WCQF | (4) LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz (5) | UTA 3-2

Post #81 » by **dockingsched** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:58 am

I think the clips are going to destroy Utah, just based on them having waited so long to be healthy for the playoffs and this being possibly their last year together.

Catchall · Post #82 » by **Catchall** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:00 am

George Hill is going to try to nullify CP and win himself a max deal.

Post #83 » by **GimmeDat** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:58 am

This will be super interesting. I'm going with Jazz in 7. Clippers the more established stars and experience, but Utah have been excellent all season and I think they'll prove themselves these playoffs.

Post #84 » by **QRich3** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:25 am

All 4 regular season games between them have had a really slow pace (high 80's to low 90's, even lower than the Jazz league-slowest average pace), which the Jazz obviously like, but except for one game where both teams were weirdly hitting everything, on the other three the Clippers have thrived defensively against them. And playing consistently good defense is the main flaw of this Clippers team.

I wouldn't put much stock in the first RS game they played as it was the very beginning of the season and Hayward was injured, but then in the February game it was Paul missing and the outcome was pretty much identical.

Luc bothers Hayward a lot, and for whatever reason Gobert struggles to be as effective as he usually is in the P&R. On the other hand, Utah's size inside bothers Griffin a lot and makes DJ also struggle to find his usual space running to the rim. And Joe Johnson has a habit of eating the Clippers bench alive.

I would favor the Clippers in 6 or 5 since the preferred way of playing for the Jazz also works for the Clippers (plus homecourt), but wouldn't be surprised if the Jazz are able to get hot and steal the series.

dautjazz · Post #85 » by **dautjazz** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:24 am

Utah steals one of the first two on the road and wins in 6. LA never beat Utah this season with their starting 5, Utah has has had starters injured in all their games.

Enviado por mi telefono movil

PKABOOICU · Post #86 » by **PKABOOICU** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:00 pm

Clippers in 7, going to be one of the better series of the 1st round....Clips can easily blow it though given their history.

bmurph128 · Post #87 » by **bmurph128** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:20 pm

I voted Clippers in 7, because they have home court and I think they're the better team.

But there's some weird juju from the NBA Gods where they refuse to let the Clippers or Spurs play the Warriors, so I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Jazz take this.

bmurph128 · Post #88 » by **bmurph128** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:22 pm

Catchall wrote:George Hill is going to try to nullify CP and win himself a max deal.

He has that max already. If Conley got $30 million, Hill is worth at least $25 million..

Kswiss · Post #89 » by **Kswiss** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:32 pm

bmurph128 wrote:
Catchall wrote:George Hill is going to try to nullify CP and win himself a max deal.

He has that max already. If Conley got $30 million, Hill is worth at least $25 million..

Not really true, the cap spike was a one-year phenomenon and the Grizzlies had an abundance of space. Many teams will not this year, so maxes won't be flying off the table as easily. That said, I think George Hill is a top 15 PG and could be worth a fair amount of money it to a team desperate for guard play. Perhaps San Antonio? (But not at anything close to max obviously)

Curmudgeon · Post #90 » by **Curmudgeon** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:46 pm

Gobert vs Jordan. Very interesting. Tossup series: I think it will go 7. Salt Lake City is 1000 fet lower than Denver, but it's still a tough place to play.

Catchall · Post #91 » by **Catchall** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:02 pm

The main head-to-head matchup is really George Hill v. Chris Paul. Then it's a question of how the Clippers hold things together when CP3 is off the floor. They get a little discombobulated sometimes and revert to one-on-one stuff (Rivers, Crawford, Speights, Felton).

Blake Griffin also needs to show that he can come through in the clutch. He's had some games where he really shies away in 4th quarters.

As much as Utah is new to the POs, George Hill, Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw give them a steady hand. Rudy Gobert is playing with a lot of hunger and confidence. I don't see the Jazz getting panicked. It's the Clippers who need to hold themselves together. If they get behind in the series or have a couple bad spells during a game they might fall apart.

KqWIN · Post #92 » by **KqWIN** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:09 pm

I think CP3 has the best series of his career. Don't be surprised if he scores 30 points a game. The Jazz have one pick and roll coverage and have not deviated from it all season long. We're going to go over the pick and drop Rudy every single time. Taking advantage of that situation is CP3's bread and butter. I don't have a lot of faith in Quin's ability to adjust in game. It'd be odd for them to introduce a new PnR coverage that they haven't used during the season.

Catchall · Post #93 » by **Catchall** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:53 pm

KqWIN wrote:I think CP3 has the best series of his career. Don't be surprised if he scores 30 points a game. The Jazz have one pick and roll coverage and have not deviated from it all season long. We're going to go over the pick and drop Rudy every single time. Taking advantage of that situation is CP3's bread and butter. I don't have a lot of faith in Quin's ability to adjust in game. It'd be odd for them to introduce a new PnR coverage that they haven't used during the season.

In any case, slowing and disrupting CP3 is probably the key to the series for the Jazz, even if they have to leave Luc Mbah a Moute completely unguarded.

Catchall · Post #94 » by **Catchall** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:03 pm

I'm hearing that Austin Rivers may be out in Games 1 and 2. This means more minutes for Crawford and possibly Felton?

OkcSinceSGA · Post #95 » by **OkcSinceSGA** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:25 pm

Catchall wrote:I'm hearing that Austin Rivers may be out in Games 1 and 2. This means more minutes for Crawford and possibly Felton?

Shockingly Jamal has been super good the last couple weeks. Low volume shooting, high efficiency, good ball movement, defensive effort. But in the playoffs he usually vanishes, so we shall see. On a good note he's typically a Jazz killer. We do need Rivers though and he's expected to return game 3 or 4 as you said. Felton was great first half of season then fell off a cliff. Overall the bench is what it's been in recent years. Which is they can randomly destroy teams, but they more often than not are mediocre at best.

bmurph128 · Post #96 » by **bmurph128** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:28 pm

Kswiss wrote:
bmurph128 wrote:
Catchall wrote:George Hill is going to try to nullify CP and win himself a max deal.

He has that max already. If Conley got $30 million, Hill is worth at least $25 million..

Not really true, the cap spike was a one-year phenomenon and the Grizzlies had an abundance of space. Many teams will not this year, so maxes won't be flying off the table as easily. That said, I think George Hill is a top 15 PG and could be worth a fair amount of money it to a team desperate for guard play. Perhaps San Antonio? (But not at anything close to max obviously)

Yes but not everyone was handing out super max contracts with that cap spike - there will be teams willing and able to pay Hill north of $20 million per year if he chooses to take it.

My point though was that Hill is at least around Conley's level.

Post #97 » by **chitownsports4ever** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:34 pm

I have the Clippers in 5 because the jazz defensive schemes plays right into the hands of CP3 and Crawford .

Clippers torch that scheme in game 1 and 2

Jazz change it up and home but still lose game 3

Prevent the sweep in game 4

Clippers close it out at home in game 5.

I think for the Jazz to really have a chance Favors would have to break out and challenge Griffith.

Tinseltown · Post #98 » by **Tinseltown** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:43 pm

I believe in Chris Paul. I also believe his teammates and coach will let him down. Should be a great series.

tone wone · Post #99 » by **tone wone** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:51 pm

As a huge CP3 fan, I would love for this to be a short series LAC favor. But, im not sure there's much separating these teams.

Also, the one constant from Doc Rivers coached teams (going back to ORL) is their inability to close teams out. This has all the ingredients of another Clipper 1st rd 7-game slugfest.

MartinToVaught · Post #100 » by **MartinToVaught** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:15 pm

TMU wrote:
sp6r=underrated wrote:This is the best 1st round series. I'll admit I am a shameless Paul bandwagon fan for this PS. He has too many critics who kill him with farcical arguments.

Easily the most criticized player on this forum.

How so? You can't say anything critical about him without a bunch of people (mostly fans of other teams) swarming to his defense and coming up with excuses for why nothing is ever his fault.

Paul isn't even the most criticized Clipper on this forum. Blake Griffin has become the Pau Gasol or Russell Westbrook of the Clippers - the designated scapegoat that always gets the blame no matter what. You would think he's a total scrub from how he's talked about on here.

Series Prediction