Thoughts? In particular on the underlined part? With regards to Joe, the crazy part is that every since he signed, he has gotten way more minutes than he deserved. This came at the cost of Ryan who's confidence at an all time low. I think most people accepted that as they know he's a veteran and he was preparing Joe's legs for the play-offs where he makes his game count. In hindsight, with him not playing and not even getting a chance to show his value, how can MDA justify all that playing time over Ryan? How can he show such little trust in a guy he seemed to trust a ton during the regular season? Ryan has more going on than just his confidence, since the injuries and trade deadline he just hasn't been the same, but it cannot help that Joe instantly took his spot. Losing your starting role is one thing, then the trade rumours and finally losing your minutes. I'm sure that would get to anyone. With Ryan I find it hard to say that's all coach, since the minutes he's received he hasn't shown a damn thing worthy of playing. He looks timid, scared and disinterested. Not sure what to make of his case, but we sure could've used his shooting now. Then there's Nene and or Black who can give you rebounds, boxing out and an option to throw at their big guys. Now I get why in this series you won't go with them a ton, but at least at times when they've gone big and Capela was not bodying up, in foul trouble or just not playing well one of these guys should've gotten a shot. Boxing out and not securing rebounds has been a big issue, losing that battle I think all 6 games. I know coach loves small ball, but at some point you have to take a risk and go with a big guy. So for me there's definitely a problem with MDA not trusting his guys and in particular the handling of Joe in hindsight was a big mistake. Ryan is partly on him, partly on the coaches. Nene and Black not playing is a strategic issue, not necessarily a lack of trust, but with how Capela's inability to body up guys, I'd say there could be a case of MDA thinking they wouldn't come through for them.
Joe is rusty. Ryan has pussied out. Zhou is better at soccer than bball at this point. Luc Is broken. All that depth just a month or two ago ... Gone.
I can’t get on D’antoni for his short rotation. The only guys who u can trust and are reliable are Harden, CP3, Ariza, Tuck, Clint, Ego, Green, Moute before he injured his shoulder, and Nene depending on the matchup. Luc is a shell of himself right now, and Nene is a liability against GS. Ryno is a lost cause and has no confidence, and ISO Joe just sucks. Both of them have no business being on the court in this series. Who else would u actually want out there? Our margin of error is so small against GS, and Mike can’t go beyond his 7 man rotation unless he wants to put a scrub or liability out there.
I trust D'Antoni knows more about where these players are than we do and given how awful Anderson looked in garbage time last night he's been proven right. That said long series are wars of attrition. If we're going to play physical D and slog it out we don't need bench players to put up a lot of scoring just bring some energy on the D side. At the minimum you've got several players who can give you 6 fouls. Given Durant's woes at the free throw line last night I would've gladly given 6 fouls away on Anderson or Nene if it meant intimidating and slowing down GSW's attack.
Your screwed either way. a. Short rotation, tire your players. b. Increase the number of players in rotation, they do not play as good. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I'm going to use another ClutchCity Example. After the Rockets traded away Otis Thorpe they were hurting for another big to take up some of Dream's time in the paint. They turned to NBA journeyman Charles Jones who why he didn't light it up on the O side came in and played tough D, and got a lot of fouls, on Robinson and Shaq. It didn't matter that Jones wasn't going to score or even get his own chances at the free throw line his job was to come in and give Dream some rest time and his fouls were expendable.
Will need more than 6 or 7 to get to the finals. Just need for players to come in and give a rest to the starters to finish off the game. 3 to 4 minutes per stater would be key I believe.
I don't think Joe Johnson is playable. On Luc and Anderson though - bring them in early in the second quarter to get their game legs. Let them miss a couple of shots, it's OK. Bring them back in periodically when guys need rest, to minimize the risk. That strategy is OK with me. Leaving these guys to rot for 3 quarters and then only bringing them in when the game is 30 points, the crowd is electric, and their legs are ice cold? Self-fulfilling prophecy of getting nothing out of those guys. A snowball effect of confidence problems. I'm OK with the short rotation but I think you play other guys the way you play Gerald Green. Give them spot minutes to spell other guys. No need to over-rely on your 7th and 8th man, and no need to just throw them into the frying pan during garbage time.
Luc! He could have played luc more. It's a hard decision no doubt but with the benefit of hindsight we pushed CP too hard.
Luc was ok yesterday. If we get CP back somehow and Luc can spot us a few minutes we may make it out alive
Unfortunately, Luc is either snakebit and playing scared or still injured. Not sure why he doesn't take a chance with Ryno getting hot from deep. Give him a heat check trial at least.
Moute didn't give hou anything yesterday. It was just the same moute we've seen that played in some of the previous games that made him basically not in the rotation. That sucks bc hou needed him to give them something but it's not really ideal for that to happen with the way things have gone for him
The Warriors are an impossibly difficult team to guard for 48 minutes. The Rockets made it look so easy in 4 and 5, but the truth is that even a small crack in rotations and switches means you get torched. If we played Ryno or Nene for even 10-15 minutes, that could have created a big enough crack to break the dam. Luc's injury really f**king hurt, he can certainly retain the defensive intensity but he looks like his confidence on offense is at zero. You tire out the guys good enough to maintain defensive integrity, or you play guys that could possibly compromise it. Quite the catch 22.
Mike, Dan, and Tony are going to have to go full mad scientist for game 7 with Paul out -- time to go all in and bet the farm.
The weakest link would get ISOed by the other team. Putting in Nene or black is like feeding Steph's confidence with gimmie trick shots. That's how joe got roasted on the island Putting in Anderson will get you rushed long twos. WTF was that??? Is that passive aggressive talk for Don't Play Me?