The Official Dwayne Wade <<<<<< you thread

Bam will be fine. He has come a long way already and showed dramatic improvements year on year.

When he came into the league he didnt show any of these passing skills and very little shot making skill. He has shown he can hit the jumper, he just needs to keep working and he will be fine.

Dont get the Bam or Butler talk at all, regardless of how bad a series they had. They are already stamped.

The problem is last year Dragic was ungaurdable in the bubble, Robinson and Hero was poor mans Klay and Steph and Crowder was the ultimate glue guy. This year, Dragic has looked his age, Robinson and more so Hero havent taken the step forward and Crowder has been replaced by old man Ariza who has finished 3 years ago.

CBarca wrote:

El Gunner wrote:does AD have some kind of body degenerative disease?
anyway Phoenix needed that one to get back home court. They gotta come out with with big energy now to get game 5 and give themselves minimum two rolls at the dice.

People calling the series over two quick. Suns got that big dick energy. Suns either win this or at least take it to game 7

I called it over, but under the assumption CP3 was done. Now it looks like he's good enough for 75% of his usual level and AD has the durability of wet toilet paper. Still think if Lebron decides to get aggressive there is absolutely nothing the Suns can do about it and the Lakers still play good defence.

But for real its a toss up series without AD.

it's pretty simple imo - if Lakers make their 3s at a reasonable clip they win with prime defense and prime LeBron carrying, if not, they don't.

Can anyone on that team even shoot?

KCP and Matthews are really who they are relying on here?

I'd play Gasol over Drummund for that alone. He can shoot and opens up space for Lebron to post.

Pick and roll defence is a problem with him but its not Drummond is faring that much better anyway.

The Franchise wrote:
Dont get the Bam or Butler talk at all, regardless of how bad a series they had. They are already stamped.

Both are max contract guys next season and both failed to break 16 ppg in a playoff series just now. If that doesn't ring alarm bells, I don't know what would.

Suns look great early. Booker and Payne are both having amazing games

Refs are not giving anything to the Lakers right now but it doesn't feel unfair

Just not seeing the LeBron calls. They're actually calling moving screens and pushing underneath the basket etc

Love to see it. Suns are punishing Lakers for it too. This is a bloodbath right now. Lakers need to get this under control

calma, there were uncalled LeBron and Kuzma travels in that first half
tough-watching for Laker fans lmao

CBarca wrote:Suns look great early. Booker and Payne are both having amazing games

where's my apology?

No. If CP3 isn't in, Cam Payne should never finish a possession without Booker touching the ball.

Saying otherwise is still the dumbest shit I've ever fuckin heard in my goddamn life

With that being said it's crazy to see that Payne is not the worst player in the league anymore

the way Payne has been blazing past Lebron and other Lakers for easy layups you're clearly the one making the dumb statement here lol.. it's so easy to say "King Booker, i apologise, you were right" on this forum, but i guess you lot will never give me that satisfaction

anyway, Dame should go to the Knicks and save that franchise... he is that good and capable

What's the status on Davis? Lakers are nothing without both AD and LeBron on the team. And post-injury LeBron is less important than Davis now.

Series would have been over right now without that injury for AD, but Suns deserve this tbh.

Injuries man… can’t with this shit

The short off season really cost us. A shame considering how fucking good we looked early in the season. The first Davis injury really killed all momentum off.

Last time I had less fun watching was the Ryan Kelly Lakers.

injuries sure, but starting to think what Mole said about the writing off the bubble is true. So many wild things that happened for no reason at all...
- Miami, Butler, Dragic and Herro
- AD shooting 50% on all his jumpers
- Caruso and KCP looking like legit role players that can lock down opposition guards and come up with clutch shots and hustle plays
- TJ Warren looking like a mini-Michael Jordan (granted he hasn't played a minute this season but still)
- Porzingis looking like a legit second star
- Jamal and Mitchell going off for career record games in game 1 of the playoffs when everyone came out bricking jumpers the start of this playoffs
- and there's probably more...

everyone that made it to the bubble played under the same conditions, true, there will always be that argument, but you can't help but feel there should be a major asterisk attached to everything that happened there... including that Laker/LeBron title

Art Morte wrote:

The Franchise wrote:
Dont get the Bam or Butler talk at all, regardless of how bad a series they had. They are already stamped.

Both are max contract guys next season and both failed to break 16 ppg in a playoff series just now. If that doesn't ring alarm bells, I don't know what would.

So 4 games are more importantly than the entire playoff run of last season?

unfortunately we live in the recency bias era Dani, that's how it is. Only time will tell if Bam is worth that max contract (i remain adamant he won't be) and if Butler ever reproduces bubble form again (i have my doubts about that as well).

I dont think Bam is a max player, not if you compare him to other guys on the max.

I also dont think Butler will ever be as good as he was in the bubble.

But I also think Miami had to and should of, given Bam what they did because they have no chance to replace him with someone better.

And Butler in the bubble was playing like a legit top 10 player in the league. Nobody really thinks he is that good. But these man here are talking like any old random scrub is on his level.

These guys lost to the Bucks, not the Magic...

Heat were in the Middleton situation. Have to give him the max because you can't replace him with anyone better & cheaper.

I didn't mind giving Khris the max though and still don't. I think he's earned it this season and he showed his worth against the Heat. Real test will be the Nets though.

Is Boban more important on the Mavericks than Porzingis

I really dont know who will win this series, Mavs or Clips. Dont even know if it will go 7.

Suns and Lakers, I dont know. I think despite the Suns being up, Lebron has another gear to go and will get every call in game 6. Game 7 looks very much on the cards to me.

Luka Doncic has the same number of 40-point playoff games as Magic Johnson, Karl Malone and Tim Duncan in just 11 career playoff games so far.

Insane. Malone and Duncan were limited by the offences those guys ran, they certainly could have got more points in a different system but this is impressive regardless.

King Booker close out game in Staples:
15 for 22 season high 47 pts
Career high 8 for 10 threes
Joins Steph & Klay as the only players to slay LeCry James post-2014

this one's for all the Lakers fans and sympathizers, LeCry fanboys, and everyone who said Jimmy Butler is better than King Booker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huHRSqThjl4

About time Booger did something of note.

LeBron might have done it pre-injury without AD, but it is obvious he lost a step or two. Congrats to Suns, fully deserved.

Let's hope they can heal now and come back strong.

I mean, LeBron lost a step because he was very likely not completely healed. He may have also just lost a step in general tho, but I haven't watched him much this season.

Anyway get in everyone we've been waiting for this

Shame injuries fucked us. Twice and thrice even. Hopefully we’re healed up next season.

Best thing about this series is Kuz being exposed. That terrible, terrible player has to be sent away.

And Schröder not accepting his offer is great too.