The wrongness of this game is mind boggling. 9 games into the season, we're 1/2 game ahead of the Knicks. The top 2 picks in one of the greatest drafts of all time are 1 and 2 in the EC, but we traded ours. Delfino has played well, yet his minutes have dropped. Murray and Hunter have played badly, yet their minutes have increased. Starters are supposed to be saved for the playoffs, but played 38+ minutes. NO was missing 2 STARTERS. 60 points in a half, I guess Murray gets to practice on his D. Close game at the end, and we send in the worst shooting PG in the history of the NBA, who immediately jacks up a 3. If Joe doesn't fire Flip soon, he might as well keep him for the whole season so we can get the best chance at Noah. But even if we drafted him, we'd probably stick him in the NBDL.
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I don't know. Its almost surreal watching the past 2 games. Hate to say it but this does remind me of the way our 92/93 season started when every young guy was having their breakout games against the Pistons. No I don't think we will finish 20-62 but this team has problems. I still think we have the talent to make things happen but you are not going to win very many games playing the guys Flip was down the stretch. Especially getting killed on the offensive glass and you go small ball. At least he finally threw in the towell on Murrys night and got Hunter in there. I am starting to see how Flip lost in the 1st round for 5 years straight. The guy just does not learn from his own mistakes.
My only question is when will the local beat writers admit there is a problem, and admit that it is more than "a lack of energy" from the starters. Starting with Nazr stinks, Murray is out of position, poor substitutions, Zero D, and just bad coaching. Doubt any of those points gets mentioned. Curious how McCoskey will be blame this on Delfino.
Its the defense yaw....They let rookies and second year men beat and out hustle both the starters and bench scrubs. In fact their scrubs outscored our bench to the tune of 33-11. Two other stats that stand out >Hornets had 19 offensive rebounds!!! Pistons missed 9 FTs without Ben Wallace in the lineup that is a stat you look at when lose a game by one point.:( Why were there so many 3 ball attempts when the Hornets two big men West and Chandler were sitting at home? Sheed wasted to much time out on the perimeter, when he could have owned those two younger guys in the paint on the offensive end.
They got 60 in the first half where the game was lost. We actually played some ball in the 2nd half. Trouble is we squander opportunities to take over with wild fast breaks and over-doing the three when the lead is in our hands. Sheed's shot near the end was made much harder as he too, put a little too much "show" in it. We are getting nothing much from the bench. The team has been put together on the cheap and we really do not have top notch talent or much youth on that unit. Even Maxiell was abused defensively in his short stint. And we never seem to have players playing for the right reasons as was pointed out.
The 3's were nothing new since Flip Saunders joined us. And he did not play the right subs. He should have tried playing Amir tonight. Instead he ride on the starters. Maybe he does not know what 'matchups' means. We might lose more than 40 games this season and still would not have develop the bench. And that, my fellow forumites, is SAD!!!
I see two bench-related problems. One, the current secondary players are not used in roles that play to their strengths. For example, Murray is a scorer and not a point. Hunter can only be on the floor in a defensive situation, etc. Here the issue may be coaching The second problem is that we have skimped on paying talent since the championship. I am not sure that our talent on the bench is all that outstanding. They had chances tonight and did nothing. Maxiell, Dyss, Hunter and Delfino and Flip. Here the issue may be management (dollars). We also seem to need a live, young big. Sheed is being asked to do everything down low. Joe will notice this I am sure. Finally, when are we going to get a back-up point and or some bonafide scoring off of the bench?
Why would a power forward take a 3 pointer with 20 seconds left in a tie game, when all it takes is getting fouled to win the game?
That question should be pasted on Sheed's locker when he opens it tomorrow. Joe should be asking Flip why that play was called and asking CB why he passed it to him that far out. Where was Rip and Ty during this time frame? And don't forget about the sequence in the 3rd quarter when the Pistons shot 5 threes in a row?? The first one by CB tied the game and the second one put them up by three. Then instead of going to the inside game for some potential and one situations, they jack up 3 more threes that miss and then the Hornets regain their composure and extend the lead back to five to end the qtr. They just don't play smart and Flip has no control over these guys.
LA Piston...did you go to last Fridays game at Staples? Supposedly it was Deja Vu and they looked like the 2004 playoff championship team that dominated the Lakers then too.
i'm pretty sure sheed had a brain fart and thought he could still get the 2-for-1 if he tried that shot (but guess what, 3-pointers take awhile in the air and the rebounds are long, which killed the 2-for-1 idea). secondly, we never exploited our extreme size advantage. third, it's 3 seconds left and all you need is a rebound / full timeout after a missed free throw so you can inbound at halfcourt. what does flip do? leave his short guys in, and chauncey promptly gives up the offensive rebound for the game. what the hell kind of coaching is that? we played well in the 2nd half and our starters had decent games, but why did delfino only get 9 minutes and maxiell only get 6? i'm all for playing amir johnson at this point ... he's quick enough to defend whatever guy blows past chauncey / flip. like i said in the previous game wrap-up, these kind of games need to happen. had we won, chauncey woulda been back to his 'we do what we do' speeches, etc. we gotta get our @$$ kicked a few more times to realize the playoffs aren't a guarantee this year and the team has a LOT of work to do.
Guess he did not think of it. They probably would have tried to run it up the court instead of calling a TO anyway like in the Utah game. I think we had a small lineup in that game also.
