Ohonsi's NBA Blog

The MVP narrative for cp3 has been nauseating all season. Even in the playoffs, the media has continued to baby him. They love to use non-basketball terms/phrases like "leadership", "intangibles", "winning player", "impact goes beyond the stats", and "great locker room guy" to make certain players way better than they actually are which greatly screws up the all-star/all-NBA teams. I think he's the 2nd greatest modern era point guard behind Curry but he's been laughably overrated because he's gotten basically all the credit for the Suns huge jump in wins. (Chris got the same unnecessary praise last year in OKC too even though that team was successful due to an obviously balanced attack between FOUR players). The pre 2021 Suns still would've missed the playoffs every year if you replaced Booker with Paul. Naturally, adding an all-star level player is going to greatly improve a team that was already on the rise, 8-0 in the...

Despite beating Brooklyn, coach Bud made that series much harder than it needed to be. From the 2nd quarter of game 4 when Kyrie got hurt and was ruled out for the rest of the postseason, Milwaukee only had to deal with KD and a very limited Harden (starting from game 5). James couldn't explode off the dribble due to his hamstring injury so pretty much all of his shots were contested 3's and he barely had lift. Therefore, the only way the Nets had any chance of winning is if Durant went nuclear...which Budenholzer let him do. Kevin was consistently allowed to go 1v1 and attack slower players in the pick n roll. Not only do I not remember seeing any double teams on KD, but when PJ Tucker spent a lot of time on the bench in the 4th quarter of game 5 with foul trouble, Giannis (the reigning defensive player of the year) wasn't guarding Durant. Regardless of Bud's plans, Giannis HAS to take that challenge especially since he has all the physical tools to guard anyone. The B...

Happy late birthday to the pound-for-pound GOAT. It's hard to ignore AI's scoring binges, his filthy handle, and that he was never afraid of contact or taking center stage with the game on the line. But what I admire the most about Iverson is that he persevered even though so many people were against him. They couldn't stand that he was a true representation of real hoop culture. They were so intimidated by him that they made childish rules to protect the comfort of the average paying customer despite the fact that he wasn't hurting anyone. Now, there's too much of a circus and not enough of a middle ground. The rules are clearly being broken but they're hiding the rulebook that they used to permanently kill what he stood for since the circus is an example of the underlying motive, which was created by the people who've always had the power.

Randle loves to go right before pulling up for a jumper around the free throw area. Naturally, it's easier to go in the direction of your weak hand then pull up since you don't have to align your body toward the hoop nearly as much compared to dribbling in the direction of your dominant hand. Anyway, he's been horrible this series and it isn't just because he's missing shots. One thing Atlanta is doing to slow him down is forcing Julius baseline when he's at the left or right wing (not the corner) so he'll meet an extra defender who's waiting near the block if he drives. Therefore, Randle either has to shoot with essentially 2 guys guarding him or pick up his dribble then pass out of a double team. This is why he hasn't been able to shoot his signature shot as often as he needs to. If he and RJ (the Knicks 2 best players) continue to struggle mightily, the Knicks will have a slim chance of winning this series. Despite the Hawks strategy, I'm stil...

In game 1, Miami's offense struggled badly late in the 4th quarter and in OT primarily because of their 2 best players. It goes beyond their field goal percentages being downright awful. Jimmy has this annoying habit of driving to the rim then picking up his dribble without making a quick decision after which makes it so much harder to find an open teammate or create just enough room for a shot. This wasted too much time which led to bad shots and even worse, turnovers. I don't know why someone who's so good at drawing fouls by being physical when attacking the rack and is a good free throw shooter gets nervous this often. Bam has improved a lot this season at hitting open mid-range jumpers and taking defenders off the dribble for mid-range jumpers as well as shots at the cup. His 41 point performance in Brooklyn and game winner vs the Nets in Miami are great examples. However, it's criminal how often he doesn't do anything with the rock besides look for dribble han...