#focus#mustwin#playoffs#drama? : 2013 NBA playoffs

morris and goudelock starting for the lakers tonight. congrats laker nation, you made the playoffs.

Bill Clinton ‏@billclinton 3h
Enjoying @Twitter so far. Where else can you hear from @BillGates @PaulPierce34 @SenJohnMcCain @TheEllenShow @Usher in one day? #thisisgreat

― lag∞n, Friday, 26 April 2013 02:30 (13 hours ago) Permalink

it's SNL's fault that I picture him happily stuffing a handful of french fries into his mouth while tweeting this

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Royce Young ‏@dailythunder 1m
Russell Westbrook will undergo surgery for a meniscus tear in his right knee. No timetable announced.

no

i am going to cry

why couldnt it have been wade

knee assasin david stern strikes again

2012 NBA PLAYOFFS: DOO DOO JUMP?

fuck

stern secretly has little remote-operated exploding devices implanted in all nba players' knees

wonder if it happened when beverly crashed into his knee going for the steal as he called the timeout

that's what people seem to think

damn

well congratulations to the miami heat for being the 2012-2013 nba champions

im w chuck that the thunder didnt stand much of a chance anyway due to matchups, got to be able to hurt the heat w bruising interior play

yeah, how good of a post defender is birdman?

anyway ron artest came back after a meniscus tear surgery in 12 days so who knows

im w chuck that the thunder didnt stand much of a chance anyway due to matchups, got to be able to hurt the heat w bruising interior play

― lag∞n, Friday, April 26, 2013 1:09 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is a misnomer that has never been true

;_; for OKC/Westbrook, hope he gets that Metta and has a chance to play a few more playoff games this year.

That said, totally don't think this ends their run / excited to see Durant take more shots.

they can't make the finals w/o westbrook imo

im w chuck that the thunder didnt stand much of a chance anyway due to matchups, got to be able to hurt the heat w bruising interior play
― lag∞n, Friday, April 26, 2013 1:09 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is a misnomer that has never been true
― J0rdan S., Friday, April 26, 2013 1:19 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, you'd be crazy to attack the Heat's biggest weaknesses-- interior defense & defensive rebounding. Teams should probably just see who Bron is guarding and immediately iso.

the only team to beat the heat in a 7 game series were the mavs and they had zero inside scoring

the heat are super aggressive on defense, you need to have guys who can move the ball around the perimeter quickly and drain open threes

the idea that you can beat them by punishing them down low is something held over from the theoretical make up of the big 3 but has never proven to be true, the heat protect the rim quite well

westbrook bummerzzzzz

if/when the heat win it anyway i kind of hope that wade has to miss the finals just so bron gets all the credit (and so i don't have to watch him arguing with refs half the time)

I don't think it's crazy to spread more shots around to the other more efficient shooters on OKC to absorb the scoring loss. One reason OKC says it values Russ' offensive aggressiveness is that it leads to better looks for Durant. But, one reason Durant is his generation's big scoring savant is that he can get his shots off whenever the fuck he wants. He shoots around 43% taking the worst shot you can in the NBA: the mid-range jumper. 43% is also basically Westbrook's overall shooting percentage.

Kind of an obvious to say that OKC is better with Westbrook than without; but, I really don't think OKC will be that bad w/o him in the lineup.

memphis gameops guys using a loop from the the relatively-unheard and mostly forgotten dfa remix of "paper planes" which i recognize it because when DJing i too have used the exact bit as a filler loop.

― Clay, Thursday, April 25, 2013 10:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i love that remix, wasn't it on the slumdog millionaire soundtrack too? the dinky electric piano solo at the end cracks me up

memphis let the background/arena music play for like 5 minutes during a really long series of possessions late in the game. it was like street ball.

the only team to beat the heat in a 7 game series were the mavs and they had zero inside scoring
― J0rdan S., Friday, April 26, 2013 1:43 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, since that's from almost two seasons ago, you might also want to tack on that LeBron is a head-case who has no post-up game and will never get a ring, or that you're expecting big things from Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Stackhouse, Jamaal Magloire, Pittman, or are worried about Bibby at point. Very different team now.

haha i remember when that offseason where there was a LOT of dexter pittman talk around here

the heat are super aggressive on defense, you need to have guys who can move the ball around the perimeter quickly and drain open threes
― J0rdan S., Friday, April 26, 2013 1:44 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This I kinda agree with, but rather than quick perimeter movement (btw Wade/Bron is a pretty great perimeter D duo whom you probably don't want to skip passes around), I'd say it's more inside/outside passing. Pass to big on the block -> force help -> swing until you've got the open shot.

I mean, Pacers beat them twice this year, and that was their blueprint. The idea of not beginning a set by sending it inside to West/Hibbert seems like a losing strategy.

teams can beat them in the regular season by bullying them in the post because the heat will choose not to battle like that in the regular season

here're the teams that have beaten the heat this seeason:

nyc
mem
lac
was
nyc
gsw
det
mil
chi
ind
por
uta
bos
ind
chi
nyc

Case in point: Chicago, another team that beat the Heat twice this year, and another team with a Passing Big Man. Pounding the ball inside won't work if the guy inside with the ball can't pass well, which is why so many teams who do try to pound inside against the Heat get embarrassed.

But if you have a big man who knows how/when/where to dish once the help comes, then you've got a decent chance against the Heat. The only problem is that there are few teams that have A) the passing big + B) competent scorers around them.

new york leads w/ 3, pacers and bulls with 2

i mean the math doesn't even make sense. if the basis of your offense is to pound the ball in the post for two point baskets you're going to lose to a team that shoots a ton of three pointers, and shoots them well.

im w chuck that the thunder didnt stand much of a chance anyway due to matchups, got to be able to hurt the heat w bruising interior play

― lag∞n, Friday, April 26, 2013 1:09 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is a misnomer that has never been true

― J0rdan S., Friday, April 26, 2013 1:19 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hah its not any sort of nomer

pacers and bulls with 2

― 乒乓, Friday, April 26, 2013 2:07 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

counterpoint: heat have gone 8-3 vs these two teams in the playoffs

calling it a misnomer is a misnomer

basically the knicks could very easily lose to the pacers but have a better chance than any team in the nba to beat the heat

the heat are super aggressive on defense, you need to have guys who can move the ball around the perimeter quickly and drain open threes

― J0rdan S., Friday, April 26, 2013 1:44 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is true of every team, and is a strategy that works much better if you have interior scoring against everyone, and especially the heat

it's a weird list of bad/average teams, it's almost like the heat lose whenever they decide to check out mentally but turn it up against rivals + good teams

if chandlers neck gets unstuck + kmart keeps it up

the heat sort of lazed their way through the first half of the season and havent really lost to anyone since

they could actually be on the verge of a classic season like maybe people are talking about but you do have to count the whole season and their first half was nothing to write home abt

the only team to beat the heat in a 7 game series were the mavs and they had zero inside scoring

― J0rdan S., Friday, April 26, 2013 1:43 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dirk was in the high post a ton in that series fwiw, lot of inside out play

actually sort of feel like peak dirk was the perfect (only?) heat slayer because he's one guy that they actually couldn't guard

durant and melo and whoever are all really good scorers but if they stick lebron on them and lebron really tries to D up it becomes an issue

but dirk is too big for lebron and bosh couldn't guard him

yup