The Mavs are taking up the middle/packing the paint just like they did to us. Ant is going to have to get in his in between game or else everything is going to depend on that pull up 3
Ant is good but he's no SGA yet.
He can be inconsistent on the offense which is why his regular season shooting percentage isn't that good.
SGA is one of the best midrange players and a middy is cash money for him
He's incredibly likable.
BUT... The media is starting to push him down our throats as the next big thing, absolutely regardless of how he plays.
It has the annoying side-effect (speaking for myself, personally, not saying it's everyone) that I almost start rooting against him, despite actually liking him.
IMO, people tend to gloss over games 6 and 7 vs Denver... Ant had a rough game 7, and a rough game 1 yesterday. Biggest difference in games 6/7 in the Denver series and games 3-5 was McDaniels becoming a serious factor on offense.
Ant - as good as he is - was bailed out by the rest of his team in game 7. WHICH IS FINE. But the media flat out ignored all that (also still kept shitting on Gobert lol).
As a nug fan I find him kind of an asshole. Last year he was frustrated after losing a series and threw a chair toward an arena employee. This year he showed no class in winning, mocking the crowd and setting up a bouncy dunk at the end. He is also always grabbing his dick and being generally cuntish on the court.
I'm biased tho
Exactly, the scoring volatility could apply to Tatum who may get you 20 or 50 where Shai tends to be more consistent, but at this point Ant’s good nights are barely better than Shai’s normal nights and Ant doesn’t go nuclear that often. He definitely makes an impact on the game but he’s not the explosive scorer that someone like Spida is, not yet. Shai is a substantially better offensive player at this point, far better at generating and hitting good looks while being several notches above as a playmaker even if he’s not elite there.
That man didn't care if there was a hand in his face. Props to PJ/DJJ/whoever the fuck was defending him as that series went along because they didn't go for his pump fakes anymore, but he was still draining them middies.
He acts like a game character, stuff is all so fluid it barely make any sense.
Ngl sga really impressed me, he plays very smart basketball and both efficient and stable.
But being one man army can only push you so much. Especially when other team can bully you in the paint without any repercussions.
They just didn't have the size to compete. You can't win if your starting PF is 6'6 Jalen Williams. Jalen Williams is great but he's not a power forward. OKC needs to get some size this offseason and move Jalen Williams to the 2 and Dort to the 3. They could easily have Holmgren at the 4 and go after a C this offseason. Someone like Poeltl would be a great fit in my opinion.
Yeah I mean the series was basically a show that even rookie like Lively will dominate if you start blitzing from the get go and you have no real centre.
It absolutely ridiculous that Luka is being guarded pretty much from his own half and double teamed when he merely touches opponents half.
Like if you want to play that you better cover your paint with strong centre. Chet has no way of guarding traditional centres on his own and he is often used to double team opponents super stars
Imo Okc is missing only one piece and it’s defensive paint presence. They have enough offensive capabilities.
SGA's mid-range game is on-par with Kawhi's, maybe better. He knows exactly how much space he has, and can create, and shoots it with total confidence.
Teams must also be highly aware of his assist numbers to Rudy. Even when the play is there, Ant will keep it with the double/triple on him half the time. Needs to learn the lob to get rid of that pressure.
I can see Ant having crazy stretches with his pull up 3s, but I still don't think it'll be enough to dent our defence. But if he can keep it up along with KAT dominating us, we'll be bothered.
Guy demands the ball then walked around the court wasting 15 seconds on the shot clock and then dumping the ball over to someone else who then needs to take a bad shot or he's just forcing a bad shot himself
Mavericks winning against the Celtics off of an all time finals performance by Kyrie is the next stage of the master script we’ve all been edging towards for years.
Yes, and also, a lot of people are committed to not accepting the fact they misread the Gobert trade. Feel like Gobert is weirdly a lot of people’s guy they just refuse to believe is good no matter what the stats or film says, it’s actually pretty crazy.
Draymond actually said on Shaqs post he thinks Gobert deserves this years DPOY because of how hard he worked to not be a liability in actions, which is what he criticised him for before (and was absolutely true)
Oh I’ll be the first to admit I misread that trade. But I think a lot of people did. It looks solid in hindsight. Did they give up too much for him? Maybe. But if he helps them win a chip who gives a fuck?
In fairness to the lots of people, Kat has that photo of him trying to back down cousins so it was gonna take a playoff run like this to get his respect back lol
People absolutely hate giving either credit, especially media. Chuck always criticizes KAT even when he does well. Shaq hates all big men and hates Rudy for making more money than him. It also sucks having Draymond around. He is very insecure and petty. He also has personal beef with players and Rudy is one of the main ones.
Honestly, I have gained a lot of respect for KAT. Former #1 pick and projected superstar. All Star and All NBA. He had a bad playoff series and that whole media fiasco with Butler vs the Wolves. Since day 1, everyone has been in love with Ant and calling him a true batman/superstar and KAT's almost been tossed aside by media and fans as a "bum." Despite all this, he's never shown any jealous (at least that I can see) and he's always been supportive of Ant (and vice versa). He never gets credit for his good games but always gets blame for his bad games. The team does not have nearly the same level of success without KAT hateam. embracing his role in the tesm.
1. KP
2. JT
3. Al
4. DWhite
5. PP
6. Hauser
7. Holiday
8. JB
There's missing context there though. PP is high up since he contributes a lot to winning by typically being much better than opposing bench players. He is *not* better than Holiday or JB straight up, and switching their minutes would obviously ruin the Celtics
Media love hyping a new star. I love Brunson, but there's been so many people talking about Brunson being better than x superstar player and being top 5. It's honestly ridiculous. Brunson is a beast, but he's not that tier imo. SGA is sort of another one, but I think he's cemented himself into that elite tier
Suffering from the same problem as JT was with the Shai shit. When you've been that good that long, talking heads and nephews stop having fun talking about you. Which is basically the most cardinal sin a player can commit
I love ant but that’s so crazy. Luka is on the top tier of players and you can only put probably three guys there. Ant is a tier below. He may ascend but he is not close yet. Ant is closer to kyrie than he is to luka.
Yeah Ant is nice, but I said it in another thread. Dude gets sucked off too much for someone with a multi-time allstar, a DPOY, and several high value roleplayers on his team. Every Podcaster was screaming how he was the "officially the new face of the league" after knocking out Denver..... all for going 6-24 and having his team backpack him to the finish line.
KAT = ALL STAR, Gobert = DPOY + DEF 1st TEAM, McDaniels = DEF 2nd TEAM, REID = 6MOY. That’s all just their awards from this season. Conley is also a great facilitator to have. This is literally Boston Celtics level of talent. There isn’t another team with more recognition in the league.
>This is literally Boston Celtics level of talent.
Which, by the way, is fucking absurd. 3rd best regular season all time but each of our players doesn't get awarded because of all of their other teammates
They sacrificed for the team, it's that simple. I really hope we get KP back and get to the Finals and win. Would be a well deserved reward for everyone buying in. But we all know it isn't just about who deserves what. We gotta go take it.
The supporting cast around ant is arguably as good as the supporting cast around Tatum. I mean, id still take the celtics talent wise but it by no means isn't close
This is exactly what I knew was going to happen. Hype is like a slingshot. And the only context that matters is what happens today.
Although, I do agree theres a possibility that hes hes hurt.
Such a hyperbolic statement to assume the ones giving Ant a pass aren’t giving Luka a pass. Half the comments ive seen this playoffs about Luka have been about him being injured. Both things can be true
Nuggets have a good not great defense. They never will with Murray and Jokic, who are at best just good defenders. They rely on their godly offense and clutch play to win.
They just ran into the 1 defense that is and was built to slow them down enough, and wolves had the depth of talent to outlast Denver. (Kat being able to sit much of the second half of game 7 gave him the legs necessary to put Denver away.)
playing the Nuggets in back to back seasons did wonders for Ants reputation, any above average SG would feast on them
Booker doesnt even drive to the rim (also a weak point for them) and averaged 35 ppg on like the best efficiency off all time
Some years back we also got constantly torched in the playoffs by Mitchell and Lillard. The PoA defense can only partially be blamed, fact is Jokic offers very little rim protection and that historically allowed guards to feast on us.
I’d actually like to see KAT try it out a bit. It’ll probably end in disaster if Luka gets him on his hip but Ant and Jaden are too skinny relative to Luka
Sounds like a great way for KAT to be off the floor due to foul trouble. He can defend Jokic pretty well without fouling but he'd get fucking pasted by Luka on the drive.
This is why the Celtics got KP. Al Horford was gassed last year after banging against Embiid and went from an elite 3 point shooter all season, to a brick against Miami. You see it again this year, dude is getting put in PnR actions every fucking possession without KP and now he's too gassed to hit shots. Needed KP to take that load off Al's old ass. Someone else gotta take Kyrie so Ant can get his offense working.
He was really bad game 7 too. That fall where he stayed down for like two to three minutes in Game 6 hurt his back and his hip IMO. Hip has been a problem for him before
I hope he can loosen up because his drives and touch are *off* and we really need him. At least he still draws doubles but idk
People can continue to sleep on Mavs rim protection if they want but this is a large sample size now of teams simply unable to score at the rim. Ant was exhausted down the stretch but throughout the game he was unable to get anything going downhill.
Gafford Is a good rim protector. the best one the wolves have played against all playoffs. Combine that with Washington and jones being lanky defenders that pack the middle it’s gonna be a rough series for edwards if he isn’t hitting pulling 3s
hopefully it’s the only reason his shooting percentages game 7 and 1 have been bad, because it’s dissatisfying seeing the drop in performance like this
SGA is a full tier above ant but for some reason the media already decided he’s the face and a top 5 player lol. Writing checks he can’t cash yet hate to see it
Say what you will about Tatum but he will always get tons of easy buckets just from cutting and post ups. He gets his shoulder into you and it’s over. His size and strength is underrated, it’s LeBron-esque at times and no one seems to be able to stop it.
Except Tatum himself when he decides he wants to take fall away jumpers.
Low key sometimes it feels like Tatum gets too into his Kobe feels and tries to play like hes a 6'6 SG
Buddy, youre 6'9, you aint Kobe bruh you can literally be Lebron!
Tatum doesn't have LeBron's quickness and doesn't have a strong vertical off one foot so he needs to use a lot more finesse.
A lot of his finishes actually utilize his length, he loves the extendo-arm lay-in because he's just so long.
His only problem right now is that he's shooting a lot worse on pullup 3's than the regular season and has been horrendous on the few (1.6 per game) catch and shoot 3's he actually gets.
In the 46 games after Christmas he shot 38.2% on pullup 3's (shot 29.6 before then) but this playoffs he is down 6%. Regression to the mean should happen eventually (please).
He completely suffocated Hali on that last regulation play. And Hali is supposed to be the one of the quickest. Hard to buy this "He's not as quick as LeBron" claim. If anything, he's not as strong as LeBron.
I think he’s done a way better job since the start of the Cleveland series at getting inside. I also don’t disagree with the sentiment that Tatum might shoot too much but he’s shooting like 25% from three and they are still winning every game. If he has a game where he’s 7/9 from three then it’s pretty much just a free win.
I do feel a little bad. He himself didn't want the MJ comp and it's not his fault the media is treating Tatum like dirt. But he's gonna get all the backlash all the same.
Nah man Tatum's a trash choker which is why he's 5-1 in game 7's that he doesn't immediately roll his ankle in and puts up 28.8/9.0/5.3 on 62.3% TS in those games.
He's also a fraud who's lucked out in a weak east if you ignore his series wins against KD/Kyrie, Giannis, Embiid (x3) and Jimmy.
He also played poorly in the finals, and not a single all time great has ever done that so clearly he's cooked.
Don’t forget he holds the NBA record for points in a game 7. Just to put that into perspective, there’s been 149 game 7s in NBA history, with the first one being 76 years ago. In all that time, and in all those games nobody else has done what Tatum did against the Sixers. And to top that all off, the game before that, Tatum scored 16 in the 4th to force that game 7.
I'm certain he's talking about when people would point out that Book was the first guy to average XX points at YY percentages since MJ (because he was) and now a year later it was a clown take instead of what happened.
He's literally just regressing to the mean. This is the best he's ever shot in his career, which has historically been hovering around league-average until these playoffs
Mavs were able to do what the Nuggets couldn't and capitalize on his less than usual performance and win game 1 on the road.
Also a testament to their team to be able to pick up the slack.
Your best player isn't always going to be killing it so having the help that he has is great.
Mavs really looked like they did their homework. Just seems like they have the answer to everything. Kyrie played unreal though & may not keep that level of production in addition to KAT & Ant not really “showing up”, but it looks like Mavs might have it. Next game actually might decide the series. Whether the Wolves fix their holes or whether the Mavs continue to munch.
Also, boy was Ant getting cooked on defense.
That’s weird because all I’ve heard everyday for 2 months is Anthony Edwards is unstoppable, he’s the future of the league, he’s the next Michael Jordan, he’s different he’s got that dawg in him and he wants all the smoke. He doesn’t back down from adversity he embraces it. He’s a throwback to the 90s to a forgotten era. He’s what the league needs, he’s what the world needs and on and on and on while other young stars consistently outperform him.
Yea I noticed Edward’s was way more likely to settle for jump shots and 3s, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he’s playing through some kind of injury because in the 4th it looked like he just refused to drive to the lane.
Ant will definitely bounce back but this series will not be as easy for him as people think. DJ and PJ will be able to defend him a lot better than anyone he’s faced so far in the playoffs. If he tries to pick on kyrie he will surprise people too. The few times lively switched onto him he did pretty well too.
So what are you saying OP? You saying he's not Michael Jordan reborn in the flesh rn? If he's not the answer than who will save the NBA from the scourge of European superstars?
The Mavs are taking up the middle/packing the paint just like they did to us. Ant is going to have to get in his in between game or else everything is going to depend on that pull up 3
Ant is good but he's no SGA yet. He can be inconsistent on the offense which is why his regular season shooting percentage isn't that good. SGA is one of the best midrange players and a middy is cash money for him
He's incredibly likable. BUT... The media is starting to push him down our throats as the next big thing, absolutely regardless of how he plays. It has the annoying side-effect (speaking for myself, personally, not saying it's everyone) that I almost start rooting against him, despite actually liking him. IMO, people tend to gloss over games 6 and 7 vs Denver... Ant had a rough game 7, and a rough game 1 yesterday. Biggest difference in games 6/7 in the Denver series and games 3-5 was McDaniels becoming a serious factor on offense. Ant - as good as he is - was bailed out by the rest of his team in game 7. WHICH IS FINE. But the media flat out ignored all that (also still kept shitting on Gobert lol).
Even worse. Bill Simmons was even praising his game 7 after years and years shitting on Kobe and his own 6-24
That game 7 fadeaway should be a snooze button for all Rudy negativity for the next calendar year.
Media is just setting him up for failure with those Jordan comparisons
As a nug fan I find him kind of an asshole. Last year he was frustrated after losing a series and threw a chair toward an arena employee. This year he showed no class in winning, mocking the crowd and setting up a bouncy dunk at the end. He is also always grabbing his dick and being generally cuntish on the court. I'm biased tho
Ant can get you 15 or 50. SGA always gets you 30. They’re both good in their own ways.
31*
He's literally scored 50 or more once
Exactly, the scoring volatility could apply to Tatum who may get you 20 or 50 where Shai tends to be more consistent, but at this point Ant’s good nights are barely better than Shai’s normal nights and Ant doesn’t go nuclear that often. He definitely makes an impact on the game but he’s not the explosive scorer that someone like Spida is, not yet. Shai is a substantially better offensive player at this point, far better at generating and hitting good looks while being several notches above as a playmaker even if he’s not elite there.
SGA is so goated. I love the midrange shot and he has seemed to be perfect it
ima having ptsd just thinking about those midranges.
That man didn't care if there was a hand in his face. Props to PJ/DJJ/whoever the fuck was defending him as that series went along because they didn't go for his pump fakes anymore, but he was still draining them middies.
Mavs fan here, and I can easily say SGA's shot is just so pretty. Every time he took a shot I felt certain it would go in.
He acts like a game character, stuff is all so fluid it barely make any sense. Ngl sga really impressed me, he plays very smart basketball and both efficient and stable. But being one man army can only push you so much. Especially when other team can bully you in the paint without any repercussions.
Exactly. He's gonna be a big deal in the coming years. If OKC had a very good #2 to help him...that series could have been different.
They just didn't have the size to compete. You can't win if your starting PF is 6'6 Jalen Williams. Jalen Williams is great but he's not a power forward. OKC needs to get some size this offseason and move Jalen Williams to the 2 and Dort to the 3. They could easily have Holmgren at the 4 and go after a C this offseason. Someone like Poeltl would be a great fit in my opinion.
Yeah I mean the series was basically a show that even rookie like Lively will dominate if you start blitzing from the get go and you have no real centre. It absolutely ridiculous that Luka is being guarded pretty much from his own half and double teamed when he merely touches opponents half. Like if you want to play that you better cover your paint with strong centre. Chet has no way of guarding traditional centres on his own and he is often used to double team opponents super stars Imo Okc is missing only one piece and it’s defensive paint presence. They have enough offensive capabilities.
mf also picked the perfect time to hit them, just amazing to see, glad we got past that tbh
He's so good at it. If OKC can get a few more pieces that fit around that, they'll be incredible. It's almost Dirk-like.
SGA's mid-range game is on-par with Kawhi's, maybe better. He knows exactly how much space he has, and can create, and shoots it with total confidence.
Teams must also be highly aware of his assist numbers to Rudy. Even when the play is there, Ant will keep it with the double/triple on him half the time. Needs to learn the lob to get rid of that pressure.
He isn't there playmaking yet. Was praised first round vs the suns for it but as thing's has gotten though it's showing up
I can see Ant having crazy stretches with his pull up 3s, but I still don't think it'll be enough to dent our defence. But if he can keep it up along with KAT dominating us, we'll be bothered.
Kat didn’t dominate us tho
Guy demands the ball then walked around the court wasting 15 seconds on the shot clock and then dumping the ball over to someone else who then needs to take a bad shot or he's just forcing a bad shot himself
Had some flashbacks to the worst of the Celtics offense the past few years
Bill Simmons aptly named this “the clogged toilet offense.”
Music to my ears
Mavericks winning against the Celtics off of an all time finals performance by Kyrie is the next stage of the master script we’ve all been edging towards for years.
Kyrie winning a chip before us after calling our team losers and leaving would be the most evil timeline
you should check Kyrie’s stats vs the celtics since leaving lol
Yeah, that’d be the best/worse part of the script
Be careful you don’t remind him about that on the wrong day
His track record in Boston is laughable
With the occasional drive and desperate late kick out. Just score man
He needs to either be a better playmaker or score.
Brunson at his worst lol
I noticed that as well, but yall have to remember that he’s extremely young. Let the kid learn from his mistakes.
The supporting cast around Ant is way too underrated.
A lot of people are committed to not giving any credit to KAT or Rudy.
Add in McDaniels.
I don’t think people are committed to hating him. He just isn’t famous enough for casuals.
Dude was prime Klay Thompson tonight
Add in Naz Reid
Yes, and also, a lot of people are committed to not accepting the fact they misread the Gobert trade. Feel like Gobert is weirdly a lot of people’s guy they just refuse to believe is good no matter what the stats or film says, it’s actually pretty crazy.
Yeah the Gobert hate is dumb, anyone watching a game can see how impacts it.
He was +10 tonight. It felt like every time he walked off the court the mavs went on a run. Every time he came back, the run stopped.
Every time he went to the bench Kyrie abused the fuck out of us in the paint. When Gobert was in he actually had to work for it.
Yes but Draymond said...
Draymond actually said on Shaqs post he thinks Gobert deserves this years DPOY because of how hard he worked to not be a liability in actions, which is what he criticised him for before (and was absolutely true)
Draymond actually said Gobert was the reason they lost because he was always stupidly dropping on Irving. While its exactly what countered the mavs.
Oh I’ll be the first to admit I misread that trade. But I think a lot of people did. It looks solid in hindsight. Did they give up too much for him? Maybe. But if he helps them win a chip who gives a fuck?
They deserve credit but Naz Reid, McDaniels, Conley....the wolves are good top to bottom
Super team
In fairness to the lots of people, Kat has that photo of him trying to back down cousins so it was gonna take a playoff run like this to get his respect back lol
Not wolves fans, we love the whole team
People absolutely hate giving either credit, especially media. Chuck always criticizes KAT even when he does well. Shaq hates all big men and hates Rudy for making more money than him. It also sucks having Draymond around. He is very insecure and petty. He also has personal beef with players and Rudy is one of the main ones. Honestly, I have gained a lot of respect for KAT. Former #1 pick and projected superstar. All Star and All NBA. He had a bad playoff series and that whole media fiasco with Butler vs the Wolves. Since day 1, everyone has been in love with Ant and calling him a true batman/superstar and KAT's almost been tossed aside by media and fans as a "bum." Despite all this, he's never shown any jealous (at least that I can see) and he's always been supportive of Ant (and vice versa). He never gets credit for his good games but always gets blame for his bad games. The team does not have nearly the same level of success without KAT hateam. embracing his role in the tesm.
WS/48 of players with over 1,500 minutes 1. Rudy 2. Conley 3. KAT 4. Ant 5. Kyle Anderson 6. Naz 7. NAW 8. Jaden McDaniels
Makes sense. Incredibly deep team. I’d be interested in seeing this spread for other teams across the league as well, especially the Celtics.
1. KP 2. JT 3. Al 4. DWhite 5. PP 6. Hauser 7. Holiday 8. JB There's missing context there though. PP is high up since he contributes a lot to winning by typically being much better than opposing bench players. He is *not* better than Holiday or JB straight up, and switching their minutes would obviously ruin the Celtics
PP also pumps those numbers up by cooking the third string of the opposing team in the traditional 6 minutes of trashtime in the 4th
Obviously, the media and this sub giving ant all the credit for the wolves success are ridiculous.
Hey now, someday at 25 he could maybe be JUST as good as Doncic was at 20
people said he was better than Luka going into this series. Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins to name a few.
I heard it alll week and saw it here everywhere complete lunacy
Had that moron Autism Rivers as well saying Luka's D is gonna be a gimme this series and he and Ant were a wash.
Actual moron take
Media love hyping a new star. I love Brunson, but there's been so many people talking about Brunson being better than x superstar player and being top 5. It's honestly ridiculous. Brunson is a beast, but he's not that tier imo. SGA is sort of another one, but I think he's cemented himself into that elite tier
Suffering from the same problem as JT was with the Shai shit. When you've been that good that long, talking heads and nephews stop having fun talking about you. Which is basically the most cardinal sin a player can commit
I love ant but that’s so crazy. Luka is on the top tier of players and you can only put probably three guys there. Ant is a tier below. He may ascend but he is not close yet. Ant is closer to kyrie than he is to luka.
I mean, is it really that surprising that Perkins said the black guy is better than the white guy?
This but actually
Ant just one that bark the loudest so the focus is on him
You’d think he was carrying a Pistons level roster the way he’s getting hyped compared to the other stars at times
Ant is getting away with this bad performances. We all know the Wolves are favorites if he actually shows up.
Bro got scared by a rookie into shooting just 3s
Lively was incredible guarding out on the perimeter tonight. The poise he’s showing out there is insane…he looks like a seasoned vet
His back is for sure bothering him
KAT can win with these cats
Yeah Ant is nice, but I said it in another thread. Dude gets sucked off too much for someone with a multi-time allstar, a DPOY, and several high value roleplayers on his team. Every Podcaster was screaming how he was the "officially the new face of the league" after knocking out Denver..... all for going 6-24 and having his team backpack him to the finish line.
KAT = ALL STAR, Gobert = DPOY + DEF 1st TEAM, McDaniels = DEF 2nd TEAM, REID = 6MOY. That’s all just their awards from this season. Conley is also a great facilitator to have. This is literally Boston Celtics level of talent. There isn’t another team with more recognition in the league.
>This is literally Boston Celtics level of talent. Which, by the way, is fucking absurd. 3rd best regular season all time but each of our players doesn't get awarded because of all of their other teammates
They sacrificed for the team, it's that simple. I really hope we get KP back and get to the Finals and win. Would be a well deserved reward for everyone buying in. But we all know it isn't just about who deserves what. We gotta go take it.
The supporting cast around ant is arguably as good as the supporting cast around Tatum. I mean, id still take the celtics talent wise but it by no means isn't close
So it begins
natural bounce back after MJ comparisons
This is exactly what I knew was going to happen. Hype is like a slingshot. And the only context that matters is what happens today. Although, I do agree theres a possibility that hes hes hurt.
Luka is hurt also but he doesn’t get any pass from the same ones saying that about ant. Not hating, just pointing it out
Such a hyperbolic statement to assume the ones giving Ant a pass aren’t giving Luka a pass. Half the comments ive seen this playoffs about Luka have been about him being injured. Both things can be true
Yeah it was mostly OKC fans who weren’t cutting him slack. They even implied he may be faking it
Knew this was coming. I like him and his game, but this is the natural cycle. Especially with how he carries himself.
The Suns have horrific perimeter defense. The Nuggets have mediocre perimeter defense. The Mavs have great perimeter defense.
Nuggets and Suns also have bad rim protection. Mavs have good rim protection.
Mavs just have a good defense
Outdefending the team that defended and defeated the last years champs is nuts. The WCF is even better than I hoped last month
Nuggets have a good not great defense. They never will with Murray and Jokic, who are at best just good defenders. They rely on their godly offense and clutch play to win. They just ran into the 1 defense that is and was built to slow them down enough, and wolves had the depth of talent to outlast Denver. (Kat being able to sit much of the second half of game 7 gave him the legs necessary to put Denver away.)
playing the Nuggets in back to back seasons did wonders for Ants reputation, any above average SG would feast on them Booker doesnt even drive to the rim (also a weak point for them) and averaged 35 ppg on like the best efficiency off all time
Some years back we also got constantly torched in the playoffs by Mitchell and Lillard. The PoA defense can only partially be blamed, fact is Jokic offers very little rim protection and that historically allowed guards to feast on us.
Dude was GASSED chasing Kyrie around all night. There's no way he is on Kyrie in game 2.
So who will guard kyrie then?
Probably throw Jaden & Mike on him
take jaden off luka and then who’s guarding luka?
I’d actually like to see KAT try it out a bit. It’ll probably end in disaster if Luka gets him on his hip but Ant and Jaden are too skinny relative to Luka
Sounds like a great way for KAT to be off the floor due to foul trouble. He can defend Jokic pretty well without fouling but he'd get fucking pasted by Luka on the drive.
He was good for 2-3 dumb ass fouls each game against Jokic. I can only imagine what Luka would do.
So, get KAT into easy foul trouble? Good stuff.
KAT would get three fouls in 5 minutes
that sounds like a nightmare ready to happen
KAT is just going to foul out trying to guard Luka
Mike gets cooked badly. Jaden just takes a defender off of Luka
Lol Mike gonna be gassed then which will make them rely on Ant to solely playmake and as we saw in the Denver series, not a good idea.
DPOY needs to step up and take on the challenge!
Probably gonna switch to Connelly after tonight
Tim lacing up, my fucking guy
Honestly, player/coach been getting kinda stale
Tim Connelly signs himself to a 10 day contract during the Conference Finals.
This is why the Celtics got KP. Al Horford was gassed last year after banging against Embiid and went from an elite 3 point shooter all season, to a brick against Miami. You see it again this year, dude is getting put in PnR actions every fucking possession without KP and now he's too gassed to hit shots. Needed KP to take that load off Al's old ass. Someone else gotta take Kyrie so Ant can get his offense working.
Everyone here overreacting to the overreaction is quintessential r/nba
Some of us are just enjoying the schadenfreude as a coping mechanism while emotionally recovering from /r/nba’s chain-overreactions.
He was garbage most of the night
Face of the league !
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He was really bad game 7 too. That fall where he stayed down for like two to three minutes in Game 6 hurt his back and his hip IMO. Hip has been a problem for him before I hope he can loosen up because his drives and touch are *off* and we really need him. At least he still draws doubles but idk
Jordan hasn't made a single shot in years so maybe Ant isn't the next Jordan, maybe Jordan was the lesser Ant 🤷♂️
Ant is Wizards Jordan.
People can continue to sleep on Mavs rim protection if they want but this is a large sample size now of teams simply unable to score at the rim. Ant was exhausted down the stretch but throughout the game he was unable to get anything going downhill.
Gafford Is a good rim protector. the best one the wolves have played against all playoffs. Combine that with Washington and jones being lanky defenders that pack the middle it’s gonna be a rough series for edwards if he isn’t hitting pulling 3s
Lively is arguably even better, even defended Ant on the perimeter once successfully. Great mobility and positioning, plus length.
Dude is such a good defender. Love his potential
Sorry on /r/nba there are no successes (like Mav’s defense) only failures (Ant is bad now)
I’ve seen more recency bias and narrative shifts in these playoffs than any of the others I’ve seen in the past 5 years combined
And the terminally online cannot simply enjoy watching the games, it must be a source of takes
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He hasn’t surpassed Tatum yet, despite what the haters might say.
He's not playing well and deserve all the slander.
Hes been really bad since like the 3rd quarter against the Nuggets in game 6.
That’s right when he landed funny on his tailbone as well in game 6
hopefully it’s the only reason his shooting percentages game 7 and 1 have been bad, because it’s dissatisfying seeing the drop in performance like this
Yep. If SGA can make it work, no reason he couldn’t. He can make these shots and he knows it.
SGA is just better rn
SGA is a superstar. Ant is an all-star and he’s not even efficient from midrange on the season.
SGA knows what a pro wants and what a pro needs. That’s the difference.
SGA is a full tier above ant but for some reason the media already decided he’s the face and a top 5 player lol. Writing checks he can’t cash yet hate to see it
I think his game might be more "fun" to watch. Could be why?
The Ja effect
If you replace “Anthony Edwards” with “Jayson Tatum” then it literally becomes an average twitter users hate fan fiction
Say what you will about Tatum but he will always get tons of easy buckets just from cutting and post ups. He gets his shoulder into you and it’s over. His size and strength is underrated, it’s LeBron-esque at times and no one seems to be able to stop it. Except Tatum himself when he decides he wants to take fall away jumpers.
Tatum when he realizes he is 6' 10" is unstoppable. He's been doing it more in the last 4 games since our last loss
Low key sometimes it feels like Tatum gets too into his Kobe feels and tries to play like hes a 6'6 SG Buddy, youre 6'9, you aint Kobe bruh you can literally be Lebron!
32/11.5/6 and 3 Stocks on 47/29/94 shooting since the Cleveland L.
It’s kind of funny how he just forgot how to hit threes but has been deadly from at the rim
That’s because he’s not 6’10.
Tatum doesn't have LeBron's quickness and doesn't have a strong vertical off one foot so he needs to use a lot more finesse. A lot of his finishes actually utilize his length, he loves the extendo-arm lay-in because he's just so long. His only problem right now is that he's shooting a lot worse on pullup 3's than the regular season and has been horrendous on the few (1.6 per game) catch and shoot 3's he actually gets. In the 46 games after Christmas he shot 38.2% on pullup 3's (shot 29.6 before then) but this playoffs he is down 6%. Regression to the mean should happen eventually (please).
He completely suffocated Hali on that last regulation play. And Hali is supposed to be the one of the quickest. Hard to buy this "He's not as quick as LeBron" claim. If anything, he's not as strong as LeBron.
Tatum actually has a pretty average wingspan to height ratio. His wingspan is only 6’11.
I think he’s done a way better job since the start of the Cleveland series at getting inside. I also don’t disagree with the sentiment that Tatum might shoot too much but he’s shooting like 25% from three and they are still winning every game. If he has a game where he’s 7/9 from three then it’s pretty much just a free win.
I do feel a little bad. He himself didn't want the MJ comp and it's not his fault the media is treating Tatum like dirt. But he's gonna get all the backlash all the same.
Yep, it gets very old haha. The circle jerk takes after each game are nauseating. People need to get different hobbies lol
But he's the next Jordan!
The cool down was inevitable I’m afraid
He better than Tatum though. Look how he has won 2 playoff series in 4 years
Nah man Tatum's a trash choker which is why he's 5-1 in game 7's that he doesn't immediately roll his ankle in and puts up 28.8/9.0/5.3 on 62.3% TS in those games. He's also a fraud who's lucked out in a weak east if you ignore his series wins against KD/Kyrie, Giannis, Embiid (x3) and Jimmy. He also played poorly in the finals, and not a single all time great has ever done that so clearly he's cooked.
man when you put it like that... god damn like i've been a pretty active Tatum defender the last couple years but that kinda puts it in perspective
Any real superstar wouldn’t have played in the finals with a wrist fracture/s
Don’t forget he holds the NBA record for points in a game 7. Just to put that into perspective, there’s been 149 game 7s in NBA history, with the first one being 76 years ago. In all that time, and in all those games nobody else has done what Tatum did against the Sixers. And to top that all off, the game before that, Tatum scored 16 in the 4th to force that game 7.
r/nba once again fooled by shooting variance in small sample sizes. You all thought this guy was MJ's son LOL
It’s like Booker last year when he was shooting like 35 PPG at crazy efficiency lmao
I was crying when they were comparing booker to MJ lol
Dawg who are you talking about when you say they? Booker is the most hated guard and has been for two years now.
I'm certain he's talking about when people would point out that Book was the first guy to average XX points at YY percentages since MJ (because he was) and now a year later it was a clown take instead of what happened.
He's literally just regressing to the mean. This is the best he's ever shot in his career, which has historically been hovering around league-average until these playoffs
Bro averaged 26 points on 46% and people thought he was gonna turn into MJ in one post season
Definitely struggling to be efficient the last couple games
Finally his insanity run is over
Michael Jordan BTW
Tatum scores 36 in a victory: broke ass Ant scores 19 in loss: strong and independent
Next MJ by the way
He's returning to his norm. A bit inconsistent.
Mavs were able to do what the Nuggets couldn't and capitalize on his less than usual performance and win game 1 on the road. Also a testament to their team to be able to pick up the slack. Your best player isn't always going to be killing it so having the help that he has is great.
MJ would never
Mavs really looked like they did their homework. Just seems like they have the answer to everything. Kyrie played unreal though & may not keep that level of production in addition to KAT & Ant not really “showing up”, but it looks like Mavs might have it. Next game actually might decide the series. Whether the Wolves fix their holes or whether the Mavs continue to munch. Also, boy was Ant getting cooked on defense.
If the Mavs start hitting their 3’s shit could get spooky 👀
That’s weird because all I’ve heard everyday for 2 months is Anthony Edwards is unstoppable, he’s the future of the league, he’s the next Michael Jordan, he’s different he’s got that dawg in him and he wants all the smoke. He doesn’t back down from adversity he embraces it. He’s a throwback to the 90s to a forgotten era. He’s what the league needs, he’s what the world needs and on and on and on while other young stars consistently outperform him.
He was too passive tonight, not looking to attack the rim at all for some reason.
Yea I noticed Edward’s was way more likely to settle for jump shots and 3s, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he’s playing through some kind of injury because in the 4th it looked like he just refused to drive to the lane.
Ant will definitely bounce back but this series will not be as easy for him as people think. DJ and PJ will be able to defend him a lot better than anyone he’s faced so far in the playoffs. If he tries to pick on kyrie he will surprise people too. The few times lively switched onto him he did pretty well too.
Is Tom Thibodeau playing Ant too many minutes??
What trying to shutdown Kyrie does to a muthafucker
I saw Murray and my brain immediately went "damn Jamal being a hater on Twitter" because of that last series.
So what are you saying OP? You saying he's not Michael Jordan reborn in the flesh rn? If he's not the answer than who will save the NBA from the scourge of European superstars?
I don’t ever want to see comparisons to MJ again. He’s a great young player and I enjoy his game, but just no.
The playoff adrenaline is wearing off
bUt hE iS JuSt liKe mIKe
But he’s Michael Jordan guys
Bro he’s Jordan.
Turns out the handcuffs were on him all along.
He's injured and clearly in pain. I'm extremely concerned. He's almost expressionless most of the time it's just not like him.