NBA Playoffs thread

jterrell

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I give credit to Wesley Mathews for Harden's struggle in this series. He is making him work both sides of the court.

Harden has always been a poor playoff performer.
It is a legit concern for Houston.

What Harden did so well in OKC was play defense and play smart basketball then pick his spots offensively.
Now he is in all out attack mode on offense with no defense. That's a regression.
He should grow out of it but you never know.
 

jterrell

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I don't think they're not as good - they're just not getting any help from guys they've depended on all year long.

Danny Green averaged 9ppg this season, and is averaging 2.8 against Dallas.
Patty Mills averaged 10ppg and has 5.5 in the playoffs.
Belinelli dropped from 11.4 to 3.5


Not just minor drop-offs, almost totally disappeared. The bench was huge for SA all year, and short of Manu and Diaw, they're not doing anything in this series.

That's Carlisle's game plan. He is taking those guys away and forcing match ups he wants.
Another great Mavs/Spurs series. We probably should have known but 1-8 is hard to figure as a real series.
 

Aggie87

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Green has disappeared, so has Parker for the most part. If they can get those two guys' heads in the game, I think they'll be ok. Ginobili won the game last night for the Spurs.

Without Vince Carter's miracle 3, the Spurs are up 3-1 right now.
 

bounce

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That's Carlisle's game plan. He is taking those guys away and forcing match ups he wants.
Another great Mavs/Spurs series. We probably should have known but 1-8 is hard to figure as a real series.

He's doing a great job by taking their game plan out of it. The Spurs have always been a "pass up a good shot to get a great shot" team. Their success is entirely predicated on that. They're not one-on-one players, and Carlisle has essentially turned them into that. Manu is about the only one that can play 1-on-1, and you can't count on him to do it for seven games. Parker is in spurts, but he hits a wall. It's a great game plan by Dallas.

I still think San Antonio is in the driver's seat, though. This series reminds me a lot of the SA/GSW series last year. I think (hope) San Antonio still has a looming game where they shoot lights out from 3.
 

jterrell

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He's doing a great job by taking their game plan out of it. The Spurs have always been a "pass up a good shot to get a great shot" team. Their success is entirely predicated on that. They're not one-on-one players, and Carlisle has essentially turned them into that. Manu is about the only one that can play 1-on-1, and you can't count on him to do it for seven games. Parker is in spurts, but he hits a wall. It's a great game plan by Dallas.

I still think San Antonio is in the driver's seat, though. This series reminds me a lot of the SA/GSW series last year. I think (hope) San Antonio still has a looming game where they shoot lights out from 3.

I'd favor the Spurs as well with home court again but the series has been about which team hits shots late and that can obviously go either way.

As big as getting to 2-2 was for the Spurs they have to be tremendously concerned about blowing a 20 point lead and essentially winning off a combination of 3 late FT misses by Dallas plus a 3 pointer by Diaw.
 

jterrell

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Green has disappeared, so has Parker for the most part. If they can get those two guys' heads in the game, I think they'll be ok. Ginobili won the game last night for the Spurs.

Without Vince Carter's miracle 3, the Spurs are up 3-1 right now.

That's true but shoe is on other foot as well.
Monte hits that last 2 pointer and draws a foul on a play where he was hit and it could just as easily be 3-1 Mavs.

Game 1 Spurs were outplayed until last 7 minutes. Last night they needed Blair getting ejected to turn momentum in their favor late.
The Spurs have honestly never had anything like a stranglehold on this series which is shocking because the absolutely dominated the reg season games.

When an 8 seed is replying on one last stop or a 3 pointer from a bench player to win the 8 seed is the one who should feel good. All Dallas ever could have hoped for was a punchers chance and they clearly have it.
 

casmith07

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Harden has always been a poor playoff performer.
It is a legit concern for Houston.

What Harden did so well in OKC was play defense and play smart basketball then pick his spots offensively.
Now he is in all out attack mode on offense with no defense. That's a regression.
He should grow out of it but you never know.

He's Gilbert Arenas except without the defense.
 

casmith07

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Green has disappeared, so has Parker for the most part. If they can get those two guys' heads in the game, I think they'll be ok. Ginobili won the game last night for the Spurs.

Without Vince Carter's miracle 3, the Spurs are up 3-1 right now.

Sometimes that's how the ball bounces, and I agree. Big shot by Vince Carter, but people wailing and gnashing their teeth thinking that the Mavs "choked" last night because Tony Romo was at the game are idiots - this is the San Antonio Spurs. It's not like they just haven't been doing this for over a decade straight.
 

WoodysGirl

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CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
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MC KAos

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I want the blazers to win the series, but I want the rockets to win this game, can't have the blazers more rested than the spurs!
 

Ren

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Mavs would have needed game 4 or 5 to stand a chance Spurs will close it out in 6 now. Nice to see them put up a fight though
 

RastaRocket

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Green has disappeared, so has Parker for the most part. If they can get those two guys' heads in the game, I think they'll be ok. Ginobili won the game last night for the Spurs.

Without Vince Carter's miracle 3, the Spurs are up 3-1 right now.

You call that 3 a miracle? I call that 3 a shooter with an open look in the corner.
 
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