2015 NBA Playoffs - QUARTERFINALS

[goodhelmet]

Help me out NBA referees.... right now, we have rules where a guy gets fouled, either he is in the act of shooting or he isn't. if Jordan or Shaq or whoever aren't in the act of shooting, why do they go to the line? Example 2... there was a point tonight where Reddick fouled Dwight or somebody away from the ball but nobody went to the line. Why didn't Dwight go to the line just because they weren't pulling a hack strategy? Why does this work for the first 4 fouls of a quarter but not until after a team has exhausted their 4 fouls and are over the limit? Also, alot of these fouls aren't actually fouls. Touching a motherfucker isn't a foul. Make them wrap em up or hack the shit out of them. 

[Charlie M.]

You have to foul your way into the Bonus first to do the Hack A _____ strategy. As for why the Bonus exists? I'm guessing to prevent a team from taking a bunch of three second fouls?

[MarcosLoura]

Dat Lebron fadeaway doe.

[Greggulator]

There are so many reasons why I hate Hack-A-Shaq as a strategy, beyond it being a snooze to watch.

1) A few people have made this comment, but it's essentially a bit of a rest for every player. And the Clippers (despite the mirage of Austin Rivers) have very little depth and CP3 has a tight hamstring. Why let them catch a breather?

2) It lets the opponent make substitutions since there is a dead ball. This ties into the rest. But it lets Doc keep in his best players longer. "If they're hacking Jordan, I'll throw in CP3 right now since I know the game won't be as up-tempo, and maybe he'll get a steal."

3) The best possible outcome of a defensive possession isn't just "giving up zero points." It's "giving up zero points and getting the ball in a position to score efficiently on the other." The best outcome is creating a live-ball turnover, since the expected return on a transition basket in this way is so great. Hacking Jordan takes away that chance, as rare as it may be.

The next best chance to score an efficient basket come via transition created after getting a rebound on a missed shot. A lot of teams are moving away from chasing offensive rebounds so they can prevent fast breaks. I don't have the stats ahead of me, but conventional wisdom suggests the Clippers are not one of these teams -- Jordan is probably the best rebounder in the world and scores a lot of his points after misses. There is a downside to this, though. If the defensive team does get the rebound, Jordan is under the rim. The Clips' best defensive player is now on the exact opposite side of the floor from where he needs to be for most effectiveness (preventing close-range shots).

 

Conventional wisdom: Shots after missed FTs don't provide the same amount of transition chances (or the expected return via points-per-shot). There are usually two players near half court waiting on transition. Jordan's at the FT line, waiting to move back and pick up whoever. I think I saw some math backing this up once but I could be mistaken.

[JRGoldman]

Someone can feel free to correct me, but aren't there multiple Euro leagues that give the option of two shots or a side out after a foul? Seems like the most elegant solution.

Also, the NBA has consistently changed rules to make the game more entertaining. The three point shot and hand checking rules come to mind. I think we will see a change on this soon.

[Burgundy LaRue]

 

The officiating in that game was truly awful. Hard to argue it.

Still not as bad as David Blatt's game-coaching.

He almost pulled a Chris Webber AND a Coach Dale at the end of "Hoosiers" within 2 minutes of each other.

 

 

Tyronn Lue deserves major credit.  He grabbed Blatt like a mother pulling a child playing in oncoming traffic to prevent Blatt from calling that phantom timeout.  Dude is really being saved from himself.

[Greggulator]

LBJ took a ton of crap for not buying into Blatt's system at the start of the year. But I think all signs indicate dude's in over his head. LBJ said the initial play Blatt drew up had him inbounding the ball, and he scrapped it. I don't know if this job is for him.

[RandomAct]

Someone can feel free to correct me, but aren't there multiple Euro leagues that give the option of two shots or a side out after a foul? Seems like the most elegant solution.

Also, the NBA has consistently changed rules to make the game more entertaining. The three point shot and hand checking rules come to mind. I think we will see a change on this soon.

The only issue there is that Silver has already stated that he doesn't foresee any change to the rule after he spoke with people like Bird and MJ. He seems to have the "guys need to hit their shots" mentality.  I'm not a fan of rewarding mediocrity.

[JRGoldman]

Everyone said the same stuff about Spoelstra in year one. Lebron got raked over the calls for deferring late in games. Blatt made a mistake, which puts him in the same company as at least 27 NBA coaches. I have had issues with Blatt as a coach this year, but I think people who claim he is in over his head watch more ESPN than basketball games. Terrible NBA coaches don't have 37-3 stretches.

[Greggulator]

That's a fair point about his record and speaks for itself. I would have really have liked to see the motion offense he drew up before LBJ vetoed it to start the season. I can see LBJ's point with the veto, though: There are a lot of young players on this team and a motion is complicated to learn and I don't have a huge enough window to afford a teaching year.

But as great as the record is, issues like timeout availability (and the near Weber moment yesterday) really don't look good at all. The playoffs become super micro in terms of management. You can get away with some flubs during the regular season (and how many of those 40 games were against garbage Eastern Conference teams?) but little mistakes like "calling TOs you don't have" are a major friggin' deal in the playoffs. And more damning: Not wanting the best player in the world to take the last shot. I get wanting to have a 6'9" dude who is an elite passer look for a play (especially with Kyrie out there) but come on. LBJ just ran a simple cut to get open with a really good look with under two seconds. Making things simple is a lot of times the best way to coach.

[Fallacy!]

 

It just tells me that the Rockets flopped their way to the two seed and are now being exposed.

Clips flop a lot more than the Rockets do.  They just get the calls.  Every time Harden drives, there's contact because of the way he extends his arms holding the ball.  He's just not getting any calls in this series. 

 

 

 

This series really sums up my beef with NBA officiating. The calls Harden gets during the regular season are pretty much bullshit, but he still gets them, so why does he stop getting them during the playoffs? If they are fouls in the regular season, they should be fouls during the playoffs. If you're not going to call them now, don't call them at all.

[Fallacy!]

Everyone said the same stuff about Spoelstra in year one. Lebron got raked over the calls for deferring late in games. Blatt made a mistake, which puts him in the same company as at least 27 NBA coaches. I have had issues with Blatt as a coach this year, but I think people who claim he is in over his head watch more ESPN than basketball games. Terrible NBA coaches don't have 37-3 stretches.

 

Spoelstra was in over his head too, but when you have the best player in the world it covers up a lot of shortcomings. If LeBron can actually drag Blatt to the Finals this year he easily moves into the top three on the all-time list.

[Josh Mann]

It gets better.

When asked today, Blatt said that the [pp] 150-200 decisions a coach makes in the course of a game is comparable to being a fighter pilot.

[insert videos of Goose/ Porkins here]

[Charlie M.]

That's a fair point about his record and speaks for itself. I would have really have liked to see the motion offense he drew up before LBJ vetoed it to start the season. I can see LBJ's point with the veto, though: There are a lot of young players on this team and a motion is complicated to learn and I don't have a huge enough window to afford a teaching year.

But as great as the record is, issues like timeout availability (and the near Weber moment yesterday) really don't look good at all. The playoffs become super micro in terms of management. You can get away with some flubs during the regular season (and how many of those 40 games were against garbage Eastern Conference teams?) but little mistakes like "calling TOs you don't have" are a major friggin' deal in the playoffs. And more damning: Not wanting the best player in the world to take the last shot. I get wanting to have a 6'9" dude who is an elite passer look for a play (especially with Kyrie out there) but come on. LBJ just ran a simple cut to get open with a really good look with under two seconds. Making things simple is a lot of times the best way to coach.

 

But what if Butler sticks to LeBron and he doesn't get open? Then what? People would be dogging Blatt for drawing up such a crappy play and I doubt "The King" would have owned up to scrapping the initial play. Blatt's drawn up a bunch of really good end of game plays all season long. It's one of the few things that even "The King" had to praise during the season.

 

Don't you guys ever listen to Hubie Brown? The most dangerous man is often the inbounder!

 

Where was LeBron to cover up for Blatt's alleged shortcomings to start the season? He was dogging it on defense, pouting and planning his vacation. The Cavs got better because they actually traded for some more talent and LeBron "recharged" in Miami.

 

Steve Kerr hand picked Blatt to be his main guy in Golden State. People can criticize Blatt for being in over his head in dealing with man children like LeBron, Kyrie and company but the guy clearly knows his X's and O's.

[_MJ_]

The Warriors are styling on the Grizz right now.   You knew the Warriors had this game in them, but I didn't think it would be on the road.  Memphis has probably blown it with a loss here; not sure if they'll get another win back in the Bay.

 

Hawks won too.

 

Today is a "Revenge of The Empire" type of night.  The higher seeds setting things right.

[Lawful Metal]

Not looking forward to tonight, but if there's any solace, the Rockets haven't lost three in a row all season.  And, the 95 Rockets twenty years ago came back from a 3-1 deficit in the same round.  So there, non-existent Clipper fan.

[Biz Smarkie]

As a fan of the Bulls and the Grizzlies, I am really hoping for them to both to make it to the finals.

 

I grew up in the 90's as a fan of the Bulls, and not just because of MJ. Scottie Pippen is from Arkansas, so he was as local a hero as I had...even if he was from somewhere in the state I had never been. These days I root for them because of Joakim and Pau.

 

The Grizzlies are the most local major sports team I have, because Memphis is only 30 mins away. I would still like them even if I lived somewhere else though. They are gritty and have tons of spunk. They have to fight for everything they earn, and I have much love for Conley, Z-Bo, and Marc.

 

However, I am pretty sure we will end up with a Clippers/Cavs finals. The Clips have been amazing this postseason, and I have a feeling that the Cavs are going to win this series.

[Niners Fan in CT]

The Bulls have twelve minutes to save their season. I realize Pau has been banged up but they came into this series with a healthy Rose who is playing well which was a nice surprise and no Love and no JR for games 1 and 2. Rose hit a tremendous shot to put them up 2-1 with game 4 @ home. 

 

Thibs has 12 minutes to show what he's worth. They are closing in on blowing this series.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Well, doesn't matter now... Bulls just got fucked over.

[_MJ_]

Delly pulled a John Stockton, shady little guy move with that legged lock on Gibson, and the refs threw Gibson out for whatever stupid reason.  Very weak.  No one needed to be ejected there.  People are going to mad about that one, and rightly so this time.   The Bulls have played better without Gibson though, surprisingly.

Edited May 13, 2015 by _MJ_

[Niners Fan in CT]

Noah has been so fucking awful this entire series.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Bulls had there shot, but you miss down 2, then you give up an offensive rebound in a 2 point game with 16 seconds left, any complaints are kinda null.

[_MJ_]

Lebron had 0 turnovers and a huge block on Rose when he was doing Rose was on a fast break to tie the game near the end.

 

The 38 points is nice and all, but those two things are the shit they need to beat elite teams.  He hasn't had a zero turnover game in a long time. 

 

Tristan Thompson and Jimmy Butler are going get paid in the off season.  There are no two ways about it.  They are both doing their thing.

 

Sloppy execution by both teams late in the games.

[lovchunky]

That Taj Gibson ejection was a very Joey Crawford - like decision.

[SorceressKnight]

Someone can feel free to correct me, but aren't there multiple Euro leagues that give the option of two shots or a side out after a foul? Seems like the most elegant solution.

Also, the NBA has consistently changed rules to make the game more entertaining. The three point shot and hand checking rules come to mind. I think we will see a change on this soon.

 If they're going to make changes for the Hack-A- (Blank) play, the seeming most reasonable one to keep the play going:

 

-"you choose, WE choose": If a team fouls a player who has nothing to do with the play, then the team that gets fouled gets to choose the player on the court that gets to take the free throws. 

 

Simplest, most effective way- keeps the Hack-A- (blank) system from being reasonable, and at least forces teams to have to foul the player when they have the ball (and at least works in the flow of the game.)