2015 NBA Playoffs

Soby

Nursing a hangover after the Blues wrapped up the title yesterday , so only catching up on the games now. Gotta be honest, I didn't see what one or two saw in Wall when rambling on about him being brilliant a couple of years ago. I've been converted though, he's been consistently good even when Wizards were in a bad form this season. The whole team other than Nene look in the zone. For the Hawks, yea they missed some some shots you'd expect them to make at times, but the Wizards made the adjustments defensively needed and made their shots when it mattered. Thought the it was going to be a 20 point win going by the first half.

Only half way through watching the Warriors game, but they badly miss Conley out there. Hope he is back for the next game. Looking at his eye is a bit eww.

Carcharodon

Soby wrote: »

Nursing a hangover after the Blues wrapped up the title yesterday , so only catching up on the games now. Gotta be honest, I didn't see what one or two saw in Wall when rambling on about him being brilliant a couple of years ago. I've been converted though, he's been consistently good even when Wizards were in a bad form this season. The whole team other than Nene look in the zone. For the Hawks, yea they missed some some shots you'd expect them to make at times, but the Wizards made the adjustments defensively needed and made their shots when it mattered. Thought the it was going to be a 20 point win going by the first half.

Only half way through watching the Warriors game, but they badly miss Conley out there. Hope he is back for the next game. Looking at his eye is a bit eww.

I don't think anyone was "rambling" on about hin being btilliant, it was more of others calling him overrated and not a good player in general.
General consensus here by the more acquainted basketball fans was that he was an extremely talented player that could become a great player and due to his age, poor team and some injuries, was getting unfairly criticized.

GoldFour4

Pretty sure this is the first time I've linked a TMZ article but I thought this was funny. Spurs went out on the town after the Clippers loss, Aron Baynes was a little worst for wear. Link Here

buyer95

malistheman wrote: »

Pretty sure this is the first time I've linked a TMZ article but I thought this was funny. Spurs went out on the town after the Clippers loss, Aron Baynes was a little worst for wear. Link Here

Boris casually sneaking a girl of questionable repute onto the bus there makes this. Their handlers try and stop her but they dont want to create a scene with the cameras so she just gets let on. Patty Mills was gone AWOL as well, so to be fair they had a lot to be "handling." Very funny, love how Aron Baynes is like "Thanks man" when the TMZ guy is telling Timmy he played great, Baynes was absolutely buckled :pac:

buyer95

Willie Trill Cauley-Stein. That is all.

Carcharodon

Cavs v bulls should be interesting, even with Love out, you still feel Cavs might have a slight edge, they really don't have anyone to guard Lebron.

Paully D

Carcharodon wrote: »

Cavs v bulls should be interesting, even with Love out, you still feel Cavs might have a slight edge, they really don't have anyone to guard Lebron.

Jimmy Butler is arguably the best defender on LeBron that there is in the entire league. That said, when he's on it he's virtually impossible to stop anyway.

padraig_f

Carcharodon wrote: »

Cavs v bulls should be interesting, even with Love out, you still feel Cavs might have a slight edge, they really don't have anyone to guard Lebron.

Jimmy does a pretty good job on him, and probably Snell guards him when Jimmy is out (Snell is a pretty decent defender these days).

Irving vs. Rose should be good to watch.

Pick-and-roll defense has been a problem for the Bulls this season, with Gasol's lack of movement. He just kind of drops back on it, which gives a lot of space to the ball-handler to shoot. So I'm sure the Cavs will try and exploit that with both Kyrie and Lebron.

Not sure what to expect. Agree the Cavs are favourites, but I think they have enough flaws, that if things went right, the Bulls could have a chance.

Probably need to win one of the first two games, with JR Smith out.

D2D

Very rusty start for the Cavs:(

GoldFour4

Big LeBron night incoming you'd sense.

Carcharodon

Paully D wrote: »

Jimmy Butler is arguably the best defender on LeBron that there is in the entire league. That said, when he's on it he's virtually impossible to stop anyway.

You were spot on, I haven't seen too much of Butler to be honest but he did a great job on LeBron tonight, got help when needed, great team effort. Butler was extremely active on both ends of the floor, impressive.
I didn't see all the game but Cavs looked a bit predictable, Bulls were extremely active, blocked out and just looked like the better team, Gasol just kept on knocking down that jumper, Cavs never adjusted.

Reggie just made a good point about chis paul being out, it really affects jj redicks game, he just isn't getting the open shots that paul creates for him.
Could be a haka Jordan and howard night...

Carcharodon

Well, the Rockets were just terrible, and they can't be blaming the time off thing, no excuses for that showing.
Blake Griffin had his big boy pants on tonight, he was terrific

Soby

I'd argue Leonard is the best defender on LeBron. Butler isn't far away though. Needs to prove it over the course of the series.

Carcharodon wrote: »

I don't think anyone was "rambling" on about hin being btilliant, it was more of others calling him overrated and not a good player in general.
General consensus here by the more acquainted basketball fans was that he was an extremely talented player that could become a great player and due to his age, poor team and some injuries, was getting unfairly criticized.

I remember what I read as I only started really getting into basketball and reading this forum around the time LeBron won the Championship for the first time, and I can't mention either posters name in referencing their opposing view as they are no longer here, so I won't. I stand to be corrected, but only one person here really watched the Wizards until last season going by the thread.

I've been converted as I said. I was someone who would have been in that camp where I didn't see it neither honestly. I thought he'd be a good point guard who'd have the odd explosive game, but not a potentially elite one who was deserving a max contract. A mid tier level point guard, Westbrook lite.

Read a great article on him yesterday. Worth a read: http://www.sbnation.com/2015/5/4/8540307/john-wall-highlights-scouting-report-hawks-wizards

PizzamanIRL

Soby wrote: »

I'd argue Leonard is the best defender on LeBron.

LeBron might agree with you

padraig_f

Bulls 99 - Cavs 92

Phew, relief after that. I was pretty nervous watching it because I knew the way the Bulls started, they had to win that game. They're just not going to play much better on offense....Pau was on fire with the mid-range jumper, they were making 3s, and Rose was shooting reasonably well. If they didn't win that game, I thought the series was over, because they'd never win in Cleveland. The Cavs made a run at them in the 4th quarter, but they kept their cool, and I think played pretty good defense down the stretch to restrict the Cavs to low-efficiency jumpers. Jimmy was also great in the 4th with some timely offense on top of guarding Lebron for the whole game. Snell never got a look-in as Thibs just mirrored Lebron's susbsitutions with Jimmy's.

On to game 2, and I think it'll be hard for the Bulls to match that performance, particularly in terms of shooting, and I'd expect a bounce-back performance from the Cavs. But you can't be happy with the one road win, and you have to try and win again, because you can't be guaranteed to win all your home games. I think the veteran players on the team know this.

killwill

padraig_f wrote: »

Bulls 99 - Cavs 92

Phew, relief after that. I was pretty nervous watching it because I knew the way the Bulls started, they had to win that game. They're just not going to play much better on offense....Pau was on fire with the mid-range jumper, they were making 3s, and Rose was shooting reasonably well. If they didn't win that game, I thought the series was over, because they'd never win in Cleveland. The Cavs made a run at them in the 4th quarter, but they kept their cool, and I think played pretty good defense down the stretch to restrict the Cavs to low-efficiency jumpers. Jimmy was also great in the 4th with some timely offense on top of guarding Lebron for the whole game. Snell never got a look-in as Thibs just mirrored Lebron's susbsitutions with Jimmy's.

On to game 2, and I think it'll be hard for the Bulls to match that performance, particularly in terms of shooting, and I'd expect a bounce-back performance from the Cavs. But you can't be happy with the one road win, and you have to try and win again, because you can't be guaranteed to win all your home games. I think the veteran players on the team know this.

I think I fancy the Bulls to steal the second game too.
I was so underwhelmed by the Cav's bench or maybe I should say with Platt's use of the bench.
Lebron, whilst only scoring 19 points, did have a big game assists and rebounding wise. Irving is his only real scoring support though. Love is a huge loss in that department and equally with Smith.

ButtersSuki

Huge win for the Bulls, changes the whole series. The loss of Love is huge and as I predicted where they really missed him was his spacing on offence and his rebounding. The problem on offence for the Cavs now is that the Bulls can crowd the key and that in turn means their help defense is quicker/better etc. and LeBron and Irving have to beat multiple defenders or drive in traffic. That means the Cavs will have to beat them from outside or at least have a decent % of plays designed to score out of the key. I'll take those odds if I'm Chicago, particularly as their defense is so, so good.

Paully D

Haven't watched the game yet but I will do (and game 2) over the weekend. I was delighted when I woke up and saw the score.

Not to dampen the spirits of us Bulls fans after a great result last night, but it really does look this is Thibs' last stand. Not the biggest shock in the world I know and it is expected anyway (Bulls front office in making another bad decision shocker), but it would be great if we could reach a Finals at least. It would be a fitting way for his reign to finish if that's the way it ends.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tom-thibodeau-makes-his-last-stand-with-the-bulls-072125079.html

Question is, where does Thibs end up in the summer if/when he leaves Chicago? Long, long way to go yet I know but hypothetically I wonder if the Cavs would give Blatt the bullet for Thibs if Cleveland lose this series?

Paully D

padraig_f wrote: »

Bulls 99 - Cavs 92

Phew, relief after that. I was pretty nervous watching it because I knew the way the Bulls started, they had to win that game. They're just not going to play much better on offense....Pau was on fire with the mid-range jumper, they were making 3s, and Rose was shooting reasonably well. If they didn't win that game, I thought the series was over, because they'd never win in Cleveland. The Cavs made a run at them in the 4th quarter, but they kept their cool, and I think played pretty good defense down the stretch to restrict the Cavs to low-efficiency jumpers. Jimmy was also great in the 4th with some timely offense on top of guarding Lebron for the whole game. Snell never got a look-in as Thibs just mirrored Lebron's susbsitutions with Jimmy's.

On to game 2, and I think it'll be hard for the Bulls to match that performance, particularly in terms of shooting, and I'd expect a bounce-back performance from the Cavs. But you can't be happy with the one road win, and you have to try and win again, because you can't be guaranteed to win all your home games. I think the veteran players on the team know this.

What way do you watch the games, Padraig? Record and watch them the next day?

ButtersSuki

Paully D wrote: »

Question is, where does Thibs end up in the summer if/when he leaves Chicago? Long, long way to go yet I know but hypothetically I wonder if the Cavs would give Blatt the bullet for Thibs if Cleveland lose this series?

He won't be stuck for offers that's for sure. I'm not sure LeJon and co would want him, not sure they'd want to be pushed that as hard as they would be by Thibs. I may be being unfair to LeJon there, but it's just an impression I get. He's a fantastic coach; I was gutted when he left Boston when he was an assistant - all the players raved about him and you can see why. I'd like to see him go to a contender but the reality is he'll go to an average to poor team. I'd love to have him back in Beantown in some capacity but he'll likely never be an assistant again, and Stevens is going nowhere.

Coaching wise there'll be a lot of movement this summer I suspect.

buyer95

ButtersSuki wrote: »

He won't be stuck for offers that's for sure. I'm not sure LeJon and co would want him, not sure they'd want to be pushed that as hard as they would be by Thibs. I may be being unfair to LeJon there, but it's just an impression I get. He's a fantastic coach; I was gutted when he left Boston when he was an assistant - all the players raved about him and you can see why. I'd like to see him go to a contender but the reality is he'll go to an average to poor team. I'd love to have him back in Beantown in some capacity but he'll likely never be an assistant again, and Stevens is going nowhere.

Coaching wise there'll be a lot of movement this summer I suspect.

He would be an ideal fit in Washington, would fit right in with their culture. Wittman has been the definition of incompetence since he was first given the job, but the Wizards talent has meant they have still managed to be relatively succesfull. In the long run they are better of being beaten by The Hawks, they are not a championship team this year. However if they sneak past a depleted Hawks team that would mean Wittman would likely keep his job.

Carcharodon

Great performance by Memphis tonight, played to their strenghts and executed well on both ends of the floor, Conley back is huge.
Warriors are a jump shooting team and when you don't shoot well then you are in trouble, luckily for them, it doesn't happen too often.
Hopefully they will bounce back Saturday, Memphis took care of business tonight but I will say that they never really put the Warriors away despite how poorly they played, if curry or thompson had got going it could of been a different story.

killwill

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Huge win for the Bulls, changes the whole series. The loss of Love is huge and as I predicted where they really missed him was his spacing on offence and his rebounding. The problem on offence for the Cavs now is that the Bulls can crowd the key and that in turn means their help defense is quicker/better etc. and LeBron and Irving have to beat multiple defenders or drive in traffic. That means the Cavs will have to beat them from outside or at least have a decent % of plays designed to score out of the key. I'll take those odds if I'm Chicago, particularly as their defense is so, so good.

Chicago shot 56% from outside the arc on 10/18 shots.
Cleveland shot a terrible 27% on 7/26 shots.
JR will help with the spacing on offence but he is missing for tonight's game too unfortunately.
Cleveland also got off to a terrible start on Monday night and you can't imagine that happening again.
I still fancy Bulls to sneak it but I'm hoping for a Cleveland win tonight.

padraig_f

Paully D wrote: »

What way do you watch the games, Padraig? Record and watch them the next day?

Yeah, usually watch them the next morning these days on nba.tv, or in the middle of the night if I can't sleep. They cut out the ads, and I usually skip free throws as well, and you can watch the game in about half the time. I'd watch them live if I could, but I'm too old/sensible these days to stay up half the night.


Bball-breakdown did a good bit on the pick-and-pop that got Gasol open for a lot of his jumpers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbKiE-KJ_QM

Changing the coverage on this will likely be one of the Cavs adjustments, but if they come out on Gasol, it'll leave more room inside for Rose to penetrate.

As coach Nick says though, the Bulls just made some shots in game 1 that you can't expect them to consistently make.


This was a good article as well:
David Blatt's Terrible Decision to Start Mike Miller Cost Cleveland Game 1

I didn't pick that up watching, that Miller in particular was to blame for the Bulls hot start.

Some defensive adjustments then on the cards for Cleveland.

padraig_f

New podcast I came across recently:
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/237696/Duncd-On-Basketball-Podcast-May-6th

Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux do a deep dive on the previous night's games, really good stuff.

NufcNavan

I think Conley is the best point guard defender in the NBA as far as being a solid on the ball defender, solid off the ball, just solid all around. A motivated Rondo might be better disrupting an offense as far as getting steals, playing passing lanes - but on the ball he is not nearly as good as Conley. Westbrook is not as consistent defensively as Conley.

I'm just excited 2 of the 4 second round series are already 1-1 and we have an excellent chance that after tonight all 4 second round series will be 1-1. First round was a little flat except for Clips and Spurs, but second round is shaping up to be excellent. JUST no more injuries

Carcharodon

If the warriors lose to any team, I would prefer it to be the grizzlies, great team for a while now or maybe the Bulls, they deserve a break.

D2D

Huge Game 2 tonight in Cleveland. We really need to win this, don't want to go down 2-0 to Chicago with the next 2 in their house

ButtersSuki

D2D wrote: »

Huge Game 2 tonight in Cleveland. We really need to win this, don't want to go down 2-0 to Chicago with the next 2 in their house

Must be the Michael Bolton music they're playing in the stadium to rouse up the crowd and the Cleveland players.

For Forks Sake

D2D wrote: »

Huge Game 2 tonight in Cleveland. We really need to win this, don't want to go down 2-0 to Chicago with the next 2 in their house

Each and every Bull ice cold so far, horrific. LeBron being far more aggressive on offense than game one as well.