i dunno if it will be epic. competitive, sure. a grind it out battle, yes. we've seen the series already a few times and they were not the most entertaining games. it would be a true test of whether griffin has taken his game to the next level because randolph seems give him big trouble.
This. I love watching the Grizzlies gritty style of play. Not exciting as watching the Warriors or watching the Spurs move the ball but I'll take it.
In theory it worked, the guy is atrocious at the line. Doesn't help if you can't hit your own shots, you have a bunch of guys on the floor who can't hit foul throws either, and you get your own players in foul trouble doing it. Houston only shot 50% from the line themselves. Far worse then the Clippers overall, who were saddled with Jordans mind-boggling 14 for 34.
REED Didn't Understand the Logic @ All... It was VERY Early in the 1st Half when they Started Intentionally Fouling Jordan AND Houston was Leading by 8 or 10...All it Did was Get the Clippers Into the Bonus QUICKER than Normal, Basically KEPT the Rockets in Foul Trouble (As You've Stated) AND Kept them from Getting ANY Fastbreak Opportunities, Which is Something Houston THRIVES Off of... w/Guys like Josh Smith and Corey Brewer on the Floor, You Need to PUSH the Pace, as Opposed to Resorting to LAME Forms of Gamesmanship...The Tactic was COUNTER Productive to what Houston Does & they Ended Up Getting Blown Out Anyways...AGAIN... REED Read a Stat Saying the Clippers are 19-2 when Teams Resort to "Hack-a-Jordan"...Apparently, Kevin McHale Wasn't Aware of It... REED:mut:
I believe it's done as a calculated gamble and I've noticed teams have been doing it earlier and earlier in games. Like they've decided this is their strategy either way, lets get it done and over with instead of at the end of the game when it might not matter anymore. This time, it looked like McHale was trying to go all out Popovich, miscalculated how Pop would have actually done it, forgot his guys (not named Harden) can't shoot free throws either, and it backfired on him. Really stupid! I still don't think they should change the rules. Don't reward guys for not being able to shoot free throws. I would hope Jordan could improve himself in this area, but it may be a lost cause. I can't recall many players who worked themselves into becoming much better at the FT stripe. It's almost as if you hit your 20's, if you suck at it then, you're going to suck at it your whole life no matter how much time you spend practicing at it. Some of these guys are just fucking horrible nowadays. Even Shaq got up to 60% or higher a few seasons and the "Hack-a" was named after him. Wilt, who was notoriously bad at the stripe, still averaged 51% for his career. I like Jordan to. I can see why you don't want to take him off the floor. Glen "Baby" Davis is a hot mess and Jordan comes up with some beautiful offensive rebounds throughout the course of a game to make up for some of his shortcomings.
The thing is that Pop used it on Shaq, who was the main scorer and a dominant force in the paint. Deandre is hardly an offensive threat.
Yeah, it's different philosophies. They were trying to stop Shaq from getting a guaranteed 2 points (or a possible 3 with a foul). With Deandre, they are simply trading possessions in exchange for the calculated 0.8 points he averages from the free throw line.
For the "Greater Good of the Game", the Rule MUST Be Changed..."Hack-a-WHOEVER" is a Certified EYESORE on the Sport, Akin to FLOPPING... It's Nearly Impossible for an LA Clipper Game to Be LESS than Entertaining, yet the 1st Half of Last Night's Affair was So...& it was ALL Because of Kevin McHale... Professional Basketball Players Should Also Be Able to GUARD their Man 1-On-1, Nonetheless, the Sheer DOMINANCE of Shaquille O'Neal Resulted in the League ALLOWING Zone Defenses...If Your Squad is INCAPABLE of Beating a Team "Honestly", a Coach Shouldn't Be Allowed to Utilize a Loophole that JUNKS the Game Up... Poor Free Throw Shooting is a Byproduct of Pick-Up/Playground Basketball...You Call Your OWN Fouls and Instead of Shooting Free Throws, you Retain Possession and Re-Start from the Top of the Key...Also, when an Inner City BIG is ALONE on a Court, he's More Likely to Try DUNKING, FLASHY Ballhandling or Shooting 3's, than Putting in Time on Making Free Throws... Sad, yet True... Chris Webber Made THE Single Greatest FT% Increase, from 1 Season to the Next...He Went from like 49% to OVER 70% the Following Season...That Summer, he Hired an Around the Clock Shooting Coach, who TRAVELED w/Him (On Vacations and Everything)...2wice a Day, EVERY Day, they'd Find a Gym and CWebb would Make a Couple Hundred FT's... But Even Though REED's All Time Favorite Player is Living Proof of a Piss Poor FT Shooter WORKING his Way to Respectability, REED Still Thinks the Game would Be Better Off WITHOUT "Hack-a-Whoever"... REED:hammert:
It's funny how the first round sucked, apart from the SA-LA series, and the second round has been amazing. Even though the Spurs lost, I think it's very interesting seeing that the championship is up for grabs. We will finally see a different team raising the trophy.
It's the DRAMA, the SUSPENSE that the 2nd Round Has, Which the 1st Round Lacked... EVERY Team in the West, w/the Exception of the Pelicans, Thought they Had a LEGITIMATE Chance @ Advancing to the Finals...But as we Quickly Found Out, the Mavs and Blazers were ALSO Pretenders...3 of the 4 1st Round Western Conference Series were TRASH...In the East, Atlanta-Brooklyn was MILDLY Entertaining, as Was Chicago-Milwaukee, but NOBODY Gives a Fuck about those Squads...Cleveland-Boston was a Joke, as was Washington-Toronto... Tonight, Teams w/the 1st and 2nd BEST Records in the Entire League, the Best Team in the West AND the Best Team in the East, are BOTH on the Ropes and DESPERATELY Need to Win...In 6 Hours or Less, we'll have a CLEAR Idea of Whether they're ALSO Pretenders to the Throne... It Really DOESN'T Get Any Better Than That; WATCHING a Team's Basketball Fortunes Play Out Right in Front Of Them, as their Back is FIRMLY Pressed Against the Wall... 3 Buzzer Beaters in 3 Consecutive Days???...If You Wrote a SCRIPT about it, People Would Say it's Tooooo "Manufactured", yet that Shit REALLY Happened this Past Weekend... REED:mut:
In Addition to Learning What Golden State's MADE OF, Tonight, we'll Also See What Steve Kerr's WORTH as a Coach Really Is... REEDopcorn:
Now THAT was an MVP Level Half from Steph Curry:clapagain:...21pts, 8-14 shooting & 4 dimes, at Halftime...He's in a GOOD Enough Groove where it Looks like it'll Carry Over to a 35-40pt Performance, Overall... Steve Kerr Make SOLID Adjustments, DOUBLING Gasol in the Post, FRONTING ZBo on the Other Side, Having Draymon Green TAKE the Offensive Reigns, Early...61-44 @ Halftime...Golden State LOOKS Like Golden State Again... If Klay Thompson Gives the Warriors ANYTHING in the 2nd Half, Golden State Can MAINTAIN this Lead in the 2nd Half...Otherwise, Memphis WILL Make a Run and We'll Have Yet Another NAIL BITER Finish... REED:scared2:
In QUITE a Few Instances, the Score Doesn't Tell the TRUE Story of a Basketball Game, but in the Case of the Golden State-Memphis Series, it CLEARLY Does... The CLOSER Golden State Got to 80pts, in the 3rd Fucking Quarter, No Less, the More OBVIOUS it Became Memphis WASN'T Going to Win...When Golden State's ROLLING Offensively, Memphis is HELPLESS... This Series has Featured THE Biggest Contrast is STYLES of Play, Which has Been Interesting to Watch... It's Now a 3 Game Series, 2 of them GUARANTEED to Be in Oakland...w/Curry Seeming to have FOUND his MVP Mojo & Klay Thompson DUE for a BIG Game, the Pressure's Definitely Shifted BACK to Memphis... REED:mj:
TexMex would say they have needed a new coach for awhile now, he got outcoached baldly vs Blazers last year. I hear McHale really doesn't do much at all, it's his assistants really coaching the team. The only thing McHale aka Milkhair excels at is player relations and player development. THAT IS IT. I said Brooks had to go from OKC, I'd gladly take Brooks over McHale, he's that bad. But, it's not all on Milkhair, there was no fucking reason to lose game 1, no excuse. None. Rockets have been playing like shit all series, I'll give the Clippers and especially Doc Rivers credit, he's sending 2 at Harden almost constantly and going with the "let the other guys beat us" philosophy and it's worked to perfection. As far as Harden goes, he's making the right plays when he's doubled, the other players aren't hitting their shots. His FG% is up, assists up, but still he needs to be more aggressive, even if they are going to lose. The foul shooting REED speaks of, lord I really don't want to talk about this anymore, but I'll say it again, MANY other players have shot just as many free throws or more and have relied on them as well. Kobe with his "HEEEYYyyyyyy" EVERYTIME he took it to the rack, what was that? Or Durant with his swoop under move that isn't even in the paint, that's a bait move he uses quite often and is similar to Harden's, except it's on the perimeter. I mentioned earlier in this thread that D. Jordon was the best at not falling for Harden's baiting and what do you know, Harden FT attempts are down this series and Jordan has sent Harden's shots into the stands a few times. Bottom line is without another coach, without another ball handler that can create his own shot on this team, the Rockets will continue to be 1st or 2nd round exits. The players know they don't have a chance with Milkhair, and it's showing in their play and effort. Morey's worst mistake ever = Milkhair
I think Rockets shouldn't push the panic button so quickly. They need this, they need losing just like the Clippers lost these past playoffs. That way they build chemistry, they get that much needed edge to get better each and every offseason. They're still young and it's a learning process, you can't expect them to win it all without experience. The coach change will come eventually.
If wall is able to play for the rest of the postseason at a level close to prior to his injury then the bullets came come out of the east
Assuming Cleveland and Chicago ESCAPE Any Fuuuuuurther Injuries, REED Doesn't See Washington Beating Either... REED:kidcool:
It's IMPERATIVE Memphis Gets Off to a GOOD Start...The LAST Thing they Can Afford is to Get Caught Up in the FRENZY of Golden State Fans, Which FUELS the Warriors.... Memphis AIN'T Built for Overcoming BIG Deficits...The 1st Quarter will Be VERY Telling... REED:kidcool:
