Maybe I missed it, but all of the new posts I've read don't really talk about anything but Collier and Cato. Looking at the stats, I'd say KT, Cato, Stevie, and Cat all had bad games. The worst part, though, seems to be Steve and Cat turning the ball over in the 4th. I think this team's success most hinges on how those two do at crunch time, with possibly Dream and MoTay figuring in. So, my question is to those who actually saw the game, who played in the last half of the 4th quarter and who turned the ball over during that time? Thanks. ------------------
Cuttino, Cato and KT did not play at crunch time. IMO...Rudy was just getting lasts looks at the bench, and making sure Rogers had fun in front of his hometown, and Francis was forcing the fastbreak to try to get some transition practice in.
Thanks, HeyPee. My guess is that if Collier and Bull hadn't been playing well, he might have looked at someone else. Both those guys needed some positive p.t. I'm afraid Rudy will be forced to use Collier a lot during the reg season with Hakeem's health questionable and Cato's foul trouble pretty much assured. Rudy has the luxury of bringing Langhi along slowly. Not so Collier. ------------------
IMHO Francis rushed his game in the quarter. Either he was upset over his game, or wanted to "make up" for some earlier miscues. he certainly tends to try to hard sometimes. At any rate, his final two turnovers prevented an excellent opportunity to win the game. Although that is not necessarily the goal of a preseason game, I am concerned over Stevie's seemingly loss of focus in the final minutes in two of these preseason games (both losses). As Calvin said last night: he's got to learn that outrunning his teammates sometimes takes away the advantage of outrunning the opponents. He was basically left without a dribble and nowhere to go. Personally I think he was feeling the pressure of no Shandon, no Hakeem and no serviceable PF.