These conference finals have been garbage. Not a single competitive game, just blowouts, the Mavs-Suns series was the same way. It’s boring as hell, awful basketball, basically whoever makes more threes is going to win and you know that is by halftime.
NBA has been s*** for at least a decade now. Last time i really, REALLY enjoyed it was around our 3peat years. I watched more games in one season back then, than now in 7-8 years combined. I guess im old...
if boston was on the other end of this, you'd never hear the end of it. both teams known for playing physical defense. both teams have basket-attacking stars. one team living at the line. yeah, it's definitely "get off my lawn" territory, but they simply have to do something about the three point shot. it's become too easy for most guys, and with the math working how it does, a good 30% of the floor is functionally off limits for offenses. need to move the line out and either widen the court or ditch the corner three altogether. the heavy reliance on the three is what makes the blowouts, imo. in the dallas/gs game 3, it was a simple matter of the mavs' role players missing open threes (i think kleber and bullock were like 0-12 combined). is that really how we want most games decided? i've watched the game for a long time, and one reliable box score indicator has been team A/TO ratio. and i like that it correlates with winning because it likely means that a team is playing a style that is more fun to watch (ball moves, less sloppy--though there are obvious exceptions like harden's rockets). in boston/miami game 2, boston's A/TO was a ghastly 21/23 and miami's was an awesome 23/8. miami only won by 6. there has to be a way for the rules to reward more exciting basketball. and i guess gs is poised to win a title playing a pretty great brand of ball, but if any of the other three teams win (assuming health), the league needs to ask itself some questions.
hopefully miami was embarrassed enough to at least take one more game. need to wear the C Bags down and get gs some rest.
yeah, it's not so much boston's vaunted defense as it is the other team's two best offensive players playing on one leg and their third best one not playing at all.
https://www.theringer.com/2022/5/24/23139421/dallas-mavericks-luka-doncic-nba-playoffs reading about how dallas built a conference finalist by playing defense is really pissing me off. also some gems in there for the playcalling aficianados (the warriors don't do much of it).
as are set plays. 5 smart, skilled players don't need much in the way of overarching strategy beyond the simple rules of basketball (pass and screen or cut away, maintain floor balance, etc.)
lol, skilled, too. the warriors almost always have 4 guys who can shoot on the floor, and curry's the only real defensive liability on the whole roster. helps that they have an unlimited bank account, but they've just outdone folks from a management/organizational culture standpoint. it's like if the spurs had paul allen's money in the early 2000s.
they brought their starters back in to try and complete the comeback, which was a silly gamble, btw, because luka wasn't going to allow it and two of your stars are old and had gotten cold on the sidelines. they lost because dallas's role players hit threes in this one. they'd have lost game 3 if the same happened there, too. they're the better team and will win game 5, but they got a little lucky that dallas had an off game in game 3. the shots were there.
Boston is winning the title this year We were supposed to finally pass them, but no, they got good out of nowhere. Friggin’ sucks.
