imo, even today livingston is still good enough to start on most nba teams. he's really that good, even after the amazing recovery from injury. (i though he'd be done for sure.) and this is one scary thing about our opponent. their depth is so terrifyingly good. b4 the series begin, this is where gsw concerned me the most. i know wishing an injury of someone is,,, no good. but here is the wish to bball god that green will be out for the series due to an injury (nothing too serious, tho )...
I just don't understand. Both Jones and Smith are very athletic. Why are they such poor finishers around the rim?
They don't go in strong. They don't really get elevation. TJones comes down with it before trying to put it in. What do we need to do get Lamarcus?
Very creative thread, with the photos and stuff ... Give me a break, dude! Everybody praised T Jones and Josh Smith for their last 2 games against the Clippers and now after just 1 game against the GSW, this bull***** already ... Are you the definition of a bandwagon fan?
Josh for banging Dwight's knees. Flashbacks of Yao Ming going down with a foot injury against the Lucky Lakers who the Rockets took to Seven games without Yao Ming but eventually swept everybody else in the playoffs to win themselves a championship. Same scenario. Without Dwight...easy street for Golden State.
Sometimes I think this team is amateurish at best when it comes to ball handling. How many missed passes and fumbles while dribbling before you start to question yourself as a professional NBA basketball player? Come on.
As I keep saying, Smith is being used wrong. He's a Jekyll and Hyde. If he's on the floor as the main scoring big, he lapses into the mode of trying to create for himself. It's unpredictable, and usually ends badly. HOWEVER, he's the best damn passer on the team, which means if you put him around players like a non-hobbled Dwight, Clint Capela, or a slashing Brewer, he can point-forward you into dust. He also plays better scoring for himself when he has other options, because he can choose the option to go straight to basket instead of passing and the defense is forced to defend both options. Jones, however, just...just...no. He has a lot of potential, but it's all hampered by his soft personality. If he'd keep the ball off the ground and go for dunks, he'd be much more effective. But he adamantly refuses to do that. He's just sort of there, and his layup misses are probably more detrimental in certain games (like last night) than the team's free-throw misses. He is not an outlet for anything but the most perfect assist and never above the rim, which means playing him and Smith together is bad combo, because Smith won't look for him and for good reason. Right now Jones is wasting valuable minutes and space on the court just like Terry is when Prigioni is the much better point guard. Capela should be stealing as many minutes as possible from people; I have no doubt he could play the 5 or the 4. With as much experimenting as we've done with lineups, it boggles my mind why we haven't put Dwight and Capela on the floor at the same time. Two lob threats, two blocking threats, and Capela can defend the perimeter while Dwight holds down the paint. I'm going to say it like I did last night. Despite everything that went on in that game, including our hobbled-Dwight collapse in the second quarter, JONES lost us that game with his 2/10 shooting, 1/4 FT shooting, and rebounding wussiness. He is NOT playoff-reliable. I think we can win this series, but our 1s, 4s, and 5s need to be adjusted accordingly for it to happen.
Smith's passing was exceptional. He made other players better. If we have to count on him to make jumpers or 3's we will not succeed. That isn't on Smith, it's on us. Jones needed to be replaced with Capella. You play the hot hand. Jones shrank in the moment like he's been liable to do in the past. At least Capella can set screens, defend, provide interior presence, run the floor, catch the ball above his shoulders, and most importantly - give Harden an option when he penetrates.
