2019 NBA Playoff Discussion

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

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If James is going to cry, he needs to check himself on the floor first...he did that at least three times today.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Oh, and for the past several years—starting when he was a
Clipper—I like to screencap Chris Paul’s face whenever he loses to the Warriors. Here is today’s:

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Actually, in the NBA it is not "so easy to stop", quite the contrary IMO. It's easy to draw a foul or be picked off trying to defend that far away from the basket. In a league that protects the perimeter players this can be a real challenge to deal with - especially if the other team has someone like Beverley (or Chris Paul) that excels at creating contact and has the speed to take advantage of a defender 50 feet from the basket. There are more and more players developing their shots out to Curry range for the same reason, it's quite difficult to defend effectively with today's rules.

Please tell me you’re. It suggesting it’s difficult to force a team not to roll a ball. All you have to do is get close enough for them to think you might get to it. Every team is going to pick it up. No team is going to risk a stupid turnover. And you needn’t be close enough to end up fouling.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Please tell me you’re. It suggesting it’s difficult to force a team not to roll a ball. All you have to do is get close enough for them to think you might get to it. Every team is going to pick it up. No team is going to risk a stupid turnover. And you needn’t be close enough to end up fouling.

Yeah, it's probably a weak argument but I swear the last half dozen times I've seen a team try to stop it, they ended up paying with free throws. And it was Beverley or Chris Paul each time.

 

[GatorAZ]

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If James is going to cry, he needs to check himself on the floor first...he did that at least three times today.

There’s only one solution...

Spoiler

outlaw jump shots

 

[Hoop Head]

Who does everyone got for the conference finals?

I'm thinking Warriors vs Blazers and Raptors vs Celtics, provided there aren't anymore key injuries.

Warriors in 5 or 6 over Rockets
Blazers in 5 over Nuggets

Raptors in 6 over Philly
Boston over Bucks in 6. If that series goes to 7 I think the Bucks could steal it. A shorter series would favor Boston.

 

[Phrazbit]

Houston are the Seattle Seahawks of the NBA...they commit constant fouls (on both offense and defense) and dare the refs to call them...

The Warriors are not much different... I'd say the Warriors foul a bit less, flop a bit more and have a history of more guys playing with an intent to injure.

 

[Ronin]

Celtics over Bucks in 4
Nuggets over Trailblazers in 7
Warriors over Rockets in 5
Raptors over 76ers in 5

 

[Russ Smith]

There’s only one solution...

Spoiler

outlaw jump shots

I think Harden has a point on some of the calls but come on. He grabs Looney's arm and yanks on it with his right hand while going by left and the refs call a fou on Looney and give Harden 2 FT's. Down 5 he drives in, hits Klay in the chest and face with his right hand makes the lefty layup they call a foul on Klay. And again the play at the end the only way the Rockets got the ball was Paul fouled Durant and they didn't call it. Durant is being pretty quiet about all the strips against him but Draymond said in the post game after saynig the Rockets should stop complaining, he said Paul had a left hand full of jersey and then poked it away with the right hand, that's a foul.

I think the Warriors got away with more but if you sat there and took away FT's Harden earned by tricking the refs and then added back ones he didn't get I have no idea what the end result is. THe first T on Paul he made the shot but he literally turned his body sideway so his hip collided with the defender, how can he argue that's not intentional and should have been a foul? On the 2nd one he gets away with a foul at one end, on the missed shot his teammate is holding a Warrior from behind which is how Paul gets the rebound, then he leaves his feet to pass going away from the basket and runs into Klay who's standing there, has a complete right to the space he's already in. Yes harden got fouled but Houston got away with a foul before that, after that and then Paul got the T for arguing.

The refs were too involved in this one, after the Harden yank on Looney they called 3 fouls on the Rockets in 30 seconds 4 in a minute as makeup. After a missed call on the Warriors they called 3 fouls on one possession including Curry's 5th foul on a reach that had not been a foul all game with the Rockets against Durant. They reacted to missed calls and complaining with makeup calls which just makes it worse.

 

[Russ Smith]

Not that it means anything but I liked Kendrick Perkins line on twitter last night, something like you guys are so worried about flopping and trying to draw fouls you're forgetting to try and win the game.

 

[Yuma]

I liked that they called a T on Chris Paul when he tried to fake that he got fouled on a jumper and then complained about it.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The Warriors are not much different... I'd say the Warriors foul a bit less, flop a bit more and have a history of more guys playing with an intent to injure.

I agree with this except for the part about flopping more. If you include all forms of trying to manipulate the refs into bad calls, I'd give the Rockets a solid edge there over any team in the history of the game. I think Paul and Harden are number one and number two in the all time acting category. But between Draymond and their former player Zaza, I'd say GS easily walks away with the most coveted cheap shot awards.

 

[Russ Smith]

I agree with this except for the part about flopping more. If you include all forms of trying to manipulate the refs into bad calls, I'd give the Rockets a solid edge there over any team in the history of the game. I think Paul and Harden are number one and number two in the all time acting category. But between Draymond and their former player Zaza, I'd say GS easily walks away with the most coveted cheap shot awards.

There's a bunch of montages out there now of no calls on Warriors contesting shots, agreed many of them are often called fouls. The Warriors local guys did their own montage that shows plays that resulted in 7 FT's by Harden, he made all 7, and all of them were phantom calls including one where the screener bumped the defender and Harden then leaned the ball in and pulled up and drew the foul on the defender who'd been bumped. I've pointed that out before that's a set play the Rockets do it's not Harden being creative, it's a set play you bump him and I'll draw the contact.

I agree about Zaza but Harden went too far in the presser IMO when he said he was concerned for his safety and "we all remember what happened to Kawhi a couple of years ago." Yes we do Kawhi shot from the corner and Zaza got into his landing zone and he got hurt. What did NOT happen is Kawhi didn't jump forward and to the side to try and initiate contact, Kawhi didn't kick his legs forward and land on his butt. Kawhi took a normal jumper, Zaza fouled him and because of how he landed it was a series altering injury. That's not what was happening yesterday Harden was trying to initiate contact, falling down and then complaining.

One positive thing for the Warriors is it seems the "other guys" Iggy, Draymond and Looney, have figured something out against the Rockets. There were several plays where 2 of them were in, not being guarded and they combined for a bucket. Looney drives baseline help comes Draymond cuts to the rim layup. Looney boxes out on the offensive glass giving Iggy a wide open rebound and putback. The 3 of them were really in synch yesterday the Warriors at times were actually running plays where all 3 of the big 3 were decoys and they got layups for one of the other 3, that was nice to see.

I fully expect the Rockets to shoot 40 plus FT's in the next game and win by double digits unless Klay and Steph play much better and they only have 1 full day off for treatment.

 

[95pro]

Idk why Paul gets T'd up when Green gets to yell and shout a the ref every time and no call. Paul's second T was quick and seemed like the ref had his mind made up before it actually happened.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Idk why Paul gets T'd up when Green gets to yell and shout a the ref every time and no call. Paul's second T was quick and seemed like the ref had his mind made up before it actually happened.

When refs know beyond a shadow of doubt that you've tried to manipulate them they tend to nail you for anything and everything for awhile. Let's face it, the refs call probably 1 technical for every 10 they could make a case for and maybe 1 foul for every 50 they could justify so when you piss them off, you're going to feel it for awhile.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

The amount of gamesmanship happening here by the rockets is of an extreme level right now. They’re trying lobby the NBA to give them even more cheap free throws. If James Harden got what he wanted and the refs, “called the game the way it’s supposed to be called” he would shoot about six free throws a game instead of 15.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Idk why Paul gets T'd up when Green gets to yell and shout a the ref every time and no call. Paul's second T was quick and seemed like the ref had his mind made up before it actually happened.

Green did get T’d up yesterday with what didn’t look like very demonstrative actions. Chris Paul barked at the same ref for what seemed like a minute and received no T... we could go tit-for-tat on this stuff all day. The refs missed several calls but also called several fouls that were not. On balance, it evened out between the two teams.

The only thing I’ll give the refs credit for is they were consistent both ways not calling “space invader” defense on three point attempts on both teams. And, yes Harden okayed “space invader” defense too.

 

[Ronin]

Josh Lewenberg
@JLew1050
·
1h

Joel Embiid (gastroenteritis) is not at shootaround this morning but is expected to play tonight. Sixers are calling him probable.

 

[Russ Smith]

Idk why Paul gets T'd up when Green gets to yell and shout a the ref every time and no call. Paul's second T was quick and seemed like the ref had his mind made up before it actually happened.

Green got a T in the game for something Steph Curry said. Steph defended a shot against Gordon they called a foul, Steph thought it was clean, late whistle foul on Steph. Steph yelled something, Green was standing there and the ref gave Green a T. Because Green has such a big mouth you could hear him yelling at the ref and at Kerr, "it wasn't me it was Steph I didn't say that." I don't know what Steph yelled but it clearly set the ref off and he assumed it was Draymond and got the T. My guess is they reviewed that at the half, figured out it should have been Steph not Green and that's why they gave Draymond more leeway in the 2nd half they'd given him a T he didn't deserve.

Green yells a lot but there aren't 2 players in the league who complain more than Harden and Paul. There's a play in the game where Iggy comes up, guy who almost never says anything, maybe throws his hands up. Paul was arguing a call and Iggy actually started talking to him telling him to shut up. If you watch Iggy play you realize how out of character that is for him, he rarely says anything but he was so tired of Paul he told him to shut up.

There's a play in the 2nd half where Durant is backing down Paul who's holding him, fist full of jersey. He then tries to do the pull the chair move, Durant spins left shoulder and Paul knocks the ball out of bounds and gets called for the foul. Paul then starts yelling at the ref, and simulates Durant backing down and walking and yells he walked, simulates it again including stomping his feet for effect, and yells again he walked. They could have easily given him his 2nd T at that point in the game but they ignored it.

I think they did the 2nd T to make a statement, there's 4.4 seconds left Warriors up 3 with the ball and they can inbound in the front court(they still had a timeout). So it's VERY unlikely they're going to lose they have 3 knockdown FT shooters if they get the ball inbounds the odds are they're going to make at least 1 of the FT's and go up 4. Paul went nuts presumably thinking Harden got fouled I don't know, and I think the refs had just had enough and said here you go. They probably should rescind it given how little time was left but I'm not surprised they called it.

 

[Russ Smith]

Green did get T’d up yesterday with what didn’t look like very demonstrative actions. Chris Paul barked at the same ref for what seemed like a minute and received no T... we could go tit-for-tat on this stuff all day. The refs missed several calls but also called several fouls that were not. On balance, it evened out between the two teams.

The only thing I’ll give the refs credit for is they were consistent both ways not calling “space invader” defense on three point attempts on both teams. And, yes Harden okayed “space invader” defense too.

HE didn't say it Steph did, Steph even admitted it in the postgame presser on local tv. He said I said something they called a T, you can see on my face I'm still mad about the foul and I'm really mad about the T and then we realized they called it Draymond and we all couldn't believe it.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Last Two Minute Report for Houston @ GS, Game 1:

https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0041800221

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

LOL: Houston Rockets released a report today--based on their on "unbiased" study of last season's Western Conference Finals--stating non-call vs. Rockets cost them 93 points during the series.

That is loser-ville mentality right there. I have never witnessed a more blatant attempt to work the league over before the next playoff game.

They know if they go down 0-2 they are in big trouble. That is so pathetic it is comical.

 

[Russ Smith]

Last Two Minute Report for Houston @ GS, Game 1:

https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0041800221

So the no call on Harden's 3 is a good call, they said Curry fouled gordon just prior to him stepping out of bounds, I actually thought he was alreayd out of bounds watching it live but they reviewed it. So worst case scenario Gordon is shooting 2 FT's with 5 seconds left down 3 so he has to make 1 and miss on purpose.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

I wonder if Harden thinks these plays should be called “fairly...”

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[Russ Smith]

I wonder if Harden thinks these plays should be called “fairly...”

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The one where he hooked Looney's arm IMO is really where Houston started to not get calls. They showed that on the big screen overhead, you could tell because suddenly the Warriors crowd started booing and chanting "ref you suck". Right after that there were 3-4 fouls on Houston in less than a minute, Kerr went nuts on the sideline, you can see the look on Looney's face like you can't be serious, and then the refs saw it. I think they got mad at Harden for tricking them and they retaliated.