VDesai wrote:

Chandler wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

VDesai wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:Bridges with 35 seconds, wow

KAT fouling out was huge. Duren is trying to box out Mitch and is out of the position and Mikal sneaks in. Mitch then makes a huge defensive play on Cade's shot the other end. Mitch in the last min makes a big difference.

Mitch was ghastly ALL NIGHT LONG --- a -10 in 13 minutes with 3 boards, 0 blocks and 1 point ---- plus fact Pistons targeting him via hack.
I forget sometimes but then Mitch quickly reminds me how bad he is at basketball -- he's challenging Duece for biggest disappointment in playoffs.

Kat +8 and 15 boards but was crappy on offense.

Mitch had a couple of good moments, but I agree a huge disappointment. He should have been feasting on the boards. And however many years later he still brings the ball down after offensive rebounds instead of keeping it high. And it's not like he lacked time to improve his FTs

Kat hit a couple of tough buckets. He will be MUCH better in the next series. I don't know how Boston will guard him. their bigs are softies

They will guard him with Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum as we have seen all year- which means he needs to establish low post and if Hart is guarded by KP, Hart has to draw him away from the basket to not allow him to just feast on blocks at the rim. The Knicks countering this defense will be the difference between losing another 4 straight and making this a competitive series.

How is Hart drawing KP away from the basket? Hart could make 5 3's in Q1 and Celts will plant KP in paint.

Think we have to hope for MAJOR bench renaissance in some shape or fashion. Delon Wright is interesting because he matches up better with bigger Celtic's guards. I mean unless Deuce wakes up - he's adding nothing.

martin wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/DJAceNBA/status/1918304323236405756

One thought is to start him.

1) it just might wake him up, relax him or get him easier looks
2) might allow us to get KP out of the paint
3) might guard perimeter switching/shooting of Celts better with Deuce vs Josh

LivingLegend wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

VDesai wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:Bridges with 35 seconds, wow

KAT fouling out was huge. Duren is trying to box out Mitch and is out of the position and Mikal sneaks in. Mitch then makes a huge defensive play on Cade's shot the other end. Mitch in the last min makes a big difference.

Mitch was ghastly ALL NIGHT LONG --- a -10 in 13 minutes with 3 boards, 0 blocks and 1 point ---- plus fact Pistons targeting him via hack.
I forget sometimes but then Mitch quickly reminds me how bad he is at basketball -- he's challenging Duece for biggest disappointment in playoffs.

Kat +8 and 15 boards but was crappy on offense.

I'm not a huge fan of +/- for 1 game sample sizes but if you want to use that he had 13/11/2/2 and a team high +9 in just 23 minutes the previous game.

Don't think he's 100% in game shape, feels like things are moving a bit fast for him, but we need him.

Prior game he was outstanding - I agree.

Like I said sometimes I forget (prior game) but Mitch always reminds me how bad he really is at basketball (literally a zero outside of rim protection and length).

And come on - how long does it take a 27 year old athlete to get into shape???

He's been playing since 2/28 -- maybe by next Xmas he will be ready to go.

I'm going to agree with you on the Mitch on basketball thing. He really is only athletic and strong with a super high motor and only has a few basics on fundamental basketball, most all on the defensive side of things. This is what happens with an early tough family life and no hard core coaches to get after him and TRAIN him around his unworldly athleticism. Mitch just got away with outclassing everyone with the natural gifts and stopped there. The year off hurt him too. And then it was all about growing up in his early years; Mitch chose his media stuff over practicing and focusing solely on basketball.

Athletes take a LONG time to get back to prime shape, especially considering the type of injury Mitch had and the circumstance around it. Like, to get back to where he was in December 2023, the last time he was in prime shape, it'll take most any player up to 4-6 months of playing to get the regular season sharpness back no less playoffs. Mitch added to his own particular timeline by getting some tangential depression when he was out which he has referenced in his insta by getting overweight etc.

Mitch has played 23 games over the course of a full calendar year. He needs like double that at least to get near what he was in De 2023. I would say that's close to normal'ish considering it's a ankle/foot injury.

nycericanguy wrote:I don't think KAT or Mikal are untouchable at all, heck neither is OG IMO. Especially if Giannis becomes available, I could easily see us offering KAT and either Mikal or OG. Brunson is the only untouchable.

Agree only Brunson is untouchable on this team -- depending on who might be available all the others could go.

nycericanguy wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:I don't think KAT or Mikal are untouchable at all, heck neither is OG IMO. Especially if Giannis becomes available, I could easily see us offering KAT and either Mikal or OG. Brunson is the only untouchable.

That would be too much even for Giannis. I’d offer Mikal and Hart tho.

Supposedly Spurs are the favorites. They have a lot of draft picks next several years and are way under the cap plus Silver wants to put Giannis with Wemby together and create another international superteam

you think the best they could get would be Mikal and Hart?

KAT + either isn't too much at all, it's not enough if anything.

Giannis, Brunson + OG or Mikal would be the best trio in the NBA

Not sure what to make of the Greeks value any longer. Sure he's great statistically but he struggled to win even surrounded by Holiday/Middleton/Lopez/Portis for a few years. If we strip down 2 of our top players (ex Kat/Mikal) and we trot out Greek/Jalen/OG --- not sure where that ultimately gets us with even less depth than this year.

LivingLegend wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:I don't think KAT or Mikal are untouchable at all, heck neither is OG IMO. Especially if Giannis becomes available, I could easily see us offering KAT and either Mikal or OG. Brunson is the only untouchable.

That would be too much even for Giannis. I’d offer Mikal and Hart tho.

Supposedly Spurs are the favorites. They have a lot of draft picks next several years and are way under the cap plus Silver wants to put Giannis with Wemby together and create another international superteam

you think the best they could get would be Mikal and Hart?

KAT + either isn't too much at all, it's not enough if anything.

Giannis, Brunson + OG or Mikal would be the best trio in the NBA

Not sure what to make of the Greeks value any longer. Sure he's great statistically but he struggled to win even surrounded by Holiday/Middleton/Lopez/Portis for a few years. If we strip down 2 of our top players (ex Kat/Mikal) and we trot out Greek/Jalen/OG --- not sure where that ultimately gets us with even less depth than this year.

I think that may be a little unfair to Greek freak official Tyrese Dad Hater. First year they won chip, another year Middleton didn't really play, and the next Giannis went down with injury when they got booted in first round. Only 1 year with the full lineup and they won it.

Chandler wrote:

martin wrote:Some randos have opinions on ghost screens

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/alanhahn/status/1918354351783067748

So can one of you guys who knows what they’re saying take it one step further? Is the reason this was effective that ausar was loading up expecting contact, and that’s when Jalen put the brakes on?

Me - if Ausar was tasked with guarding Brunson. I would think he would be going hard to get over top any screen. I think he was just pressed up to hard on Jalen and lost him on his initial dribble and he was playing catch up.

GustavBahler wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

martin wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Thibs made adjustments after game 2 and after game 5. Give him SOME credit. After game 2 he started hiding Brunson on Thompson on defense which helped us big time in games 3 and 4 until Pistons figured out how to exploit it in games 5. Thibs made adjustments after that because we rarely saw any high low baseline dunks from Duren to Thompson last night.

Also I rewatched the last couple mins and Josh Hart’s help defense was REALLY good on our last few defensive stops. Those stops were all schemes the way we navigating the Cade PnR and rotated the help. So give Thibs a little credit where it’s due. I don’t think he’s right for this team going forward but he had some bright spots in this series along with some sour spots.

Thibs isn't maximizing this roster I agree, but I don't think he's the problem either. I start to see more and more it's KAT's defense and just clumsy offensive game.

Ugh I still haven't watched all of the losses and didn't catch last nights game so I'll start there.

I'm super curious to see how Leon handles this offseason and if he continues to build around Brunson and KAT or deviates.

The 3 guys I'd guess are untouchable are Brunson, Hart, OG.

Hart wouldn't be untouchable with a new coach but tend to agree if Thibs is back Hart will be back.

I do think Mikal/Kat are potential pieces -- moreso Kat just due to lethargic defensive effort.

If there was a change in coach I’m guessing that the FO wouldn't move KAT. They might want to see what a new coach can do with him. If Thibs stays, and they weren’t happy with KAT’s performance vs. Boston. I can see the FO moving KAT.

Right - but they may move Hart to see what more spacing does for KAT/JALEN.

martin wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:I don't think KAT or Mikal are untouchable at all, heck neither is OG IMO. Especially if Giannis becomes available, I could easily see us offering KAT and either Mikal or OG. Brunson is the only untouchable.

That would be too much even for Giannis. I’d offer Mikal and Hart tho.

Supposedly Spurs are the favorites. They have a lot of draft picks next several years and are way under the cap plus Silver wants to put Giannis with Wemby together and create another international superteam

you think the best they could get would be Mikal and Hart?

KAT + either isn't too much at all, it's not enough if anything.

Giannis, Brunson + OG or Mikal would be the best trio in the NBA

Not sure what to make of the Greeks value any longer. Sure he's great statistically but he struggled to win even surrounded by Holiday/Middleton/Lopez/Portis for a few years. If we strip down 2 of our top players (ex Kat/Mikal) and we trot out Greek/Jalen/OG --- not sure where that ultimately gets us with even less depth than this year.

I think that may be a little unfair to Greek freak official Tyrese Dad Hater. First year they won chip, another year Middleton didn't really play, and the next Giannis went down with injury when they got booted in first round. Only 1 year with the full lineup and they won it.

He's an absolute stud just don't know if core of Jalen/Greek/OG and kind of nothing else makes us better vs today.

Would I be excited probably and with Greek/Jalen we at least know we'd have 2 gamers every playoff game.

God help me if he goes to Lakers for nothing.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/MattPiperJenks/status/1918287693148221894

MaTT4281 wrote:Missed this at half... Good start to the 3rd

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/StevePopper/status/1918105013185880181

I missed this until just now --- saw Mikal suggest this the other day and I basically said "don't talk about it Mikal - do it".

I guess Mikal stepped up and forced the team into layup lines at halftime and turns out we outscored them 37-24.

Cam now calling Mikal "Layup Line Kal"