₦airaland Forum

You watched Jalen Brunson lead the Knicks to the #2 seed with Josh Hart and Donte Divincenzo and swear Jamal Murray with a 19-4-4 guy in Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren would be a play in team.

This Igbeaux una dey smoke abeg pass am to the left hand side

Denver would be as good or better? Based on what evidence. What is SGA's playoff resume to make such false claim? That's not even considering the fit and how well he's game will mesh with Joker never mind performances in the clutch and how busy can you get without the refs being involved

This nigga turning 26 just entering his first playoff series as a factor and we no go hear word. Mind you Luka is younger than him oh. In his 4th playoffs

SGA making his first playoffs at 26, Murray champion at 26 doing 32 and 10 in the WCF. They are not the same

Kawhi has a 3 year/150m kicking in next season. Yikes.

It's a pity Ballmer will never have the courage to pull the plug on this team. You wonder how he became a billionaire.

Your core is basically

33 year old Kawhi who's really 38

35 year old Harden who's about the same

36 year old Russ

34 year old PG. Always injured

Unless they pull a 14 Spurs you have to wonder how long they will trick themselves to be contenders

larride:
You and A40 will have a repeat conversation on this Adrian Griffin and Giannis.

Who send them to go hire Papa Ajasco as coach

kendrick9:
Of course there's pressure on home to succeed, you don't achieve the 1 seed in the west without pressure.
Pressure to prove they are legit in the post season.

As for those years, It was clear OKC were tanking for more picks.
SGA made an All NBA last season without Chet.
Of course Chet is important but he's clearly a 2 or 3rd option.

There was no pressure or expectations on OKC entering the season to be a #1 seed.

There will be no pressure this season or next season.

How can OKC tank for more picks when they still have almost 50 picks from the Clippers?

The point is SGA was part of the tanking you claimed Murray would be in and SGA got the benefit of time. It took 3 years just to get to this point

kendrick9:
Kyrie is talented but putting your hope on him to lead a championship team isn't advisable due to his off court troubles.

Truth is I can name 10 players better than Murray in this league:
Jokic
Luka
SGA
Giannis
Kawhi
Brunson
Embid
Tatum
Antman
Durant
Curry.

And then you have the next 11-20; guys like Brown, Lebron, Morant, Booker, PG, Kyrie, Mitchell, Dame, Hali, Sabonis, Fox.Butler....
You could argue Murray fits into this group but it's arguable.
Not forgetting an outlier like Wemby whose potential is insane and everyone would take Wemby over Murray easily.
Murray benefits from playing with Joker IMO and so far in this series MPJ and Gordon are arguably playing better so far.

For your entire list and on current form the only players I will take ahead of Murray is Jokic, Luka, AD,Giannis and Ant.

I don't know anything about the rest guys you mentioned. But if I need to win a 7 game series I'm not taking none of those other niggas ahead of Murray

Joker also benefits from playing with Murray. We've seen Joker without Murray. Lost to the Warriors in 5, second round sweep to Devin Booker

All I know is Murray became healthy and Nuggets go from winning 1 playoff series to winning 4

Clippers don enter one chance. Mavericks are the younger, deeper and more physical team so far

James Harden is cooking

SGA a top 5 player??

kendrick9:
Your opinion but the fact is Jamal hasn't made an All NBA team.
Shai made an All NBA last season and will make it again this season.
I'm not even gonnal talk about all star cause some might say it's a popularity contest but SGA is still making those teams irrespective.

Watch these games and stop being swayed by these polling booth awards.

Ever since Jamal tore up his ACL the focus for the Nuggets has always been postseason and not spamming regular season stats and accolades

Paolo Banchero, Kyle Lowry, Sabonis, Victor Oladipo, Roy Hibbert are all players that have been Allstar or All NBA. No big deal there cos none of them are as good as Jamal and we all know this

Jamal has been 20-4-6 the last two seasons. For a top 2 seed in the West. If you think he needs to make any team for us to know his quality think again. Scan the league right now and tell me the team that will not trade their second best player for Jamal Murray

kendrick9:
Murray is a very good 2nd option don't get me wrong, every great side needs a good 2 to complement their number one.
Pippen was to Jordan, Kobe to Shaq, Gasol to Kobe, Kyrie to Lebron.
But the problem is when you want to take that 2 to a 1 and most of the times they fail.
Kyrie left Lebron and couldn't lead the Boston.
He's now a 2 to Luka.

Good that you point out all players need a good 2 to win.

Again you're not understanding the difference in pressure for a Kyrie that was expected to go to Boston and win vs a SGA that is allowed time to grow and fail and try again.

Being a former 2 now #1 expected to win is not the same as being a number 1 just trying their luck in the playoffs. SGA would wilt under the pressure Kyrie was under.

kendrick9:
Kobe was the only outlier who made that progress from a second option to a number one man leading the Lakers to the championship title.
No matter how great any player is they need a very good second man and some good role players.

Kawhi traded SGA who was a rookie for PG cause he wanted to win now.
In hindsight that was a terrible mistake judging by how things have gone now

SGA team was

22-50
24-58
40-42

3 losing seasons before their #2 pick Chet Holmgren showed up and lifted their ceiling

That's the luxury players like SGA enjoy, playing with no expectations and pressure to win

Bucks mounting a furious comeback. My word

greypencils:
You need to be reminded of the playoff game when Murray and Donovan Mitchell went toe to toe scoring 50 points each. Person wey score 50 points in playoffs no fit lead team? Shai done score 50 points before? Haba! Donovan Mitchell is no 1 option at Cavs O. Jamal Murray no fit lead team? Person wey get 3 50-point games. Na wa for you o.

I strongly question his ball knowledge atp.

He doesn't realize that just a player's usage rate can greatly influence and inflate a player's capabilities.

Jalen Brunson took the Knicks to the 2nd seed to show you the power of a team focused to serve one player, if he stayed with Luka who knows where and how he would be rated.

If Harden didn't leave OKC he would have never been MVP contender,

Even the SGA if he remained in the Clippers with Kawhi his ceiling would be limited.

I've watched SGA play and there's nothing he's doing Jamal Murray cannot do. The difference is he plays in a system that allows him freedom to do and undo

kendrick9:
Jamal hasn't made all star or All NBA teams and he plays for the best team the Nuggets.
He's not a consistent preformer and can never a be one option.
Maybe if he was on tanking teams like Wizards, Hornets, Pistons.
SGA has been arguably the best player in the league this season, Jamal doesn't have that level of play in him.
This is a young OKC team and it's a credit to Shai that he can lead this team to the one seed in a stacked west

This is such a laughable post. Who with working eyes will watch Jamal Murray play and say he's not an All NBA and All star caliber player?

One thing you people need to understand. Denver play 5 man team ball. Last season the Joker their best player averaged 14 shots a game. Let that sink in

Without Murray Denver lost in 5 to the Warriors, lost to Devin Booker and the Suns. In a sweep!!

A healthy Murray and we are talking a potential back to back team.

The SGA you're hyping here was offloaded by the Clippers in the PG trade. Spent donkey years on a tanking teams like you listed above with zero expectations and the one breakthrough year he has you're overhyping him ahead of made men. Smh

Let's see how SGA performs when there's actual expectations and not when he's some plucky underdog

kendrick9:
I think you're selling SGA short. You say there's nothing Shai does that Jamal can't, same can be said in reverse.
Shai is an effiecient monster, smooth handles, has the most drives and very consistent. Most 30 points games this season.

Can Jamal be a 1 option?

Jamal is a very good 2, a deputy to Jokic.
SHAI has shown the last seasons that he he is a genuine 1 option, leading that young OKC to first seed.
Of course he's not proven yet in the post season, but this is his first real shot at it...

Lesser players than Jamal have been #1 options on teams. The team is built around SGA so of course he will dominate scoring.

James Harden was a 6th man and became one of the best #1s for a 5 year spell. As roles expand the more you potentially see from a player. Look at freakin Jalen Brunson of all people, did you know he could lead a team?

Shai would be a #2 to Jokic as well. With reduced usage.

Mind you Murray missed 20+ games which is the only reason OKC were able to get the #1 seed

kendrick9:
It's not even a contest at this point. Playoff Murray is good but Shai is an MVP caliber player. Murray is just not on that level or hasn't shown it yet in his career. He's inconsistent.
Imagine SGA in this Nuggets side in place of Jamal... Jokic + SGA would win back to back titles. It would be dynasty

I think you're not factoring their respective roles. If James Harden didn't leave OKC and remained that's how people would have argued and swore on everything they love that Westbrook was better. I have seen SGA. There's nothing he does that Jamal can't. I don't think you remember what his trajectory was after the bubble then his ACL tear.

He was robbed a full year of development

Speaks volumes that he was able to come back like he did

And no SGA is not a proven playoff performer so your claim is 100% unverifiable. SGA has not done what Murray did last season or in the bubble and remains to be seen if he can do it.

A few half decent performances against a team with Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum as their best players is not enough to crown SGA as the best thing smoking

kendrick9:
OKC beat them in the regular season 3 - 1.
Shai and Murray is not even, Shai is the superior player easily. He's a top 5 player in the league.
Jamal whilst good in the playoffs isn't on that level.
Lack I said OKC lack bigs and Denver have that plus physicality and experience.
Denver of course would be favorites but OKC will give them a game

Shai superior to Jamal? Lol.

Regular season and playoff ball are not the same thing oh.

Michael Porter Jr mayne what a Hooper. If the Nuggets do repeat I hope they somehow can keep him and Murray.

Roland17:
After Ajala turn ball over he go still come wail for post conference. Consecutive possessions he turns the ball over, worsestill, refuses to run back.

Lmaoo let's see what the excuse will be today.

Anyway his loyalists will still have more empty calorie stats to gloat about.

He's a front runner anyway.

larride:
D'lo shooting blanks today.

Aaron Gordon showing them how it's done at the paint. No answer for him at the moment.

D'Lo is unplayable.

This Nuggets team just feed who's the hot hand. No time for chere kambia

1 made 3 in almost 40 minutes of basketball is crayzyy

Another 3rd quarter collapse by the Lakers

This is pure comedy cos you've seen this movie before but you watch again anyway

These guys are getting grilled by Aaron Gordon

Lakers are 1/14 from 3. Unbelievable

Both teams combined are 4/30.

Nuggets were down 12. Now up 1

Wasn't expecting the Magic to destroy Cavs like that

What a performance by Embiid, they said he had mild signs of Bell's palsy. That's pretty serious.

Chet Holmgren really cooked this last game.

You wonder if you're the Lakers and you go on to lose to the Nuggets if you should have thrown that 7-8 play in game.

Saw somewhere they have led this series 68% of the time but yet somehow they're still down 2. Have a hard time believing they don't beat the Thunder at least once based on how well they've played

Lol. Wetin Celtics dey do

They've met their 3pt spamming match. If I'm the Heat fvck it. I'm spamming another 50 next game. It's my only path to victory anyway

birdman:
Durant said offense is what wins championships, not defense. When he was challenged, he claimed he knew better. I expect Suns to try to out magic twolves in game 3 again. Anyhow its too late to learn how to play team defense, if all season long you believed offense would always give you the edge. Might as well go down with what you believe

Lol. KD and his hippy picasso hoop beliefs, he might be a purist at heart but it's naive of him for him to think offense alone wins championships.

He might be one of the best scorers ever but what use is that when your opponent can knock you off your square. And the gulf in offense is not that wide between him and his competitors especially at this level

raumdeuter:
Cos if we look market sef which better person dey there?

I don see some names wey dem mention and it's shameful

Plus many clubs wey dey find coaches Liverpool United Chelsea . I hear say Barcelona don call Xavi back when dem no see better options for market

The problem is we're moving like German version of Abrahamovich Chelsea.

Any young German manager for instance would be wary of joining Bayern cos he knows one bad run and his career in the mud

I'm not even bothered about the names cos I personally think football has dipped in general. Maybe na old age but I feel like if you watch closely you would see it too.

So far I have seen De Zerbi and Rangnick. There was rumors of Zidane turned out to be false obviously

raumdeuter:
E tire person o

Unless na 1yr stop gap to find better coach

Might be sha but guys like Musiala will be looking to bounce if we don't start looking like we know what we are doing moving forward

Rangnick? Really?

What type of uninspiring hire is that??

Roland17:
The Suns rely on transition/ fast break offense. The success of transition offense is heavily reliant on defensive rebound, which they are struggling with.

The GM didn't use his brain assembling this team at all. There's a glaring lack of dawg.

I don't know what's going on with these guys but I look at a KD for example and he looks almost annoyed that the TWolves are getting physical, like he should just be allowed to show skills and score like it's another game at Rucker park.

Luka with an over my dead body type of game. Even Kawhi's return couldn't save the Clippers. Now we have a series on our hands

I thought the Suns were the more skilled offensive team. Why is it the Wolves going on all the runs?

This Suns Big 3 wan use brick scatter rim

Roland17:
AD’s post game was more mature, responsible and held his team accountable. “There were stretches we looked like we did not know what we were doing”.

Ajala has contributed 9 TO I think in 2 games. He needs to stop whining and play basketball.

The mic drop was just peach.

They had the lead and their PTSD made them scared. They were scared to death and then the tough shots stopped falling

Rather than admitting they folded under pressure the great impostor is blaming refs. But the refs didn't stop you from leading for almost 48 minutes

Shameless and embarrassing scenes.

Reminder of their free throw differential compared to the rest of the league