Playoffs Thread

[UNO Gracias]

AD to Phx to re-up with Minty, and he won’t have to play center as Ayton is there. Speak it into existence.

[Taker597]

I think people(not here) are jumping on the " Laker will lose to Portland " a bit too prematurely. Laker was collectively horrible, but if playoff AD shows up. They win that game. Granted, Blazer didn't come out so hot either. It will still take a lot for the Blazer to beat them 3 more times. Luckily, there is no home court to suck the energy out of Portland.

[6warddude]

I think people(not here) are jumping on the " Laker will lose to Portland " a bit too prematurely. Laker was collectively horrible, but if playoff AD shows up. They win that game. Granted, Blazer didn't come out so hot either. It will still take a lot for the Blazer to beat them 3 more times. Luckily, there is no home court to suck the energy out of Portland.

im betting on portland to beat the lakers because portland has the bigs to match up with the lakers bigs.....portland can get physical with AD if he decides to play in the paint.....on a good night the lakers should get 75-80pts from lebron-AD-kuzma but have to find the help to get 35pts from others to outscore portland......i think dame will get his 30 but also believe his supporting cast will step up.......portland is the hot team but fatigue may set in by playing these hard and physical games and the lakers may pull close games out but im banking on portland to rise up and take the series without the crowd hyping up the lakers....

this a weird playoff season and something wild is going to happen so im betting on an 8th to beat a 1 seed....is it personal to want the lakers to fall in the 1st round? yes lol....

[LouisianaJoseph]

im betting on portland to beat the lakers because portland has the bigs to match up with the lakers bigs.....portland can get physical with AD if he decides to play in the paint.....on a good night the lakers should get 75-80pts from lebron-AD-kuzma but have to find the help to get 35pts from others to outscore portland......i think dame will get his 30 but also believe his supporting cast will step up.......portland is the hot team but fatigue may set in by playing these hard and physical games and the lakers may pull close games out but im banking on portland to rise up and take the series without the crowd hyping up the lakers....

this a weird playoff season and something wild is going to happen so im betting on an 8th to beat a 1 seed....is it personal to want the lakers to fall in the 1st round? yes lol....

I don't imagine AD going up against Nurkic, Collins, and Whiteside for a whole series. Seems like it would be a good strategy to make this tough on AD and cause mistakes and turnovers with double teams and physical play. Always worked against us.

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[luigi modelo]

Shamit posted on Twitter that, whatever you want to say about the Pelicans, we constantly pushed AD out of his comfort zone and he improved because of it. In LA they've done nothing but enable his worst tendencies, and that's going to bite them in the playoffs.

He hates playing centre. In New Orleans, he spent 96% of his final season here as a centre anyway, and was 50/50 the year before. In LA, he only spends 40% of his time at the 5: they literally ensured they had enough legit Cs that AD wouldn't even have to play centre with the backups regularly.

In his last 4 years in NOLA, his at-rim frequency was going up basically every year: 29%, 28%, 36%, 37%. Clear increases. This is good. Somehow, AD goes to LA with Lebron, one of the best layup passers of all time, and his at-rim frequency drops for the first time since 2016-17 to 34%. And his percentage of shots between 10 and 20 feet have gone up, despite his accuracy going down on those shots. Lakers don't mind him doing it. In fact, they like him doing it even though it's not his strength cause it lets them use him as a spacer which is Lebron's style.

Lowest REB% of his career in LA. Highest TOV% of his career despite his AST% dropping by 4% this year; mostly because those passing developments he was being asked to make in NOLA? Yeah, he doesn't really get asked to make them in LA.

Highest 3pt attempt rate of his career despite him shooting his worst since 2016 from the arc this year. Worst 2pt %age since 2016 too. His TS% is up because he's shooting his career high from the FT line, which has nothing to do with how they're using him in actual sets and actions.

He's still been really good because he's a fantastic player and his talent takes him a long way, but the growth he was making year on year has absolutely halted this season, and in some ways he's even regressed.

It's kind of absurd. And I'm not just talking about this one playoff game, it's been his whole year.

Thanks for this! It adds context to what i have seen from him. I feel like he has hit a plateau. I think he will get past it (maybe not this season), but he isn't as assertive this season. Like you said above, he is so talented that he is an elite player no matter what, but he is not the man right now.

[Taker597]

Levert mad struggling with the double team.

[Taker597]

Allen is a bit soft in the paint, but he us having a solid game.

[Taker597]

This whole trying to stay +5 against the Raptors reminds us of our season opener. The 4th QTR is going to be exciting.

[Snarly]

Nets put up a valiant effort against the Raptors but Toronto’s talent proves to be too much for the Nets to overcome in the 4th quarter of this series.

[Pelicanidae]

I think people(not here) are jumping on the " Laker will lose to Portland " a bit too prematurely. Laker was collectively horrible, but if playoff AD shows up. They win that game. Granted, Blazer didn't come out so hot either. It will still take a lot for the Blazer to beat them 3 more times. Luckily, there is no home court to suck the energy out of Portland.

I agree, I still think LA takes the series, but the reality is given the fact that Portland has the worst defense in the playoffs, all of their wings are out, and they're bound to be tired given how hard they had to gun the playing, LA should walk this.
The fact that it will probably go 6 games is a bad sign for them later in the postseason.

[UNO Gracias]

https://twitter.com/kevinbforbounce/...918474242?s=21

[Taker597]

Raptors reminds me of those old school Spurs and Memphis teams where they just grind out a sneaky win in the 4th.

[Taker597]

You ain’t stoping Norman Powell froming laying down the law. Lol

[Snarly]

I have to say that I’m very impressed with what Vaughn was able to do with this squad in the series.

[Taker597]

I have to say that I’m very impressed with what Vaughn was able to do with this squad in the series.

Got them battling world champions. Sadly, they can't seal the deal in btb games.

[UNO Gracias]

What I would give to get Spider Mitchell on this team. Pair him up with Zion/Ingram and it would be a wonderful thing.

[Pelicanidae]

What I would give to get Spider Mitchell on this team. Pair him up with Zion/Ingram and it would be a wonderful thing.

Given all the desire to trade Jrue for LeVert, I feel like there's this urge to just make this team a collection of the most talented poor decision makers in the NBA.

LeVert
Mitchell
Ingram
Zion
...someone suggested Whiteside in another thread lol

Just a ton of talent who always seem to make a boneheaded move

[Taker597]

Given all the desire to trade Jrue for LeVert, I feel like there's this urge to just make this team a collection of the most talented poor decision makers in the NBA.

LeVert
Mitchell
Ingram
Zion
...someone suggested Whiteside in another thread lol

Just a ton of talent who always seem to make a boneheaded move

You don't understand what fans would give uo for a yearly second round exit lol

[UNO Gracias]

Mitchel is an amazing young talent. It’s doubtful that Utah moves on from him, but if they did, you have to make that phone call.

[UNO Gracias]

Given this teams history a 2nd round exit would be like an oasis in the desert. We seriously root for a crappy franchise. We are like a step above the Bobcats.

[Taker597]

I noticed a lot of people finally giving Jrue and Rondo to some undeserved extent credit for the Portland sweep.



Rondo's passing was spectacular in that series like he spent a year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and just watched film lol

[UNO Gracias]

Heck, if we’re being honest I’ll settle for Joe Ingles.

[UNO Gracias]

Playoff Rondo was a real one.

[Coreyinthe504]

AD watching Dame drill shots from 36 feet wishing Jrue was there to save him rn

I had that same thought as we've handled dame pretty well recently mostly thanks to jrue.

[Funcrusher]

Given all the desire to trade Jrue for LeVert, I feel like there's this urge to just make this team a collection of the most talented poor decision makers in the NBA.

LeVert
Mitchell
Ingram
Zion
...someone suggested Whiteside in another thread lol

Just a ton of talent who always seem to make a boneheaded move

I think of that group Mitchell has made the biggest stride as a playmaker actually, he's consistently made reads in the PNR/out of double teams in this series I didn't think he was capable of (seriously, did you see him just relocate out of the double and throw that cross court skip pass for the corner 3 last quarter? Dude is evolving ). And you probably didn't mean this but I don't think Zion's a poor decision maker. Honestly if his handle didn't regress from college to this season like it did and he was given the keys to the offense people would be shocked at how good of a passer he is. Probably the best decision maker of the group tbh.