Aloha
Watching the game last night I kept thinking one thing. The Warriors do not want to see the Lakers in the playoffs. The Lakers actually match up well with them. With AD and LeBron we can attack their lack of size. LeBron and AD are not going to miss that many easy shots very often. Of course AD would need to bring his aggressive A game to the game but if he did, we would have a real chance. Also the Warriors lack of rim protection allows Russ, Malik and THT to attack the paint. On defense, well there could be high scoring games. But for whatever reason Avery always plays Steph tough. I think that was why he started last night and it paid off with a good performance when he was assigned to Steph. If our young guys continue to grow over the last couple of months we are capable of giving the Warriors all they can handle.
I completely disagree with you on Avery Bradley having anything to do with Steph not having a great game. Did you actually watch the game. Bradley is nothing but a lot of noise in point of attack defense. He could not keep Steph in front of him partly because he was always trying to pressure him.
The eye test is confirmed by the advanced stats. The player with the worst defensive rating on the Lakers last night was none other than Avery Bradley with a 126.8 defensive rating. You must have been wearing your Frank Vogel glasses last night. Frank’s starting lineup had a -15 net rating and played twice as many minutes as any other lineup.
Then I don’t know what you are watching. I guess it’s just a coincidence that Steph scores when Avery is out and he doesn’t when he’s in. Nobody in the league keeps Steph in front of them Tom. But basic defense 101, you direct them into help. Steph kills defenses when he turns the corner on his man. He doesn’t do that to Avery. Plus part of the nothing “but noise “as you call it is to harass him at the 3 point line. I’ll take Steph going 1 for 8 from 3 any day of the week. Steph is one of the best to ever play. You can’t stop him completely only contain him and Avery did that.
Avery had little to do with it. Steph has been off all season long. LMAO.
Really? OMG. It wasn’t even just Avery, the game plan with whoever was guarding him was to harass him at the 3. He wasn’t getting clean looks, that was obviously part of the game plan. Part of “the noise”
I’ve noticed that you can never give a player you don’t like props even when they play well. I mean you are propping Austin and dont get me wrong, he had a great game. THT had 17 points, 3 for 5 from 3 7 boards, 3 assists. A block and a team high +8 to Austin’s -3. But not a peep because you want THT out of the rotation. Sometimes guys just have a good game. I would rather have Malik start at the 2 but I’ll acknowledge Avery when he plays well.
How would you game plan Steph Tom. Would you play back or would you send noise at the 3 point line? Would you shade him towards help? Or would you play him straight up or and let him turn the corner. Steph’s a great player. You can’t take away everything.
I not only praise players whom I think are playing when other should but root for them to do well. Avery made most of his shots and worked hard on defense, stole a couple of passes, and competed. He is not the great defender he once was and has problems staying in front of his man and Curry had three or four straight easy floaters on him.
THT has an excellent game. Hit his threes and played as good a defense as I’ve seen him play recently. He is obviously feeling less stress. We need to pay Monk, Reaves, and THT more minutes. Their development as players and trading chips is a key goal the rest of this season.
I still don’t get all the love and support for Frank Vogel, who has done as much as anybody to undermine the development of this team with all the time wasted on Jordan and now Bradley while Monk and Reaves get fewer minutes despite playing better by every criteria.
Frank Vogel will not return as Lakers coach. He is a lame duck coach. LeBron and AD and the entire team are not listening to him. It’s not all his fault of course but he’s the easiest thing to change right now. Lakers need to turn the season around or they will pay the price this summer. Changing coaches is the only option left.
Every game we lose where the same problems continue will bring us one day closer to Frank’s firing. Lose two or three more and the vultures will start to circle.
As for Steph, I would not have replaced Monk with Bradley. We needed Monk’s offense badly with Melo out. While Bradley is certainly serviceable, the result when he starts is always the same: a double digit deficit.
Steph is shooting 34% from deep. Against us it wasn’t his 3-point shooting that killed us. It was allowing him to get into the paint with floaters and easy assists that killed us. We let a smaller team outscore us in the paint.
Steph was missing wide open threes, not contested threes. He was turning the corner on Bradley all game long. Avery had team’s worst defensive rating for the game.
One last thing. The Warriors run Steph all over the court setting multiple screens to free him for 3 point shots. How often was he able to shake Avery? Not often.
So where did I actually give Frank love and support? I did like the defensive approach to Steph. Yes he got floaters, he does against everyone, but he was shaded inside t words the help with AD and LeBron. That’s about the best you can do with a player like Steph. He’s going to score. You just have to make it as difficult as possible. As for missing wide open 3’s. Watch the game again. He was forced out of rhythm a lot. By the way the last I looked(yesterday) I believe Steph was shooting.386 from 3 for the season. Not Steph like but still pretty darn good. Oh should he have had the best defensive rating guarding Steph? Bradley draws the very toughest back court assignments because Russ can’t guard anyone. When you are playing all world players like Steph you have to have a team concept. You want him having to make floaters over AD. There isn’t a defender in the league that can stay in front of these amazing point guards. By the way, while I love your boy Austin’s potential he gets beaten off the dribble all the time. He made Ish Smith look like Steph. He had the defensive play of the game but he had to make the play because he got beaten off the dribble by Klay. Not exactly Steph quick. Austin will improve but Steph would have stole his lunch money. Just watch the game again.