No disrespect but everything is not about +/- or stats, it's about the EYE TEST OR FEEL OF THE GAME. Like I said previously, I didn't look at the +/- at the time he went out but I could see this was not the game for him at the moment. I stated it in the Game Thread. Doesn't mean Alpi is a bad player, it just wasn't his game
Sengun was falling for way too many pump fakes in the first half which threw off the rest of the defensive rotations. Not excusing the overall poor defense from everyone else though. They all struggled. Sixers were doubling Sengun and he wasn't reacting fast or well enough so it made sense to go to small-ball. It got them back in the game.
And they can't keep up with him. Doesn't matter if we can keep up or not that small lineup isn't sustainable for 48 minutes. We should know since we had the Russell Westbrook experience here. The games are long no need to panic when teams are hot in the beginning
But we still gave up 137 points and had our worst defensive game of the year. When he barely played so how was the defense better when he sat? Explain...
Who was on the floor when they got down 25? Same people. It's a long game you should not panic when teams get hot. Eventually things normalize
Look Sengun sometimes comes out SOFT, and doesn't play hard, hell the whole team does.....but when we are giving up 3s and only scoring 2s we are at a disadvantage. Sengun, is very slow on the perimeter, his D is exploitable they were getting wide open shots by hunting him. You are right things turn around....usually, but we should NEVER have needed them to turn around if we played hard from the jump. Which we did not..... And we needed a perfectly executed missed FT to tie it....so let's not act like things were never in doubt against a team that was tanking....mmmkay? DD
Look at the Box Scores. They scored nearly 50 pts in the 1st Qtr! That was ridiculous...then each Qtr it went down. It's hard to stop a team once they get rolling
This is extremely frustrating and I also don't think it does him any favors with the way he's officiated. I swear to god Sengun must lead the league in "referee determined turnovers", I'm not sure if there's an actual stat for what I'm talking about here, but off the top of my head some examples would be "block or charge", travelling, carrying, offensive 3 seconds, double dribble, or illegal screens. Where it's kinda iffy, and the ref can basically decide "do I want to turn this play into a turnover", it happens to him multiple times per game. Even last night he barely played but we had two egregious examples, first with the "travel" in overtime where his shot got blocked but he stuck with it and then scored. That was points off the board and a frustrating call, it should've either been play-on or at worst a jump ball. And then later near the end of OT where they called the offensive foul on him when the defender was clearly moving (and still sliding his feet) and also in the restricted area, that should've been a defensive foul and 2 free throws for him. I'm not sure why Ime didn't challenge this one, probably because Sengun is the boy who cried wolf on demanding challenges. But he seriously does so much whining I think it puts the refs off and makes them officiate him really unfavorably. I think he's really screwing himself over with his behavior. Even when he actually GETS the call, he still flails around and makes gestures/faces at the refs. It's gotta stop.
This stuff and the “too small” stuff tells me this kid needs to experience what he experienced last night, some humiliation in front of a large audience. He’s too full of himself and thinks he’s arrived; he has not. He has some growing to do, only then will he become what he wants to become.
I just want him to get the calls he deserves. He would be a completely different player if he got a "star whistle" like Shai, Embiid, Giannis, etc. And while we're on the subject, so would Jalen Green. It's very frustrating as a fan.
Kevin Garnett once admitted to Zach Randolph on his "KG Certified" that he was fouling non-stop big guys he was guarding, knowing "They can't call every foul" thing he learned from the vets at the time. Almost all coaches in the NBA admit it's nearly impossible to guard Alpi one-on-one without fouling (which is proved by him currently being in Top 6 in Personal Fouls Drawn in the entire league). So, when teams don't send double teams at him, they simply hand check or slap his hands/arms almost every possession. It is just that referees have a habit of swallowing their whistles from time to time. Sometimes it gets out of control, like in Sacramento game when both Ime and Alpi got ejected after cursing to the refs for blatantly missed calls. Still, I agree that Alpi needs to cut all this whining and his calls for justice)). If someday refs start calling fouls fairly though, Alpi will surely top the list of Personal Fouls Drawn ahead of SGA.
Well of course he isn't being traded right now, just like Sengun isn't. But the rumors do say JG for Giannis is what Stone is going for. Whether it happens or not, who knows...
So you want a rim protector who defends the 3 very well... Riiight. Should he cook a mean brisket too? Remember if you can that Sengun was on the floor during the first half of the comeback, so you "disadvantage" argument is worthless.
This is why Jabari isnt going anywhere. He's the answer when teams do this. Got us back in the game yesterday.
I get that we didn't play hard but that's not solely on sengun. The whole team didn't play hard just assumed we'd win against the sixers. The fact that yall single him out is the problem. No one is saying he played well but the facts are facts. Our defense was just as bad when he didn't play.
