Aloha
Forgive me if I’m not excited by a blow out win over a team we should have blown out two other times. Nor do I look at this win as some kind of turning point. We have been down that road before. Still there were a few things to be encouraged by.
First, move the ball and the shots will fall. We had a season high 19 3’s and a lot of those were due to moving the ball. I fear that a lot of that had to due with AD not playing. It doesn’t matter if you have 3 superstars if we don’t get into the habit of moving the ball. All of this iso ball business will get us bounced in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs.
Avery Bradley had a fantastic game on both sides of the ball. Avery always has been a competent 3 point shooter. Last night raised he his percentage to 41%, but on just 3 triples a game. If we are going to start him then we need to find him for 3’s. I would much rather have him taking those shots than Russ or AD, actually LeBron as well.
A little bit at a time LeBron is beginning to look like LeBron again. He was very aggressive attacking the paint. That’s a very good sign. 4 for 6 from 3 was great, but LeBron is a lot like Kobe, a mediocre 3 point shooter that can occasionally get hot from distance. I just don’t want him falling in love with the 3.
Slowly but surely our defensive rating continues to trend upwards. Ironically it’s more our offense than our defense that is doing us in. SGA only had 11 points which is terrific D on a quality player like him. It seemed like the entire squad was locked in.
Austin Reeves had a very nice game. After coming back from injury he looked a little off his game and a bit hesitant. Understandable after missing a few weeks due to injury. Last night he looked like was fully back from that injury.
I’m not going to go into the negatives except for one. After stringing together a run of good games culminating in a great game against the Celtics he has seemed to regress again over the last 2. I mean he 2 of the ugliest turnovers I’ve seen this year. When you are missing a star you expect your other stars to step up. The only upside was he did defer more to a LeBron then normal and in turn LeBron was moving the ball and attacking.
In the end is a win but I’m not going to get too excited until we can string a few wins against good teams together.
My sentiments exactly. After we win 6, 7, 10 games in a row I’ll be inclined to crow about the corner turned. Now? Notsomuch.
Very good write up. This team has to say no to ISO ball and yes to ball movement ( Golden State Warriors come to mind ). Design plays for those deemed good 3 point shooters. And that means less 3 point shots by the big 3 and more for the other 2 gaurds starting. Focus on boxing out, grab the the rebounds and stop full court passes unless deemed safe. Don’t be shooting low percentage shots when there is no one under the basket to rebound the miss. And please, no turnovers, and go on a winning streak to minimize the stress of losing every other day.
Good points Buba.
Thank you, Michael.