More Likely: Lose in the First Round or Get Out of the Second Round?

Not really. We should be pushing tempo more. Especially the 2nd unit. That's part of what made the bench so dominate early in the season. Lots of transition and pace. With our quality bench it is a very good strategy to build a lead.

As for first open shot, I agree. I like the idea and the open looks and aren't against them. What I'm against is players aren't set yet when they launch the shot, specifically ariza.

 

Real talk here. **** every fan who thinks we won't at LEAST make the WCF. Being real or not, you gotta always have faith.

 

[Clyde]I like it[/Clyde]

 

This team is really fun to watch, but really tough to predict in the playoffs. Everything depends on whether or not our 3's are falling, so it's really a total crapshoot.

It's easy to just write us off in the playoffs because of our style....but then look at what GS has done the last few years and how the NBA has changed. Fewer and fewer teams are 'grind it out' teams like you would normally expect to give us problems in the playoffs.

What sucks is that we are the 3rd best team in the entire league.....and we probably won't even make it past the 2nd round.

That being said, I think if our 3's are falling, we can literally beat any team in the league in a 7 game series. This is the first Harden-era team I've honestly felt that way about. So that's progress, right?

 

THIS

We are a gimmick. A high powered score a bunch of points gimmick. Teams get surprised by our shooting. We smack em. They think it is just one game who cares and move on. Allows us to compile a good regular season record. When we face a team for 7 games and they learn how to take away the 3 point line what are we going to do? Look how the Jazz shut us down or San Antonio and Golden State. If we don't figure out how to score without the 3 point line we are done. Sure James can iso and scratch out a few inefficient points but won't draw the fouls he is accustomed to.

Lou Williams?? Don't hold you breath there. Dude has a career 45% field goal percentage and 35% from 3 in the regular season. In the playoffs? Yea That goes down to 36% and 24% respectively. Also gets one less free throw attempt per 36 in the playoffs versus the regular season. So playoff lou is just this side of a wet fart. Or. Corey Brewer without the defense.

Eric Gordon? Who knows. Not enough of a sample for playoff success. BUT.. in the 4 games he played 14/15 he did shoot 40% from the three so.. Maybe??

Ryan Anderson. Ok, if he is healthy he will spread the floor. His 3 point percentage only drops 3 percent in the playoffs. eFG% drops 8 points though.

Pat drops from 37.5% to 30% in the playoffs from the 3.

Trevor Ariza - Hell, as much b****ing as is done about trevor is 3 point percentage and eFG go up 4 and 3 points perspectively in the playoffs

James Harden - James's game dips a little in the playoff as well. just a percentage point or so off 3pt and eFG%. He does drop his turnovers down by .4, but what sticks out is he averages almost 1 assist less in the playoffs. ISO??

Nothing above really encourages me about potential playoff success. Especially Lou's apparent drop into the toilet.

In contrast dreams points, rebounds, blocks and assists all increased in the playoffs.

Hell even big shot bob increased his productivity in the playoffs.


Who knows. Maybe our collective group can elevate each other. Or maybe we are destined for a flaming bag of crap being thrown on our porch.

 

I am for selective running. Don't like those turnovers and one v 3 attacks that net us nothing on one end and lead the other side to score way too easy on the other. The whole point is to let us score easier than them. That is one area we need to be mindful of in the playoff.
Nash had that gun slinger mentality, touching his shoes and licking his fingers off, but he had far less TOs and set it up better.

 

OKC aint in our league so we should get to the second round and meet the Spurs and take it to 7 games

 

1v3 no of course not, but I'm fine with 1 player on our team running verse 3 of there's running as long as he pulls back and sets up offense. That is going to wear on the opposing team. 2 on 2 3 on 3 or any even numbered transition I'm all for.

Transition is great at getting "good looks" but where I feel we have a problem is when we don't get the food looks because of solid defense we still Jack up non quality shots instead of reading starting the offense.

Harden is fantastic at analyzing but we don't have the best analyzing when the bench is on the court. Albeit I still like the bench forcing the issue

 

Anything can happen . Its the Playoffs. We have overachieved and we are not getting blown out in any playoff game with our scoring.

 

Also, we need cutters that can cut with force. Harden is one obviously. E.G. is another. Dekker is a much better cutter than a shooter. He needs to cut more. With that much respect on our 3P shooting, we need to make them pay when they cheat on the perimeter.

 

Ive sprained my

i agree completely except hardens wrist is a wild card. Im left handed and sprained my left wrist skateboarding before and it was a while before i felt like I had my complete manual dexterity back for things like playing guitar or shooting a basketball

 

I'm just responding to the comment you posted. Down 3-1 or not they still won, period. This team will not and cannot win against top teams unless they learn to take the defensive side of the ball more serious. It's a bit concerning that now the 2nd coach of Hardens career as a Rocket has come out and said that they must d up if the want to compete and that it just takes effort, that word effort seems to follow this team or Harden with the coaches he's had or this team has had.

 

Your Lebron example doesn't count tho. I said that no player is good enough to beat the Warriors in a 7 game series with no other star around them. Lebron had Kyrie who is a star. When he didn't have Kyrie in the 2015 finals due to injury, he lost to a 67 win Warriors team in 6. Lebron could not beat them by himself and he is the best player in the world, a top 5-10 player of all time, and on another level in comparison to Harden. GS is just too good to ever believe that a team of Harden and role players could beat them in a 7 game series. Give Harden a player like Paul George and maybe he'll have a chance.

I agree that the defensive effort and intensity must pick up. That 1st quarter against GS last night was especially bad. Guys were getting beat backdoor left and right.

 

not to mention, Kyrie isn't even the only other star on that team

 

If Harden is injured going into playoffs like he was last night, we're going to get killed in the first round.

 

Idk why tf this is a question. We're gonna win the whole f*cking thing.

 

Whatever happens, GSW is eliminating us AGAIN.