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

Jokic is an above average defender now, but he’s not a rim protector and when everyone is getting blown by that’s a problem.

Missing Barton and Harris is just a huge problem defensively, especially with Porter and millsap’s apparent limitations on the perimeter

The rules make it hard to defend on the perimeter now but the jazz are just brushing past every time

Jord is right that the whole series could flip in the next game tho, that’s how the playoffs are

sure the jazz shot well but they also got a lot of very open looks

ultimately i think these teams have the same limitations at least offensively. maybe denver’s is just that bad but to me game 4 just feels like a classic set up for a game where denver plays with game 7 intensity and hits some shots and the jazz are a little less well oiled. i have nothing rly to back this up except for feelings about the arcs of playoff series. if i’m wrong it’s very bad news for denver!

denver’s defense is just that bad**

SVG notes brett brown wants the sixers to play with more pace and ball movement today. so that’s nice

Again a lot of it is millsap. Millsap and Harris were the core of the defense and Millsap looks cooked.

yeah it’s hard to have $30 million devoted to a player giving you pretty minimal impact on both ends

SVG is awesome on TV, i really hope he’s in the permanent TNT rotation. i support his brother as a character but stan is such a good analyst

it was hilarious when he went on lowe’s pod recently and had all these advanced stats ready to go and zach was actually flustered.

The Celtics just look great, great vibes. I wouldn’t count them out in the finals that’s for sure

i think they’re prob a player or two short until hayward comes back and maybe even then. but they have the right kinda team and one of the best coaches so i put them in the group of teams who could win this

Hayward is 6 weeks probably... the bucks just look so bad. I do think hayward is key, he’s one of the best 4th options ever

even w/in the limited confines of "posting up joel embiid every possession" the sixers are shockingly uncreative about getting to that point

kemba dusting horford to ice the sixers season... that's poetry

kembas cool

the fix was in and the celtics still won anyway

Matt Armstrong
Posted: August 21, 2020 at 7:44:21 PM
Hayward is 6 weeks probably... the bucks just look so bad. I do think hayward is key, he’s one of the best 4th options ever

yeah and the guys behind him... arent

maybe hell be back early who knows, toronto is good tho and hes not gonna be back by then

has anyone checked on what these euro guys jersey slogans say...

refs you suck iirc

lol

xxp marco belinelli had the italian word for "equality" on his

I really feel for bigs that get switched onto Kemba Walker.

Here's tonight's stepback vs. Horford compared to the Cardiac Kemba highlight: pic.twitter.com/aJWqyS6K7k

— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) August 22, 2020

such a hard and physically demanding move and he's perfected it

has anyone checked on what these euro guys jersey slogans say...

― lag∞n, Friday, August 21, 2020 9:25 PM (fifteen minutes ago)

not ethan sherwood strauss

zingis needs to realise hes too good to be trolled by morris

ethan is getting pretty embarrassing

All those years of tanking for 76ers, and the Heat - which loathes notion of tanking - has the brighter future. That couldn't be said before this year, but that case can very much be made now, factoring in teams' performance this season and Heat's future cap flexibility.

— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 22, 2020

lately i've just been stepping back and thinking about how the sixers traded the heat jimmy butler for josh richardson

like... for no reason

it's hilarious how desperate the NBA is for tall guys to do stuff... whenever boban or bol bol is on the floor now the play by play guys act like a circus giant got subbed into the game

God, Shamet maybe the best value Sixers pick the last couple years and they traded him for Harris.

bad front offices gon bad front office

shamet isn't helping anybody win anytime soon but yeah, he is paid appropriately

lol i'm looking at it now and.....that dunk was not "on boban." it was on part of boban's forearm at best.

lately i've just been stepping back and thinking about how the sixers traded the heat jimmy butler for josh richardson

― J0rdan S., Friday, August 21, 2020 9:44 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

like... for no reason

― J0rdan S., Friday, August 21, 2020 9:44 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it was a sign and trade!

the real way the sixers fucked up was trading valuable role players for half a season of jimmy butler

also trading for harris knowing they would have to max him

ya

crazy harris has been on 5 teams already

is this good

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ef_UfAzUYAEVoNY?format=png&name=900x900

this is a great article on the celtics strategies to defend embiid: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/when-joel-embiid-posts-up-the-celtics-are-ready/?addata=espn:boston:index

they have to be the best background switching team in the nba.

read that earlier and like it for the most part BUT it using three seasons of data to make arguments about this series is kinda lame, embiid has actually been dominating this year hes like 30-15 every night, and previous years they had al horford, one of the best post defenders

btw they played horf big minutes tonight instead of trying to match up with bostons perimeter guys and what do you know their D was much better, playing yr best guys is a good idea

yeah that's fair, i just like that it shows what strategies you can use against a dominating post guy when you don't have the right one on one defender. making him catch it further out, bringing the double at the right time, playing 2 against 3 on the weak side are all things they've used in this series to at least some effect.

yeah the stuff about the scheme was good

tho i do think it gave boston too much credit for making embiid catch in bad spots a lot of that is he just gets tired and stops trying to get position + phillys offense is trash they dont really do anything clever to get him into his spots

yeah it's probably a natural tendency for philly that has become a point of emphasis for boston's defense, like once you notice that trend especially later in the game just tell your centers to nudge him out as far as possible.

watching the refs bail spent embiid out down the stretch tonight was pitiful he was just turning into guys and throwing the ball up in whatever random direction one of his shots landed over near the corner of the court and it wasnt any sort of hard foul he was just flailing, then they finally let a couple of those plays go down the stretch and that was that