NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 5

[gambitx777]

I remember there were talks a couple years ago that ayton was on the border line of a bust. Now I'm seeing articles that he's the second coming of Robinson. Goes to show you that dudes can get better, and some times forwards and C take time to develop. Gives me hope that Rui abd Deni can take that leap in a year or two.

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[FAH1223]

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Monty Williams by not playing Jalen Smith in game 3 has me thinking I might be looking at my next Morris Almond.

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[Ruzious]

Monty Williams by not playing Jalen Smith in game 3 has me thinking I might be looking at my next Morris Almond.

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Nah, Stix is a lottery pick and a rookie. Give him time.

But gotta laugh at the media folks hyping Booker as the next Kobe. He's only the 3rd best player on Phoenix.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Seems to me Jalen Smith is the right athlete to defend and foul Giannis in the paint. He’s tall enough and much more athletic than Frank Kaminaky.

At the very least Jalen Smith should be able to counter the energy push that Bobby Portis gives Milwaukee.

[Ruzious]

Seems to me Jalen Smith is the right athlete to defend and foul Giannis in the paint. He’s tall enough and much more athletic than Frank Kaminaky.

At the very least Jalen Smith should be able to counter the energy push that Bobby Portia gives Milwaukee.

Yeah, Kaminsky has almost no chance on Giannis - who's been amazing the last 2 games. Smith needs to get more experience before he can cover Giannis. The Finals isn't the place to get it.

Btw, I was wrong on Cam Johnson. He's a much better athlete than I thought he was. He made a couple of really pretty plays in the 3rd quarter last night. But, he's not anywhere near strong enough to cover Giannis. He also had some kind of weird leg injury in the 4th quarter last night that you only see in soccer games - he recovered way too quickly, lol.

[payitforward]

I remember there were talks a couple years ago that ayton was on the border line of a bust. Now I'm seeing articles that he's the second coming of Robinson. Goes to show you that dudes can get better, and some times forwards and C take time to develop. Gives me hope that Rui and Deni can take that leap in a year or two.

Unrelated. Ayton was quite good as a rookie, then he fell off last year. This year he's a jump ahead of his rookie year.

So far, neither Deni nor Rui has been at all good. Deni is almost 3 years younger than Rui, so he obviously has more time to develop. But, he needs to make a meaningful jump in the coming season.

Let's hope that a new coaching staff will help propel these two guys.

[payitforward]

...gotta laugh at the media folks hyping Booker as the next Kobe. He's only the 3rd best player on Phoenix.

I don't think so. Obviously, he's not as good as Chris Paul or DeAndre Ayton. But, he's also not as good as Mikal Bridges.

Booker does a few things quite well -- he gets to the line a lot & shoots an extremely high % on those FTs. He shoots the 2 at an above average % -- on a lot of attempts. & he sees the floor well & passes effectively, resulting in a good number of assists.

But, he shoots the 3 at a below average % while taking a lot of them. Moreover, being high in turnovers, low in offensive rebounds, & low in steals subtracts from the positive effect of the things he does well.

Booker is a perfect example of the usual way of judging players -- he scores a lot of points, must be terrific.

Actually, last year Booker had a really good season, & I thought he'd turned the corner finally from a volume shooter to a terrific player. I thought it was kind of like Beal's 2016-17 season.

But, this year, he dropped straight back to where he'd been.

[Ruzious]

...gotta laugh at the media folks hyping Booker as the next Kobe. He's only the 3rd best player on Phoenix.

I don't think so. Obviously, he's not as good as Chris Paul or DeAndre Ayton. But, he's also not as good as Mikal Bridges.

Booker does a few things quite well -- he gets to the line a lot & shoots an extremely high % on those FTs. He shoots the 2 at an above average % -- on a lot of attempts. & he sees the floor well & passes effectively, resulting in a good number of assists.

But, he shoots the 3 at a below average % while taking a lot of them. Moreover, being high in turnovers, low in offensive rebounds, & low in steals subtracts from the positive effect of the things he does well.

Booker is a perfect example of the usual way of judging players -- he scores a lot of points, must be terrific.

Actually, last year Booker had a really good season, & I thought he'd turned the corner finally from a volume shooter to a terrific player. I thought it was kind of like Beal's 2016-17 season.

But, this year, he dropped straight back to where he'd been.

Otoh, scoring a lot of points for the team that's leading in the NBA Finals might be kinda important. Food for thought.

[Ruzious]

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Crunch-time block by Giannis of what looked like was going to be an easy alley-oop by Ayton. De phenom. He actually covered both ends of the lob........

[FAH1223]

[Ruzious]

Even more impressive on super slo-mo:

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[Ruzious]

Chris Paul & Jae Crowder have had many effects on the Phoenix Suns.

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[payitforward]

...gotta laugh at the media folks hyping Booker as the next Kobe. He's only the 3rd best player on Phoenix.

I don't think so. Obviously, he's not as good as Chris Paul or DeAndre Ayton. But, he's also not as good as Mikal Bridges.

Booker does a few things quite well -- he gets to the line a lot & shoots an extremely high % on those FTs. He shoots the 2 at an above average % -- on a lot of attempts. & he sees the floor well & passes effectively, resulting in a good number of assists.

But, he shoots the 3 at a below average % while taking a lot of them. Moreover, being high in turnovers, low in offensive rebounds, & low in steals subtracts from the positive effect of the things he does well.

Booker is a perfect example of the usual way of judging players -- he scores a lot of points, must be terrific.

Actually, last year Booker had a really good season, & I thought he'd turned the corner finally from a volume shooter to a terrific player. I thought it was kind of like Beal's 2016-17 season.

But, this year, he dropped straight back to where he'd been.

Otoh, scoring a lot of points for the team that's leading in the NBA Finals might be kinda important. Food for thought.

There are no bad basketball players in the NBA, & Booker is certainly a terrific scorer. Gets a lot of assists as well.

But, in every other aspect of the game, he's below average. To understand what I'm referring to, simply compare his per-40-minute numbers this year with Brad's. Then compare them with Brad's numbers in 2017-18, when he was the same age as Booker was this season.

Not making a big deal out of this. Booker is still young. He might still develop a fair amount; he might kill it next year. For the moment, however, I just don't see quite as good a player as others seem to see.

[Ruzious]

I don't think so. Obviously, he's not as good as Chris Paul or DeAndre Ayton. But, he's also not as good as Mikal Bridges.

Booker does a few things quite well -- he gets to the line a lot & shoots an extremely high % on those FTs. He shoots the 2 at an above average % -- on a lot of attempts. & he sees the floor well & passes effectively, resulting in a good number of assists.

But, he shoots the 3 at a below average % while taking a lot of them. Moreover, being high in turnovers, low in offensive rebounds, & low in steals subtracts from the positive effect of the things he does well.

Booker is a perfect example of the usual way of judging players -- he scores a lot of points, must be terrific.

Actually, last year Booker had a really good season, & I thought he'd turned the corner finally from a volume shooter to a terrific player. I thought it was kind of like Beal's 2016-17 season.

But, this year, he dropped straight back to where he'd been.

Otoh, scoring a lot of points for the team that's leading in the NBA Finals might be kinda important. Food for thought.

There are no bad basketball players in the NBA, & Booker is certainly a terrific scorer. Gets a lot of assists as well.

But, in every other aspect of the game, he's below average. To understand what I'm referring to, simply compare his per-40-minute numbers this year with Brad's. Then compare them with Brad's numbers in 2017-18, when he was the same age as Booker was this season.

Not making a big deal out of this. Booker is still young. He might still develop a fair amount; he might kill it next year. For the moment, however, I just don't see quite as good a player as others seem to see.

Did you watch the game last night? Remember, I've called him overrated over and over again, but... he killed it. He's certainly at least their 3rd best player - way ahead of Bridges. I don't have to tell you the significance of what he did last night. Even the officials knew - because they refused to give him his 6th foul. https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoffs-devin-booker-scoring-record-finals-031744882.html

[dobrojim]

And he was reacting/not thinking on the play, trying
to commit the foul to prevent the bucket.

[nate33]

Even more impressive on super slo-mo:

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This may well be the best basketball play I have ever seen. Absolutely unbelievable. Human beings can't do this.

[Ruzious]

Even more impressive on super slo-mo:

Read on Twitter

This may well be the best basketball play I have ever seen. Absolutely unbelievable. Human beings can't do this.

It's interesting to look at his feet as he's blocking the shot. His feet appear to be several inches below Ayton's - who's 7' tall, but Giannis is so long that he's able to reach the ball right out of Ayton's hands.

[payitforward]

Otoh, scoring a lot of points for the team that's leading in the NBA Finals might be kinda important. Food for thought.

There are no bad basketball players in the NBA, & Booker is certainly a terrific scorer. Gets a lot of assists as well.

But, in every other aspect of the game, he's below average. To understand what I'm referring to, simply compare his per-40-minute numbers this year with Brad's. Then compare them with Brad's numbers in 2017-18, when he was the same age as Booker was this season.

Not making a big deal out of this. Booker is still young. He might still develop a fair amount; he might kill it next year. For the moment, however, I just don't see quite as good a player as others seem to see.

Did you watch the game last night? Remember, I've called him overrated over and over again, but... he killed it. He's certainly at least their 3rd best player - way ahead of Bridges. I don't have to tell you the significance of what he did last night. Even the officials knew - because they refused to give him his 6th foul. https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoffs-devin-booker-scoring-record-finals-031744882.html

Absolutely -- he had a terrific game scoring the ball. He had 42 points on 28 shots & 9 FTAs. That's a .657 TS% which is absolutely terrific.

But, this is a perfect example of what I'm saying about him. Most of the benefits of that he gave right back by way of the rest of what he did & didn't do in 39 minutes. He turned the ball over 4 times, committed 5 fouls (that were called), & managed a total of 1 rebound & 2 assists plus a blocked shot but no steals. Overall, once you factor in that stuff, he had an ok night, nothing special. & so his team lost.

Middleton scored 2 fewer points than Booker, & it took him more possessions to do it, but he had a much better outing than Booker all the same, because he got 6 rebounds, he had 4 assists, he had 2 steals. & he turned the ball over only 1 time & was called for only 1 foul.

You know who else had a better game than Booker? Pat Connaughton. Inconceivable, huh? Guy only scored 11 points. Of course it only took 9 shots to get them, & he did have those 9 rebounds.

That's why Milwaukee won the game. Because along with Giannis, those 2 guys Middleton & Connaughton had terrific games.

To put it another way: Milwaukee took 97 shots. Phoenix took 78 shots. That happens when you don't rebound & you turn the ball over. Milwaukee took 29 FTAs. Phoenix only got 19.

Figure that's about 27-28 extra possessions for Milwaukee. Hard to lose when you have that many more chances to score. & how'd they get those extra chances? Well... if a guy on the opposing team plays 20 % of their minutes & manages only 1 rebound, commits 5 fouls & turns the ball over 4 times, he's given you a flying start hasn't he?

[Ruzious]

Pif, you are 1 of a kind, and I mean that literally. Only you could possibly look at that performance that way.