NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 3

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #521 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:45 am

closg00 wrote:
queridiculo wrote:Well, so much for the invincible Hawks.

For all the **** talking going on by Bulls fans on the general board, Chicago has looked mighty average in this series against the Bucks so far.

The East is shaping up nicely for Washington so far.

With Love out, our path to the NBA finals is becoming clear

The Nets blew the Wizards away late in the season.

Honestly, they look better than Atlanta right now.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #522 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:46 am

Wizards are in an unusual place. Looking better than the other teams.

I don't know what to think.

tontoz · Post #523 » by **tontoz** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:23 pm

It was inevitable that Rose would cost Chicago games. Last night he had only 2 assists in 42 minutes :lol:

to go with 6 turnovers and 5-20 shooting. And of course there was his brain fart in the last game along with 8 turnovers.

Induveca · Post #524 » by **Induveca** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:01 pm

tontoz wrote:It was inevitable that Rose would cost Chicago games. Last night he had only 2 assists in 42 minutes to go with 6 turnovers and 5-20 shooting. And of course there was his brain fart in the last game along with 8 turnovers.

Been thinking the same thing, he's reminding me more of a poor man's Steve Francis than MVP Derrick Rose even in his "good" games.

dobrojim · Post #525 » by **dobrojim** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:43 pm

tontoz wrote:Epic game from Deron. Wow

except that last play in regulation. He could have easily cost them the W
shooting with that much time left. Very poor clock mgmt.

dobrojim · Post #526 » by **dobrojim** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:48 pm

queridiculo wrote:Well, so much for the invincible Hawks.

For all the **** talking going on by Bulls fans on the general board, Chicago has looked mighty average in this series against the Bucks so far.

The East is shaping up nicely for Washington so far.

There is kind of a perfect storm brewing for the Wizards. That said, whoever they play should
they be fortunate enough to make the ECFs, they'd be definite underdogs. I think CHI could take
them. CHI is a LOT better than last year with Pau replacing the incredibly sucky Boozer, Rose
however inconsistent making plays at times and Mirotic adding another weapon. Aaron Brooks
also is a tough cover for Wall. Butler is a lot better than last year. All that said, I have to
say MIL is making it a lot harder than I would have expected. Funny thing about that is
how we handled MIL early in the season and nobody gave us any credit for it with MIL
having been the worst team in the league last year.

CLE...LBJ and Irving who has been insanely good offensively and Mozgov being the
C that they needed to cement the whole thing together. Not sure we'd take them either.

dobrojim · Post #527 » by **dobrojim** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:50 pm

thricethefun wrote:Cavs have no Love. Hawks and Bulls looking bad. Wizards might be the favorite to win the east now :O

I'd say that is more than a bit over the top. Favorite? I don't think so. Conceivable? I'll go that far.

dobrojim · Post #528 » by **dobrojim** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:53 pm

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:
closg00 wrote:
queridiculo wrote:Well, so much for the invincible Hawks.

For all the **** talking going on by Bulls fans on the general board, Chicago has looked mighty average in this series against the Bucks so far.

The East is shaping up nicely for Washington so far.

With Love out, our path to the NBA finals is becoming clear

The Nets blew the Wizards away late in the season.

Honestly, they look better than Atlanta right now.

I think you're onto something. That said, it's small sample size and things
could revert to 'normal' quickly. Then again, a series can be over quickly as well.

It would be a pretty huge upset for 38 win BKN to knock off the #1 seed Hawks.

Post #529 » by **montestewart** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:05 pm

dobrojim wrote:
thricethefun wrote:Cavs have no Love. Hawks and Bulls looking bad. Wizards might be the favorite to win the east now :O

I'd say that is more than a bit over the top. Favorite? I don't think so. Conceivable? I'll go that far.

Ya just gotta buh-leeb!

Post #530 » by **Rafael122** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 4:10 pm

The Bulls look exhausted. It's amazing to me that one of the biggest criticisms of Thibs is that he runs his players into the ground every year, and every year come April and May they look like they're running on quick sand. For the betterment of his career, Butler should sign with someone else. Dude is going to be playing like he's 36 in a couple of years.

On top of that, the offense still stinks.

Kanyewest · Post #531 » by **Kanyewest** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 4:29 pm

fishercob wrote:Love out for the Bulls series. Wow.

Or the Bucks series

queridiculo · Post #532 » by **queridiculo** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 4:41 pm

Rafael122 wrote:The Bulls look exhausted. It's amazing to me that one of the biggest criticisms of Thibs is that he runs his players into the ground every year, and every year come April and May they look like they're running on quick sand. For the betterment of his career, Butler should sign with someone else. Dude is going to be playing like he's 36 in a couple of years.

On top of that, the offense still stinks.

I think the real story here is how much the Chicago offense is struggling.

When you hold a team to 94 points on 42% shooting you should win the game.

Rose and Butler combined for 41 shots, making 10. You're not going to win bricking it up like that.

To make matters worse, Rose did very little else to distinguish himself on offense managing only two assists in 42 minutes, while turning the ball over six times, and got abused on the defensive end by just about anybody he was matched up with.

The spark to win this series will have to come from Rose, I'm not sure he has it in hium.

Post #533 » by **LyricalRico** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 5:36 pm

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:
closg00 wrote:
queridiculo wrote:Well, so much for the invincible Hawks.

For all the **** talking going on by Bulls fans on the general board, Chicago has looked mighty average in this series against the Bucks so far.

The East is shaping up nicely for Washington so far.

With Love out, our path to the NBA finals is becoming clear

The Nets blew the Wizards away late in the season.

Honestly, they look better than Atlanta right now.

Yeah, but that late season blow out was without Wall (and Pierce played but was clearly in "rest" mode at that point). Brooklyn doesn't have anybody that can guard Wall, and on the other side we have two guys that can check Lopez 1-on-1. The Nets don't really have any advantages at any position in a series with Washington IMO.

So go Nets!

Illmatic12 · Post #534 » by **Illmatic12** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:29 pm

queridiculo wrote:Watching the Brooklyn Hawks game, I can see why Wall has been struggling against them this season.

They make it extremely tough on ball handlers, crowding the middle and playing the passing lanes.

In order for Washington to be effective on that end the Wizards need to get in their sets quickly, and move the ball patiently to find openings.

On defense they need to figure out whom to give shots to and from where. Corver needs to be a focus, and if Millsap and Horford drift outside they might just have to let them go to protect the middle against penetration from Teague and Carroll.

Yeah, going back to even last season I think, the Hawks have made Wall look foolish with the turnovers. Then they run off of the TOs and start raining threes in transition.

I watched the Hawks during their win streak and that was how they were killing teams, they'd scout out your 'pet' passing lanes and just have guys rotating in there to pick the ball off. Then Teague,Schroder push the break and Korver, Scott, Millsap etc go crazy with the threes.

I think scouting on Wsh's part will do a lot to change that. There will be a lot of time to go over film and see where all the TOs were coming from, and try to switch up those passes or change the timing of certain plays. Wall is a very intelligent player, he'll find a way to be more deceptive about how he sets the plays up I think. And our bigs might set their screens a little differently. There's a lot of potential holes that can be shored up with scouting and watching film.

The Nets might have figured something out, because the Hawks have not been turning them over very much which is what those guys rely on.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #535 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:01 pm

Rafael122 wrote:The Bulls look exhausted. It's amazing to me that one of the biggest criticisms of Thibs is that he runs his players into the ground every year, and every year come April and May they look like they're running on quick sand. For the betterment of his career, Butler should sign with someone else. Dude is going to be playing like he's 36 in a couple of years.

On top of that, the offense still stinks.

I think Thibodeau views Rose in very similar ways as how Eddie Jordan viewed post-injury Gilbert Arenas. Arenas barely played during the regular season. Five games prior to the playoffs he suited up. Once the playoffs started EJ was featuring Arenas heavy minutes. Arenas wasn't the same player.

Rose his looked better than Gilbert. However, he's clearly not the MVP Derrick Rose any more. Blown defensive assignments and turnovers by Rose are hurting Chicago. He has moments of brilliance but overall he's inconsistent.

He and Jimmy Butler were thoroughly outplayed in Chicago by Carter - Williams and Middleton. Thibs played Rose well over 40 minutes.

Rose seems healthy but his conditioning and stamina are going to be put to the test.

I also think to the detriment of Pau Gasol, the ball might be sticking with Rose moving forward.

I expect the Bulls will find a way to win, but if they lose it will likely be Derrick Rose who causes them to come up short.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #536 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 2:45 am

Remember when many on this board were calling Josh Smith a cancer?

gambitx777 · Post #537 » by **gambitx777** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:32 am

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Remember when many on this board were calling Josh Smith a cancer?

He is poison when you need him to be the core of your team, you star and your leader. He is the 3ed or 4th options on a really good team. that is where he belongs.

The east is wide open right now. The Hawks look human, Love is down, The bulls have issues and the Bucks and the Nets are beatable.

FAH1223 · Post #538 » by **FAH1223** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:57 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Lockedonsports/status/593291152029167617[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/BBallSociety_/status/593289554892840960[/tweet]

The Clippers body language all night was terrible. Paul Pierce would probably have done wonders for their psyche this year but luckily the Clippers wasted their MLE on Hawes and Sam Cassell was still on Wittless staff in July.

The Spurs will probably close it out in 6 at home.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #539 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:30 am

Doc Rivers played Griffin, Paul, and Redick each 41 or 42 minutes. Popovich played Duncan 38, Leonard 36, and everyone else less than 33 minutes. The Clippers starters faded at the end.

Redick played 42 minutes but did not attempt one three point shot.

The Clippers shot 1-14 from three points. The Spurs bench combined to shoot 10-14 on threes.

More than anything the Clippers got outcoached.

queridiculo · Post #540 » by **queridiculo** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 12:37 pm

I don't know, not a characterization I would agree with having watched the game.

The Spurs were extremely fortunate to get away with this win. They got a bunch of breaks from the officiating crew, and if Jordan doesn't interfere on Griffin's shot at the end, it's a wrap.

Both teams battled, and both coaches did a great job getting their guys ready to compete.