₦airaland Forum

Khanben:
The death line up was, KD, Draymond , Steph, Klay and Iggy

Add DeMarcus Cousins to the 5 you mentioned, isn't that deadlier? All 6 were on the squad in 2019. Injuries to KD, cousins, Iggy and Klay only marred the success of what should have been the trio's 4th ring.

Big shout out to D. Holiday, na man you be!

What a player!

A40:
They're not working as hard on defense. They are not forcing turnovers they're not playing with enough force to where when they get fastbreak opportunities you must foul them to stop them, I'm not seeing any perimeter movement, their weak side defending has also been terrible

Perhaps the Celtics are just too much for them but I still believe the Mavs have not played to the best of their abilities even considering the Celtics defense


That other gear is when their 3s start falling I keep stressing it. In the 4th quarter they made 4 the Mavs made none. There's a demoralizing. effect that has when you're trying to comeback that's very hard to explain

How would it not have won them the game? They lost by 7 and missed 8 Free throws. Say they split the 8 misses worst case you're talking a 1 or max 2 possession game. Becomes a different battle entirely

All of it still boils down to the fact that Celtics are better equipped to handle the Mavericks star duo.
The bigger problem the Mavs have is that apart from Lukai no one else can create, they rely on Kyrie or Luka mostly to feed them lobs and open looks.

Like I said I won't be looking at the FTs missed because i felt like Celtics at times were toying with them.
They just look a level above the Mavs so far in this tie.

Up to Mavericks to improve at home, beating the Cs in back to back games would be tough.
IMO the Celtics likely take one game in Dallas and then finish the job in Boston

Roland17:
Big shout out to D. Holiday, na man you be!

What a player!

Liked that he was driving to the paint constantly. Good things happen when you do that
The Mavs couldn't handle him, no answer

Roland17:
The Lakers had better announce Hurley as head coach because if they fail after this noise, I don’t see how they come out of it. I was thinking this deal would have been announced by now but it had been crickets. I don’t know how they miss this, only to announce JJ Reddick because Hurley got back on a plane to UConn. Who knows, they are taking their time because of the amount involved and length.

Birdman eh!!!!! I talk am! The Lakers have fumbled the pursuit.

Roland17:
Birdman eh!!!!! I talk am! The Lakers have fumbled the pursuit.

I think they shouldn't have let it leak that he was their primary target , same way they did with reddick, now they look like fools.

greypencils:
Who guards Derrick white or Holiday? Either Kyrie or Luka who are shit defenders. Who guards Kyrie and Luka? Holiday and White who are good defenders. That's your answer. White & Holiday can lock down any or both of them this limiting their production. If Celtics wins, my money is on Jrue winning final MVP. (It's high time he won an individual award). Those two Js be like Jeez, asin backshot wey no get effect for woman body.

Derrick White is a spot up shooter for the most part on offense. You don't need a lot of energy to guard him. He's a release valve that spams 3s. Not a ball handler.

Same for Jrue. These are not players you expend a lot of energy defending even though they have their nights they might be hot but most of Holiday's buckets were from turnovers and were assisted

kendrick9:
All of it still boils down to the fact that Celtics are better equipped to handle the Mavericks star duo.
The bigger problem the Mavs have is that apart from Lukai no one else can create, they rely on Kyrie or Luka mostly to feed them lobs and open looks.

Like I said I won't be looking at the FTs missed because i felt like Celtics at times were toying with them.
They just look a level above the Mavs so far in this tie.

Up to Mavericks to improve at home, beating the Cs in back to back games would be tough.
IMO the Celtics likely take one game in Dallas and then finish the job in Boston

Me oh I don't agree with the toying narrative. The Mavs have underperformed. Based on what we saw against the Timberwolves they are capable of better.

Kyrie is taking open shots and hitting the back boards. The Celtics brought on a big yet to play in 6 weeks and is averaging 16ppg.

The Mavs have a big that cannot hit a wide open 3. It was so embarrassing at a point the Celtics gave the joker 5 feet when he got the ball to shoot he couldn't and wound up passing

I believe the Celtics are the better team no doubt but we've seen underdogs win before. I'm not seeing the Mavs play to their maximum

I would argue the gap was wider between the Heat and Nuggets last season but the Heat stole game 2. The Mavs had a chance to do same but they missed it

etidy:
Luka showed up , Pj Washington did what a third wheel should do, but the reason Dallas is down 2-0 is Kyrie.

Your so called superstar number 2 option can't be playing this badly especially when they prematurely crowned the mavs backcourt as the best offensive version in history.

This series again puts into perspective the greatness of curry in that 2022 run.

He was carrying so much offensive load while playing very good defense.
The Celtics thought he will be a prey in that series but he clamped down the opposition guards.

Lastly if I am the mavs GM, I will low key try to get Wiggins, he's still an elite wing defender and he will eat as a lob and spot up shooting threat for the mavs.

This is what I've been saying. You mean Celtics defense is so good Kyrie is averaging 14ppg on 37% TS. I expect more nuance than that on this page

Wiggins problem is mental. I do not know what he might be going through but clearly his head is not there

Khanben:
Team building matters a lot with regards to winning. THJ is the 3rd highest cap hit on the Mavericks with 17mil and he cannot get on the court through out the playoffs, on the other hand the Celtics have their 7 highest cap hits playing almost all of the minutes.
The good news for the Mavericks is that their new GM seems to know what he his doing.

Kidd has left him too long in the doghouse I doubt he can even play now but that's my issue with these coaches and their inconsistency cos you can't tell me THJ is worse than Kleber. And I don't even rate THJ much but is he really worse than Exum? Hardy? At least that's a veteran guard that has been in the playoffs before

Panthers equalize. Excellent build up to that goal.

A40:
Kidd has left him too long in the doghouse I doubt he can even play now but that's my issue with these coaches and their inconsistency cos you can't tell me THJ is worse than Kleber. And I don't even rate THJ much but is he really worse than Exum? Hardy? At least that's a veteran guard that has been in the playoffs before

Yes he is worse than Kleber, Kleber is supposed to guard big men and he does an okay job at it. Yes his offense i.e shooting is sporadic but he will always put in a shift on defence and knows when to stop shooting if his shot is not falling.
THJ on the other hand is supposed to guard wings, and he his a worse sieve than Luka, plus the dude
can go 0-10 from 3 and keep on shooting bricks.

So its a choice between a good defender, who is sporadic on offense, but is self aware enough not to continue launching bricks and a very bad defender whose offense is better but when it's bad can kill you because he will not stop shooting.

etidy:
I think they shouldn't have let it leak that he was their primary target , same way they did with reddick, now they look like fools.

The real issue was the low ball offer. Same mistake with Ty Lue. It explains why it took Hurley this long to respond. Probably liked the opportunity, but could not get past the disrespect. As much as you want to think Lebron had a hand in all this, I think its the opposite. I dont think Lakers front office listen to any players. I wonder who they go after now

Can Hurley 3 peat NCAA Natioal Championship?

Khanben:
Yes he is worse than Kleber, Kleber is supposed to guard big men and he does an okay job at it. Yes his offense i.e shooting is sporadic but he will always put in a shift on defence and knows when to stop shooting if his shot is not falling.
THJ on the other hand is supposed to guard wings, and he his a worse sieve than Luka, plus the dude
can go 0-10 from 3 and keep on shooting bricks.

So its a choice between a good defender, who is sporadic on offense, but is self aware enough not to continue launching bricks and a very bad defender whose offense is better but when it's bad can kill you because he will not stop shooting.

Nope. Kleber is an average very limited big who occasionally gets hot from 3. Emphasis on occasionally

Is he a good defender? I don't know. All I did was see him rack up more fouls than points in 2 games combined inside 15 minutes. That does not sound like a good defender to me

THJ I will admit is not a long term solution, however he's a capable ball handler that can allow Kyrie play off the ball. He can spam 3s and is a streaky shooter that can also get hot. You don't need more than 2-3 heat checks to know if he has it or not and you can subsequently yank him off no harm no foul. But if he's cooking his ceiling is much much higher than Kleber. Such extraordinary contributions like that is what you need to win series like these

Like Mike Miller and Shane Battier in 2012
Eddie House in 08

What Kyrie is doing so far is cementing the claim that he is NO batman. Right now, he is not even being a robin. And to think I once thought he deserved a shot at being a part of NBA 75. Delusion on my part. More deluded are those who think Kyrie is better than Iverson. With Mr Kyrie's handles, he should at least have a scoring title, but Mba! He doesn't. Iverson is the real nigger. Meanwhile Jokic, has cemented his place in history. No other player has stepped up three years after NBA 75. Also about NBA 75, I think I understand why Dwight Howard wasn't on that list. Rudy Gobert that has won DPOY 4 times would make anyone cringe if his name is mentioned in any context relating to any NBA list, not to talk less of Howard who has just 3.

birdman:
The real issue was the low ball offer. Same mistake with Ty Lue. It explains why it took Hurley this long to respond. Probably liked the opportunity, but could not get past the disrespect. As much as you want to think Lebron had a hand in all this, I think its the opposite. I dont think Lakers front office listen to any players. I wonder who they go after now

What are you even saying? $70m 6yr contract is a low ball offer? Even if it would have made him the 5th highest paid coach in the league? I don't think money was the issue in all this. Hurley didn't want to take on the challenge, moreso because he was a king in college basketball and had the opportunity of doing a 3-peat. And who knows, UConn would probably table a better offer than the 6yr $32m they gave him.

greypencils:
What Kyrie is doing so far is cementing the claim that he is NO batman. Right now, he is not even being a robin. And to think I once thought he deserved a shot at being a part of NBA 75. Delusion on my part. More deluded are those who think Kyrie is better than Iverson. With Mr Kyrie's handles, he should at least have a scoring title, but Mba! He doesn't. Iverson is the real nigger. Meanwhile Jokic, has cemented his place in history. No other player has stepped up three years after NBA 75. Also about NBA 75, I think I understand why Dwight Howard wasn't on that list. Rudy Gobert that has won DPOY 4 times would make anyone cringe if his name is mentioned in any context relating to any NBA list, not to talk less of Howard who has just 3.

I usually agree with your basketball takes but i will have to disagree with your comparison of Dwight Howard and Gobert in this context. The difference between their careers is night and day.

Dwight had at least 4 seasons averaging 20+ points, he was 5 times All-NBA first team, once All-NBA second team, 8 times NBA All star, 5 times NBA Rebounding leader, 2 times block leader and we have not even talked about his Defensive accolades. The chasm between gobert and howard na like sleep and death .

Back then, he was the youngest player in NBA history to average a double double in the regular season , youngest to average at least 10 rebounds, and youngest to record at least 20 rebounds in a game.

Howard was fucking superman , he was one of the players that made Lebron think twice when attacking the rim and at 23 years, he led a lightweight orlando team to the NBA finals as the first option.

Injuries and indiscipline ruined howard, he could have approached shaq's status, despite being a shadow of himself, he was still one of the players who defended Jokic well in recent times.

There was no reason Dwight Howard shouldn't have been top 75 ( Apart from bad press) especially when frauds like Lillard was on it.

Defensively, I will take Dwight howard compared to Gobert any day.
One of the reasons Gobert's awards don't sit well with many people is because of it's potential to distort how we perceive the hierachy of NBA defensive greats.
Just among NBA Centers/Forward, players i will take ahead of Gobert include Dwight howard, dennis rodman, Diekembe moutombo, Tim duncan, Ben wallace, Hakeem Olajuwon , Bill rusell, in fact Kevin garnett and Draymond green.

Then you have wings and guards like Pippen, Kawhi and gary payton who i will take ahead of him in the nba defensive echelon.

Yet, Rudy is tied with ben and moutombo as having the most DPOY.

Even if you argue it's a regular season award, can you imagine a player having the highest amount of MVPs but its not considered amongst the GOAT debate

etidy:
I usually agree with your basketball takes but i will have to disagree with your comparison of Dwight Howard and Gobert in this context. The difference between their careers is night and day.

Dwight had at least 4 seasons averaging 20+ points, he was 5 times All-NBA first team, once All-NBA second team, 8 times NBA All star, 5 times NBA Rebounding leader, 2 times block leader and we have not even talked about his Defensive accolades. The chasm between gobert and howard na like sleep and death .

Back then, he was the youngest player in NBA history to average a double double in the regular season , youngest to average at least 10 rebounds, and youngest to record at least 20 rebounds in a game.

Howard was fucking superman , he was one of the players that made Lebron think twice when attacking the rim and at 23 years, he led a lightweight orlando team to the NBA finals as the first option.

Injuries and indiscipline ruined howard, he could have approached shaq's status, despite being a shadow of himself, he was still one of the players who defended Jokic well in recent times.

I no too research Dwight Howard like that. His CV might be tall, but is he really NBA 75 material? My judgement is flawed because for a long time till date, rebounds and assists are not as celebrated as scoring. You get more recognition being scoring leader than leading other stats. Personally I have an idea of scoring leaders for the past something years and nada about who leads rebounds and assists yearly. I personally love scorers and handles to the extent that I hardly care about rebounds, assists and steals. My judgement is flawed and its not just me.

etidy:
There was no reason Dwight Howard shouldn't have been top 75 ( Apart from bad press) especially when frauds like Lillard was on it.

Defensively, I will take Dwight howard compared to Gobert any day.
One of the reasons Gobert's awards don't sit well with many people is because of it's potential to distort how we perceive the hierachy of NBA defensive greats.
Just among NBA Centers/Forward, players i will take ahead of Gobert include Dwight howard, dennis rodman, Diekembe moutombo, Tim duncan, Ben wallace, Hakeem Olajuwon , Bill rusell, in fact Kevin garnett and Draymond green.

Then you have wings and guards like Pippen, Kawhi and gary payton who i will take ahead of him in the nba defensive echelon.

Yet, Rudy is tied with ben and moutombo as having the most DPOY.

Even if you argue it's a regular season award, can you imagine a player having the highest amount of MVPs but its not considered amongst the GOAT debate

That had better be the last DPOY Gobert wins. Him winning 4 is ridiculous at this point.

steady986:
What are you even saying? $70m 6yr contract is a low ball offer? Even if it would have made him the 5th highest paid coach in the league? I don't think money was the issue in all this. Hurley didn't want to take on the challenge, moreso because he was a king in college basketball and had the opportunity of doing a 3-peat. And who knows, UConn would probably table a better offer than the 6yr $32m they gave him.

He will get paid more where he is. He said the nice honorable and classy things you say when you decline a job offer, but in the next paragraph the money issue was brought up. If you already know this guy would get a big check staying at college, why would you go after him and not offer him more? E no make sense.

etidy:
I think they shouldn't have let it leak that he was their primary target , same way they did with reddick, now they look like fools.

There is no way to keep it a secret in LA. I think Borrego is a better fit anyways, I dont like coming from college to a large market like LA. They may not have the patience it takes to let a college coach build the program.

birdman:
He will get paid more where he is. He said the nice honorable and classy things you say when you decline a job offer, but in the next paragraph the money issue was brought up. If you already know this guy would get a big check staying at college, why would you go after him and not offer him more? E no make sense.

Bro, he might have won the shiniest things in college, but it's still college. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here If you're suggesting to make a first time NBA coach straight out of college the highest paid coach in the league, then you better wake up. Kerr, Popp and Spo make 17.5, 16 and 15 respectively. You're suggesting he gets paid similar amounts?

When the rumors of $100m were flying around last week, I just laughed it off as ridiculous and I knew it wasn't going to happen. I think that $70m was the right offer and I'm glad the Lakers didn't bulge.

And you can take this to the bank, he's not getting offered anything near the 70m Lakers offered him

steady986:
Bro, he might have won the shiniest things in college, but it's still college. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here If you're suggesting to make a first time NBA coach straight out of college the highest paid coach in the league, then you better wake up. Kerr, Popp and Spo make 17.5, 16 and 15 respectively. You're suggesting he gets paid similar amounts?

When the rumors of $100m were flying around last week, I just laughed it off as ridiculous and I knew it wasn't going to happen. I think that $70m was the right offer and I'm glad the Lakers didn't bulge.

And you can take this to the bank, he's not getting offered anything near the 70m Lakers offered him

Lets step back and think about this. First, kudos to Lakers front office for trying to make a big move. The problem with big bold moves is that if you fail you fail bad. So its not all bad. What then is the problem here?

You have Hurley who rebuilt a Division 1 program, got everyone to buy into his culture, won back to back championships and is now considered a godfather other programs are trying to steal. He has players returning, excellent recruiting prospects, has the support of fan base and university, and strong family network. And he is about to get paid big because uconn does not want to lose him. The future is bright!

steady986 , you as a Lakers GM, you want this man to leave all of that, leave family support, to come to LA, coach a team that has one almost retired superstar, has been swept multiple times in the playoffs, has bad habits and does not play hard until it has to, and fires coaches every 2-3 years. Did I mention how injury prone the franchise players are? Please tell me, what do you offer this man to sweeten his mind to make the jump from certain greatness to probable failure? Are you going to offer him less than he stands to make where he is, or will you offer him more to make the risk worth it?

Now you know why Lakers deserve to be called block heads here. If you are going to go big and bold, go big and bold all the way. Dont go out recruiting talent like a lion, and when its time to pay up, you pay like bingo wey dey waka street!

birdman:
Lets step back and think about this. First, kudos to Lakers front office for trying to make a big move. The problem with big bold moves is that if you fail you fail bad. So its not all bad. What then is the problem here?

You have Hurley who rebuilt a Division 1 program, got everyone to buy into his culture, won back to back championships and is now considered a godfather other programs are trying to steal. He has players returning, excellent recruiting prospects, has the support of fan base and university, and strong family network. And he is about to get paid big because uconn does not want to lose him. The future is bright!

steady986 , you as a Lakers GM, you want this man to leave all of that, leave family support, to come to LA, coach a team that has one almost retired superstar, has been swept multiple times in the playoffs, has bad habits and does not play hard until it has to, and fires coaches every 2-3 years. Did I mention how injury prone the franchise players are? Please tell me, what do you offer this man to sweeten his mind to make the jump from certain greatness to probable failure? Are you going to offer him less than he stands to make where he is, or will you offer him more to make the risk worth it?

Now you know why Lakers deserve to be called block heads here. If you are going to go big and bold, go big and bold all the way. Dont go out recruiting talent like a lion, and when its time to pay up, you pay like bingo wey dey waka street!

The moment you accept that 70m is an enormous amount of money to offer anyone in any circumstance, you'd better understand this whole situation. Has Hurley touched 70m in his entire life? And it's not like he was asked to leave UConn to come to the Pistons or some poverty franchise. It's the Lakers we're talking about.

70m is a lot of money to offer a first time head coach. Him rejecting that offer was purely for basketball reasons. Why do you think college coaches like the great John Wooden with 10 NCAA championships and Mike Krzyzewski with 5 NCAA championships never coached in the NBA? Do you think it's because they were never sought after or they weren't offered enough money? None of that. Those guys found their niche in the collegiate level and they built their legacies there. Dan Hurley clearly wants to follow that path.

You listen to all these daily sport shows and everybody is spilling the same thing saying it's because of money. Is there an amount of money that cannot be turned down? Sure. But you would be more willing to part with such money if it were a Steve Kerr or a Spoelstra, not Dan Hurley who has never coached a single NBA game. You might think the Lakers have become a laughing stock after this incident but they would have become a bigger laughing stock if they offered say 15m per year and he turned out to be a disaster.

steady986:
The moment you accept that 70m is an enormous amount of money to offer anyone in any circumstance, you'd better understand this whole situation. Has Hurley touched 70m in his entire life? And it's not like he was asked to leave UConn to come to the Pistons or some poverty franchise. It's the Lakers we're talking about.

70m is a lot of money to offer a first time head coach. Him rejecting that offer was purely for basketball reasons. Why do you think college coaches like the great John Wooden with 10 NCAA championships and Mike Krzyzewski with 5 NCAA championships never coached in the NBA? Do you think it's because they were never sought after or they weren't offered enough money? None of that. Those guys found their niche in the collegiate level and they built their legacies there. Dan Hurley clearly wants to follow that path.

You listen to all these daily sport shows and everybody is spilling the same thing saying it's because of money. Is there an amount of money that cannot be turned down? Sure. But you would be more willing to part with such money if it were a Steve Kerr or a Spoelstra, not Dan Hurley who has never coached a single NBA game. You might think the Lakers have become a laughing stock after this incident but they would have become a bigger laughing stock if they offered say 15m per year and he turned out to be a disaster.

No problems here, what you are saying sounds reasonable as a GM. You definitely dont want to overpay. Then we remember your westbrook saga and we have to laugh at you anyways

birdman:
No problems here, what you are saying sounds reasonable as a GM. You definitely dont want to overpay. Then we remember your westbrook saga and we have to laugh at you anyways

Westbrook was on a contract now. We felt that 46m was worth a gamble for a former MVP

steady986:
Westbrook was on a contract now. We felt that 46m was worth a gamble for a former MVP

Then yall proceeded to whine all season. WB is very laid back, he even forgave Durant. But he seems to still be holding a grudge against you. I heard he liked the tweet that announced the Hurley fail. You guys turned a good man into a monster

birdman:
Then yall proceeded to whine all season. WB is very laid back, he even forgave Durant. But he seems to still be holding a grudge against you. I heard he liked the tweet that announced the Hurley fail. You guys turned a good man into a monster

Lmao. That's savage. Petty but savage

But what else was he expecting? You can't be that bad and expect us to keep quiet. Air ball after air ball. From one costly turnover to another. The worst of them all was when he went for a 2 for 1 when we had the lead. Like are you brain-dead? Get the ball to a good FT shooter and let them foul. Or better still let them foul you so you can make at least 1 and increase your lead. Omo. See the scorn on LeBron and AD's faces when he did that.

Lakers and Bron fans especially on Twitter still think the Lakers coaching job is an attraction. Delulu is the only solulu

That might work for a desperate coach but not for a coach that knows their worth. Lakers are cheap and the juice of the job is not worth the squeeze better hire Redick that will be happy with what he can get and leave real coaches alone.

Nobody wants to deal with that circus and banter franchise if they don't have to

When you win you get no credit. When you lose it's all your fault

steady986:
What are you even saying? $70m 6yr contract is a low ball offer? Even if it would have made him the 5th highest paid coach in the league? I don't think money was the issue in all this. Hurley didn't want to take on the challenge, moreso because he was a king in college basketball and had the opportunity of doing a 3-peat. And who knows, UConn would probably table a better offer than the 6yr $32m they gave him.

Yes it is a low ball offer based on the circumstances. If it was to coach the Hornets or Cavaliers then that is understandable, but for the Lakers with all the external headaches that comes with it, add the fact that he will be leaving an ideal situation, then they should have offered him closer to what Monty got in Detroit.