NBA - 2014/15 Season.

[Dr Markus]

Westbrook isn't the team player people make him out to be. His amount of shots show that he isn't for a start. Also this is jump shot league. If a player passes the ball to someone at the start of the play and he shoot and scores, that's an assist. Other US pundits have said this as well, that's it's not a big a deal as it used to be. If you hold on to the ball as long as he and LeBron do, then you're gonna get assists. They don't pass until THEY'RE ready. Stats lie, triple doubles look good, but you have to look behind the stats. Also Kenny smith agrees with me about Westbrook putting himself first defending Rubio (as i'm watching the half time show here for the game), so there.

[sloopjohnc]

I don't know if I totally agree that Westbrook only passes as a last resort and there are lots of "volume" shooters in the NBA.

[Dr Markus]

I didn't say last resort, only when he's ready. In doing so slows the offence. Also why he's near the top of the turn over list.

Yeah, there is a lot of volume shooters, their FG % is low and why I don't rate their big performances until I see their FG%. Many of harden's big games are him shooting in the 30's of field goal percentage. His season is like 43. That's why I don't rate him as high as others. If you throw up enough shots, some are gonna drop.

[sloopjohnc]

The Warriors didn't impress me against the Spurs. Even though they clocked the Pelicans last year in four, I do not see that happening at all this year. I call Warriors in six, if they're lucky.

[sloopjohnc]

LeBron James is a bad man.

And so is Russell Westbrook. I started watching the OKC/Jazz game and the Jazz were up by 20. Then Russell Westbrook decided to get serious.

[Dr Markus]

Former Irish international in for the Knicks job.

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2018/04/boston_celtics_news_new_york_k.html

[The Red Heifer]

Utah let me down severely. At least they have two more chances to do the people's work.

[Dr Markus]

Utah let me down severely. At least they have two more chances to do the people's work.

Hope they get through, big fan of Snyder. Should be coach of the year looking at his resources, but d'ontoni will probably get it.

[sloopjohnc]

Utah let me down severely. At least they have two more chances to do the people's work.

You know they won it, right?

Beyonce and Jay-Z were at Dubs' win last night.

[The Red Heifer]

Of course I know they won it I wasn't going to miss the chance to see Westbrook put out on his arse! And good to see he took it in typical Westbrook fashion, stopping to have it out with a Jazz fan on his way off court. The playoffs are richer for OKC's absence.

[mentalist (slight return)]

Utah let me down severely. At least they have two more chances to do the people's work.

You know they won it, right?

Beyonce and Jay-Z were at Dubs' win last night.

you mean Beyonce and her husband

[The Red Heifer]

Whoever they are it must be nice for them to sit down and watch a good basketball team for a change.

[sloopjohnc]

LeBron is the man.

[sloopjohnc]

After the Boston/Philly game, Charles Barkley made a good comment. He said Brad Stevens' Celtics are the new Spurs. Their three best players are gone with Irving, Hayward and Brown, and they just plug guys in and win.

I loved that Terry Rozier wore a Drew Bledsoe jersey to the game last night. That was some major league trolling or shade on Eric Bledsoe of the Bucks.

[WG Kaspar]

Man and to think that the Bucks should have won game 1 and with that possible take the Celtics out. Everybody would be singing a different tune then. Small margins and all. Stevens though is a hell of a coach; there is a huge gap between him and the second best in the East.

[sloopjohnc]

Man and to think that the Bucks should have won game 1 and with that possible take the Celtics out. Everybody would be singing a different tune then. Small margins and all. Stevens though is a hell of a coach; there is a huge gap between him and the second best in the East.

I don't know enough about basketball to gauge coaches. There are assistants who are the X and Os guy, and while some head coaches are better than others, I don't really know how much input they have into that.

I appreciate Brent Brown of the76ers, who has stuck with it with those guys and now gets to reap the rewards. Everyone says Casey of Toronto is a great coach, but if he was so good, wouldn't he have been able to get those guys further than he has?

Good example: While Chris Paul is definitely an upgrade for the Rockets, it's basically the same team. D-Antoni got Paul and Harden to co-exist and implanted a whole new offense that worked wonders. Yet, he was fired by the Knicks and the Lakers.

[WG Kaspar]

While I agree with you on a lot of your points the ability to elevate players and put them in the best possible position to succeed according to their talents must count for something. D'Antoni did not become a great coach overnight; he had the Suns playing great. Sure you need the right personnel in order to do that, but when you do you have to put them in the position to win. According to talent alone the Bucks should have murdered the Celtics but they did not utilise it properly whereas the Celtics took the most of what they had and you had someone like Rozier stepping up and having a breakout series.

[sloopjohnc]

According to talent alone the Bucks should have murdered the Celtics but they did not utilise it properly whereas the Celtics took the most of what they had and you had someone like Rozier stepping up and having a breakout series.

I'm not so sure about that. Remember, the Celtics have had very high draft choices (and have more other teams' picks). Everyone was shocked when they chose Jaylen Brown, as was I seeing him play a lot at Cal, but Jayson Tatum was extremely NBA-ready as far as offensive skills. Rozier was great at Louisville and the 16th overall pick two years ago. Horford has tons of playoff experience and Marcus Smart was a stud at Okla. State.

Except for Giannis, I think it was pretty even. The difference for me, was in the coaching. That, I agree with.

The funny thing about the Celtics staff is there are not many veteran NBA asst. coaches. They mostly come from college ranks.

[The Red Heifer]

Jingles with the game of his life. God I hope he doesn't have Andrew Bogut's political views.

[WG Kaspar]

According to talent alone the Bucks should have murdered the Celtics but they did not utilise it properly whereas the Celtics took the most of what they had and you had someone like Rozier stepping up and having a breakout series.

I'm not so sure about that. Remember, the Celtics have had very high draft choices (and have more other teams' picks). Everyone was shocked when they chose Jaylen Brown, as was I seeing him play a lot at Cal, but Jayson Tatum was extremely NBA-ready as far as offensive skills. Rozier was great at Louisville and the 16th overall pick two years ago. Horford has tons of playoff experience and Marcus Smart was a stud at Okla. State.

Except for Giannis, I think it was pretty even. The difference for me, was in the coaching. That, I agree with.

The funny thing about the Celtics staff is there are not many veteran NBA asst. coaches. They mostly come from college ranks.

I don't know. Brown and Tatum were high picks and they really blossomed this year and yes Horford is a proven veteran, but nobody expected Rozier to have the series that he had, especially against Bledsoe who was complete trash but was expected to be more impactful than he was. The Bucks had high picks as well, Jabari was #2, Brogdon was rookie of the year and unexpectedly Thon turned up. Add to the fact that Giannis was the best player in the series and Middleton was also ridiculous and you have to wonder what the fuck went wrong. There was a huge coaching gap between the two teams.