So one thing about ACL and Achilles injuries is that players usually look a lot better in their second year back. Based on that we can expect Klay to look even more like himself next year. As a counterpoint, Klay is getting up there in years (in basketball terms only) so I don't know if that will mitigate the effect of more time but I am pretty optimistic that Klay's play will level up next season.
I'm definitely rooting for the Celtics today, perhaps if Middleton was never coming back I'd root for the Bucks but they are playing the Celtics even without their second best player who should be back for a theoretical Warrior matchup plus it's not 100% clear that Robert Williams would be good to go for a Finals series. Either way though, I'd hope that Miami could beat the winner of this game.
Suns/Mavericks is trickier for me, would have said Mavericks a week ago but if CP3 is really this worn out right now, how is he going to look in the WCF where it's a game every other day until it's decided? And I don't think the Suns are anything special if CP3 is mortal. But I don't know, the prospect of homecourt advantage against the Mavericks is pretty nice too.
Really enjoying Steph’s response to Brooks’ postgame comments:
> “He’s said a lot of crazy things,” Curry told The Athletic. “He called himself a dynasty already, so you’ve got to figure. On to the next round. Western Conference finals, we’re back. Let’s goooo!”
May 15, 2022·edited May 15, 2022Liked by punk basketball
The best part of yesterday's win and how it happened is that I don't need to rewatch the 37 point quarter every three hours now. It has sustained me through many a cold winter's eve, but right now I'm good.
On pairing Looney & Green. Yes, I have been very clear about splitting up Dray and Looney and have desired to see OPJ or Beli or JK in the starting lineup. I still believe that moving forward, but Memphis was a different animal in terms of matchups. In most cases, when Dray moves to the 5, he puts himself in a position to defend a scoring big: Jokic, Ayton, Embiid, AD, etc. But Steven Adams isn't a scoring big. He is just a massive human being. What's the point of Dray defending him if Adams isn't looking to score. In fact, that would work great for Memphis to have our best defender guarding their worst scorer. And they have JJJ as a great scoring big. This is why Memphis was such a difficult matchup and the move to put in Loon had more to do with freeing Dray up to guard JJJ than it was to have someone big on Adams. Credit to Dray and Steph for seeing a better way to counter their lineup and having to faith in Loon to hold up his end of the job. Years ago Dray and Steph met in a restaurant to save their playoff lives. This time around, they are concocting their strategy for G6 on the bench in Memphis while getting blitzed. Funny, as the Grizzlies and their fans celebrated, little did they know Steph and Dray were planting the seeds for their ultimate demise. How sweet it is.
Final thoughts on the Houston Grizzlies as they all pack their bags for Sandals.
Yes, you are the new Houston. Dillon Brooks and this Wal-Mart manager Mr. Jenkins never made worthy amends for their transgressions. Like Dwight "I'm still a Champion" Howard, they still believe they are the better team. They still believe they should have and would have and could have won but for Jordan Poole's reckless play. They believe they are a dynasty while amassing a grand total of 2 wins in the 2nd round. At the start of the season, I was excited for a new budding rivalry between these two talented teams. Now the Grizzlies are just the new Rockets. The team I have no respect for. The team I will love sending on vacation for the next 5 years.
The first rule of playoff basketball: Be the last one standing. Thus endith the lesson.
May 15, 2022·edited May 15, 2022Liked by punk basketball
Checking now. My ‘usual’ favorite seat in 109 or 110 rows7-9 behind the basket is around $900. One of the top seats in the 210 section is ~$500. Think I’ll take four of my favorites, two for me and a friend and two for some five year olds. In case you were wondering in the 2019 to 2020 season those lower seats were under $100. Only times I ever went to a basketball game and in a mysterious reversal of all ongoing trends, they won both times. Since I am so powerful, somebody should take me to the WCF games.
I’ve spent the day just enjoying that GSW made it back to the conference finals. I don’t want the team to be satisfied with that, but as a fan, I can appreciate it and not take it for granted.
Even skipping over the Lost Year 2020, and then the Discombobulated Year 2021 which ended with GSW finally catching fire, and then the huge ups and downs of this year…
Even as recently as Apr 1, the team had just dropped 7 out of 8 games in ugly fashion, people were calculating if GSW could fall all the way into the play-in and bomb out of the playoffs.
Even as recently as Apr 16, when the playoffs started, we didn’t know what we would get out of Poole (no data), Klay (long road back from injury and not looking great), Dray (looking eh), Steph (just back from injury). We didn’t know if Jokic would just steamroll our tiny team.
Then I won’t recount all the wild drama and swings of the MEM series, since they are fresh.
In short, it’s been a wild, exhausting ride and I’m taking a moment to just appreciate.
Since we have a few days, I'll ask a question that's been bugging me for a while.
I'm anti-Laker, but:
I have never quite understood why the 2000's Lakers don't seem to get the respect that the other multiple title winners get.
When you hear about superteams, you mostly hear about the 90s Bulls (6 titles), the Showtime Lakers (4), the Celtics of the 60's (lots), or even the Celtic 80s teams (3), and now the Dubs (if you need the number of titles, stop reading right now).
I hear a lot of individual accolades for Kobe, but hardly ever hear the 2000 Lakers even mentioned. They won 5 titles, including a back-to-back-to-back run! Plus two other Finals appearances that they did not win.
Anyone know why they are not held in the same regard? I realize Shaq was gone for the second brace of championships, and I think Pau and Odom were the other stars for that iteration, but still.
Is there any more to it than that Shaq wasn't around later on?
I get misty-eyed thinking about Klay’s return from the NBA wilderness, and his fantastic, potentially season-saving performance last night. But since I’m somewhat suspicious by nature of NBA myths and catch-phrases (and outright lies, like Fitz’ oft-repeated claims that Draymond has a 7-3 wingspan or that Will Barton is a Warrior killer), I ran the career numbers of Klay in Game 6 (in 12 games since 2013):
21.3 ppg on .617 ts / 4.5 reb / 1.4 ast
Quite good, but not that much better than his overall career playoff numbers. I think it’s basically the 41 point game v OKC and the 35 and 27 pointers that he dropped on Houston that gave rise to the legend, which is understandable. But he’s also had four Game Sixes in which he was held to single digits.
To me one elephant in the room, literally, is James Wiseman. What’s going on with his leg/knee? It happened like 13 months ago? I feel so terrible for him.
This felt like a mile race where we started off with a very fast pace and said, "Let's see if you can keep up with us for 4 laps/Q's?". Seems like it was all part of the plan even though it was hella frustrating to watch with all the unforced TO's. And then when we took over in the 4th, it was like a kick from a supreme champion with 250m to go. I like how Steph said we still haven't peaked yet... "You don't want to see us next year"
May 14, 2022·edited May 14, 2022Liked by Daniel Hardee
To Daniel's query: Before the season, I was excited about what could be with the Klay coming back. I was concerned that they not push him too hard, too soon, for fear that another catastrophic injury would be... well, a catastrophe and might end his career. I was relieved when they didn't rush him back.
I was expecting Wiseman to be ready much sooner. I hoped he would thrive in a simplified role on offense and learn to eat space and intimidate on defense. I lost hope for that as the season progressed. I was sorely disappointed that he never made it onto the court for the Ws.
I /hated/ all the talk of trading Wiggs, Loon, Jordan Poole, and draft picks (or the players they became) for whatever 'star' -- Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons(!), and even Damian Lillard. It made NO sense. Nor did the proposed trades for Myles Turner (who declared himself a main contributor on offense) and Domantas Sabonis (an offensive-oriented big) make sense to me. All of these trades had the Ws overpaying for players that were, IMO, a poor fit. One of the lessons of the Durant-era Warriors is that being top-heavy with stars comes at a cost, and that it's important to have good depth guys who are willing to accept a role and execute it.
I was in favor of getting a big and was both surprised and disappointed that Marquese Chriss never even got an invite and that they couldn't get a nibble from Marc Gasol. I did NOT want Turner or Sabonis. Later, I thought that was maybe a good thing, as I think the guy that would have been bumped was GPII, and I liked him and wanted him WAY more than Avery Bradley, who just seemed spent. I worried when other squads seemed to improve (e.g. the Suns) and the Warriors seemed to be treading water.
I was excited about the vet min acquisitions of Iguodala, OPJ, and Bjelica and thought that given the budget, those guys were an outstanding haul. I was disappointed that we didn't spend the MLE on someone who could help, and that guys like Patty Mills, Paul Millsap, and even Kent Bazemore preferred other destinations to the Ws.
I was hopeful that Moses Moody might be a contributor by the end of the regular season and expected (mostly because of media reports; never saw him play) Kuminga to be so raw as to be of no use this year. I questioned whether that was the best use of the #7 pick. We already had a raw, talented athletic project; two seemed like too many on a team hoping to compete for a championship. Having seen him develop a bit, I repent in sackcloth and ashes. I was hopeful Jordan Poole would take the next step and become a jolt of energy as a sixth man. I never saw his rapid rise coming.
I thought the Ws would finish around 4th or 5th in the west if all went well. I was hoping they might get as far as the conference championship, but wouldn't have been surprised if they had gone out in the 2nd round. Would have been sorely disappointed if they had gotten sent home in round 1.
After watching the team get out to a fast start, I revised my expectations and hoped they might win a championship. Then Dray went out with a serious injury, and the team struggled. Then he came back and Steph went out. I started to worry that they wouldn't be ready for the post-season. I was pleased with how they dispatched Denver, concerned with how they played in games 4, 5, and the first 3 quarters of game 6 against the Grizz.
Now that they're in the Final Four, I am hopeful that they'll get into the championship series. I think they have a puncher's chance there but don't know how they would deal with the size of Boston or Milwaukee especially. Nor do I think Miami would be a cakewalk. But I'll be there with them at the end, come what may. Go Warriors!
Suns were running a great offense in games 1 & 2 of the series, but the Mavericks defense made adjustments to force the Suns to play a different offense that isn't as effective as the offense they ran in the first two games of the series.
So one thing about ACL and Achilles injuries is that players usually look a lot better in their second year back. Based on that we can expect Klay to look even more like himself next year. As a counterpoint, Klay is getting up there in years (in basketball terms only) so I don't know if that will mitigate the effect of more time but I am pretty optimistic that Klay's play will level up next season.
I'm definitely rooting for the Celtics today, perhaps if Middleton was never coming back I'd root for the Bucks but they are playing the Celtics even without their second best player who should be back for a theoretical Warrior matchup plus it's not 100% clear that Robert Williams would be good to go for a Finals series. Either way though, I'd hope that Miami could beat the winner of this game.
Suns/Mavericks is trickier for me, would have said Mavericks a week ago but if CP3 is really this worn out right now, how is he going to look in the WCF where it's a game every other day until it's decided? And I don't think the Suns are anything special if CP3 is mortal. But I don't know, the prospect of homecourt advantage against the Mavericks is pretty nice too.
Really enjoying Steph’s response to Brooks’ postgame comments:
> “He’s said a lot of crazy things,” Curry told The Athletic. “He called himself a dynasty already, so you’ve got to figure. On to the next round. Western Conference finals, we’re back. Let’s goooo!”
🤣
The best part of yesterday's win and how it happened is that I don't need to rewatch the 37 point quarter every three hours now. It has sustained me through many a cold winter's eve, but right now I'm good.
On pairing Looney & Green. Yes, I have been very clear about splitting up Dray and Looney and have desired to see OPJ or Beli or JK in the starting lineup. I still believe that moving forward, but Memphis was a different animal in terms of matchups. In most cases, when Dray moves to the 5, he puts himself in a position to defend a scoring big: Jokic, Ayton, Embiid, AD, etc. But Steven Adams isn't a scoring big. He is just a massive human being. What's the point of Dray defending him if Adams isn't looking to score. In fact, that would work great for Memphis to have our best defender guarding their worst scorer. And they have JJJ as a great scoring big. This is why Memphis was such a difficult matchup and the move to put in Loon had more to do with freeing Dray up to guard JJJ than it was to have someone big on Adams. Credit to Dray and Steph for seeing a better way to counter their lineup and having to faith in Loon to hold up his end of the job. Years ago Dray and Steph met in a restaurant to save their playoff lives. This time around, they are concocting their strategy for G6 on the bench in Memphis while getting blitzed. Funny, as the Grizzlies and their fans celebrated, little did they know Steph and Dray were planting the seeds for their ultimate demise. How sweet it is.
Final thoughts on the Houston Grizzlies as they all pack their bags for Sandals.
Yes, you are the new Houston. Dillon Brooks and this Wal-Mart manager Mr. Jenkins never made worthy amends for their transgressions. Like Dwight "I'm still a Champion" Howard, they still believe they are the better team. They still believe they should have and would have and could have won but for Jordan Poole's reckless play. They believe they are a dynasty while amassing a grand total of 2 wins in the 2nd round. At the start of the season, I was excited for a new budding rivalry between these two talented teams. Now the Grizzlies are just the new Rockets. The team I have no respect for. The team I will love sending on vacation for the next 5 years.
The first rule of playoff basketball: Be the last one standing. Thus endith the lesson.
Checking now. My ‘usual’ favorite seat in 109 or 110 rows7-9 behind the basket is around $900. One of the top seats in the 210 section is ~$500. Think I’ll take four of my favorites, two for me and a friend and two for some five year olds. In case you were wondering in the 2019 to 2020 season those lower seats were under $100. Only times I ever went to a basketball game and in a mysterious reversal of all ongoing trends, they won both times. Since I am so powerful, somebody should take me to the WCF games.
Not sure if a repost but this had some really good insights into The Value of:
- Klay's Audacity
- Swing Factors in a game/series
- Live ball turn overs
- Steph knowing how to win
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm2T7VMb4t8
Wow that was an electric performance by Jermell Charlo man. That was a fight of the year before Castaño got knocked out.
I’ve spent the day just enjoying that GSW made it back to the conference finals. I don’t want the team to be satisfied with that, but as a fan, I can appreciate it and not take it for granted.
Even skipping over the Lost Year 2020, and then the Discombobulated Year 2021 which ended with GSW finally catching fire, and then the huge ups and downs of this year…
Even as recently as Apr 1, the team had just dropped 7 out of 8 games in ugly fashion, people were calculating if GSW could fall all the way into the play-in and bomb out of the playoffs.
Even as recently as Apr 16, when the playoffs started, we didn’t know what we would get out of Poole (no data), Klay (long road back from injury and not looking great), Dray (looking eh), Steph (just back from injury). We didn’t know if Jokic would just steamroll our tiny team.
Then I won’t recount all the wild drama and swings of the MEM series, since they are fresh.
In short, it’s been a wild, exhausting ride and I’m taking a moment to just appreciate.
Ahhhhh
Since we have a few days, I'll ask a question that's been bugging me for a while.
I'm anti-Laker, but:
I have never quite understood why the 2000's Lakers don't seem to get the respect that the other multiple title winners get.
When you hear about superteams, you mostly hear about the 90s Bulls (6 titles), the Showtime Lakers (4), the Celtics of the 60's (lots), or even the Celtic 80s teams (3), and now the Dubs (if you need the number of titles, stop reading right now).
I hear a lot of individual accolades for Kobe, but hardly ever hear the 2000 Lakers even mentioned. They won 5 titles, including a back-to-back-to-back run! Plus two other Finals appearances that they did not win.
Anyone know why they are not held in the same regard? I realize Shaq was gone for the second brace of championships, and I think Pau and Odom were the other stars for that iteration, but still.
Is there any more to it than that Shaq wasn't around later on?
I get misty-eyed thinking about Klay’s return from the NBA wilderness, and his fantastic, potentially season-saving performance last night. But since I’m somewhat suspicious by nature of NBA myths and catch-phrases (and outright lies, like Fitz’ oft-repeated claims that Draymond has a 7-3 wingspan or that Will Barton is a Warrior killer), I ran the career numbers of Klay in Game 6 (in 12 games since 2013):
21.3 ppg on .617 ts / 4.5 reb / 1.4 ast
Quite good, but not that much better than his overall career playoff numbers. I think it’s basically the 41 point game v OKC and the 35 and 27 pointers that he dropped on Houston that gave rise to the legend, which is understandable. But he’s also had four Game Sixes in which he was held to single digits.
By way of comparison:
Game 6 Steph (12 games):
26.8 ppg on .575 ts / 5.2 reb / 6.6 ast
That dude is pretty great, too. :-)
To me one elephant in the room, literally, is James Wiseman. What’s going on with his leg/knee? It happened like 13 months ago? I feel so terrible for him.
This felt like a mile race where we started off with a very fast pace and said, "Let's see if you can keep up with us for 4 laps/Q's?". Seems like it was all part of the plan even though it was hella frustrating to watch with all the unforced TO's. And then when we took over in the 4th, it was like a kick from a supreme champion with 250m to go. I like how Steph said we still haven't peaked yet... "You don't want to see us next year"
To Daniel's query: Before the season, I was excited about what could be with the Klay coming back. I was concerned that they not push him too hard, too soon, for fear that another catastrophic injury would be... well, a catastrophe and might end his career. I was relieved when they didn't rush him back.
I was expecting Wiseman to be ready much sooner. I hoped he would thrive in a simplified role on offense and learn to eat space and intimidate on defense. I lost hope for that as the season progressed. I was sorely disappointed that he never made it onto the court for the Ws.
I /hated/ all the talk of trading Wiggs, Loon, Jordan Poole, and draft picks (or the players they became) for whatever 'star' -- Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons(!), and even Damian Lillard. It made NO sense. Nor did the proposed trades for Myles Turner (who declared himself a main contributor on offense) and Domantas Sabonis (an offensive-oriented big) make sense to me. All of these trades had the Ws overpaying for players that were, IMO, a poor fit. One of the lessons of the Durant-era Warriors is that being top-heavy with stars comes at a cost, and that it's important to have good depth guys who are willing to accept a role and execute it.
I was in favor of getting a big and was both surprised and disappointed that Marquese Chriss never even got an invite and that they couldn't get a nibble from Marc Gasol. I did NOT want Turner or Sabonis. Later, I thought that was maybe a good thing, as I think the guy that would have been bumped was GPII, and I liked him and wanted him WAY more than Avery Bradley, who just seemed spent. I worried when other squads seemed to improve (e.g. the Suns) and the Warriors seemed to be treading water.
I was excited about the vet min acquisitions of Iguodala, OPJ, and Bjelica and thought that given the budget, those guys were an outstanding haul. I was disappointed that we didn't spend the MLE on someone who could help, and that guys like Patty Mills, Paul Millsap, and even Kent Bazemore preferred other destinations to the Ws.
I was hopeful that Moses Moody might be a contributor by the end of the regular season and expected (mostly because of media reports; never saw him play) Kuminga to be so raw as to be of no use this year. I questioned whether that was the best use of the #7 pick. We already had a raw, talented athletic project; two seemed like too many on a team hoping to compete for a championship. Having seen him develop a bit, I repent in sackcloth and ashes. I was hopeful Jordan Poole would take the next step and become a jolt of energy as a sixth man. I never saw his rapid rise coming.
I thought the Ws would finish around 4th or 5th in the west if all went well. I was hoping they might get as far as the conference championship, but wouldn't have been surprised if they had gone out in the 2nd round. Would have been sorely disappointed if they had gotten sent home in round 1.
After watching the team get out to a fast start, I revised my expectations and hoped they might win a championship. Then Dray went out with a serious injury, and the team struggled. Then he came back and Steph went out. I started to worry that they wouldn't be ready for the post-season. I was pleased with how they dispatched Denver, concerned with how they played in games 4, 5, and the first 3 quarters of game 6 against the Grizz.
Now that they're in the Final Four, I am hopeful that they'll get into the championship series. I think they have a puncher's chance there but don't know how they would deal with the size of Boston or Milwaukee especially. Nor do I think Miami would be a cakewalk. But I'll be there with them at the end, come what may. Go Warriors!
Coach Nick did a breakdown of the Suns offense in the Suns-Mavs series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOagJq55Ygo
Suns were running a great offense in games 1 & 2 of the series, but the Mavericks defense made adjustments to force the Suns to play a different offense that isn't as effective as the offense they ran in the first two games of the series.