Ibaka being out is bad. He's the main guy who keeps Tony Parker in check. I hope this means a lot more playing time for Adams, though. His offense isn't great yet, but he's only 20 and already a beast on defense and the boards.

Pacers rocked Miami pretty good yesterday, 3 peat may be premature. We'll see if they can maintain it. They are finally at the spot they've been gearing up for all year, if they are going to play inspired ball it will be now.

They just need a big body to board and control the paint without getting in foul trouble.  The latter is a problem because Adams is a rookie so he will get lit up by refs like a Christmas tree on the fouls just because. Ibaka out always throws a wrench in Brooks #1 go to inbound play under 5 seconds left (Westbrook or Durant launch a 3 for Ibaka to put back).  What's more worrying is the lack of sharing and ball movement by Durant and Westbrook during the playoffs.  This is exactly the thing Brooks talked to both of them about at the start of the season and it's not translating in the post season so far.

Doubtful the Pacers could repeat that balance and high percentage scoring consistently.  I wouldn't look at it anymore significantly than Chris Paul's game 1 against the Thunder.  If they lose game 2 to the Heat they are in trouble.  If they win then they will be in really good shape. Pacers couldn't close out the Heat really towards the end and Watson and Mahinmi are just terrible.  If Vogel counts on those two for anything from the bench they will be screwed.  Van Gundy thinks Watson is good which tells you he isn't. 

The question too is how hurt is Tony Parker and do the Spurs have enough Geritol to keep the energy up?  I have to say I'd love to see Leonard on the Lakers sometime soon.  He's exactly what they need along with a Bynum type Center.  I could live with a Kobe/Love Vonleh and Leonard Lakers.

That is ridiculous.  Have the Lebron reparations been paid yet?

Going to be a lot of what ifs about Ibaka playing games 1+2. Oh well, we obviously had consistency issues all playoffs long.

Rooting for Spurs, but expecting a Heatpeat.

Is basketball still on?  I'm watching the LA Kings.

Heat/Spurs rematch with another hurt Tony Parker is like my nightmare scenario coming true.  This new NBA/Heat/D'Antoni small ball push is a bunch of crap and I'm going to hurl if a 3-peat validates this nonsense somehow w/ the press.

Quote from: Anaxilus on June 03, 2014, 11:04:36 PM

Quote from: Maxvla on June 03, 2014, 09:07:37 PM

Going to be a lot of what ifs about Ibaka playing games 1+2. Oh well, we obviously had consistency issues all playoffs long.

Rooting for Spurs, but expecting a Heatpeat.

Is basketball still on?  I'm watching the LA Kings.

Heat/Spurs rematch with another hurt Tony Parker is like my nightmare scenario coming true.  This new NBA/Heat/D'Antoni small ball push is a bunch of crap and I'm going to hurl if a 3-peat validates this nonsense somehow w/ the press.

Not sure how you lumped the current Heat team and D'Antoni together... Per BBR, the Heat has been playing at the slowest pace out of the 16 playoff teams (yes, even slower than the Bulls), while the Spurs are ranked fourth (faster than the Rockets).

What are you looking at time of possession? That doesn't tell you anything very much. They run a modified pick and pop small ball offense with your 4 popping J's from the baseline (Bosh and 13/14Gasol) spreading the floor with as many 3-point shooters as possible, and they do break early and hard off turnovers. I wouldn't confuse D'Antoni's Phoenix offense (which is the basis of most current small ball philosophies) with Paul Westphal's run and gun abomination.  If you are trying to tell me the Heat run a more deliberate post up game than the Spurs or Rockets because bbr told you so, good luck with that.

Just because a rooster crows in the morning doesn't mean it caused the sun to rise.

Quote from: Anaxilus on June 05, 2014, 04:56:08 AM

Quote from: LHMMMM on June 05, 2014, 02:14:47 AM

Quote from: Anaxilus on June 03, 2014, 11:04:36 PM

Quote from: Maxvla on June 03, 2014, 09:07:37 PM

Going to be a lot of what ifs about Ibaka playing games 1+2. Oh well, we obviously had consistency issues all playoffs long.

Rooting for Spurs, but expecting a Heatpeat.

Is basketball still on?  I'm watching the LA Kings.

Heat/Spurs rematch with another hurt Tony Parker is like my nightmare scenario coming true.  This new NBA/Heat/D'Antoni small ball push is a bunch of crap and I'm going to hurl if a 3-peat validates this nonsense somehow w/ the press.

Not sure how you lumped the current Heat team and D'Antoni together... Per BBR, the Heat has been playing at the slowest pace out of the 16 playoff teams (yes, even slower than the Bulls), while the Spurs are ranked fourth (faster than the Rockets).

What are you looking at time of possession? That doesn't tell you anything very much. They run a modified pick and pop small ball offense with your 4 popping J's from the baseline (Bosh and 13/14Gasol) spreading the floor with as many 3-point shooters as possible, and they do break early and hard off turnovers. I wouldn't confuse D'Antoni's Phoenix offense (which is the basis of most current small ball philosophies) with Paul Westphal's run and gun abomination.  If you are trying to tell me the Heat run a more deliberate post up game than the Spurs or Rockets because bbr told you so, good luck with that.

Just because a rooster crows in the morning doesn't mean it caused the sun to rise.

Your saying "this new NBA/Heat/D'Antoni small ball push" implies that the Heat plays at a fast pace (correct me if I understood you incorrectly). That is why I used the pace stats in my previous post.

And in the playoffs, transition offense has been a bigger part of the Spurs offense: 12.33% vs 11% for the Heat. Not a huge difference, but it certainly won't convince me that the Spurs offense has been more "deliberate" (whatever this even means) than the Heat offense.

I never said anything about post up game. If you think more post offense=more deliberate, fair enough.

I see the confusion now. Small ball push means a push for teams to adopt or copy a small ball offensive philosophy like I outlined above in a half court set, not push as in pace or push THE BALL up the court. That's not how I used 'push' grammatically.