Around the NBA - 2017 Round 2 Playoffs

So... who's going to be first to question Kawhi?

 

I didn't watch the game but I'm here....looks like he had the game of the playoffs and not too soon. Shoutout to him....I've cheered for him for years but y'know....fuck him

 

I think it's more D'Antonio ball that has been discredited than Morey ball. His teams seem to lack the discipline, structure, focus and dedication to succeed in the post season.

His high octane offense is fun for the players during the regular season, they win a lot of games and awards and score a lot of points, but come playoff time, when other teams are focused, determine and disciplined, the wheels fall off.

He let's them play loosey-goosey all year and then has zero chance of getting them to play with the kind of focus, intensity and urgency required to succeed in the playoffs.

He gets them to the post season, often with an impressive regular season record and HCA, but once there, can't expect them to change what he has made them - great regular season team that lacks what it takes to succeed in the post season.

BNM

 

I think 2005 Suns would've made NBA Finals and probably won if Joe Johnson hadn't gotten hurt. That team was amazing.

 

I read something recently, that one of the most damning things about D'Antoni's Suns is that opposing teams enjoyed playing against them. They played fast, didn't put a lot of pressure on opponents and weren't very physical.

The same could probably be said of Don Nelson teams, really. I think both Nelson and D'Antoni had good ideas about offense, but it took other coaches who cared about discipline and defense, like Popovich and Kerr, to plunder those ideas and make them workable for championship-contention.

 

This is a good point...I'd add that Pop adjusted and Mike didn't....took Lamarcus 4 games to realize he's bigger and stronger than Ryan Anderson..I'm sure Pop pointed that out

 

Highly doubtful. Johnson was at full strength in the last three games of the SAS series and PHO lost two of those three games.

That Suns team had no bench. D'Antoni went with a 7-man rotation and their bench scored a total of 47 points for the entire series.

The Spurs were also stacked, with Duncan (28) and Ginobili (27) in their primes. They also had a ton of great role players (Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry, Robert Horry). All three of those guys absolutely killed it from 3-point range in that series, largely due to the fact that the Suns were so week defensively (a trademark of D'Antoni coached teams).

The Spurs were a much better defensive team. Bowen and Duncan were both 1st team all defense and finished 2nd and 4th in DPOY voting.

The Spurs also killed the Suns on the boards, averaging 15 offensive rebounds per game.

Defense and rebounding wins championships, the Spurs were WAY better than the Suns in both of these areas. An extra two games of Joe Johnson wouldn't have tipped the advantage to PHO in either of these areas. The Spurs were simply better, deeper and better coached.

BNM

 

Same could be said about Stotts.

 

I didn't even watch the Spurs game but let me guess. "Aldridge put on an amazing performance." "Pops is such a great coach because of the amazing decisions he makes. He should win COY, EVERY YEAR." "The Spurs aren't just team. They are a tight woven group of professionals. An organization dedicated to excellence and groundbreaking sports entertainment."

You know, I hate the Patriots but at least they play the bad guy sometimes. I despise the Spurs because even when they suck their shit has a smell that the press can spin into gold. It's another reason why their fans are so fucking smug and intolerable.

 

Really? His teams have beaten a higher seed in two of the last four post seasons. Do you really think the Blazers have gotten bumped by the Warriors the last two years because we got out coached? Pretty sure it had a lot more to do with talent differential than coaching differential.

BNM

 

That's a little more interesting than the Clutchfans theory that he was hung over.

 

http://amp.tmz.com/2017/05/12/james-harden-club-rockets-playoffs-mvp-chant

JAMES HARDENPARTIES AFTER PLAYOFF LOSS... FANS CHANT, 'MVP'

 

My issues with Stotts is that I don't think he requires his teams to have discipline or structure. He encourages them to believe in themselves... which is good at times. Other times, not so much. They loose focus too frequently & take unnecessary bad shots.

I guess my thought is Stotts isn't an elite coach. He's good, but I don't think he'll be able to coach a true contender.

 

Trevor Ariza is still a thug. Why am I not surprised?

 

The thing that amazes me about Pop, is how well his teams play when his star players are out. Every year we see this happen. Usually this does not occur during the playoffs like last night, but how many times have we seen the Spurs rest players and the backups come in and run his "system" to damn near perfection.

For me he is the greatest coach I have ever seen in the NBA. Way better than Phil Jackson.

 

Well now we know why he was fine losing game 6. If he had won he would have missed that concert lol.

 

Drink:

Every time Hubie Brown says "Now", "look", or "okay".

Take a shot:

Whenever Hubie brown says all 3 in succession.

Drink for 15 seconds

Whenever Hubie Brown makes you yawn

 

Stanley Cup starts in 12 minutes