Eric Bledsoe can't handle playoff pressure

[HiAndTight]

So what you're saying is in 2014, when there was no pressure as an 8 seed, Bud's team did fine.

 

Then they come out of nowhere the next season to win 60, playing with house money & exceeding expectations all year, but when the pressure finally showed up to perform for real in the ECF against LeBron, they wilted.

 

Next you've got the top 4 & 7 of the top 8 guys from your 60 win team back the following season, pressure is on to prove the 60 wins weren't a fluke & getting swept by the Cavs was, but you only manage 48 wins.

 

Now Bud is really feeling the pressure, at least he must have been feeling something since he acquired Dwight Howard on purpose. Predictably the Hawks win even less games.

 

Finally with the pressure really piling up after two seasons of diminishing returns & getting stripped of his POBO title, he appears to quits on his team & they win an Eastern Conference worst 24 games.

 

So maybe he can't handle pressure & is a quitter to boot?

 

 

Seems like you're the one saying those things and it's ONLY you questioning Coach Bud's coaching ability.

 

Had the Bucks gone 6 vs the Piston's and gone out in the 2nd round, you'd have a point. But to be shocked that they're in a competitive series vs a 58 win team(a team that's been to several ECF's and has only failed to get by LeBron) and trying to somehow turn his success in Atlanta without a real star player against him somehow is laughable.

 

 

And calling a man a quitter is.....well, it's something I'd expect to see on twitter, not so much on this forum. Cheap shot and completely made up to say the least.

[BillScottCanRake]

I think, and I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong, but I think sveumrules was using sarcasm to make a point. I think that point was it is very hard to tell the difference between an unexpected result because that's sports and someone choking.

[HiAndTight]

I think, and I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong, but I think sveumrules was using sarcasm to make a point. I think that point was it is very hard to tell the difference between an unexpected result because that's sports and someone choking.

 

 

[sarcasm]If only there was a way to do so on this board....[/sarcasm]

 

 

But no, I don't think that's what he was doing at all. If you're being sarcastic, you usually don't follow it up by continuing to argue the "sarcastic" point.

[sveumrules]

So what you're saying is in 2014, when there was no pressure as an 8 seed, Bud's team did fine.

 

Then they come out of nowhere the next season to win 60, playing with house money & exceeding expectations all year, but when the pressure finally showed up to perform for real in the ECF against LeBron, they wilted.

 

Next you've got the top 4 & 7 of the top 8 guys from your 60 win team back the following season, pressure is on to prove the 60 wins weren't a fluke & getting swept by the Cavs was, but you only manage 48 wins.

 

Now Bud is really feeling the pressure, at least he must have been feeling something since he acquired Dwight Howard on purpose. Predictably the Hawks win even less games.

 

Finally with the pressure really piling up after two seasons of diminishing returns & getting stripped of his POBO title, he appears to quits on his team & they win an Eastern Conference worst 24 games.

 

So maybe he can't handle pressure & is a quitter to boot?

 

 

Seems like you're the one saying those things and it's ONLY you questioning Coach Bud's coaching ability.

 

Had the Bucks gone 6 vs the Piston's and gone out in the 2nd round, you'd have a point. But to be shocked that they're in a competitive series vs a 58 win team(a team that's been to several ECF's and has only failed to get by LeBron) and trying to somehow turn his success in Atlanta without a real star player against him somehow is laughable.

 

 

And calling a man a quitter is.....well, it's something I'd expect to see on twitter, not so much on this forum. Cheap shot and completely made up to say the least.

 

I didn't call anybody anything or make any declarative statements based on conjecture. OP did.

 

I laid out series of observations & asked questions (with tongue planted firmly in cheek, props to BillScottCanRake). Big difference.

 

If it is okay to declare Bledsoe can't handle pressure after 4 ECF losses why isn't okay to question if maybe Bud can't either after 6 ECF losses (not to mention three straight seasons of diminishing returns following the one fluke season that he built his entire reputation upon)?

[HiAndTight]

 

I didn't call anybody anything or make any declarative statements based on conjecture. OP did.

 

I laid out series of observations & asked questions (with tongue planted firmly in cheek, props to BillScottCanRake). Big difference.

 

If it is okay to declare Bledsoe can't handle pressure after 4 ECF losses why isn't okay to question if maybe Bud can't either after 6 ECF losses (not to mention three straight seasons of diminishing returns following the one fluke season that he built his entire reputation upon)?

 

Let start with just basic common sense. One of the two has exceeded expectations given the talent available to him. The other has played far below expectations given the talent available to him in the toughest spots.

 

 

And you really believe his "entire" reputation was built upon one season? Are you of the belief that this season doesn't count? That his career with the Spurs doesn't count?

 

And if you continue to argue the point, how exactly is that tongue in cheek? It seems more like a strawman argument that sarcasm or somehow tongue in cheek.

 

I'm not sure what Bud has done that hasn't exceeded expectations yet. Bledsoe on the other hand, as our 3rd best player...has been awful in these playoffs and I don't really understand how it's productive to even begin to try and argue otherwise. It's pretty much a consensus. Right up there with-Giannis is good and Curry can shoot there's Bledsoe has been choking in this series for us. We could also go back to last year when he was outplayed by Terry Rozier([sarcasm]must have been Coach Buds fault[/sarcasm]).

 

 

Now hopefully he'll come out and not run into the lane and just throw the ball away hoping it finds a teammate or maybe he'll start knocking down some open shots. But again, as adambr said, this shouldn't really be a controversial take. In the tough games, in the tough series...he's been awful.

 

You somehow want to equate that with Coach Bud's teams overperforming and then losing to team with the most physically dominant player of his era, despite him not having any superstars of his own? I don't really get the sarcasm. If you don't believe that Bledsoe has been choking, just say that. No need to create an obviously ridiculous strawman in order to illustrate that point.

 

And if you don't believe that, tell us why our eyes and every analyst, former player and fan is seeing something you're NOT seeing.

[sveumrules]

But again, as adambr said, this shouldn't really be a controversial take. In the tough games, in the tough series...he's been awful.

 

There is nothing controversial about the take that Bledsoe has been bad in the ECF. I never disputed that or tried to make a case otherwise.

 

What is controversial, or at the very least far from certain, is if those struggles in a very small number of games automatically equates to him not being able to handle pressure, which is the assertion made in the thread title.

 

As far as Bud goes, I'm not saying he can or can't handle pressure because I don't believe there is any way to truly know, but the facts are the facts in ATL...

 

His teams got worse every year following their unexpected 60 win season.

He acquired Dwight Howard on purpose.

He got stripped of POBO.

 

We'll see how Saturday (& hopefully Monday after that) goes, but if Bud comes out doing the same things he's done the last three games & just hopes that it works this time, a case could be made that his response to the specific pressures of the 2019 ECF were more detrimental than Bledsoe's were.

[HiAndTight]

But again, as adambr said, this shouldn't really be a controversial take. In the tough games, in the tough series...he's been awful.

 

There is nothing controversial about the take that Bledsoe has been bad in the ECF. I never disputed that or tried to make a case otherwise.

 

What is controversial, or at the very least far from certain, is if those struggles in a very small number of games automatically equates to him not being able to handle pressure, which is the assertion made in the thread title.

 

As far as Bud goes, I'm not saying he can or can't handle pressure because I don't believe there is any way to truly know, but the facts are the facts in ATL...

 

His teams got worse every year following their unexpected 60 win season.

He acquired Dwight Howard on purpose.

He got stripped of POBO.

 

We'll see how Saturday (& hopefully Monday after that) goes, but if Bud comes out doing the same things he's done the last three games & just hopes that it works this time, a case could be made that his response to the specific pressures of the 2019 ECF were more detrimental than Bledsoe's were.

 

 

I think the only thing that's controversial is using any stats from such a small sample size. Just watching him play though when the pressure is on, he's been bad. I don't think that's controversial.

 

 

As for Bud in Atlanta, the only thing you've mentioned that holds water is that he erred in bringing in Howard. Otherwise, his teams overperformed. Just because he coaches what should be a mid 40 win team to 60 wins doesn't mean he's to blame when that team loses to a LeBron led team in the finals or that it's his fault that the team predictably regresses.

 

The Bucks exceeded expectations this year, yet rather than using that as evidence that he's succeeded, you're instead using it as a POTENTIAL reason for why he's choking, despite the fact that the Raptors were a mere two games behind them and they rested their all-star players and key players far more than we did. In other words, it'd be really easy to see the Bucks as the 58 win team and the Raptors as the 60 win team in which case, there'd be nothing to be used against him.

 

Honestly though, looking at those Atlanta teams, I don't see how an intellectually honest argument could ever be made that he underperformed at ANY point with the Hawks as their head coach.

 

 

And then there's also the respect he earned working as a long time assistant to the man who's generally considered the best coach in the NBA in SA.

[sveumrules]

If you think Bud handled the pressure of the ECF any better than Bledsoe that is certainly a valid opinion. I personally think Bud was more to blame than Bledsoe for the results of these last four games.

 

I'll take the under on 60 wins for next year & I'll say push for reaching the ECF again.

[HiAndTight]

If you think Bud handled the pressure of the ECF any better than Bledsoe that is certainly a valid opinion. I personally think Bud was more to blame than Bledsoe for the results of these last four games.

 

I'll take the under on 60 wins for next year & I'll say push for reaching the ECF again.

 

 

Not exactly venturing far out onto that limb there.

 

But I won't predict win totals until I see what they do.

 

And if there's any reason that Bled's struggles looked worse as the series went on, it was because Bud started trying to play him in shorter spurts. He also sat Mirotic.