Beyond just morey ball, the cavs are exposing the raptors, which they do year after year. And in the Boston/Washington series it is blowout, blowout, blowout. Again, these 3, 3, 3, teams work until the playoffs when talent takes over. The only teams that buck that honestly were the grizzlies. The grizzlies have taken the warriors to 2-1, because of playing traditional basketball. I'm not saying that to gloat, but just as a point of contention about playing through the post. Maybe teams need to look at that again. The jazz are too young to do what the grizzlies did.
yes really. ariza is soft as baby **** when he drives. anderson is a complete non factor when his 3 point shot isn't falling and has no athleticism and touch around the basket. gordon and lou will finishing ability around the basket leaves much to be desired.
The have a massive experience advantage. They've been to at least the conference finals so many times. Outside of Harden and Ariza, no one in the rotation has been deep in the playoffs. I guess Lou got to the conference finals with Toronto where he disappeared (as he has this round) completely. There's a lot of hesitation in the Rockets and it's pretty evident. Guys aren't taking shots or missing open shots.
Experience advantage for sure. But no talent advantage. Kawhii is playing out of his mind, but other than that, and maybe LMA, it's a bunch of role players. This series is bringing up a lot of memories of the Suns-Spurs back in the day when I lived out in AZ.
we only have one play maker on this team. The rest of our team struggles to create offense. The Spurs have multiple guys to throw at James Harden and one of them is Kawai Leonard. they have two mentalities. The first is waste the shot clock until the ballhandler (james) enters the three-point line. this is why we only get one opportunity/drive if that fails we have to rush something up. we need to get the ball up quicker meaning every once in a while have someone else bring it up. I don't care if they have to practice ballhandling drills, do it. The second is how they play if the ball handler is James Harden or if it's someone else. If it's James Harden they try to pack the paint and help out. If it's not James Harden, they try to slow down that person until The big man can come over and help out. They collapse and deny all passing lanes when they do this. The big man needs to have a mid range jumpshot and the ball handler needs to know where to find him when they do this. You guys saw how OKC did it with Taj Gibson being at the free-throw line or wings (they changed it from game to game). We don't have the mid range jumper in our game at all and it really is costing us. nene can do it (esp with a good pass), but for some reason we don't. With capela you can use him to kick the ball back out, handoff to a cutter, or settle for the post up. Greg Popovich knows our big men do not take mid range jump shot. So he's going to give that to us all game long and if we manage to squeeze out the pass and find him they will follow the ball and be there to contest the lay up bc they know that's what he wants.
I don't know man. Gasol isn't doing well on offense, but he's really anchoring their interior defense thus far. Kawhi and Aldridge are doing a lot of damage. Their talent and experience are definitely showing. Meanwhile, Gordon and Lou aren't doing much. I don't think it matters too much though. Warriors look completely unbeatable lol.
Hell I called it months ago, Utah exposed it, we are easy to guard. In the regular season hard to guard but once you get to the playoffs, easy to lock in......we will never beat any elite team until we add variety to the team. Ever wonder what a 7 foot post player would do to help Harden.....I ****ING SURE AS **** DID !!! DD
The Spurs are also the more experienced team. They have played numerous games under pressure. Under Pop, they have both won and lost big games.They are all business out there on the court. Tonight I was pointing out to the wife just how serious they were no matter what happened. Nothing the refs or the Rox did could shake them and that's the key to winning in the playoffs.
It would be easy if we didn't commit 18M to Brickderson. Ship him out and get a real star with that money.
I think Gordon, Lou, Bev, Capela are better than any players on the Spurs outside of Kawhii and LMA. Ariza and Anderson are borderline. As far as the Warriors though, I agree. Neither one of these teams looks like they are ready. The Warriors and Cavs are playing against each other through random opponents.
Yeah that rookie PG is full of experience...... There team is just better coached, they are more DISCIPLINED - experience is not the problem lack of planning and accountability are. DD
Actually, what commands my respect for the enemy is how they completely changed their stance in guarding Harden. Those hands straight up. It takes LOTS of discipline to change your defensive habits. Props to them.