Harden is brave, playing 46 minutes in discomfort is incredible. I'm glad he contributed to the win, despite not being fully fit. They can't win without him.
Yeah, agree to disagree. I don't think the Warriors team was a sure shot to win the title without Durant in 2016. The league was catching up to them. Kerrs system was great until teams started switching and guarding curry like white on rice. In a sense I do agree that Durant joining GSW was "stacking the deck" but so was Lebron joining Wade, Bosh and Harden joining KD and Irving. The Heatles proved me wrong and led to great drama/story, the GSW not so much. The Nets is tbd, but if they were healthy I think the title is easily theirs.
Also, just wanted to add, before he moved to Warriors, Durant was my fav non Rocket player. What he did just soured on me. I lost a lot of respect for him. Not only was a cowardice move but he destroyed the balance of the league. Rockets were the team that took the most damage by his move. Rockets would have had 2-3 rings.
Chuck nailed it, Giannis was so scared to get fouled and shoot FTs in winning time, he's making p***y shots like that fadeaway on Harden or rushed that shot off Lopez's pass and thus fumbled it.
I'm wondering if the media will rip Giannis to shreds. Despite his statline, he: - is a former DPoY who didn't once guard KD 1 on 1 in the second half, iirc. - went away from what made the team successful in the first half - couldn't get by a one-legged Harden on multiple possessions; almost lost the ball once and then shot a fadeaway - fumbled the ball on one of the most crucial possessions for the Bucks - can't hit FTs.
There is no way giannis doesnt leave the bucks as soon as possible. It doesn't seem like he's the type of player that would attract other stars and we've seen that he's not the guy come crunch time. He would be one hell of a number 2 tho
Didn't Jordan go play golf and go to Vegas with the other teams during the playoffs? I know that is different than joining forces, but say the Bulls never draft Scottie Pippen. After a few more years of getting knocked out in the 1st round, does Jordan force his way out?
Trust me, I wasn't a fan of the move, I just didn't hate him for it lol. I wanted to watch how the warriors evolve. And agree KD joining them did eliminate a lot of the suspense.
If I am the Nets, I keep Harden on the bench for Game 6 and only play him for a few minutes if the game is close. I would rather rest him and play for everything in Game 7. Harden and Kyrie for the 3 legged win in Game 7 with Giannis the dumbo losing the race because he thought it was a sack race.
The issue though is that I don't feel he is really dominating the defense end at all this playoffs. Maybe he is exhausting himself on offense, but he would have to as No 2 on another team. He wasn't even the main help defender in the paint when Lopez was out. It just makes no sense.
Nash is like the Godfather whose most loyal capo, KD, just took out Nash's primary competition. Capped them in the streets, then gave them cement shoes.
Remember that time when Kawhi didn't want to guard Harden and went to guard Tucker in the corner, that's what Giannis does against the best scorers. He's a fake defensive player of the year.
Giannis doesn't guard Durant cause he can't. One on one defense is not where he makes his defensive impact. His DPOYs are a product of the new defensive metrics, not him shutting players down. Giannis is an extraordinary regular season player that deserved his regular season awards based on analytics and also a bit on the NBA wanting to globalize the league. For him to have success in the playoffs, he'll need to pair up with an equal or greater perimeter player.
if you follow karceno4life on youtube, he is from chicago and has great sources in the league going back 30 years. And he claims that jordan got so tired of losing to the pistons he threatened david stern with retirement in the 1990 season if the league allowed the pistons to continue to be rough with him in the playoffs. Dick erbosol of nbc( not sure i spelled his name right) was the ceo of nbc at the time, and they had just agreed to a huge tv contract with the NBA. Dick erbosol got in david stern's ear because the threat of jordan retiring at the time scared him shitless