OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD- February 2021

I really dislike that guy. I don't know why. Just something about him irks me.

 

I blame the coach!!!!!

 

CJ took us to the WCF and has performed decent in playoffs. Want to get rid of both of them too?

 

1) the 2018-19 team had as much, if not more, depth than this team

2) last year, they had Nurkic and Whiteside

3) it's way too optimistic to expect that 12 games of CJ this season is more predictive of what he'll be than the previous 530 games of his career

none of that really matters....if a team is good enough defensively to limit Dame and shut-down his favorite moves, Portland wilts. That's happened for 7 straight playoffs. CJ/Nurkic have had two chances to make teams pay for a Dame-centric defense and they've failed. CJ has had 5 chances and it hasn't mattered

 

CJ puts up such great numbers in the playoffs because teams sell out so hard on Dame that they are daring CJ to beat them and he simply hasn't been able to get the job done to this point. Maybe if CJ comes back and plays like he did at the beginning of the season he'll buck that trend. It was teams selling out on Dame that took us to the WCF and some fortuitous injuries to players far more crucial to our opponents than the ones we were missing.

I'm not saying that CJ isn't fantastic and that he doesn't do his part but when teams trap Dame or play ball denial on him, if CJ played like he does when Dame is out instead of his usual, then we would have a better chance. The two of them are still going to almost always cost us too much playing as a defensive back court but maybe we'll have a chance if CJ can changes his ways (or keeps them if those first 12 games were his knew ways). However, great offense rarely covers for bad defense, just ask Mike D'Antoni.

 

CJ didn't "take" Portland to the WCF. There wouldn't have been a game 7 if it wasn't for LIllard, Kanter, and Hood. CJ performed well in game 7, but he followed that up by playing like shit in the WCF against single-coverage while the Warriors trapped and doubled Dame all over the floor. If CJ was the answer for when Dame is the focus of the defense, that wouldn't have happened. And the Pels series wouldn't have happened either

I get that everybody wants to believe things will be different this year. That the same players will be able to defeat the same defense they haven't defeated before. I don't think that's realistic. But sure....it's possible something is different

actually, Portland was 3 games over .500 six weeks ago; if they lose tonight, they'd be 4 games over .500....twenty games after they were 3 games over. That's not two steps forward; that's moving up 1 game over the course of 28% of the season; that's not even a baby step forward.

But it was pretty clear I was talking about the NBA this year....how few teams are playing consistently good. Good wins followed by bad losses. Look at the last 10 games for WC teams (last column):



for chrissakes, 11 of the 15 teams lost their last game....that's what I was talking about

 

Man they beat blazers didnt they lol

 

By "coach" you mean Stotts, right? It was Stotts fault the Nuggets players couldn't run a 4 on 1 fast break

 

Should we expect Toronto to lose big without a coaching staff?

 

I read he's asking to be traded to Philly so maybe he sits this one out?

 

Will Barton rubbing off on them.

 

Appears Toronto not having their coaching staff made little to no difference. No surprise.