NBA Playoffs

[ateamstupid]

Good article from Hollinger with a reality check for Howard. Dude has obviously bought his own hype, calling himself a "dominant" offensive player. The worst part is most people are agreeing with Howard. Have they watched him play?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...PERDiem-090513

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Good article from Hollinger with a reality check for Howard. Dude has obviously bought his own hype, calling himself a "dominant" offensive player. The worst part is most people are agreeing with Howard. Have they watched him play?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...PERDiem-090513

On that team, he is. It's not a matter of him being as dominant player as anyone else in the league but on that team, he is the team's best offensive weapon. Their offense has to work inside out. Rashard Lewis cannot create a shot for himself. Never has been able to. Turkoglu and Alston are best able to operate when the ball comes back out to them after going inside. When they take Howard out of their offense, they make it hard on themselves. Howard doesn't have to score all the time but has to at least get the ball and draw the double and kick it out to get the guys better shots. Also, he draws a lot of fouls and gets guys in foul trouble and gets his team in the penalty earlier. I don't think he's a dominant offensive player but he's their dominant inside player and he's got to get the ball.

Originally Posted by King Glorious

On that team, he is. It's not a matter of him being as dominant player as anyone else in the league but on that team, he is the team's best offensive weapon. Their offense has to work inside out. Rashard Lewis cannot create a shot for himself. Never has been able to. Turkoglu and Alston are best able to operate when the ball comes back out to them after going inside. When they take Howard out of their offense, they make it hard on themselves. Howard doesn't have to score all the time but has to at least get the ball and draw the double and kick it out to get the guys better shots. Also, he draws a lot of fouls and gets guys in foul trouble and gets his team in the penalty earlier. I don't think he's a dominant offensive player but he's their dominant inside player and he's got to get the ball.

Its pretty clear now they need J. Nelson's ability
to get into the lane and create opportunities. When
the Celtics really started playing D, Orlando folded.

Celtics are a very tough minded team compared to
Orlando. Even with Rajon Rondo, who cant hit a simple
jump shot to save his life. And for every good pass he
makes he follows it up with a bone head pass. Good thing
he is such a good athlete.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

On that team, he is. It's not a matter of him being as dominant player as anyone else in the league but on that team, he is the team's best offensive weapon. Their offense has to work inside out. Rashard Lewis cannot create a shot for himself. Never has been able to. Turkoglu and Alston are best able to operate when the ball comes back out to them after going inside. When they take Howard out of their offense, they make it hard on themselves. Howard doesn't have to score all the time but has to at least get the ball and draw the double and kick it out to get the guys better shots. Also, he draws a lot of fouls and gets guys in foul trouble and gets his team in the penalty earlier. I don't think he's a dominant offensive player but he's their dominant inside player and he's got to get the ball.

Maybe he's effective in the post against smaller teams, but against the Celtics, he can't score one-on-one against Perkins, and he's struggled against Big Baby as well. The Celtics also are not going to double him in the post, nor should they, so really, what the hell is he talking about? Maybe during the regular season against smaller post players he's imposing, but in this series he's been punked in the post over and over. So for him to blame an epic team choke on him not getting the ball in the post is total nonsense.

Also, you're wrong about Turkoglu and Lewis. They both can score off the dribble. It's not their calling cards, but they can do it, and they've both been way more successful off the dribble in this series than Howard's been in the post.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Maybe he's effective in the post against smaller teams, but against the Celtics, he can't score one-on-one against Perkins, and he's struggled against Big Baby as well. The Celtics also are not going to double him in the post, nor should they, so really, what the hell is he talking about? Maybe during the regular season against smaller post players he's imposing, but in this series he's been punked in the post over and over. So for him to blame an epic team choke on him not getting the ball in the post is total nonsense.

Also, you're wrong about Turkoglu and Lewis. They both can score off the dribble. It's not their calling cards, but they can do it, and they've both been way more successful off the dribble in this series than Howard's been in the post.

I don't think Lewis has created off the dribble in his entire life. Every analyst out there has said the same thing. The Orlando offense works best when it goes inside first and that creates the open spaces for the shooters. That's basketball 101. Even when your dominant player is a wing player like Cleveland or LA, it still opens up the floor to have an inside threat. Cleveland's offense is better when Ilgauskas is on the court. The Lakers offense is better when Bynum is doing his thing inside. When teams don't have to respect the inside game, they get up on the shooters and make it that much harder for them. Howard doesn't have to get the ball to get 20 shots a game but when the don't even go inside to him to even be a threat to score, they are going to struggle big time.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

I don't think Lewis has created off the dribble in his entire life. Every analyst out there has said the same thing. The Orlando offense works best when it goes inside first and that creates the open spaces for the shooters. That's basketball 101. Even when your dominant player is a wing player like Cleveland or LA, it still opens up the floor to have an inside threat. Cleveland's offense is better when Ilgauskas is on the court. The Lakers offense is better when Bynum is doing his thing inside. When teams don't have to respect the inside game, they get up on the shooters and make it that much harder for them. Howard doesn't have to get the ball to get 20 shots a game but when the don't even go inside to him to even be a threat to score, they are going to struggle big time.

Lewis scored off the dribble like five times in the first half of last night's game alone, so you don't know what you're saying. And the "feed the post and create space" strategy only works if you have a big that can't be shut down one-on-one. Howard can't do a damn thing against Perkins one-one-one, so the Celtics can stay glued to the shooters.

Stop listening to what "analysts" say about the Magic and actually watch them. Howard has been a non-factor on offense this series, even when he's getting touches. Freaking Gortat has done a better job in the post.

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Lewis scored off the dribble like five times in the first half of last night's game alone, so you don't know what you're saying. And the "feed the post and create space" strategy only works if you have a big that can't be shut down one-on-one. Howard can't do a damn thing against Perkins one-one-one, so the Celtics can stay glued to the shooters.

Stop listening to what "analysts" say about the Magic and actually watch them. Howard has been a non-factor on offense this series, even when he's getting touches. Freaking Gortat has done a better job in the post.

Lewis nor Turkeyglue have scored consistently off the dribble
when it really counts. The Celtics rarely double them off the dribble
outside. They want them to drive into traffic. They dont want wide
open jumpers (which apparently went south also when they were tired).

On the other hand you have Orlando double teaming Pierce and Allen
outside just to get the ball out of their hands. Aint happening the
other way around.

Agree with Howard. I think he is relatively weak lower body. He is easy to move on or tie up on the offensive boards. He is not getting easy standing putbacks. Howard is feeling body and he does not like it. Defensively he is a huge asset. Just stupid.

All of the above is of course... imo.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Lewis nor Turkeyglue have scored consistently off the dribble
when it really counts. The Celtics rarely double them off the dribble
outside. They want them to drive into traffic. They dont want wide
open jumpers (which apparently went south also when they were tired).

On the other hand you have Orlando double teaming Pierce and Allen
outside just to get the ball out of their hands. Aint happening the
other way around.

Agree with Howard. I think he is relatively weak lower body. He is easy to move on or tie up on the offensive boards. He is not getting easy standing putbacks. Howard is feeling body and he does not like it. Defensively he is a huge asset. Just stupid.

All of the above is of course... imo.

We agree. I know they don't consistently score off the dribble, but they're not totally incapable, and they've been more successful off the dribble this series than Howard has been in the post. It's not even close.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

I don't think Lewis has created off the dribble in his entire life. Every analyst out there has said the same thing. The Orlando offense works best when it goes inside first and that creates the open spaces for the shooters. That's basketball 101. Even when your dominant player is a wing player like Cleveland or LA, it still opens up the floor to have an inside threat. Cleveland's offense is better when Ilgauskas is on the court. The Lakers offense is better when Bynum is doing his thing inside. When teams don't have to respect the inside game, they get up on the shooters and make it that much harder for them. Howard doesn't have to get the ball to get 20 shots a game but when the don't even go inside to him to even be a threat to score, they are going to struggle big time.

Ilgauskus scores at least half of his points on jumpshots, not inside. Howard isnt a very good passer out of the post. The guys game on the offensive end is strictly power and rebounds. The real story shouldnt be if he is correct in his complaint or not. It is him acting selfish by going public instead of airing his gripes in private. There is a reason that during crunch time in the Olympics that Chris Bosh was on the floor and not Howard.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

On that team, he is. It's not a matter of him being as dominant player as anyone else in the league but on that team, he is the team's best offensive weapon. Their offense has to work inside out. Rashard Lewis cannot create a shot for himself. Never has been able to. Turkoglu and Alston are best able to operate when the ball comes back out to them after going inside. When they take Howard out of their offense, they make it hard on themselves. Howard doesn't have to score all the time but has to at least get the ball and draw the double and kick it out to get the guys better shots. Also, he draws a lot of fouls and gets guys in foul trouble and gets his team in the penalty earlier. I don't think he's a dominant offensive player but he's their dominant inside player and he's got to get the ball.

Boston never doubles Howard (they dont have to) and he is a bad free throw shooter. Not exactly the guy you want on the line at the end of the game.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

On that team, he is. It's not a matter of him being as dominant player as anyone else in the league but on that team, he is the team's best offensive weapon. Their offense has to work inside out. Rashard Lewis cannot create a shot for himself. Never has been able to. Turkoglu and Alston are best able to operate when the ball comes back out to them after going inside. When they take Howard out of their offense, they make it hard on themselves. Howard doesn't have to score all the time but has to at least get the ball and draw the double and kick it out to get the guys better shots. Also, he draws a lot of fouls and gets guys in foul trouble and gets his team in the penalty earlier. I don't think he's a dominant offensive player but he's their dominant inside player and he's got to get the ball.

Lewis still hasn't created his own shot. Only scores when he has open jumpers or maybe gets a mismatch with a smaller man on the post and he can just turn and shoot. He cannot create anything off the dribble at all.

[SniperSB23]

This years Lakers is the worst championship team I have seen in my lifetime. I've never seen a team win three series in a row that they should have lost and played like **** and still won a championship cause their opponents played shittier. It is like watching Big Brown win the Preakness, you knew you were watching dogshit but people still wanted to praise it.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

This years Lakers is the worst championship team I have seen in my lifetime. I've never seen a team win three series in a row that they should have lost and played like **** and still won a championship cause their opponents played shittier. It is like watching Big Brown win the Preakness, you knew you were watching dogshit but people still wanted to praise it.

I have to agree. Orlando has to go away kicking themselves. Simple free throws and they are tied. Inches away from being up 3-1. It can turn so easily. You have to give the Lakers credit though. It's not pure luck when you consistently come out on top and even though so many of their games could have gone either way, the majority of them are going their way. There's something to be said for always keeping yourself in it and giving yourself a chance to win. Gotta give it to Fisher too. Some big shot. Big shots. Gotta give Jackson credit too for sticking with him.

[dalakhani]

Was it just me or was Kobe trying to "punk" howard a little there?

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

This years Lakers is the worst championship team I have seen in my lifetime. I've never seen a team win three series in a row that they should have lost and played like **** and still won a championship cause their opponents played shittier. It is like watching Big Brown win the Preakness, you knew you were watching dogshit but people still wanted to praise it.

Celtics last year were not very impressive either imo.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Celtics last year were not very impressive either imo.

Really? Garnett and Pierce are hall of fame players and perenial all everything. Ray Allen, although not as good, has had a wonderful career and is still a good player. They had a great mix of young and old and played outstanding defense.

Why weren't they impressive?

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

Really? Garnett and Pierce are hall of fame players and perenial all everything. Ray Allen, although not as good, has had a wonderful career and is still a good player. They had a great mix of young and old and played outstanding defense.

Why weren't they impressive?

I'm going to guess he's going to say it's because of how Atlanta took them to seven games. That was a shock but after that, they beat a good Cleveland team that had been to the finals the year before and got progressively better in the next round against Detroit and finally against the Lakers. The difference between this Laker team and that Celtic team is that you never got the feeling that the Celtics were fortunate to win games they should have lost. It's sort of like the 1988 Lakers who were extended to seven against Utah in the conference semifinals and also by Dallas in the conference finals but you never got the feeling that they were lucking up to win. Just a good team winning a tight series.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Good article from Hollinger with a reality check for Howard. Dude has obviously bought his own hype, calling himself a "dominant" offensive player. The worst part is most people are agreeing with Howard. Have they watched him play?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...PERDiem-090513

He still has a limited offensive game. His footwork isnt great and his being a superior athlete is what makes him valuable, not his basketball ability. Calling out your coach after that choke job shows he isnt much of a leader either. If you want the ball superman get a freaking offensive rebound.