GS defense is better without Durant and their ball movement is better. Of course they are not a better team without him but I don't see to this point that they are worse. Draymond has been the key. Most assists of anybody in the playoffs, he's damn near averaging a triple double, and has the best defensive +/- of anybody in the Finals. Him, Steph, and Iggie have taken up the slack. I see no reason that won't continue.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

No sense arguing what's going to happen. Durant may or may not play. But I'm about 85% sure GS wins either way. They just know how. But once that Game 1 starts, I'm a Toronto guy. An East guy. I really would like nothing better, in 2 weeks, than to stand in line to slobber over Kawhi.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

To me it is sense. Once it's over I don't care much for the inevitable told you so's that really are nothing more than Monday morning quarterbacking.

It's cool to make predictions even if they turnout wrong.

Toronto isn't going to roll over and they will have the unquestioned best guy in the series playing for them.

Even the series against Portland was closer than the 4-0 would appear. 3 of those games were winnable even as Lillard played terribly.

Toronto is deeper and more talented than either Portland or Houston.

Its laughable for people to think that this series will only go at most 5 games.

No no, it's that I don't want to argue the 2 scenarios, with or without Durant. You seem to know what happens both ways. I don't. All I know it hasn't affected them up to this point.
Bulls used to have a lot of series that were closer than they appeared. Series against MVPs.

Both Toronto and GS are on rolls. Toronto 5 straight, GS 6. and for what it's worth, Philly is the most talented team in the East and were a decent coach away from putting away Kawhi. They had his ass playing at a human level from game 5 on.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

I found the quality of play in the Eastern Conference playoffs lacking, to put it mildly. Toronto, therefore, has proved nothing to me. I expect that to continue but I hope I'm dead goddam wrong.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

Yeah but Portland was swept. Damian Lillard played shitty in both the Denver and Golden State series.

Milwaukee was pretty formidable and so was Philly. Either of those teams beat Denver, Portland, and Houston.

The horrible fouls, the idiotic turnovers, the terrible shooting and shot selection, the scratching your head coaching was astounding in the East. I thought I was watching NCAA tournament play. Trust me, I was all in on the East but watching that garbage for a month has left me not very hopeful.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

Do you really think that Houston with all of the bad shot 3's, emphasis on analytics, and iso Harden, plays a smart brand of ball?

Same goes for Portland.Shotty Defense and Lillard jacking up 25 foot shots all game long is the best way to go?

We will see how it plays out. I got it to go at least 6 and that's with or without Durant.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Philly beats them if Embiid wasn't screwed up for the first 5 games. Brown did them no favors with some of the things he did (taking the ball out Simmons hands, Not posting Embiid more) in Game 7 but they were still there.Once it's over I don't care much for the inevitable told you so's that really are nothing more than Monday morning quarterbacking.



As far as the Durant stuff goes it does matter. He is their best player. They aren't beating very good teams this year. Houston was good this year. They weren't very good though.

Portland is a good team. They aren't very good either.

If they beat Toronto then they will have really accomplished something.

The West was weak this year. East wasn't.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

Tim Shelton, forward: He was probably one of the hardest recruits that you’d ever deal with who was that talented. (California’s Mr. Basketball in 2009.) He wasn’t going to text you, he wasn’t going to pick up the phone and talk to you. He just wouldn’t do it.

Justin Hutson, assistant coach: I wouldn’t say hard. I would say different. You couldn’t get him on the phone. Once a week, I’d just have to go up there to his high school (100 miles away in Riverside, Calif.), and I’d make sure he was there first.

Shelton: And it’s part of why the Pac-12 teams didn’t put in extra effort. They were like, “He’s kind of a four-man, and, shoot, we can’t call him and talk to him. He must not want to talk to us.”

DJ Gay, guard: I took Kawhi on his official visit. Honestly, the only thing he wanted to do was get in the gym. We were like, “Kawhi, what do you want to do?” And he was like, “Let’s go work out. Let’s go get some shots up. Let’s play.”

Shelton: We had open gym and were playing. We stopped in between games and introduced ourselves as a team and just chopped it up a little bit more with his mom than him. He introduced himself, “I’m Kawhi. Hey, what’s up.” But if you tried to talk to him, he was like, “It’s cool, everything’s cool, so far it’s cool, it’s nice.” But then he just grabbed the ball and went to shoot. Even during his visit, I’m telling you.

Gay: The most he talked was on the hard court, and Kawhi was not afraid to let you know that you weren’t going to score on him, that you couldn’t get past him or that he would score on you. Every time the ball went through the net, he just said, “Bucket. Bucket.” That was it.

Tyrone Shelley, guard: Most people say it like, “Oh, I’m about to get buckets on you.” He was just like, “Buckets. Layup.” Just one word.

Shelton: He’d be like, “You’re not scoring. You’re not doing anything.” Or he’d be like, “No, no, no.” He’d just move his feet and say, “No.”

Gay: You couldn’t score on him, so that’s what he would say: “Nope, nope, nope.” And when he would score on you: “Bucket. Bucket.”

LaBradford Franklin, guard: If he was grabbing a rebound, he’d say, “Give me that” or “Board man” or “Board man gets paid.”

Coach Hutson: If I heard it once, I heard it 50 times. “Board man. I’m a board man.” That’s what he said. Absolutely. “I’m a board man. Yeah, I’m a board man. Board man gets paid.” He spoke in phrases like that.

Shelton: Guys coming from high school have trouble with help-side defense. Kawhi made a comment to coach Hutson, who was the defensive coach at the time, and he was like, “I don’t get it, coach. Why can’t they just stay in front of their man like I do? Like, why do I have to play help side?” That was his only comment I ever heard him make about defense: “They should just be able to stay in front of their man like I do.”

Coach Hutson: We would talk about rotations and how to help. I would get him on it about. He was respectful, but he would be very frustrated and say, “Why can’t everybody just guard their own man?” Those were exactly his words. “Why can’t everybody just guard their own man?”

Kelvin Davis, guard: In his mind, everyone should be doing what he was doing. But he didn’t realize everybody couldn’t do what he did. He was a walking nightmare.

Franklin: From what I can remember, if it wasn’t Michael Jordan highlights, he was watching an episode of the Martin Lawrence show. He could be entertained with that. He’s so low-maintenance. Low maintenance, high production.

GS defense is better without Durant and their ball movement is better. Of course they are not a better team without him but I don't see to this point that they are worse. Draymond has been the key. Most assists of anybody in the playoffs, he's damn near averaging a triple double, and has the best defensive +/- of anybody in the Finals. Him, Steph, and Iggie have taken up the slack. I see no reason that won't continue.

This is his year. Best player alive.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Heard a basketball guest on the Score today say this about Kawhi and I thought it was perfect. They were talking about the possibility of Kawhi going to the Lakers:


Kawhi doesn't go to superstar teams. He defeats superstar teams.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

Lakers got played again, I told you all that Kawhi don't want nothing to do with that aging diva.

Lakers got played again, I told you all that Kawhi don't want nothing to do with that aging diva.

The Lakers will win the West.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.