Damn I missed the game... but I heard EG blocked KG again? The first time ever I saw KG got blocked was at last Rox-Wolves game weeks ago. Man, Shaq said there are only two players, KG and T-MAC he felt hard to block (that was before YaoMing came to NBA). I'm sure Eddie has swapped their shots couple of times. Anyway I'm not saying Eddie is a good post defender. He doesn't know how to deal with spin move. But come on, this guy got nuts to challenge megastars and posterize them. That could really damage the opponent team mentally. This is invaluable. Hope Rudy can help him develop into a versatile player. Go eddie, Go rockets!
As much as I like Garnett getting stuffed, one block doesnt mean anything. Garnett has killed Eddie this year. Here are some stats from the earlier meetings this year 27, 11, 5 25, 16, 5
KG kills everyone in the league. The key is to try minimizing his scoring while we can score some at the other end (which Mo Taylor did yesterday) so that the point differential at that PF spot wouldn't be too great and let our guards and center outscore their opposing players and win the game for us. Actually that's what we need to do against all the teams with elite PFs.
kg shot 6-18 the first game and 6-15 for the last game... and the rockets won both games...eg plays kg pretty well.. eg just doesnt have the bulk or experience to handle big pfs.. but against guys of similar build..he does well..defensively..
What? We lost the first game to Minnesota. We then won both of our games at home. Kevin Garnett ONLY scored 14 points and ONLY had like 7 rebounds. That means either we did a good job or he was extremely tired from the Mavericks game. And Eddie has blocked Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki MANY TIMES. He doesn't get any respect. He even blocked Tracy McGrady on a dunk.
The issue I have with your logic is that you make it sound like just because you block a few shots means that you are a good defender. IMHO, Eddie is a below average defensive PF at this juncture in his career. Granted, he has potential but he has continuously gotten chewed up and spit out by many of the PFs we've faced this year. I posted this a while back and I can find it to give you stats. But Gasol, Karl Malone, Stoudamire all had WELL ABOVE their season averages against Eddie. Not that stats mean everything either. The guy is not big enough to guard the tough PFs we face in the West. He also takes way too many gambles on blocks and steals. As to my earlier point about blocking shots being a misleading defensive stat. Many of the top defensive PFs of ALL TIME were not shot blockers. Here is a few of the top of my head: Rodman, Horace Grant, Buck Williams, Otis Thorpe, Karl Malone etc.
Okay. So Kevin Garnett is a bad defender? Dirk Nowitzki scored way more than his average against Kevin Garnett. So he's a bad defender? Garnett scored above his average against Dirk. So he's a bad defender as well? Karl Malone. Of course he scores above his average. He is KARL MALONE. He uses all his sly tricks. Gasol? It doesn't matter if Gasol scores 50 points. We still won the game. Below average defender? lol...Golly. I'm guessing Mo Taylor is much better than him.
In my youth my uncle taught me chess. We played every Tuesday night, and he beat me for 46 consecutive weeks. After that, he never beat me again. Moses Malone thumped and drummed the Dream week after week when Hakeem was a U.H. student. Later, it was Dream who did the thumping and drumming in the NBA. The examples could go on ad nauseum. My point is this. Eddie is learning and shows remarkable promise. By the time he adds enough muscle weight (another 15 pounds puts him at 250 lbs.) he will dominate the PFs who "kill" him now. Have patience. Have faith. Grow, Eddie, Grow!
Dirk is one of worse defenders in the league at the PF position. He gets lit up consistently. He just happens to score enough to win the matchup. EG on the other hand does not score enough make up for his defensive shortcomings.
We LOST to Memphis the very first time we faced them this year. Gasol shot 50% from the field, 15 for 16 from the FT line, 29 pts and 12 rebounds. But I am not basing this just on stats. If you watch the game, Eddie at this point gets pushed around easily against the PFs that have an inside game. He is definitely a liability on defense right now.
i agree that a block is meaningless if the player being blocked isn't intimidated by it. i don't think garnett is afraid of griffin. contrary to that, he's bringing it to EG.
