NBA Thread

[dgambill]

2 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Good is debatable. Most of them were really clean, open looks. But I agree, in that situation you need to get something going to the basket. 

It's crazy to me how weak Tatum was tonight when driving. Am underrated and under-talked about thing in this series is that Tatum is shooting under 40% from the field inside the 3pt line in this series. 

Brown has for sure been the better finisher and player…but he has also benefited from all the attention on Tatum. I do think Tatum hasn’t gotten many calls on his drives. I do think Wiggins is about as good a defender as you could put on him though.

[BGleas]

1 minute ago, dgambill said:

Brown has for sure been the better finisher and player…but he has also benefited from all the attention on Tatum. I do think Tatum hasn’t gotten many calls on his drives. I do think Wiggins is about as good a defender as you could put on him though.

I will continue to beat the drum that Tatum is not getting the calls that other stars get. He has been attacking the basket a lot in this series and he's not getting calls. 

With that said, he's got to stop letting that completely take him out of his game, and he's got to stop going up soft.

He had a play mid-to-late 4th quarter when he cut back door and got the ball right under the basket and instead of going up strong for a dunk and a foul, he kind of tried to draw the foul and flip it up like a scoop layup and ended up missing. 

If he had used his size and gone up strong it easily would have been an And 1 on Wiggins. 

[dgambill]

Hard to believe this is the same Steph Curry that had basically his worst shooting regular season of his career. 

[dgambill]

3 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I will continue to beat the drum that Tatum is not getting the calls that other stars get. He has been attacking the basket a lot in this series and he's not getting calls. 

With that said, he's got to stop letting that completely take him out of his game, and he's got to stop going up soft.

He had a play mid-to-late 4th quarter when he cut back door and got the ball right under the basket and instead of going up strong for a dunk and a foul, he kind of tried to draw the foul and flip it up like a scoop layup and ended up missing. 

If he had used his size and gone up strong it easily would have been an And 1 on Wiggins. 

I can see that some. I mean I don’t want to put too much blame on the refs just against Tatum. I’ll just say they’ve been inconsistent across the board. Anyways you guys are at your best when he is attacking hard…he will get enough calls if he stays at it. Plus he gets wide open shots for his teammates. Finally it opens up his jab step pull up 3. I think he figures it out.

[rico]

Break up the Celtics.

[BGleas]

Honestly, that's the series right there. If he was shooting even just 40% they're probably up 3-1 easy right now. 45ish% and it's maybe over already. 

Edit: You have to wonder if the shoulder is worse than the Celtics are letting on? 

 

[dgambill]

4 hours ago, BGleas said:

Honestly, that's the series right there. If he was shooting even just 40% they're probably up 3-1 easy right now. 45ish% and it's maybe over already. 

Edit: You have to wonder if the shoulder is worse than the Celtics are letting on? 

 

I think it’s the defense of Wiggins more than anything. Wiggins is an elite defender. I mean he smothered Luka. You aren’t going to shut those level of players down but he has been great at limiting their efficiency. I’m sure no one is 100% at this point in the season but to me anything but crediting Wiggins efforts is probably looking for an excuse.

[BGleas]

21 minutes ago, dgambill said:

I think it’s the defense of Wiggins more than anything. Wiggins is an elite defender. I mean he smothered Luka. You aren’t going to shut those level of players down but he has been great at limiting their efficiency. I’m sure no one is 100% at this point in the season but to me anything but crediting Wiggins efforts is probably looking for an excuse.

I'm not looking for an excuse. I'm wondering if Tatum's shoulder is more hurt than we know. It's a legitimate question, as he's been clutching it numerous times since Game 5 vs Miami and he's never shot remotely close to this poor. 

Wiggins has been good defensively and has made it difficult on Tatum, but yeah I'm not crediting him as shutting Tatum down. Again, Wiggins has been good defensively, but Tatum has gotten great looks a lot of the time and he's gotten by him to the paint a lot too, he's not finishing when he gets there. The Celtics are also really good at creating switches, so it's not like Wiggins is on him all of the time. 

Tatum even struggled against Belijca (sp?) last night. 

Again, just so it doesn't get spun Wiggins has been good defensively, but I'm not watching these games thinking, 'wow, Wiggins is locking Tatum up!'

[rico]

Pacers...

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2022/06/draft-notes-daniels-pacers-agbaji-beauchamp-wesley.html

[dgambill]

2 hours ago, BGleas said:

I'm not looking for an excuse. I'm wondering if Tatum's shoulder is more hurt than we know. It's a legitimate question, as he's been clutching it numerous times since Game 5 vs Miami and he's never shot remotely close to this poor. 

Wiggins has been good defensively and has made it difficult on Tatum, but yeah I'm not crediting him as shutting Tatum down. Again, Wiggins has been good defensively, but Tatum has gotten great looks a lot of the time and he's gotten by him to the paint a lot too, he's not finishing when he gets there. The Celtics are also really good at creating switches, so it's not like Wiggins is on him all of the time. 

Tatum even struggled against Belijca (sp?) last night. 

Again, just so it doesn't get spun Wiggins has been good defensively, but I'm not watching these games thinking, 'wow, Wiggins is locking Tatum up!'

To me it’s looked more like Tatum has been pressing a little. Having to finish over a good defender…and yes has been getting grabbed and not been the beneficiary of a friendly whistle. It’s been a combination. I haven’t noticed him overtly grabbing his shoulder/wincing or laboring honestly. I’m sure it’s still uncomfortable. I think almost everyone is banged up a bit. Williams playing through his injuries well. Curry playing through the foot issue and putting up 43. Thompson clearly doesn’t have his legs back yet. A lot of guys are dinged up. It’s possible Tatum is feeling it a little more than others but I do mostly credit Thompson and Wiggins for not allowing him to get to his spots comfortably. They’ve made him finish with a higher level of difficulty then I think the other rounds.
 

I’m not sure GS will hold him down all series though. The young legs I think win out. I was extremely surprised on a night with the shortest layoff the older team was the one who seemed the freshest and finished strong and it was tired legs late with Boston it looked. 

[BGleas]

15 minutes ago, dgambill said:

To me it’s looked more like Tatum has been pressing a little. Having to finish over a good defender…and yes has been getting grabbed and not been the beneficiary of a friendly whistle. It’s been a combination. I haven’t noticed him overtly grabbing his shoulder/wincing or laboring honestly. I’m sure it’s still uncomfortable. I think almost everyone is banged up a bit. Williams playing through his injuries well. Curry playing through the foot issue and putting up 43. Thompson clearly doesn’t have his legs back yet. A lot of guys are dinged up. It’s possible Tatum is feeling it a little more than others but I do mostly credit Thompson and Wiggins for not allowing him to get to his spots comfortably. They’ve made him finish with a higher level of difficulty then I think the other rounds.
 

I’m not sure GS will hold him down all series though. The young legs I think win out. I was extremely surprised on a night with the shortest layoff the older team was the one who seemed the freshest and finished strong and it was tired legs late with Boston it looked. 

I understand a lot of guys are beat up at this point. I'm not using his shoulder as an excuse, I'm wondering if it's a reason for his poor 2pt/mid-range shooting. 

He has grabbed his shoulder and winced at various times in multiple Finals games. Again, not an excuse, but he's shot very poorly on open (keyword being open) mid-range shots and he's often come up way short/front rim on those in this series.

Those shots are his bread and butter, so it leads me to wonder if the shoulder may be worse than we've heard. 

Maybe the shoulder is fine and he's just not shooting well. But, it is odd that he's shooting so poorly from the mid-range and the paint, and this is against a team that doesn't have a rim protector and these are shots he typically makes at a good percentage. I'm talking about the open ones, which he has had plenty of in this series. 

[dgambill]

6 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I understand a lot of guys are beat up at this point. I'm not using his shoulder as an excuse, I'm wondering if it's a reason for his poor 2pt/mid-range shooting. 

He has grabbed his shoulder and winced at various times in multiple Finals games. Again, not an excuse, but he's shot very poorly on open (keyword being open) mid-range shots and he's often come up way short/front rim on those in this series.

Those shots are his bread and butter, so it leads me to wonder if the shoulder may be worse than we've heard. 

Maybe the shoulder is fine and he's just not shooting well. But, it is odd that he's shooting so poorly from the mid-range and the paint, and this is against a team that doesn't have a rim protector and these are shots he typically makes at a good percentage. I'm talking about the open ones, which he has had plenty of in this series. 

It’s possible the stinger is still bothering him. Or he could just be playing tight and pressing a bit. Sometimes when you want something so bad…it causes you to try too hard…and the more you struggle (which he did get off to a bad start game 1) the more it snowballs. I think he wants the Kobe legacy so bad…he might be trying to force it…and if he could relax it would come to him. Of course I also think GS has made it difficult. They clearly know where he likes to get to and are playing hard to prevent it. Also when he gets a matchup he can feast on they are quickly doubling which is not something I saw a lot of in previous series. Just making it hard. He hasn’t played awful…he just hasn’t been sharp. I get the feeling he is going to have a couple killer games this final stretch. If the others continue playing as well as they have…GS won’t have a chance. Brown has lifted them so far….so Tatum still has time to cement his future in the days to come.

[rico]

Hope the Celts get their stuff together tonight.  Some of that Bird magic would be great.

[BGleas]

13 minutes ago, rico said:

Hope the Celts get their stuff together tonight.  Some of that Bird magic would be great.

Give me some Tatum magic and I'll be all set! 

[go_iu_bb]

32 minutes ago, rico said:

Hope the Celts get their stuff together tonight.  Some of that Bird magic would be great.

If Bird plays tonight the Celtics are in trouble.

[BGleas]

Sounds like Bradley Beal may officially be available this offseason. Apparently the big suitors will be Miami and Dallas, with LeBron also being a big fan. 

But, say the Warriors lose this series, if you're them wouldn't you call up Washington and offer Wiggins, a 1st rounder and some combination (not all) of Wiseman, Kuminga and Moody?

That package would probably beat anything those others could put together. 

Miami if they went Herro, Bam and some picks, but I'm not sure that's better. Miami has some edge with Beal wanting to be there though. 

[BGleas]

Very frustrating start. Celtics are playing extremely soft defensively. On the other side the officials are letting GS get away with A LOT of contact, clutching and grabbing. 

[dgambill]

8 hours ago, BGleas said:

Sounds like Bradley Beal may officially be available this offseason. Apparently the big suitors will be Miami and Dallas, with LeBron also being a big fan. 

But, say the Warriors lose this series, if you're them wouldn't you call up Washington and offer Wiggins, a 1st rounder and some combination (not all) of Wiseman, Kuminga and Moody?

That package would probably beat anything those others could put together. 

Miami if they went Herro, Bam and some picks, but I'm not sure that's better. Miami has some edge with Beal wanting to be there though. 

I would not be interested if I’m GS. Wiggins was the only reason they are in the finals and we see how essential he is to their defense as they have no answers to the Tatum/Doncic of the world. I just don’t see a package that would interest me if I’m Washington dealing with Miami. Herro ain’t cutting it in the least. Would Boston if they lose move Brown for him?? I wouldn’t I don’t like trading for injured aging vets but that is just me. My best bet would be one of those teams possibly getting a 3rd team involved to send a young centerpiece over. Would OKC move SGA if they could get Moody, Poole, Kuminga, and Wiseman plus picks? I just don’t think GS would trade their future and they couldn’t play Thompson, Beal, Curry together. If they kept Wiggins maybe bring Klay off the bench as the super 6th man or just alternate letting them rest games. 
 

Best Heat deal I could come up with is move Herro, Robinson, Streus plus picks to Utah and then Utah who moves Mitchell to Washington who sends Beal to Miami. But then why not just trade for Mitchell if your Miami?? Younger star. I could see Atlanta get involved as they have a lot of assets but in the end OKC is the team with cap space plus picks to make something happen. 

 

[dgambill]

Jordan Poole is so trash lol.

[dgambill]

Why are refs so quick to T people up.

[BGleas]

1 minute ago, dgambill said:

Why are refs so quick to T people up.

Good call on the Rob Williams foul, but that technical on Udoka was absolutely ridiculous. 

Draymod Green can scream, jump up and down and basically undress the refs all series long and he gets nothing. 

Udoka says one thing and gets a quick T. That was terrible. 

[dgambill]

4 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Good call on the Rob Williams foul, but that technical on Udoka was absolutely ridiculous. 

Draymod Green can scream, jump up and down and basically undress the refs all series long and he gets nothing. 

Udoka says one thing and gets a quick T. That was terrible. 

I hate to see that. Have no clue what he is saying with that mask but no doubt. Given Boston crowd can chant “f” Draymond and worse you’d think the refs could handle one guy given a little verbal tongue lashing. So sensitive.
 

Kerr gets away with a ton too. Seems GS gets benefit of the doubt being the veteran team…just like to see that stuff consistent. Given Steph had a poor shooting quarter…GS up double digits is worrisome.

Edited June 14, 2022 by dgambill

[BGleas]

Just now, dgambill said:

I hate to see that. Have no clue what he is saying with that mask but no doubt. Kerr gets away with a ton too. Seems GS gets benefit of the doubt being the veteran team…just like to see that stuff consistent. Given Steph had a poor shooting quarter…GS up double digits is worrisome.

Not to mention before that entire sequence the ball was 100%, without a doubt out of bounds of Curry. 

It should have been Celtics ball. 

[BGleas]

It absolutely absurd that the Celtics only have 3 free throw attempts so far. They've been attacking the basket all night with the Warriors playing extremely physical. 

[dgambill]

5 minutes ago, BGleas said:

It absolutely absurd that the Celtics only have 3 free throw attempts so far. They've been attacking the basket all night with the Warriors playing extremely physical. 

They’ll get enough calls. They just got to keep putting pressure on the officials. I don’t like how home teams seem to get benefit of calls it seems but that just is how it is. Not sure if it’s fans or momentum thing or why refs let that happen. Happened in Boston too. Guess that is why home court is so big sometimes. No matter what Boston is at their best when they are agressive in getting into the lane so just keep at it.