KIRAG wrote:kuclas wrote:strokerace wrote:You are missing the fact that basketball is a game of offense and defense and Irving stinks on defense. Tatum and Brown will hunt him down constantly. I just don't see your logic. And if Simmons really does take the floor the C's will foul him until the nets take him out. He is a mental midget.
Defense is all about effort. Irving kinda of shocked me when he played defense vs Harden in sixers game which the nets blew out the sixers.
When he actually tries, Irving is very servicable. That's the key to a lot of these offensive minded players. Their effort on defense vs trying to conserve energy on offense. With at least one day off each game, guys should be able to play defense.
Like Jaylen Brown took off a ton of plays on defense earlier this season to pad his stats on offense when Celtics were losing a bunch of games.
Now a guy like Seth Curry who is atheltically challenged, no matter what he does, he's still not a good defender.
The bolded part. Kyrie actually plays decent defense when he tries but I am not quite confident he won't be gassed doing both D and Offense on a high level at the same time for 6-7 straight games especially the Nets rely heavily on both him and KD on offense.
On the flip side. Does Tatum want to be gassed defending KD. Or will grant Williams be the sacrificial lamb to try to body up KD? Horford?
This is where Robert Williams will be missed the most.
I still think Boston will win in 6. Nets have very little depth. KD and kyrie will need to be performing at 90% or higher every night for nets to win. While the Js probably can perform at a 75% level or higher for Boston to win. So Celtics have more room for error.