2021-22 NBA Season Discussion

[GSP]

If Dallas has something other than 5 out isos in their bag it'll be the first time we've seen it.

Feels like they went after the wrong targets today - Looney is a rock. Poole, Poole is the one they want.

Yeah I dont know why ppl still go at Looney on isos. He shut down Cp3 when he tried that on him in the 19 series. Hes not Bam but there arent many better centers that can guard isos from all positions as well as him

Luka is much closer to his size and isnt gonna blow by him. He is very disciplined and might be the most underrated player in the league in general

[BIGJ1ER]

Curry and thompson present a completely different challenge for DFS and Bullock to defend at all times off the ball, and I'm curious wether Reggie can hold up over a 7 game series with his current rib injury.

Maxi in foul trouble hurt the Mavs severely, so him being back will change things, but on the flip side Dray was also somewhat limited with foul trouble himself.

Mavs will adjust, they're completely optimised to stop a PNR heavy offence atm, and not ready for the whirlwind of offball action that GS threw at them tonight.

I don't know however if they have the personnel to really match up perfectly with GS. Their best POA guys just let Draymond cheat off so become borderline unplayable (Green and Frank), and Kleber is their only real rim protector, and GS love to run weakside actions to remove help from coming.

Dallas unlike Memphis don't force all that many turnovers from memory (15th for DAL, 1st? for Mem correct me if I'm wrong), so if GS can hold onto the ball, I like their chances tbh.

Also Wiggins was awesome on Luka, he's been better than Bridges this playoffs in general with his versatility on both ends, something I never thought I'd find myself saying earlier in the year (Huge Mikal stan)

[Doctor MJ]

Curry and thompson present a completely different challenge for DFS and Bullock to defend at all times off the ball, and I'm curious wether Reggie can hold up over a 7 game series with his current rib injury.

Maxi in foul trouble hurt the Mavs severely, so him being back will change things, but on the flip side Dray was also somewhat limited with foul trouble himself.

Mavs will adjust, they're completely optimised to stop a PNR heavy offence atm, and not ready for the whirlwind of offball action that GS threw at them tonight.

I don't know however if they have the personnel to really match up perfectly with GS. Their best POA guys just let Draymond cheat off so become borderline unplayable (Green and Frank), and Kleber is their only real rim protector, and GS love to run weakside actions to remove help from coming.

Dallas unlike Memphis don't force all that many turnovers from memory (15th for DAL, 1st? for Mem correct me if I'm wrong), so if GS can hold onto the ball, I like their chances tbh.

Also Wiggins was awesome on Luka, he's been better than Bridges this playoffs in general with his versatility on both ends, something I never thought I'd find myself saying earlier in the year (Huge Mikal stan)

Your first insight is at the heart of things.

There was every reason to expect the Mavs to struggle with their first encounter with the Warriors in the playoffs as the Warriors represent something fundamentally different than the Suns.

Now we get to see how Luka and his comrades can adapt to this new challenge. No given that they can, but if they can, the basketball future is blindingly bright in Texas.

[70sFan]

It's just a one game, but it looked rough for Dallas on both ends of the floor. They have to adjust their gameplan, because they looked lost on defense.

By the way, what's your thought on Curry? Do you still see him as the absolute top tier player in the league? It seems that Warriors at this point rely on their system and team chemistry more than ever before. Curry still has his moments, but does he look like the best player in the league candidate?

[jalengreen]

It's just a one game, but it looked rough for Dallas on both ends of the floor. They have to adjust their gameplan, because they looked lost on defense.

By the way, what's your thought on Curry? Do you still see him as the absolute top tier player in the league? It seems that Warriors at this point rely on their system and team chemistry more than ever before. Curry still has his moments, but does he look like the best player in the league candidate?

i struggle to see a case for steph over giannis. jokic has probably even surpassed steph offensively

i think steph is a top 5 player but i'd probably say that he's closer to lebron than he is to giannis.. although i am not as high on steph defensively as some people are.

[RCM88x]

Yeah Curry has definitely had a rough go of it this postseason. Shooting like 35% from 3 so far?

I don't think he's really in that conversation anymore, he's just not played well enough for a long enough time. I sort of wonder if them distributing shots to more guys has hurt his rhythm. He's always been very much a rhythm and hot/cold player so I feel like with Poole and Klay getting more shots now that he's just not able to get in the groove as much. Granted, maybe that's intentional because he's just not hitting those shots at a high enough rate.

If I were to rank him I'd put him in the bottom half of the top 10.

[TheGOATRises007]

It's just a one game, but it looked rough for Dallas on both ends of the floor. They have to adjust their gameplan, because they looked lost on defense.

By the way, what's your thought on Curry? Do you still see him as the absolute top tier player in the league? It seems that Warriors at this point rely on their system and team chemistry more than ever before. Curry still has his moments, but does he look like the best player in the league candidate?

I think Curry has noticeably declined all season compared to last season.

I don't think he's a best player in the league candidate personally unless he really revs it up.

If he was still a candidate, I'd be very confident in the Warriors winning it all.

That said, his playoff run at a quick glance statistically isn't vastly different from his prime season. His on-off numbers are the biggest drop-off from his prime seasons.

Also he's having the worst 3pt shooting stretch in his playoff career.

[TheGOATRises007]

Yeah Curry has definitely had a rough go of it this postseason. Shooting like 35% from 3 so far?

I don't think he's really in that conversation anymore, he's just not played well enough for a long enough time. I sort of wonder if them distributing shots to more guys has hurt his rhythm. He's always been very much a rhythm and hot/cold player so I feel like with Poole and Klay getting more shots now that he's just not able to get in the groove as much. Granted, maybe that's intentional because he's just not hitting those shots at a high enough rate.

If I were to rank him I'd put him in the bottom half of the top 10.

Funnily enough, per 100 possessions, Steph's FGA are currently 28.2 in the playoffs. That'd be the highest mark of his playoff career.

The lowest he took in his prime seasons was actually in 2016-2017 at 24.8. Which coincidentally is also his best playoff run in TS% by a good amount.

[Statlanta]

As a neutral fan Draymond coming to do TNT segments and podcasts eliminates some of the “donkey” stereotypes I had for him. It blurs the line of dirty player who embraces his personality to just regular person playing basketball

[Statlanta]

By the way, what's your thought on Curry?

I think Curry is still close to the top 3 than others in this thread. Playoff gameplans can make some players look better than others when certain teams just say to stop the role players and let the superstar go off. Teams still sell out for Curry.

I also think Curry's game is also cleaner and more consistent than his counterparts, Giannis and physical play, Embiid and his foul-draw, Durant/Tatum and their ball-handling, etc.

[Dr Positivity]

I don’t think Butler reached another level, I think Miami gained a level of depth that allows him to be a top level player. Miami is the deepest team in the league that’s not Phoenix

I think they also have a top 10 coach of all time. They are the new Spurs where the team culture and system seems bigger than the players.

[Doctor MJ]

It's just a one game, but it looked rough for Dallas on both ends of the floor. They have to adjust their gameplan, because they looked lost on defense.

By the way, what's your thought on Curry? Do you still see him as the absolute top tier player in the league? It seems that Warriors at this point rely on their system and team chemistry more than ever before. Curry still has his moments, but does he look like the best player in the league candidate?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Hard to compare Curry and the other Warriors to the rest of the league because they play so differently from anyone else.

What we can say:

1. Curry’s plus minus this year put him way above any other teammate, and one of the 3 outlier performers of the year along with Jokic and Tatum.

2. We know that all opponent game plans still focus on Curry.

3. We know that in terms of on court communication he’s now extremely valuable just like Iggy and Dray.

4. We know that as valuable as Dray is, that Curry is the heart of the team. Without Curry in ‘19-20, Dray didn’t lead the team to anywhere at all.

5. We also know that Curry being on this franchise has a Duncan-like anchor all these years is why the team has been able to keep building in this style which is what’s allowed the Warriors to bet on the Wigginses, the Looneys, the Paytons, and even the Poole’s.


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[Outside]

It's just a one game, but it looked rough for Dallas on both ends of the floor. They have to adjust their gameplan, because they looked lost on defense.

By the way, what's your thought on Curry? Do you still see him as the absolute top tier player in the league? It seems that Warriors at this point rely on their system and team chemistry more than ever before. Curry still has his moments, but does he look like the best player in the league candidate?

Curry isn't the "fire" version of his peak production and efficiency, but he now willingly leverages his gravity significantly more to get hockey assists when he has the ball or create 4-on-3 or 3-on-2 opportunities for teammates. The net result is still top-tier in effect, if not in production.

[70sFan]

I think some people read my post as the question of Curry's impact, which definitely wasn't my intention. I just think that he regressed noticeably and although he's clear superstar in my mind, I just don't think he's on his prime level anymore. That's all, he's still incredible player though.

[Outside]

Excellent breakdown of the defense the Warriors used on Luka and the Mavs in game 1. It will be an interesting series, because I fully expect Dallas to come up with counters, which the Warriors will then have to counter.

The advantage that the Warriors have is that they've already had series like this and have those response counters in their pocket. A disadvantage is that not everyone on the current Warriors has experience with that. For example, the video shows Steph doing the "high tag" defense on Luka very well, but Poole not executing it as cleanly. Wiggins, however, is showing off great defensive aptitude.

Watch on YouTube

[Doctor MJ]

I think some people read my post as the question of Curry's impact, which definitely wasn't my intention. I just think that he regressed noticeably and although he's clear superstar in my mind, I just don't think he's on his prime level anymore. That's all, he's still incredible player though.

I think GS had wanted, they probably could have had Curry keep playing like he did toward the end of last year.

I think they made a choice to focus on the system this year - just like they did at the start of last year - and that holds Curry’s numbers back some.

I also think Curry played harder than ever on defense to set a tone for the band getting back together and as a 30-something, I think it tired him out.

This isn’t to say that Curry isn’t a year further beyond his physical peak, just that if we see a guy seriously fall off in production in a year where his team took a massive leap forward with him being the huge impact guy, there’s probably more to the story.

As I say that: All guards fell off this year in terms of scoring efficiency compared to bigs, and I don’t think Curry was immune to that shift.


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[falcolombardi]

couldnt watch the game last night

were the warriors that good or dallas that bad? (or both?)

[eminence]

couldnt watch the game last night

were the warriors that good or dallas that bad? (or both?)

Dallas missed some open shots early that helped set the tone, but overall I’d lean towards GS being that good last night.

[Texas Chuck]

couldnt watch the game last night

were the warriors that good or dallas that bad? (or both?)

I thought after the first quarter when Dallas created a bunch of good shots they just missed, the Warriors defense was really really good. Luka clearly was struggling with how to attack them. Brunson and Dinwiddie actually more effective with just an attack the paint and shoot mentality.

And Dallas definitely had some defensive lapses against the Warriors that we weren't seeing for most of the first 2 rounds. Clearly the motion and cutting offense was leading to some mistakes.

But despite a pretty good beatdown I don't actually feel that bad about things. Dallas will shoot better. I trust Luka to figure some things out and Kidd and Sweeney have made great adjustments on defense in previous series.

But yeah, the championship mettle of the core showed out and Looney and Wiggins were great as well. Both defended well which was expected. Looney dominated the offensive glass which was expected. Wiggins aggressively took advantage of Luka when the Warriors had the ball which was really smart of him.

[Outside]

couldnt watch the game last night

were the warriors that good or dallas that bad? (or both?)

Dallas missed some open threes early, but so did the Warriors (Klay was 0-4 in the first half and 7-9 in the second, Steph was 1-6 in the first quarter and 6-11 after that). The Warriors defense had them off-balance for most of the game, throwing various looks at them. The five-man zone and box-and-one were effective (the Warriors have become very good at zone, which is tailor-made for Draymond's skills). The Mavs didn't handle the Warriors motion very well. The Warriors crushed them on the boards, 51-35.

Wiggins was great on both ends as the primary defender on Luka and the beneficiary of the Mavs taking away threes and the Warriors motion creating openings in the midrange. Looney, Poole, and Porter all had good games. Steph didn't shoot all that great (again) and missed free throws (again) but had game highs in points (21) and rebounds (12).

The Mavs are good defensively but aren't as imposing as Memphis was (especially after Ja went out). It didn't help Dallas that Kleber got in foul trouble, but not having to deal with JJJ and Steven Adams is like a breath of fresh air.

It is so much fun seeing Wiggins blossom and the rest of the team lavish praise on him at every opportunity, which they have been doing all postseason. Instead of the stoic, joyless automaton that he was in Minnesota, he's actually smiling and making jokes in the postgame media session. He's loving life and playing great.

It's just one game. The Mavs will adjust and shoot better. The Warriors are known to lay an egg or two during a series. Luka and Dinwiddie seemed unfazed in the postgame comments, which is good. They didn't beat Phoenix by tucking their tails and going home. But the Warriors will be a far great challenge than the Suns.