₦airaland Forum

etidy:
One thing this playoffs highlights once again is that " the young dogs have taken over" there is changing of the guards.

Which is why the warriors refusing to hand the keys to kuminga and moody all season was infuriating. Those guys deserved to play more than the washed Klay and cp3.

Secondly, this playoffs also teaches that except you have super longevity like lebron and to all lesser extent Steph , the window of opportunity to win a title in the NBA is often very short (2-4 years max) .

Once you are not serious enough to grab that opportunity, while in your prime by either chasing stats (harden) or money (lillard, Bradley beal) or choking when it matters (Booker,Cp3, Paul George) , an unexpected upstart can come from no where to usurp you.
3 years ago, the nuggets where just also rans, and the phoenix suns where supposed to dominate thr western conference after the decline of the warriors, suns wasted their chances,and out of no where, the nuggets have become a juggernaut.
Same happened to lob city when they jonz and the warriors came out of no where to become a terror.

Now the wolves and okc are also emerging.
It's already looking like PG, Harden, CP3, Lillard , Westbrook, Devin booker will never win a title.

This is why players like Tatum ,Zion Williamson and Morant need to get serious fast.

Lastly, the NBA finally have their new faces of the league emerging in this playoffs.

The nuggets are learning really fast that the window of opportunity as a top dog closes really fast. luckily for them they took their chances last season and have one in the bag already.

In the words of Abacha , fellow NBA fans welcome to a new regime. Coup d 'etat young dogs force change of government for NBA .. interesting days ahead.

Seeing how forceful the wolves where in game 3 against the suns, I knew they will go for the kill today. a teams with a weak mentality will settle for taking a 1-1 lead to minny, not Ant man and the crew sha.

A40:
Regular season and free throw merchants. When it's time to score real buckets they are always nowhere to be found

37% as a big man is crazy can't believe they were comparing him to Joker with a straight face

Sixers better bring out the Brink truck for Maxey. Nigga gonna be Scrooge McDuck

To be fair to embiid he looked banged up and gased in that game, yet he played incredible defense in overtime,he's playing with a lot of guts and could have mailed in for the season.
If embiid was just at 70% , this series would have been over.

Maxey I love the playoffs mehn

One thing this playoffs highlights once again is that " the young dogs have taken over" there is changing of the guards.

Which is why the warriors refusing to hand the keys to kuminga and moody all season was infuriating. Those guys deserved to play more than the washed Klay and cp3.

Secondly, this playoffs also teaches that except you have super longevity like lebron and to all lesser extent Steph , the window of opportunity to win a title in the NBA is often very short (2-4 years max) .

Once you are not serious enough to grab that opportunity, while in your prime by either chasing stats (harden) or money (lillard, Bradley beal) or choking when it matters (Booker,Cp3, Paul George) , an unexpected upstart can come from no where to usurp you.
3 years ago, the nuggets where just also rans, and the phoenix suns where supposed to dominate thr western conference after the decline of the warriors, suns wasted their chances,and out of no where, the nuggets have become a juggernaut.
Same happened to lob city when they jonz and the warriors came out of no where to become a terror.

Now the wolves and okc are also emerging.
It's already looking like PG, Harden, CP3, Lillard , Westbrook, Devin booker will never win a title.

This is why players like Tatum ,Zion Williamson and Morant need to get serious fast.

Lastly, the NBA finally have their new faces of the league emerging in this playoffs.

larride:
Emblid is back, or was he injured in their playin game?

He's playing with an injury, he was very limited in the play in game against Miami

The Eastern Conference bracket of the playoffs seems to have been wrecked by Injuries. The top 4 threats to the Celtics have Injuries to their number 1 ( Bucks: Giannis, Sixers : Embiid, Heat : Jimmy butler ) or number 2 ( Knicks: Julius Randle )

The Celtics have no excuse not to blitz every series 4-1 till dy get to the final.
I hope the wear conference will provide some intrigue.

The western conference is just a blood bathe. Team's that are 10 games above .500 yet battling for their play in lives
Now nuggets don drop to third seed to complicate the lives of people in the 3-6 bracket

Skrrrrrrr:
That was at the end of the game bro.
When I posted this, he had zero.
Podz eventually finished with Zero in 25 minutes.
Green finished with 2 in 31 minutes.

These are all starters oh....

When curry don tire , he will request for trading of these bozos[right][/right]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPZ_HlpI8x8?si=rtlerqIXgp8N_dx8

A very nuanced analysis of whether the nba is better today.

Anthony Davis is not only 0-10 against Domantas Sabonis, he is also 1-7 against Joel Embiid and has lost his last 7 games against Nikola Jokić

And they compared him to Duncan . Duncan suppose use belt come best people whey talk the nonsense.

I have a theory. The problem is not just that the Lakers don't match up well against the Nuggets.
The primary problem appears to be that Anthony Davis doesn't match up well against skilful European big like Jokic and Sabonis

AD is about to go a career 0-9 against Sabonis at the end of this game.. Damn

Roland17:
Why is this an issue now? It is a reflection of what the game is today. Few pages ago, some folks using the offensive prowess of this era to support the false narrative that the game being better and I was just cracking up. Fam, the league has been watered down to the bones.

In the past, hard nosed defensive players made the All-Star team from both conferences but not anymore. I couldn’t point to one single player who made the All Star because of his defensive attributes.

Even players who receive defensive player of the year dont make the All Star. Guys are putting up 50, 60 like it’s the new 30. Half time scores are going up to 70 and you are shocked at the final score of the All Star game?

The most defense you are going to watch is going to come during the playoffs and isn’t going to be exceptional but at least better than the regular season.

100% facts.

I also think, the money is part of the problem.
All these guys are multi-millionaires, they are ceos in their own right. None of them is willing to risk the bag for one dunk contest or so called meaningless game.

Skrrrrrrr:
Correction.... When two great players play together (cos steph is a greater player than KD, the numbers don't lie).

Na the same thing we dy talk bro
Good player in a great player's team will be overshadowed e.g Kevin Love as Lebron's team mate.

But when two great players are in the same team, both of them shine together e.g Steph and Durant.

So far, Giannis is thoroughly dominating Lillard. For the first time in his career, Lillard will feel the pressure of having the expectation to win every game and the NBA title or bust.

greypencils:
Milwaukee Bucks is dog shit with Doc Rivers

Doc rivers na mumu but the players need to step up. Only giannis is pulling his weight and he's been average defensively too.
And the media Darling's who were comparing lillard to Steph ,I hope they can see now that its not easy to play with an out of this world talent like Durant without missing a step.

When good players play with great players, the great ones dominate the team like Lebron used to do to this team mate.

steady986:
87 first half points

What is even mad is that the pelicans also have 74.
This offensive outburst is not normal, teams are not been allowed to play and prioritize defense

etidy:
If I am the warriors front office , there is no way I am trusting Steve kerr's judgement again.

You have this stud (kuminga), perennial all star talent on your team but you will keep benching him for silly players like Anthony lamb and cory Joseph, the guy went a whole 3 quarters without missing a shot but you kept him on the bench while choking a 17 points lead. You didn't even give him a chance until he express his frustrations to the press.

Moody is practically out of the rotation and I can bet that he's a better player than Klay Thompson right now.

Kerr needs to go, same with klay and draymond, thanks for their service.

I know it's the sixers but up till recently steve kerr was saying Kuminga and Wiggins couldn't play together and would rather play a three guard line up of Cp3, Klay Steph that has zero athleticism, zero rebounding and defense.
Steve kerr you are on fraud alert

steady986:
Both teams healthy, I like the Lakers' chance against the Clippers.

it must be igbo
The clipper will cook the lakers, better pray for OkC

If I am the warriors front office , there is no way I am trusting Steve kerr's judgement again.

You have this stud (kuminga), perennial all star talent on your team but you will keep benching him for silly players like Anthony lamb and cory Joseph, the guy went a whole 3 quarters without missing a shot but you kept him on the bench while choking a 17 points lead. You didn't even give him a chance until he express his frustrations to the press.

Moody is practically out of the rotation and I can bet that he's a better player than Klay Thompson right now.

Kerr needs to go, same with klay and draymond, thanks for their service.

steady986:
Come on now, it's crickets in here . Don't go silent on me

Today proves the point that the lakers supporting cast is very good, probably the best in the league. Several contenders including the bucks, Sixers, Celtics, timberwolves, Mava and Suns will all happily choose to have this lakers supporting cast.

We saw how well these boys played last season after the all star brake and how well the lakers front office did during the offseason.

Apart from a coaching change I don't think there is anything the front office can do to drastically change things.

The other option maybe to trade Lebron and rebuild.

The Lakers have shot 233 more free throws coming into this game than their opponents this year. Far and away ahead of the 2nd place team, the New York Knicks... Oddly, the Lakers are dead last in drives to the basket.

Billy Mac dropped some interesting stats on the broadcast:

"The Lakers have shot 233 more free throws coming into this game than their opponents this year. Far and away ahead of the 2nd place team, the New York Knicks... Oddly, the Lakers are dead last in drives to the basket." pic.twitter.com/3UPUj2GWXT

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 30, 2024

But but the warriors are just jacking up threes that's why there is a large free throws disparity between them and the lakers


in the paint during their last game
lakers - 52 fga
warriors - 49 fga

free throw discrepancy
lakers - 43
warriors - 16

steady986:
Lol. Only Warriors fans and Lakers haters/Warriors apologists are talking about it. But my advise to you is y'all need to get yourselves a few big dudes in your front court. That small ball sh*t ain't gonna work in 2024. You can't be playing midgets against an imposing team as the Lakers and not get FT disparity. And I watched that game...we should have had more free throws

chic2pimp:
I disagree especially Lukas. His level of efficiency whilst scoring that many points is insane. I just watched the Kobe's 81 point again and this Hawks team is miles better than that team. If Luka faced that team on this form and neglected efficiency like Kobe did, He'll be the first to score 100 since Wilt.

I saw some clips of that game and the defending is borderline atrocious. Luka is great offensive talent , no doubt about that the defending has a role to play in this offensive burst we are seeing.

KAT, Embiid, Booker and Doncic have all dropped 60+ games within 4 games against different opponents and you think all is well with the league defending. Hell no!

You can see the insanity. 2017 warriors with prime Steph, KD, Klay , draymond, good bench and offensive genius Steve kerr had 112 points per game. Look at what teams are averaging per game today.
I don't blame old heads not respecting young cats numbers.

Roland17:
4 players score over 60 points in the month of January with Doncic scoring 73 today agains the Hawks.

While the level of offensive talent in the nba is the highest we have ever seen, something has to be said about the defending. Nba defenses are now atrocious , mostly because of the rules and officiating.
The 2017 Warriors, a team who some consider the Greatest Team Ever would rank 18th in offensive rating behind the Nets in todays NBA.

That year I am sure the gap between the warriors and the next best team was about 5 points ( I will check that up).

Just 5 years ago (not even the 90s) teams scoring 120 was a rarity and that would imply a blow out, now you have at least one team scoring 140 points every night.

The 70 point games of doncic and embiid feel like 40 points if context is applied .

The packers not only making the playoffs but excelling with a qb who is playing as starter for the first time.
Aaron Rodgers is not beating those fraud allegations.

The Goat left the patriots and they have not been the same.

The Thunder over the past few weeks have beaten the Nuggets in Denver twice, warriors twice, blew out the Timberwolves, blew out the Clippers, comfortably beat the Knicks, and tonight they took out the Boston Celtics.

Experience is the only reason I won't label them a little contender yet.

darkelf:
GSW is going back to the dark ages. Any hope of a resurgent dynasty is gone.

It was fun while it lasted sha. Let's go back to tanking like we did in the early 2000s - 2010s.

Still a fan by the way but this season is a snapshot of 6 yrs to come

It depends on if the guys at the top can make the correct and thought decisions which right now they are failing to do.
The warriors before Steph and now is in terms of reputation, stadium location, financial muscle and pull. They are now a marque franchise second to the lakers and probably celtics in terms of pull.

They should be easily able to land big free agents post steph, if they play their cards correctly.

A40:
Warriors had a chance to move clean off Draymond in the summer. Now that it is clear their dynasty is done, they will waste the remainder of Steph's prime and they will be in purgatory for the foreseeable future. Good luck trying to offload Draymond's contract

This is what I love about lebron. No sentiments, draymond and klay should have been offloaded since last summer. Steph needs to become selfish to give himself another title shot.

A40:
Lol. This is only proving my point. These are professional veteran players and will always challenge you if they don't believe you're putting them in position to succeed with your coaching.

Whatever is spilling out is what the players probably discuss among themselves. From the Knicks game to Giannis incident and this.

You're missing a critical point here. This a Championship team. They've won stuff. Griffin is the one with something to prove not them

You have a point but we also have to remember that Lebron wanted Erik Speolstra sacked at some point during his first season in Miami. Pat Riley said no and supported his coach, look how it turned out. There has to be balance to everything and the players have to hold themselves accountable before pointing to the coach.

larride:
AD reminding everyone what he can absolutely do when hes not visiting the doctor.

Yimu! AD reminded us what he can do but doesn't do consistently and this is why fans and sports commentators alike are frustrated with him.

He can score 10 points in his next game.

Game 6 Klay at halftime:

9 TO
5 Points
3-19 FG
2-12 3P

Like mourinho will say " I prefer not to speak"

birdman:
Crazy. That says a lot! Guy man will never live up to standard. And will never care. Lakers should sell high. Once he gets on a roll in the season, shop him around and move on

Exactly, the guy is 30 years with the body of a 40yr old. I don't want to imagine how his injury history will look like when he's 32 years. The Lakers should be looking for how to scam another team of a star player