2020-21 NBA Season Discussion

[Peregrine01]

Series not over, but damn are the Bucks frustrating. Their areas to improve seem so obvious and they just can't get it implemented on court for whatever reason.

The series is definitely far from over.

I'm not sure what it is with Giannis but he has some sort of mentality where he feels he needs to be a perimeter player and he simply isn't there yet. It's a shame they didn't go for Chris Paul.

If I recall, CP3 said he was willing to go there but Giannis didn't want him and preferred Jrue.

Really? If I can think of one player that the Bucks absolutely need right now, it'd be CP3. There's literally no other player that would help them more.

[MO12msu]

The series is definitely far from over.

I'm not sure what it is with Giannis but he has some sort of mentality where he feels he needs to be a perimeter player and he simply isn't there yet. It's a shame they didn't go for Chris Paul.

If I recall, CP3 said he was willing to go there but Giannis didn't want him and preferred Jrue.

Really? If I can think of one player that the Bucks absolutely need right now, it'd be CP3. There's literally no other player that would help them more.

So I probably misremembered the explicitly preferring Jrue part but there were def rumors that Paul was interested and Giannis didn’t want him

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2860322-chris-paul-reportedly-wanted-trade-to-bucks-hoped-to-play-with-giannis

[HeartBreakKid]

I only saw parts of Bucks vs Nets, but did Giannis ever guard Durant???

[therealbig3]

I only saw parts of Bucks vs Nets, but did Giannis ever guard Durant???

Early in the game on some possessions, but I didn't see him on Durant at all in the 2nd half, saw Tucker and Middleton mainly.

[MisterHibachi]

Read on Twitter

This feels super weak to say in the middle of the series.

[mikejames23]

I only saw parts of Bucks vs Nets, but did Giannis ever guard Durant???

Tracking the shot charts, his fav. was taking Tucker off the dribble for a nice drive in the paint or a guarded jumper. After that came some work burning Brook Lopez. They tried switching Pat Connaughton and there was a bit of Middleton.

[bballcool34]

Read on Twitter

This feels super weak to say in the middle of the series.

Yeah especially for a 2-time MVP and a player of Giannis' stature. Wait till you lose Game 6 or 7 to say that.

Possible to chalk it up to a cultural difference, I suppose.

[Zarozzor]

What a game by Durant. One of the best performances I've seen since watching basketball, especially when given the circumstances.

Game 6 and potentially Game 7 should be great.

[Doctor MJ]

Read on Twitter

This feels super weak to say in the middle of the series.

Yeah especially for a 2-time MVP and a player of Giannis' stature. Wait till you lose Game 6 or 7 to say that.

Possible to chalk it up to a cultural difference, I suppose.

Those Greeks and their precociously spoken truths.

[Zarozzor]

It seems to me that the Bucks problem is that they have no obvious offensive creator. Middleton, Jrue and Giannis are quite clearly guys that should be playing off someone else.

One of the reasons I thought they should have went so hard after Chris Paul.

[Dr Positivity]

Milwaukee did a horrible job taking advantage of Harden. I wouldn't have even guarded him especially as a team that likes the pack the paint defense. It was obvious half a quarter in he wasn't hitting anything tonight. That's before considering taking advantage of his defense. The series looked over - terrible choke.

[HeartBreakKid]

Milwaukee did a horrible job taking advantage of Harden. I wouldn't have even guarded him especially as a team that likes the pack the paint defense. It was obvious half a quarter in he wasn't hitting anything tonight. That's before considering taking advantage of his defense. The series looked over - terrible choke.

Their strategy and tactics are just so bad. Budenholzer really does deserve to be burned by this one. The team has very little poise also.

They don't even seem organized which is supposed to be Bodenholzer's biggest strength. Jrue Holiday looks like he's not even sure what country he is in when they're on offense.

[bondom34]

Read on Twitter

This feels super weak to say in the middle of the series.

Yeah especially for a 2-time MVP and a player of Giannis' stature. Wait till you lose Game 6 or 7 to say that.

Possible to chalk it up to a cultural difference, I suppose.

Those Greeks and their precociously spoken truths.

Yeah, think I'd agree here. Sometimes you just tip your cap, don't think it's weak just owning that a guy had an unreal performance.

[Dupp]

Giannis fumbling the ball at the end when he could have tied it up was pretty symbolic of his game in these situations. Wasn’t really surprising.


As for bud and the bucks wtf were they even doing in the second half? Why didn’t they put harden in pick n rolls non stop.


Also giannis saying he wants the challenge of kd after the fact is stupid. He never takes these assignments. He could have tried at least. Speak up and tell the coach. It’s like his low minutes in big games (not tonight), he needs to tell bud what’s wha

[bondom34]

5 best players in the playoffs so far disregarding games played?


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

I had read this earlier and didn't reply but wanted to put some thoughts out:

Doncic, Lillard, Mitchell, Jokic, Embiid, Kawhi, and Paul are all in the mix (maybe Gobert as well but his first round matchup vs. Val was rough), and maybe Durant after tonight but don't want to be too prisoner of the moment

I think I'd lean Doncic, Embiid, Lillard, Jokic, Kawhi? Not in order, and not sure I'm missing someone.

[bballcool34]

Like the list above - but it’s hard for me to view Paul as a top 5 player this playoffs yet given his dismal series against the Lakers (not going to really give him many brownie points because he was injured). He’ll need to keep it up IMO to get into the conversation.

Not to be a homer, but I think you could make a case that Tatum was better or as good as him, if you factor in the Lakers series. That’s the issue with small sample sizes of course.

[GSP]

Like the list above - but it’s hard for me to view Paul as a top 5 player this playoffs yet given his dismal series against the Lakers (not going to really give him many brownie points because he was injured). He’ll need to keep it up IMO to get into the conversation.

Not to be a homer, but I think you could make a case that Tatum was better or as good as him, if you factor in the Lakers series. That’s the issue with small sample sizes of course.

Unfortunately Jaysons early Covid hit messed up his total year play. But when he was getting right and the form he finished the season with the last month plus playoffs is def above Cp3 but on the whole id prolly have to barely edge Cp3 after this Denver series. He was terrific i have to admit despite the disaster Lakers series

[Dutchball97]

Like the list above - but it’s hard for me to view Paul as a top 5 player this playoffs yet given his dismal series against the Lakers (not going to really give him many brownie points because he was injured). He’ll need to keep it up IMO to get into the conversation.

Not to be a homer, but I think you could make a case that Tatum was better or as good as him, if you factor in the Lakers series. That’s the issue with small sample sizes of course.

I think it is more so future round projection for Paul than him being a top 5 player in the play-offs as of now. Even with the early injuries and the struggles against the Lakers, Paul still comfortably leads the Suns in PER, WS, WS/48, BPM and VORP. If he keeps up his level of play from the Nuggets series against the Jazz or Clippers it is reasonable to expect those numbers will only continue to rise.

[70sFan]

Some quick points about game 5:

Nets
- Durant was amazing, you can't describe in words how good his performance was,
- Jeff Green couldn't miss anything and played very good defensive game,
- Harden looked horrible, he certainly wasn't ready to play. In fact, he reminds me old Oscar Robertson from 1974 finals - he couldn't move, he had problems to beat pressure and he had unusally bad turnovers,
- Harris disappointed again, without his help Nets could still lose the series,
- Blake had another solid game, but this time he couldn't stop Giannis one on one.

Bucks
- what's the point of playing Lopez if you don't want to use his size? Seriously, this is ridiculous how Bucks treat Lopez on offense,
- Durant took advantage of Lopez slow feet, for the first time in playoffs he really looked outmatched on that end,
- it's frustrating to watch Bucks on offense - they can't create open looks against mediocre Nets defense, there is no off-ball movement and they were getting worse and worse during the game,
- Giannis played his best game overall, he still had a lot of strange iso possessions but at least he created problems for Nets defense in halfcourt offense,
- Bucks actually played good defense for most of the game overall.

The series is not over yet. Bucks played very good first half, they just couldn't sustain Durant's explosion. As amazing as Durant is, I don't expect him to have another game like this one, so Bucks can still win this series. Especially if Harden is in such a bad shape as he was.

[therealbig3]

Durant was fantastic against the Celtics in the first round too, so I would say he deserves to be named a top 5 playoff performer right now. And he didn't just have a great game, he had one of the all-time special performances you're ever gonna see in what was close to a must-win situation for the Nets, while being extremely undermanned. I don't think it's being too POTM to give him quite a boost based on that game.