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2019 West Finals | (1) Golden State Warriors vs (3) Portland Trail Blazers (GSW wins 4-0)


beekay414

Who Represents the West in the 2019 NBA Finals?  

25 members have voted

  1. 1. Who Represents the West in the 2019 NBA Finals?

    • (2) Denver Nuggets
    • (1) Golden State Warriors
    • (3) Portland Trail Blazers


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3 hours ago, Kip Smithers said:

Nobody plans to stop Klay? So nobody ever tries to stop him when he’s running off the ball? He’s not the shot creator Dame is that’s true but he’s a great scorer, can pull up from 3, pull up midrange and is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He has an argument. That’s foolish to say nobody plans to stop Klay. You don’t have to be a primary ball handler to have to be game planned for 

I don't think it's that nobody plans to stop him, but he's certainly not near the top of the totem pole when it comes to defensive attention.

I don't think it's fair to compare players like Lillard and Thompson. Lillard is a proven top dog who can lead his team to 50+ wins consistently, create his own shot against just about anyone, bend the defense and manipulate entire game plans, etc. Thompson isn't asked to do nearly as much offensively as Lillard. They're very different players with different responsibilities, and that's fine.

However, when I'm considering a ranking like this, I usually prefer the one who has to deal with a lot more and proves they can handle it.

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9 hours ago, Tyronnosaurus said:

Durant

LeBron

Curry

Kawhi

Giannis

Embiid

Harden

Davis

George

Jokic

Butler

Griffin

Westbrook

Thompson

Irving

 

Not a fan at all of Westbrook/Irving but I think at worst their equal to Lillard.

I’d even throw in Green. I think Draymond is hands down a better player than Lillard.

Saying “he’s top 25” might have been a little too much but he’s closer to 20 than 10 imo.

Irving and Westbrook above Lillard after this season is a joke.

Thompson is questionable for the reasons I posted responding to the other guy. I'm not gonna argue to the death if people prefer Thompson, but I prefer Lillard.

Griffin and Butler are incredibly questionable. What do they do better than Lillard besides Butler being a better defensive player?

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1 hour ago, seminoles1 said:

Irving and Westbrook above Lillard after this season is a joke.

Thompson is questionable for the reasons I posted responding to the other guy. I'm not gonna argue to the death if people prefer Thompson, but I prefer Lillard.

Griffin and Butler are incredibly questionable. What do they do better than Lillard besides Butler being a better defensive player?

Why is it a joke to have Kyrie over Lillard? Sure he didn't play well in the playoffs, but we have legit history of Lillard having not so great playoff runs. Granted, his series with OKC was epic but after that he kind of fell off. Granted, if you want to point to Kyrie's injury history that is fair as he didn't look close to being 100% this postseason. But in terms of pure talent and game? Kyrie is more proven in the playoffs and has annihilated some of the best defenders in the game (Bradley/Thompson/Iggy).

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22 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

Why is it a joke to have Kyrie over Lillard? Sure he didn't play well in the playoffs, but we have legit history of Lillard having not so great playoff runs. Granted, his series with OKC was epic but after that he kind of fell off. Granted, if you want to point to Kyrie's injury history that is fair as he didn't look close to being 100% this postseason. But in terms of pure talent and game? Kyrie is more proven in the playoffs and has annihilated some of the best defenders in the game (Bradley/Thompson/Iggy).

You living in a world of what Kyrie can be (mainly when he is next to the best player in the world!) and not what he is. Kyrie May be more talented than Dame but I think most GMs would build around Dame and it wouldn’t even be a question. Kyrie could be a better number 2 than Dame I suppose. But it’s obvious who is a franchise player and who isn’t 

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5 minutes ago, champ11 said:

You living in a world of what Kyrie can be (mainly when he is next to the best player in the world!) and not what he is. Kyrie May be more talented than Dame but I think most GMs would build around Dame and it wouldn’t even be a question. Kyrie could be a better number 2 than Dame I suppose. But it’s obvious who is a franchise player and who isn’t 

No, I'm living in a world where he straight isolated some of the best defenders in the league to death. Straight destroyed them. This postseason was bad no doubt, and I can't defend it. I hope it was more health related than anything else. 

But Kyrie is more efficient than Lillard and just a better one on one scorer. But either way, one bad postseason run from Kyrie and now all of a sudden that means you can't make a case for him being better than Lillard....When we have seen Lillard have trash postseasons/series for years? 

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2 hours ago, seminoles1 said:

I don't think it's that nobody plans to stop him, but he's certainly not near the top of the totem pole when it comes to defensive attention.

I don't think it's fair to compare players like Lillard and Thompson. Lillard is a proven top dog who can lead his team to 50+ wins consistently, create his own shot against just about anyone, bend the defense and manipulate entire game plans, etc. Thompson isn't asked to do nearly as much offensively as Lillard. They're very different players with different responsibilities, and that's fine.

However, when I'm considering a ranking like this, I usually prefer the one who has to deal with a lot more and proves they can handle it.

Thank you.

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1 hour ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

Why is it a joke to have Kyrie over Lillard? Sure he didn't play well in the playoffs, but we have legit history of Lillard having not so great playoff runs. Granted, his series with OKC was epic but after that he kind of fell off. Granted, if you want to point to Kyrie's injury history that is fair as he didn't look close to being 100% this postseason. But in terms of pure talent and game? Kyrie is more proven in the playoffs and has annihilated some of the best defenders in the game (Bradley/Thompson/Iggy).

Because not only did Lillard outplay Irving in both the regular season and postseason on the court, but Kyrie also sabotaged his team over and over again. 

Kyrie is certainly a more impressive 1-on-1 scorer, but not so much that it makes up for his deficiencies elsewhere.

And call me a hater or a skeptic or not giving enough credit to Irving...but he did all that stuff with LeBron on his team. It's much easier to do impressive things in the playoffs with prime LeBron than CJ McCollum.

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19 minutes ago, seminoles1 said:

Because not only did Lillard outplay Irving in both the regular season and postseason on the court, but Kyrie also sabotaged his team over and over again. 

Kyrie is certainly a more impressive 1-on-1 scorer, but not so much that it makes up for his deficiencies elsewhere.

And call me a hater or a skeptic or not giving enough credit to Irving...but he did all that stuff with LeBron on his team. It's much easier to do impressive things in the playoffs with prime LeBron than CJ McCollum.

You're acting like LeBron was getting Kyrie easy looks or something. They played pretty much the same brand of ball the Rockets do where it is my turn, your turn running straight isolations or high pick and rolls. Those that always underrate Kyrie for what he did with the Cavs do it to prop up LeBron when it is so unnecessary. 

And as for playing better in the regular season? That is debatable. Kyrie for some reason is getting super underrated from the season he had. Serious question, what made Lillard's regular season better? 

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2 hours ago, amac said:

Worth it?

Nope. Maybe 5 players in the league justify these contracts for their on court abilities and Lillard is not one of them.

Great for him and Portland keeping him is good, but the cost for keeping these guys is too much.

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5 minutes ago, seminoles1 said:

Nope. Maybe 5 players in the league justify these contracts for their on court abilities and Lillard is not one of them.

Great for him and Portland keeping him is good, but the cost for keeping these guys is too much.

Agreed

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2 hours ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

No, I'm living in a world where he straight isolated some of the best defenders in the league to death. Straight destroyed them. This postseason was bad no doubt, and I can't defend it. I hope it was more health related than anything else. 

But Kyrie is more efficient than Lillard and just a better one on one scorer. But either way, one bad postseason run from Kyrie and now all of a sudden that means you can't make a case for him being better than Lillard....When we have seen Lillard have trash postseasons/series for years? 

And he missed last years playoffs due to his ongoing health issues. I know GS fans love Kyrie bc of how well he played against y’all but I just think Dame has proven to be a far superior franchise player intangibles wise and their numbers are similar. That gives Dame the easy nod for me. Sure...Kyrie is a better one on one scorer in the playoffs and that is incredibly valuable but that’s kind of a silly reason to put him over Dame when we haven’t seen it since Kyrie was with Bron. Neither are championship players as a first option. Both would be elite #2s (Kyrie prob better). Dame is clearly the better guy to build around though and it’s not close 

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53 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

You're acting like LeBron was getting Kyrie easy looks or something. They played pretty much the same brand of ball the Rockets do where it is my turn, your turn running straight isolations or high pick and rolls. Those that always underrate Kyrie for what he did with the Cavs do it to prop up LeBron when it is so unnecessary. 

And as for playing better in the regular season? That is debatable. Kyrie for some reason is getting super underrated from the season he had. Serious question, what made Lillard's regular season better? 

Because the Celtics season was a mess dude. He doesn’t deserve all the blame (Ainge deserves waaaaaay more than he’s gotten) but the locker room issues come back to Kyrie as much as anyone. Kyrie still deserves second team all NBA and him and Dame are close as far as production and ability but I just personally give Dame more respect as the better player. How you help players around you perform matters. Deep bench guys like Evan Turner and Rodney Hood stepped up and won the blazers a playoff series...doubt a Kyrie led team could have performed in a similar way. Just my opinion of course 

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12 minutes ago, champ11 said:

Because the Celtics season was a mess dude. He doesn’t deserve all the blame (Ainge deserves waaaaaay more than he’s gotten) but the locker room issues come back to Kyrie as much as anyone. Kyrie still deserves second team all NBA and him and Dame are close as far as production and ability but I just personally give Dame more respect as the better player. How you help players around you perform matters. Deep bench guys like Evan Turner and Rodney Hood stepped up and won the blazers a playoff series...doubt a Kyrie led team could have performed in a similar way. Just my opinion of course 

That's all fine and dandy, I'm just confused at the part where it is a given Lillard out played Kyrie in the regular season. Not saying it wasn't close, but I damn sure didn't see Lillard out playing him. About the same? Sure. 

20 minutes ago, champ11 said:

And he missed last years playoffs due to his ongoing health issues. I know GS fans love Kyrie bc of how well he played against y’all but I just think Dame has proven to be a far superior franchise player intangibles wise and their numbers are similar. That gives Dame the easy nod for me. Sure...Kyrie is a better one on one scorer in the playoffs and that is incredibly valuable but that’s kind of a silly reason to put him over Dame when we haven’t seen it since Kyrie was with Bron. Neither are championship players as a first option. Both would be elite #2s (Kyrie prob better). Dame is clearly the better guy to build around though and it’s not close 

Dame as the #1 option has more of a sample size. I mean sure they are better alongside another top level player, but how many true #1 superstars are there? The list is VERY small. We are now talking the elite of the elite. So we have seen more years of Dame and his series vs OKC was epic so I will give him that. But Kyrie despite how bad he was this postseason was no worse than what we have seen from Lillard in the past, in particular just last year against NO. 

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