This blog post is not written much from an advanced stats viewpoint. I just wanted to share my thoughts, observations, and predictions for the rest of the Playoffs 2011.
Let’s list the weakest links team-by-team first.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
- Chicago: Keith Bogans has been playing 38.5% of minutes. In contrary to Tom Thibodeau, I don’t think he even is an average defender.
- Miami: Guarding the opposing point guards. Whoever plays at #1, I’ve not been satisfied.
- Boston: Jeff the “out of postseason rotation” Green. Other than that, C’s are the team designed for the Playoffs. OKC’s best move was getting rid of him. Plus the addition of Perkins to the mix increased interior strength.
- Orlando: How about having Arenas and his “zero” minutes in game 3.
- Atlanta: Inconsistency. We would never know if they might advance even after leading 3-1 in the series. One might benefit highly from NBA betting off of this Hawks situation.
- New York: Melodrama. Lack of team play. The Knicks community would like to believe the fact that by acquiring Carmelo they invested in future, not this year’s playoffs success. Not to mention higher ticket prices as a short-term benefit.
- Philadelphia: Preseason targets. Making playoffs should not be the only target.
- Indiana: Lack of experience in close games. Maybe the players don’t believe they deserve the Playoffs?
WESTERN CONFERENCE
- San Antonio: PF position. Tim Duncan only plays with intelligence and Matt Bonner has nothing to do with playing some “D”. The next opponent should be OKC.
- Los Angeles: All bench players.
- Dallas: Predictability. The Mavericks are too consistent. Portland’s advanced stats department are happy to get what they predicted.
- Oklahoma City: Coaching. I don’t like the way the coach wants his team to play at the crunch time. For the opponents, OKC is very predictable to defend in the last 2 minutes.
- Denver: Strategic thinking or tanking? I can’t believe why they didn’t want Dallas instead of OKC. Maybe there lies an overdose confidence of being the best team after the all-star game?
- Portland: Backcourt. Despite having a solid frontcourt, they need some creativity in offensive sets. That’s not something you can do at “Miller time”.
- New Orleans: Lack of winner mentalism. Lakers in five, no doubt.
- Memhpis: Management. They let one the valuable pieces of the team to relax just after to first franchise playoff victory.