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Post by scooter on Jun 6, 2023 17:53:11 GMT -5
Spoelstra used 22 minutes of Kevin Love at PF, leaving 26 minutes of 6’5 Martin or 6’7” Butler or 6’4” Highsmith or however one wants to look at it. So, sure — somewhat bigger for 22 minutes. Love is also a career 40% three point shooter in the playoffs (80 game sample), so in terms of floor spacing/outside shooting he’s excellent and not a “traditional PF.”
BTW, nice job Cavs.
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Post by inyourmind on Jun 6, 2023 19:45:48 GMT -5
Spoelstra used 22 minutes of Kevin Love at PF, leaving 26 minutes of 6’5 Martin or 6’7” Butler or 6’4” Highsmith or however one wants to look at it. So, sure — somewhat bigger for 22 minutes. Love is also a career 40% three point shooter in the playoffs (80 game sample), so in terms of floor spacing/outside shooting he’s excellent and not a “traditional PF.” BTW, nice job Cavs. I mean Love is the definition of a traditional stretch 4. He's not great at defending multiple positions and is most valuable asset is probably his rebounding outside of shooting and being able to throw size at Denver. Has slower feet than all the Nuggets players that you've been harping on for example. He doesn't sniff the defensive versatility of someone like Gordon. MPJ blows him out of the water in terms of athleticism. Gordon is far more of a "modern" 4 defensively than Love and when he's knocking down 3's he's fine offensively in that role. Also your HEAVILY understating it by just using the minutes. He played zero minutes in game 1. He played 22 minutes in game 2 and was +18. Martin was -7 and Highsmith was -17 in 6 minutes lmao .. like what's the point? So Highsmith got 6 minutes, Heat got caved in, but that's the reason we lost? Denver couldn't handle that? Heat winning all the minutes with an unathletic/slow Love doesn't matter. Martin shot the ball 3 times in game 2. They literally went in the opposite direction of what they've been doing in the past in these playoffs and let Love outshoot him. Not trying to be a dick but it just doesn't make any sense. Highsmith/Martin played less of a role in game 2 than they did in game 1. Lowry/Love/Robinson all played larger roles and aren't that versatile or "speedy". Even anything there slow. Highsmith was one of there best players in game 1 and literally had ZERO shots in game 2 lol |
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Post by inyourmind on Jun 6, 2023 19:53:08 GMT -5
Just seems like a major cop out. Finding a way to give Denver an excuse. Nuggets didn't get beat by Martin/Highsmith. We beat them if anything. Nuggets starters got outplayed by the Heat and we started slow and were complete trash defensively all night. KCP is quick .. especially his hands and he was the worst defender on the floor. If anything the Heat starting Love made them slower/less athletic/less versatile and those are the minutes they won. The Heat went LESS modern and got more success in game 2 than they did in game 1 when they had a more small ball lineup and Martin/Highsmith were a larger part of the gameplan.
Highsmith and Martin had 17 FGA and 2 FTA in game 1 in a combined 48 minutes. They had 3 FGA and zero FTA in a combine 26 minutes game 2. Love had 0 FGA/0 minutes in game 1 and he had 22 minutes and 9 FGA in game 2. The Heat basically did the opposite of what your saying/asking the Nuggets to do. They didn't reduce Love and rely more on Martin like your asking the Nuggets to do with MPJ. They did the opposite .. they reduced those 2 guys and played Love more.
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Post by game on Jun 7, 2023 0:29:36 GMT -5
In fairness, Love didn't play one second of either fourth quarter when the Heat absolutely roasted Denver, so there's credence to the argument about the smaller lineup as well. It's giving Denver plenty of issues.
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Post by AbdulJabber on Jun 7, 2023 18:51:21 GMT -5
I think there's a bit of both. The fourth quarter run we gave up, they had Gabe/Lowry/Martin/Duncan/Bam out there. So that's about as small as it gets, but with a legit big that can defend and rebound in the paint. It gives them a lot of speed and ballhandling, which they take advantage of offensively, but also just enough size not to get completely dominated in the paint.
Green was TERRIBLE during that stretch and it kinda makes sense from that perspective. What's his role out there? We had him playing Center on defense, but he's no center and not that good in the paint. Offensively, he's not creating space or doing anything to exploit his size advantage. I wish we'd gotten Cancar and Zeke some playing time before this series, because if Green's gonna be that awful, it would be nice to try something else.
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Post by scooter on Jun 7, 2023 19:06:30 GMT -5
I think there's a bit of both. The fourth quarter run we gave up, they had Gabe/Lowry/Martin/Duncan/Bam out there. So that's about as small as it gets, but with a legit big that can defend and rebound in the paint. It gives them a lot of speed and ballhandling, which they take advantage of offensively, but also just enough size not to get completely dominated in the paint. Green was TERRIBLE during that stretch and it kinda makes sense from that perspective. What's his role out there? We had him playing Center on defense, but he's no center and not that good in the paint. Offensively, he's not creating space or doing anything to exploit his size advantage. I wish we'd gotten Cancar and Zeke some playing time before this series, because if Green's gonna be that awful, it would be nice to try something else. I think you are overrating the abilities of Cancar and Nnaji. In addition, each of them is usually terrible unless they’ve been getting significant, regular PT for a good stretch. Since neither is good enough to play 10-15 minutes every game in the playoffs, it doesn’t seem like it was likely to work well. Nnaji really does not read the game well — he’d be struggling at this level against a team that employs a lot of tricks and misdirection. Cancar has never really matched up against centers, as Green has been asked to do in the playoffs. I strongly disagree with the “it couldn’t be any worse” sentiments I read sometime about Green’s minutes. He’s put up resistance against centers, taken some charges, rarely turns the ball over, shot 90% on FTs, hit a shot now and then. I think he’s definitely been the team’s best backup center option. |
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Post by inyourmind on Jun 7, 2023 19:22:52 GMT -5
For the record I'm not saying it won't change or anything. It's just a fact that Martin/Highsmith had a significantly lesser role in the Heat win than they did in the Heat loss. That's just what happened. Love was non existent in the Heats loss and played a much larger role in the Heat's win. Miami won the Love minutes. He was +18. The heat got absolutely caved in during the Highsmith minutes. Just a fact. Maybe it changes hopefully it doesn't lol.
I do think Miami will changes/be quick to adjust if the Nuggets can grab an early lead. I'm not sure Love's role is concrete. Nuggets lost by 3. No chance Martin doesn't get an increased role at some point. Also I rewatched some of the game as they were playing it before the pregame .. and it really is crazy how late the Nuggets were closing out. It legitimately looked like everybody was afraid of them scoring inside and had zero priority guarding the 3. Nuggets can't treat the 3 point line like it's non existent. They can't be cheating, late, and lost for large chunks of the game. Miami's going to punish you. Yeah Miami will create open looks no matter what as alot of teams do that and there great at it but with the rate they cash in on them you have to atleast put up a fight on some possessions.
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Post by AbdulJabber on Jun 7, 2023 23:48:22 GMT -5
I think there's a bit of both. The fourth quarter run we gave up, they had Gabe/Lowry/Martin/Duncan/Bam out there. So that's about as small as it gets, but with a legit big that can defend and rebound in the paint. It gives them a lot of speed and ballhandling, which they take advantage of offensively, but also just enough size not to get completely dominated in the paint. Green was TERRIBLE during that stretch and it kinda makes sense from that perspective. What's his role out there? We had him playing Center on defense, but he's no center and not that good in the paint. Offensively, he's not creating space or doing anything to exploit his size advantage. I wish we'd gotten Cancar and Zeke some playing time before this series, because if Green's gonna be that awful, it would be nice to try something else. I think you are overrating the abilities of Cancar and Nnaji. In addition, each of them is usually terrible unless they’ve been getting significant, regular PT for a good stretch. Since neither is good enough to play 10-15 minutes every game in the playoffs, it doesn’t seem like it was likely to work well. Nnaji really does not read the game well — he’d be struggling at this level against a team that employs a lot of tricks and misdirection. Cancar has never really matched up against centers, as Green has been asked to do in the playoffs. I strongly disagree with the “it couldn’t be any worse” sentiments I read sometime about Green’s minutes. He’s put up resistance against centers, taken some charges, rarely turns the ball over, shot 90% on FTs, hit a shot now and then. I think he’s definitely been the team’s best backup center option. I think you're overrating Green's legs. Dude just had nothing left in that 4th quarter. I've already literally made these arguments for Green, but he's human and father time isn't on his side anymore. |
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Post by scooter on Jun 8, 2023 10:47:03 GMT -5
I think you're overrating Green's legs. Dude just had nothing left in that 4th quarter. I've already literally made these arguments for Green, but he's human and father time isn't on his side anymore. We all know Green is on his last leg, so to speak. In the playoffs, he has provided just enough for what the team has needed. Not a lot but just enough to keep winning. Just not turning the ball over — alone — is a very big plus for this role. The other candidates who have been mentioned — Nnaji and Cancar — are guys who are both very green and not talented by NBA playoff standards. Green is old, but is both experienced and has more natural talent — especially in terms of better hands — than those guys. I think Malone made the right decision and the wins are the proof. |
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Post by AbdulJabber on Jun 8, 2023 20:48:32 GMT -5
I think you're overrating Green's legs. Dude just had nothing left in that 4th quarter. I've already literally made these arguments for Green, but he's human and father time isn't on his side anymore. We all know Green is on his last leg, so to speak. In the playoffs, he has provided just enough for what the team has needed. Not a lot but just enough to keep winning. Just not turning the ball over — alone — is a very big plus for this role. The other candidates who have been mentioned — Nnaji and Cancar — are guys who are both very green and not talented by NBA playoff standards. Green is old, but is both experienced and has more natural talent — especially in terms of better hands — than those guys. I think Malone made the right decision and the wins are the proof. I know. I've said all that before. I was the one defending playing Green over those other guys. But he appeared to hit a wall in the second half of game 2 and he's done nothing positive since then. And go watch those minutes. Those ARE turnovers. Getting a loose ball foul while battling 5'10 38 year old Lowry for a defensive rebound on a missed FT is the equivalent of a turnover and led directly to a 5 point play when, again, Greens lack of energy left Duncan open for a 3. Getting called for a sloppy moving screen 2 plays later is a TO. Throwing Murray a grenade as the shot clock is expiring is a TO. Those were lost possessions by Green in a 3 minutes stretch of some of the most critical basketball the Nuggets have ever played. It hurt the team badly and led directly to a loss. I don't want to see it happen again. |
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Post by aussie on Jun 10, 2023 5:30:00 GMT -5
Does anyone know where Bones is at?
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Post by GBG on Jun 10, 2023 10:55:54 GMT -5
Does anyone know where Bones is at? Prolly playing street ball in Wilmington. |
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Post by jimijam28 on Jun 10, 2023 15:38:10 GMT -5
He in Germany trying out for sticky team
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Post by nuggetshipster on Jun 10, 2023 20:08:07 GMT -5
Does anyone know where Bones is at? Waiting for his ring somewhere |
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Post by duh88 on Jun 11, 2023 5:01:34 GMT -5
Does anyone know where Bones is at? Driving around LA, picking the best bridge to live under once the money and talent goes dry. |
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Post by Coach Sticky on Jun 11, 2023 12:44:31 GMT -5
He in Germany trying out for sticky team He’s not ready for getting benched in Oberliga Germany |
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