Well, GSW's best lineup was without those centers on the court. To me, Looney has always been a decent stretch 5 - he's not a 3-point shooter, but is very capable from 10-15 ft away from the basket and can knock down shots.
Yes, Morey and his computer smarties recognized this. I argued with many that the Rockets should trade Capela and roll his money into a small forward or two. Turn and draft a rookie like Marvin Bagley III or Robert Williams (actual players I mentioned) for 12-18 minutes of playoff action. Rookie contracts are easier to sit on the bench than approx $14 million contract during the playoffs. Morey did me one better. He traded Capela for the SF......but did not find an agile 7 footer that can shoot 3’s.
LOL Lakers didn't stop feeding AD, Rockets adjusted and PJ started fronting him so he could not get the ball. And Lakers NOT playing to win was hilarious. Were you really serious with that take?
Look at AD's skillset. Do you honestly think he could be denied the ball if the Lakers were intent on getting it to him? The Laker ball-handlers were too quick to look him off.
Watch the game again, with your glasses on. And are you seriously defending your take that Lakers did NOT want to win Game 1???? If so, you are even more clueless than I thought.
If they were playing to win, they would've focused more on Lebron and AD. Why is this such a difficult concept to comprehend? It's like with Harden. When he plays to win, he's aggressive and unpredictable, like last night. When he doesn't play to win, he spams step-back 3's.
I believe lakers still might be able to beat us playing big but , they will need to elevate their interior passing . And they need McGee or Dwight or AD to consistently be able to close and recover on 3 point shooters . Can their length make up for the lack of quickness ? Not sure AD and Lebron will have to work hard on both ends consistently otherwise we threaten a serious run . Tucker Covington harden along with WB and Gordon are handsy and disruptive enough Make interior passing difficult . Can the lakers strike over the top or shoot a bad shot to get a good attempt at a rebound and an easy putback ? that will be their best chance outside of a hot shooting night from their role players and a Cold night for us .
The Ref’s are unreal they are killing us on some plays and no fouls called, you touch them it is a foul. Just don’t know what. Eric Gordon has to do to get a foul call.
If this is how you want to carry yourself, I have no problem insulting you every time you say something stupid. Or you can stick to talking about basketball. It's your call.
But Giannis is targeted like AD on defense. Russ and Harden were licking their chops when isolated against AD.
Neither can Bogut, Zaza or MeGee. The model of GSW was to play them short spot minutes. It was more important for me to get a Big with potential while paying rookie pay. Also mentioned Mitchell Robinson (like Williams not a 3-pt shooter) and Jaren Jackson. I didn’t think we could get in position to get Ayton.....and I didn’t care for Wendell Carter for some reason. Morey continues to prove he is the best GM. Smarter than the others. The rest of the NBA will follow soon. Most of the teams remaining have small ball lineups. Nuggets with Jokic and Lakers still lean hard to the bigs though. Celtics and Heat have good small ball lineups.
What else can I call you if you insist that the Lakers did not want to win? It is an absolutely stupid take.
And like I said the Rockets will gladly take him shooting 15 foot jump shots. He scored 0 points on Tuck last night. AD away from the basket isn’t a threat, he’ll get his buckets but won’t affect the rebounding.
Rockets are not GSW. Just because they play best when playing small, GSW does not play switch everything defense like Rockets. Rockets are also not as turnover prone as GSW. And most importantly, Rockets switch everything defense requires disruptors because creating turnovers is critical for Rockets winning efficiency. Any player that cannot switch 1-5 is a huge liability and will not get minutes on this Rockets team. Exhibit A - Tyson Chandler Exhibit B - Isaiah Hartenstein
I said that the Lakers didn't play to win, not that they didn't want to win. There's a difference. My Harden comparison is accurate. When he spams step-back 3's, he's not playing to win. Does he want to win? Sure. Will we win playing that way? Unlikely. It's the same for the Lakers. It's unlikely that they win when they don't focus on AD/Lebron.
