2021 vs 2015 Eastern Conference Finals

[NBASupes]

45 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Well, for most of that year, Korver was 50/50/90...   meaning that he shot over 50% from the field 50% from 3 and 90% from the FT line.   I don't care how many tools you have.. a guy that hits 50 percent of his threes.  And he averaged putting up 6 threes a game.  That's freakin inhuman.   Do you know how much KK stretched defenses?  A healthy Bogi is great.. it's just a rare appearance this year so it's hard to appreciate. 

 

I can see this as a good case. Kyle's 2015 season was insane. He got a 3 VORP and a 9.2 WAR. He didn't overwhelm me with the eye test but I can't hate, that's the best WAR in the current history of the RAPTOR for the Hawks. 

[Spud2nique]

21 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Horford was massively better than JC or Capela. 

Not for me. He was solid but he disappeared when we needed him. Capela and Collins have shown up so far.

[Spud2nique]

23 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

LMAO!! 

Horford was massively better than JC or Capela. 

For me, these Hawks are much better because Trae is an offensive superstar, something those teams needed with a passion and this team has. 

This team is just a lot more talented. That team had no one with excellent talent as you seen in my talent thread. Al was talented and Sap was a decent talent but they did it through other means. This team is loaded with talent from Bogi, Kevin, JC, Gallo, and obviously, the extreme talents of Trae Young who's game is built for this shit. 

I clearly got Bogi over Kyle. Kyle wasn't a playoff player. He was what he was. 

I would like to clear up something I said about 6 months ago. Gobert is better than Rik Smits, my bad.

[NBASupes]

38 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

I would like to clear up something I said about 6 months ago. Gobert is better than Rik Smits, my bad.

He is better than Rik Smits. If you don't think Smits wouldn't be run off the court in today's NBA unless he's surrounded by a Giannis, it would be the same without anywhere near the defensive talent. That said, Smits offensively>>>Gobert 

Edited June 22, 2021 by NBASupes

[benhillboy]

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.

Edited June 22, 2021 by benhillboy

[dalamchops]

that wasn't really a 60win team in terms of strength, they just caught an unbelievable streak that month of january, korver shot 57% from 3 for the entire month lol

[JayBirdHawk]

After the undefeated month, things unraveled and we limped into the playoffs.  Yes, we still got to 60 wins but the well oil machine was starting to show cracks.

[bird_dirt]

2015 was an amazing TEAM. They were such a well oiled machine that was greater than the sum of their parts. But the machine broke down with Thabo out and DMC/KK injuries. It needed everything to fall into place to perform at an elite level.

This year, Nate has our players playing great as a team, but this time we also have multiple players that can get hot at any moment and carry us through. That's how we've been able to last as long as we have while missing key pieces. 

It's still going to be a major struggle w/o Hunter and Cam, but at least we still have some hope of catching lightning in a bottle from Trae, BB, K'Von, Lemon Pepper, Gallo, maybe even JC. Plus solid play with Cap & OO. 

KK was the only player that could really get it off before, and he was taken out. 

This year I'll give the edge to the Bucks, but I don't think it's a given or that we'll get swept. 2015 was magical, but we were DOA by the time we started against LeBron and Co. We peaked too early that year.

[Dejay]

Interesting conversation here. The 2015 team was a machine that was a living nightmare to deal with if your guys were slow on rotations (see Korver, Kyle). They began to have problems when Barney Fife and his crew from the NYPD got a hold of Thabo that fateful night. Then Millsap got hurt, Korver got chop blocked, and Demarre Carroll got injured. But that being said, they didn't appear to have a Hulk-up moment left in them once Lebron and the gang showed up due to all of the extra spent on beating Brooklyn and Washington.

IMHO, this year's team has more talent (could you see Kent Bazemore getting on the court with this roster at full strength?) but not nearly as much time to gel due to the absurd amount of injuries suffered. It cannot be understated what kind of difference a healthy Kris Dunn, Cam Reddish, Bogdan  Bogdanovic, and DeAndre Hunter would've meant for the season much less this coming ECFs.

Matched up and both at full strength, I'd take today's team to win. Millsap would be a problem to deal with but Capela would absolutely bully Horford for boards and putbacks in the same manner that Tristan Thompson always did. Korver would eat...until Nate decides to cover him with Hunter or Reddish. And while Bogdanovic would have his hands full getting away from Carroll or Sefolosha, well, we all know what the elephant in the room is.

Who. Stops. Trae. Young.

Teague? Not really

Schröder? Don't bet on it. 

Bazemore? Yeah, right. 

Sefolosha would be your best bet and I have my doubts on him as well.

2021 team wins in 5...

[macdaddy]

This is a much better Hawks team than that one.   Maybe not as consistent but much more talented and with a true star player and goto guy.   In fact we have a few go to guys.  

Giannis is tough but he isn't Lebron.   Even lebron shoots better and lebron is a much better distributor.   I like our chances.

[JeffS17]

2 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

This is a much better Hawks team than that one.   Maybe not as consistent but much more talented and with a true star player and goto guy.   In fact we have a few go to guys.  

Giannis is tough but he isn't Lebron.   Even lebron shoots better and lebron is a much better distributor.   I like our chances.

If we can keep the TOs to a minimum which will keep them from going on big runs, I think we grind it out over 6, maybe 7 games.  Middleton is such an X factor for this game imo because there's an equal chance he disappears or looks like prime MJ game to game.

[AHF]

8 hours ago, NBASupes said:

LMAO!! 

Horford was massively better than JC or Capela. 

For me, these Hawks are much better because Trae is an offensive superstar, something those teams needed with a passion and this team has. 

This team is just a lot more talented. That team had no one with excellent talent as you seen in my talent thread. Al was talented and Sap was a decent talent but they did it through other means. This team is loaded with talent from Bogi, Kevin, JC, Gallo, and obviously, the extreme talents of Trae Young who's game is built for this shit. 

I clearly got Bogi over Kyle. Kyle wasn't a playoff player. He was what he was. 

In the abstact Horford is the best of those players but Horford was a ***** anytime he matched up against Cleveland.  He was scared and frightened and did not compete the way we saw him compete against other teams.

These are Horford's career matchups vs Cleveland in the playoffs for Atlanta:

2009 27 mpg, 3.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg

2015 33 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg

2016 32.9 mpg, 14.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg

 

Look at that average over 3 series:  

9.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg

Horford's performances vs Cleveland were absolutely shameful.  His ****s shriveling up into his body was a huge reason the Hawks went 0-10 against Cleveland over those 3 series.

This is actual video of Horford when Tristan Thompson stepped onto the floor:

 

[NBASupes]

18 minutes ago, AHF said:

In the abstact Horford is the best of those players but Horford was a ***** anytime he matched up against Cleveland.  He was scared and frightened and did not compete the way we saw him compete against other teams.

These are Horford's career matchups vs Cleveland in the playoffs for Atlanta:

2009 27 mpg, 3.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg

2015 33 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg

2016 32.9 mpg, 14.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg

 

Look at that average over 3 series:  

9.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg

Horford's performances vs Cleveland were absolutely shameful.  His ****s shriveling up into his body was a huge reason the Hawks went 0-10 against Cleveland over those 3 series.

This is actual video of Horford when Tristan Thompson stepped onto the floor:

 

LeBron blew up our scheme and unlike Boston, they didn't have the wing talent to least make Al life easier. 

Ya'll love talking about Thompson but he didn't do shit when Al was in Boston. 

Al was our glue, LeBron busted that shit because we were all scheme based on both ends. To this day I dislike Bud for that series. The entire playoffs was a damn joke in 2015.

Edited June 22, 2021 by NBASupes

[Thomas]

This has made me remember our very effective rebounder coming off the bench behind Al in Kris Humphries once we realized Al vs TT was not gonna workout moving forward. Kris was the physical one and don't think he thought to much of TT either you know. Am interested in trying one of his Minnesota cheeseburgers one day. He is a franchise quick restaurant guy these days. Just trying to keep it light here. 

[aali34]

18 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

LeBron blew up our scheme and unlike Boston, they didn't have the wing talent to least make Al life easier. 

 

Them rebounding numbers though 

[NBASupes]

2 minutes ago, aali34 said:

Them rebounding numbers though 

He always in recovery due to LeBron attacking the paint

[bleachkit]

That ECF was a huge disappointment, and certainly impacted how that team is remembered. It was a whole greater than the sum of the parts team that needed everyone healthy to work. Cleveland just needed LeBeron, along with a solid big and a few shooters. Hopefully this team fares better, but we are huge, huge, underdogs. Vegas gives us only a 15% chance to win the series. That is an astonishingly low number. Winning this series would one of the bigger upsets in modern NBA history. 

[macdaddy]

3 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

That ECF was a huge disappointment, and certainly impacted how that team is remembered. It was a whole greater than the sum of the parts team that needed everyone healthy to work. Cleveland just needed LeBeron, along with a solid big and a few shooters. Hopefully this team fares better, but we are huge, huge, underdogs. Vegas gives us only a 15% chance to win the series. That is an astonishingly low number. Winning this series would one of the bigger upsets in modern NBA history. 

Which is crazy for a #3 vs #5 series where they won only 5 more games than us.   Not sure why knocking off the #1 seed hasn't given us a bump in expectations but i'll take it.   I'd rather be the underdog.    I'm not scared of the Bucks.    We saw how we made Simmons mentally break down.  We can do similar to Giannis (not as much obviously).   Got to keep Lopez, Middleton and the rest off the 3 point line though. 

[Atlantaholic]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

In the abstact Horford is the best of those players but Horford was a ***** anytime he matched up against Cleveland.  He was scared and frightened and did not compete the way we saw him compete against other teams.

These are Horford's career matchups vs Cleveland in the playoffs for Atlanta:

2009 27 mpg, 3.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg

2015 33 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg

2016 32.9 mpg, 14.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg

 

Look at that average over 3 series:  

9.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg

Horford's performances vs Cleveland were absolutely shameful.  His ****s shriveling up into his body was a huge reason the Hawks went 0-10 against Cleveland over those 3 series.

This is actual video of Horford when Tristan Thompson stepped onto the floor:

 

100%. Especially the rebounding was embarassing. Biggest factor in those series being so lopsided.

[JeffS17]

19 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Which is crazy for a #3 vs #5 series where they won only 5 more games than us.   Not sure why knocking off the #1 seed hasn't given us a bump in expectations but i'll take it.   I'd rather be the underdog.    I'm not scared of the Bucks.    We saw how we made Simmons mentally break down.  We can do similar to Giannis (not as much obviously).   Got to keep Lopez, Middleton and the rest off the 3 point line though. 

Assuming bc they are healthy and even excluding Hunter/Reddish, we have banged up guards and relied on Heurter getting us over the hump.  We have to shoot better