'17-'18 POY discussion

[Dr Spaceman]

For all the criticism Paul took for never making the Conference Finals he is going to breeze into them this year while playing some of the worst playoff basketball of his career and giving 60 percent effort.

Paul gets crap for not taking risks. This year he's being risky and having some less than optimal results, and now he's not playing as well.

To me he’s just playing dumb and being lazy. It looks like he turned half of his brain permanently off right before the playoffs. There are possessions where I literally don’t know what he’s trying to do and the Rockets have been a disaster when he’s out there without Harden

[Jaivl]

Green/Thompson vs. Capela/Gordon - advantage Warriors but it's also pretty close. Capela might actually be the best player out of the four.

Come on.

[Dupp]

For all the criticism Paul took for never making the Conference Finals he is going to breeze into them this year while playing some of the worst playoff basketball of his career and giving 60 percent effort.

I’ve been thinking this same thing. It’s gonna be quite ironic, especially if people start saying he’s not a choker now

[Krodis]

So it probably won't affect any award thinking, unless you were doing all-NBA teams including playoffs, but Clint Capela has been stupidly good in the playoffs so far. I know teams generally don't game plan for him, and for good reason, but you have to think Steve Kerr is going to have to do something if we get Rockets/Warriors.

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[dhsilv2]

For all the criticism Paul took for never making the Conference Finals he is going to breeze into them this year while playing some of the worst playoff basketball of his career and giving 60 percent effort.

Paul gets crap for not taking risks. This year he's being risky and having some less than optimal results, and now he's not playing as well.

To me he’s just playing dumb and being lazy. It looks like he turned half of his brain permanently off right before the playoffs. There are possessions where I literally don’t know what he’s trying to do and the Rockets have been a disaster when he’s out there without Harden

lol, I've seen a few moments like that so I can't fully disagree. But I think he's still having quality aggressive play and that's what they need out of him.

[tone wone]

Paul gets crap for not taking risks. This year he's being risky and having some less than optimal results, and now he's not playing as well.

To me he’s just playing dumb and being lazy. It looks like he turned half of his brain permanently off right before the playoffs. There are possessions where I literally don’t know what he’s trying to do and the Rockets have been a disaster when he’s out there without Harden

lol, I've seen a few moments like that so I can't fully disagree. But I think he's still having quality aggressive play and that's what they need out of him.

Honestly, a lot this is just how poorly he's shooting from 3. 1-7 in game 3. Now down to 31% in the playoffs. His overall approach hasn't been any different from the regular season.

[dhsilv2]

To me he’s just playing dumb and being lazy. It looks like he turned half of his brain permanently off right before the playoffs. There are possessions where I literally don’t know what he’s trying to do and the Rockets have been a disaster when he’s out there without Harden

lol, I've seen a few moments like that so I can't fully disagree. But I think he's still having quality aggressive play and that's what they need out of him.

Honestly, a lot this is just how poorly he's shooting from 3. 1-7 in game 3. Now down to 31% in the playoffs. His overall approach hasn't been any different from the regular season.

Agree that's a bigger issue, but to spaceman's point, he's made some just bone headed plays and hasn't been taking care of the ball well. That said I think a lot of this is more about mike wanting him to be agressive and that's not familiar to him and sometimes leads to some of these bad plays.

I guess my point is Paul looks like he's playing by his standards at a D- level. I think he's been more like a B- and some small sample and just the style of play is driving down his quality.

[Texas Chuck]

lol, I've seen a few moments like that so I can't fully disagree. But I think he's still having quality aggressive play and that's what they need out of him.

Honestly, a lot this is just how poorly he's shooting from 3. 1-7 in game 3. Now down to 31% in the playoffs. His overall approach hasn't been any different from the regular season.

Agree that's a bigger issue, but to spaceman's point, he's made some just bone headed plays and hasn't been taking care of the ball well. That said I think a lot of this is more about mike wanting him to be agressive and that's not familiar to him and sometimes leads to some of these bad plays.

I guess my point is Paul looks like he's playing by his standards at a D- level. I think he's been more like a B- and some small sample and just the style of play is driving down his quality.

I think some of this is more perception than reality. For instance his turnover rate is below both his career and playoff norms. And below his RS number this year.

[ronnymac2]

Wow, people still believe in HOU. Interesting.

[dhsilv2]

Honestly, a lot this is just how poorly he's shooting from 3. 1-7 in game 3. Now down to 31% in the playoffs. His overall approach hasn't been any different from the regular season.

Agree that's a bigger issue, but to spaceman's point, he's made some just bone headed plays and hasn't been taking care of the ball well. That said I think a lot of this is more about mike wanting him to be agressive and that's not familiar to him and sometimes leads to some of these bad plays.

I guess my point is Paul looks like he's playing by his standards at a D- level. I think he's been more like a B- and some small sample and just the style of play is driving down his quality.

I think some of this is more perception than reality. For instance his turnover rate is below both his career and playoff norms. And below his RS number this year.

That's interesting. I'd not looked at the stats. Darn eye test, always misses things.

[tone wone]

Wow, people still believe in HOU. Interesting.

What does this mean? Believe in what exactly? Nothing thats happened so far this postseason should change anyones opinion of the Rockets...good or bad.

[ShotCreator]

For all the criticism Paul took for never making the Conference Finals he is going to breeze into them this year while playing some of the worst playoff basketball of his career and giving 60 percent effort.

Yeah this irony is the only thing I like about his performance. Beautiful.

Edit: And I don't want to be hyperbolic. He's still been pretty good. But now that he doesn't have to play 110%(quite literally) of his normal level to compete in these series he just isn't. He's picked up some pretty bad habits from all the coasting. You cannot cheat the game like that. Look at GS and their performance last night. Looked like RS GS.

Well, you can't cheat the game unless you're LeBron anyway.

[dhsilv2]

For all the criticism Paul took for never making the Conference Finals he is going to breeze into them this year while playing some of the worst playoff basketball of his career and giving 60 percent effort.

Yeah this irony is the only thing I like about his performance. Beautiful.

Edit: And I don't want to be hyperbolic. He's still been pretty good. But now that he doesn't have to play 110%(quite literally) of his normal level to compete in these series he just isn't. He's picked up some pretty bad habits from all the coasting. You cannot cheat the game like that. Look at GS and their performance last night. Looked like RS GS.

Well, you can't cheat the game unless you're LeBron anyway.

Lets be honest, the playoffs don't start for houston or GS till the next round.

[MisterHibachi]

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Thoughts?

[clyde21]

Nice Rondo.

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[clyde21]

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The Rockets offense is really weird. On the surface it seems like they do a lot of ball movement, cutting and passing but the ball is almost exclusively in Harden's or Paul's hands for the majority of the shot clock.

Chris Paul has 14% of his shots assisted
James Harden has 15% of his shots assisted

These are obscenely low numbers. Even Russ, who's one of the most ball-dominant PGs we've seen, is at 20%.

I don't think we've ever seen an offense like this, to be honest. Being ran exclusively through two extremely efficient PGs, with a lot off off-ball movement but not a lot of passing.

[Dr Positivity]

Houston is a really bad matchup for Utah, they have the perfect team to neutralize the Gobert factor. UTA has a great core but it' not ideal for future years in the playoffs for them that HOU and GSW are the worst teams for their star center to play

[NinjaSheppard]

Nice Rondo.

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When Zaza and Draymond do stuff like this its cool though

[clyde21]

Nice Rondo.

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When Zaza and Draymond do stuff like this its cool though

No, it's not cool when anyone does it, and I've wanted Zaza off this team because of that for a while now, so maybe you have the wrong guy, guy.

[therealbig3]

Damn, the Celtics were just insanely unlucky this year. They're a legitimately good playoff team that will probably be in the ECF, and honestly, I think are still good enough to beat the Cavs, without Kyrie and Hayward. Imagine if both of those guys were healthy, the Celtics would be right there with GS and Hou imo...possibly even better. Their defense is elite, and they're only missing guys that can reliably and efficiently create offense off the dribble, and Kyrie/Hayward solve both of those problems. Hayward also fits very nicely into their defensive-minded team, since he's a good defender too.

Moving forward, I think the Celtics are definitely one of the future powerhouses of the league, along with GS and Hou. They just need Kyrie and Hayward to stay healthy.