a little oversimplified no. They can get away with very little isolation because they are one of the greatest shooting teams ever assembled. Outside of Terry who is running on vapors, who is a pure shooter? they have a minimum of three, plus big men with range that can stretch the floor.
They got beaten by size I bet. Plumlee and Leonard (probably mostly Leonard) bled them out on the perimeter and post. Boogin can't cover a 7 foot shooter.. But neither could Dwight last time.
besides the obvious guard play, portland just played with more energy all around crashing for loose balls and the boards. Not so much the big men with outside shooting.
The coaching staff needs to tell Lawson to push the ball and play at a faster pace. He's walking the ball up the court most of the time. The bench unit the rest of the season is full of athletes (Harrell, McDaniels, Brewer) that are best utilized in the open-court. He was at his best in Denver playing uptempo, finding players like Faried in transition. That's probably the biggest reason I dislike using Howard in the post, when Dwight plays with the second unit. It slows the pace down and turns into more of a half-court game, especially when teams purposely foul him every time he makes a move. I would rather see Lawson run more pick-and-roll plays with Howard, rather than the post ups. Lawson has been flat out terrible so far. Only way I see that turning around is unleashing him in the open-court. Run the ball and let him get some of the athletes on this team easy baskets on the break. The second unit doesn't have much outside shooting, so they need to play to their strengths, which is not a half-court game. Make it a track-meet and Lawson will start to get assists and build up his confidence again.
He probably relies too much on his 3, still he's coming from a 37.5 3PT% season shooting 7 per game. That's the same % Lillard currently has... He needs to change other things before that. BTW, I think yesterday he was very solid defensively and overall showed a proper approach. It is very evident that he looks fresher and faster now than in November.
Liked what I saw from Ariza and Beverley. But damn... Josh, Brewer, Terry and Lawson looked completely lost out there. How's that supposed to work against better teams?
Good win, but ultimately meaningless. The Suns are in full tank mode and our upcoming schedule is awful. With the Blazers and Jazz playing well and the Grizzlies too far ahead in the standings, we're likely lottery bound. Which is probably for the best.
There is zero reason for JB to play Josh Smith over Harrell. Josh Smith is completely garbage on both end of the floor. And the same can be said to Lawson and Terry. Just cut Lawson, admit to your mistake and even sign someone off the street could be a better fit than him.
Grizz may be 5 games ahead, but they are going without Gasol, Lee, and Green. I'd be shocked if they made the Playoffs. I expect either Dallas or Memphis to drop out, and Utah/Portland/Houston to make it. I do, however, expect moving above the 7th seed will be extremely difficult. Being lottery bound is ultimately preferable over the 7th/8th seed, so it'll be interesting to see where we stand with 10-ish games left, and whether JB/Morey begin resting players if the 5th/6th seed seems unattainable.
I thought it was a good defensive effort all around. Golf Clap. The steals demonstrated aggressiveness, however, we've been doing that all year and my fear is that it's more a representation of our willingness to gamble in the lanes rather than play straight up in your face defense, which will get us killed against teams who play smart. So I take with a grain of salt like most, but I was proud of the effort. We stepped all over a lottery team which is what they should do and did. And that's a good thing.
lol such an over rated stat, take Thompson and Green from that team and Curry would be going iso as well
