2022 NBA Playoffs Gamethread
- Thread starter JohnnyTheBone
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Shouldn't this affect more players? He's on the team, isnt everyone else a close contact?
And the Blazers fans collectively weep. So glad we traded CJ and Nance for Josh Hart!
I love it! Pelicans potentially making the playoffs, without Zion, and also potentially getting a real juicy pick from the Lakers...that's real fun.
CJ is playing great for NO. Since he joined them on 2.10, they are 14-14 and have a 117.2 ORtg versus a 113.8 NRtg. Their 3.4 NRtg is good for 10th in the NBA since that time.
I don't know what Zion is going to do but NO has a pretty good looking future.
CJ has been criminally underrated for many years. He’s always been somewhere between a top 25 and 35 guy, but being the lesser half of the duo with Dame and having his defensive limitations exacerbated by that system led to a lot of unfair critic his game.
CJ was a good pickup by the Pels in the "floor raiser" sense. He won't make a team like New Orleans into a real contender, but will (and already has) helped them become a respectable team who can at least make the playoffs. For some franchises, that's enough, especially while their (hopefully) franchise player was out this season and they sit on a boatload of picks whose position isn't hurt (and is in fact strengthen, since it pushes the Lakers down in the standings) by improving the team.
My impression of the CJ trade was it was done as a sign of good faith by the New Orleans front office to show Zion that they are really trying to win and putting good players around him. I have questions about defense with a team trotting out CJ/Ingram/Zion/JV as it's core, but they will certainly fill it up. It will be a shame if Zion doesn't play that much with that group.
CJ's problem is that he's very good at some things and not as good at others, and quite bad at one.... he played his whole career basically with a guy who was better at all the things he did well, similar at the ones he wasn't good at, and terrible at the same thing. CJ and Dame was obvious a horrific defensive pairing, but I think it was arguably a bad offensive one too.
Now his hot streak in NO is partially probably just variance, BUT... he's being used way less off-screens and on cuts, way more in transition, more handoffs too. He's much better as the lead guard than a secondary guard.
Now I don't really think he's a top 25-35 guy, because I think he's a bad defender, he doesn't get to the line, or shoot that efficiently from 2, so his overall efficiency isn't actually that great. However... as the lead guard he might be a bit better at that. Overall though I think he's one of those.. 35-50 guys, who is good on offense, doesn't defend much... like Rudy Gay but with a longer peak?
The Cavs are such a different team with Jarrett Allen. Not only is he so impactful in the paint on both ends but he knocks everyone down a notch on the depth chart so Markkanen isn’t playing in the paint and Osman can be stapled to the bench rather than playing half the game.
Great pursuit by Atlanta after the turnover, I'll give them that. But still, you can't make that pass unless you know the lane is clear.
The season was a great one overall for Cleveland, but not making the playoffs definitely sucks for them considering where they were 2 months ago before the injuries.
Absolutely. Their overall season effort deserved the playoffs far more than Atlanta mailing it in. I hope the Hawks make the Heat work for it from a C's perspective, but I won't shed a tear when Miami dispatches a team "bored" of the regular season after a single ECF appearance.
Somehow I totally missed that PG13 is the only star-ish professional athlete still being tested for COVID? I think it's good from a public health perspective, but man I thought they stopped even testing college kids for those events... I guess he must have gotten a bad case, the guy (like Hayward) can't catch a break.
Marcus Morris doesn’t expend any energy on defense and rebounding. At least he is scoring tonight.
That was an impressive close by the Pels. Murphy, Jones and Nance were all great in addition to Ingram as well as CJ.
Im glad Nance’s brilliant game didn’t get derailed by those late missed FT’s. I’d love him in green.
Heh, it did seem like ATL was resting on their laurels (while losing a lot) for most of the season, but in the end, they were just one game different (44-38 to 43-39).
Also has anyone ever hit four separate shots that long in the same half of a NBA game, even a regular season one? Curry or Luka or whoever will shoot from far behind the line once in a while if they needed to, but Trae did it for a whole half of an elimination game.
Play by play has the first Trae of the second half at 26 feet, then the last three at 36, 37 and 35. Has anyone ever made three 35 footers in a half before? Ridiculous.
No idea how to research that, but Trae himself was 7-24 this season from 35 and beyond. Steph Curry was 3-10 for the season, Trae hit as many 35 footers that half as Steph did all season. Luka was just 1-6 for the season.
No idea how to research that, but Trae himself was 7-24 this season from 35 and beyond. Steph Curry was 3-10 for the season, Trae hit as many 35 footers that half as Steph did all season. Luka was just 1-6 for the season.
Trae better than Luka confirmed.
A lot of Hawks fans are bullish about beating the Heat and making another run toward the ECF. They're crazy, right?
The Pels are going to be so damn good next year. Memphis-like jump incoming.
They are likely to be swept or make it to game 5 against Phoenix but good for the Pels fans to get another week of watching their team and get a couple more home games.
I was at the entire 2008 WC semi-finals series against the Spurs and the crowd was electric. This was the David West, Tyson Chandler and CP3 Hornets squad against Ginóbili, Parker and Ime Udoka-led Spurs.
Last time the atmosphere came as close to that was a decade later when current Pel CJ McCollum and his friends from Portland visited and were swept by Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday in the Blender. If Boogie Cousins hadn’t blown out his Achilles 25 games the season, that would have been a real fun team to watch go deeper.
New Orleans professional basketball has been plagued by missed opportunities or strife with their superstars over the past twenty years. Bad front office moves coupled with never finding the right buildable core created small islands of brilliance in an ocean of mediocrity and rebuilding.
It really looks like that cycle is about to be broken.
They are likely to be swept or make it to game 5 against Phoenix but good for the Pels fans to get another week of watching their team and get a couple more home games.
I was at the entire 2008 WC semi-finals series against the Spurs and the crowd was electric. This was the David West, Tyson Chandler and CP3 Hornets squad against Ginóbili, Parker and Ime Udoka-led Spurs.
Last time the atmosphere came as close to that was a decade later when current Pel CJ McCollum and his friends from Portland visited and were swept by Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday in the Blender. If Boogie Cousins hadn’t blown out his Achilles 25 games the season, that would have been a real fun team to watch go deeper.
New Orleans professional basketball has been plagued by missed opportunities or strife with their superstars over the past twenty years. Bad front office moves coupled with never finding the right buildable core created small islands of brilliance in an ocean of mediocrity and rebuilding.
It really looks like that cycle is about to be broken.