17 Comments
Dec 15, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Eric! you're so good. I'm officially starting the campaign for you to replace Fitz or Kelenna. Either one, your pick.

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You are too kind! I like Kelenna and don’t mind Fitz as much as some others…

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

So happy you got a "Looney Looney" in there. A few things I noticed: 1) On the Brogdon drive/Sabonis dish, Dray shouldn't have left his feet. Brog was too far out to make a decent shot, and Dray gave up the pass when he jumped like that. 2) My guess is that when Curry sees a screen coming like that, he makes his first dribble early (before the screen can be set) and then the screener knows to screen the other side so Steph can crossover. This also cuts down on the possibility of an illegal screen because it gives the screener more time to establish a position. 3) Otto should get an assist for that tip to Looney. 4) Monty Python Peasant Iguodala is my Halloween costume next year.

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Haha I threw in the “looney looney” for the real old timers

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I think Iguodala was complaining about the uncalled foul.

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I completely agree.

(When I was watching it, I hadn’t realized it yet.)

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

That 3-man game between Steph-Dray-Loon is such a thing of beauty. Imagine a JK or Wise (in Loon's position) that can make that read /and/ have the option of taking one dribble into a dunk or kick out to Klay in the corner...

Ignoring the rough shooting, Turner was still very underwhelming. Not one point in the game did he feel like he was the biggest guy in the court... I was surprised he had nearly the same number of boards (10) as Sabonis (11). He also got beat by a Looney drive from the arc that he recovered to block... but the IND feed had a slow-mo replay that pointed out it was actually a goaltend.

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

https://www.nba.com/stats/events/?ContextMeasure=FGA&EndPeriod=0&EndRange=28800&GameID=0022100405&PlayerID=1626172&RangeType=0&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&StartPeriod=0&StartRange=0&TeamID=1610612744&flag=3&sct=plot&section=game

It was the first play in this compilation I believe, you can see the Warrior bench up in arms about it.

Looney should drive more when he is holding the ball on the perimeter and his defender is playing up on him with the paint empty. Turner is primarily concerned with Curry getting the ball from Looney and Looney setting the screen for the switch, so if Looney can force the defender to play him honestly there it will give Curry that much more daylight when he does get the ball. Plus, Looney has a smooth drive game imo, not going to stand up to multiple defenders or anything but when the lane is open he is capable.

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Huh rewatching again, was this a designed play for Loon? The Dubs' first play of the game also ended up attacking Turner. It was Poole/Loon PnR that JP ended up with a lot of space on.

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Yeah, that goaltending was a pretty bad miss by the refs. With 2 officials you expect a few things to slip by, but not that.

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Unfortunately one was behind the backboard and one was near halfcourt on the other side of the basket :(

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by punk basketball

Anyone else get the feeling Klay won’t be back for Christmas? I guess the next home game after is the nuggets.

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I sure hope not. I dislike the Holiday National TV games. The hype machine in full overdrive. That being said it is really cool that the Dubs have gone from worst record in the League to must see Xmas game in less than two years. Let Klay be the hype not all the other shizzle.

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

1. Apricot: "If Wiggins were being remote-controlled by Draymond...." If? IFFF??

2. The players said after the game that the Looney-Draymond-Curry tic-tac-toe play was not planned.

3. This was the Secret Strategy for the last Indiana possession:

Kerr: I'm going to put the All-World Defense out there: GPII, Draymond, Looney, Wiggins and JTA. I'll have GPII or Draymond hawk the ball-handler and switch everything.

Caris Lavert: I'm going to dribble for a while and try to avoid GPII just stealing it, then drive into the middle of the lane where Draymond and Wiggins will help GPII, then throw it out of bounds so as to avoid the Passing Penalty.

Kerr: That's next level, bro. Uh, what's the Passing Penalty?

Lavert: Any player, upon possession of the ball with a live dribble or having terminated his dribble, who knowingly and with intent passes the ball to a teammate, will be assessed a five-shot foul penalty. Pretty sure that's right. It's what I've always gone by.

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Interesting about the tic-tac-toe being unplanned. In my video, Steph live signals the play in response to the hard rotation from Domantis so I can see how it could be a great read.

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Yeah at 2:48 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OKbD2JYFAk&ab_channel=JER-SportsJournalist Steph says "We didn't draw it up..." but really it seems like at this point in their careers, the gap in efficiency between drawing it up and ad-libbing on the fly is diminished, given the telepathy the vets have developed. Great read by all three.

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