[Russo] Darius Garland left tonight’s game before media was allowed into the locker room and did not speak to media after Tuesday’s game, as well.
I’ve always liked Garland. Good player but will be hunted mercilessly if the Clipps make the playoffs.
He’ll never be a big guard, and this is a big guard league now
He’s moves well enough on defense but you can’t fix height. And on offense he makes up for it by going 100 mph but it’s just not sustainable. He would be an unreal player with a few more inches (woah)
he’s only an inch shorter than Donovan, but Don makes up for it in wingspan
It was wild seeing that in person for the first time. He probably could’ve made it in any sport
oh absolutely
would’ve made a hell of a second baseman/shortstop
He’s compact enough for football too and that wingspan is just as valuable. Just a matter of willingness to hit or get hit
Unless pro benchpressing exist
Chill
Mitchell is also built like a brick house
what if he gained like 20 lb?
It’s weight too
Just wait until every team is just 10 wembys
They’re growing them in the lab underground as we speak
He’ll adapt
He’s not getting through Camara lol. That will be when he meets his maker
Yeah Blazers are a rough matchup for LA
Who would be guarding Kahwi?
Was mostly Jrue down the strech the other night.
Denver was able to hide both Murray and Joker last year against OKC. You can hide Garland with the right defensive scheme and players next to him.
yea the warriors have had elite playoff defenses for most of a decade with curry playing like 38 mpg. one small guard isn’t a dealbreaker for contenders. hell, prichard is a significant piece of the celtics rotation and they’re consistently great on that end.
Love Garland from what I’ve seen. Physicality causes his TOs to rise and agreed on him being hunted.
Ball security with lengthy physical players will disrupt his game along with his inability to want to draw contact.
The most frustrating part is the variance. He can break a game wide open like Curry but his bad matchups are BAD. He and Harden were truly the perfect match to try and shake things up for both teams lol
Can’t blame him he was in clamps
He’s so ass. Wish him the best as a person but wouldn’t want him anywhere near my team, I couldn’t think less of him as a player. I loved watching the C’s play him on the Cavs minus seeing his dumb ass head whiplash back on every play offense and defense
I did not know Darius Garland had haters like this ngl
lol
One of the most out of the pocket crashouts on someone I least expected, this is gold lol
He’s a BUM
He’s still locked up in the Castle dungeon most likely
Peach
No ,he wasnt lol, Castle guarded Kawhi most of the time, how is this been upvoted, do people watch the game ?
Garland had a bad night he had some open looks and even when the Spurs decided to blitz Kawhi in the 2half Garland couldnt muster anything.
He had a bad game against a juggernaut. Hopefully this isn’t toe related.
DG’s talent is near the leagues best. But his size severely limits how much he can do with that talent on the night to night basis.
I’m happy he’s been balling with the Clippers but these types of games will always be a feature of his career
Sorta like a combo guard version of Trae Young? (Less ball dominant / P&R spamming, maybe not quite as negative on D)
The Spurs hunted him every possession on defense and then had Castle body him on the other end. He also didn’t get any calls either (not sure he should have).
It was miserable.
That’s because they were too busy giving all the calls to Mathurin lol
dude is a pro foulbaiter as well, thank god he isn’t good enough for that to be an annoyance
Dam I watched most of the game and recall some pretty good moves/tough scores by the guy but looking at his numbers after it’s atrocious.
it’s interesting, i notice that happening a lot actually, especially with guards. the shots and moves most of these guys can pull off are mind blowing. especially if you watch them play from a lower angle, almost all of the shots guards make in the paint are shots that, if a guy made it in a pick up game against me, my instinct would be “no fucking way dude, that’s lucky as shit.” super high floaters and finishes off the glass at really awkward angles with the wrong hand. but it’s kind of just the norm for starting caliber guards in the league. and then like you said, you’ll look at a box score and see that same dude went like 6⁄17 lol. the talent level in the nba is stupid.
Yeah then you have Wemby and you kind of gloss over the open midrange makes and easy dunks cuz theyre… open midrange shots and end of the game youre like damn 41 pts 16 of 23 shooting wtf when did he get that.
yeah prime KD was similar (or even kinda current KD)
just roaming around and smoothly hitting a few easy pull ups every quarter and then at the end of the game you’re like wait he had 35?
except wemby can fuckin catch a lob at half court and reach the hoop too so there’s that 😂 i’m a warriors fan and i don’t hate the fact that we’re gonna be trash when wemby hits his prime so i can just enjoy watching slenderman destroy the league without having to get my heart broken in the playoffs lol
Literally had one or two bad games in LA after ballin for weeks. He’s fine
That’s kinda concerning tbh… hope it’s nothing serious and not another injury thing. The no media part makes it feel a bit weird too.
Shifting to playoff Garland mode I see. Funny how the clippers traded Harden for Garland, two players known for lights getting far too bright.
Last year garland came back from Injury and did 24ppg, 7a with 51/41/90 splits in the miami series. Then he got reinjured and went south.
Before that he generally did very good when healthy and not so good in limping mode. So its really more about health than bright lights.
From 2013-2019 these were Hardens ppg in the playoffs. 26.3, 26.8, 27.2, 26.6, 28.5, 28.6, 31.6, 29.6. Tell us more about him disappearing in the playoffs.
Huh, very interesting decision to leave out (checks notes) the past 6 postseasons of data. I wonder why you would do that?
Also - let’s add FG% to your years:
39%, 37%, 44%, 41%, 41%, 41%, 41%, 48%
Dame Lillard dreams of being that efficient in the playoffs lol. How come we all hail him as some legendary playoff performer?
nobody was ever worried about Dame or the Blazers beating actual good teams so there was no point of hating
I don’t think anyone really puts Dame on that tier. Harden was an MVP. The same way Mitchell get shit for never making it out the 2nd round but it’s nowhere near players of a higher caliber
They put Dame in top 75 smfh. Grosses me out. He hit two game winners in the first round and we all decided he was a playoff legend. Dude has sucked in damn near every single series besides those and struggled to crack 40% across his playoff career.
I know this is a Harden post and I’m off topic. Grinds the hell outta my gears though lol.
Dame will be most overrated player ever
I agree that Harden gets hated on too much. Dude is legit, but you can’t deny how hard Dame carried those Blazers teams. If we look at the 2019 playoffs for example: half of the roster on that Blazers team were out of the league within 2 years. The last game Aminu, Harkless, Leonard, Kanter, Hood played was like 2021. These guys were his starters for years. Game plan is obviously “anyone but Dame” and it worked.
In comparison, 2019 Rockets had guys that are still getting minutes in the league. Rivers went on to still contribute for another 3, 4 years. PJ Tucker was a meaningfuk contributors to a ring. Chris Paul went to the Finals shortly after. Eric Gordon was still averaging more points than Aminu and Harkless combined until Philly. Capela is still out here getting 20 minutes a game.
Dame is out here doing his best Iverson impression.
He was never an MVP level player and has significant series winning shots as an underdog. In comparison to Harden who’s generally lauded as an all-time scorer.
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Dame was hot garbage against GS the entire WCF. He shot 3⁄17 in game 7 against Denver. That’s supposed to negate your excellent series when it comes to Harden though?
I will give him those two first round series. Dame showed up like a legend for those.
That equals a better playoff resume than Harden lol? Their numbers aren’t even comparable. Out of his prime Harden gets mocked for 42% playoff performances.
Great argument for why Harden isn’t better than Dame. Very solid rhetoric
High volume 3 point shooter shooting 40% in a game is pretty good.
So first ballot hall of Famer and one of the best regular season scorers in history, during his peak years nonetheless, shot “pretty good” in the playoffs during that stretch. It almost sounds like that’s.. a drop off from his regular season production?
Good chat mate.
How many players improve their stats in the playoffs? LeBron? SGA playoff stats are 25 5 and 5 pretty far cry from his regular season stats no?
Oh man, wait until you find out what those players have that Harden doesn’t
Nice. Prime harden was playing with an old CP3 and lost in 7 to the warriors. You don’t gotta like Harden but saying he disappears in the playoffs is absurd. Enjoy your day tho princess.
Garden in elimination games: Game 7 vs the Nuggets last year 2⁄8
Game 6 vs Dallas 2024 5⁄16 (improvement from 2⁄12 in game 5)
Game 7 vs Boston 2023 3⁄11
Game 6 vs Miami 2022 4⁄9
I’ll leave out 2021 to be generous because he played hurt
Game 5 vs Lakers 2020 12⁄20 but got smacked by 23
Game 7 vs OKC 2020 4⁄15
Game 6 vs Warriors 2019 11⁄25, was actually great in this game
I could keep going, but you’re being obtuse and wouldn’t get it anyway. Harden has played good games in the playoffs. Anyone with a brain would still say Harden consistently shrinks in big moments in the playoffs.
James harden has played in 173 playoff games and you named 7. Maybe this sub just is confused with the definition on consistency? Maybe that’s the issue.
“Harden has played good games in the playoffs” “anyone with a brain will say he shrinks in big moments” nice
SGA leads his team to a championship though.
Harden chokes it away
As if PPG averages tell the story of abysmal game 6s and 7s…
And they got to those games because of him….
And they lost those games because of him…
Your bullshit makes no sense in a world where the entire point of the sport is WINNING. Not just winning some games, but a series and eventually a championship. If he can change the narrative this year, cool, but it’s the one time I’ll say that it’s the general consensus for a reason.
Why are you so mad about James Harden? 😂 it’ll be ok sweetheart.
You can’t fool us! We watched the games!
Why specifically only those years bud? Did Harden never make playoffs after 2019?
Also are you new to watching basketball because you know ppg doesn’t matter without the efficiency numbers as well right?
Cause those are his prime years where he was the focal point of a team.
It doesn’t? Kobe seemed to win a few rings. Or did he not win any rings?
What about since 2019? And what was his efficiency like?
Since 2019?? Why would we only be applying Hardens numbers after 2019?? Why can’t we include his prime?
Nobody said only after 2019.
Since then He’s played with KD/kyrie. Embiid/Maxey. And Kawhi.
How did those teams do in the playoffs?
Nets? Lost in overtime of game 7 in the eastern conference semi-finals to the eventual nba champions. Lost in the semi finals both years with the 76ers and lost in round 1 twice as a 34 and 35 year old. Any more brain busters?
So a bunch of first and second round exits? With him shooting abysmally in those elimination games?
Ok and who’s claiming James Harden is the best playoff performer ever? I’m saying he doesn’t choke in the playoffs. His teams got to where they were because he was there, plain and simple. That’s why he won an MVP award.
I’m saying he doesn’t choke in the playoffs.
Yeah, and that’s where you’re clearly wrong lol. The stats don’t lie.
Also, bringing up a regular season MVP award is pretty pointless when talking about playoff performance.
K
And?
ahh yes cause PPG is all that matters and not all the 5 for 14 games he had in do or die moments.
That must be why hes had so much success.
And what’s the reason they got to those “do or die” games?
Yes Harden chokes away plenty of game 7s. But he typically dominated the series up until the deciding game. It’s disingenuous to say Harden disappears in the playoffs.
So hes good…until the most important moments..and then he comes up short…
but its unfair to describe that as disappearing? Do you hear yourself?
Disappearing in the playoffs would be Dirk after his 67 win season. How he showed up vs GS.
Dominating two series, then choking away the game 7 of the 3rd series under pressure isn’t the same as disappearing in the playoffs.
Could’ve had a ring in 2012 if he showed up lol
Yeah cause winning in the nba playoffs is easy. Thats why so many teams are nba champions
That’s a completely different argument though. You said to tell you more about him disappearing in the playoffs, so I gave you a prime example of him being bad in the biggest moment of his career
I think this guy might be Hardens burner account lmao
Harden was the focal point of the heats defense according to Chris bosh
Because he didn’t believe they could stop KD or Westbrook lol
False.
Look up the original conversation you are referring to and see what he said
Back then Westbrook was taking more shots than KD some games too lol
Lost the IVE buff since they went back home..
Hopefully his toe is better by next season. I admire him for trying to play this year and he did the best he could.
Did baby boy hurt his little toe again?