2018 PLAYOFFS: (1) Houston vs. (5) Utah

Jingles with the franchise Playoff record for most threes in a single game, too.

Damn Aussies only naming their own players. Any love for Crowder and Burks?

Watching highlights I got the sense that Burks played really well. And a lot of 3s from Ingles

Watching Dante Exum reminds me of the current Shaun Livingston, playing defense and handling the ball, and Exum's playing well in that role too. Or Thabo Sefolosha with less shooting but better ball handling.

Watching Dante Exum reminds me of the current Shaun Livingston, playing defense and handling the ball

Same. Athletic version of Shaun Livingston.

Thought the Jazz had a nice momentum built up taking away homecourt advantage. 30 points deficit early in the game is little too much though.

Rockets defense is looking better than I expected.

Houston has the talent to play good defense. They are scary when they choose to do just that.

That's long been the knock on Harden individually, too. As Jeff Van Gundy once put it, he's a "disinterested defender". It's not like he doesn't have the capability to play solid D, it's just been a matter of willingness and dedication.

I saw moments in the highlights of harden playing matador defense but saved by capela at the bucket

What was that Alonzo Mourning quote when he won Defensive Player of the Year? "I thank my teammates for letting their men blow by them."

Looking past on some memorable players who relied on their defensive ability to be good, their good years were quite short. Perhaps enforcing Rule of Verticality due to Hibbert caused many players to suffer? Joakim Noah, Serge Ibaka, etc have struggled since great young days. It makes me wonder for how long Capela will remain great, and if is in similar situation as they were and will decline rather quickly heading toward age of 30.

Limited offensive game, systems that can't utilise them effectively on offense, injuries, or a combination of the three. I don't think Capela is necessarily doomed, but being too one dimensional or at least somewhat of a liability at the offensive end obviously isn't great for your career's longevity, so it's something to avoid.

Would have been nice to see Rubio able to play this whole series, I think the Jazz would have had a better showing. Its not over, but it's looking like it will be.

Mitchell seems to be doing the best he can adjusting to being more of a primary ball handler, but sometimes it's just not enough. It seems to be impacting his shot selection in a negative way. Agreed with him on his post game Harden comment though, Harden is annoying as all hell. He gets fouls by wrapping his arm around the defender while he is driving, he flops and flails around, his game can be so ugly. The refs give him the call the majority of the time, much to the dismay of the baffled players on the opposing teams. Mitchell will be one of my favorite players for some time now, I like the way he carries himself, how competitive/real he is.

phpBB [video]

Man, I was hoping for Rubio to be back for this game then be 100% healthy for game 6. Could have been fun to see if his presence could have made the difference. But at the moment it's looking like there won't be a game 6.



Whatever happens, props to the Jazz team that were not expected to make this far considering how they lost Hayward for nada last offseason.

What the fuck are the Nuggets doing anyways? They gave the Jazz first the Rudy Gobert, now the Donovan Mitchell.
Cash -> Rudy Gobert
Lyles -> Donovan Mitchell

lolz

Lyles for Mitchell? That's probably one of the more lopsided draft day trades in history

It seems they had already invested in Jamal Murray, a up and coming 2nd year sophomore point guard. On top, Barton and Gary Harris, they perhaps thought Mitchell was gonna cause a backcourt logjam issues. Same reason they traded Rudy Gobert away.to the Jazz. They already had McGee and Mozgov, lol.

You can't justify Mitchell for Lyles trade at this point. But if Murray turns out to be a star, maybe Jazz fans can forget. Like they found Jokic in 2nd round, so it made losing Gobert for washing machine a lot less salty.

For now though:
Murray > Mitchell
Jokic < Gobert

Wow cp3

Home court will be big for Houstons 3pt bombers