The 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs Thread

Love that dude. He's so much fun and and NBA 1st Team Smile.

lowry has always had weird yip type behaviour. like when he would shit the bed against the pacers back in the day

Jordan's post about Philly bench is otm. They have 10 points. Niang can stay but everyone else can go.

lowry looked like someone who hadn’t played basketball in two weeks

I recommend Morey not trade Maxey if he likes Philly. Gets lonely if you can't go out for coffee.

that game was so bad on both ends that i really don’t know what to say but i’m not sure what extra gear philly is tapping into to win this series, they have 5 guys max and embiid clearly is not close to being right on the offensive end

they just needed to get this one and it didnt really matter how

now just gotta hope embiid gets back to somewhat normal soon

lowry is playing with two non shooters, so if hes not going to shoot as well it will break the heats offense

Lowrys always been thick but he just looks overweight now. Surprised he’s passed any of the weird heat fitness tests

mavs-suns also looking like a classic “team down 2-0 pulls one out at home” game. luka playing a more… sustainable style of basketball in the first quarter

Mavs have to be up like 20 before I'll believe they're likely to win

It’s really hard to beat the home team that’s down 0-2

7 TOs for Chris Paul already ouch

haha did luka just tell us the refs have been paid off

Mavs may win this one

wait a second I share a birthday with Chris Paul? awesome

s/o to the guy at my work wearing full sixers gear including a Simmons 25 jersey

happy birthday fbs!

wait a second I share a birthday with Chris Paul? awesome

suns-mavs felt like one of those games most accurately summed up by saying “one team played well, the other team did not.” but there was at least more brunson involvement, luka didn’t crash halfway thru the third quarter. not sure what the mavs did differently on defense aside from luka trying and the suns missing a lot of shots

also it helps them a lot when kleiber is actually making shots. then they’re actually able to play 5 out and have a big (of some sort) on the floor. bertans barely played tonight, dwight powell only played 10 minutes. kleiber stayed on the floor and they played small around him

Oh I thought they def played different on defense. They guarded cp full court like Alvarado did. Also went to zone more to keep the suns from iso hunting as much

I noticed an annoying thing about Bertans: he doesn’t realize when he’s wide open and rushes his shot no matter what

no i mean like i was literally not sure xp it’s crazy the suns couldn’t get to the luka targeting really at all after putting up the most efficient game ever vs one defender

Oh I misread. Yah they seemed to just be a lot more aggressive too, not switching as easily. Jumping lanes and such. Just a lot sharper all around. But from the jump bullock was picking up cp full court which was kinda cool. Worked for the pels to tire him out and get him out of rhythm.

They need 20+ from Brunson every game tho

luka didn’t crash halfway thru the third quarter. not sure what the mavs did differently on defense aside from luka trying and the suns missing a lot of shots

― J0rdan S., Saturday, May 7, 2022 1:37 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it’s crazy the suns couldn’t get to the luka targeting really at all after putting up the most efficient game ever vs one defender

― J0rdan S., Saturday, May 7, 2022 2:46 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

its cause luka didnt crash cause they played better team ball which is to say they play some team ball, luka isnt fundamentally a terrible defender he just generally has too much on his plate

could also stand to be a lil better conditioned too

obvs luka is not just some innocent victim but still

we might be having a moment for team basketball who knows giannis finally got going in the 3rd quarter of game two the other night but then was totally gassed in the 4th, maybe the physical demands of the current game are just too much for stars to really run things, and thats giannis who is prob the most physically capable player in the league, obvs the bucks are down middleton but that kinda just highlights the issue, celtics have two stars but they run a more team oriented offense as do the suns theres not much give a guy the ball and let him go to work stuff like the bucks do with giannis in the high post, or i guess this could just be two undermanned teams going against two really good defenses idk interesting dynamic tho

pretty clear the luka centric offense will never win a chip mavs need to figure stuff out which is hard since on any individual play being luka centric makes a lot of sense, luka offense is for instance more successful than trae or harden centrism

the one serious harden run him and cp3 were taking turns driving

interesting argument for eurocentrism

lol

In the second half, Milwaukee switched Antetokounmpo onto White and gave him the job of pressuring White up the floor. Now, there are absolutely no stats to back this up, but Giannis guarding 94 feet for multiple possessions in a row, while trying to create all of the Bucks offense, had him looking absolutely gassed by early in the fourth quarter.

interesting decision

yeah not sure i get that.

pretty clear the luka centric offense will never win a chip mavs need to figure stuff out which is hard since on any individual play being luka centric makes a lot of sense, luka offense is for instance more successful than trae or harden centrism

would def be helpful but they need a different system too IMHO and the players to run it ball movement playmaking and so forth, maybe bruson and dinwiddie are good enough for that, add some shooting maybe a paint protecting rim running center type and it could work

you could play a democratic offense for three quarters then have luka stage a coup in the fourth

i think they stumbled on the right system for luka this year. have 2 other guys aside from him who can create shots but can also play off the ball w/ him, play mobile bigs preferably ones who can shoot, and get as many 3 and D wings as you can. now they just have to find some better talent, which is the hard part

there’s some guys i feel like they could target this offseason. i wonder if they could take olynyk off detroit’s hands. myles turner is also a guy who i think would be great for them. i could see them as a spot for any of the hawks cast offs (huerter etc). bogdanovic from the jazz if utah’s starts selling stuff off. the front office will have to get creative of course but i think they have a template now.

the stuff about them targeting gobert scares me
tho

Luka's usage rate against the Jazz definitely looked lower, they really benefitted from him being able to pick his spots and other guys stepping up. But the suns have much better perimeter defenders. I guess the current Mavs system is well-designed to pick apart the Jazz's specific defensive deficiencies and won't match up as well with a lot of other good teams.

bucks ditching the huge portis lineup

The Bucks are going with a new starting lineup today:
Jrue Holiday
Grayson Allen
Wesley Matthews
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Brook Lopez

— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) May 7, 2022

the stuff about them targeting gobert scares me
tho

his contract is brutal tho 4 years of $40m+

it’ll be interesting to see how brunson’s off-season goes. dallas would have to pay him something in the 20M/year range for an extension, and while he’s a solid young player who could continue to improve as a secondary playmaker, that’s a lot of money to commit to a guy with the intention of having him as a core piece for a potential championship window

bucks and celtics both look asleep

there are rumours that carlisle loves brunson so a move to the pacers could be on the cards. im not sure if there would be any room for myles turner to go to the mavs in sign and trade or what

He’s a great fit!

If the Mavs don't mind blowing through the cap and paying beaucoup luxury tax.