The Clippers bench played a lot better today. Also the crowd seemed to be a lot less then 8,000 since they where concentrated under the two goals.

I think the Mavs might need to trade KP. He played better today but I think they can get better.

Patrick Beverly should get a lot more playing time against the Jazz since he isn't completely outsized by their guards. Also I wonder why Demarcus Cousins hasn't played a game since May the 14th he could have helped them against the Mavs.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm really hoping that the Jazz beat the Clippers and that the Bucks can come back and knock out the Nets. Because that would take Kawhi, Kyrie, and Durant out in one fell swoop. Nothing against those guys but if that were the case, that would guarantee that ONE of the new blood/new generation of great players (Trey, Mitchell, Booker, Embiid, Giannis, Jokic) would win their 1st ring. It would mean that for the first time in what has felt like forever, we would have an actual brand new champion. In a sense that it would feel like we have officially entered a brand new era of basketball. You get what I'm saying?

Since they just recently signed him to a max deal he is pretty much impossible to trade nobody wants to be tied up for that much cap space for the next three years.  There probably is a slight chance that they could trade him in his final year of his current deal but I doubt they will get anything better in return in that deal.

The Jazz have a decent chance of winning against the Clippers, but the Bucks can't beat the Nets even if Harden misses the rest of the series KD is way better then Giannis and Kyrie is better then all their backcourt players. Donte DiVincenzo being out for the remainder of the playoffs isn't helping the Bucks either.

I don't like Patrick Beverley. Seems like a loud mouth based on some of what I've seen.

Most players that are/where primarily know as defensive players are loud mouth's.

Naw, that is not how it works.  In order for that to be true then AD would be the person that could take the Lakers to the championship alone which is not the case.  Instead a championship team needs a team and most importantly all the pieces need to work on offense and defense to win.  Davis gets hurt and that's like 20 to 30 points but not only that his defensive contribution alone is missed.  No one player in this day and age can win a championship alone.  You only have to look at Portland and Dame, or the Mavs and Donic.  Hell, even the Clippers would have lost if both Kawhi and Paul did not have a stellar night.  Its never one player and its very obvious that the Lakers need both LB and AD to even have any chance because the rest of the team was struggling hard.  You cannot put this lost all on LB because it was only so far either LB or AD would take this team without each other.  Its the whole reason AD came to the Lakers because he could not do it alone and need that next level talent to push through. 

LB is definitely not the same player at 36 just like MJ was not at that age but I would say he is still the best player on the Lakers because of all the different aspect he brings to the team not just scoring.

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.