I am talking about the playoffs, I specified that so we could avoid a whole bunch of regular season stats and , when we know there are regular season stars that aren't cut for the playoffs, Derozan being the biggest and worst of them. I am leaving regular season discussion aside. In the regular season you can get away with a lot, like Pop playing his team without the big 3 and still being compe ive and winning a few games sometimes. He did it to develop the roster, smart strategy. Sometimes players get injured in the regular season too, and you play who you have available. But there are many bad teams in the regular season, there are other teams that would be good, but you face them when there are injuries. There is a whole lot of context for why you can win some games in the regular season with less than your full roster, but you need your best guys in the playoffs.
I already made the main points. The Grizzlies are not some juggernaut team. They are well coached and balanced, enough to defeat the dregs of the regular season without Ja most of the time. In the playoffs? No. Not so much. Ive said that before, Ja raises their ceiling. But in terms of comparison, Ja doesn't have a costar and this is not like the Suns or GSW who are both on another level of experience and in the case of the Suns specially, talent. I am talking about 2 young teams with 2 young stars. One is elevating his game in the 4th Q when the team needs him, the other isn't.
Listen, I want both to win, I don't care for the Suns or the GSW. Both Ja and Luka are underdogs in this race. Grizzlies may very well lose from here on out, because their team is made up of a bunch of youngsters that are not reliable from game to game. But Grizzlies have made come backs in the majority of the games they have played and have won ugly games bc they hustle and in the 4th Q, Ja shows up. Maybe he saves a bunch of his energy for the 4th when they need him, and Luka is out of shape and gassed by the 4th, could be as easy as that, but regardless of the ultimate outcome, I don't see Luka being effective when the team really needs him which is the 4th. That is really the time for stars. Are we going to start blaming teammates for stars not showing up in the 4th of playoff games?