benhillboy

Dirk Huerter.

Yeah I know, the margins were close in both series and the Hawks had efficiency advantages. I meant at this final 4 level. The Hawks chances are super-slim if they get punished on the glass versus this particular team.

I’m going to be watching the boards all series. Bill Russell said that’s where games are won around this time and I never questioned him. Phoenix out-rebounding LA by only 2 per. In 2 close games it’s been enough to cement a 2-0 lead.

How you really feel, Holic? Those are misses, no question. Don’t know how in the hell he let Melancon walk. But I think his hits far outweigh the strikes though. All other 29 teams in the league will envy the Acuna and Albies contracts until the day they’re up.

If Cam plays he’s gonna have 2 steals, 2 blocks, and be +4. Im calling it.

Lol. Bud does seem like an old hard-to-find beer-drinking ass dude. He be having to go to the downtown Tower megastore and sh@t. He can’t get ran outta Milwaukee he’s forged too many friendships with local breweries.

Contract extensions are tricky as hell man. Everyone was wondering where is Freddie Freeman’s extension after an MVP season? My man done fell off a cliff (3.2 WAR in 60 games to .7 in 70, ouch). With all that has gone wrong with the Braves this year a poor value, long term contract would’ve been a back-breaker. Super-sharp GMs like AA and The Colonel know not to get too excited on the honeymoon.

I ain’t mad. It seems like a no-brainer, slam dunk from our perspective for both sides to get a deal done yesterday but it’s surely a lot more to it. If Seattle is awarded a franchise soon he’ll be the only person on their coaching candidate list lol.

Right. We were playing with house money last round. This is the casino director’s paycheck we splurging right now.

Sounds like the writer slightly favors the Hawks. Smart man. I think the series is ours if we rebound like gangbusters. Possessions being equal I think ours are more variable and of slightly higher quality. I don’t think they shoot the three as well as their numbers say and we have the huge FT taking and shooting edge. Protect the ball, rebound hard, and continue the outstanding help defense and Bud’ll be outta there as quick as the bartender can pour him a double Jack.

Your avatar shall keep us and provide for us.

I think I’m gonna fall in line with @aali34 and call him “The Woo/ Wu.” He kinda favors Inspectah Deck actually. Inspectah Yek?

Would y’all say the Bucks have a higher team IQ than the Sixers? Again we face a team that’s 2 years older on average. I really think their lack of adversity in terms of schedule has them with a false sense of where they are this season. Beating up on Cleveland, Detroit, and the Bulls ain’t bout nothing. I’m a big Heat fan and still won’t provide any excuses why they got ran through like a cheap whore other than they weren’t very good. The Nets were well-hobbled. We’ve been scratching and clawing for months.

We competed on the boards against Philly, only -2 per game. The margin can’t get much higher than -4 versus these dudes. I didn’t realize their size drops off significantly after Giannis and Brook but they’re still ranked 2nd overall on the glass. I also worry about Portis. I always liked his game and he’s far more polished on the low block than Dwight Howard. He’s got great splits this season from all the distance increments. He shoots considerably better than Middleton from 10 feet to the arc unbelievably. OO movement and awareness gonna be on full display.

That playoff run was so disappointing, especially after hanging tough with 1 seed Indiana shorthanded the year prior. Struggling against Brooklyn, pulling my hair out against the freaking Wizards, and losing all hope after Game 1 of the Finals. It was just a precursor of things to come from Playoff Bud.

I didn’t see it that way but I could be wrong. He’s easy to shoot over true, but at least he’s always there in a good stance and ready to challenge. A bigger defender with poor positioning would’ve been worse. He rebounded and stole as well as you could expect from him (3 and 1 per, respectively) and had as many blocks as both of their starting forwards. Don’t mind me tho I’m a big fan of the kid.

I don’t think I’d call Curry a weak link (143 offensive rating to 113 defensive, by far their best). For all the talk about Ben, who just has the glaring hole but does pretty much everything else well, Korkmaz really gave them nothing. Sounds crazy to say but Giannis is the weak link IMO . If he commits more turnovers than assists and shoots 48% from the line again we in there like swimwear. The trick is fouling him hard without the silly referees looking at flagrants and stopping the game flow.

34 more threes total, almost 5 a game. If you can shoot them pretty well that’s a major gap against teams that can’t, especially with a clear FT shooting advantage as well. I don’t know where the Hawks rank under Nate in terms of attempts and percentage but it’s definitely better than the full season rankings of 19th and 12th. Philly was 26th and 10th with one of the best three point shooters alive. The Bucks rank 8th and 5th respectively but I don’t totally buy that they’ll be nearly as efficient versus us. Their strength of schedule was dead last. We’re gonna invite Giannis and Jrue to take all they want. They don’t want any of our guys getting their favorite looks.

Clint and John rebounded great last series. I want to see a whole team effort to box out Giannis and Brook and some crashing the offensive glass too. Draw a nice number of over-the-back fouls. Easier said than done but I’m sure Coach will stress it. While you’re at it gimme some illegal screens from Brook by getting over.

I made an error referencing the shooting disparity between us and the Sixers (-.040 percentage points instead of 40%, still a significant margin to overcome against a talented defensive team). It’s beyond impossible to beat a team shooting 80-something percent lol.

If a rookie SG with nice size has a .522 eFG and a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio you just let that man rock. Drafting Cam understandably had him a little shaken about his role but he’s back to his arc of damn near exponential growth. More muscle, more free throws, more wins, more dough.

This team is built to win, clearly. Shooting from the field doesn’t really determine their outcome, I don’t trip off poor shooting halves or even games from any of our guys, especially Trae. You have a miraculous season turnaround and win a series as an underdog shooting 40% worse than your opponent with excellent team-wide FT shooting, exquisite help defense, data analysts and Nate who were hell-bent on significantly shrinking the turnovers, and Trae’s passing wizardry. And one more aspect: shout out to @NBASupes to get me to accept three point variance. Old School Nate has clearly embraced it too. There are simply too many dependable three point shots for the defense to cover: Trae 30 footer and step back John catch and shoot from the corner (for best results, set up Baptist with Ice Trae skip pass) Kevin open weak side or transition walk up Bogi iso, curl screen, catch and shoot Hot-hand 2K Gallo from anywhere Lemon Pepper: see 2K Gallo, add off the dribble The Sixers only had 2 (!): Curry catch and shoot (arguably the most efficient shot going, but still limited variance) and Embiid in a groove after made FTs. That’s it. Danny Green is good in transition and from the corner but no one’s gonna act like his absence was glaring. The Bucks are very limited as well: Middleton can hit all types assisted or not, and Lopez from the corner. Giannis taking threes is like Clint taking em. Not very smart. Call me crazy but I think we have a good chance to steamroll these folks like Miami did last season.

Y’all do realize we won a series shooting 40% worse and scoring 3 points per less than our opponent as a road dog. The Bucks couldn’t dream of doing no sh*t like that with their style. They like to play on a pristine playground with manicured landscape and all the modern slides and sh*t. The Hawks play throw-up-tackle in the mud.

Two people who I sorely miss around today’s NBA: Kobe and Larry Brown.

Or when he looks at Darvin who has a look of half bewilderment, half disgust on his face.