Not Buying the Pistons and Kawhi is Unreal

 What a couple of bangers last night in the NBA, this is what the playoffs is all about. I don't have much time today so just doing quick recaps. Since I've committed to being a Pistons hater, expect to see victory laps when they lose and me bashing their wins when they pull them off. Lets get to it, I have work to do!


Knicks Pistons

The Knicks lost this one but I came away encouraged that they might even take this thing in 5 games. The Pistons played tough and physical game for all 4 quarters yesterday, resulting in a lot of fouls and a lot of Pistons fans whining that the whistle was biased. The thing is when you play in a way that dares the officials to call fouls on every play, you might get called for a foul on every play. Cade was awesome scoring the ball in the first 3 quarters, but then totally disappeared in the 4th when the Knicks started to aggressively double team him, a strategy I expect to see more often. When the Knicks went to this, credit to their role players for stepping up. Dennis Schroder hit a pull up 3 in the dying seconds of the 4th quarter to give the Pistons the lead and secure the victory, something I don't think you can rely on consistently. In back to back games now the Pistons looked shook down the stretch of these close games while the Knicks showed that they'd been there before. Good job Pistons, Dennis Schroder won't save you again.


Clippers Nuggets

That was a thriller, again! I had to tune out of that one as I was falling asleep around midnight, but I can't go an entire post without talking about Kawhi. Kawhi Leonard was every bit as good as he was for the Raptors in 2019, it was scary if you're a Nuggets fan. He was insane on defense and his shot making was a sight to behold. The Nuggets tried a variety of defenders and strategies on Kawhi and nothing mattered. If he is healthy and playing like this, he has claim to be the best player in any series and that's not even an exaggeration. I can't remember the exact stats, but look them up they were nuts and the eye test matched it. This series is totally going 7. 


That's that! So busy today but wanted to pump something out there so very quick one today!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ode to Kyle Lowry

 I can't believe this wasn't my first post. This blog as of right now is pretty much just a public diary where I write about my sports heroes and thoughts and nobody in the world had a bigger sports impact on me than Kyle Lowry. Growing up as a white kid in Toronto, we watched hockey. I remember my dad used to call the Raptors "the craptors" and he wasn't entirely off-base. For pretty much my entire childhood, the Raptors stunk. We had some nice stories here and there, Chris Bosh was a home grown all-star, but mostly they weren't worth paying attention to. Basketball wasn't culturally engrained in me and so a struggling team was just not going to get my eyeballs on the screen.   In 2012, everything changed. The Raptors, after striking out on aging Canadian superstar Steve Nash, went to their backup plan: the "lockeroom cancer" Kyle Lowry. Lowry had a history of attitude problems coming from the Houston Rockets. Not a lot of teams wanted to take a...
Read more

Predicting the NBA Western Conference Standings

 Yesterday I wrote about my predictions for the Eastern Conference. It was pretty hard, some bold takes in there that are sure to make me look foolish in April. Today I'm embarking on the even more difficult task of projecting the Western Conference. As always readers, if you have a problem with these lists please let me know in the comments!  15. Portland Trailblazers  This is the only "easy" one on this list. The Blazers were not a good team last season. They have since traded one of their best players in Malcom Brogdon. They did however swing for an intriguing young player Deni Avdija that should help them out this year. They aren't a completely hopeless program. Former first overall pick DeAndre Ayton could have a resurgent season, "Timelord" Robert Williams may be healthy, Scoot Henderson in year two could show more flashes of being a productive NBA player. There are some things to be excited about for sure. In a stacked west however, it is hard to see ...
Read more

Predicting the NBA Eastern Conference Standings

 Ah August. What a time for me to start something like this when content is slim to none unless you're avidly following baseball. Something fun though might be predicting the NBA's standings for the upcoming season. Today we'll start with the Eastern conference. I think it'll be fun to do a retrospective at the end of the year and see how good I am at this prediction thing. Anyway, without further ado, here are your 2024-2025 Eastern Conference Standings:  15. Brooklyn Nets The Nets weren't the worst team in the league last year but this season will prove to be different. After trading Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for draft picks and scraps, then recovering their first round pick from the Rockets, The Nets are in tank mode. Unless Ben Simmons has a massive return to form, Cam Thomas takes a step with his playmaking and defense, and the front office decides they don't really care about incoming draftee Cooper Flagg, the Nets are going to be a bad basketball team t...
Read more