GT: The Evil Empire (BKN) vs Bahstan Saltics: NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 1 (5/22/2021 8pm EST ABC)

[Whiskey Slick]

Let the loud mouths in the media tell us again how the Nets can't win a championship because of their defense, after we literally held Tatum to ZERO FG's in the entire second half and Kemba Walker barely more than ZERO.

The only time Kemba hit two meaningless 3's was in garbage time.

Yeah, our defense was surprisingly solid. I’m glad that we turned up on that end.

If we can expect that level of defensive intensity going forward, I’d feel much better about our chances. The offensive problems are much easier to fix than our defensive problems.

NO DOUBT, Evo. We all know this team is gonna get in a groove offensively and start lighting teams up. They're too talented not to. But if we can play defense like we did in the second half of this game tonight, they're gonna make the Vegas oddsmakers look real smart for installing them as the championship favorites.

[NyCeEvO]

As great as KD has been over his career, I do not trust him in the clutch for us. He has let us down almost every time.

KD is uber-elite off the ball and when he makes quick decisions as soon as he gets the ball.

I haven’t looked it up, but I have the feeling that the longer he holds the ball and operates as a primary ball handler, the worse off he is as a player and we are as a team. I don’t trust his decision making. I don’t understand why KD operates as a PG sometimes despite being on the floor with Harden and Kyrie. It doesn’t make sense to me.

It's not so much that I don't trust his decision making, it's more that I don't trust his handles, his passing ability, and his ability to make shots as much. I know he has had an illustrious career full of clutch plays/shots, but we haven't really seen it here on the Nets. The only one that comes to mind is his 3pt shot against Denver early in the season.

I think we mostly agree (except on the shotmaking).

I don’t think KD can’t pass. But I do think that his decision making when he passes leads to nonsensical and needless turnovers.

Your lack of faith in his ballhandling aligns with my comment wondering why he brings up the ball when Kyrie and/or Harden are on the floor. He should only bring up the ball to initiate a transition play (since it’s more important for the rebounder to be able to grab the ball and go) or when he’s the best ball handler on the floor (I.e. when Ky& Harden are benched).

IMO, his handling has definitely regressed. I imagine that since he hasn’t spent much of the last couple years being able to attack defenders and practice breaking down defenders, he has started to decline in that area.

But I have zero doubts about his shotmaking. He has steadied the ship on many occasions when Kyrie has been cold. I think he was just off/jittery tonight. I expect him to make a lot more of the easier jumpers he missed early on, even when contested.

[Whiskey Slick]

Where's my girl Malika Andrews in the post game press conference?

She covered the Nets all year and ABC/ESPN pulls her off the Nets for our first playoff game?

She was at the Milwakee-Miami game today, much to my disappointment.

That's such BS. Vegas installed the Nets as championship favorites and she covered us all year!

To pull her off the Nets now, and frankly besides being gorgeous she also consistently asks the best questions that elicit the best responses in these post game pressers, but to pull her off the Nets NOW is absurd.

[NyCeEvO]

Rough game but that 2nd half was our kind of basketball.

Also, we had a great crowd in the building tonight. So much for the narrative that no one in NY cares about the Nets.

On its own, Brooklyn would be the 4th largest city in the US.

Even if most of the town was comprised of Knicks fans, that would still leave room for a ton of Nets fans.

The only people who push the narrative that the Nets have no fans are desperate Knick fans (not all of them do this though). Since they haven’t won recently, fanbase size is the only thing those can cling to in arguments about Knicks vs Nets. Those fans are praying we don’t win because if we do, it’s only a matter of time before the Nets fanbase grows even larger.

A perfect parallel of this is what has happened in Manchester, England in soccer.

Manchester United is a historic team with global recognition. They dominated English soccer throughout the 90s and 2000s.

A foreign owner bought the cross town rival (Manchester City) in the late 2000s and has spent a ton of money on their team. Now they’re currently dominating English football.

Many ManU supporters who grew up in the 90s are begrudgingly envious of Man City. They constantly talk about Man City is a plastic club that has no fans.

But guess what? Kids in Manchester and across the world don’t care. You’re seeing more and more Man City fans pop up everywhere. Their fan base is growing by leaps and bounds.

Instead of hating, Manchester United fans should stop hating and start hoping that their team can win. Eventually, the “bigger fanbase” schtick is going to go away if Man City keeps winning and ManU doesn’t.

The same advice applies here for the Knicks. If they want to remain top dog, they gotta win. If you let the other team rise up and dominate, few people will care about your greatness from yesteryear. They need to win before we do or the Nets wave will only grow larger.

As a Man United fan myself, there's an important distinction to mention here in that analogy. Man United are the most successful English Premier League team, and had decades of titles. Knicks on the other hand haven't done **** really. So you can't really make that analogy. Man United are closer to the likes of Lakers/Celtics in terms of sports legacy. I agree with you on the general point that the United fanbase gets too caught up on the "plastic club" argument, and our fanbase has been in a pathetic state over the past few years as the club hasn't done anything really since Fergie left. But it is important to mention why United fans' arrogance is earned, while Knicks fans' arrogance is straight up delusion.

I mean I did say Man U dominated English spiced in the 90s and 00s, which makes up most of Premier League history.

And yes, while the Knicks haven’t won anything in 50 years, they’re still the most valuable NBA team in the league, despite all of the Lakers titles.

Plus, I thought the ManU/ManCity reference was more appropriate since they are in the same city like us and the Knicks and Man City (like us) were taken over by wealthy foreign ownership relatively recently. I just hope the Nets can start winning like City lol.

[Whiskey Slick]

I understand that we're shortening the rotation for the post season, that was to be expected, so I have NO PROBLEM with the nine man rotation we chose to use. But only 11 minutes for Claxton?

IMO he needs to get more play than that. What he did during the regular season was NOT a fluke.

He has a great synergy with James Harden when it comes to the alley-oops.

He was really starting to come around as a shot blocker and rebounder too.

[NyCeEvO]

I actually do not agree with this at all. It's actually the opposite, ISO offense becomes more valuable as teams go deeper into playoffs.

You’ve created a straw man. I did not say ISO offense becomes less valuable as the playoffs go on.

The best teams almost always have the best creators. I’ve always championed the belief that you need ISO players (especially those adept at drawing fouls) who can get you points when your regular sets aren’t working.

What I am saying is that you’re supposed to turn to ISO after your sets don’t work.

My issue is not that we that ISO, but rather that we go straight to ISO before even running full plays.

I'm not even disagreeing with you on the current problems with our offense. I agree with the point that we're relying on isos before even running full plays. But I cannot agree with the implication that iso offense cannot work, especially in the latter stages of the playoffs against better defenses. When its playoffs time, all these teams already know what the other team is running. As they get deeper into the post season, the attention to detail increases, and the defensive intensity becomes greater, teams' playbooks often go out the window. That's where ISO offense value still remains in an era of analytics driven ball.

Again, I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying and I don’t think what you’re saying goes against what I’ve said.

In fact, many times when sets are working, teams will go ISO to throw the opposition off, which in turn loosens up the defense, and allows the team to go back to their sets again. The relationship between ISOs and set plays is definitely symbiotic. I’m not saying ISOs aren’t valuable or shouldn’t be relied upon. As the playoffs go on and you face tougher defenses, you will need to ISO more and more often.

What I am saying though is that if all you run are ISOs and no actual sets, teams will adjust to that as well. ISOs can become highly inefficient offense if they aren’t properly counter-balanced by good plays. And some of the best ISOs come when a player breaks off a play to isolate against a mismatch that was initially setup by the actions from a play.

Also, just because both teams know what the other teams sets are doesn’t mean that they stop running those sets. They still run their plays. Each action within a play usually has a few options anyway, so it’s not like if a player misses a cutter that they should’ve passed the ball to that the play is over.

[NyCeEvO]

Where's my girl Malika Andrews in the post game press conference?

She covered the Nets all year and ABC/ESPN pulls her off the Nets for our first playoff game?

She was at the Milwakee-Miami game today, much to my disappointment.

That's such BS. Vegas installed the Nets as championship favorites and she covered us all year!

To pull her off the Nets now, and frankly besides being gorgeous she also consistently asks the best questions that elicit the best responses in these post game pressers, but to pull her off the Nets NOW is absurd.

Who knows…maybe she wanted to go. Didn’t she cover that series last year too?

I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch, but if given the option, she could’ve decided to cover that series in the 1st round, because she’s confident the Nets will be in the 2nd round while that series is too difficult to call.

[Basileus777]

They ran ISOs all game long because the Celtics were switching everything and that is the natural counter. That's what switching results in, isolation basketball. Even the almighty Durant/Curry Warriors became an ISO team when facing switching defenses.

Teams don't "adjust to that", isolation is the adjustment to the defense. The entire 2nd half run was sparked by abusing mismatches caused by switching, why are we complaining about isos?

[Whiskey Slick]

One last thing that concerns me.

The bench was aggressive and productive all year, big-time.

But tonight?

Claxton: 6 Points
Green: 3 Points
Brown: 2 Points
Shamet: 0 Points

Seriously, a combined 11 Points from the bench?

... and Claxton had less minutes (11) than the other three!

C'mon man, the bench has to give us WAY MORE than that, like they did ALL YEAR.

We can't expect the BIG 3 to win a championship all by themselves. Gotta give them some help.

[HardenGoat]

Thankful for the win but I saw the end flash before my eyes when Smart took down Durant. You can’t trust that guy he is a dangerous player and knows how to get under players to make them come down hard. Plus he dives on legs when he gets an opportunity. As far as the game plan goes we have to expect to see more iso plays. We have two of the best iso players in the league and that is a huge advantage. Harden is our playmaker and I was fine with him running the second unit. I think he needs to be a little more aggressive in collapsing the paint, that would have really helped our role guys get more looks. He played tentative today, maybe he is pacing himself after such a long layoff. The best takeaway today is we are a good defensive team when everyone locks in. We saw that the second half and that is what gives me the most hope going forward.

[Basileus777]

The bench isn't going to get nearly as many minutes. Green and Brown were both impactful even if they didn't score much. Claxton isn't going to play a ton of minutes because Durant is back at his natural position (the 4) and Clax has to split the center minutes with Griffin and Green. Uncle Jeff was the best of the lot tonight and he deserved to get most of the minutes.

TBH Harris only scoring 10 points in 37 minutes is more concerning than the bench performance.

[Whiskey Slick]

Thankful for the win but I saw the end flash before my eyes when Smart took down Durant. You can’t trust that guy he is a dangerous player and knows how to get under players to make them come down hard.

Meantime that SOB didn't get called for a flagrant, but KD did on the worst flagrant reversal I have ever seen.

[Whiskey Slick]

TBH Harris only scoring 10 points in 37 minutes is more concerning than the bench performance.

If he's not gonna drop open 3's, then start Bruce Brown or Uncle Jeff instead.

Harris has to understand that the BIG 3 is giving him the luxury of open 3's, and he has to sink them!

10 Points in 37 minutes? He should be ashamed of that.

He is COUNTED ON to drop those 3's with the BIG 3 being swarmed.

[Whiskey Slick]

The bench isn't going to get nearly as many minutes. Green and Brown were both impactful even if they didn't score much. Claxton isn't going to play a ton of minutes because Durant is back at his natural position (the 4) and Clax has to split the center minutes with Griffin and Green. Uncle Jeff was the best of the lot tonight and he deserved to get most of the minutes.

TBH Harris only scoring 10 points in 37 minutes is more concerning than the bench performance.

To be clear, I don't expect anyone on the bench to drop 30 on teams, but they have to drop 14 to 20.

Basically just do what they did all year.

[Whiskey Slick]

QUESTION

Do they re-seed the brackets after each round, or are the brackets locked in?

For example, lets say the Bucks (3) beat Miami (6), but the Wizards (8) upset Philly (1).

Unless they re-seed the brackets the winner of the 4-5 matchup, Knicks or Hawks, would get the 8 Seeded Wizards in the EC Semi's, while the 2 and 3 Seeds, Nets and Bucks respectively, would matchup in the Semi's.

How is that fair to the Nets or Bucks in the event that Washington upsets the Sixers?

In that case the 2 Seed (Nets) should get the 8 Seed (Wizards), while the Bucks get the Knicks or Hawks.

But that would only happen if they re-seed the brackets.

[GTR11]

I don't really think Kyrie's iso game was bad today, it's actually the other way around. Fournier, Kemba and Pitchard had no business guarding that assassin. He gave e them chicken and basket every time.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

KD on the other hand was ball stopper and chucker. Harden was shaky at times too but he dominated tempo in second half, that's pretty much what changed entire game flow.

In order for us to win vs good team like Bucks, Philly and Lakers we going to need KD play within the flow and be force that he is. Kyrie maintain tempo and share ball a little more. As for Harden, just be MVP that he is. Being more aggressive scoring wise won't hurt from now. It'll open up things for our role players. When he took couple threes double team came or made others don't pay attention to our role players. Results were open jumpers that been within the flow.

We will figure it out in my opinion. Our coaching stuff did adjust in a second half defensively. I mean those double teams vs Tatum were forced and unnecessary. Their role players took full advantage from 3, 52% in a first half, that's just can't happen. We need to find go to set plays for our role guys and KD. We need to get them involved early. Harden and Kyrie have ball, they will get theirs at will, I'm not worried about them right now at all.

[GTR11]

QUESTION

Do they re-seed the brackets after each round, or are the brackets locked in?

For example, lets say the Bucks (3) beat Miami (6), but the Wizards (8) upset Philly (1).

Unless they re-seed the brackets the winner of the 4-5 matchup, Knicks or Hawks, would get the 8 Seeded Wizards in the EC Semi's, while the 2 and 3 Seeds, Nets and Bucks respectively, would matchup in the semi's.

How is that fair to the Nets or Bucks in the event that Washington upsets the Sixers?

In that case the 2 Seed (Nets) should get the 8 Seed (Wizards), while the Bucks get the Knicks or Hawks.

But that would only happen if they re-seed the brackets.

No my friend, brackets are set and won't change.

1 vs 8 will play the winner of 4 - 5.

2 -7 will play the winner of 3 -6 seed.

[Whiskey Slick]

QUESTION

Do they re-seed the brackets after each round, or are the brackets locked in?

For example, lets say the Bucks (3) beat Miami (6), but the Wizards (8) upset Philly (1).

Unless they re-seed the brackets the winner of the 4-5 matchup, Knicks or Hawks, would get the 8 Seeded Wizards in the EC Semi's, while the 2 and 3 Seeds, Nets and Bucks respectively, would matchup in the semi's.

How is that fair to the Nets or Bucks in the event that Washington upsets the Sixers?

In that case the 2 Seed (Nets) should get the 8 Seed (Wizards), while the Bucks get the Knicks or Hawks.

But that would only happen if they re-seed the brackets.

No my friend, brackets are set and won't change.

1 vs 8 will play the winner of 4 - 5.

2 -7 will play the winner of 3 -6 seed.

That's so unfair and stupid.

I'm pretty sure the NFL, MLB and NHL all have the highest seeds playing the lowest seeds in every round?

That's part of the reward for having a better regular season.

[Whiskey Slick]

No my friend, brackets are set and won't change.

1 vs 8 will play the winner of 4 - 5.

2 -7 will play the winner of 3 -6 seed.

BTW even though I hated the answer, thanks for taking the time to respond GTR.

[Hello Brooklyn]

I was at the game tonight.

Easily the best Nets crowd I have ever seen. Everyone was into it and super loud.

KD is incredible in person. First time I've ever seen him play live.

Its obvious Nets were just missing a ton of wide open shots. Once they hit them it was smooth sailing.

Also that flagrant foul was total BS.