The warriors have always defended Clints pick and roll extremely well so i wasnt really surprised or mad about that... What does make me mad though is the fact that we went to it 3 times in a row already knowing this! AND the fact that if his ass is gonna be on the court he has to rebound! We cant give these guys second chances. THERE IS NO DAMM REASON WE SHOULD BE LOSING THE REBOUNDING BATTLE WHEN GS GOES SMALL!!
Capella has been quite disappointing this playoffs but some of that has to do with GS reading the lobs perfectly and Capella just being out of position around the permimeter from switches when we need defensive rebounds.
What you guys don't understand is Capela is playing at his peak. The Warriors are simply too fast for him defensively. They grind him down making him get back defensively. Then they get him in all sorts of switches and work him over constantly. Then he's winded and out of position on the glass. So they pile up offensive rebounds. Then we go to the offensive end and he's gassed and can't elevate consistently. Then like a tired boxer, he drops his hands and starts fumbling the ball. Clint Capela cannot be effective against the Hampton 5. He's too slow. They're the best defense against the PnR ever. And he's a PnR center. And defensively he cannot hang with all the switching the Warriors make him do. He simply is not a small ball center. And never will be. And a small ball center is what you have to play to beat them.
The lob to Capela is just too predictable as the Rockets have run that set for a few years now. Everyone knows the spot he has to be on the court to get it and effectively score. Basically Capela needs a counter move or spot he can use. Maybe on the baseline, or at the angle of FT, where he can hit a shot. I know it is a dreaded mid range shot, but the issue is spacing. Heck, if he wants, he can learn to shoot the 3 pt from straight away, then other teams won't know if it will be a roll, lob, or pop. The issue on rebounding is that Capela is not a natural rebounder. He can't predict where the ball is going to go based on its trajectory. That's why even when he is playing well, most of his rebounds are tips with him in awkward positions. He can do that because he has good athleticism and vertical. It's basically like blocking a rebound. But that doesn't work when playing a team that is good at boxing out, has players with as much athleticism as he does, and forces him to play in a constrained space. Essentially he needed to become a more complete player this last off season, and I'm not sure he did. His stamina and focus are there, but the other aspects of his game have not grown since last year. Granted it is hard to improve at a continuous rate, but he really needs to work on these things to get better.
Watching the Bucks - Celtics series shows how important a good Shooter at center really is. The pick&pop with kyrie and al horford is so damn lethal. Replace capela with horford in the Golden State series and i think we're 2-0 right now.
