OFFICIAL 2015 NBA PLAYOFF THREAD (NBA FINALS SET; GSW V. CLE - (But we have a whole week before the

What Team is Going to Win the Finals?

  • Cavs

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Warriors

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I Can't Decide

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Show All
Status
Not open for further replies.
Lebron going to 5 finals in a row means he's the best in long while?!

eyes.gif


don't know why i thought they would only fine you for flopping if you drew the whistle. bad fine anyway though. he was trying to draw contact (and did) and didn't get the whistle. dudes fall unnecessarily all the time. 
 
Vincent Van Ho said:
 
awwsome said:
How is Dennis responsible?


Pretty sure I've seen Korver bricking wide open 3's coming off of passes from everybody.
Click to expand...
idk, does anyone have ESPN Insider access? I couldn't read the article
Click to expand...
 
Pop quiz: Who's the best player not named LeBron James  in the Eastern Conference finals?

Tough call. But if you're consulting ESPN's real plus-minus metric (RPM) that estimates on-court impact on both ends of the floor, it's an easy pick: Kyle Korver. At plus-5.5 RPM, the sweet-shooting All-Star registered as the most valuable player on the Atlanta Hawks  roster this season, even more valuable on balance than Kyrie Irving  (plus-3.1), Kevin Love  (plus-3.0) or any other Hawk.

That's hard to believe if all you've watched is this season's playoffs. Korver has been rather pedestrian thus far, averaging 11.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 35 percent shooting from downtown this postseason. Korver shooting 35 percent from deep is like Stephen Curry  forgetting how to shoot free throws or James Harden  losing his ability to draw contact. To wit, Korver shot 61 percent from 3-point range over a 12-game stretch earlier this season.

So, what's up with Korver? Is it just a cold streak or is something deeper going on? For the Hawks to punch their first Finals ticket in more than 50 years, they need the All-Star to play like an All-Star. Here's why he hasn't yet in the playoffs.
[h2]The gravity king[/h2]
Let's back up a bit. Korver's numbers are way down this postseason, but he is still a master at keeping the defense honest. That's why even though he's not smoking defenses with 25-foot haymakers, the Hawks' offense is 6.5 points per 100 possessions better this postseason while he's on the floor.

Keeping defenses honest is an essential part of the job in today's NBA. This season, no one did it better than Korver, who possessed the highest respect rating in the NBA. What's respect rating? It's a composite metric that combines STATS LLC's gravity and distraction scores provided to ESPN Insider that quantifies how much a player pulls his defender toward him while he's off the ball. Using SportVU cameras in every arena, STATS LLC took a stab at figuring out who was the best at keeping defenses honest and Korver tops the list.

This season, Korver registered a 99.8 score, just passing Golden State's splash brothers Curry and Klay Thompson. The others near the top of the list includes some sharpshooters (Kevin Martin) and some ball-dominant lone stars (Kobe Bryant  and Carmelo Anthony). But no one stretched it quite like Korver.
'Respect Rating' Leaders, 2014-15 Regular Season[table][tr][th=""]PLAYER[/th][th=""]TEAM[/th][th=""]RATING[/th][/tr][tr][td]K. Korver[/td][td]ATL[/td][td]99.8[/td][/tr][tr][td]S. Curry[/td][td]GSW[/td][td]99.6[/td][/tr][tr][td]K. Thompson[/td][td]GSW[/td][td]99.4[/td][/tr][tr][td]J. Harden[/td][td]HOU[/td][td]99.2[/td][/tr][tr][td]K. Martin[/td][td]MIN[/td][td]98.8[/td][/tr][tr][td]K. Bryant[/td][td]LAL[/td][td]98.6[/td][/tr][tr][td]Mo Williams[/td][td]CHA[/td][td]98.3[/td][/tr][tr][td]D. Lillard[/td][td]POR[/td][td]98.2[/td][/tr][tr][td]M. Ginobili[/td][td]SAS[/td][td]98.0[/td][/tr][tr][td]C. Anthony[/td][td]NYK[/td][td]97.7[/td][/tr][/table]
This is where Korver makes his case for being one of the most impactful players in the game. But he's not camping out on the perimeter as much this postseason. Check out the activity heat maps provided to ESPN Insider from NBASavant.com.

Tom Haberstroh

The two maps look similar, but as you can see, Korver has spent more time on the elbows inside the arc rather than in the corners where he's most effective. This might be an indication that he's finding it more difficult to fight around screens in the postseason, but he should be behind the arc more. His average speed in the postseason (4.3 mph) is the same exact rate as in the regular season, so it's not true that he's idly standing around more these days.

However, he can't just be a spacer if he wants to win a championship. He needs to produce, especially in this Cleveland series. And he hasn't done that when a certain player has joined him on the court.
[h2]The Schroder effect[/h2]
Here's another game for you. Guess these two players:
[table][tr][th=""]PLAYER[/th][th=""]PTS[/th][th=""]REB[/th][th=""]AST[/th][th=""]FG%[/th][th=""]3FG%[/th][th=""]PER[/th][/tr][tr][td]Player A[/td][td]12.0[/td][td]5.0[/td][td]2.7[/td][td]42.9[/td][td]38.6[/td][td]14.1[/td][/tr][tr][td]Player B[/td][td]7.7[/td][td]4.6[/td][td]1.4[/td][td]27.3[/td][td]26.7[/td][td]6.4[/td][/tr][/table]
Pencils down. Any guesses? Trick question! It's the same player.

Both lines come from Korver's per-36-minutes averages this postseason except Player A is Korver playing without point guard Dennis Schroder  and Player B is Korver playing with Schroder. Look at that disparity. Korver has morphed from a sharpshooter into a D-League player when Schroder is the one running the offense. And it's hurt the team. This postseason, the Hawks are plus-104 when Korver plays without Schroder and a minus-25 when he plays with the young point guard.

Why is that? The obvious: Schroder is young and inexperienced. The German point guard often tabbed as "Baby Rondo" is just 21 years old and toeing the playoff waters for essentially the first time. Nonetheless, Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer has trusted Schroder with about 20 minutes per game in the postseason, including some key crunch-time opportunities as starter Jeff Teaguelooks on from the bench.

A closer look shows how Schroder struggles to find Korver on the wing. Schroder is the most high-volume driver in the NBA, averaging 15.1 drives per 36 minutes here in the playoffs, per NBA.com player-tracking data. That can help suck the defense into the paint area, but he's often prone to putting his head down and forcing shots.

Other times Schroder just loses his cool in the open court. Take a look at this play from Game 1 against Washington. Schroder pushes the ball in the open court and forces a pass to DeMarre Carroll  with Korver in the corner. After the ball sails away, you can see Korver giving Schroder the "calm down" motion.
2GIF_jade_hawks_new.gif

And here's another. Instead of taking his time and handing the ball off to the trailing Korver for the transition 3, Schroder decides to make an almost impossible pass and throws the ball away. That transition 3 is Korver's bread-and-butter.
2GIF_Hawks_Jade_02.gif

To see this in the data, consider that Korver and Schroder have played together for 149 minutes this postseason and Korver has made just four baskets off of Schroder passes, all coming behind the arc where he's shooting 26.7 percent on Schroder feeds.

Korver has found much better luck getting looks and knocking down shots from his other teammates. According to STATS LLC's tough shot score that factors in shot distance, defender distance, speed and other shot variables, the level of difficulty of Korver's shots has been higher when Schroder is his point guard (66.6 out of 100) compared to Teague (63.0 out of 100).

Simply put, life is easier for Korver and the Hawks when Schroder is on the bench. But Budenholzer has curiously upped Schroder's playing time next to Korver this postseason from 30 percent of the sharpshooter's minutes in the regular season to 33 percent now. Cleveland hopes that continues.
[h2]Cleveland kryptonite?[/h2]
Korver has struggled against Cleveland this season. He averaged just 7.8 points in four regular-season matchups, his worst output against an Eastern Conference team. The Hawks did just fine, however, winning three of the four games; the only loss came Nov. 15, way back when Anderson Varejao  and Dion Waiters  played big minutes for Cleveland.

To illustrate how different the Cleveland roster is now, consider that the Cavs player who has defended the most Korver shots this season is rookie Joe Harris  -- who has been glued to their bench in the playoffs. J.R. Smith  will likely get the assignment in this series, but it takes an entire village to account for Korver.

It's true that Korver hasn't gotten as many open looks this postseason. The average defender on his catch-and-shoots has stood just 4.4 feet away this postseason, compared to 5.5 feet in the regular season, per SportVU tracking. If he breaks free, the Hawks will have a much better shot at topping James and the Cavaliers.

But Smith might not be the Korver stopper anyway. So far this postseason, it's been his own teammate Schroder, who has kept the All-Star in check.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Wonder how much the Hawks are going to miss Thabo has a defender to send at Lebron? Won't stop Bron obviously, but is another defender that could give Carroll a breather.
 
Last edited:
i hope riley curry grows up acting like riley from boondocks.

seth gon be her weedman
 
Last edited:
No discussion regarding the Defensive first and second teams?
Clippers teammates Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan were honored for their defensive prowess Wednesday in being named to the NBA All-Defense first team. Paul has been named to the All-Defense first team for four straight seasons. Joining Paul and Jordan on the first team were Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard, Warriors forward Draymond Green and Grizzlies guard Tony Allen. It's the third first-team award for Allen.

The second team consists of Wizards guard John Wall, Bulls guard Jimmy Butler, Spurs forward Tim Duncan, Pelicans center Anthony Davis and Warriors center Andrew Bogut.
Click to expand...
Chris Paul getting those Kobe reputation votes
 
Last edited:
Man yall was acting like dwight was out for the season last night smh

Bunch of drama queens in here i tell ya
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

The ultimate sneaker enthusiast community.

NikeTalk was created as a way of giving back to both the sneaker enthusiast community and to the greater global community of which we are all a part.

NikeTalk is NOT affiliated with Nike Inc. in any way, shape, or form. All opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Nike, Inc.

© 1999-2024 NikeTalk.com

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom