Timberwolves, Nuggets, Clippers, Lakers - The 4 Powerhouses of the West

[ArbitraryWater]

Who you got?

[FireDavidKahn]

Everyone should be rooting for the Wolves if only for the reason that if KAT got a ring before Jimmy that would be the most hilarious story arc in NBA history:roll:

[Xiao Yao You]

Everyone should be rooting for the Wolves if only for the reason that if KAT got a ring before Jimmy that would be the most hilarious story arc in NBA history:roll:

too bad he plays with Gobert. Everyone on ISH will be rooting for whomever plays them

[ArbitraryWater]

too bad he plays with Gobert. Everyone on ISH will be rooting for whomever plays them


https://media.tenor.com/t2O65bcZxZ4AAAAC/its-all-cause-of-you-girl.gif

[Xiao Yao You]

https://media.tenor.com/t2O65bcZxZ4AAAAC/its-all-cause-of-you-girl.gif

living rent free

[SATAN]

https://media.tenor.com/t2O65bcZxZ4AAAAC/its-all-cause-of-you-girl.gif

:oldlol:

[SouBeachTalents]

https://media.tenor.com/t2O65bcZxZ4AAAAC/its-all-cause-of-you-girl.gif
:oldlol:

[Axe]

https://media.tenor.com/t2O65bcZxZ4AAAAC/its-all-cause-of-you-girl.gif
:oldlol:

[Proctor]

too bad he plays with Gobert. Everyone on ISH will be rooting for whomever plays them
Doubt anyone cares that much about a roleplayer. It'd be like rooting against the Nuggets because of KCP :facepalm

[Xiao Yao You]

Doubt anyone cares that much about a roleplayer. It'd be like rooting against the Nuggets because of KCP :facepalm

the all NBA roleplayer that you constantly root against! :facepalm

[MMM]

I think the Kings and OKC should be mentioned with this group

[RRR3]

Lakers aren't a powerhouse by any means with Ham coaching.

[FultzNationRISE]

I dont really see the Lakers as a powerhouse.

It’s more that Lebron is a powerhouse and his teammates belong in the D League. So on balance they end up a marginal contender.

[dazzer87]

Look at this fool…”clippers powerhouse”…:roll:

[fsvr54]

You mispelled Thunder as "Lakers".

Lakers are garbage. They'll be in the play-in and probably get bounced by younger and better teams

[NBAGOAT]

suns will be in here when healthy.

[ArbitraryWater]

I think the Kings and OKC should be mentioned with this group

Kings and OKC are nice (although not as nice as Mavs with Irving) but they wouldnt be favored against any of these and I dont see them as powerhouse tbh.

[ArbitraryWater]

Look at this fool…”clippers powerhouse”…:roll:

Clippers have won 8 straight and are blowing teams out by 20+ dummie. They have the 3rd highest point differential and are only a point behind the Wolves even though they have twice as many losses.

Theyre a game behind the 2nd seed.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Are the Lakers the greatest 8th seed of all time?

[tontoz]

Are the Lakers the greatest 8th seed of all time?

They are the Play In Powerhouse

[Xiao Yao You]

They are the Play In Powerhouse

don't forget IST dynasty!

[BlackMamba8]

Who you got?

Are you ****ing dumb? You add the lakers for what? For trolling? Or are you that ****ing stupid/? ******

[Manny98]

Timberwolves - rank bottom half of the league offensively and Rudy has yet to prove he can anchor a playoff defense so I don't see how this year is any different

Nuggets - obvious favourites they are the defending champs

Clippers - if Kawhi is healthy they have a chance

Lakers - they're second favourites to me, Bron & AD are the best duo in the league

[Xiao Yao You]

Timberwolves - rank bottom half of the league offensively and Rudy has yet to prove he can anchor a playoff defense so I don't see how this year is any different

Nuggets - obvious favourites they are the defending champs

Clippers - if Kawhi is healthy they have a chance

Lakers - they're second favourites to me, Bron & AD are the best duo in the league

actually he has anchored a playoff defense. Rubio and Favors in the corner just weren't enough. Now he has Conley and Towns. Wouldn't expect you to see this team as any different than the flawed squads he had in the past

Defending makes them the team to beat not the favorite. Hard to repeat

Clippers healthy :roll:

Lakers :lol

[ArbitraryWater]

actually he has anchored a playoff defense. Rubio and Favors in the corner just weren't enough. Now he has Conley and Towns. Wouldn't expect you to see this team as any different than the flawed squads he had in the past

Defending makes them the team to beat not the favorite. Hard to repeat

Clippers healthy :roll:

Lakers :lol


are you doing the Lakers are a joke thing again?

How did that work out last time? :lol

[Xiao Yao You]

are you doing the Lakers are a joke thing again?

How did that work out last time? :lol

odds are with me. Davis and Lebron being on the floor isn't likely

[Manny98]

actually he has anchored a playoff defense. Rubio and Favors in the corner just weren't enough. Now he has Conley and Towns. Wouldn't expect you to see this team as any different than the flawed squads he had in the past

Defending makes them the team to beat not the favorite. Hard to repeat

Clippers healthy :roll:

Lakers :lol

What good playoff defense has Rudy anchored?

Lakers made the conference finals last year whilst your Timberwolves were eliminated in the first round so I don't know what you're laughing about

[Xiao Yao You]

What good playoff defense has Rudy anchored?

Lakers made the conference finals last year whilst your Timberwolves were eliminated in the first round so I don't know what you're laughing about

The Jazz defense was fine until COTM abandoned it and tried to be the Rockets. Offense was their problem with Rubio and Favors

109.9 DRtg in 2017 in win over Clipps despite injuries to Rudy and others. 116.1 vs GS(eventually champs) with Rudy and his backup(his backup would have been starting if he wasn't hurt so sadly this was a good thing) playing hurt, the corpses of Diaw and Joe Johnson and no George Hill. OFtg of 100.5 isn't going to cut it but again they were hobbling by that point. That was the closest they ever got to putting a proper team around Gobert. Better DRtg than any of GS opponents in those playoffs despite being far from 100%

2018 104.1 DRtg in win over OKC. 111.6 vs Rockets. Champs GS had a 104.9 to beat the Rockets but a 114.5 ORtg vs the 101.4 the Jazz put up vs them. Rubio and Favors in the corner didn't cut it

2019 they were better with a 109.3 vs the Rockets but even worse offensively with a pathetic 99.9. western conference champ GS held them to 113.8 so again the Jazz were better but GS had a 115.7 ORtg. This changed everything. After two straight losses to the Rockets they finally got rid of The Matador and Favors and tried to be the Rockets hoping Gobert could guard the other team by himself. He couldn't

2020 bubble 119.6 DRtg! :roll:

2021 vs Memphis 116.1 DRtg. Good enough to beat a young team in 5. 130.1 vs LAC. Dallas only gave up 122.2 in their loss and the Suns 112.2 in their win. Trying to out gun the other team was an even bigger failure than Rubio and Favors in the corner.

Trying to say the same thing will happen when Gobert and Conley are the only two common pieces is just your usual trolling. They had issues but only the last two years was D the main one

[Full Court]

Doubt anyone cares that much about a roleplayer. It'd be like rooting against the Nuggets because of KCP :facepalm

Yeah. Or rooting against the Lakers because of Lebron.

[Manny98]

The Jazz defense was fine until COTM abandoned it and tried to be the Rockets. Offense was their problem with Rubio and Favors

109.9 DRtg in 2017 in win over Clipps despite injuries to Rudy and others. 116.1 vs GS(eventually champs) with Rudy and his backup(his backup would have been starting if he wasn't hurt so sadly this was a good thing) playing hurt, the corpses of Diaw and Joe Johnson and no George Hill. OFtg of 100.5 isn't going to cut it but again they were hobbling by that point. That was the closest they ever got to putting a proper team around Gobert. Better DRtg than any of GS opponents in those playoffs despite being far from 100%

2018 104.1 DRtg in win over OKC. 111.6 vs Rockets. Champs GS had a 104.9 to beat the Rockets but a 114.5 ORtg vs the 101.4 the Jazz put up vs them. Rubio and Favors in the corner didn't cut it

2019 they were better with a 109.3 vs the Rockets but even worse offensively with a pathetic 99.9. western conference champ GS held them to 113.8 so again the Jazz were better but GS had a 115.7 ORtg. This changed everything. After two straight losses to the Rockets they finally got rid of The Matador and Favors and tried to be the Rockets hoping Gobert could guard the other team by himself. He couldn't

2020 bubble 119.6 DRtg! :roll:

2021 vs Memphis 116.1 DRtg. Good enough to beat a young team in 5. 130.1 vs LAC. Dallas only gave up 122.2 in their loss and the Suns 112.2 in their win. Trying to out gun the other team was an even bigger failure than Rubio and Favors in the corner.

Trying to say the same thing will happen when Gobert and Conley are the only two common pieces is just your usual trolling. They had issues but only the last two years was D the main one

So he's never anchored an elite PLAYOFF defense thanks for clarifying :cheers:

[Xiao Yao You]

So he's never anchored an elite PLAYOFF defense thanks for clarifying :cheers:

not sure what we're calling elite? Playing better D than the teams winning the championship against the same teams tells me defense wasn't the problem as your narrative goes except the last two years when COTM thought they could just out gun their opponents and Gobert could guard the other team by himself

[Manny98]

not sure what we're calling elite? Playing better D than the teams winning the championship against the same teams tells me defense wasn't the problem as your narrative goes except the last two years when COTM thought they could just out gun their opponents and Gobert could guard the other team by himself

Example the Clippers destroyed Utah's defense in 2021, Mitchell showed up with 35/5/5 that series and they lost because Clippers scored at will

You can't blame Mitchell as it's not his job to anchor the defense

[kawhileonard2]

Lakers couldn't make play in with peak Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Lebron James despite being predicted to win it all.

[Xiao Yao You]

Example the Clippers destroyed Utah's defense in 2021, Mitchell showed up with 35/5/5 that series and they lost because Clippers scored at will

You can't blame Mitchell as it's not his job to anchor the defense

they scored at will because Mitchell doesn't even attempt to defend so yeah he gets blamed. The anchor can only do so much. Everyone on the Wolves has bought in defensively. Ant isn't the anchor but he plays both ends despite what he does offensively. Even Towns has bought in amazingly! Mitchell showed up in the bubble too but but who cares when your opponent is doing the same thing at the other end because you don't care about the aspect of the game :facepalm

[Manny98]

they scored at will because Mitchell doesn't even attempt to defend so yeah he gets blamed. The anchor can only do so much. Everyone on the Wolves has bought in defensively. Ant isn't the anchor but he plays both ends despite what he does offensively. Even Towns has bought in amazingly! Mitchell showed up in the bubble too but but who cares when your opponent is doing the same thing at the other end because you don't care about the aspect of the game :facepalm
Again it's not Mitchells job to anchor the defense

He averaged 35/5/5 and was a net positive that series

In game 6 Rudy was a -24 on the floor whilst Mitchell was only a -9

[Xiao Yao You]

Again it's not Mitchells job to anchor the defense

He averaged 35/5/5 and was a net positive that series

In game 6 Rudy was a -24 on the floor whilst Mitchell was only a -9

It's not Gobert's job to play both ends I guess either but he does. +/- really? Anchoring a D and guarding 5 guys because some guys don't play that end are two different things

[Manny98]

It's not Gobert's job to play both ends I guess either but he does. +/- really? Anchoring a D and guarding 5 guys because some guys don't play that end are two different things
+/- can be applied when it stands out like a sore thumb, Gobert was a liability defensively when the Clippers went with a smaller lineup

[Xiao Yao You]

+/- can be applied when it stands out like a sore thumb, Gobert was a liability defensively when the Clippers went with a smaller lineup

One guy can't guard 5 guys by himself big or small. Never been done. Never will be done. Watch the Wolves. Every team is small to them. Doesn't matter when everyone buys in