2025 Playoffs Chat & Chill Thread

[The Midnight]

I’m gonna get killed for saying this, but Luka isn’t a good basketball player. He’s a tremendous offensive player. But he doesn’t rebound, play defense, hustle, lead, or inspire. He does offense and whine at the officials. One of my least favorite players to watch because all he does is play offense and whine. I enjoy watching players play all facets of the game. Even better when they’re not constantly railing on the refs. Gimmie Ant Man over Luka any day of the week. Dude plays hard, plays offense, plays defense, and isn’t a lard ***.

Well, there’s a reason trading Luca to Lakers was Nico’s 3rd choice behind Giannis and Ant..

 

[The Midnight]

Why did the wolves trade KAT again? I like DiVencenzo. But Randle sucks. KAT can shoot, pass, and defend.

Save money.

 

[FrenchJazzFa]

Great effort from Minny today. They are really good when focus, have a lot of physicality and a huge bench. Rudy was bad but did his job in defense. Series may be tough for him. Hope he play better at game 2. Jaden Mac Daniels is a top player on both side of the court. If ANT keep focus the whole series, they have a chance.

 

[HermanG]

Great effort from Minny today. They are really good when focus, have a lot of physicality and a huge bench. Rudy was bad but did his job in defense. Series may be tough for him. Hope he play better at game 2. Jaden Mac Daniels is a top player on both side of the court. If ANT keep focus the whole series, they have a chance.

Reddick was hell bent on stopping Ant drives and that lead to so so so many wide open 3s.

At times their secondary defender did more than "cheat towards help"... they blatantly dropped their guy and were left in no mans land.

Only one whose shooting they respected was Donte, but Naz, McD, Randle and Conley got so many wide open set shots.

 

[zags422]

they need to force it out of his hand much earlier. I think they are too lazy on rotations though and any doubling they try will end in failure. will be interesting to see game 2 adjustments.

 

[slc]

How long before LeBron has Reddick fired?

 

[The Thriller]

What does JJ have against Knecht? Lakers could’ve used his athleticism and shooting last night. To me, the lakers just look so slow and stagnant, so an injection of Knecht who can actually do stuff offensively would help. When 400 year old LBJ is still your best athlete? You’ve got problems.

 

[The Thriller]

How long before LeBron has Reddick fired?

3 more games

 

[The Midnight]

What does JJ have against Knecht? Lakers could’ve used his athleticism and shooting last night. To me, the lakers just look so slow and stagnant, so an injection of Knecht who can actually do stuff offensively would help. When 400 year old LBJ is still your best athlete? You’ve got problems.

Didn't he pout for a week after that trade got rescinded?

Maybe that’s the reason?

 

[SoberasHotRod]

I just noticed that the 8th seed in the Western Conference has 48 wins while the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference has 37.

 

[The Midnight]

Really looking forward to the HOU vs Warriors game.

Especially looking forward to the Curry vs Thompson and Butler vs Brooks match-ups.

Fireworks.

 

[The Thriller]

they need to force it out of his hand much earlier. I think they are too lazy on rotations though and any doubling they try will end in failure. will be interesting to see game 2 adjustments.

I don’t think the lakers have the length or speed to do this well. Also, they might just have the league’s worst defender in the starting lineup with stupid Luka. The Lakers consistently play 4 on 5 defensively. If they double and Luka isn’t already on the ball handler, then they’re playing 3 on 5 since Luka doesn’t ever rotate.

Lakers are finding out what the Jazz endured for years when we had Boozer. Teams will just relentlessly exploit the one guy who refuses to play defense. Luka isn’t winning any titles until he commits to defense. He’ll have a nice James Harden like career. You just can’t win in today’s hyper athletic NBA when you’ve got a guy who’s so slow and lazy on defense. You’re literally giving up a layup or wide open 3 on every possession.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

What does JJ have against Knecht? Lakers could’ve used his athleticism and shooting last night. To me, the lakers just look so slow and stagnant, so an injection of Knecht who can actually do stuff offensively would help. When 400 year old LBJ is still your best athlete? You’ve got problems.

He’s an atrocious defender and is really just a shooter right now.

 

[The Thriller]

Didn't he pout for a week after that trade got rescinded?

Maybe that’s the reason?

Wasn’t that a while ago? Play the rookie. He might force the twolves to actually sweat on defense. The twolves built nearly a 30 pt lead in LA last night. This is gonna get ugly real fast if the Lakers don’t roll the dice. Can’t keep playing lineups with guys that can’t shoot, like Vando, and expect the twolves defenders to care.

 

[HermanG]

What does JJ have against Knecht? Lakers could’ve used his athleticism and shooting last night. To me, the lakers just look so slow and stagnant, so an injection of Knecht who can actually do stuff offensively would help. When 400 year old LBJ is still your best athlete? You’ve got problems.

Im not sure who you'd take out for Knecht? Their roster is also more lacking on the big man department and they are at a size disadvantagein this series which Knecht doesnt solve at all.

Doncic 40 min, Reaves 36 min and Vincent 24 min ate all their guard minutes.

 

[The Thriller]

He’s an atrocious defender and is really just a shooter right now.

He definitely is a poor defender. But the Lakers offense looked so stagnant. I think they’ve gotta try to shoot their way out of this series. I think they’ve gotta hope to get hot offensively and outscore Ant man than whatever it was they tried last night.

 

[The Thriller]

Im not sure who you'd take out for Knecht? Their roster is also more lacking on the big man department and they are at a size disadvantagein this series which Knecht doesnt solve at all.

Doncic 40 min, Reaves 36 min and Vincent 24 min ate all their guard minutes.

Give him Vincent’s mins. I bet Knecht scores more than 3 pts in 24 mins.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Im not sure who you'd take out for Knecht? Their roster is also more lacking on the big man department and they are at a size disadvantagein this series which Knecht doesnt solve at all.

Doncic 40 min, Reaves 36 min and Vincent 24 min ate all their guard minutes.

I’m not sure if Mark Williams is actually good but they need a big man and may regret not finishing that trade. Defensive implications of having a big are huge but also for Luka to be fully realized they need a screener/lob threat. Was amazed at how pedestrian Lively looks right now. Luka may love bagging on Rudy but they truly may have been like an elite duo.

 

[HermanG]

Give him Vincent’s mins. I bet Knecht scores more than 3 pts in 24 mins.

Vincent blocked Ant dunk tho. Knecht would never.

Also lets not pretend like Knecht is Steph. He shot 37.6% from 3 this season which is a bit over league average.

 

[The Thriller]

I also would toy with the idea of going small and dare the wolves to post up Gobert. Admittedly, It’s probably a lost cause.