NBA 2021-22 Season Catch-All

Amen. That, and TNT’s awful streaming player, are the only downsides to watching on my laptop instead of a TV. Still get ads on TV but they’re more varied at least.

I’m in a hotel on a tablet, so *Steph jamming to Turkish polka* will have to do.

When they go on those runs there are few things as thrilling in sports, I swear.

It is so pretty for lack of a better word.
I am a total jynx this season so the bummer is I can't watch them. (because the flip side of them falling apart is so much more ugly when you know how remarkable they can be)

It is why I find it hard to believe that people considered GSW "villains" during the Durant years...

TNT did a great breakdown of the offense in pregame, showing them passing the ball in under 2 seconds, only taking great shots. It's a thing of beauty.

Do you have a link to that?

No I just checked Twitter and YouTube and can't find it. Was during last night's pregame show between 8 and 830.

Big shot to end the first. That might get Dallas going.

That Wiggins dunk. Whew

The talk this morning is interesting.
Lots of "Dallas needs a rim protector" and "Wiggins is legit"

Talking heads have been gushing about Steph's ability to extend the court constantly all year. Don't you think this has something to do with that instead of a lack of rim protector?

Kerr also gets credit for his coaching but its not enough and the Wiggins/Looney bit is proof. Steph further exploited a weakness and Kerr found plenty of people to fill it. (Klay got walk in, uncontested layups and dunks too)

I think Poole has a hand into it as well. He can shoot the three and get to the basket. But getting to the basket is the key because normally if you expand the spacing on offense, it takes a handful of extra steps to get to the hoop. Extra steps where defenders can close. Both Steph and Poole can still close that extra space quickly.

Also, regarding Wiggins. He didn't come from out of nowhere this playoffs. His stats in most games are not mind blowing or indicative of his impact. He may only score 12 or 16 points but hit critical or back to back threes on a GSW run or comeback. He may only get 7-9 rebounds but 2-3 are offensive rebounds late game or when GSW needed stops.

This isn't intended as a pile on of Dallas when they are down 0-3. But giving credit to GSW rather than spending 99% of the time talking about Luka doesn't play defense or his role players often don't show up, actually gives credit to Dallas.

Wiggins has been really good and is somehow underrated purely based on the fact that he never met the potential that NBA media had for him. He's been great with the Warriors, though, and these playoffs are proof.

Talking heads have been gushing about Steph ability to extend the court constantly all year. Don't you think this has something to do with that instead of a lack of rim protector?

I think this is kind of its own thing. The fact that you have to defend Curry as soon as he crosses half court changes the geometry of the court. It changes where his teammates can stand, where they can cut, how sticky their defenders are vs. needing to help with Curry. I don't know how much good a rim protector would do.

As a GSW fan, the thing that petrified me about this series was Luka's and Kidd's (and by default the Mav's) ability to learn as the series goes on. Obviously after game three, that is still a big concern but not enough to keep me from believing GSW can win one more game. (especially after they have proven they can both bounce back after catastrophic games and eek out wins with mediocre performances)

Also, I think what I was getting at was that the expansion of the space needing to be defended makes it harder for teams to collapse in the paint in lieu of a rim protector. What might work against other teams leads to free dunks, layups and 20 point games from Looney when playing GSW.

Also, a rim protector could likely make it worse since that would weaken perimeter defense. And if you look at the contested in the paint shots, Steph and Poole are freely kissing the glass while dragging 3 defenders with them. I don't know how one rim protector could do a better job of chasing Steph around than 3 defenders? Plus it is not like Steph hasn't faced elite rim protectors before...

And to Luka's credit, a lot of the highlights from Poole and Steph are scoops around and under Luka's out stretched arm. So much for Luka not making an effort on defense. In fact I saw a lot him closing out on GSW 3's. Normally being only half a foot too slow would be considered good. (just not against Steph or Poole, or even Wiggins and Klay)

Yeah the Jazz have had the best rim protector in the league the last 4 or 5 years and they always get burned in the playoffs with spread 3s.

Cross sports reference, Bukayo Saka sitting court side at the Celtics game.

NBA the best for random people watching.

Another first half blowout. Will the Celtics hold on?

@jphanned wrote:

Margin of victory, last 17 playoff games:

20
9
6
9
25
25
11
33
28
13
14
27
9
3
39
30
35

Average margin of victory has been 19.8 points. There's been a total of 7 clutch time minutes.

Thinking Basketball did a podcast on the subject a few days ago, I hope to listen today.

Warriors aiming for the Gentleman's Sweep.

Owner told them to lose so they could get another playoff home game to earn another $20 million to help pay their luxury tax.

At least the roof doesn't leak.

Chase Center and the surrounding area is a really nice. A lot of great development has happened there due to the Giants and Warriors. Great place to go watch a game/concert and also grab dinner, drinks site see.

Poor Charles Barkley has to suffer at least 1 more game this series.

Sorry, I'm still bitter they left Oakland...

Yeah, I’m not from there, so I don’t get an opinion, but I went to game Game 5 of the 2015 Western Conference Finals. It was quite the experience and it was clear they had something special there with the fans.

That said, I have no doubt the developed area around the new stadium is much nicer. It was an experience to hop off the train and cross that long bridge across the train tracks, past Oakland Coliseum, etc. It wouldn’t be hard to be much nicer than that setup. It was near where people lived, though.

Tonight's game bumped from ABC to ESPN for... Martha Stewart?

Anyway that was an ugly first quarter. Or beautiful if you hate scoring? Hehe

Barring injury, I'm not seeing Boston, much less Miami, taking out Golden State.

At this point, if hte Warriors win the chip, my only question is where does that elevate Steph to in the "Best PGs of all-time" discussion and hoooooooooooooooboy does it validate all of Klay's gripes about the NBA 75 (if they hadn't been already).

So fun to watch.