HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[KillerLeft]

I honestly still think the Clippers will win it all, though my confidence is wavering.

Maybe they can pull it out based on pure talent but they always had such a structural disadvantage not having a real playmaker or interior defense (beyond the 15 minutes Zubac plays) 
I was so glad when they cashed in their assets for Morris instead of addresses their actual concerns. 

I think Kawhi's ability (much like Luka's) to get into the paint any time he wants (literally) and apply a wide variety of those one handed running hooks, turnaround jumpers, etc, is quite possibly the closest thing to prime Shaq offense in the league right now. I don't mean that he's posting up, obvs, but he scores from inside(ish) much more frequently than the vast majority of scorers, and physically, he's so dominant that there's not much, if anything, the defense can do about it. To me, that's Shaq like, in a way. While I wouldn't necessarily call him a "playmaker" the way you're using that term, his basketball IQ is through the roof, and he's more than capable of making over aggressive defenses pay with the pass. 

That's germane in two ways: 

1) When they have that at their disposal, the absence of the type of playmaker you're talking about isn't nearly as glaring, imo. I think he could play more like Lebron if he wanted to, but if you can hit from close to midrange pretty much anytime you want against even great defense, what's the point? I've only seen one game in the playoffs where a defender was able to bother him into inefficiency, so far. 

2) I agree about the rim protection, but honestly, I'm not sure anyone besides Luka is truly able to take advantage, provided their help defense is good enough. Players today are conditioned to pass out of the paint when they draw multiple defenders, and the fact that the Clippers are set up with like sizes to switch so frequently should make GETTING to the paint much tougher (at least, when they're engaged). Kawhi could exploit that, but he's on their team! 

Lebron is much more dangerous going to the rim in transition than he is in half court, imo, though I'm sure that's a concern. There's a chance that Davis knuckles up and gets into the paint more, but I doubt that's going to happen, since I feel strongly that the idiot Vogal is going right back to the two worthless centers he has in the next series. I can't believe it took him all the way to the 2nd half of game 3 to figure out they were hurting him against Houston. Like, I found that shocking. 

The only team left that I think has a chance against them is Boston, and I'm not sure they'll even make it to the finals. 

IF Vogal continues to play Davis at center, like a qualified coach would, the Lakers have a chance, but he won't, and even if he did they'd still need guys like Rondo to take and make catch and shoot opportunities, which doesn't seem likely.