2022 NBA Playoffs thread

Hell, plenty of guys in that Top 75 who never won a championship. I think he's always going to get more shit though because he was visibly out of shape and didn't play defense during the "peak" of his career. There's a whiff of "didn't live up to your potential" there, and those players (fairly or not) are always going to get more shit than like, Kyle Lowry, who's also going to be in the Hall of Fame but probably wasn't ever a guy you'd trade straight up for Harden.

Going forward... I wonder if there is a point at which Harden feels some kind of shame or pressure. Because with his past experience, you'd expect him to opt-in, sulk and get traded, if the Sixers don't give him an extension. I actually think his offensive value could hold up decently as he ages - he can shoot, draw fouls and pass - but you're going to have to hide him even more on defense as he loses foot speed, and he would need to be comfortable being more of a conventional 2 or wing.

Regardless of all that - Rivers has to go. I don't think he did an awful job this year, but it's hard to look at how he made the Sixers substantially better either. I think most anyone with a pulse could develop the gameplan of "Ride Embiid as hard and as far as we can go." Even if you think Ben Simmons is a snowflake and a basketcase, Rivers did nothing to help that situation, and in the last game of the season he couldn't get Harden to play hard. I don't see any upside in running it back with him.

 

And it doesn't help Harden that they changed the rules about initiating contact and drawing a foul from it. That was the other thing he could never adjust in the playoffs. Refs let more things go so those ticky-tack fouls that sent Harden to the line 30 times a game were not being called and he could never adjust. Honestly that is his biggest problem: He never adjusted. And he still hasn't adjusted now that he desperately needs to and it may cost him millions of dollars.

 

I don’t disagree. However from what I see, (1) he’s lost that step back 3 which was a killer in ‘17-19 and (2) he’s lost that quickness to get into the lane so he’s more guardable now.

I hated him when it was Ws v HOU but I respected him and knew he was scary. Don’t see the same things now to fear.

 

Yeah, you're right. I needed to specify it was the changes in how they are calling fouls AND that he isn't the same player which is why he needs to adjust. He is out of shape, can't rely on the same athleticism that made him a beast to guard and he can't draw fouls like he used to. That means he needs to find a different way to attack the game. He just hasn't.

 

A co-worker has convinced himself that Scott Foster is going to do the Suns game and he's inconsolable. He says he may not watch.

LOL.

 

C's and Bucks playing some high-end ball.

 

Giannis with the first playoff 40-20 since Shaq in Game 1 of the '01 Finals.

 

Giannis is such an inelegant player. His go-to play is to just slam into the defender and hope for a foul.
Come at me!

 

Tatum meanwhile has 46, which is 1 away from the C's record in an elimination game.

 

Lol