Good post, OMR. Battier is the weakest link in the starting lineup. Short of a superstar, I do hope we get Iggy by the Feb. trading deadline. Iggy does everything else Battier does, only better. And younger...
Funny how, for some people, Battier going 1 for 5 was the thing they want to b**** about from th game. Battier's lack of shooting attempts wasn't why the Rockets blew the lead. He wasn't in the game when they blew the lead. Lee and Budinger were the 2 wings. Not playing "4-on-5" with Shane off the court sure did a lot of good, eh?
Please don't give Jeffries the ball to create his own shot! He should be in the game to play defense only!
Jeffries can't hit a layup to save his life. I can't see why Jeffries would ever be in the game over Chuck.
weak argument. defensive breakdowns (other than the last play) were not the reasons for our diminshing lead/eventual loss. the players on the court in the fourth had little to no offensive rythym and were not getting good looks. had battier been on the court, it would have been one less player that could garner a look. battier has looked miserable in the preseason. he is even slower than last year and his three ball has been bad. again, i'm not worried about these lapses on the reg, because i'm sure that martin and brooks will be in with a combo of other talented players and that lee will only be in for occassional defensive matchups during regular season fourth quarters. Our offense has been humming during the early quarters when standard player sets are in.
How much do you really want your fifth option to shoot, anyway? I mean, how many shot attempts do you want your fifth-best starter to have? 10? 15? or four?
and with him out when bud is the first (the first (the first) the first ) off the bench. I'm not saying he does not still have value, but it is naive to believe that he is the player he was even two seasons ago. he is now remiscent of bruce bowen during his last season with the spurs. our collapses have more to do with ish smith and a gaggle of players that have limited time together against quality opposition. while ishy has been good at penetrating and creating, he has run the offense very poorly. i expect brooks to be running 35 minutes a game while chubbs is out with a bad back.
I'm just watching this game right now, and at 5:22 remaining in the 2nd quarter, D'Ish makes a pass that defies physics. Calling it threading the needle is an understatement. Wow! He sneaks it past Yao and at least 3 defenders to Bud for the easy layup...
When Kidd attempted to steal the ball refs must have ruled Mavs had possession... There wasn't a shotclock, that was the problem.
Honestly, this was a pretty great game, all the way until the last minute. We only sucked for the last 0:57 seconds, but it turned out much worse because of the three a little before that (which was made in spite of being well guarded) plus the three in the last minute. And as far as what went wrong in the last :57- eh, really looked to me like Shane wasn't trying as hard as he should have been (or as hard as he should be trying in the regular season). I hope he steps up his intensity a bit as we start the regular season. Chuck Hayes would also have been very useful in this situation.
Comments besides the final result- Jordan Hill continues to impress, for real. We really have something special here, folks- I had my doubts before, but I'm going on the record now- I see him having a great year, and wouldn't be surprised if he starts being the first guy off the bench rather than Brad, or at least having more minutes. Defense, rebounding, his little hook on the offense side- I am officially moving from mildly optimistic about his future to the J-Hill bandwagon. First order of business, now- he needs to do something nickname-worthy so we have something to call him. :grin: Secondly, it really seems like KevMart was not just talking about his off season. He is in awesome shape and playing amazing. Very good to see him walking the walk. Jared Jeffries needs to get with some coaches and practice layups in traffic, soon. Fortunately, we don't need him to score, and thank God he only took two or three shots tonight, but he will be perilously close to taking over for Ariza on these boards if he's not careful. I'm not saying anything overall about him, mind you, just commenting on those ugly layup attempts. Shane, AB, Scola- all underperforming in my opinion, but I think that may just be preseason lethargy.
An athletic slashing 3 would gets TONS of easy baskets in this offense. See Bud as an example. Unfortunately, Battier can't slash and can't finish.
