I think we clearly saw tonight that JLIII brings more energy and can defend the pick & roll 100 times better than Rafer. Our defensive energy was really up when he was in and he's a more reliable shooter than Rafer. I think he should get more minutes for the final 10 games, so he can have confidence for the playoffs if we need to yank Rafer out.
He is still a ball-hogging pg. The 3rd shot was just a lucky one. His entry pass to Yao almost ended up in a turnover. He aparrently neglected Tmac on the 3rd play. And his defense sucks! I will give him credit for tonight's performance. But more playing time? No way JVG will do it!
i have no problem with anyone but i saw a few times mcgrady had position in the post..while JL3 looked twice at tmac and continued his r****ded dribbling.
no, JLIII sucks, he is not better than rafer. Lucas is still a chucker. He played fine tonight, but not good enough to earn quality minutes
come on, they guy finally plays decent for a few minutes and you all are already screaming for him to be a regular rotation guy? He is only proven he is just barely more capable than VSpan. Like everyone else, JL3 needs to prove himself over several games not several minutes.
JL3 had pretty decent game tonight, had some shots that were huge: (one big 3, and a lucky roll).. but i don't know about him as a serious rotational player... minimal minutes backing up rafer would be ok..
JL3 got a lot of hatred from some of the V-Mac lovers earlier in the season. Some of the name-calling almost crossed the line. It's good to see him come through in the clutch. Watching him and Chuck hit short hooks and runners proves that those shots aren't bad in and of themselves, the problem is Rafer just can't make them very often. Like JVG said earlier, JL3 has to hit his shots in order to play. When he comes into the game, it isn't to run the offense. Teams will lay off of him and JL3 must make them pay like tonight. He's got to upgrade his 3 point shot if he ever hopes to be a full-time rotation player in the NBA. I'm not sure he should get more minutes in place of Luther on a regular basis. One thing he does MUCH better than Luther is handle the ball. Just like Rafer, he can demolish a full court press fairly easily.
Oh my god, could you guys imagine the reaction around here would've been if it had been VSpan that had come in and did what JLIII did in this game?
"All he needed was a chance", "See I told you so", "JVG is so stupid for waiting this long", "He should have been the starting PG by now", blah blah blah. The forum would be in flames.
If his job is to only hand off the ball the T-mac and then just walking off to the side and waiting for a shot, then I think he should be adequate. However, don't expect him to make the usual plays that Rafer makes in terms of entry passes, or passing to t-mac on those screen rolls. btw... what happened to rafer's shooting tonight?? He air balled a completely wide open 3 by a WIDE margin.
And wound up shooting 1-8 from 3. I really am not looking forward to depending on him in the playoffs.
I saw all of that and thought the exact same thing as he was on the floor. I was looking for Tmac to smack him upside the head.
I wasn't. I was thinking that it was about time someone on our team said "My man's slacking off to cover the pass and T-Mac's guy is playing ball denial, leaving me an open path to the hoop. F*ck it, i'm going in." It's better than desperately trying to force a pass through and ending up with a TO, or waiting and finally getting it to TMac and forcing him to take a horrible shot with like 2 seconds on the clock. Plus, it makes the defense more honest so that pass is much easier to make on the next possession.
