still have the two best players between both teams.

Could you imagine an Indiana vs. OKC/San Antonio Finals though? Stern would cry and probably shoot himself.

closg00 · Post #257 » by **closg00** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:19 am

Higga wrote:Pretty good chance of Philly vs. Indiana in the East Finals, though I still think Miami has enough to beat Indiana as they still have the two best players between both teams.

Could you imagine an Indiana vs. OKC/San Antonio Finals though? Stern would cry and probably shoot himself.

On AM 980, they call this scenario Steranagedon

Post #258 » by **Ruzious** » Tue May 15, 2012 1:51 pm

MJG wrote:I've always assumed teams wouldn't try cherry picking because the backlash against them would be too harsh. Nobody, not even the team's own players or fans, would approve. And if they didn't care about that, and tried it, and it worked, then the league would put in some sort of rule to prevent it going forward.

A decade or 2 ago, there was a player named Cedric Ceballos (best known for a "blindfolded" dunk in the dunk contest) who got a few cherry-picking baskets - I think in the playoffs - and ESPN (or perhaps another network) focused on him doing it. My gut feeling is it really damaged his rep around the NBA, and his career seemed to go downhill. Sometimes - by players being very slow or just out of shape - cherry-picking still happens, but you don't see good teams and good players do it. But that doesn't mean it can't be a good strategy used in small doses.

Post #259 » by **nate33** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:12 pm

Ruzious wrote:
MJG wrote:I've always assumed teams wouldn't try cherry picking because the backlash against them would be too harsh. Nobody, not even the team's own players or fans, would approve. And if they didn't care about that, and tried it, and it worked, then the league would put in some sort of rule to prevent it going forward.

A decade or 2 ago, there was a player named Cedric Ceballos (best known for a "blindfolded" dunk in the dunk contest) who got a few cherry-picking baskets - I think in the playoffs - and ESPN (or perhaps another network) focused on him doing it. My gut feeling is it really damaged his rep around the NBA, and his career seemed to go downhill. Sometimes - by players being very slow or just out of shape - cherry-picking still happens, but you don't see good teams and good players do it. But that doesn't mean it can't be a good strategy used in small doses.

I think cherry picking (or to phrase it more gently: "leaking out on the break") is a perfectly legitimate strategy. It's a way to use speed instead of brawn to counter when an opponent is killing you on the offensive glass.

VictorPage44 · Post #260 » by **VictorPage44** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:34 pm

Leaking out on the break is a legitimate part of the game, it's not cherry picking. As CCJ described cherry picking, going 4 on 5 on d so that you can chuck a full court inbounds pass, would never work in the NBA. If you were cherry picking, the opposing team could just space the floor and work the ball around until they got a wide open shot. Safety man sprints back as soon as the shot goes up (or anticipates the shot), which gives the player 3-5 seconds, if not more, to get back. That's plenty of time to get back for an NBA player. It would give the opponent way too many high percentage looks, and unless your inbounder is peyton manning, you're not gonna complete many of those full court passes.