Stop the Kawhi hate, seriously. The guy is a phenomonal talent and not the reason we're out of the playoffs. Age, lack of athleticism, some bad breaks and facing a talented team that wanted it more is why we've gone fishing.
How about some analysis of LMA around here? He was great in games 1 and 2, then disappeared for much of the rest of the series. In crucial game 5 he went 6-21 missing at least 5 wide-open, uncontested jumpers (supposedly his bread and butter), including a 12ft bunny in the final 1:30 that would have put us up 4 and could have steadied the ship. Choke much?
Do you like relying on a streaky mid range jump shooter to win big playoff game? I don't. He holds the ball, clogs up the offence, and when he's off keeps shooting rather than getting down and dirty and grinding out some post buckets like he should.
We had to grab him when he was available, and we probably have to give him another season, but I'm unconvinced he's the medium term future for this team. What do you think?
He was our entire team for long stretches of the first two games tbh. We wasted an efficient 41-pt performance by him. Not going to solely put blame LMA, despite his poor performance in Game 6, particularly in the 4th. It was a collective effort of players not playing well enough, from our stars to our role players.
Agree with ruff. LMA disappeared in Game 5. I don't care if he scored 40 points the first two games. He missed two crucial shots in Game 5 down the stretch. He couldn't be counted on when the pressure was on the Spurs. LMA is the type of player to also keep his head down when he's struggling.
The Spurs essentially killed their offense to accommodate his. It's the truth.
No. Just in game 2.
In game 1 Kawhi scored 25 points in 20 minutes, Danny was 5-6 on 3's, Tim looked decent most minutes...he wasn't our entire team.
LMA is a 3rd option, it's not his fault that Pop made him the focal point of the offense. If Chris Paul was the point guard then he would be getting easy buckets rather than trying to score against double teams (that how they stopped him in the post after Gm 2). Running your offense through LMA would be the equivalent of the Cavs making Love their primary scoring option, fortunately they have Kyrie.
Kawhi also has to be the ball handler during crunch time instead of leaving it up to Porker who's going to run PnRs instead of giving the rock to the best player on the team w/ enough time on the shot-clock.
Kiwi s are pathetic. Always wanting to deflect the hate on to other players
Says the Tony Parker homer
For me, there was no hate. jus dissapointment on how they dissappeared in the 4th & How LMA declined game by game!
If anything, I hated that, not them!
Lookin foward to big futures in Black & Silver from them!
Aldridge had a bunch of good shots that he just missed. Can't really say much about that. Further, for the last 3 games the Thunder essentially double teamed him every time he touched the ball with Duncan or West's man. At that point it's up to the rest of the team to exploit it. That, and it's not on him to get himself the ball in good position in the fourth. Sure he can call for it, but we just straight up stopped going to him at times and relied on the wrong people.
Leonard, on the other hand, just forced bad shots for the entire series. It was obvious by game 2 that Roberson's and Durant's length bothered him in the post, yet when they took away that one move he never responded by going to the rim more or working out of the screen and roll. His offense was great all season, but this series demonstrated precisely why people facepalmed when Pop said they wanted him to model his game after Barkley or old Kobe. They worked for 2 years on making him great at the turnaround postup fadeaway jumper, but the bottom line is unless you are MJ or Kobe, there are defenders capable of taking that away. They took away his one move and he had nothing else, yet for games 5 & 6 he largely defended inferior offensive players so he could save energy to waste possessions on the other end with ugly, unforced low percentage shots.
This is an oddly time thread. The hate was one or two days after the loss.
If any one needs to be called out its the POP hate assholes. Pop is untouchable . Basketball Pope.
When people say Kawhi can't run the pick and rolls with LMA, I tell them they should watch the Spurs-Raptors game in SA.Kawhi also has to be the ball handler during crunch time instead of leaving it up to Porker who's going to run PnRs instead of giving the rock to the best player on the team w/ enough time on the shot-clock.
Why Pop called that play to close game 5? He has been horrible in his late-game decisions, sticking with Parker in those crucial minutes shows it.
This isn't true, and you know that.
He didn't settle for jumps during the entire series, Kawhi was driving to the hoop in the series more than he did in the whole regular season. And he looked really good at it, that was one of his biggest improvements. Sadly, he didn't get enough calls.
They took away his one move and he had nothing else
A player who was 80th percentile or better in most categories this year, a so versatile scorer but...he has just one move.
Last edited by YGWHI; 05-17-2016 at 07:59 PM.
I dont hate him but Im disappointed, last season he was autistic and now does the same thing again, LMA is in his first season here and had 2 awesome games so trying to blame LMA for the outcome is re ed.
Kiwi is 24 years old, when the thunder beat SAS in 2013 Durbeta was 23 and no Duncan Gino and all those players helping him, yes they won because it was a ref job but he was a much better offensive player than Kiwi is now.
Was so complex about driving and shooting?
Neither deserves hate, tbh. LMA obviously doesn't like to bang around too much, but he's a solid pick and pop player.
Aren't you the same poster who hated on Kawhi all year for the clips series where LMA essentially did the same thing good first couple games then horrible the last few?
Except his overall % for the series was fine way more efficient then LMA or westbrook. Do you even look at the stats or watch the games or do you just run with narratives.
Kawhi haters - go find another team, seriously. He is the best perimeter defender in the NBA, and may end up the best the game has ever seen. His offense is not perfect, but he has become a smooth 20pt scorer who can drive, shoot, post, and score off garbage from broken plays. He's a devastating second option. Now we need to find a primary guy, and I'm concerned LMA is not the one we need.
He was the primary option for years in Portland. Your KLove analogy is apt though. I think LMA'd be a perfect second option - it's just a pity that Kawhi is also better as a second option, just like Scottie Pippen was. Kawhi is basically a Pippen clone with less play-making but better shooting.LMA is a 3rd option, it's not his fault that Pop made him the focal point of the offense. If Chris Paul was the point guard then he would be getting easy buckets rather than trying to score against double teams (that how they stopped him in the post after Gm 2). Running your offense through LMA would be the equivalent of the Cavs making Love their primary scoring option, fortunately they have Kyrie.
Kawhi also has to be the ball handler during crunch time instead of leaving it up to Porker who's going to run PnRs instead of giving the rock to the best player on the team w/ enough time on the shot-clock.
As for your other point about Parker, I totally agree. I couldn't believe it when Parker took bad shots on every possession in the final minute of game 5 while Kawhi never saw the ball. It was ing ridiculous. On one of those plays Kawhi was WIDE OPEN on the wing and could have shot a wide open 3 or driven for a better shot. We were down 2 at the time. Atrociously nonsenscial.
See my comment above.
I'm not hating on LMA, I just don't like relying on a pick and pop softie to win big games.
He's clearly a nice guy, a good teammate and an elite player, but I think he's a terrible fit with Kawhi, and I'd like to see him traded for a true alpha dog if possible... although that probably isn't possible, and not a Spursian thing to do. So we need to learn to use him better, or he needs to adjust his game.
Jump shooting teams don't win. The biggest asterisk should have went to GSW last year who did not beat anyone at full strength.
Writing off the Dubs already? They'll win that series in 7 of the best games we'll ever see.
In general, I agree with you though. Relying on jumpers to win big games is fool's gold... unless you have two of the purest shooters in NBA history, that is.
Never said anything about his percentages. He probably could've shot 75% had he not thrown up 5-7 fade aways per game.
If you consider dribbling to the paint, stopping, and shooting a fade away "driving to the hoop", sure. I don't. When he actually drove to the hoop he had a lot of success, but his post play was horrendous and he forced it way too much.This isn't true, and you know that.
He didn't settle for jumps during the entire series, Kawhi was driving to the hoop in the series more than he did in the whole regular season. And he looked really good at it, that was one of his biggest improvements. Sadly, he didn't get enough calls.
A player who was 80th percentile or better in most categories this year, a so versatile scorer but...he has just one move.
Kawhi is a first team nba player this year. Aldridge is not. So I cam see why theres hate. Kawhi is just a different tier of player so a lot of casuals would put the burden on him when the team loses.
Aldridge is a third tier star that no one really gives a about. Hes in the same category as Klay thompson. They usually have very little critics because they are not exactly tier 1 playera in the nba.
They're not even in the same breath of caliber players. Kawhi is a first teamer in a season where Durant the best scorer I have ever seen and a top 5 player of all time in James.
Put that into perspective op..
To put it shortly, the media doesnt give a about third tier stars like Aldridge.
I agree that those two are 2 legit 2 quit, but if Westbrook plays like he did last night, it won't matter. Durant shot 10 for 30 (he missed 20 shots) and had 5 TOs. Thunder still won by 6. Thunder went to the line 15 more times. Its about points and pace. People downplay momentum because you can't quantify it. These are the same re s that believe in advanced stats but never played basketball. It will be interesting to see if Kerr makes it a point to take better shots, play a little more lax on defense to get the transition game going, etc. Time to see if Kerr is a coach or a PopWriting off the Dubs already? They'll win that series in 7 of the best games we'll ever see.
In general, I agree with you though. Relying on jumpers to win big games is fool's gold... unless you have two of the purest shooters in NBA history, that is.
I don't find it that bad. Kawhi and LMA work like 1a-1b interchangeable duo.
Not having a true/conventional #1 option isn't a big issue when a team has two guys who can score +22 pts most games. The real problem for Spurs is depth now.
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