Lakers VS Slippers Discussion

yeah, we need to hope for denver to have a short series with minny and no injuries. if the clips beat the suns, i bet they become the betting favorite against denver, and historically, that hasn't been good for them...

 

The Clippers are legit, like it or not, if they get Paul George back any time soon, they are going to be a serious problem. They are a problem for Phoenix as is, Kawhi can match KD scoring wise, and the rest of that roster can definitely match Booker and Ayton's scoring. CP3 has to play big on offense, but defensively, he can't do anything with Westbrook. Russ, Hyland and Mann have a big size advantage over Paul. I wouldn't be shocked if they go down 0-2 in that series.

 

suns need to use the clips' aggression on the offensive boards against them by getting into transition as much as possible, imo.

 

Suns need to double Kawhi and let Russ shoot and beat them. He'll either go 3-16 or 12-16, still worth a try

 

JJ Redick said that the Suns never sent doubles on Kawhi - is that true? Egregiously bad coaching if so. Esp w Paul George out. Monty Williams gotta step up and put together a better defensive gameplan on Kawhi.

 

Of course, he also said that Kawhi is the closest thing he's seen to MJ - in the midrange. Correct or clown? Discuss!

 

not crazy at all. he's pretty much automatic from around the FT line

 

Correct as hell.

 

Kawhi is a Jordan-esque monster from midrange, but isn’t Kobe a tad better?

 

YES. Kobe was "technically" better at every facet of the game by at least a small margin with what he had copied from MJ. He worked harder at it. IMO.

 

Clippers are a tough out, I’m hoping they get eliminated by either Phoenix or Denver. I know a lot of people love to talk down on Westbrook, but he is averaging 16/5/8 for them on 49/36 and defensively has been much improved. In game 1 he had 2 steals and 3 blocks and played some great defence on KD.

Adding that to Kawhi and PG plus Batum, Powell, Marcus Morris, Gordon and Mann and you got a lot of two way 6’4 to 6’9 guys. Zubac is solid and Plumlee is a decent backup. They’re probably the team that is the toughest matchup for us in the west.

 

Kawhii is just so big though. You can't move him when he gets to his spots

 

accurate. he may actually be better, tbh. at just the midrange. he's as deadly as dirk from there, too. and it's hard to double at that spot on the floor; just opens too many things up. the midrange is only a bad shot if you're an average nba player. if you're one of a handful of technicians, it's a great shot.

 

He hit some 3's at the end of the season that are fool's gold. For all of March, he shot 27.7% for them from 3. That's closer to his averages.

He did...and was still a net negative on the court. -6. While his "backups" were +13. Hyland, Mann, Powell, and Plumlee won the game for them when next to Kawhi, while Mr. 3-19 Russ was an anchor around Kawhi dragging him down. That phrase we're hearing, "the best 3-19 game ever seen"...it's still a bad game. Clips would have won that game by more if Westbrook didn't play a single minute in that game.

Yes, this is the reason the Clips are tough. Not Westbrook.

 

I guess you didn't actually watch the game, especially the end. Westbrook is going to be a problem for Phoenix..unfortunately, he won't be the only one.

 

What is odd about Kawhii's game is does he ever post up? His mid-range is more of the 3 level scoring we see from smaller guys like Dlo and Fox who dribble into their shots.

Lebron, Dirk, Kobe, Jordan all posted up maybe not as much as fans would have liked but I can't remember the last Kawhii is played out of the post

 

he doesn't need to post up because he gets to where he wants so easily off the dribble

 

i watched a lot of it. russ made about 5 good plays at the end that wouldn't have been necessary if he had just sat the first 42 minutes.

 

The Westbrook hate is irrational man..he didn't shoot well, but he made winning plays down the stretch. That dude is not washed yet, I have a feeling that we will see him again in the Conference Finals.

 

Jeanie giving away courtside seats?

Joking... kind of. I think Suns make it there, but we'll see.