2019 NBA Playoff Discussion

[Russ Smith]

Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania)
4/16/19, 11:42 AM
This is probably season-ending for Cousins, but he and the team will see how he responds within the first two weeks of rehab that is not expected to require surgery, sources said. twitter.com/ShamsCharania/…

At his size and coming off a prior injury seems very unlikely he'd be able to come back.

I feel bad for the guy but I also think overall the team is better without him. The concern is it puts lots of pressure on Looney and Bogut. One fairly obvious counter that Kerr should be looking at is going back to his own "death" lineup a bit more often. With Durant, Green, Iggy, Steph and Klay. Matches up better with the smaller lineup the Clips are playing and allows them to put Iggy on Lou Williams which takes some off Klay's plate so he can perhaps do a bit more offensively.

 

[Sunburn]

The Warriors are still by far the most talented team. Hell, they might be better off without Cousins. They were up 31. The W's started sleep walking after the Cousins injury, and the Clips just surprised them. The Warriors will still run away with the chip this year.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The Warriors are still by far the most talented team. Hell, they might be better off without Cousins. They were up 31. The W's started sleep walking after the Cousins injury, and the Clips just surprised them. The Warriors will still run away with the chip this year.

agreed.

 

[1tinsoldier]

boo hoo. without Cousins the Warriors will have to go with team they won the last 2 championships with

i wish there was more of a chance of them being beat. but i believe the competition is weaker than usual

 

[95pro]

I'd love the Clippers to win out the series but they just poked the sleeping bear

 

[1tinsoldier]

yes, the bear they put to sleep by not competing for a game and a half

 

[Ronin]

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[Cheesebeef]

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he's basically Jason Kidd with the Suns. Dude's got to develop some kind of jumper to ever take that Sixers team to the next level.

 

[Phrazbit]

he's basically Jason Kidd with the Suns. Dude's got to develop some kind of jumper to ever take that Sixers team to the next level.

He's worse. Kidd, even in his bat shooting seasons, shot around 30% from 3, meanwhile, the next three Simmons makes will be the first in his career... literally, he also is a really lousy free throw shooter.

Not only is he bad in the half court, but if the game is close and late and possession is key, his putrid shooting from the stripe and from 3 makes him a flat out liability.

IMO, Philly needs to give up the idea of him as a point guard. It pigeon holes the rest of their lineup too much. Play him as a point forward, a better Lamar Odom (minus the drugs and a bit of shooting), open up more passing and shooting for the guards and wings.

 

[elindholm]

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"Jared Dudley is an above-average player on social media, but once you get him on the court, he sucks." -- Ben Simmons

 

[Cheesebeef]

"Jared Dudley is an above-average player on social media, but once you get him on the court, he sucks." -- Ben Simmons

ha! I know some people hate Simmons, but I love reading him and listening to a lot of his content on The Ringer.

 

[Chaplin]

ha! I know some people hate Simmons, but I love reading him and listening to a lot of his content on The Ringer.

Wait. What Simmons are we talking about here? Bill or Ben?

 

[Hoop Head]

If you had to choose one of them to shoot game winning FT's, who would you choose, Bill Simmons or Ben Simmons?

I'd take Bill, every time. Even if Bill needed to drain a 3 against NBA defense and Ben had to sink back to back free throws, I'd still take Bill.

 

[Chaplin]

If you had to choose one of them to shoot game winning FT's, who would you choose, Bill Simmons or Ben Simmons?

I'd take Bill, every time. Even if Bill needed to drain a 3 against NBA defense and Ben had to sink back to back free throws, I'd still take Bill.

But is Bill playing FOR the Celtics, or against them? That would affect my answer.

 

[Hoop Head]

But is Bill playing FOR the Celtics, or against them? That would affect my answer.

That's a good point. Throw him in the West because I think putting him in place of Ben on the Sixers would influence his decision making as well. He's want to do whatever he could to keep the Celtics from having to match up with Embiid. Put him in the West on the Clippers and I think he'll actually put forth his best effort.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Wait. What Simmons are we talking about here? Bill or Ben?

oh weird... I read that as Bill Simmons saying that.

Ben Simmons saying that is funny... if he didn't get completely shut down in Game 1. If you're gonna talk the talk, better walk the walk.

 

[Russ Smith]

How does the NBA keep allowing stuff like this? Jump ball Jamychal Green taps it out of bounds. Warriors inbound with 26.7 seconds left in the quarter. The shot clock malfunctions and goes off, the refs check, and then come back with 19.5 seconds total and 16 on the shot clock? how in the hell does the difference go from 2.7 to 3.5 when you are using replay to set the damn clock?

It didn't matter at all but again how do 3 refs fail to catch that, the Warriors announcers, bench and players were all immediately pointing it out. Does the NBA need to hire a mathlete?

 

[Yuma]

How does the NBA keep allowing stuff like this? Jump ball Jamychal Green taps it out of bounds. Warriors inbound with 26.7 seconds left in the quarter. The shot clock malfunctions and goes off, the refs check, and then come back with 19.5 seconds total and 16 on the shot clock? how in the hell does the difference go from 2.7 to 3.5 when you are using replay to set the damn clock?

It didn't matter at all but again how do 3 refs fail to catch that, the Warriors announcers, bench and players were all immediately pointing it out. Does the NBA need to hire a mathlete?

I dont understand how they don't have guys watching remotely like the NBA and have them weigh in.

 

[Russ Smith]

Scott Phillips should be suspended for the rest of this series for incompetence. Durant draws a charge at one end by flopping on a screen by Jamychal Green. Down the other end they're talking and they're both laughing about it, Green clearly mocking KD for flopping and KD clearly saying hey they're calling it tonight. They're smiling ear to ear laughing and Scott Phillips comes in and calls a double technical on them. They weren't even arguing let alone doing anything that warranted one T let alone 2. So Durant now has 3 T's in 3 games.

 

[Hoop Head]

Scott Phillips should be suspended for the rest of this series for incompetence. Durant draws a charge at one end by flopping on a screen by Jamychal Green. Down the other end they're talking and they're both laughing about it, Green clearly mocking KD for flopping and KD clearly saying hey they're calling it tonight. They're smiling ear to ear laughing and Scott Phillips comes in and calls a double technical on them. They weren't even arguing let alone doing anything that warranted one T let alone 2. So Durant now has 3 T's in 3 games.

Was there any reason given, at all? That seems odd. I'll have to look into it more. Sounds similar to when Duncan got 2 techs while sitting on the bench and doing nothing. I think that was Joey Crawford. Is there a history with Phillips? I don't recall the name of the ref that the Warriors ripped badly for the Wolves game but I believe he was left out of the playoff rotation entirely. I remember reading that when the playoffs started. The league picks the 36 top refs, I believe, for the playoffs and they base that on regular season performance. I wasn't surprised that ref was left off considering he blew a few big calls in that Wolves game and I doubt that was a first. His name wasn't one I recognized either so he wasn't someone I remember being mentioned often.

I wish the league would release the scorecard or whatever it is they tally to determine the playoff refs. I think that would give some more insight into who is a good ref and who isn't. I think they should come up with something to send refs down to the G-League if they consistently don't hit the mark to be part of the playoffs. Something like 3 consecutive years of failing to qualify puts them in the G-League. Then they need to earn their way back to the league.

 

[Russ Smith]

Was there any reason given, at all? That seems odd. I'll have to look into it more. Sounds similar to when Duncan got 2 techs while sitting on the bench and doing nothing. I think that was Joey Crawford. Is there a history with Phillips? I don't recall the name of the ref that the Warriors ripped badly for the Wolves game but I believe he was left out of the playoff rotation entirely. I remember reading that when the playoffs started. The league picks the 36 top refs, I believe, for the playoffs and they base that on regular season performance. I wasn't surprised that ref was left off considering he blew a few big calls in that Wolves game and I doubt that was a first. His name wasn't one I recognized either so he wasn't someone I remember being mentioned often.

I wish the league would release the scorecard or whatever it is they tally to determine the playoff refs. I think that would give some more insight into who is a good ref and who isn't. I think they should come up with something to send refs down to the G-League if they consistently don't hit the mark to be part of the playoffs. Something like 3 consecutive years of failing to qualify puts them in the G-League. Then they need to earn their way back to the league.

They had a little back and forth earlier in the game but nothing much at all. I think Phillips thought they were either talking crap to each other, or more likely about him. Jim Barnett on Warrior Tv said they could hear Doc Rivers yelling at the ref "they're going to rescind that one and you're going to feel stupid."

They did finally start to crack down on Beverly. early in the game he fouled Durant, then after the whistle went over and fouled him again. In the 3rd quarter, Shamet fouled Curry and as Steph tried to get the shot up to convince the ref it was continuation, Beverley just karate chopped him on the arm. The ref didn't hesitate immediatelly gave him a T. Rivers was mad about it on the sideline but Barnett said they could hear the ref explain to Doc "that's not a basketball play he's trying to incite something and we're not allowing it."

It's a difficult series to ref, Beverley is what he is, Draymond is what he is, Durant is volatile, with Boogie out there is a bit less I guess. But when one team is up nearly 30 points and 2 players are laughing about a flop you don't give out a double T.

 

[Russ Smith]

It has ads but here's video of the T, it doesn't show durant flopping prior but that's what they were talking about.

http://www.espn.com/nba/video?gameId=401126818

 

[Hoop Head]

They had a little back and forth earlier in the game but nothing much at all. I think Phillips thought they were either talking crap to each other, or more likely about him. Jim Barnett on Warrior Tv said they could hear Doc Rivers yelling at the ref "they're going to rescind that one and you're going to feel stupid."

They did finally start to crack down on Beverly. early in the game he fouled Durant, then after the whistle went over and fouled him again. In the 3rd quarter, Shamet fouled Curry and as Steph tried to get the shot up to convince the ref it was continuation, Beverley just karate chopped him on the arm. The ref didn't hesitate immediatelly gave him a T. Rivers was mad about it on the sideline but Barnett said they could hear the ref explain to Doc "that's not a basketball play he's trying to incite something and we're not allowing it."

It's a difficult series to ref, Beverley is what he is, Draymond is what he is, Durant is volatile, with Boogie out there is a bit less I guess. But when one team is up nearly 30 points and 2 players are laughing about a flop you don't give out a double T.

Thanks for elaborating on that some more.

With players fined for each unsportsmanlike technical foul they receive, playoffs or regular season, I think they should also fine referees for each that is rescinded. Perhaps that would cut back on them. I believe all players get a $4k fine for each but I could be wrong on that amount. It is something standard that doesn't vary based on a players salary. They could make $30 million or the league minimum, each tech gets them a fine. I think it might discourage techs to a certain extent also. If refs had to pay for each that got called back though I think they'd quit being so happy to assess them. They don't make what the players do so fining them that much might be excessive but at he same time their job is entirely different so hitting them hard when they screw up like that might be the best course of action. If they had to cut a check to the player they called it on incorrectly that would probably put an end to bad technicals pretty quick though. I don't think most refs would be ok doing that. They'd pay the league but having to say they're sorry and cutting a check to a player is probably asking too much.

I tried to find info on what players were fined exactly and didn't see it listed, the only thing I saw was that players are fined just $500 for technical fouls that come from hanging on the rim. Also coaches are assessed the same fines as players for unsportsmanlike technicals.

 

[95pro]

They just need to increase fines, 4k is nothing to these guys

 

[Russ Smith]

Thanks for elaborating on that some more.

With players fined for each unsportsmanlike technical foul they receive, playoffs or regular season, I think they should also fine referees for each that is rescinded. Perhaps that would cut back on them. I believe all players get a $4k fine for each but I could be wrong on that amount. It is something standard that doesn't vary based on a players salary. They could make $30 million or the league minimum, each tech gets them a fine. I think it might discourage techs to a certain extent also. If refs had to pay for each that got called back though I think they'd quit being so happy to assess them. They don't make what the players do so fining them that much might be excessive but at he same time their job is entirely different so hitting them hard when they screw up like that might be the best course of action. If they had to cut a check to the player they called it on incorrectly that would probably put an end to bad technicals pretty quick though. I don't think most refs would be ok doing that. They'd pay the league but having to say they're sorry and cutting a check to a player is probably asking too much.

I tried to find info on what players were fined exactly and didn't see it listed, the only thing I saw was that players are fined just $500 for technical fouls that come from hanging on the rim. Also coaches are assessed the same fines as players for unsportsmanlike technicals.

What Jim Barnett said last night rings true with me. The refs have reached the point where for some of them their default is double technical. That's ok with regular season and fines they can afford, but in the playoffs where you get 7 T's and then suspension, 1 bad double technical could be huge. Say the Warriors get further in and Durant has to sit a game against say Houston because he gets to 7. That T last night would be huge.

The problem last night as you can see from the video is both guys were like wtf are you doing we're literally talking and laughing about Durant flopping, why in the world did you jump in and T us up. When it first happened I'm watching Warriors tv not TNT so Warriors announcers and Barnett said oh my goodness they called a T on Jamychal Green what a terrible call. Then he realized they'd called a double T and he went even further. Point being he's not being biased and objecting to Durant getting a T, his initial reaction was giving a T to Green was terrible.

Durant was quoted last night saying he hopes it gets rescinded and Doc Rivers said the same thing.

I assume they will make the public if it does.