2018 NBA Playoffs Thread

[danikerhino]

Ariza's foul trouble and CP's lack of effectiveness effected the game ALOT.

 

[MVP]

You mean Houston isn't as good at GS's game as GS is.

Of course they aren't. The point was HOU was supposed to be the best at iso ball and KD was better tonight.

 

[danikerhino]

lebron to celtics, thats how you stop the warriors

I think with Kyrie and Hayward in, they can give us trouble. Hell, even the current line-up could give the Rockets/Warriors trouble.

 

[second2nonee]

Man I was really hoping nobody came in to say Houston should keep playing iso ball because of that graphic . They looked their best this postseason when they actually ran a pro offense and had harden off ball in the 3rd quarter of game 4 against Minny. But they haven't played like that all year and won't be able to now. Freezing everyone out the offense is not a winning strategy

minny is not remotely comparable on defense to the warriors though. they do so much off ball switching that blows up your schemes. they force you to create your own shot.

of course you shouldn't be overly reliant on iso ball but to say it isn't effective like plenty of people in here were saying during the game is just outlandish when that clearly isn't the case.

 

[MVP]

yep KD is a killer but the point of that is to show that "iso ball doesn't work for the rockets" is such a stupid misconception stated by plenty of people here during the course of the game. in actuality, harden dominated with it (and KD) and we fail outside of it cause the other guys can't really create for themselves (except gordon at times) and thrive off cp3/harden. W's switch everything so they shut down all of our cuts/drives/screens off-ball when it wasn't an immediate iso.

again, KD is the x-factor, as stupid as that sounds. myself and others have stated this many times prior to the series. when he's on, we basically have no margin for error. no other team does either, in fairness. our big 3 pretty much outplayed theirs (steph/klay/draymond) but KD is the 2nd best player in the world for a reason.

Iso ball works for HOU against 28 other teams...not GS. Which is all that matters to be honest.

 

[danikerhino]

Of course they aren't. The point was HOU was supposed to be the best at iso ball and KD was better tonight.

I would say half of KD's shots were iso, others were set up. I see your point though, he had the hot-hand.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

It's not effective tho. It's the reason all those 80 other plays didn't work

 

[MVP]

It's not effective tho. It's the reason all those 80 other plays didn't work

I don't know if Pringles can be more exposed than he will be this next week

 

[Moderngz]

What I don’t get is how the hell does nene not post up against klay thompson under the court. Bruh

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Half of Harden's 26 total isolations in Game 1 came against Curry, according to Second Spectrum data. The Rockets repeatedly set up the matchup by having the man Curry was defending screen for Harden, forcing a switch. Harden averaged 1.31 points per isolation against Curry on Monday night, a remarkably efficient number.

Harden had seven assists, but none of them resulted in 3s, as Houston players other than him shot only 8-of-28 from long range.

 

[UnicornHunter]

Half of Harden's 26 total isolations in Game 1 came against Curry, according to Second Spectrum data. The Rockets repeatedly set up the matchup by having the man Curry was defending screen for Harden, forcing a switch. Harden averaged 1.31 points per isolation against Curry on Monday night, a remarkably efficient number.

Harden had seven assists, but none of them resulted in 3s, as Houston players other than him shot only 8-of-28 from long range.

That's the gameplan... let harden get his but shut everyone else down.. the way the warriors took out the passing lanes on his drive and dish was a pure beauty

 

[UnicornHunter]

GState Warriors are the best team ever assembled. KD Steph Klay are historically elite shooters. Draymond all around skillset just a bonus. And they all play defense. This show gon continue for another 2 years. Game over.

Don't bring out the mj stans out of their sleep .. we don't need them getting offended and be kept all night defending the bulls honors lol

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

Chuck and Shaq broke it down perfectly. Blog boys tho..

 

[leavemeglazzies]

Man, people in here inventing scenarios about who can beat the Warriors.
The Warriors won a championship in 2015. Then they went 73-9 in 2016. Then Durant the coward joined them. In other words, you'd have to have a team right now that is as good as the pre-Durant 73-9 Warriors with enough space to sign a top player, and only then can you talk about that team + LeBron or that team + Kawhi beating the Warriors. And as everyone who isn't a moron knows, right now there is no such team.
This way you're only speculating and firing shots in the dark. LeBron on the Sixers might work. It might not. Kawhi on the Celtics might work. It might not. The diffrence is that we know the Warriors worked to begin with, prior to Durant.

Personally, I don't think that a team that can beat the Warriors can be assembled, unless you have multiple superstars take like 70% pay cuts in order to create a super team, which ain't happening. And even then there would be an element of mystery of how the chemistry would be between those superstars. We knew that Curry-Draymond-Klay had a 73-9 chemistry. Durant didn't have to add to that chemistry. All Durant had to do is not to flat out ruin that existing chemistry and offer 5% more than whatever it was Harrison Barnes brought to the table.

 

[drewsone]

Man, people in here inventing scenarios about who can beat the Warriors.
The Warriors won a championship in 2015. Then they went 73-9 in 2016. Then Durant the coward joined them. In other words, you'd have to have a team right now that is as good as the pre-Durant 73-9 Warriors with enough space to sign a top player, and only then can you talk about that team + LeBron or that team + Kawhi beating the Warriors. And as everyone who isn't a moron knows, right now there is no such team.
This way you're only speculating and firing shots in the dark. LeBron on the Sixers might work. It might not. Kawhi on the Celtics might work. It might not. The diffrence is that we know the Warriors worked to begin with, prior to Durant.

Personally, I don't think that a team that can beat the Warriors can be assembled, unless you have multiple superstars take like 70% pay cuts in order to create a super team, which ain't happening. And even then there would be an element of mystery of how the chemistry would be between those superstars. We knew that Curry-Draymond-Klay had a 73-9 chemistry. Durant didn't have to add to that chemistry. All Durant had to do is not to flat out ruin that existing chemistry and offer 5% more than whatever it was Harrison Barnes brought to the table.

yup. KD being the final evolution of H. Barnes
he just out there running around catching and shooting lmao

 

[danikerhino]

Harrison Barnes had me heated for weeks after the finals that year.

 

[doublemesh96]

All these harden iso stats as if it matters

 

[moe200069]

yep KD is a killer but the point of that is to show that "iso ball doesn't work for the rockets" is such a stupid misconception stated by plenty of people here during the course of the game. in actuality, harden dominated with it (and KD) and we fail outside of it cause the other guys can't really create for themselves (except gordon at times) and thrive off cp3/harden. W's switch everything so they shut down all of our cuts/drives/screens off-ball when it wasn't an immediate iso.

again, KD is the x-factor, as stupid as that sounds. myself and others have stated this many times prior to the series. when he's on, we basically have no margin for error. no other team does either, in fairness. our big 3 pretty much outplayed theirs (steph/klay/draymond) but KD is the 2nd best player in the world for a reason.

By your account, the rockets game plan might as well just been give the ball to harden, clear the lane, and let him create. Harden ISO ball might be great for his stats but hasn’t that always been the rockets achilles heal against the warriors year in and year out? If harden wants to be ball dominant and drop 40 points unassisted then that’s great for the warriors. Warriors do switch on defense often due to draymond and kd being able to guard 1-5 but wouldn’t it be something to see harden running off ball thru picks and finding his spots as opposed to waiting on the perimeter for cp to pass it to him?

you championing his reliance on ISO ball is why you easily overlook klay dropping a casual 28. Bruh wasnt out there lookin like hot sauce with the ball but got his buckets running off picks to get open 3s, making back cuts, and cutting thru the lane. That’s more sustainable and efficient over the course of a 7 game series.

 

[freeze]

James isos too much. Not instilling confidence in the other players. Dudes just stand around and watch. The ball has no energy with Houston. The ball skips all over the place like the golden snitch with gsw. They said they look to make 300 passes a game. That's epic.

 

[nomnom]

Im tempted to turn away every time Harrison Barnes shoots a 3 now considering how 2016 went lol

 

[charlie parker]

Man, nah. HELL NAH.

Rocket fans,

NO PLEAS WILL BE ACCEPTED. NO FLIP FLOPPING. NO PILLOW BITING. NO TIP TOEING. NO EXCUSES. YOU SAID THIS WAS THE YEAR.

YOU LOSE? YOU GET THE SWORD. NO MERCY.

 

[danikerhino]

Man, nah. HELL NAH.

Rocket fans,

NO PLEAS WILL BE ACCEPTED. NO FLIP FLOPPING. NO PILLOW BITING. NO TIP TOEING. NO EXCUSES. YOU SAID THIS WAS THE YEAR.

YOU LOSE? YOU GET THE SWORD. NO MERCY.

I get you, but let's see how game 2 plays out first.

 

[second2nonee]

By your account, the rockets game plan might as well just been give the ball to harden, clear the lane, and let him create. Harden ISO ball might be great for his stats but hasn’t that always been the rockets achilles heal against the warriors year in and year out? If harden wants to be ball dominant and drop 40 points unassisted then that’s great for the warriors. Warriors do switch on defense often due to draymond and kd being able to guard 1-5 but wouldn’t it be something to see harden running off ball thru picks and finding his spots as opposed to waiting on the perimeter for cp to pass it to him?

you championing his reliance on ISO ball is why you easily overlook klay dropping a casual 28. Bruh wasnt out there lookin like hot sauce with the ball but got his buckets running off picks to get open 3s, making back cuts, and cutting thru the lane. That’s more sustainable and efficient over the course of a 7 game series.

when you look at how our roster was assembled, an iso heavy offense maximizes the talent on our squad. it's more noticeable for people who've actually watched more than 5 games of us this year. this game was an uglier version of the iso heavy offense we normally run, but part of that is due to the warriors great defense. even when harden isos and looks to create, the warriors were guarding the cuts off-ball well. then they made him work on defense switching onto KD which obviously would gas him with his offensive load (led to some late turnovers and missed bunnies).

it's hard to say that's our achilles heel cause that team was built differently (dwight and mchale). you don't change an offense 90 games in when it's had so much success, which is what i hear many people calling for, and has been proven to be one of the few ways to beat the warriors (okc with kd/russ, cavs with bron/kyrie). the fact of the matter is that iso was our best offense tonight and will continue to be as this roster is assembled, and was not as big of a problem as people made it to be tonight. it's just the narrative people have been running with for the whole year. our defense and other guys like luc, gordon, and ariza continuing to slump in the playoffs shooting the ball were much of a bigger problem tonight.

i am not championing iso ball. whether people believe it's not good enough to beat the warriors, that's a reasonable take, because the KD warriors are an all-time great team and have plenty ways to beat you. i am merely arguing against many people saying it isn't effective. that's just not true. what klay gotta do with this? completely different players and i never even mentioned him

Man, nah. HELL NAH.

Rocket fans,

NO PLEAS WILL BE ACCEPTED. NO FLIP FLOPPING. NO PILLOW BITING. NO TIP TOEING. NO EXCUSES. YOU SAID THIS WAS THE YEAR.

YOU LOSE? YOU GET THE SWORD. NO MERCY.

turn your caps lock off lol. the hell are you even talking bout. im never gonna pick against us. rockets in 3. good night

 

[sooperhooper]

Watching Houston was like watching a summer league game. Harden was in his bag and his dishes to capella are always on point but gsw just ain't fair. That one stretch in the 2nd, Durant was looking like the greatest basketball player ever. I don't want to see Boston in the finals. It's like watching a good college team. But i reeeeeeeeeeally hope they wash Cleveland.

If kd doesn't leave, either Bron or Leonard gotta go to Houston. Or Leonard gotta go to Boston. Warriors are like Walmart sending home mom n pop teams.

 

[atlsfinest]

Ehhh it's Game 1, let's not overreact