PDPGuy:
FT of FIBA U-16 Basketball championship final:
USA 118-36 Canada 😲🙆🏾😲

That’s what you call absolute destruction!!

That is what I keep telling people, it's the world as a whole that has caught up to the USA not one country, a talent pool of 350mil against 7.8billion

A40:
Definitely a flaw on his game. The Nuggets did not bite on those fakes all series which meant Jimmy had to work for every bucket. Not sure he crossed 30 in any game and it was a huge reason why

The thing is Denver had the good luck that their primary defender on Butler is not only taller than him, he is more athletic and one of his unique gifts is that he hardly jumps on pumps fakes. That is why nba basketball at it's highest level is about matchups and personnel

Jokic status in the game all time is now up for debate, guaranteed top 10 center all time, arguably a top 5 center( the case can be made). A top 30 player all time and if he gets another one a top 15 is possible and a discussion will be had if he has overtaken KD

donlittle25:
The people who will sit in 30 years and decide how much of a stain it is on his resume haven’t been born yet. People like steady

He has lost to 2 guys who will end up when they retire as top 30 players all time, Jokic and Lebron. So he did the best he could.

Roland17:
2 NBA final losses will not look good on Butler’s resume when all is said and done. It looks bright now because of the effort but trust me, the narrative after he is done will be hard on him.

That is for people who did not watch it, he had the less talented team by a wide margin both times. The first one he was the 3rd best player on the floor through out the series Lebron and Bubble AD were on the other team and as for this one Jokic in his prime was on the other team

Congratulations to Coach Malone, he knew he had the better team and made sure to coach his ass off. As for Calvin the GM, he added the final pieces to a winning roster and they went all the way.
My man KCP is a 2 time champion and he made clutch plays this series just like he did in the bubble. That is why guys like him get paid

Congratulations to Denver, and there's a new king in town. Nikola of house Jokic. The first of his name, the passing savant of Serbia, the butcher of the Suns, Lakers and Heats, the one and only Joker

What this game lacks in quality it makes up in its intensity and tension

Denver just needs to run every single Jokic actions they have till the end of the game. He is the only player who has been all game a near guarantee bucket

donlittle25:
nobody don score in like 3 minute. This game sweet

Assin, this one tire me

A40:
Lol. He has an all star appearance.

The Mavericks are not a Kyrie away from a title. So paying Cuban will be canceling a mistake with another mistake and that's not considering his fit and availability issues. What the Denver Nuggets and Warriors are showing is that chemistry is far more important than an assortment of stars

You need as many quality players that fit your best players. That is something Cuban just does not get. No one knew what Luka's ceiling was and were don go send 2 1st round picks to Knicks for Kristaps. GSW and now Denver are showing that patience is still a virtue

If Murray's shots starts falling this game is over

The tension in this game is so thick you can cut it with a knife. The quality of basketball on the other hand can be better

donlittle25:
This team is good. Really Good. The patience to construct team like this, Cuban no get am. weyrey ma ti da ru

Cuban is one of the worst owners at team construction. The only good thing for him and other bad owners is that the new CBA will make it easier to build a championship team with just one franchise player.

When Denver wins this championship it will be 5 straight years of different champions in the nba. With only GSW and the Heat making more than 1 finals appearance. It seems this is what the owners and league brain trust wants because the new CBA starting next season will make it very hard for a team to pay two stars and also give good money to role players.

donlittle25:
Watch PAT RILEY go after a big name soon

Dame is interested

A40:
1 more for Denver.

The Heat will put up a brave face but I feel at this point they know

The final nail for me happened when they could only chip off 1 point when Jokic sat because of his 5 fouls

Game 3 was the 1-2 carrying the team. This game has been a tale of the others for Denver. Role players coming up big with timely shots and stops

A40:
KCP and Brown. Issa wrap

Assin, 3 possession 3 buckets down the stretch

Roland17:


I swear I can’t with him… This is coming from a guy that has M. Smart in his team..

He is annoying as an opponent, but if he is on your team, he just knows how to get some pretty easy points now and again

SmooshCHN:

Someone sounds pained. A40, I don't really blame these young boys with money. I just thought at this point it was common knowledge to avoid these girls and they'd have agents whose job is to save them from themselves.

All these things are not new, social media and the internet as a whole just makes these information more accessible.

Roland17:


MPJ has been disappointing in this series. He has managed to stay healthy which is shocking but this series has been a struggle for him. He is missing defensive assignments and not imposing his will offensively. With his size and length, he can help the Nuggets with guarding Butler so Gordon can catch a break. Yesterday, Malone made the call to stay small by taking MPJ out and keeping Braun on the court because the latter was more impactful.

His defense in game 3 was actually good, his issue in that game and why Braun got more minutes was his unwillingness to be a cutter/slasher on some of those Murray and Jokic 2-man game. As soon as the heat started trapping Murray without leaving Jokic, he countered by looking for cutters, Braun was willing to do it but MPJ not so much.
Lastly Braun showed a willingness to attack the basket off the dribble on fast breaks and off pump fakes when he had the opportunity.

Roland17:


The Heat culture is the system and hierarchy is a big reason Spoelstra has succeeded and no, culture is quite difficult to replicate because it is not driven by one person. If it was that easy then every team will be successful because they will buy the culture. The Heat have the most stable leadership in Riley and Zo. They are responsible for the recruiting and establishing expectations. Spoelstra is a great coach, the best right now but make no mistake about it, the system is why the Heat have thrived.

Shaq was overweight when the Lakers trades him to the Heat and in the following season he returned with 6 packs on his way to another championship because the Heat system is not for slackers and is intense. You can send Spo to the Sixers but if the culture of accountability is not replicated from top to bottom, then there is not much Spo can do. Embiid is lazy and entitled, he would not survive Miami Heat culture if he was sent there sef.

That's what I am saying, if you start it and most of the role players are up for it, but the franchise guy is the one against, that in itself is a statement that not only is he not a winner, he also is not willing to learn how to be one.

Roland17:


You are right about retaining them but their success has largely been because of the Heat system, style and coaching.
I’d like to see them to get paid because they deserve it but I don’t think they will replicate this level of success on another team.

But if you bring them to a team and they start out working your franchise player, and said franchise player refuses to step up, you know then and there it's time to reset and start over. The heat culture is something that can be replicated easily, the harder task is getting a coach with Spoelstra coaching acumen.
A team like sixers would benefit from this, that body fat metric would do wonders for Embiid and the work ethic can also bring forth a more complete version of Maxey

A40:
Miami has too many hungry niggas mehn. Goddamn

I really doubt they will be able to retain all of them this offseason. To be more precise, if any team needing a PG is not pricing Gabe Vincent out of the Heat budget they need to fire their GM ASAP. These are the type of role players that helps to build a winning mentality.

Jamal is a baller. Great defense better offense

A40:
Denver's transition offense is brazy. Once they get the ball. 100 meters senior boys

That is what they used to kill the Lakers. They never let them set their half court defense consistently. Totally smoked them

The worst part about this denver run is that it is in non Jokic minutes

A40:
This Braun kid. Nice impact

Nuggets are deep abeg. The dude played great all year and also against the Suns, but couldn't just find his groove in the Lakers series. Now he his back

donlittle25:
So they asked jokic who are the players he patterned his game after and he mentioned Boris Diaw. Interesting, cause you wouldn't even think of Diaw when looking at him but if you watched Diaw play, You will see it

You can see a bit from his face up passes, and how he sees cutters from the elbow. The only thing is, the student is way better than the master

steady986:


Yea I was only being sarcastic

. I still cannot see how Miami competes in this series. I was talking about them making 3s, but just saw that Denver only shot 29% from 3,which is 10% points lower than their average.

steady986:
Man the FT disparity was too much in game one. 20FTs to just 2FTs. The refs want Denver to win. How can Miami cope?

There was nothing of the sort, Miami only have themselves to blame, you only get FTs if you drive to the basket, only Bam was even attempting to try to score from about 8ft in, every other person was just driving to kick out or taking a jumper or shooting the 3 ball.
As for how they will cope, they will only avoid getting swept if their 3 ball starts falling at a high enough clip, they cannot beat the Nuggets with defense because they just don't have the personnel, but they might be able to outscore them if they shoot the way they shot during the Bucks series and the 1st 3 games of the Celtics series.
If not at most this series goes to game 5.