NBA playoffs: greatest show on Earth | Page 66 | Syracusefan.com

NBA playoffs: greatest show on Earth

I’ve been a “NBA is awesome” guy for awhile, but it’s getting dangerously close to jumping the shark.

The whole allowing moving screens while teams take turns playing horse isn’t doing it for me. That both Houston and Boston lost game 7s in the same way shows this strategy may need some refining. Terry Rozier and Trevor Ariza should not be allowed to lose games by going 0-10 from 3. That’s just bad basketball and bad shot selection and strategy.

Not pining for a return to 90s Knicks- Heat slugfests by any means. Just some refinement. I’ve always preferred balance.
 
OrangeDW said:
I’ve been a “NBA is awesome” guy for awhile, but it’s getting dangerously close to jumping the shark.

The whole allowing moving screens while teams take turns playing horse isn’t doing it for me. That both Houston and Boston lost game 7s in the same way shows this strategy may need some refining. Terry Rozier and Trevor Ariza should not be allowed to lose games by going 0-10 from 3. That’s just bad basketball and bad shot selection and strategy.

Not pining for a return to 90s Knicks- Heat slugfests by any means. Just some refinement. I’ve always preferred balance.
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The moving screen needs a serious look. Teams are forced to switch bigs onto guards because it's almost impossible to get around a guy sliding his feet and holding the defender. I get the strategy on offense is find the switch that allows for the best mismatch and the strategy on defense by a lot of teams is switch everything... but my god. So sick of seeing centers try to stay in front of guards. It's obnoxious and a big reason is because the moving screens are not called nearly as much as they should be.
 
CuseCrew08 said:
When did having both feet set shoulder width apart on a screen stop being necessary?
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Yeah, that. Also, last I knew once contact was made you had to be set/still. These guys are sticking their legs and arms out so they get “tangled up” on purpose and then moving along with the opponent to basically hold their block.
 
Also, this whole “well this is what we do!” thing is an easy out for the players and coaches. These guys missed 27 straight 3’s! And just kept going out of their way to jack more of them! Then it’s “hey, that’s what we do, the shots just didn’t fall, can’t question it!” Lol.

Everyone talks about it being the future, but only one team thrives at it. Not everybody can be the Warriors. I think these playoffs have been one of the uglier ones in memory.

Boston did not find a way to use Greg Monroe to his fullest during that series.

GS let Javale McGee waste away on the bench after he contributed to their success in the first round and a bit the second round.

Embiid, rather than dominate in the paint, wants to put the ball on the floor or shoot 3s and comes up small in crucial post touches on the block. He should be auto down there. *Given how little ball he’s actually played, I’ll give him a pass for not being Dream or McHale down there yet. But I’d like to see him dominate down there more than he does.

Houston has no semblance of a post game at all. That's a critique in and of itself. With GS not playing McGee, they couldn’t score inside more than that? Role players are just going to shoot you out of games now and it’s “oh well, that’s what we do?”

I’m not buying in.
 
cliftonparksufan said:
I'm thinking that if the Warriors win by double digits in the first game (as predicted by Vegas) then this will be one of the lowest watched NBA finals in history.

Now, if Bronnie really is Superman, then that will make a compelling story. Otherwise, this series should be a snoozer.
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Warriors winning by double digits is basically like them winnng by 1 . It’s hard for them to barely beat you .. I think , true to form , they’ll lose 1 or 2 games after they are up in the series as they lose interest .. unlike Houston , Cavs don’t have enough to really make them pay when they get sloppy

Also , lebron is bound to have left some flesh on the floor winning that Celtics series .. that’s 2 7 gamers out of 3 .. imagine if the raptors actually put up a fight ?
 
OrangeDW said:
Also, this whole “well this is what we do!” thing is an easy out for the players and coaches. These guys missed 27 straight 3’s! And just kept going out of their way to jack more of them! Then it’s “hey, that’s what we do, the shots just didn’t fall, can’t question it!” Lol.

Everyone talks about it being the future, but only one team thrives at it. Not everybody can be the Warriors. I think these playoffs have been one of the uglier ones in memory.

Boston did not find a way to use Greg Monroe to his fullest during that series.

GS let Javale McGee waste away on the bench after he contributed to their success in the first round and a bit the second round.

Embiid, rather than dominate in the paint, wants to put the ball on the floor or shoot 3s and comes up small in crucial post touches on the block. He should be auto down there. *Given how little ball he’s actually played, I’ll give him a pass for not being Dream or McHale down there yet. But I’d like to see him dominate down there more than he does.

Houston has no semblance of a post game at all. That's a critique in and of itself. With GS not playing McGee, they couldn’t score inside more than that? Role players are just going to shoot you out of games now and it’s “oh well, that’s what we do?”

I’m not buying in.
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Well, what you described was further supported by the fact that they WERE very successful in scoring / getting fouled when they drove and used pick and rolls in the first half ...hardens iso ball works perfectly fine when he gets things going early in the shot clock and either drives to the hole or goes to plan B pass with good amount of time on the clock .. but when he dribbles 22 seconds and jacks up a three ..that’s not good offense and that’s not what this team did all year
 
NineOneSeven said:
The moving screen needs a serious look. Teams are forced to switch bigs onto guards because it's almost impossible to get around a guy sliding his feet and holding the defender. I get the strategy on offense is find the switch that allows for the best mismatch and the strategy on defense by a lot of teams is switch everything... but my god. So sick of seeing centers try to stay in front of guards. It's obnoxious and a big reason is because the moving screens are not called nearly as much as they should be.
Expand...

One thing that I kept seeing was what I can only describe as a screen-by-bear-hug. It's just a given that a guard can pick off a big or wing by basically doing a light wrap up on him.

I definitely think the screens need to be a focus area and then clarity on the rip-through fouls.
 
STEVEHOLT said:
Well, what you described was further supported by the fact that they WERE very successful in scoring / getting fouled when they drove and used pick and rolls in the first half ...hardens iso ball works perfectly fine when he gets things going early in the shot clock and either drives to the hole or goes to plan B pass with good amount of time on the clock .. but when he dribbles 22 seconds and jacks up a three ..that’s not good offense and that’s not what this team did all year
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The threes were ridiculous, but I can't fault a team that loses a HoF PG and is trying to beat arguably one of the best group of players of all time.

To your point, the strategy was working but the dribble, dribble, jack strategy happens (whether because of no CP3 or dead legs), you aren't beating a team like the GSW.

I just wish they could have been more disciplined and gave one more big push in the 3Q. I mean, they did ok for the first 4-5 mins of the quarter and then Steph went nuclear.
 
MikeSU02 said:
The threes were ridiculous, but I can't fault a team that loses a HoF PG and is trying to beat arguably one of the best group of players of all time.

To your point, the strategy was working but the dribble, dribble, jack strategy happens (whether because of no CP3 or dead legs), you aren't beating a team like the GSW.

I just wish they could have been more disciplined and gave one more big push in the 3Q. I mean, they did ok for the first 4-5 mins of the quarter and then Steph went nuclear.
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But how much of him going nuclear was due to Houston missing bad long shots and GSW getting out in numbers ? Houston was locking them down in the half court all series .. bad shots that don’t go in are the hardest thing to defend against ..
 
OrangeDW said:
Not pining for a return to 90s Knicks- Heat slugfests by any means. Just some refinement. I’ve always preferred balance.
Expand...

Or as Reilly called, force basketball
 
OrangeDW said:
I’ve been a “NBA is awesome” guy for awhile, but it’s getting dangerously close to jumping the shark.

The whole allowing moving screens while teams take turns playing horse isn’t doing it for me. That both Houston and Boston lost game 7s in the same way shows this strategy may need some refining. Terry Rozier and Trevor Ariza should not be allowed to lose games by going 0-10 from 3. That’s just bad basketball and bad shot selection and strategy.

Not pining for a return to 90s Knicks- Heat slugfests by any means. Just some refinement. I’ve always preferred balance.
Expand...

I think Dr. Naismith was rolling over in his grave the last few nights. Two Games 7s and one losing team goes 7-39 from 3 while the other losing team misses 27 3's in a row. The massive volume of 3s will always lead to more non-competitive games because of the live by, die by nature of shooting so many shots from behind the arc.
 
bpo57 said:
I think Dr. Naismith was rolling over in his grave the last few nights. Two Games 7s and one losing team goes 7-39 from 3 while the other losing team misses 27 3's in a row. The massive volume of 3s will always lead to more non-competitive games because of the live by, die by nature of shooting so many shots from behind the arc.
Expand...

That combined with no one even attempting to grab an offensive rebound, except maybe Tristan Thompson.

Rozier is the one that killed me. His mechanics with his feet are just so terrible. It's never the same jump.
 
We need to talk about the sixers thing. Everything else is secondary at the moment.
 
Thoughts on tonight and this series? I predicted GS in 5, but this is LeBron James..
 
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