Comments on: Clippers survive Steph Curry explosion, Top Warriors

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 11:45:24 +0000

I think the Clippers match up well with the Suns. I think we have the better overall team, but there may be a few games where KD + Booker outscore PG/Kawhi and we’re going to need the key rotation players to step up similar to how they played vs GSW.

By: Oodypkt

Oodypkt — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 09:44:20 +0000

The team I fear the most is the Bucks.
Giannis/Jrue/Khris/Brook is a formidable Big 4.
Suns seems like a glorified Lob City.
Great PG (much older), great SG (much better), great PF (less athletic but way more skill and deadly) and very good center.
But they will miss Cam and Mikal comes playoffs time.
KD is a PF now. You don’t want him to run around guarding younger wings.
Warriors is very dangerous. If Wiggins & GPII are back fully healthy. This is still the team to beat in the west.

By: WhyNotTyler

WhyNotTyler — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 02:19:06 +0000

You’re right, Magic can be a tough out. And missing Kawhi makes the Portland game more difficult. Clippers are still favoured but I’m fine with a split on this back-to-back. 4 out of the next 6 is the minimum I want to see, 5 would be amazing, less than 4 disappointing to some degree.

By: jbugs

jbugs — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:03:47 +0000

Dude, I dunno. I don’t think either Kawhi or PG can contain KD or Booker. Ayton is significantly better than Zu and they’ve got a bunch more gunners and I’m picture KD and Booker move the ball really well (not as good as peak kd/harden/kyrie nets, but really good). The only way we beat Phoenix is with really good offense. TBH, our offense has fluctuated significantly throughout the season ranging from borderline unstoppable to insanely clunky and it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with opposing defenses.

Bottom line, I feel like Phoenix is a really tough match up for us with the new personnel. I’d rather play teams our defense actually has a chance of stopping versus almost definitely the best offensive team in the NBA (I would take their offense over the Nuggets).

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 23:30:25 +0000

Listening to all the hot take fools who persist in crowning the Suns as WC champs. I realize that they are desperate to preserve their access to the star players so they kiss up to them. But this notion that they are simply going to air drop KD into the lineup on this short a notice and even get out of the first round is silly to me. If they can get 5–7 games all together then maybe they advance. Since we’ve been surging of late there’s all these comparisons between us and them and of course everyone jumping the shark on KD and Booker being “way better” than PG and Kawhi. Huh? I think our switchability on Booker will take him out and Kawhi can handle anyone one on one. KD is too slight of frame to do anything but pull-up jumpers and he sure as hell can’t expose his handle to Kawhi. So I see them being paralyzed in many ways against us. Zu will hold down the paint and if Russ can’t bully CP then Terence will swarm the old man. At some point analysis has got to go deeper than merely listing who has the most famous guys and picking that team. I suppose much of this is marketing but geesh. Suggs out tomorrow which should help with our possibly getting a more comfortable win and Kawhi rest for (fingers crossed) his first back to back on Sunday in Portland.

No sleeping on the Magic though!

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 22:27:27 +0000

A big issue is integrating Norm into the lineup when he returns.

My suggestion (not that Ty Lue will take it) would be to reduce Morris’ and Russ’ minutes a bit and play Norm with Zubac or Plumlee AND (1) Kawhi/PG/Gordon; or (2) Mann/Gordon/Batum. One can also swap Mann into the the first option or stagger Kawhi/PG in the 2nd option.

If Morris goes down to 15 min and Russ to 20, then I think you get Norm to 15-20 min. There are times when Lue will go small with Batum or Morris at the #5. I don’t think that’s a great lineup but that’s another way to keep Morris closer to 20 min (since Lue probably wants him to play at that level).

A lineup with Russ and Norm can work best if Zu or Plumlee + PG or Kawhi + Mann or Gordon are on the court. If you have both PG/Kawhi with Norm and Russ + a big, I think we get a little more exposed defensively and Russ doesn’t have enough protection.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 20:09:49 +0000

If we completely ignore the rings, I’d still put MJ as the goat. I realize this isn’t “scientific” or numbers-based, but just…whenever the Bulls made the playoffs, it just felt inevitable that they were going to win a ring. Like you knew that they were just going to crush the opposition, regardless of who it was. Lebron has never made me feel that, and Curry hasn’t either outside of the KD years.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 20:05:30 +0000

I mean, I do separate out my top 5 players of all-time as my “top tier.” Like I do think there is a difference between those 5 guys and the next 5, whether it’s because of dominance, longevity, impact on the game etc., but I’m not saying that Magic is just a scrub who would completely get waxed by any of those guys or anything like that. Sorry I can’t really articulate a detailed, logical reasoning on it – whenever we get into tier lists it just kinda inherently devolves into feelings.

By: Oodypkt

Oodypkt — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 15:15:44 +0000

T-Mann/EJ/PG/Kawhi/Batum will be a closing line up in some crucial moment. (Personally, I want to add RoCo in that group as a sixth member)
All can switch, all can (loosely) guard 1 through 5.
They can shoot, defend, rebound, dribble and pass. They’ve got some size and they are both skilled and tough. (EJ guard some big dudes surprisingly well)
Zu and Plum will be needed against Bigs like Jokic, Ayton or even Brook Lopez.
But that 5 has a chance to be our own version of Death Line Up.

By: WhyNotTyler

WhyNotTyler — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 15:05:49 +0000

Wasn’t what I meant. I personally don’t weigh every championship equally. And the best player in a season doesn’t always come from the team that wins it all (see the Kawhi example, LeBron in several years he fell short, was Iverson the best player in 2001?). Trying to factor in how much help they had, how they dealt with adversity, how they inspired teammates etc. in addition to playoff success. Championships do matter to me, quite a bit but I’m not diminishing Dame or Stockton or CP3 or Luka or Jokic if they never win a ring when everything else about them screams winning player.