The Playoffs Thread

[76ciology]

kobble's kinda right. Durant aint got no moves

He doesnt need to.

Tell me how you’re gonna defend him.

He’s an elite shooter who can always shoot over you.

So you stay close. The league does not allow you to lay a single hair or finger on him. He’d then use his long strides. Or a simple cross over. That would be enough separation already.

Usually he’ll just bring down the ball, blake or brown would just make a subtle screen. He’d then have a step over his defender already, then he can either drive or pull up.

[DCasey91]

Something was up with Embiid. Most likely it’s the injury. Was getting no lift off in the second half on his midrange jumpers usually they are good. Does still have a habit of chucking up poor shots though.

Also wtf on Durant’s shot creation... who cares he’s 7ft he’s the most guaranteed 30ppg scorer I’ve ever seen besides MJ. Imagine what he would be without the devastating injury. Instead of 30 it’d be 35+ when need be like today and there’s sweet zero you can do about it.

He’s the best scorer since MJ.

[Ferry Avenue]

Of course Embiid was playing hurt but he was playing hurt the first three games as well. Lets not act like Embiid hasnt had very bad games in the playoffs before. Usually its at least against good defenders. But that first year again the Celtics he was probably bad 3 of the games. Then against Toronto the next year he was probably bad 3 of the games. Last year in the bubble he was bad a couple of games. So to sum it up while he obviously was dealing with pain I see no reason to just assume it was more pain then the first three games where he dominated. He took a lot of poor quality shots and got frustrated when he missed them and wasnt getting any foul calls and I feel like that had at least as much to do with the poor play as the injury. Maybe Im wrong but its no crazier then just giving him a free pass because of the injury which some seem to want to do.

There is nothing anybody has raised here that justifies his being emotionless in a pivotal game of a championship run.

When a guy injured in street clothes on the bench can be full of fire, certainly anybody on the court can be as well.

[Tomjas]

Something was up with Embiid. Most likely it’s the injury. Was getting no lift off in the second half on his midrange jumpers usually they are good. Does still have a habit of chucking up poor shots though.

Also wtf on Durant’s shot creation... who cares he’s 7ft he’s the most guaranteed 30ppg scorer I’ve ever seen besides MJ. Imagine what he would be without the devastating injury. Instead of 30 it’d be 35+ when need be like today and there’s sweet zero you can do about it.

He’s the best scorer since MJ.

Incredibly long with a pure shot

Doesn’t need to make outrageous, off balance corner 3s on the run because he can just shoot over virtually anyone

[76ciology]

The reason why there’s no center who plays like Embiid is it’s physically taxing.

MJ and LeBron are great players on both ends. But they never anchored a defense. Embiid does that. Then you factor in his size and today’s pace. That’s just very taxing in physical durability and stamina.

The last guy I saw playing this way was PEAK Demarcus Cousins. And we know what happened to him.

Even AD isnt holding up

[Tomjas]

The reason why there’s no center who plays like Embiid is it’s physically taxing.

MJ and LeBron are great players on both ends. But they never anchored a defense. Embiid does that. Then you factor in his size and today’s pace. That’s just very taxing in physical durability and stamina.

The last guy I saw playing this way was PEAK Demarcus Cousins. And we know what happened to him.

Even AD isnt holding up

They don’t have the combination of skill, bulk and athleticism

Joel is like Shaq with touch

Not saying he is better btw but both are huge men

AD is a former pg who grew a ridiculous amount in a year but can’t bang down low with the big boys

Monumental talent but different body type

[DCasey91]

The reason why there’s no center who plays like Embiid is it’s physically taxing.

MJ and LeBron are great players on both ends. But they never anchored a defense. Embiid does that. Then you factor in his size and today’s pace. That’s just very taxing in physical durability and stamina.

The last guy I saw playing this way was PEAK Demarcus Cousins. And we know what happened to him.

Even AD isnt holding up

That’s why I’d rather see 20 FGA’s max and more focus on the interior defense. Yes you can exploit
bigs nowadays but rim protection is rim protection.
Dominant first half defensively on that end.

Also it’s his own bloody fault that he’s reckless that’s on him. Someone has to say to him you are 7”1” 280 pick your spots better you are going to get what you want just be smarter about it.
I thought his awareness would improve on that aspect but it’s not where I’d like it to be.

[76ciology]

The reason why there’s no center who plays like Embiid is it’s physically taxing.

MJ and LeBron are great players on both ends. But they never anchored a defense. Embiid does that. Then you factor in his size and today’s pace. That’s just very taxing in physical durability and stamina.

The last guy I saw playing this way was PEAK Demarcus Cousins. And we know what happened to him.

Even AD isnt holding up

They don’t have the combination of skill, bulk and athleticism

Joel is like Shaq with touch

Not saying he is better btw but both are huge men

AD is a former pg who grew a ridiculous amount in a year but can’t bang down low with the big boys

Monumental talent but different body type

What I meant is it may not be humanly possible to anchor a team’s ELITE defense and ELITE offense. Specially nowadays, because of pace, possessions and distance to be covered.

And its much harder when you have a body of Embiid.

It maybe possible in the 90s when the game has a slow pace and not much volume of 3s for you to cover the distance.

Closest thing who can do this right now is Giannis but he lacks the required skillset in the most crucial moments of the game.

Think of shaq. He’s just moving underneath the rim on both ends. While Embiid has to step out on defense and rotate to shooters while having to score like a kevin durant by having to drive like a wing, shoot like a guard and bully like a center.

I maybe missing some guys but I haven’t seen a superstar than anchors a team on both ends while being THE ONLY go to guy down the stretch (imagine how tired he’d be by this time).. I think LeBron was closest comparison.

[Ferry Avenue]

The reason why there’s no center who plays like Embiid is it’s physically taxing.

MJ and LeBron are great players on both ends. But they never anchored a defense. Embiid does that. Then you factor in his size and today’s pace. That’s just very taxing in physical durability and stamina.

The last guy I saw playing this way was PEAK Demarcus Cousins. And we know what happened to him.

Even AD isnt holding up

They don’t have the combination of skill, bulk and athleticism

Joel is like Shaq with touch

Not saying he is better btw but both are huge men

AD is a former pg who grew a ridiculous amount in a year but can’t bang down low with the big boys

Monumental talent but different body type

What I meant is it may not be humanly possible to anchor a team’s ELITE defense and ELITE offense. Specially nowadays, because of pace, possessions and distance to be covered.

And its much harder when you have a body of Embiid.

It maybe possible in the 90s when the game has a slow pace and not much volume of 3s for you to cover the distance.

Closest thing who can do this right now is Giannis but he lacks the required skillset in the most crucial moments of the game.

Think of shaq. He’s just moving underneath the rim on both ends. While Embiid has to step out on defense and rotate to shooters while having to score like a kevin durant by having to drive like a wing, shoot like a guard and bully like a center.

I maybe missing some guys but I haven’t seen a superstar than anchors a team on both ends while being THE ONLY go to guy down the stretch (imagine how tired he’d be by this time).. I think LeBron was closest comparison.

All of that is certainly appreciated by Doc Rivers. Notice Embiid was removed late in the third quarter Monday and not reinserted until about midway through the fourth. With television timeouts and other game stoppages he rested for about 20 to 25 minutes of real time. Then he came back in and continued to be emotionless and ineffective -- in the clutch of a very close and pivotal playoff game during a championship run.

There is simply no way to explain why a player who often does display emotion (in contrast to players like K. Leonard, etc., who don't) would be emotionless in that situation. It's part of a career-long pattern for Embiid where he appears to experience a mental/emotional funk and then attributes it to a physical ailment, this time to the point that he's blaming a missed layup on a physical ailment, albeit by a 7-foot human being who can easily make layups in his sleep.

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and you have to wonder how long it's going to persist and whether it's going to derail this team's championship run.

[76ciology]

They don’t have the combination of skill, bulk and athleticism

Joel is like Shaq with touch

Not saying he is better btw but both are huge men

AD is a former pg who grew a ridiculous amount in a year but can’t bang down low with the big boys

Monumental talent but different body type

What I meant is it may not be humanly possible to anchor a team’s ELITE defense and ELITE offense. Specially nowadays, because of pace, possessions and distance to be covered.

And its much harder when you have a body of Embiid.

It maybe possible in the 90s when the game has a slow pace and not much volume of 3s for you to cover the distance.

Closest thing who can do this right now is Giannis but he lacks the required skillset in the most crucial moments of the game.

Think of shaq. He’s just moving underneath the rim on both ends. While Embiid has to step out on defense and rotate to shooters while having to score like a kevin durant by having to drive like a wing, shoot like a guard and bully like a center.

I maybe missing some guys but I haven’t seen a superstar than anchors a team on both ends while being THE ONLY go to guy down the stretch (imagine how tired he’d be by this time).. I think LeBron was closest comparison.

All of that is certainly appreciated by Doc Rivers. Notice Embiid was removed late in the third quarter Monday and not reinserted until about midway through the fourth. With television timeouts and other game stoppages he rested for about 20 to 25 minutes of real time. Then he came back in and continued to be emotionless and ineffective -- in the clutch of a very close and pivotal playoff game during a championship run.

There is simply no way to explain why a player who often does display emotion (in contrast to players like K. Leonard, etc., who don't) would be emotionless in that situation. It's part of a career-long pattern for Embiid where he appears to experience a mental/emotional funk and then attributes it to a physical ailment, this time to the point that he's blaming a missed layup on a physical ailment, albeit by a 7-foot human being who can easily make layups in his sleep.

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and you have to wonder how long it's going to persist and whether it's going to derail this team's championship run.

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

[Ferry Avenue]

What I meant is it may not be humanly possible to anchor a team’s ELITE defense and ELITE offense. Specially nowadays, because of pace, possessions and distance to be covered.

And its much harder when you have a body of Embiid.

It maybe possible in the 90s when the game has a slow pace and not much volume of 3s for you to cover the distance.

Closest thing who can do this right now is Giannis but he lacks the required skillset in the most crucial moments of the game.

Think of shaq. He’s just moving underneath the rim on both ends. While Embiid has to step out on defense and rotate to shooters while having to score like a kevin durant by having to drive like a wing, shoot like a guard and bully like a center.

I maybe missing some guys but I haven’t seen a superstar than anchors a team on both ends while being THE ONLY go to guy down the stretch (imagine how tired he’d be by this time).. I think LeBron was closest comparison.

All of that is certainly appreciated by Doc Rivers. Notice Embiid was removed late in the third quarter Monday and not reinserted until about midway through the fourth. With television timeouts and other game stoppages he rested for about 20 to 25 minutes of real time. Then he came back in and continued to be emotionless and ineffective -- in the clutch of a very close and pivotal playoff game during a championship run.

There is simply no way to explain why a player who often does display emotion (in contrast to players like K. Leonard, etc., who don't) would be emotionless in that situation. It's part of a career-long pattern for Embiid where he appears to experience a mental/emotional funk and then attributes it to a physical ailment, this time to the point that he's blaming a missed layup on a physical ailment, albeit by a 7-foot human being who can easily make layups in his sleep.

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and you have to wonder how long it's going to persist and whether it's going to derail this team's championship run.

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

Then you haven't been keeping your finger on the pulse of it over the past several years. Embiid's game varies substantially as a function of it. When he's emotional he plays well. When he's emotionless he plays very poorly.

The question is how he can be emotionless in a situation like the fourth quarter Monday. That doesn't compute, and that and the recurrent nature of this issue over a period of years suggests there's something wrong with him dispositionally.

[Misteclipse]

All of that is certainly appreciated by Doc Rivers. Notice Embiid was removed late in the third quarter Monday and not reinserted until about midway through the fourth. With television timeouts and other game stoppages he rested for about 20 to 25 minutes of real time. Then he came back in and continued to be emotionless and ineffective -- in the clutch of a very close and pivotal playoff game during a championship run.

There is simply no way to explain why a player who often does display emotion (in contrast to players like K. Leonard, etc., who don't) would be emotionless in that situation. It's part of a career-long pattern for Embiid where he appears to experience a mental/emotional funk and then attributes it to a physical ailment, this time to the point that he's blaming a missed layup on a physical ailment, albeit by a 7-foot human being who can easily make layups in his sleep.

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and you have to wonder how long it's going to persist and whether it's going to derail this team's championship run.

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

Then you haven't been keeping your finger on the pulse of it over the past several years. Embiid's game varies substantially as a function of it. When he's emotional he plays well. When he's emotionless he plays very poorly.

The question is how he can be emotionless in a situation like the fourth quarter Monday. That doesn't compute, and that and the recurrent nature of this issue over a period of years suggests there's something wrong with him dispositionally.

Give it up. Nobody is buying the awful take you're selling. Embiid is injured and was clearly hobbled by it. He had plenty of emotion when he was telling the ATL crowd to shut the **** up. Get over yourself and hope his knee feels better next game because if it doesn't, we're ****.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[Ferry Avenue]

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

Then you haven't been keeping your finger on the pulse of it over the past several years. Embiid's game varies substantially as a function of it. When he's emotional he plays well. When he's emotionless he plays very poorly.

The question is how he can be emotionless in a situation like the fourth quarter Monday. That doesn't compute, and that and the recurrent nature of this issue over a period of years suggests there's something wrong with him dispositionally.

Give it up. Nobody is buying the awful take you're selling. Embiid is injured and was clearly hobbled by it. He had plenty of emotion when he was telling the ATL crowd to shut the **** up. Get over yourself and hope his knee feels better next game because if it doesn't, we're ****.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

I'm not selling anything and I couldn't care less whether anybody is buying it, yourself included. You can believe what you believe and I can believe what I believe. If you present information that appears to you to be inconsistent with my point and I don't believe it is, I'll certainly combat it, but don't let that make you believe I care what you think.

[76ciology]

All of that is certainly appreciated by Doc Rivers. Notice Embiid was removed late in the third quarter Monday and not reinserted until about midway through the fourth. With television timeouts and other game stoppages he rested for about 20 to 25 minutes of real time. Then he came back in and continued to be emotionless and ineffective -- in the clutch of a very close and pivotal playoff game during a championship run.

There is simply no way to explain why a player who often does display emotion (in contrast to players like K. Leonard, etc., who don't) would be emotionless in that situation. It's part of a career-long pattern for Embiid where he appears to experience a mental/emotional funk and then attributes it to a physical ailment, this time to the point that he's blaming a missed layup on a physical ailment, albeit by a 7-foot human being who can easily make layups in his sleep.

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and you have to wonder how long it's going to persist and whether it's going to derail this team's championship run.

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

Then you haven't been keeping your finger on the pulse of it over the past several years. Embiid's game varies substantially as a function of it. When he's emotional he plays well. When he's emotionless he plays very poorly.

The question is how he can be emotionless in a situation like the fourth quarter Monday. That doesn't compute, and that and the recurrent nature of this issue over a period of years suggests there's something wrong with him dispositionally.

Ok point taken.

[the_process]

All of that is certainly appreciated by Doc Rivers. Notice Embiid was removed late in the third quarter Monday and not reinserted until about midway through the fourth. With television timeouts and other game stoppages he rested for about 20 to 25 minutes of real time. Then he came back in and continued to be emotionless and ineffective -- in the clutch of a very close and pivotal playoff game during a championship run.

There is simply no way to explain why a player who often does display emotion (in contrast to players like K. Leonard, etc., who don't) would be emotionless in that situation. It's part of a career-long pattern for Embiid where he appears to experience a mental/emotional funk and then attributes it to a physical ailment, this time to the point that he's blaming a missed layup on a physical ailment, albeit by a 7-foot human being who can easily make layups in his sleep.

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and you have to wonder how long it's going to persist and whether it's going to derail this team's championship run.

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

Then you haven't been keeping your finger on the pulse of it over the past several years. Embiid's game varies substantially as a function of it. When he's emotional he plays well. When he's emotionless he plays very poorly.

The question is how he can be emotionless in a situation like the fourth quarter Monday. That doesn't compute, and that and the recurrent nature of this issue over a period of years suggests there's something wrong with him dispositionally.

Could the thing that's wrong with him "dispositionally" be the fact that his knee probably feels like it is on fire? Just throwing it out there.

[Ferry Avenue]

I respect everyone’s opinion here because even i something get caught up a lot. I know how we passionate fans are.

But bro, this “emotionless” thing is quite overblown.

Then you haven't been keeping your finger on the pulse of it over the past several years. Embiid's game varies substantially as a function of it. When he's emotional he plays well. When he's emotionless he plays very poorly.

The question is how he can be emotionless in a situation like the fourth quarter Monday. That doesn't compute, and that and the recurrent nature of this issue over a period of years suggests there's something wrong with him dispositionally.

Could the thing that's wrong with him "dispositionally" be the fact that his knee probably feels like it is on fire? Just throwing it out there.

That would be more likely if he hadn't blamed a missed layup on it.

See if you can find a seven-foot player in the history of the game who's publicly blamed a missed layup on an injury whose severity enabled him to play 30+ minutes in the game in which it occurred. I'll be shocked if you can.

The knee may in fact be injured and may in fact be hurting, but when a seven-footer is publicly blaming missed layups on it within the context in which this occurred, you certainly have to wonder how the injury is "functioning" for him.

Now accompany that with the fact that we've been down this road before in the playoffs with Embiid. Emotionless, ineffective play due to an "ailment."

[Mik317]

are you trying to say he is basically lying and is not hurt?

[Ferry Avenue]

are you trying to say he is basically lying and is not hurt?

Someone can actually have an ailment and exaggerate it at the same time. The fact that it's being exaggerated doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And someone can exaggerate an ailment unintentionally, without being conscious of doing so.

Ask yourself if you believe a seven-footer who publicly blames a missed layup on an injury whose severity permitted him to play 30+ minutes in the game in which the missed layup occurred is or isn't exaggerating the injury (again perhaps unintentionally).

[Mik317]

I mean you can use your eyes and see that the injury was bothering him more than in past games. He was front rimming a lot of shots. A tell tell sign of not having the legs.

I seriously don't understand why this is the hill to die on for your Embiid is a bad leader take when everything points to his body not being right. You do know that somedays its going to not be there and others it can. I mean his game 3 was also a step down from game 1 and 2 for example. Like I thing some of the Ben Simmons killed my dog takes make more sense than whatever you are on right now lol.

yes. it would be great if Embiid could play through the pain and inspire his teammates last game. Would have been great if he made that point blank layup. He played like ****. I don't think anyone is saying otherwise. However expecting it just feels unrealistic. If i was feeling like ****, performing like ****; and losing at whatever task...I am sorry I doubt I will be Mr. Energy either. You keep bringing up bench players bringing energy...thats their **** job and they aren't out there struggling. Harden didn't look too hype last night...until they started to win. Imagine that. If Embiid was out there clowning like normal ; while playing like **** ..I highly doubt people would be too happy with that either btw. Kemba Walker trends on Twitter for the mere act of smiling on the court ffs. I could see the "Embiid doesn't take the game seriously enough" takes now.

This has to be the weirdest thing ever. Just say dude sucks because he gets hurt. That is closer to making sense than this

[Negrodamus]

Omg who cares? The knee is clearly an issue. He is not actively trying to shoot 4-20 and has an entire season/some of the postseason proving that he's one of the three best players in the NBA. Whether the knee prevented him from hitting the layup or not absolutely doesn't matter at all.