The Playoffs Thread

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I agree that the Lakers can hang with the nets because of their balance and length. But i think their biggest problem is actually the Bucks.

They don't have the size or interior presence to create a "wall" against Giannis. And is gonna be difficult to switch or get isos or play small against versatile defenders with length like Lopez/Giannis/Jrue/Middleton/Tucker, unless they constantly target Divicenzo.

The other problem for them against the Bucks is, their defense is gonna get exposed against a good 3 point team.


Hilariously, we match up better with the Bucks than the nets

I agree. I feel like we should "want" to play Milwaukee before Brooklyn. With that said, I think they can beat Brooklyn while we probably can't. It's weird, but that's what the playoffs are all about. Matchups.

[DCasey91]

I sing his praises a lot but don’t sleep on my boy Afernee!!! Body wise improves over the next two years and nothing else he’s already an elite as heck shooter.
Can create too just on a deep deep backlog for playing time.

[DCasey91]

I wish we could clone Ben 2x over boom we can guard anyone then lol

[kio80]

I wish we could clone Ben 2x over boom we can guard anyone then lol

Probably easier to just trade him for someone who can score, the more you watch the modern game, the more you see how he doesnt fit in today's game. He can't score, and he's not as good as Thybulle defensively, he's just a Dray Green whos less trigger happy and more sexually active.

[DCasey91]

I wish we could clone Ben 2x over boom we can guard anyone then lol

Probably easier to just trade him for someone who can score, the more you watch the modern game, the more you see how he doesnt fit in today's game. He can't score, and he's not as good as Thybulle defensively, he's just a Dray Green whos less trigger happy and more sexually active.

LMAO at that last part Ben’s been striking out lately too much video games.

[Negrodamus]

If the Blazers weren't so inconsistent, I'd say this would be a sweep. Can't do enough without Murray.

[eyeatoma]

Can we get a game thread going? Kind of sad that we never have one, and need to rely on ducler. Can't have someone else coming in making our threads for the playoffs. I'd do it, but I feel like I might be badluck, as I made the one for game 7 of Raps/Sixers series lol.

[Negrodamus]

MPJ 1-10 from threes, 0-0 from FT, lol. Keep him far away from us.

[Murray_17]

If the Blazers weren't so inconsistent, I'd say this would be a sweep. Can't do enough without Murray.

They're never gonna win a title with that defense. At best they're a second round exit

[76ciology]

Giannis in the dunker's spot while Middleton isolates on final possession.

Damn, Bucks are figuring out how to win it all this year.

Giannis most overrated star in the league.

Big disparity in the value of transition offense and halfcourt offense in regular season to playoffs. This is why guys like Ben and Giannis have really polarizing value.

I do feel like when people are evaluating player’s on the offensive end, they should almost completely remove their value on transition offense. By doing so, you kind of see what Ben and Tobi’s real value are on offense.

Bucks have figured to win it all. And it shows when they stopped chasing regular season meaningless trophies and really focused on winning the championship since they were hunting for upgrade during the offseason.

Late game. Jrue can run PnR while Middleton can shoot over his defenders, both can also run some ISO on low frequency. Giannis allows you to stay in the game and win those non-close games. And in late games, Giannis gets you more opportunities by deflections, rebound and defense to make up whatever Jrue and Middleton lacks in talent.

Whats scary is they’re exactly the team that is organically built to beat us. As if they’re destined to block our path.

I still do think they’ll be our biggest hurdle for the entire playoffs.

I wish we face the bucks in the playoffs. Its going to stress test us into something better just as what they’re recent playoff runs did for them.

And I hope Morey and Doc wakes up and realize that this Ben and Jojo tandem is only special during the regular season just as when the bucks figured out they need to stop wasting their time on Bledsoe.

Right now, I see us as a cocky young kid who thinks he is good enough before he gets punched in the face.

[76ciology]

I wish we could clone Ben 2x over boom we can guard anyone then lol

Probably easier to just trade him for someone who can score, the more you watch the modern game, the more you see how he doesnt fit in today's game. He can't score, and he's not as good as Thybulle defensively, he's just a Dray Green whos less trigger happy and more sexually active.

Quote of the the year.

[kuclas]

Giannis in the dunker's spot while Middleton isolates on final possession.

Damn, Bucks are figuring out how to win it all this year.

Giannis most overrated star in the league.

Big disparity in the value of transition offense and halfcourt offense in regular season to playoffs. This is why guys like Ben and Giannis have really polarizing value.

I do feel like when people are evaluating player’s on the offensive end, they should almost completely remove their value on transition offense. By doing so, you kind of see what Ben and Tobi’s real value are on offense.

Bucks have figured to win it all. And it shows when they stopped chasing regular season meaningless trophies and really focused on winning the championship since they were hunting for upgrade during the offseason.

Late game. Jrue can run PnR while Middleton can shoot over his defenders, both can also run some ISO on low frequency. Giannis allows you to stay in the game and win those non-close games. And in late games, Giannis gets you more opportunities by deflections, rebound and defense to make up whatever Jrue and Middleton lacks in talent.

Whats scary is they’re exactly the team that is organically built to beat us. As if they’re destined to block our path.

I still do think they’ll be our biggest hurdle for the entire playoffs.

I wish we face the bucks in the playoffs. Its going to stress test us into something better just as what they’re recent playoff runs did for them.

And I hope Morey and Doc wakes up and realize that this Ben and Jojo tandem is only special during the regular season just as when they figured out they need to stop wasting their time on Bledsoe.

Right now, I see us as a cocky young kid who thinks he is good enough before he gets punched in the face.

Bucks are a good team. But Embiid puts a ton of pressure on bucks interior defense. It’s very simple with bucks defense. I’ve watched them on league pass into addition to them playing us. Their “wall” is Giannis help defender with Lopez in the paint. That’s a ton of length.

Issue is Lopez is too slow footed. Embiid has usually abused Lopez and Giannis doesn’t like to waste fouls on Embiid. Giannis is usually covering Ben so allows him to slide over to help Lopez. And Embiid shot like 1-7 the first quarter that bucks game. He got lazier and lazier and didn’t want to bully Lopez. It was back to back game so explains a little bit of laziness after Embiid had decent game against the Suns the night before.

Anyways we have outside shooting this season. As long as Ben stays in weak side dunker spot opposite of Embiid. It’s way too much stress on bucks wall someone is gonna to be open for a shot. Ben absolutely cannot be within 20 feet of Embiid to give him space vs Lopez. Jrue or Middleton will have to cheat double Embiid and just up to Embiid to make a quicker move against it.

[DCasey91]

I’ll say it Embiid doesn’t actually put as much pressure on the defense as people would think.
Remember it’s individual scoring, and it’s not Shaq/Hakeem like either.

The double down for scoring while letting go some defensive prowess doesn’t exactly push us to the next level. The people around him don’t maximize his value.

25/11/3/2 type numbers on 20 shots +50% FG while playing DPOY defense that’s the sweet spot.

We live in the 3ball era now

Embiid can go for 30+ Heck he did just that last year. That’s all well and good but what is the cost here? What is the usage/time soak on the clock? What is the turnover ratio like? What is the true efficiency like?

Heck Davis has been a monster playoff performer basically when he first played. He started to win a series/series’s behind Holiday/Rondo 2x/LBJ/Caruso. It’s a lot to fall back on as floor man ship goes.

Both Ben & Embiid need each other to function well but when together they also bring out both their own inherit flaws which neither have shown the maturity to fix. Harris added is a bad fit which compounds it.

Bucks have the right formula and it’s not like Middleton/Holiday are otherworldly either, they function to mask Giannis weaknesses (iso/perimeter scoring).

Lucky we have as things go an easier run to the ECF. I mean the Heat right now would cause us a ton of trouble.

I like all our players. But I’m staying in context here. Thybulle might be the greatest defender ever but he puts up 3 points a game. That’s not going to work. It’s theory vs reality with this team atm

We have bit part players.

Two most important things we don’t have:

1. High level outside creators (Booker)
2. High level floorman ship in the halfcourt (CP3)

Just divy up the two into Lillard or in the off-season go for leather. I hope we do well
but man oh man it won’t surprise me if this gets really ugly down the line.

[Kobblehead]

MPJ 1-10 from threes, 0-0 from FT, lol. Keep him far away from us.

Easily the most overrated young player in the league. He hasn't shown anything in this league other than being able to drill a bunch of catch and shoot threes. Zero displayed shotcreating. Subpar defense so far and no passing. He's just a stretch four, shooting specialist. People act like he's the next Brandon Ingram. He's closer to being the next Lauri Markkanen. It grinds my gears when people ignore Shai and lament that we didn't take Porter in 2018.

[DCasey91]

I’m in the ship for Anfernee Simons. I’ll be watching his career with great interest.

[Kobblehead]

Embiid will be 10x better once we phase out some of our weak halfcourt players and get more ballers like Maxey in the starting lineup.

Look at how dominant Duncan was in the playoffs when he was able to split his time between post possessions and standing in the dunkers spot ready to receive a pass from a penetrator like Parker and Ginoboli.

Once Maxey and young creator #2 hit the lineup, Embiid will take off in the playoffs and win multiple championships.

[Kobblehead]

I’m in the ship for Anfernee Simons. I’ll be watching his career with great interest.

It feels like Portland is smart enough to keep him in their backpocket and ship out McCollum.

[Stanford]

Is 6/20 a good shooting percentage? I'm not good at math

[Kobblehead]

Is 6/20 a good shooting percentage? I'm not good at math

In a relative sense considering the circumstances of having no help, it's not garbage, but it's adjaysont to garbage.

[DCasey91]

I’m in the ship for Anfernee Simons. I’ll be watching his career with great interest.

It feels like Portland is smart enough to keep him in their backpocket and ship out McCollum.

Either he’s on a heater or the shooting is legit and that’s not even getting into the creating side of things due to the big backlog on minutes.
I’m telling everyone 2 years he’s going to be very very nice.

It’s smart to move CJ now the clone in Simons is waiting in the wings

This year:

24 games when 20+ mins played

AV: 12.2/3.3/1.6
3PA per game: 6.37
3P made a game: 2.95
71/153
3P%: 46.4%!!!

Dude is smoking balls