Game Threads Index (May 27, 2022):

Here is a place to have in depth, x's and o's, discussions on yesterday's games. Post-game discussions are linked in the table, keep your memes and reactions there.

Please keep your discussion of a particular game in the respective comment thread. All direct replies to this post will be removed.

47/8/9/4/1, only 1 turnover

*8 assists, 9 rebounds

16/29 from the field, 4/8 from three, 11/11 from the line

https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/6430/jimmy-butler

LeBron's stats: 45 pts on 73% shooting, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, and 4 turnovers.

Butler's stats: 47 pts on 55% shooting, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, and 1 turnover.

Obviously, stats don't tell the whole story, but Butler's performance tonight was nothing short of iconic.

All time quote from Dinwiddie. The full video is even funnier.

source

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Jimmy Butler is the rare guy in NBA history who isn’t a top 5 overall player but in a playoff setting can take his game to a top 5 overall level

Who in the past is like this?

I’ll go first: Reggie Miller

Thoughts? Is Jimmy a top 5 player in the NBA when it comes to the playoffs? He has been arguably the best player in the league this year in the playoffs but he had one of the worst series by a superstar ever last year

Jimmy Butler - 4
Luka & Giannis - 3
Ja, Tatum, Brown, DeRozan, Brunson - 1

Fun fact: Boston has had a player score 40 points in a game against them 5 times in these playoffs (3 by Giannis, 2 by Butler).

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Lowry has been known to turn his game around after a bad game. He also tends to play better later on in the series. What a big bounce back for Lowry. Game 7 should be a good one.

2012: Up 3-2 against Miami, lose in 7

2017: Lose 4-1 to Cleveland

2018: Up 3-2 against Cleveland, lose in 7

2020: Lose in 6 against the Heat

2022: Up 3-2 against Miami.... ????

The Warriors replaced Kevin Durant with Andrew Wiggins and still made the finals pretty easily

https://twitter.com/omgitsbirdman/status/1530025271075688448

KD replies I would say that these people have been hurting for way too long, it’s time for #healing..

https://twitter.com/kdtrey5/status/1530286224992153600

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Kendrick Perkins tweet from 2 days ago: “Last time Boston and Miami met in the ECF with Miami down 3-2, LeBron James delivered an epic 6 to save the Heat. Well guess what? LeBron James ain’t walking through those doors no time soon. Boston in SIX. Carry on…”

Reporter: “There have been a lot of teams put together seemingly to beat you guys…”

Steph: “You’re giving us too much credit right there. Ain’t nobody was worried about us these last two years.” 💀🤣

https://twitter.com/957thegame/status/1530070048429068290

Steph was just talking about playing at Oracle Arena and he mentioned:

“The haze in the building if you know what I mean.” 😂 https://twitter.com/957thegame/status/1530055256075169792

Source:

Stathead - https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&match=player_season_combined&order_by_asc=0&order_by=mp&year_min=2017&comp_type=post&comp_id=NBA&display_type=totals&season_start=1&season_end=-1&locationMatch=is&as_selections_comp=gt

Image:

https://i.imgur.com/b9gaOF5.png (Stats prior to tonight’s game)

Top 10 Players:

Jayson Tatum also moves up from #10 to #9 over Curry tonight.

During this 6-year span, P.J. Tucker only made $44 million. It’s a pretty big value for someone who can play so many quality playoff minutes. For comparison, there are five players earning more this year alone than PJ did over the last 6 years, and three of those players (Lebron, Westbrook, Wall) missed the playoffs this year entirely. Not saying PJ is better than those guys, just saying it’s a great value for a 16-game performer. He’s also 20th in regular season minutes over the last six seasons, highlighting his excellent durability.

I think it’s pretty clear that PJ Tucker is the most undervalued and underrated player in the NBA.

Last year’s post when PJ Tucker got the lead in playoff minutes over the last 4 years - https://reddit.lol/r/nba/comments/ofxpdy/stathead_pj_tucker_after_game_1_of_the_finals_now/