2023/2024 NBA THREAD: WHO WANTS TO GO ON PARADE?!?

[brutah]

Gobert so f-ing soft it's unreal - who did he pay off to get all these DPOTY?

To be fair to Gobert, Jokic makes every defender look bad.

Jokic did this last year in the playoffs to Bam and Anthony Davis as well. Jokic is simply the best basketball player in the world.

[TahoeJ]

The reason I’ve never been a big fan of Gobert winning DPOY’s is he’s just a rim defender. An excellent one at that, but give me guys like Kawhi, Draymond, Jrue Holiday and Smart who can do all kinds of defensive stuff all over the floor. There’s really no statistical way to quantify defense so people just look at blocks, which is dumb. Having said that, I bet Wemby wins the award for like the next 10 years and I’ll have no problem with that because he’s not a one trick pony like Rudy.

[Danno]

The reason I’ve never been a big fan of Gobert winning DPOY’s is he’s just a rim defender. An excellent one at that, but give me guys like Kawhi, Draymond, Jrue Holiday and Smart who can do all kinds of defensive stuff all over the floor. There’s really no statistical way to quantify defense so people just look at blocks, which is dumb. Having said that, I bet Wemby wins the award for like the next 10 years and I’ll have no problem with that because he’s not a one trick pony like Rudy.

I totally agree. Give me a guy like Kawhi or Dray or (going back in time) Pippen over a guy like Gobert every time. Gobert is a game changer in lots of ways, it's easy to see if you watch how he is avoided in the paint. Still, he's more of a regular season game changer, and in the playoffs, he's someone that can be game planned for. Not game-planned off the court, but game planned into someone who isn't the difference maker. However, this year he did play out on the perimeter more than ever and deserves credit for that. He may not deserve to be a 4 time DPOY but it IS a regular season award and he is a very good defender. I am not a fan of his for other reasons, mostly that he seems like a dick, but it's not like he crumpled against Jokic.

[MarcusBrody]

Gobert so f-ing soft it's unreal - who did he pay off to get all these DPOTY?

Did you see the game? Gobert played pretty well. He wasn't hesitating to bang with Jokic; Jokic was just making crazy shot after crazy shot. In most posted clip, Gobert stops Jokic's first move, then his counter, and on the second counter he contests the hook. That's solid defense. The offensive player just made the shot

Multiple Nuggets players either dribbled or passed out of potential shots right under the basket due to Gobert lurking there. Outside of Jokic, Gordon (who was great) was the only Nuggets player willing to challenge him at the rim at all.

The Wolves were -2 in the 40 minutes Gobert played and -13 in the 8 minutes he didn't. No other Wolves' starter was better than -12. Jokic cooked him, but this was an instance of solid defense being beaten by all time great offense. Jokic was in LeBron Game 6 vs the Celtics mode where he basically said "I am the best basketball player alive. No one can stop me. My team is not losing."

[cinnepa]

To be fair to Gobert, Jokic makes every defender look bad.

Jokic did this last year in the playoffs to Bam and Anthony Davis as well. Jokic is simply the best basketball player in the world.

Agreed

[riser4]

Whomever had Boston in 5 was on the money. Cavs didn't make it easy. I could see it having easily gone the other way with a healthy Cleveland team. However, that's the NBA. There is no glide path for Boston. And I'm impressed by how much the other Cavs stepped up.

[EWG]

Minny needs Conley back. He’s their conductor. Takes tons of pressure off of Ant’s brain - lets him just go out and play. Any will need that less as he gets more experience but for now that’s super valuable. We forget how young he is.

Also super interesting that Watson hasn’t gotten off the bench for Denver. Anyone know if he’s hurt or just buried? And Braun is playing crunch time - he’s essentially taking over Brown’s old role and playing the tough minutes when either Porter or KCP is having an off game.

[MarcusBrody]

Minny needs Conley back. He’s their conductor. Takes tons of pressure off of Ant’s brain - lets him just go out and play. Any will need that less as he gets more experience but for now that’s super valuable. We forget how young he is.

Also super interesting that Watson hasn’t gotten off the bench for Denver. Anyone know if he’s hurt or just buried? And Braun is playing crunch time - he’s essentially taking over Brown’s old role and playing the tough minutes when either Porter or KCP is having an off game.

He's just buried as the Nuggets think that his inability to space the floor consistently is more of a problem against Minny's tight defense than his really good defense is an upside. I have actually been really surprised as to how that's played out. I thought he'd see a lot of minutes this series as the point of attack defender against Ant. Braun has been doing a really good job though, so they're riding that and it lets them play Justin Holliday more than I expected, as he's a better shooter than Watson.

[Cruiser]

I really enjoyed watching Watson during his minutes off the bench during the season. He's a dynamic player and fun to watch for sure. Hope he keeps maturing with the team cuz he sure looks like he's got the potential to be impactful.

[TahoeJ]

Great analysis of how Denver adjusted after going down 2-0.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEwe5CRJn-A

Props to Mike Malone - by having Gordon (and sometimes Jokic) bring the ball down the floor, Minnesota wasn't going to stick their pesky guards on them for a full court press because it would voluntarily put them into unfavorable matchups. If you stick a guard on Gordon then Murray is just going to cook them on the drive. Very clever coaching. He basically exposed Minnesota's big man roster. Really shows the value of a big forward (or center) who can handle the ball (kind of like KD - and this is probably what the Suns should have tried).

[Diamond Joe]

Unsurprised Minny is showing up. Figured there was no way this series isn't going 7. and what a game 7 that should be! hopefully

Thinking the same thing with Pacers/Knicks. Especially after Knicks fans chanting "Knicks in 6" last game

[TahoeJ]

This is the weirdest series ever…

[The SnowShow]

How is this game not closer? I thought Denver figured out MN.

[EWG]

Ice cold shooting, relentless D. Literally any outcome is in play, it seems. Crazy.

[TahoeJ]

How is this game not closer? I thought Denver figured out MN.

Counter adjustments? I only saw bits and pieces of the game so couldn’t say. Game 7 should be fun.

[gointhedistance]

I'm not a brilliant NBA mind and mostly a casual wolves fan... but I've watched every wolves game so far in this playoffs... This series has been crazy fun and depressing...
The wolves are simultaneously the most exciting team to watch and most frustrating team to watch. Denver has had higher lows and lower highs - has been more even-keeled (despite the lows of scoring below 80 2x in the series). It's been due to a couple of insane performances by MN. The wolves dominated every part of the game in game 2 and game 6 (game 1 was closer, but still a good showing). I felt game 2 was more of a dominant performance than last night - which was bad shooting performance by DEN. But in the other 3 games DEN won, the wolves looked like they didn't remember how to play basketball. A bunch of things went wrong - MN shooting was bad, DEN was hot, plus turnovers, foul trouble, and most of all the defense that had been so good was just gone - lethargic and polar opposite of the other games... that just didn't make sense.

I'm going to assume Denver shows up game 7... If the wolves show up - it'll be a great series final. Though... I'm inclined to think they go out in classic MN fashion. That's the MN sports fan fatalist in me.

[MarcusBrody]

I'm not a brilliant NBA mind and mostly a casual wolves fan... but I've watched every wolves game so far in this playoffs... This series has been crazy fun and depressing...
The wolves are simultaneously the most exciting team to watch and most frustrating team to watch. Denver has had higher lows and lower highs - has been more even-keeled (despite the lows of scoring below 80 2x in the series). It's been due to a couple of insane performances by MN. The wolves dominated every part of the game in game 2 and game 6 (game 1 was closer, but still a good showing). I felt game 2 was more of a dominant performance than last night - which was bad shooting performance by DEN. But in the other 3 games DEN won, the wolves looked like they didn't remember how to play basketball. A bunch of things went wrong - MN shooting was bad, DEN was hot, plus turnovers, foul trouble, and most of all the defense that had been so good was just gone - lethargic and polar opposite of the other games... that just didn't make sense.

I'm going to assume Denver shows up game 7... If the wolves show up - it'll be a great series final. Though... I'm inclined to think they go out in classic MN fashion. That's the MN sports fan fatalist in me.

I felt that Minnesota dominated defensively more in Game 2 than Game 6. The game 6 defense was good, but the Nuggets perimeter players did get open shots. The Wolves adjusted and brought help on Jokic again, so the Nuggets had some decent outside looks (though the wolves rotstoon was good). They just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

[Danno]

The Nuggets shot 30% from the floor and 19% from three. Hard to beat anyone when you shoot like that.

[Danno]

And even though they emptied the bench early, in over 80 minutes of floor time, the bench only scored 9 points (and shot 4-27 from the field). I know Denver doesn't rely on its bench a lot, but that is pathetic. Again, hard to win a game with that kind of performance. And while the TWolves played better defense than Game 6, they weren't THAT good.

[gointhedistance]

Absolutely - Game 6 was good D by MN, and poor shooting by Denver. Game 2 was historic defense by MN.

Who knows what we'll get Sunday. Maybe historic D by MN and good shooting by the Nuggets - that could be fun.

[The SnowShow]

Knicks with the game 7 chokejob. How about you beat Indy before chanting We Want Boston We Want Boston lmfao

[t-the-east]

Knicks played a pretty bad first half, then got it close in the third quarter until Brunson broke his hand. I think without that injury they could’ve made it a close game or even pulled it off. And the pacers set a postseason shooting record by shooting close to 70%, tough to overcome that. I was looking forward to a Celtics / Knicks series too

[The SnowShow]

And now the Nuggets blowing a 20 pt lead and choking in game 7…

[Diamond Joe]

Knicks with the game 7 chokejob. How about you beat Indy before chanting We Want Boston We Want Boston lmfao

Or "Knicks in 6! Knicks in 6!"

What a comeback by the Timberwolves! I switched channels cause the game was boring, came back to find a 1 point game!?

[irul&ublo]

Knicks with the game 7 chokejob. How about you beat Indy before chanting We Want Boston We Want Boston lmfao

You think Reggie Miller is blowing up some ex-Knicks with texts?