This Memphis Grizzlies team talks so much for a team that hasn’t done anything. Seriously, who is Desmond Bane to be saying this?
What did he say that’s so arrogant? He said he tips his cap to Rui for the game he had, but that they’ll continue to let him take shots like that throughout the series. They aren’t going to just switch their focus to Rui Hachimura because he went 5-6 in game 1 from 3 point range. They’re going to continue to give him those open looks because he’s typically a 30% 3 point shooter that you’re going to be willing to give those shots to. I have no problem leaving him open and letting him be the one to beat us. Anything to get the ball out of AD’s hands. I think we’ll take our chances with Rui over AD and Lebron. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dirk digler:
Ja said he can't use his right hand but luckily he has until Wednesday to see if that improves. If he is out the series is over.
Luckily he’s got pretty much a whole week to heal until game 3 Saturday. I don’t see him playing Wednesday for sure, but I still think they’ll win game 2 with Tyus running the offense at home. We’ll need Ja back for the games in LA for sure, though. [Reply]
Yeah, when Hachimura started hitting turnaround fadeaways from the elbow you knew it was just gonna be one of those nights for him.
I said when the trade got made that I'm a big fan of Rui - but that's not something he's going to be able to do routinely. And frankly, it took everything he had for the Lakers to hang in there long enough to pull away with Morant went down. And even then, if Ja doesn't get hurt, I'm not sure the Lakers pull that out.
Memphis played damn well in that game. Like I said - the inverse to Rui playing so well was that I'm not sure Jackson can play a better game than he played either. But he's more likely to be able to duplicate that game or a reasonable facsimile of it.
If Morant is out, I think the Lakers take this pretty easily but if he's back at 80% or better (which seems unlikely), LA has to make damn sure they don't have another quarter like the 2nd quarter yesterday. That's enough for them to lose against a team like Memphis.
They just weren't engaged at all. It looked like Davis got frustrated by the doubles and there just wasn't enough movement off the ball around him. James looked like he was trying to pace himself a little bit to start the game and Russell was off. I hope they took a lesson away from that and if James needs to pace (he probably does) he really can't do it when the rest of his guys are finding their shots and Davis is getting that much attention.
If you have an 8 minute burst of energy, maybe pick when you use it a little better because LA can't afford to lose momentum like that again if Morant comes back. Frankly, it was that momentum that led to Davis getting dinged to begin with; the energy from the crowd had memphis flying around and LA scrambling and that's why that play happened.
Gotta play a full 48 in the post-season, fellas. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dirk digler:
Bane a top 20 player? Yeah don't think so but let's list it out in no particular order.
Steph
Giannis
Lebron
KD
Booker
Luka
Embiid
Jokic
Morant
Tatum
Jaylen Brown
Butler
Lillard
Donovan Mitchell
Kawhi
PG
AD
Harden
Jrue Holiday
Sabonis or Fox
I got to 30 without even getting to "maybe?"
I just didn't feel like typing them all out.
There's really no way to make the argument but whatev... [Reply]
Originally Posted by dirk digler:
Ja said he can't use his right hand but luckily he has until Wednesday to see if that improves. If he is out the series is over.
He's not much of a shooter anyway. Just needs his hand for floaters, plus he can finish with his left.
His ability to fire a gun left-handed is a different story. [Reply]