Curious what the experts think. I have nothing to offer. Just want to hear other people's opinions to learn from.
I am not prepared to go that far, personally. But it would have been competitive and we wouldn't have blown 3 big leads. Probably only blow 2 of them! Sorry. A little humor to help me cope!
Portland with a healthy Nurkic is a positive. So is GS with a healthy KD. So is GS with a healthy Boogie. Is a healthy Nurk enough to offset the sweep from the W's missing two All Stars? I'd guess yes. STOMP
Portland had a healthy Nurkic last season against the Pelicans when they ran a very similar defense to what the Warriors did. It didn't make any difference. I know Nurkic was better this season than he was last season, but he doesn't really address all the issues created when a team sells out their defense to shut down Dame. Portland needs another top level perimeter talent with handles & vision that can punish a defense for doing what the Pels and Warriors did. That's not Nurkic. He would have helped, maybe enough that it wouldn't have been a sweep, but the Warriors would have still won the series IMO
If both Nurk and Enes were 100% healthy, we could beat the Warriors in a series...also Dame and Rodney...CJ coming off injury..healthy we match up with them
A big who not only could set a pick but could also get the pass from Dame at the three point line and hit one of the two open players for uncontested shots? GS would have to change how they guard Dame and it would have been very interesting to see what changes they made. There would also be no player on GS who could guard Nurk effectively, we would still have struggles closing games especially because GS would tire the hell out of Nurkic. I think it would go much like what we saw, we would build leads but struggle to maintain them and be in a close game with about 3 minutes left. We would take it to six with an outside shot at 7 but I think we still ultimately lose .
Not a fair comparison. We have a much better bench too. Curry and hood are huge in relieving dame. Comparing us last year with nurk compared to this year has alot mire to do than just having nurk.
We need an emphasis on defense and decision making. I hate to use the word High IQ. But to me, it comes down to it. High IQ by coaches and our key players. Our players should focus on doing what they do best. Our coaching staff needs to put them in those positions.
This is not true at all. Stotts coached terribly that series. You avoid the trap SIMPLY by passing to Nurk in the high post INSTEAD of running Pick and roll all game. Pass and cut. Move, move, MOVE. Curry never stops moving. This is Dame's next evolution.