The Finals

Who wins?


  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I wouldn't have thought that he could fix the Raptors, and yet, here we are.
To be fair, the Raptors didn't have a supermax contract committed to a dude with a game predicated on his supreme athleticism who just ruptured his Achilles in a freak accident while recovering from another season ending injury and a huge other portion of their salary cap going to Jabari Parker. They have Beal which is a nice starting point but yeeesh
 
Win a bit cheapened with Thompson dialed in for 45 before going down.. He was grabbing his patellar tendon unfortunately. Warriors put up a good fight. With Durant out for most or all of next season, I think they could fall back to earth somewhat. Meanwhile I liked seeing the Raptors win. They earned their place with an epic '6ers series - one of the better series of this playoffs. They won with defense. Kings ought to take note of that.
 
Am I the only one who felt like the Warriors lost this game when they stopped giving Cousins the ball? I've been very harsh on him in the finals, but he was toying with the Raptors all night. Yeah he missed FTs down the stretch, but he played very good today. Curry was off all game. Cousins should've been playing.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Win a bit cheapened with Thompson dialed in for 45 before going down.. He was grabbing his patellar tendon unfortunately. Warriors put up a good fight. With Durant out for most or all of next season, I think they could fall back to earth somewhat. Meanwhile I liked seeing the Raptors win. They earned their place with an epic '6ers series - one of the better series of this playoffs. They won with defense. Kings ought to take note of that.
Good thing Luke Walton has turned out to be one of the better defensive coaches in the league in his first couple of seasons.
 
Am I the only one who felt like the Warriors lost this game when they stopped giving Cousins the ball? I've been very harsh on him in the finals, but he was toying with the Raptors all night. Yeah he missed FTs down the stretch, but he played very good today. Curry was off all game. Cousins should've been playing.
With Thompson carrying their offense, it was a tall order to win with him going out....Cousins looked somewhat bumbling and maybe still hobbled. I dont know about "very good" but definitely better than some of his other games.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
With Thompson carrying their offense, it was a tall order to win with him going out....Cousins looked somewhat bumbling and maybe still hobbled. I dont know about "very good" but definitely better than some of his other games.
All I know is, I would like to have seen a healthy Cousins in the playoffs, instead of the shadow we got. Hell, I'd have happily settled for the "75 percent" version we had, at the end of the regular season.
 
Good thing Luke Walton has turned out to be one of the better defensive coaches in the league in his first couple of seasons.
They need to resign Cauley Stein at a fair price for the cap - priority one this offseason imo. Cauley Stein is their best front-line defender even with his inexplicable lapses in effort and judgement. His mobility for his size is top 3 in the league. Now if he wants too much salary, forget it, but try to give him a fair shake.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
They need to resign Cauley Stein at a fair price for the cap - priority one this offseason imo. Cauley Stein is their best front-line defender even with his inexplicable lapses in effort and judgement. His mobility for his size is top 3 in the league. Now if he wants too much salary, forget it, but try to give him a fair shake.
I don't know if the Kings can afford to have Willie as their starting center if they are serious about competing for Playoff berths and hopefully a title down the road. You need your center to be able to spread the floor at least a bit.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
They need to resign Cauley Stein at a fair price for the cap - priority one this offseason imo. Cauley Stein is their best front-line defender even with his inexplicable lapses in effort and judgement. His mobility for his size is top 3 in the league. Now if he wants too much salary, forget it, but try to give him a fair shake.
— Teams win with defense!

— Followed by “Better resign Willie!” doesn’t compute to me. Lol
 
All I know is, I would like to have seen a healthy Cousins in the playoffs, instead of the shadow we got. Hell, I'd have happily settled for the "75 percent" version we had, at the end of the regular season.
You could tell his conditioning wasn't very good, and his lift was reduced. He still showed off his world class footwork, probably best in the NBA - that's how he could pull-off looking alright while being out of condition and injured. He might have hurt himself a bit stretching out for a loose ball earlier too. Cousins made his decision to go for the championship - crap the Kings could've taken him back for mid-level salary essentially very little. I'm growing a little tired of the Warriors. II'm neutral about Cousins. His defense was a liability though in the series
 
I don't know if the Kings can afford to have Willie as their starting center if they are serious about competing for Playoff berths and hopefully a title down the road. You need your center to be able to spread the floor at least a bit.
They dont even bother trying to let Stein shoot. You saw the season earlier, that when given the opportunity Stein has the ability to hit jumpers, but they're going for efficiency over development. They need Stein at least for depth.
 
yet, Gasol didn't win a thing with Memphis playing half court, grind it out defense. Then he worked on his three point game and voila, NBA champion.
Totally. This playoffs displayed one thing for sure, traditional big man defense is DEAD. You have to have spacing ability in your front court. There is no other option. Clint Capela is the only big man similar to Willie that made it deep at all and he became a huge liability and had to sit in crucial moments in the playoffs. Willie does have offensive potential left but the question whether or not the damage is done.
 
Stein is their best front court defender - but - he may have an inflated perception of his own player worth - I dunno, we'll see.
It will be interesting to see how teams value Willie. At this moment you're watching the Rox desperately trying to dump a superior talent in Clint Capela who was used similarly for something in the range of a middle first round pick in an iffy depth draft.. One year ago he would have been seen as untouchable. Memo's out. Post bigs will still have a place but the Kings already tainted Willie by trying to turn him into that the last few years to mediocre results. He still has the talent to turn it around and I do think he has a shot in there but he'll be fighting back up a hill against 4 years or so of misplaced development.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
Totally. This playoffs displayed one thing for sure, traditional big man defense is DEAD. You have to have spacing ability in your front court. There is no other option. Clint Capela is the only big man similar to Willie that made it deep at all and he became a huge liability and had to sit in crucial moments in the playoffs. Willie does have offensive potential left but the question whether or not the damage is done.
it's pretty simple. adapt or be out of the league or just not in rotation.