NON-JAZZ NBA PLAYOFF thread

[LoPo]

Hi Lopo. I think we had this conversation before. Against Denver he averaged 20ppg. Even in game 7, when he shoot poorly, he played excellent defense on Murray and provided good playmaking. I didn't say he is the best player, but against Memphis he was arguably the most important one (of course with Rudy and Don). He ran the offense to perfection, elevating the team's offense (and other players) to another level. His defense was pretty good too. It should be pretty clear to everyone that our team is better with him on the floor. He was clearly missed against the Clips, who double teamed/trapped Don all series.

Regarding the price? All those are expendable, albeit good, role players and very late firsts. Conley was an all-star. A trade involves risks. I'll take it again. We are in the finals if we select Baine or pick up Craig. I don't really care about guys like Allen, Korver or Crowder.

I don't think Mike Conley played well against Denver at all. After he exploded in Game 3, when the entire team played well, he didn't play consistently well the remaining 4 games. He had a solid performance Game 6, but it wasn't enough. When Denver put Monte Morris in the starting lineup, Conley struggled.

As for Game 7, Don's 3rd quarter was one of the most amazing quarters of NBA basketball I have ever seen. He literally carried us offensively while shutting down Murray on the other end. It was a spectacle many don't talk about enough. In the 4th, he was able to still defend, but he faded offensively because he was exhausted. That's when Conley disappointed the most. That was his moment, and he failed.

Conley had a good series vs Memphis, but it still took Don coming back from injury to get us the wins necessary to advance. Conley is only an All Star because he got to play with Rudy and Don. What would Jrue have done? Or Chris Paul? Mike Conley is a good dude and a good player, but he flat out disappointed our franchise when we needed him most.

 

[jazz4life1992]

I respect what the Suns have done, but c'mon now. The Suns added Paul, Crowder and Craig to a team that had the best record after returning from COVID last year. They were the west 2 seed. And they have gotten to play....

The Lakers without AD
The Nuggets without Murray
The Clippers without Kawhi
And they'll play the Bucks without Giannis or the Hawks with banged up Trae and Capella

Oh, and due to these fortunate matchups, they have had the most rest and best health of any team during this condensed season/postseason.

If they win the title, I will applaud them. But for me, this will be like the Toronto title that comes with a little bit of an asterisk.

So... look closely at the Lakers Title Run in the bubble...

That run was littered with injuries to other teams and players opting out. The Lakers also shot WAY above their averages, and they got a 3 month break in between.

Miami's best players aside from Butler fell apart in Game 1 of the Finals due to injuries.

People putting an asterisk on the Suns this year should be putting an asterisk by the Lakers title last year.

 

[latin jazz]

I don't think Mike Conley played well against Denver at all. After he exploded in Game 3, when the entire team played well, he didn't play consistently well the remaining 4 games. He had a solid performance Game 6, but it wasn't enough. When Denver put Monte Morris in the starting lineup, Conley struggled.

As for Game 7, Don's 3rd quarter was one of the most amazing quarters of NBA basketball I have ever seen. He literally carried us offensively while shutting down Murray on the other end. It was a spectacle many don't talk about enough. In the 4th, he was able to still defend, but he faded offensively because he was exhausted. That's when Conley disappointed the most. That was his moment, and he failed.

Conley had a good series vs Memphis, but it still took Don coming back from injury to get us the wins necessary to advance. Conley is only an All Star because he got to play with Rudy and Don. What would Jrue have done? Or Chris Paul? Mike Conley is a good dude and a good player, but he flat out disappointed our franchise when we needed him most.

Well, I think we both see bastkeball with different glasses. Both Don and Conley took turns in defending Murray after Royce was burned all series long. Both did a great job. Conley didn't shoot well in game 7 but he dished some pretty good assists in the 4Q. I'm always looking at more than scoring. We lost that series because of perimeter defense, which wasn't addressed by the FO this offseason (and they deserve all the blame for it).

Conley has been an all-star caliber player for most of his career, before Rudy or Don. Give him credit when due. After struggling in the first season, he adapted his game nicely this one, finding the sweet spot between playmaking, playing off the ball. He learned how to play with Rudy, get himself free and shoot 3s off the dribble. His playmaking was superb all season long, including the playoffs. I hope he comes back at a discount.

 

[fishonjazz]

That's what is depressing really... we all witnessed Don's incredible rookie year and have floundered his rookie contract so that the likes of Niang, Sefalisha, O'Neale, and Rubio could be starters. Lindsay should've been canned after that 2nd rockets loss. What a disgrace.

Niang and sefalosha were starters?

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[fishonjazz]

Are you talking about Conley? If so, c'mon man. I enjoy your posts. Always have. But to say that Conley is ever more than our 3rd best player in any scenario is freaking insulting to Don and Rudy.

Conley had a couple good games last year vs Denver but didn't come through when we needed him over that 3 game losing stretch.

Conley had a few good games vs Memphis this year. When we closed out Memphis, we didn't need him that last game when he supposedly re-aggravated his hammy. And of course he was absent in the Clippers series even when he did play that one game.

Conley disappointed us all because what matters is what you do in the playoffs. For $70 million over two years, 2 first rounders, Crowder, Grayson and Korver, he simply let us down.

I thought latin jazz simply said that against memphis in the playoffs this year it could be argued that conley was our best player. I think that's fair. He was amazing against Memphis. He was definitely our best shooter iirc

22 points and 11 assists in game 1.
20 and 15 in game 2
27 and 8 in game 3
11 and 7 in game 4
He was 3-4 from the field and 1-1 from 3 and a +14 in his 11 minutes of game 5.
He averaged 17 points and 9 assists (those numbers were brought down due to his injury only allowing him to play 11 minutes in game 5) on 47% from the field, 55% FROM THREE!, and 100% from the line.
He also averaged less than 2 turnovers per game.
Jazz were awesome against the grizzlies. I think that gets forgotten by a lot of people.
When we were healthy in round 1 we scored 141, 121, 120, and 129 points in 4 straight wins. We win by 12, 10, 11, and 16.
I know the narrative right now is that we need perimeter defenders (and that's true). However, when we were healthy our offense was so good we might have been able to simply out score all of our opponents.

Guys, imagine if that Mike conley was healthy throughout these playoffs. We would probably be in the finals or game 7 of the western conference finals right now.

****ing hamstring.



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[Deleted member 365]

Frank the Tank, what a great job defending cp3

 

[fishonjazz]

Frank the Tank, what a great job defending cp3

I hadn't seen that shove yet so thanks for the clip.
Damn, that was quite a shove and quite a cheap shot.

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[LoPo]

Well, I think we both see bastkeball with different glasses. Both Don and Conley took turns in defending Murray after Royce was burned all series long. Both did a great job. Conley didn't shoot well in game 7 but he dished some pretty good assists in the 4Q. I'm always looking at more than scoring. We lost that series because of perimeter defense, which wasn't addressed by the FO this offseason (and they deserve all the blame for it).

Conley has been an all-star caliber player for most of his career, before Rudy or Don. Give him credit when due. After struggling in the first season, he adapted his game nicely this one, finding the sweet spot between playmaking, playing off the ball. He learned how to play with Rudy, get himself free and shoot 3s off the dribble. His playmaking was superb all season long, including the playoffs. I hope he comes back at a discount.

Don't get wrong - we are a better team with Conley than without him. I just can't let him off the hook for not being there when we needed him most. He was supposed to be the missing piece.

Instead, he was just missing.

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[jom2003]

Suns simply had more talent than we did. They've got Static(12th pick in 2014) , Cam Johnson(11th pick in 2019) and Cam Payne(14th pick in 2015) off the bench while having Frank the Tank(9th pick in 2015) and Jalen Smith(10th pick in 2020) not even in the rotation. All we've got is a bunch of second rounders/undrafted prospects trying to survive in this league. Guess DL just love these guys which is why he got rid of Uncle Jeff, the 4th pick in 2007 for an undrafted/underwhelming prospect in Rayjon Tucker.

I mean fans here wanted Jabari Parker when he was sitting on the waiver wire and they were right all along cuz he would've been the clear superior choice over Niang.

 

[fishonjazz]

Suns simply had more talent than we did. They've got Static(12th pick in 2014) , Cam Johnson(11th pick in 2019) and Cam Payne(14th pick in 2015) off the bench while having Frank the Tank(9th pick in 2015) and Jalen Smith(10th pick in 2020) not even in the rotation. All we've got is a bunch of second rounders/undrafted prospects trying to survive in this league.

But Donovan would be the best player in the series. They couldn't stop our offense.

We also literally had the best bench player in the league. And I believe the runner up for best bench player in the league. Our bench was fantastic when Conley was healthy.

We averaged 127 points per game against the grizzlies. The grizzlies are known as a good defensive team.

Plus Rudy could be Rudy and when Rudy gets to stay in the paint our defense can be very effective.

I think it would go 7 games if we have a healthy team. I like our chances at home in game 7 with Donovan Mitchell in our side. I would bet on him scoring 50 in that game. If we are healthy it doesn't really matter if we have frank kaminsky and Jalen Smith instead of Brantley and Hughes or whoever since none of those guys would play anyway.

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[jom2003]

But Donovan would be the best player in the series. They couldn't stop our offense.

We also literally had the best bench player in the league. And I believe the runner up for best bench player in the league. Our bench was fantastic when Conley was healthy.

We averaged 127 points per game against the grizzlies. The grizzlies are known as a good defensive team.

Plus Rudy could be Rudy and when Rudy gets to stay in the paint our defense can be very effective.

I think it would go 7 games if we have a healthy team. I like our chances at home in game 7 with Donovan Mitchell in our side. I would bet on him scoring 50 in that game. If we are healthy it doesn't really matter if we have frank kaminsky and Jalen Smith instead of Brantley and Hughes or whoever since none of those guys would play anyway.

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Suns didn't have a healthy CP3 and Booker literally had to wear a face mask to be allowed on the court. But the rest of their guys help split the load to make things easier for the stars, while we were literally overworking Donovan/Rudy/Joe/Royce cuz noone else on the bench could take any of the burdens off of their shoulder.

Besides Conley’s hamstring problem, we had Favs and Niang, who were our 7th and 8th man in the rotation, couldn't even stay on the floor against the Clippers, so of course our main guys like Don and Rudy would've gassed themselves and struggled with injury/fitness. That's when you would wish you have that options of Jeff Green, Kaminsky or Jabari Parker being available from the bench.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Suns got the big stuff right and they also got most of the small stuff right. Then they stayed healthier than other teams... when CP was out they had Cam to pickup the slack. When Cam Johnson was out they had Craig to pick up minutes.

say Cam Payne has to sit... they have Galloway and Moore available. Not world beaters but solid functional proven NBA players. Say Saric is out... they have Frank... again not a world beater but a guy that can play.

Outside or Ersan we had no one you could look at and trust.

Suns deserve a **** ton of credit... James Jones chief among them. He has a tough, cheap owner and built a winner and filled out the roster beautifully. Also convinced Monty Williams to come there. Through adding CP, Jae, Monty to a young core he helped build a culture there quickly.... with an owner who is kind of a joke tbh. It wasn’t that long ago when Jones was having to show up for Josh Jackson at fan events because he no showed... Booker was a star hunting loser... Ayton was talented but aimless. No asterisk... give Jones his flowers. He did awesome.