( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

not a great decision but also he could be effective in this series, needs to be effective in this series, and was effective in this game at the end of the first half. and then in the second half he totally disappeared. i think there may be a personality issue among the players but also bud doesn't seem to react to what is happening in front of him? like how do you scout the heat's playoff series against the pacers, watch bledsoe take dragic and herro to the hole repeatedly in the final three minutes of the first half and then not, like, call any clear outs or anything in the second half where you could exploit the heat's one blatantly obvious defensive weakness

I did not understand the decision to extend Bledsoe either. when it happened most fans thought it was okay since he was on fire for like 5 games up to that point but the memory of the last playoffs still stung and he still kinda felt like the odd man out on that team

like even if they'd done it at the end of the season I guess I'd understand but doing it midseason was just strange

the reductive reading is that they did it so he would feel secure going into the playoffs but that's not how this shit should work

re: coach bud's passivity, i agree with this tweet

*clears throat*

Mike Budenholzer is just Diet D'Antoni

— Seerat Sohi (@seeratsohi) September 2, 2020

at this point a rockets loss would be pretty catastrophic for harden, he's been awful

dort has him in a sleeper hold

good noel minutes in this game too, his athleticism plays in this series

i was listening to a simmons pod earlier today and he wasdoing hypotheticals like "if harden scores 47 and they win this series....." and my reaction was that i do not consider that to be a realistic scenario. we have the track record. he can't do it.

one wonders if after these playoffs they seriously consider the idea that you need to be able to score from the mid range to win in the playoffs... speaking of track records that we have

i think that's a great point. you can structure defense at the 3-point line and the rim, but the midrange will always be a little wild.

bucks and rockets both push regular season efficiency math to the extreme and now look kind of helpless

several xposts - cad otm about the bledsoe extension being a show of faith in him precisely so that his playoff dud of the year before wouldn't be repeated. but any player who needs that, rather than raising their level of play to earn the contract, seems like the key red flag they should've paid attention to.

harden doesn't want to shoot....

steven adams looks like a dead guy. can't do any valuable center things.

i prob wouldn't play nerlens noel either right now but he's been noticeably better

don't you just go to cp-shai-schroeder-gallo-dort tho.....

that would....make sense

or play bazley as a big who can do a little bit of everything

Lu Dort joins LeBron James and Kobe Bryant as the only players 21 or younger in NBA history to score 25+ in a Game 7 per @Stathead https://t.co/WZJUf0O023

— Mike Lynch (@SportInfo247) September 3, 2020

you'd think the lesson from the game directly before this one would be to save your challenge til the very end

win or lose it's an incredible game for dort

schroder really can't miss that

literally screaming cmon ya little bastard at my tv

lol

cp3 and harden flop contest it had to end this way

lol

harden and cp3 acting like they're in an olympic diving final

that cp3 flop at half court going for the steal... it's just too deep in his blood

it's like a bunch of people who have never skated getting thrown out on the ice

man the thunder have blown three point blank looks

lewd ort

oops

as well as he’s played today, you don’t want him with the ball in his hands as time expires

omg

deeply regrettable possession for chris paul

well, i look forward to the rockets getting destroyed in the next round

cp3 with more than one regrettable decision in the 60-90 seconds of game time since they were waxing about how he lives for the moment

absolutely not his finest moment but he's going to get a chance to tie or win the game here at the end

this is irrational but it didn’t feel like Covington was trying super hard to make those shots

man it's so amazing this series has come down to the final possession of game 7

i don't know what cp3 was seeing on that last real okc possession. inexcusable pass.

not a banner day for the refs

he choked on that possession plain and simple

it can only end here and now with chris paul screaming about procedure

james harden might have to retire if the rockets lose

cp3 must dream of winning basketball games without any actual basketball being played

has he checked to see if all the rockets jerseys are tucked in, they could get another free throw to tie

good on gallo for missing on purpose in protest of this silly rule

D’antoni was on the court when gallo took that free throw