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2019 NBA Playoffs: QUARTERFINALS


Contentious C

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Even if Houston somehow wins this series,  I still believe their team last year was just plain better.  CP3 slipping and they need another reliable offensive option.  They needed to take advantage of KD's 4th quarter absence this game.

Edited by _MJ_
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I think sometimes people forget that this is the team that set the record for most wins in a season without Kevin Durant. They biffed the landing for sure but they won the title the year prior to that. With or without KD they are favourites and the Bucks are the only team that could stop them.

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Nope,  I'm not addressing the Klay Thompson being out of bounds because it never should have come to that.  Harden,  the guy people want to say is a transcendent talent took 2 shots in the final ten minutes of the game. That is inexcusable. LOSING this game was inexcusable.  

Yeah,  if KD is out there is a chance.   There is hope.  I think the Rockets will win game 6.  But Harden and CP3 need to step up, this is career defining. Unbelievable that they blew this shit lol. 

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“Harden shoulda took more shots” — Rockets scored on every last possession except 2. PJ Tucker being out of bounds and Klay magically not out of bounds are the killers. 

The ironic thing is how this totally mirrors last year’s series. Paul got hurt in Game 5, Rockets hold on to win. Home team wins game 6. 

Which leads to ... golden state misses 27 3s in a row with some really suspect officiating leading to the road team winning game 7????

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Imagine being Danny Ainge. You win the most lopsided trade in NBA history, spend years accumulating draft picks and shepherding assets to prepare your team for a championship run.

And then the Bucks are like "What the hell, let's draft this skinny Greek kid and see what happens" and next thing you know you're getting waxed in five in the semis. You hate to see it.

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Well, the Rockets might get two games without Durant in the lineup. Fair or not, people are not going to give them the benefit of doubt if they blow game 6.  Time to pull up and get shit done.

Chris Paul needs to summon something better than he's been so far.  I don't mind Harden not shooting every possession if the offense is flowing, but the defense was the bigger issue.

 

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13 hours ago, Oyaji said:

I think sometimes people forget that this is the team that set the record for most wins in a season without Kevin Durant. They biffed the landing for sure but they won the title the year prior to that. With or without KD they are favourites and the Bucks are the only team that could stop them.

Strong disagree on that.  This team without KD is nowhere near as deep as the pre-KD teams.  The bench is trash. Livingston is a shell of himself at this point and there isn't a reliable 3pt shooter in the bunch.

More than that, and I think this is a Zach Lowe point but I completely agree, the early Warriors dominance was a complete shot in the arm for the rest of the league.  No one was playing like they were. Now everyone is small and chucking 3s. Obviously there are varying degrees of success with that, but the league absolutely understands how to defend that type of ball in a way they didn't a few years ago.  This Rockets defense is designed to play against this style of offense.

For a point of reference, the Vegas odds currently have the Rockets as 7 point favorites in Game 6.  The only time the Warriors have been bigger underdogs this season was at Toronto with both Steph and Klay out.

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14 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

When you are the "MVP"... you are supposed to impose your will and take advantage of a situation. That also means playing defense too. 

I have to say, man, I didn't see this at all.  The Rockets defense looked pretty damn great in that second half.  Curry made some Curry shots at the exact time they needed him to, but I was really impressed by the trapping and active hands of Harden, CP3 and obviously the legend PJ Tucker.

I'm not sure how much of that second half you were able to see, but I just watched the game this morning.  The Warriors are forcing the ball out of Harden's hands by not only picking him up at half court, but doubling really really high on the P n R.  Harden split the defense a fair amount and was absolutely money with his floater.  When he couldn't he made a series of nice pocket passes to Capela who really struggled not only at finishing around the rim but also passing out of that action.  That, more than anything, was the difference maker in this one.

The idea that Harden somehow didn't play well is nonsense.  Your cherry picked last 10 minutes point would be stronger if Harden wasn't on the bench for a chunk of that stretch (basically his only rest all game, btw.  He played 44 minutes.)  The idea that the Rockets not winning this game was INEXCUSABLE seems a bit wacky considering they were down 20 on the road at one point.  O yeah.... and they are playing the WARRIORS.

Chris Paul had another dud shooting game, but he still played really well down the stretch both defensively and with the ball in his hands.  A couple really classic pesky CP3 plays at just the right time.  

I do think last year's Rockets team (pre-CP3 injury) was better than this year's team, but I would say last years GS was better as well and the numbers bear that out.

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5 minutes ago, Jrag said:

Strong disagree on that.  This team without KD is nowhere near as deep as the pre-KD teams.  The bench is trash. Livingston is a shell of himself at this point and there isn't a reliable 3pt shooter in the bunch.

More than that, and I think this is a Zach Lowe point but I completely agree, the early Warriors dominance was a complete shot in the arm for the rest of the league.  No one was playing like they were. Now everyone is small and chucking 3s. Obviously there are varying degrees of success with that, but the league absolutely understands how to defend that type of ball in a way they didn't a few years ago.  This Rockets defense is designed to play against this style of offense.

For a point of reference, the Vegas odds currently have the Rockets as 7 point favorites in Game 6.  The only time the Warriors have been bigger underdogs this season was at Toronto with both Steph and Klay out.

They aren't as deep as those pre KD teams but this will open Klay up to take more shots and that's certainly not a bad thing. It will get the ball moving more and be a more inclusive offense. I still think the Warriors beat the Rockets and advance to the final without KD. Jokic's presence would be a real challenge, especially with offensive rebounding regardless of whether KD is in or not but I think they have enough to beat Denver or Portland. 

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The ball movement will be better.  I agree there. Although I felt the ball movement with KD in there was much better in Game 5 anyway.

Klay and Steph shooting more is a good thing in most circumstances, but not at the expense of the best player in the league shooting 50/40/90 on an extremely high volume in the playoffs

You could argue that more shots for Steph and Klay will help them find their rhythm, but both are shooting below their standards in this series.  Steph well below his standards. Klay turned it around this game, but his numbers weren't pretty beforehand.

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8 hours ago, Zimbra said:

Imagine being Danny Ainge. You win the most lopsided trade in NBA history, spend years accumulating draft picks and shepherding assets to prepare your team for a championship run.

And then the Bucks are like "What the hell, let's draft this skinny Greek kid and see what happens" and next thing you know you're getting waxed in five in the semis. You hate to see it.

Some of it is that.  A fair amount, too, is that maybe this team is just better off without Kyrie Irving.

Rozier, Brown, and Tatum all played better last year, knowing they had to go out and do it themselves.  Irving seemed to just be in the way of that.  If they can bring back Horford, and Hayward goes back at all to being himself, then they're still in good shape.  They don't need to blow up these guys in order to get Anthony Davis.  They need these guys to start realizing they can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Davis, or Irving, or whoever, and rise to the occasion.  Giannis's teammates are a good example of a group doing just that.

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1 hour ago, Jrag said:

I have to say, man, I didn't see this at all.  The Rockets defense looked pretty damn great in that second half.  Curry made some Curry shots at the exact time they needed him to, but I was really impressed by the trapping and active hands of Harden, CP3 and obviously the legend PJ Tucker.

I'm not sure how much of that second half you were able to see, but I just watched the game this morning.  The Warriors are forcing the ball out of Harden's hands by not only picking him up at half court, but doubling really really high on the P n R.  Harden split the defense a fair amount and was absolutely money with his floater.  When he couldn't he made a series of nice pocket passes to Capela who really struggled not only at finishing around the rim but also passing out of that action.  That, more than anything, was the difference maker in this one.

The idea that Harden somehow didn't play well is nonsense.  Your cherry picked last 10 minutes point would be stronger if Harden wasn't on the bench for a chunk of that stretch (basically his only rest all game, btw.  He played 44 minutes.)  The idea that the Rockets not winning this game was INEXCUSABLE seems a bit wacky considering they were down 20 on the road at one point.  O yeah.... and they are playing the WARRIORS.

Chris Paul had another dud shooting game, but he still played really well down the stretch both defensively and with the ball in his hands.  A couple really classic pesky CP3 plays at just the right time.  

I do think last year's Rockets team (pre-CP3 injury) was better than this year's team, but I would say last years GS was better as well and the numbers bear that out.

There were a lot of miscues that led to those Klay and Curry attempts. On the offensive side Harden was being passive, there were several times where he could have gone to the rack and probably picked up a foul given that KD was out as one of their best on ball defenders and they were getting the switch on Steph every time they wanted it. Every time Steph was getting blown by. I think in that situation you have a perfect opportunity to seize the game and the series.. going back to Houston up 3-2 I'd have to pick them. Now, I don't think they have a chance of pulling this off.

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Narratives.

if the Rockets win, it’s only because Durant is out.

if the Warriors win, it’s a cataclysmic choke job by Paul and Harden.

its neither. The Warriors without Durant are still the same core that won 73 games. They’re still one of the greatest teams ever even with “only” 3 healthy all-stars. 

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I really do think they will.  They should have had a wrestling style contract signing for Jimmy Butler at halftime last night.  That sequence at the end of the 1st half was legendary.

I’ve been saying it all year, but Embiid is somehow underrated defensively.  The Sixers have been legit blown out twice in this series, Embiid had the flu and has had some of the worst offensive games of his season. AND HE IS A FUCKING +80 FOR THE SERIES.  Amazing.  Those two blocks on Kawhi last night were otherworldly.

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It’s absolutely ridiculous rhat Embiid’s flagrant wasn’t rescinded last night.

He very clearly deserved one for that elbow to Allen. Wouldn’t have even been upset about a flagrant 2 in that situation 

Since then he has been given flagrant 1s for blocking Allen really hard and *checks notes* making incidental contact with Gasol’s chin while attempting to box him out. Gasol had his arm pinned upwards at the time.

Every flagrant point from here on out will result in a game suspension.  Considering his role as a rim protector, and the way he is guarded/boxed out, this practically guarantees a missed game if he advances to the next round. Absurd.  The way they are calling this stuff disproportionally affects big men.  As if the game didn’t already favor guards enough. 

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