2024-25 NBA Thread

[WilyWestbrook0]

I'm convinced Ty Jerome cannot keep up with playoff intensity and speed. And my goodness, the Cavs perimeter defense sure runs around like chickens with their heads cut off. They cannot keep up with the Pacers ball movement. Watching this, I'm glad OKC stacked their team with a bunch of perimeter defenders. Would never see Caruso or Wallace looking lost out there like the Cavs guards do.

[pwaldo]

Yeah the Cavs have been exposed as a paper tiger that would have been demolished in the Western playoffs. They are built to destroy average and bad teams in the regular season but even at 100% they didn't match their record.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Yeah the Cavs have been exposed as a paper tiger that would have been demolished in the Western playoffs. They are built to destroy average and bad teams in the regular season but even at 100% they didn't match their record.

I do want to credit Atkinson for benching Jerome and going zone. Cavs just had a huge second quarter and have taken a big lead. They're finally starting to respond to the Pacers' physicality as well.

Still not convinced they can totally salvage this series though. I hope I'm wrong.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Nuggets really showing their championship experience and execution in this exhausting OT game. Thunder look shook.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Really mad at OKC's performance here in the 3rd quarter. Especially frustrated at their stagnant offense. WAY too much iso. Also sick of Dort and his bricks.

If they end up losing this series, and it's really starting to point that way, here are some thoughts:

- Regular season is largely meaningless. Home court and seeding hasn't meant anything in these Semis, including the OKC series. Teams can put up all the gaudy stats and wins they want in the regular season, but it doesn't reveal anything about clutch performance, experience, and the like. Who cares if you go 68-14 and put up legendary plus/minus numbers if you can't even get out of the freaking Semis in the playoffs?

- OKC may have to look into a more creative offensive coach and/or make a significant change to the roster. Daigneault hasn't shown he's adjusted to anything since the Mavs series last year. Keep over-helping on defense and isolating on offense? Same problems as in the last series showing out here vs. Denver. And the core unit may need to be tweaked. Move one of the youngsters for a vet. I like JDub, and he was good last game, but he's very predictable, and I don't think he's good enough to be the #2 guy on a contender. They already have an iso-heavy guy in SGA; maybe go after a different style of star player to complement SGA.

[WilyWestbrook0]

All right, credit to Daigneault for benching Dort and giving the bench time to shine. Great performances from Wallace, Caruso, and Wiggins. Ugly game, but OKC got the W to tie up the series. Still have a LOT of concern, but after watching Cleveland's shameful performance thus far against the Pacers, OKC is at least in a much better spot than they are. It would be a miracle for the Cavs to come back today; definitely looking like Indy will go up 3-1. Will the Cavs even take this series to six? They took the Celtics to five in last year's Semifinals, and they might not even do better against the Pacers this year after the coaching change and so much promise shown in the regular season.

[Devlin]

All right, credit to Daigneault for benching Dort and giving the bench time to shine. Great performances from Wallace, Caruso, and Wiggins. Ugly game, but OKC got the W to tie up the series. Still have a LOT of concern, but after watching Cleveland's shameful performance thus far against the Pacers, OKC is at least in a much better spot than they are. It would be a miracle for the Cavs to come back today; definitely looking like Indy will go up 3-1. Will the Cavs even take this series to six? They took the Celtics to five in last year's Semifinals, and they might not even do better against the Pacers this year after the coaching change and so much promise shown in the regular season.

good objective takes

[pwaldo]

All right, credit to Daigneault for benching Dort and giving the bench time to shine. Great performances from Wallace, Caruso, and Wiggins. Ugly game, but OKC got the W to tie up the series. Still have a LOT of concern, but after watching Cleveland's shameful performance thus far against the Pacers, OKC is at least in a much better spot than they are. It would be a miracle for the Cavs to come back today; definitely looking like Indy will go up 3-1. Will the Cavs even take this series to six? They took the Celtics to five in last year's Semifinals, and they might not even do better against the Pacers this year after the coaching change and so much promise shown in the regular season.

The Thunder needed to win that game and they did. I think they have it now with the series tied. The Cavs though look cooked. People can blame it on the injuries but they fell apart at the end basically having a stretch where they went .500 limping into the playoffs. Don't know what happened to cause it but they were the best team in the NBA the first 3/4 of the season and now they look like they are going to get bounced prematurely to a team in the Pacers that people weren't really high on. And since everyone is talking about how the Thunder and Cavs don't have much playoff experience it isn't likt he Pacers are a veteran team either. So that really isn't a factor in that series.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Thanks!

The Thunder needed to win that game and they did. I think they have it now with the series tied. The Cavs though look cooked. People can blame it on the injuries but they fell apart at the end basically having a stretch where they went .500 limping into the playoffs. Don't know what happened to cause it but they were the best team in the NBA the first 3/4 of the season and now they look like they are going to get bounced prematurely to a team in the Pacers that people weren't really high on. And since everyone is talking about how the Thunder and Cavs don't have much playoff experience it isn't likt he Pacers are a veteran team either. So that really isn't a factor in that series.

Yeah, the injuries certainly didn't help, but I agree the cracks were starting to show at the end of the season. Indiana beat them twice during that span, and they also ended one of the Cavs' big win streaks back in January, so they've pretty much had their number all year (in their only regular season loss to Cleveland, Haliburton was out, so that explains that one). I was impressed at how good they looked against Cleveland during the regular season; they were probably the Cavs' toughest matchup, so in a sense, I'm not entirely surprised they're up. Carlisle's offense is perfectly suited to tear them up. The Cavs backcourt is small and not strong defensively, and with all Indiana's ball movement, the Cavs have to switch and help a lot. That usually leaves the Pacers shooters open, or else a bigger guy seals off one of the Cavs' smaller ones and can get an easy 2. The Cavs did have some success with Mobley leading a zone in their one postseason victory against Indiana, but Carlisle figured out how to carve up that zone last night, and KA and the Cavs had no answers.

All that said, the Cavs were still a #1 seed with 64 wins and multiple big win streaks in the season, so it's still a huge disappointment that they're likely to go out in the Semis again. They've had plenty of time to try and figure Indiana out , and they just haven't.

[pwaldo]

Thanks!



Yeah, the injuries certainly didn't help, but I agree the cracks were starting to show at the end of the season. Indiana beat them twice during that span, and they also ended one of the Cavs' big win streaks back in January, so they've pretty much had their number all year (in their only regular season loss to Cleveland, Haliburton was out, so that explains that one). I was impressed at how good they looked against Cleveland during the regular season; they were probably the Cavs' toughest matchup, so in a sense, I'm not entirely surprised they're up. Carlisle's offense is perfectly suited to tear them up. The Cavs backcourt is small and not strong defensively, and with all Indiana's ball movement, the Cavs have to switch and help a lot. That usually leaves the Pacers shooters open, or else a bigger guy seals off one of the Cavs' smaller ones and can get an easy 2. The Cavs did have some success with Mobley leading a zone in their one postseason victory against Indiana, but Carlisle figured out how to carve up that zone last night, and KA and the Cavs had no answers.

All that said, the Cavs were still a #1 seed with 64 wins and multiple big win streaks in the season, so it's still a huge disappointment that they're likely to go out in the Semis again. They've had plenty of time to try and figure Indiana out , and they just haven't.

Yeah the Pacers might have been the worst draw for the Cavs to get. Even when fully healthy it wasn't a great match up for them. But it isn't like the Cavs have been the only underperforming high seed. The Thunder just had an all time regular season and they should be tearing up the playoffs and they aren't. The Rockets got bounced pretty easily as a #2 seed in the West. The Celtics are struggling against a Knicks team that struggled with the Pistons. Nobody really playing at a high level right now and if they are they have hurt players. Just a weird post season so far.