Let's not overreact off one game. Chris Paul may not be at his physical prime, but he was leading the entire NBA in Real Plus Minus this very season. http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM He has been very effective for this team.
Oh. Ok. They lost 10 out of their last 17 games. Lost..........................Beat Blazers.....................Lakers T-Wolves..................Suns Kings........................Hawks Spurs.......................Kings Jazz Pacers.....................Suns Bucks.......................Thunder (Notice it’s the only playoff team that they took serious..for manipulation reasons?) Pacers.....................Suns Pels Jazz You don’t think they had anything to do with Utah, Thunder and a T-Wolves team (that was the 3rd seed before Butler got hurt) being in the Rockets side of the bracket....while Blazers, Pels and Spurs minus Kawhi ended up in the Warriors side of the bracket?
Totally understand the rationale thinking about how our offense matches up with their defense. But I've watched the Jazz defense all season. Just because Gobert gets beat when he is switched or drug out high on the iso doesn't mean the story ends there. The Jazz d has been great because they have adjusted in those situations with their own switches and help. Everybody plays defense over there. They're tough. I understand the Thunder got them in game one. And the Thunder may sweep them. You never know. But I just see the matchups so much in our favor against the Thunder. And I'd much rather face a high-string, selfish, erratic, out-of-control Westbrook than the disciplined Jazz unit.
I see your point of view. Hope is not a plan. It boils down to the Jazz not having enough guns to get it done. Despite all of Westbrook’s flaws and mistakes (and I can’t stand the guy) they get by the Jazz. The stars of OKC & the sum of their parts will be the difference. If by the rim was all that mattered then yes I might go with Utah; but even as big as Gobert and Favors are they lack skill on the offensive end of the court. I don’t think it will be a sweep. Just don’t believe Donavan Mitchell will be enough. Force him to be a jump shooter only and he will go off for 35 at best.....but you can stymie everyone else in the process.
THREE of the players on this list are DOMINATING their matchups defensively. Lillard, Bledsoe, McCollum, and all of the Cavs backcourt. But Bzdelik and his r****ded scheme should be defended at all costs. It MYSTIFIES me that he hasn't gotten national criticism.
In reply to CP3 injury concerns ... I really doubt anything is there . We rested him before the playoffs and would have rested him more had he had a really injury . I guess there is always a chance he got hurt in practice leading up to the playoffs , but that would just be too unlucky .
If Paul George merely shoots 5/11 from 3 the Thunder lose game 1. The Thunder shot 50/50/90 for game 1, It is unlikely that George and Brewer perform like they did and for Ingles to go 1/6 from 3. The Jazz outscored the Thunder in the paint by 20 and nearly got blown out. It is possible, albeit unlikely, that PG and Brewer and Melo keep up their 3 point shooting for an entire series and the Thunder do a 2014 Spurs on Utah, but I still see that series going to at least a game 6.
The guy is going to be voted 2nd team All-NBA most likely...but he's losing a step after one bad game. Give me a break.
You have nothing of substance to even add. Switching every pick and roll is beyond stupid when you have an elite pnr defender. Every elite pnr defender in the league sans Ntlinkia and CP3 are dominating their matchups and WINNING series in upset fashion because of it.
The entire season speaks for itself. Rather than a random arm chair who thinks they know better. Now that's laughable. The article @Stormy1234 posted today was meant just for you. But I'm sure you didn't read it. Probably too much for you
I can say with 100% confidence that the Warriors did not engineer a leaguewide conspiracy going down to the very last game of the season to get a favorable draw, unless you think they somehow were visited by Biff Tannen with a future sports almanac and then enlisted the help of dozens of NBA teams for a secret plot to move us to an alternate timeline.
Think critically for a second. The 2016-17 Clippers had a far worse defensive roster than the current Rockets. https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/2017.html Look at that, now look at the Rockets roster. Now, the Rockets have better DRTG, but that is because of the Clippers being terrible without Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan on the court(their excellent defensive combo when guarding pick and rolls, and every other thing). Even with playing an old, bad defensive Redick at the 3, and playing Felton a ton at the 2/3, as well as Crawford, and Rivers, they put out a 104.6 DRTG with CP3 on the court. And a horrific 112.7 without him. The Rockets, with much better defensive depth up and down the roster put out a 106.7 DRTG with CP3 on the court. 106.8 without him. That is not negligible at all. It's the difference between last year's GS defense and well, this year's Rockets. Quite significant. Even a +/- 1 difference is significant. Why does this matter? Because the Rockets are performing at a sub-optimal level given personnel. More than that, they are hindering their second best perimeter defender. The only reason one would think Tucker or even Ariza(LOL at that), are better defenders is because of this scheme that only manages to turn CP3 into a serious negative in a lot on-court situations. MORE importantly, is the fact that the Rockets true ceiling isn't being reached. CP3's defense isn't being optimized as one would've though before this season, therefore they aren't as good as they should be. They aren't elite defensively(they damn sure don't pass the eye test, even with not doing by the numbers), AND they are EXPLOITABLE while playing this style of defense. By the way, with even worse teammates, CP3 had a similar on-court ORTG to this year as well. Another feather in the great D'Antoni's cap.
I can say with 100% confidence that they threw the last game they had vs the Jazz to avoid the Thunder. In the chart the NBA put out, there was no way the Thunder could be the 7th seed if the Jazz won that game. There was about 3 scenarios in which the Thunder would be the 7th seed had the Warriors won. Lost by about 39.....really. They did not dictate the last game of the season of Utah/Portland....but they made sure to lose to the Jazz/Blazers/Spurs/Pels in an attempt to not let the Thunder become the 3rd seed. Basically the we’re trying had to keep the Thunder from being the 3rd or 7th seed. Mission accomplished.
Ok. Why didn't they throw their 4/3 game to the Thunder then? At the time the Thunder were only sitting on 45 wins, they could have pushed them into the 4 or 5 spot that night and basically made it impossible to play them. Instead by your logic, they tried a far more devious and uncertain throwing path by beating them, then hoping the cards woukd fall a week later. Maybe because future Steve Kerr showed up and called present Steve Kerr a butthead.
Because they didn’t want them to finish 3rd seed (2nd round opponent) Here is an article i posted on April 10th, in a thread: “Fiegen: The Only Options: Wolves, Pelicans, or Spurs” Post #140 In the article go to the chart Andy Larsen tweeted. 2 scenarios in which the Thunder end up the 7th seed if the Warriors won vs Jazz on April 10th. https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2018/4/10/17221788/okc-thunder-rooting-playoff-race-2018-seeding The Warriors then proceeded to lose by 40 points with the only notable player missing was Iggy. Really.......the Warriors lose by 40........and they were trying? Really?
