The one trend I’m buying into playoffs wise is the value of turnovers/extra possessions. Shot distribution used to be the low hanging fruit, but now everyone has adjusted and while shooting will normalize over an 82 game season it’s still make or miss on any given night. You can’t really control for that, but you can try to control the possessions battle. You get extra possessions by offensive rebounding, you take possessions by chasing turnovers, and you lose them by turning it over yourself. Shai and Hali are the best because they can score and create, but they also take care of the ball. When offense efficiency is higher, the extra possessions also matter more.
I’ve seen multiple people talk about this, and it’s something I will admit that I’ve been slower on.
Hardy plays a system that is inherently higher turnover and so far we’ve had a defensive system that does not aim to force turnovers. One could argue that this is just the result of poor personnel, but if this is actually how Hardy wants to play we are that team who wouldn’t shoot 3’s back in the day.