Our unit with Gordon , Paul , and Harden is undoubtably one of our best . For sure , this trio has the best handling and scoring punch. But that being said , I think it's a unit that has to be used sparingly and with caution . The reason is this . When all of them are on the floor , none of them are resting . Part of the benefit of having both harden and Paul is that they can stay fresh . I think that "maybe" when green and Ariza can come back , some of the minutes at the 2 can be taken by Luc or Gerald . I just worry that MDA will love the offense of that lineup so much he will run it out there too much and that when we have only 2 of them on the floor , they won't be as fresh . I just think that it's a great option to have , but am very weary that we might overuse it .
It seems like D’antoni mainly uses it when it’s a close game in the 4th. It’s not like all 3 of them are out there on the court at the same time a ton throughout the game.
The only issue I have with this lineup is from a defensive standpoint during crunch time. When Luc Mbab a Moute was subbed out for Eric Gordon, I was a little worried about the matchup with Durant. Thankfully, we still won. But in general, what happens when we face the super tall or big wings? Gordon and Harden are too small to defend against Lebron, Durant, George. We could put one of them to guard a PF, but it puts us at a rebounding disadvantage
This lineup is usually only used from the 4-5 min mark in the 4th. Last night when it was Luc, CP3, Harden, EGO and Capela a lot of positives were happening. Not many negatives, I feel this may be our best lineup for offense and maybe our 2nd best defense lineup.
Oh for sure it's a great weapon . I just don't trust Dantoni to only use this lineup late in the fourth . I think he will use it if we fall behind . I think he will use it earlier than 5 min left in the 4th . Last game he used it correctly and James had 34 , Chris had 35 , and Eric had 34 . If it's your best lineup , you are going to want to play it if you are falling behind . I can see a game coming where James and Chris play closer to 40 . Sure , we are playing better players more often and on the surface and for small amounts there is absolutely no downside . I just think that with the forward depth we have now , id rather try to find 2 guys that are playing well and keep those guards fresh. You have green , Trevor , Luc , PJ , and Ryan to play 2 spots ( unless you go small and play them at the 5 ) . I don't want one of our guards to further cut into those minutes . I don't want those guys to take too many minutes at the 5 either because we have 3 capable C's
I had a thought guys, about the Harden/ Capela lob combo. When they are connecting on that lob play it means both players are on the court at the same time. We need to be aware.
why are we taking conclusion out of a game where Ariza wasn't playing? Green will probably have 10 to 25 min per game depending on matchups and/or his shot being hot. So there you may have another 40 plus min of wing rotation. Ryno's and PJ min will be the more affected compared to these final 2 games, but IMO we'll see Gordon's minutes down to around 28 to 30 min, CP3's likely will stay ~ 32min, and Ariza's close to 30. James shouldn't play more than 35 in regular games. But Capela may average closer to 30 the remaining reg season, getting ready for the playoffs. So there you go, plenty of time to rest them all, MDA likes short rotations but he's not Thibs, playing every one 40mins a night. We'll see how it goes from tonight, but I could bet we'll have a 10 man lineup: CP3 - James James - Ego - Green Ariza - LMM - Green Ryno - PJ - Ariza Capela - Nene (Black when Nene's resting) Unfortunately, we won't be able to use a 3 guard lineup to finish games until the Garbage Time Mamba is back with the team. We'll only have RJ Hunter and Markel Brown, so maybe we won't see Bobby Brown chucking and cutting in half 30 pt leads.