[2015] The Finals
- Thread starter Mr. S£im Citrus
- Start date
I just don't understand the disdain for the Warriors "Small ball". They put the best five guys on the floor, play defense...nothing gimmicky about them. Who cares if they have a small lineup. They were the best team in the regular season, beat old school smash mouth Memphis and won the championship fair and square. Congrats to Golden State.
K
NBA 3.0 BABY!!!!!
Well done to the GSW they were the most versatile and best team in the NBA hopefully more teams play there best players rather than traditional line ups.
I think NBA 3.0 with someone as insanely skilled as Cousins has potential because he's basically with his skill-set a post up/mid range SF stuck in a C's body, Cousins surrounded by 4 skilled/athletic players is gold.
Well done to the GSW they were the most versatile and best team in the NBA hopefully more teams play there best players rather than traditional line ups.
I think NBA 3.0 with someone as insanely skilled as Cousins has potential because he's basically with his skill-set a post up/mid range SF stuck in a C's body, Cousins surrounded by 4 skilled/athletic players is gold.
To that, I'm going to have to respectfully borrow a line from the obituary of the late James Whitlock: if you need the address, you're not invited. If you legit don't understand why some people have disdain for the Warriors, and their small ball system, I don't believe that any explanation exists that you would ever consider to be adequate. You either get it, or you don't.
Just because Bogut is not in the game or Festus whoever I don't like this constant small ball this or that. It's mostly if not entirely about matchups big or small. Many times Ws had Clay and Livingston both at 6'7" in backcourt along with"little" Curry plus Iggy plus Green or Lee inside. You deal your best cards, make smart adjustments and Coach Kerr managed it well to direct GSW to the title 4 games to 2.
Props to the Warriors. Best jump shooting team I have ever seen led by the best shooter in the game. There is a time to pick apart the win but tonight is not it. I am not convinced this earmarks some evolution in the game but it does prove that given the right guys and the right situation a team can win it all playing small and shooting jumpers.
Generalize much?
Speaking just for myself, and nobody else, I detest small ball. I don't give a rat's ass if it can win. The Warriors proving that it can win doesn't prove that "big boy" ball can't win anymore. More to the point, their winning the championship changes my opinion of it not a whit; it's not entertaining basketball to me.
Speaking just for myself, and nobody else, I detest small ball. I don't give a rat's ass if it can win. The Warriors proving that it can win doesn't prove that "big boy" ball can't win anymore. More to the point, their winning the championship changes my opinion of it not a whit; it's not entertaining basketball to me.
:: shrugs ::
From my point of view, that statement was equally as legitimate as your previous statement that "Most of those people don't believe any other system besides smashmouth can win and will make every excuse to back up their claim." Brick is the only one who seems to be in "denial," if you can even call it that, about whether small ball is "valid." The rest of us appear to be content to say, "We ****ing hate it," and let it go at that.
Well, maybe not "let it go"...
From my point of view, that statement was equally as legitimate as your previous statement that "Most of those people don't believe any other system besides smashmouth can win and will make every excuse to back up their claim." Brick is the only one who seems to be in "denial," if you can even call it that, about whether small ball is "valid." The rest of us appear to be content to say, "We ****ing hate it," and let it go at that.
Well, maybe not "let it go"...
This is certainly true. But ironically its got nothing to do with the Warriors junkball. Its just Basketball 101 when you have a dominant big -- get him some shooters to give him room to operate.
Of course parsing Karl's comments have half scared he's going to return DeMarcus to the Keith Smart position because he's never coached a postup center worth his salt.
Of course parsing Karl's comments have half scared he's going to return DeMarcus to the Keith Smart position because he's never coached a postup center worth his salt.
I feel like it CAN win with extremely fortunate circumstances. It's rare that a team make it all the way through the season and post season with no major injures to set them back. Not to mention literally every opponent they faced were missing key players. Had they gone up against healthy Spurs, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Cavs, maybe the Rockets, I'm not convinced they would have made it out. Injuries are part of the game but i wouldn't expect any team to be so fortunate any time soon. Smash mouth is the better way forward.
In other words they played nobody of significance and nobody healthy.
But they were the most talented team in the league, top to bottom, by far. Where we differ is in whether the talent or the style was the important factor. the talent gap being further exasperated by a remarkable string of injuries to opposing teams.
They played it the way they had to play it with their roster, but ti was hardly doing them any favors by the end, and they could hardly have gotten away with it against some of the more complete opponents from the past.
But they were the most talented team in the league, top to bottom, by far. Where we differ is in whether the talent or the style was the important factor. the talent gap being further exasperated by a remarkable string of injuries to opposing teams.
They played it the way they had to play it with their roster, but ti was hardly doing them any favors by the end, and they could hardly have gotten away with it against some of the more complete opponents from the past.
The first three games of the series were epic. The last three were pretty underwhelming for me, and game 6 was the worst one by far. It reminded me of some of those Clippers/Rockets games earlier in the playoffs where one team won only because both couldn't lose. Sloppy, terrible basketball from both teams. Kudos to Iggy though for stepping up to the plate. He's the one guy who wanted to win the most this series and he came through consistently for GS. How a 33% career three point shooter suddenly shot 40% in the Finals on 35 attempts is a mystery to me. I kept expecting him to come back down to earth, but he kept taking them and making them. He made more threes (14) than Lebron James (13) or Klay Thompson (12). Sure Steph Curry made 25 of them but that was on a Kobe'esque 65 attempts. And he competed on defense more than any other player on the floor. Well deserved Finals MVP for him.
As good as Lebron was statistically in this series, I still can't shake the impression that he doesn't want the ball when it counts. He spent far too much of this game hanging around the perimeter watching his teammates try to create shots. His defense was a joke. And that's not something I say lightly -- he's one of the top 5 best perimeter defenders in the league when he wants to be. Tonight, he had no interest in playing defense which is tantamount to giving up. Maybe he just didn't have the strength left after playing nearly every single minute of the series. He set such a high standard in those first 3 games, almost single-handidly willing the Cavs to a series lead over a far more talented (not to mention better coached) team that it was particularly disappointing when he reverted to pre-Miami Lebron in this game and constantly deferred responsibility to everyone else with uncharacteristically lazy passes and disengaged defensive effort. Otherwordly performance leads to otherwordly expectations. I was rooting for him to make history. Instead he took less free throws and settled for more threes than any other game of the series. The Lebron from games 1-3 wins this game easily, GS just wasn't very sharp. Five straight Finals appearances is still an achievement on it's own though and he'll probably be back representing the East again next year.
Small ball is smart basketball if it wins. It won tonight because Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov couldn't punish GS's mini front-line. Any team with a decent big would have eaten that Barnes/Green frontcourt for breakfast. Anybody trying to tell me NBA 3.0 (ie duck and chuck) is the wave of the future because GS won the series doesn't understand what they're watching in my opinion. Cleveland was a problem for GS when they had two players who could create their own shot. Once Kyrie went down, GS could key their entire defense on stopping Lebron and they wore him down (46 minutes a night over 6 games helped). That is a well-constructed team where everybody knows their role and nobody has to do too much. Depth and balance is no secret, it's been a staple of every championship team. It's not NBA 3.0 position-less nonsense, it's versatility and a willingness to make adjustments. Small ball worked against this hobbled Cleveland team in this series, it wouldn't have worked against Houston or Memphis. The ability to go big or go small as the situation demanded is what carried them through the playoffs (oh and a little bit of injury related good luck).
As good as Lebron was statistically in this series, I still can't shake the impression that he doesn't want the ball when it counts. He spent far too much of this game hanging around the perimeter watching his teammates try to create shots. His defense was a joke. And that's not something I say lightly -- he's one of the top 5 best perimeter defenders in the league when he wants to be. Tonight, he had no interest in playing defense which is tantamount to giving up. Maybe he just didn't have the strength left after playing nearly every single minute of the series. He set such a high standard in those first 3 games, almost single-handidly willing the Cavs to a series lead over a far more talented (not to mention better coached) team that it was particularly disappointing when he reverted to pre-Miami Lebron in this game and constantly deferred responsibility to everyone else with uncharacteristically lazy passes and disengaged defensive effort. Otherwordly performance leads to otherwordly expectations. I was rooting for him to make history. Instead he took less free throws and settled for more threes than any other game of the series. The Lebron from games 1-3 wins this game easily, GS just wasn't very sharp. Five straight Finals appearances is still an achievement on it's own though and he'll probably be back representing the East again next year.
Small ball is smart basketball if it wins. It won tonight because Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov couldn't punish GS's mini front-line. Any team with a decent big would have eaten that Barnes/Green frontcourt for breakfast. Anybody trying to tell me NBA 3.0 (ie duck and chuck) is the wave of the future because GS won the series doesn't understand what they're watching in my opinion. Cleveland was a problem for GS when they had two players who could create their own shot. Once Kyrie went down, GS could key their entire defense on stopping Lebron and they wore him down (46 minutes a night over 6 games helped). That is a well-constructed team where everybody knows their role and nobody has to do too much. Depth and balance is no secret, it's been a staple of every championship team. It's not NBA 3.0 position-less nonsense, it's versatility and a willingness to make adjustments. Small ball worked against this hobbled Cleveland team in this series, it wouldn't have worked against Houston or Memphis. The ability to go big or go small as the situation demanded is what carried them through the playoffs (oh and a little bit of injury related good luck).
Please grasp the concept: small-ball worked for the Warriors, not because the basketball philosophy is superior, but because the Warriors played to their strengths. Our strength lies in Boogie Cousins, the man who can tear you a second butt-hole down low. We will not bend over backwards to emulate the Warriors; that requires that the stars align in free agency, drafting, etc. What is under the Kings' control is how the coach utilizes the roster.
