Around the NBA - the 2020 Playoff Edition!

Sam Presti must be laughing his a** off last night. Robbed the Clippers with all that draft picks for Paul George.

 

Totally agree.
These are not NB but they are close and are absolutely the most comfortable shoe i have.

 

Luka first team all nba! Well deserved

 

Oh come on man Chris, i thought at least you wouldn't come up with that excuse. Murray has seen Elite defenders on him this Playoffs with double teams sometimes and yet he still was phenomenal for more than just one series. He does things where i'm not sure Dame can do. And btw Dame has won 4 Playoff series in his career, Murray allready 3, think about it

 

New Balance are the only running shoes that don’t hurt my feet over time . I went through Nike, Asics, and adidas before finding NB and I’ve never gone back. Nike was the absolute worst for running, yet best for basketball for me. Weird.

 

Well, Murray has never been the #1 player on his team, Dame has pretty much been that even when he tried to defer to LMA - so while there is nothing bad to say about Murray (he is a great player) - I do not think that metric of how many series they won is really relevant in a head-to-head comparison - given the difference of overall team talent and depth they played with.

BTW - How did you like my boy Albon getting on the podium in Italy last weekend? What a drive by that kid...

 

This is surprising and, I would say, revealing:

 

I don't know, the way Dame dissapears in the Playoffs, i would trust Murray a lot more in the Playoffs than Dame, that's just my oppinion, Dames Playoff resume is not that good, his stats aren't good, yes, he has made two historic shots, outside of that he wasn't that good. I think Murray is a Star in the making and is going to be a Top 4 PG next season behind Steph, Luka and Dame. He's going to be special especially in the Playoffs, he's just that good.
Sorry but i wasnt impressed by Albon, once again half a second slower than Max in the qualifing and lost several places at the restart, and one point he was 7th while Max was out of the race, he did some good overtaking though i give him that

 

Yep. They got Jokic in the second round and he’s only 25.

 

And Dame won the head to head.

 

The reason Jokic was available then is the same reason Marc Gasol was a second-rounder: both were REALLY hefty. And it wasn't a new thing - they grew up chubsters. Some fatties can control it when they need to and some turn into Oliver Miller or John "Hot Plate" Williams I guess.

 

Sure i know, but it was CJ who won the Blazers the game with 37 points and clutch buckets, Dame in game 7 had 13 points on 3-17 shooting and 2-9 from three. Murray wasn't good in that game too, but it was also just his 2nd career series, against Dame in his prime

 

If they aren't doubling Dame every damn play CJ doesn't get 37 points. It's simple as that. If they double CJ? Dame lights them up for 57 points!

 

lol maybe because Denver built their entire defense around stopping Dame?

 

One huge difference this year CJ was playing with a broken back!

 

This problem could have been solved long ago if Dame had learned how to play off the ball, but he hasn't, and he hasn't shown any willingness to do that because he wants the Ball in his hand, and that makes it so easy to defend him because he's to predictable. Evan Turner could have had a good role here like he did in Boston, but Dames inability to play off the ball made him a bad fit, and yeah i blame Stotts and Dame for that. You know why Lillards and also for comparison Harden numbers drop in the Playoffs? Because they are easy to defend, you just know what they gonna do next

 

Plus Dame is getting old now. Denver, Dallas, Utah, just to name a few are the new teams that have surpassed while we had Dame and they were trying to catch us

 

As Blazers fans, we may not like that.....but there is a degree of truth.

And to compare a 'prime' Dame to last years 22 year old Murray seems a bit hollow. Love Dame to death, but going forward, (due to age as much as anything) a 23 year old Murray vs a 30 year old Dame isn't necessarily the slam dunk for the Blazers that we might all want it to be.

 

The future!

 

25 ppg, 6 apg, 4.5 rpg is not disappearing, especially since the entire defensive philosophy of every team we face in the playoffs is to stop Dame at all costs and make someone else win the games. Oh and then there are those series ending shots. So to say Dame disappears is fucking ridiculous. Oh and I guess I have to point out to you again that Jamal Murray even though he's been scoring more these playoffs is Denver's second option. He has the luxury of having an all-nba second teamer who happens to be dominant inside, shoots the three very well and is now being called the best passing big man in the history of the game. That's a bit of a different situation.