freethedevil wrote:MyUniBroDavis wrote:freethedevil wrote:
Harden was playing the best defense of his era. Giannis didn't have 60 win teammates and both came close to winning against superior casts. Don't really think the box stats justify treating kawhi differently. choke or not, giannis's defense was good enough they almost beat a better team.
Iow, he's has a lesser role, and he still choked? bad look.
Kawhis not in a lesser role so much as hes in a different one, the hypercharged 5 out offenses built around one star only apply to playoff 2018 cavs bron, giannis and harden
Its pretty clear offensively he was better than 18 harden or 19 giannis.
2018 harden was like an utter choke job idk why anyone tries to defend that performance, he literally was playjng the same role as per usual and sucked. 2019 giannis both showed his limitations on offense
We didnt learn anything new about kawhi this series other than he had a mediocre series, it wasnt an absurd choke he had 2 bad games the entire series lol
Thisis the first playoffs eh wasn't on a stacked ass team, and he could have easily gotten knocked out in the first round and got clapped in the second. how we leanr nothing?
Because you have to analyze his performance not the team performance.
Like if kawhi as an individual plays well, and his team doesnt, thats not an indicator that kawhi didnt play well.
Results matter, and i am someone that gives players an abritrary plus if they win a championship because i feel as a goal there deserves to be some sort of reward
But if we breakdown how kawhi himself played, he was pretty much fantastic in series 1 and mediocre in series 2
So did we learn anything about kawhis weaknesses or playstyles that hold him back?
Not really, it just looked like: kawhi had a good series 1 and a mediocre series 2.
Is he at fault to an extent because he didnt have a great series and the clippers lost? Sure.
But was it a disaster to the level of 2018 harden, or did it show a huge limitation he has that we didnt see as cleary or know about?
Not really. At least on court
Kawhi is a elite iso and post scorer who is good at scoring and playmaking off the pick and roll. He doesnt run in a system where the majority or all the offense is based off of this, but those are his two strengths and hes very, very good at them.
Nothing in this series really changed that perception of him. In 4/7 games he was average, in 1 he was great, 2 he sucked.
His playmaking was on point for the most part
Now as for what went wrong/why they lost, i do think at this point maybe you can point to off court issues
This clippers team IS stacked as hell but they have the worst chemistry in the nba. Theyve played around 20 games with a full healthy roster, not to mention that imagine after that 2019 year fihting tooth and nail against the defending champs bringing them to 6 when ur supposed to get swept, you see half your team get traded and the new two guys handed the keys, and neither show any leadership they sit out games and just arent chemistry guys and keep to themselves
Add on other things like how they clearly arent in shape, when you have multiple players asking to sit out in a GAME 7 FOURTH QUARTER
Kawhi doesnt monopolize the offense as much as guys like luka and harden do. He gets his points but they run alot of action and offense without kawhi as the primary ball handler, i mean theyre most used play is probably the lue and harrell pick and roll although for some reason they didnt do that even tho it as much as they should have which would have probably done wonders against the nuggets particularly.
Does he play a larger role in the offense than guys that do? No, but thats theyre playstyle.
I mean the clippers lost because they were outcoached, outhustled, and honestly didnt have the chemistry to come together under situations like this.
I mean we have to look at what happened in the game. Besides the clippers just not running an offense in the second half and not even running pick and rolls despite that working wel foe them, what else happened?
Well, i would say that while they were sub par offensivey, outsid eof game 7 they werent disasterous although obviously they dissapointed and went through cold streaks.
And credit to the nuggets, but would you say that the nuggets dominated a top 3 defense?
From a process standpoint the clippers played like a bottom 10 defense this series, and really last series too, undispiplined, miscommunications, misrotarions, and just a lack of hustle and effort, not to mention weird coaching decisions.
(They really went this game, alright instead of playing zubac, a good post defender, lets llay harrel for offense, double the BEST PLAYMAKING BIG EVER every possession but not commit that hard, not rotate and NOT USE HARREL ON P AND R OFFENSE)
I think there are valid criticisms of kawhis leadership, how he approached the season, etc.
By all means this clippers team is at the level or better than those spurs and raptors teams, without kawhi, from a talent perspective.
But he raptors and spurs teams are high continuity, high chemsitry teams with vets that have experience and maturity, along with legendary coaching or COY coaching.
This clippers team is not, and i do think kawhis approach to the season might be a reason why the clippers folded, both off and on the court. I mean lou is really talking about chemistry right now after a whole season
But my opinion of Kawhi as a player hasnt changed at all, i dont think the fact that he doesnt play in a 5 out system where hes running everything is a knock on him, especially since in terms of ability (not sure with stamina but i mean he plays defense lol) but i do think there are criticisms about the way he approached the season