2013-2014 NBA Thread - IND @ WAS and OKC @ LAC on ESPN

[mronegative]

You gonna let Calvin Klein tell you? Where did this go?

 

[grandtheftbike]

there's nothing wrong with those skip tweets

His predictions are wrong doe

eh it happens. plus i am trying to justify my bracket

 

[sea manup]

 

WHO else is gonna take the shots????

KD has been getting pushed out of position the entire series he can't take every single shot man, Westbrook is the second option 20 shots isn't bad when your remaining line up consist of someone who is useless on offense, A spot up shooter, & a bigger spot up shooter. Their are two guys on that lineup who can create shots, who would you rather those attempts go to.

KD isn't Kobe it's not in him to constantly take 30 shots he passes & Westbrook is also a great scorer.

Under no circumstances should Westbrook be taking more shots than KD (ie 7 more shots in Game 5)....EVER.

Yesterday was a better balance.

so if kd goes into his pushover mentality and stops shooting westbrook is supposed to also stop shooting to keep his fga under kds?

 

[bhzmafia14]

so if kd goes into his pushover mentality and stops shooting westbrook is supposed to also stop shooting to keep his fga under kds?

Yes. That's what it seems like.

 

[datznasty]

KD and Westbrook both need to be decoys so Thabo Sefolosha can cook

 

[do work son]

so if kd goes into his pushover mentality and stops shooting westbrook is supposed to also stop shooting to keep his fga under kds?

Yes. That's what it seems like.

For KD to be held accountable, yes. Russell is perceived as the alpha dog on this team, however true or false that might be

 

[grandtheftbike]

but when does thabo take a seat back so kendrick can perkins?

 

[datznasty]

Thabo and Kendrick need to get their own team, get another superstar and form a big 3 as long as the CBA don't hate on them

 

[mez 0ne]

so if kd goes into his pushover mentality and stops shooting westbrook is supposed to also stop shooting to keep his fga under kds?

No....KD needs to assert himself. There were long gaps in where he didn't even attempt a shot, that shouldn't ever be the case.

 

[sea manup]

 

so if kd goes into his pushover mentality and stops shooting westbrook is supposed to also stop shooting to keep his fga under kds?

No....KD needs to assert himself. There were long gaps in where he didn't even attempt a shot, that shouldn't ever be the case.

exactly, when westbrook's fga is high is usually when kd is being passive

i dont think i have never seen kd yell at a teammate for not getting him the ball

 

[julius wrek]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...uconn-but-hasn-t-ruled-out-nba-184623146.html

Julius F. Wrek

 

[datznasty]

He yelled at Regiie Jackson, Reggie was like **** and took the next shot too.

 

[bhzmafia14]

All that coaching stuff not going to matter if OKC advances. I think if they beat Memphis, they will AT LEAST get to the WCF. I would also expect them to beat the Spurs if they played them in the WCF. So, you OKC fans have a choice as to what makes you more happy

 

[steebie j]

Mo is and forever will be a weak *****

 

[kevlar shrimp]

Westbrook is passionate about winning

And he wants to be responsible for whether they win or lose

Durant is the greater scorer, but Westbrook has more leadership tendencies in him

He needs his own team

 

[julius wrek]

Julius F. Wrek

 

[datznasty]

All that coaching stuff not going to matter if OKC advances. I think if they beat Memphis, they will AT LEAST get to the WCF. I would also expect them to beat the Spurs if they played them in the WCF. So, you OKC fans have a choice as to what makes you more happy

You mean like advance and have him feel/appear validated or hope to lose in the first round assuming that gets him fired?

A lot of guys on the message board are down with the latter but I don't think he is getting fired regardless so I hope the team goes as far as a possible.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/d...brooks-problem-could-stan-van-gundy-solve-it/

 

[elpablo21]

View media item 950436

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...uconn-but-hasn-t-ruled-out-nba-184623146.html

Julius F. Wrek

Ollie have it all

 

[freeze]

Westbrook is passionate about winning

And he wants to be responsible for whether they win or lose

Durant is the greater scorer, but Westbrook has more leadership tendencies in him

He needs his own team

i concur. i definitely feel he can be a better leader. he needs a mentor tho. he gets a proper old head to be in his ear and school him to the right way to play, with his physical gifts, dude could do some damage. he hasn't learned what john wall understood this year, to adjust his acceleration. Russy still just has 1 speed. If dude could fine tune that and become surgical with his bursts, dude could break a lot of hearts

 

[noblekane]

I see the usual haters have crawled out of their sewer and dumpster homes to thread bump the laker hater thread.. Lol

What merits the bump though? Did i miss something besides antoni getting the boot?

 

[pmatic]

What's wrong with James Harden?

On Thursday, Kevin Durant stepped up. Now it's time for his former teammate to follow suit. Thanks to Durant's big Game 6, James Harden of the Houston Rockets is now the biggest playoff disappointment this side of Roy Hibbert.

While Harden's defensive shortcomings have been well documented, he was supposed to make up for them at the other end. With the Portland Trail Blazers contesting his every move, Harden has been unable to do that during this series, which the Blazers will try to close out at home in tonight's Game 6.

How has Portland done it? And how can Harden and Houston respond to try to keep their season alive? Let's take a look.

Keeping Harden out of the paint

First and foremost, the Blazers have achieved their goal of denying Harden easy opportunities. During the regular season, 30.6 percent of his shot attempts came in the restricted area, according to NBA.com/Stats. That figure has dropped by a third in the playoffs to 20.5 percent -- a difference of between two and three shots close to the basket per game.

Keeping Harden away from the hoop starts in transition. Per Synergy Sports, transition opportunities were the single biggest source of Harden's shots during the regular season, accounting for more than a quarter of his attempts. In this series, that's down to 15 percent, depriving Harden of his most efficient opportunities.

The next piece of the puzzle is on-ball defense from Wesley Matthews, with assistance from Nicolas Batum. Both players have aggressively denied Harden the ball and done a good job of keeping him in front of them defensively. Matthews' strength has been particularly effective in this matchup.

Still, it's impossible for a single defender to contain Harden, and the Blazers' big men have been conscious of where he is at all times, leaving them ready to provide help defense. Harden has had 8.6 percent of his shot attempts blocked in this series, as compared to 5.0 percent during the regular season.

Keeping Harden off the line

In addition to preventing Harden from getting easy attempts around the basket, Portland has taken away his easiest attempts of all -- free throws. During the regular season, Harden attempted .552 free throws for every field goal attempt. That has declined to a .322 free throw rate in this series.

Intriguingly, Harden is still drawing fouls just as often overall. However, according to Synergy Sports, 41 percent of the fouls he has drawn in this series have been shooting fouls, compared to 64 percent during the regular season.

While Harden has baited Matthews into a few shooting fouls -- particularly in Game 1, when he drew five of his 13 shooting fouls in this series -- the Blazers have done an excellent job of staying down on Harden's fakes and avoiding his rip-through move. Harden has mostly gotten to the line in fast-break situations, where Portland has little choice but to foul.

Frustration attempts

Beyond what the Blazers' defense has done, Harden has contributed to his own problems with poor shot selection. Too often, he has gotten frustrated with his inability to get to the paint and has settled for contested shots from midrange -- exactly what the Rockets want to avoid. This pull-up attempt against Batum with plenty of time remaining on the shot clock is typical of Harden's frustration attempts:

Though Harden has settled for some contested 3s as well, the biggest difference between his shot selection in the regular season and during the playoffs so far is 2-point attempts outside the paint.

About one-sixth of the difference between Harden's true shooting percentage during the regular season (.61 and in this series (.471) is attributable to his shot distribution. Another sixth is explained by his free throw attempts being down. The rest can be credited to Harden shooting lower percentages at the rim (41.7 percent vs. 61.4 percent) and from 3-point range (25.0 percent vs. 36.6 percent).

Solutions

At the risk of restating the obvious, a good option to get Harden going is utilizing him in pick-and-rolls with Dwight Howard. After experiencing success with the two-man game featuring All-Stars in Portland, Houston went away from it somewhat during Game 5. Synergy tracked just three Harden-Howard pick-and-rolls that generated shot attempts. Because of the respect Portland must pay the threat of Howard rolling to the rim, Harden has been most successful at getting into the paint with Howard as the screener.

Harden also has to be more decisive. While his patient, deliberate style has served him well in his career -- especially in terms of drawing fouls -- it's not working against an opponent that has him scouted well. Harden has been at his best when he has attacked aggressively while staying under control, as on the reverse layup he made with four minutes left in Game 5 as part of a run that secured the victory.

Because Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons both stepped up to score 20-plus points, the Rockets were able to win on Wednesday with Harden making just five of his 15 shot attempts. Facing a hostile crowd tonight in Portland, the Rockets will surely need more from Harden to force a Game 7.

 

[steebie j]

We just need the last 5 min of game 5 Harden to show up tonight.

 

[noblekane]

I rather see houston advance. I think if they catch on fire shooting wise they can make a dallas mavericks 2011 type run

Dwight just needs to know his role and shut his hole

 

[steebie j]

D12 already knows his role...it's his teammates that need to stay focused.

D12 putting his heart out there man :-(

 

[licensed to ball]

#TeamChester tonight.
Let's go Rip City.

I really wanna see this kid Dame in the next round