[NYTimes] StyleS Q. and A.: Don Nelson Talks Hoops, Poker and, Uh, Weed (Tuesday, May 01, 2018 2:20:59 AM)
The N.B.A. maverick emeritus, now 77 and living on a Maui beach, muses on winning, losing and dulling the pain of aging.
(Monday, April 30, 2018 9:58:14 PM)
The will interview Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard and are expected to meet with San Antonio Spurs assistant coach James Borrego as their search for a new head coach continues.
(Monday, April 30, 2018 5:08:50 PM)
If the Knicks’ top two coaching desires are Mike Budenholzer and David Fizdale, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee they snare either. Fizdale has interviewed with Atlanta, Charlotte and Phoenix. And Budenholzer? Several league sources believe the Bucks and their New York-based ownership will pounce and enter “The Bud Bowl.’’ Milwaukee was eliminated in Game 7 of…
85 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.05.01)”
If the Knicks are fortunate enough to draft a lock down defender that can at least hits 3s this year, we can eventually become a team like the Celtics. What makes the Celtics so good is that they play high level defense and intelligently on offense. They have no superstars on offense given all the injuries. They just pass the ball and get a lot of good shots. If we put KP, Frank, Hardaway and someone like Bridges on the court with 1 other competent defender that can score a little, we’ll have a top 5 defense and enough scoring to hang with anyone. Granted, each of our players will have to develop a bit. It’s not going to happen next year. But it’s not that far away. We have some good players on this team. We just have a few gaping holes to fill in the starting lineup. Frank and this year’s draft pick have to fill them.
Mikal Bridges is not the answer to the Knicks’ problems. He doesn’t rebound very well and he is strictly a small forward in terms of positional versatility. People say he’s the next Kawhi Leonard, but the Klaw was a true sophomore and Bridges is a college senior. Kawhi was a monster rebounder and had 20 pounds on Bridges when he got drafted, too. Bridges’ NBA comp is Tayshaun Prince, and that’s cool I guess. I just wouldn’t write home about it.
His comp is Wes Matthews with more bounce to attack closeouts and finish at the rim. I don’t see Tayshaun at all.
I wish Nellie was still able to coach. What a character.
Strat, I love ya, but I think you might be getting too optimistic.
mikal will probably end up being some combination of khris middleton and danny granger….
It doesn’t necessarily have to be Mikal Bridges. I’m throwing that name out there because he’s a good defender and might be available. The point I am making is that we are probably 1 player and some development from Frank away from being a very good defensive team once KP is also healthy. Once you have a top 5 defense in place, you can be a very competitive team even when you only have a couple of good scorers and role players that aren’t a zero on offense.
That’s not enough to win championship, but it’s the beginnings of a very good young team we can add to with free agents.
I’m going to make a prediction. It has a lot of “ifs” to it, but here goes.
If we get Budenholzer as coach, Frank comes back with a better offensive game and wins the starting job, and we draft really well, we are going to be a LOT better than people think once KP comes back.
if we draft well and frank comes back with a better offensive game… then by definition we will be a lot better than people think….
Maybe you are right. 🙂
I’ve been a doom and gloom kind of guy in many ways for many years now, but all of a sudden these couple of months I’ve become more optimistic and am starting to see the upside possibilities instead of always seeing and focusing on the downside risks. I hope it lasts. I like me better this way even if I am wrong.
Unfortunately I think we’re a long, long way from becoming the Celtics. They just won a playoff round without their two best players. When we lost our (one) best player, we immediately became the worst team in the league. Even if we added a 3-and-D SF that’s already very good (say Covington or Porter), we wouldn’t be the Celtics. And Mikal will probably never be as good as those guys.
The Celtics might win the title next year. We are several players away from title contention.
For me, realistically, next year is a rebuild year. KPs going to miss lots of time, Frank can use it to develop, our new rookie can get his feet wet, Kanter can get his last pay checks and leave town. We may have some solid D players, but I don’t know who is going to score.
But, the year after that; still not good. Kanter’s $18M is gone, but it’s offset by $3.5M of raises for everyone else. KP would be on his qualifying offer if we haven’t wrapped him up long term. We will have no center, unless we draft or sign one. We will have a 7 man roster (KP, Frank, THJ, Lance, Dotson, Noah and Lee), but will need to find/pay 8 other guys. The year after that is sweet when $40M of noah/lance/lee come off.
The thing is even if you have one of the best developmental coaches in the business like the Celtics do you’re not going to hit on all your draft picks. That’s why it’s so critical to have the extra assets. The Celtics draft record isn’t unblemished but my god have they made a lot of picks. In the last 5 drafts (starting in 2013) they’ve made 19 picks including 9 first rounders (make it 6 drafts and it’s 22 picks, 11 first rounders). And they still have multiple extra future firsts saved up.
Even if the Knicks hire Bud and start to really get an effective development pipeline working it’s likely to take years still to rebuild the talent level of the roster. Having all of your young guys pan out just isn’t likely. It’s fun to write out all the names, assume perfect growth across the board and dream of better days, but there’s a pretty decent shot that the guy we get in this year’s draft turns into a just okay NBA player (that’s the reality of the 9th or 10th slot). There’s a pretty decent chance Frank is never more than a fringe starter/solid backup. I don’t want to be Mr. negativity but making 3 lottery picks in 4 years (while shockingly rare for the Knicks given how bad we’ve been), isn’t particularly remarkable if you look around the league. We’re closer to the bottom of the league than the top if you look at young talent + future assets.
Compared to 2005 or 2014, these are optimistic times. But comparing the Knicks to the Celtics? You might as well just say, “Hey, the Knicks have draft picks and cap space, so we too can become the Golden State Warriors.”
Boston has done so much right over the last few years and they have a tough, tough road to the Finals. Mostly unlucky breaks, but they are still not in GSW/HOU territory even with their two max stars healthy.
Toronto is so good at roster management that they had 8 rotation players with a positive BPM, and only 3 with negative BPMs. That says to me that their methodology is solid, rather than being a CLE or OKC who have made some good moves and filled in the cracks with shitty moves based more on brand recognition than actual ability. Problem is that they don’t really have a game-dominating superstar a la Curry or LeBron, despite Lowry and DeRozan and Valanciunas all being very good players. I suspect they’re still the favorite to win the East, but they’ve done virtually everything right (cough cough Ibaka) and still might not even make it out of the East.
(cont.)
Bridges isn’t the answer but it’s a good start. Having potentially two of the best perimeter defenders in the league with a top 3 rim protector is a great situation to be in.
It’s quite possible that Al Horford is the second best player on the Celtics. And yeah, they have to play Terry Rozier instead of Kyrie Irving-but Terry Rozier is a good basketball player. And Gordon Hayward’s minutes are going to Jayson Tatum, who has been remarkably good. The Celtics are really deep.
But on the other hand, that good, deep team just almost lost a series to a team that has one really incredible player. The Knicks aren’t going to be able to be the Celtics because we don’t have a huge number of good draft picks, but you don’t need 10 good players to be a contender, you need like 2 or 3.
Quick chess analogy– there are three categories of “bad” moves in chess: inaccuracies, mistakes, and blunders, in increasing order of “badness.”
I’ve been helping some friends develop from “novice” toward “intermediate” play, and in the course of our study, I show them how blunders are almost always obvious and often turn the game so in the direction of the non-blundering player that the one bad move in the beginning of the game seals the blunderer’s fate, especially against opponents who can identify those blunders and capitalize on them. An example of a blunder would be to place your queen in the middle of the board in the line of attack of an enemy pawn. The badness is so self-evident that it barely requires explanation. Mistakes are similar, but less apparent or damaging to a position.
Inaccuracies are a totally different story. Most positions on the chessboard, especially in the middlegame, have dozens of options for individual moves, but most chess players can immediately rule out a large majority of them (like blunders!). In a complicated position, there may be only 5 or 6 viable moves to make. An inaccuracy is hard for beginners to understand, because it often means selecting a move that is perhaps 90% as good as another available move, but it’s still one that leads to a quantifiable disadvantage. (So complicated is chess that if you watch a computer process a position with a “best move” arrow in real-time, it may often change several times in a few seconds, sometimes bouncing back and forth between two moves as the computer works out the decision trees.) Being able to discern between two apparently-equal moves is the mark of a mature chess player, and requires a strong analytical and intuitive mind to get there.
The Celtics and Raptors (and Spurs and Warriors) don’t seem to make blunders, but they, like everyone else, are prone to inaccuracies.
(cont.)
Maybe we can put Frank on LeBron’s ‘treatment’ and he will become Westbrook.
Kristea Porziagni on PEDs? Shaq.
The Knicks have not shown that they’re capable of eliminating mistakes and blunders (the WHG trade and winning games at the end of the season, respectively). So it’s hard to be optimistic in a zero-sum game like NBA roster management when every good signing or trade by your rival means that you have a greater opportunity to sign a lesser player. We may be seeing the new FO making B- moves instead of D+ moves, but that doesn’t mean a thing when other teams (two in your own division!) are making B-or-better moves consistently.
Yeah, it’s a good way to put it. We might not be making Detroit or Sacramento level decisions as a team, but just being better than the 10 worst managed teams in the NBA doesn’t put you even in the playoffs.
Boston is not a good comparison at all because the Nets trade changed everything. It brought them Brown, Tatum and Kyrie, which regardless of anyone else would be an exciting core for the future by themselves.
If they still had only IT, Horford and Hayward came as a free agent the situation would be far worse.
As an educator, manager and human development/self-realization guy, I fundamentally disagree with your assertion that NBA roster (and by extension asset and personnel) management is a zero sum game.
Let’s be frank: there’s no evidence of a generational talent in this draft except maybe Doncic and perhaps Porter (who we don’t know enough about yet) so at 9 or 10, we are getting role players. That’s why I’d be interested in trading down to get extra assets depending on who we are targeting. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mikal, but maybe ending up with something like Zhaire Smith AND Mitchell Robinson makes more sense.
Woj reporting that we’re done interviewing candidates, and the three he especially picked out were (as expected) Fizdale, Blatt, and Budenholzer.
Interesting theory on the Locked On Knicks podcast is that some of the stranger coaching interviews are really for assistant coaches — ie. if we hire Fizdale then Juwan Howard might be his lead assistant, Borrego might be Budenholzer’s lead assistant, etc.
Anyway I’d be fine with any of these guys. Prob Budenholzer > Blatt > Fizdale but it’s all fine.
Anyone see that Fran Fraschilla article telling everyone to pump the brakes on Doncic? He doesn’t think he’s a generational player. Fraschilla is pretty good at judging the Euro market — was one of the few that was really high on Porzingis, pretty much called Ntilikina too (said he wouldn’t be an all-star but would be a solid starter who does a lot of things that would help a good team win).
here’s the link.
Says he might be a cross between Ginobili and Gordon Hayward in terms of his ceiling. That’s pretty good obviously but it’s not Lebron or a generational type player.
Is it normal for the front office to choose the lead assistant?
The Knicks certainly need far more than 2 or 3 players to be a contender. Morel like 7-10. Seriously.
In fact, even 2-3 players are not nearly enough for the Knicks to match the Celtics. Unless those 2-3 players are 3, not 2 and those 3 players are superstars. Then they might match the Celtics. Not because the Celtics are so great; it’s because the Knicks are that bad.
whether someone becomes a generational type of players really comes down to a couple of things… athleticism and work ethic….
whether he becomes gordon hayward or the next lebron will be up to doncic…. it’s a moving target but one that you can set some parameters around and make educated guesses… but the fact his floor is basically hayward is a crazy floor to have…. his athleticism isn’t generational but he is also highly skilled and he hones those skills even more and gains some more athleticism along the way then he will be an incredible player…
ginobilli was a generational type of talent and the fact he’s not even more highly regarded is the fact that he never played too many minutes… if doncic plays starters minutes starting at age 20… and has ginobilli’s type of career then he absolutely will be one of the top players in the nba…
no one thought chris paul would be this good… because ppl tend to fall in love with size and athleticism…. same with harden… and curry…. but they are some of the best players we have in the nba precisely because they are smart and highly skilled…. that’s basically what doncic is…. you don’t get there on just athleticism alone….
@DRed
Since that was actually me on the pod my point was more that I think in meetings with Blatt, Fiz and Bud they asked them guys who they’d want on the staff and/or lead assistants. As far as I know Borrega, Howard and Larranaga were only added to the interview schedule after completing interviews with the guys I paired them with in the pod.
I admit it’s potentially just a stupid and wrong theory though.
@27 – didn’t realize that was you! Really nice job.
@djphan – I think Fraschilla thought Doncic’s ceiling was Hayward/Ginobili, not floor. I’ve def seen articles suggesting he’s more Hedo Turkoglu than Lebron James.
re: CP3 – he’s amazing not just because of offense but because he’s been one of the best PG defenders since he entered the league. I don’t think anyone think Doncic is going to be a high level defender – so that matters.
Yeah, I agree with djphan.
One thing to remember about Manu too is that he came to the NBA at age 25 and took a while to fully adjust. If Doncic comes to the league as a 19 year old with Manu-like impact, I’m sure that’s a generational talent.
I know people don’t think of him this highly usually, but for me a healthy prime Manu in today’s NBA would be at least a top 15 player, specially since the play style now fits the way he always played the game so much. A potential 20 year old Manu under team contract for potentially 8 years? That’s franchise altering.
One example that seems particularly relevant is the Cavs choosing Lue as Blatt’s lead assistant in Cleveland. In that scenario it seems to have led to a situation where there was a perceived (and eventually actual) replacement-in-waiting which only further undermined Blatt’s authority. I’m not particularly a fan of the idea for that reason – I think it’s not unlikely to lead to a situation where the head coach and the assistant have more of a combative relationship than a cooperative one.
The players are generally going to have a more lovey-dovey relationship with the assistants (that’s typically part of their role, being the good cop) and as soon as they decide they prefer the assistant, that combined with the perception the assistant was the runner-up to be the head guy seems like it can easily create weird dynamics in the locker room.
If you don’t trust the head coach to do a good job picking his assistants then that’s probably a pretty good sign that you’re hiring the wrong head coach is what I’d say.
The thing about doncic is that he brings exactly what we need to the table. A young smart playmaker with a phenomenal skill set at the age of 19 playing the 3. He checks all the boxes for us, probably more so than any other draftee.
I am shocked Friscilla didn’t include Wes Welker in the list of guys he compared Doncic to.
I’d be willing to hear a counterargument if there is one. My point is that Golden State has Steph Curry, so no one else has Steph Curry. Someone like Kemba Walker would be much more valuable in a league without Curry, Harden et al. His value is entirely relative, which is why stats like VORP are adjusted for the particular distribution of talent in any given season.
I mean his NBAdraft.net comp was Isiah Thomas, who is (wrongly) considered one of the greatest PGs to ever play. And he was better as a rookie than Thomas was in his best seasons.
I saw some comparisons to Tony Parker, which is also high praise considering Parker had already won two championships.
I don’t think anyone really knows who’s going to be a Deron Williams (a guy who hit his peak fast and then flamed out hard) and who’s going to be a Chris Paul (GOAT point guard candidate who may be Stockton-esque in that he may never have a season less than superstar-level). I thought Harden was a star but had no idea he would put up a couple of the greatest offensive performances ever. LeBron looked like a surefire MVP candidate but no one knew he’d be that way for 10 fucking years!
Doncic looks like a future star to me, but I have no idea if his ceiling is Lamar Odom or LeBron. The difference in value between, say, a .620 and .650 TS% volume shooter is huge, but you have to be a savant to be able to tell the difference with your eyes. I don’t think anyone really knows where he’s going to end up, but it’s virtually unanimous that he has the potential to be a top player.
fun read on don nelson…reminds me of that period though when we went through him, lenny wilkins and larry brown over a 10 year period – and, none of them worked out…
@27 What podcast?
Donic had almost twice the assists last year as Hedo Turkoglu had in his entire european career (in a shittier league). He might be a bust, but he’s a totally different player than Turkoglu.
I don’t think the Knicks are anywhere near the Celtics when they are healthy, but they aren’t that far away from the team that won the first round and beat the 76ers last night.
The Knicks defense was mediocre “early” last year but it wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t good because we had Jack at PG, Kanter at C, and were undersized at SF. That’s 3 weak links. It got terrible when we lost KP (arguably our best defender) and put Beasley in his place (a bad defender). It got worse when we started tanking and added Mudiay to the mix at PG. He’s even worse than Jack.
If you take that early season team and substitute Frank for Jack and put a legitimate defensive minded player at SF, I believe the Knicks will be a very good defensive team. That goes double if they start O’Quinn or Noah instead of Kanter.
That team won’t have the fire power to be a major contender like Boston, but it’s a core we can work with and keep adding to as the players improve. We are 2-3 years behind other young up and coming teams like Boston, Philly, Minny, and Indiana but we are positioned to get a lot better if we make wise draft picks and solid free agent signings.
I was thinking along those lines last night, but in a less sensible way. I was wondering if Blatt would take an assistant job to Budenholzer just as a way to get back into the NBA. I concluded it was unlikely, but what you are saying makes a lot of sense.
Jowles,
That was a terrific summary.
I lost some faith in Perry after the Willy and Mudiay deals. However, I want to see more before I write him off totally.
I think they sort of knew that Willy had value based on early season comments, but they found themselves in unenviable position of having a glut at C, a somewhat better player (Kanter) with very similar attributes that they could not move, and a very unhappy player that wanted out.
That’s where it gets tricky.
Ideally you call him in, talk to him, tell him he has to earn his minutes, and do nothing unless you can get a great deal. You don’t give him away for less that he’s worth. The other possibility is that you try to accommodate him (and his agent) as long as you can get back similar value. The rationale being that it could create good will at a later date when you are trying to make a trade or attract a free agent. I don’t know exactly what happened or what they were thinking, but I do suspect these guy like to have good relationships with players and agents. So it’s possible they tried to accommodate him and felt the 2 picks were the fair market value for a player whose skill set is becoming a little obsolete in the pace and space era.
Don’t ask me to explain Mudiay. Unless they know or see something that the rest of us don’t, he’s arguably the least productive PG in the NBA among players that get a decent number of minutes. There is an underlying talent of some kind there, but the gap between where he is now and where he’ll have to get to be productive seems too large even if they think they can help him.
@GHenman – Locked on Knicks
At this point I’ve come to hope Bridges goes in front of us and teams pass on Carter. Reasonable people are comparing him to Horford, and he is one of my favorite players of the last decade.
I know people hate the Celts here, but what a player. He reminds me of a modern Charles Oakley.
Thanks Lavor.
5 Reasons Donald Trump should coach the knicks.
1 – It would get him out of the White House, if Mueller can’t.
2 – He likes tall guys.
3 – We’d have plenty of material to discuss his blunders. That’s a big part of what we do around here.
4 – He’s home grown.
5 – He would tell everyone that the standings are fake news.
@44
6 – He’ll be able to point at like, 9 or 10 guys and say “There’s my African-American!” instead of just 1.
@44
And when Frank’s defense is shutting down the opposing point guard, the MSG crowd can chant “Lock him up! Lock him up!”
When the Knicks get the #1 overall pick with a 3% chance of winning it, he’ll point to Adam Silver and say, “No collusion! No collusion!”
I agree with Strat that we’re closer to competing than people think. It is not unreasonable to believe that, if KP comes back healthy, if Frank takes enough of a step forward on O that he can play more minutes and provide that great D, if we draft someone like Mikal who matches his projections as a good defender, then we’d have a very solid basis for a top defense.
But that’s 3 Ifs already. And then there’s whether Kanter opts out (and whether we sign him for more years if so), and whether we bring back KOQ, and whether Budz (or whoever) can get Timmy playing decent D again.
So, I’m optimistic, but realistic. NB: I said COMPETE, not CONTEND. Because no team is going to contend for the next 2-3 years except GSW and Houston and whatever collection of yahoos LeBron wants to shine his talents on.
Trump on Coaching the Knicks – “It’ll be great, believe me. I’ll pick the best people and the best players and they will all stand for the National Anthem”
As for Doncic, I think Fran is wrong. I’ve watched a lot of film, and he has a special talent on offense to anticipate what’s going to happen. Which Fran acknowledges, but underrate; I’m with the guy who did that backpicks list (www.backpicks.com) who argues that “creation” is the most valuable, scalable talent on offense, and correlates closely to winning. Most people here, after the pain of the Melo experience, would agree that good iso play is not as good as ball movement and a fluid team offense.
the thing with doncic is that he has a high skill level now… he might be as good as turkoglu was… but that was turkoglu at 23-25 whereas doncic is 19…. i don’t agree at all with fraschilla’s assessment even though he probably saw him a lot more than i did and i actually happen to respect his opinion…. he might even turn out to be right…. but putting up the numbers doncic has at his age is really too hard to ignore….
michael beasley is a perfect example of a guy who was immensely talented and put up a very respectable rookie season… but failed to improve at all over the course of his career…. that could absolutely happen to doncic or any highly regarded prospect…. but by and large… if they are that talented they generally improve… and his trajectory would be on a different plane than someone like frank… who basically sucks and has a long way to go to be even rotation viable…. doncic is rotation viable right now…
I’m sure Doncic will live up to the hype and be a fine player…..for some team other than the Knicks. But we’ll always have those extra wins in 2017-2018
There’s still a chance! 6.1% is better than nothing!
I feel like Donald Trump as the coach of the Knicks is a comedy premise with legs.
I love how a Manu comp is considered a slight. A healthy Manu who could play 35 minutes a night would have been an All NBA player.
I was surprised when looking at a comparison that Doncic is only 6’6, like Manu. I thought he was more Lebron sized, like 6-8. When you watch him play he doesn’t look shooting guard sized.
@53 – I sincerely hope they hit it. We Knick fans are long overdue for some good fortune.
@55
Haven’t we been punished for The Frozen Envelope long enough??? Every curse must end….
Absolutely. Let’s remake “Eddie”, but here’s the new storyline. Donald Jr. wants to build a hotel on the site of Madison Square Garden, so he asks his dad for help. President Trump starts tweeting about how disgraceful the Knicks have become in an attempt to lower their value and get Dolan to sell MSG for pennies on the dollar. Dolan caves and sells to Trump, but publicly doubts Trump’s ability to do any better with this franchise than he did. Unable to ignore any slight, Trump forgets his plan to tear down MSG and decides to run the team. He names himself coach because nobody knows more about coaching basketball than he does.
Hilarity ensues as the sitting president of the United States tries to guide a mediocre basketball team into the playoffs. Frank Isola and the fake news sports media won’t know what hit them!
There’s got to be some rule that says owners can’t be coaches, or else Dolan totally would have made himself coach at some point over the years.
Only reason people have been down on Doncic were because of two playoff games where he looked overwhelmed by good atheletes.
He did look a little slow TBF but he’s crafty and smart enough where I think he’s still all-star caliber at his floor.
@54 He looks 6’7-8 from what I’ve seen.
Oh, and since he’s the owner, he’ll pick Ronny Jackson at PG. The best people!
As highly regarded as Manu is, he’s on my all time underrated list.
Tony Williams
?@TBone8
Sources w/ their ears to the ground say Coach Bud reportedly wants to come to NY, but maybe not at a reduced price. But Bud is also set to receive $7.4M still owed by the #Hawks. Bud could reportedly take less over the first two years to offset it. #NYKnicks #Knicks #NYK
Tony Williams
?@TBone8
#Knicks likely to make decision this week. Keep in mind a dark horse like former #Hawks HC Mike Budenholzer, who seemingly wants the gig, but could piss off #NYKnicks brass, as he’s reportedly trying to leverage another Eastern Conference team against #NYK. #NYKnicks
Let’s all write this book together, and split the profits. Not only would it be hilarious, think of the publicity we’d get, “bloggers write comedy satire together”. And then his tweets.
It will become an off-broadway play, then Broadway, then a national roll out. And of course, the movie.
The sub-plots are endless. i.e. Mudiay is his favorite. And imagine his conversations with KP.
Ronny Jackson is the team physician that eventually get’s promoted to GM.
Mudiay is the DT’s favorite PG.
People are saying Budenholzer to Milwaukee is the feeling around the league. That’s annoying as shit.
Yeah but it’s hard to blame him for wanting to go with the playoff team that has Giannis. Crap. I bet it’s Fizdale.
Ugggh, Valanciunas has missed like five consecutive layups
Going to be with a playoff team that has Giannis that won’t be able to recruit free agents and will inevitably lose Giannis which would lead to your being fired? Bad idea. Going to be with a rebuilding team with Kristaps Porzingis in New York and two more lottery picks and a bunch of cap space down the pipeline to recruit Giannis in 2021? That’s the long play. Build a great basketball program in a city that will attract free agents instead of building one in Milwaukee where you’ll never get past Philly and Boston.
The end of this game looks like the 12th round of a boxing match where one of the boxers has thrown way too many punches early and has no more power left on his shots. The Raps just look exhausted, and they’re having bad possessions almost every trip down the floor, and the Cavs look fresh and get a good look almost every time.
This game is a fucking rock fight
LeZaza strikes again. From the length of time that he sat on the floor, I would have guessed Ibaka’s entire leg was broken.
Remember a few years ago when it was socially-acceptable to be like, “Haha I don’t watch the NBA because they don’t play defense; I like March Madness because they play hard,” and now we’re watching perhaps the greatest player of all time against a 59-win team that goes 10 deep — in the goddamn Conference Semifinals?
Anunoby played great one-on-one D against LeBron on that possession, forced LeBron into a fadeaway, and LeBron swished it.
Fuck that guy, but he’s awfully good.
He’s an alien.
That shot looked good out of his hand. My god.
How the fuck did Valencunis miss that tip in???
Valanciunas has been fucking brutal down the stretch here.
That is a cringeworthy loss for the Raptors. They had a million chances to take that game.
The Cavs are way deep inside the Raptors heads now
Raptors can’t beat this team.
prediction: raptors still win this series.
also marv really needs to retire. his whole smarmy schitck really relies on not being constantly wrong about who has the ball or what the score is or what quarter just ended.
Kerr and Brown chatting on the bench look like two mid-level sales managers complaining about rising commodity costs and cash flow pressure while catching a ballgame.
If this is close at all Steph will finish the Pelicans.
It’s crazy Anthony Davis might not be the best player in this game
Yeah, it seems that this Steph Curry kid is still a hell of a player. This is one of those games GSW was losing with him injured, but I can’t see this not being a sweep now.
Is it the first time ever a team sweeps the first round and then gets swept right away? It’s got to be rare, at least in the 7 game opening round era.