burninmylight said:
Wow... as reductionist and half-hearted as ever. I thought the NBA was a 5-on-5 game with 12-man active rosters, not real life NBA Jam. For instance, did you know that Blake Griffin went 4-9 from deep and scored 18 total, with Mike James going 5-11 from the field for 12 total? Is that a normal performance from them? Do you think that is likely to happen again and again? Which is more likely to happen, that kind of performance from the Nets bench, or Holiday and Middleton (the guy you don't know exists because he's never been on the cover of 2K, even though he's a two-time All-Star and had a 50/39/90 season last year) don't go 13-42 from the field again after shaking off the rust from having a week off? Yes, Durant and Irving got theirs on strong performances, and it's even possible that they could kick up into a higher gear. But also of note: Durant played 40 minutes in Game 1, while Irving played 45. Giannis played 35, Middleton played 36 and Holiday 37. Making adjustments and playing his stars more minutes has always been Bud's problem, but what happens if he actually adjusts? And had you watched the game, you would have seen that Giannis and Brook Lopez (that other former All-Star you forgot exists after he left the Lakers, even though he's made an all-defensive team, became the first player ever to record 100+ threes and 100+ blocks in a season, and has led the league in blocks and opponent's FG% at the rim*) got whatever they wanted at the rim for most of the game, yet somehow only shot six FTs between them. What do you think is more likely to happen, Blake finds a way to stop Giannis for the first time all season, or Blake goes 4-9 from deep again? I'm not saying the Bucks will definitely win the series, because they are absolutely the underdogs. But there is a reason why many consider this the real NBA Finals matchup. The Bucks have as much chance at beating the Nets as Giannis has at beating James Harden for league MVP from two years ago - wait, are we still supposed to pretend like that didn't happen? *There are these things called advanced stats. People who like to follow the game in 2021 value them more than lazy numbers like raw PPG because it's 2021, not 1991. |
That reply was a big nothing burger bottom line is the Nets are up 2-0 and will win the series in six or less even if James Harden doesn't come back and plays any of the remaining games in the series. Everyone got a false sense of confidence about the Bucks chances of winning the series because they won two close meaningless games against the Nets towards the end of the regular season.
