Not necessarily, I mean we all agreed with Kobe when he said we couldn't win playing like that. We gave credit to him when he had 3 starters out and drug us back from oblivion. You want your stars to play like stars, we got that game 6. Besides PJ and Harden who else played well consistently? No one is asking for perfection but we know it takes role players stepping up to win in the playoffs.
Gordon played well consistently, he was our best/second best defender in the playoffs and most of times our second best scorer. Rivers was solid overall, Capela, Green and House are the guys who played like trash, although tbf, Clint played like trash only against the Warriors, some games against the Jazz too but he was clearly not healty there, probably shouldn't even played a couple of games in that series.
Gordon’s only shot over 40% twice game 2 and 3, his best game was game 3. He then was subpar. He killed us with his turnovers as well. I do agree he was really good defensively but like you mentioned if he was our second leading scorer you can see why we lost in 6.
Harden had 35 on 31 possessions in game 6, kawhi had 26 on 28 possessions, and was trash outside of a 2 minute stretch.
Eric shoot 44.1% in the series against the Warriors, you mean he shoot under 40% two twice? But i mean, that's not enough to not consider him consisten imo, even James in one game shoot 32%, not to mention the turnovers, espeically those in games 6 which were awful. With that said eh, him being the second best scorer isn't optimal tbh, but we know why that happen until game 6, no Paul. Actually, thank god we had him otherwise we would've lost 4-1 if not 4-0.
Before playoffs started I’m seeing most Vegas odds had us slightly favored over Toronto, but I think 538 is way better for this type of thing. We were a distant 4th in their projections. And they had Toronto over Bucks. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2019-nba-predictions/
Why didn't Nick Nurse play Ibaka and Siakam down the stretch in 4th quarter? I thought it was athleticism, length and height that gave Raptors edge in the series but he went to short lineup and kind of iso game in last 3 minutes...2 of the things that usually do not work against GS.
Maybe on defense Leonard is 100x better. Harden is the much superior and complete offensive player. And, honestly, for a single perimeter player, great offense is much more valuable than great defense. The only reason Leonard is even in Harden's league as a player is because he is a very good offensive player to go along with his defensive greatness--but not particularly close to Harden as an all-around offensive force.
All-around offensive force. Kawhi’s offensive game seems more “all-around” to me, even if it’s not as impactful the majority of time. Harden controls offensive possessions to a far greater degree. He is the offense. Kawhi is a better complementary player alongside other very good offensive players, IMO.
Kawhi has much better teammates overall. Not one trick ponies... If the Rockets only had a pair of 6'10 forwards that can slash in for a quick dunk or jump shot it would be nice. Siamka, Ibaka and then there's Gasol that is a walking mountain that cannot be dislodged from position and easily gets the rebound.. it is like night and day when comparing the Rockets and Raptors front court.