I break into a fit of hysterical laughter every time a defender falls for a Tayshaun Prince pump fake. I saw Steve Blake do it once last night and Mike Beasley do it in the PHX game. Rodney Stuckey's play is giving ME a headache. I can't decide which is more impressive: Tay's -40 or the fact that Kyle Singler was +6. Dre Drummond gets yanked in the 2nd Q for taking a gamble on trying to steal an entry pass to D-Ho. Max does the EXACT same thing less than a minute later and it goes un-noticed. Drum knew he made a boo boo. Let him learn from it. Greg Monroe will never turn the corner on being the next Tim Duncan until he learns to shoot an 18 footer like Tim Duncan. The Lakers would be a perfect fit for Will Bynum. Good on coach Doogie Howser to DNPCD the Russian guy. This would have been a great opportunity for him to get some run. Tommy G in the house. ...rocking my toddler son's Pistons polo shirt again. Tom's all Los Angeles but he still has a Flint accent. I freaking LOVE that about him! ...I'm outta town right now but I wish I could be at the Nuggets game at Pepsi Center tomorrow night so I could throw bottles of Advil at Rodney Stuckey. ...BOOOOOOO!
Wins/Losses really don't bother me this year... its growth and building towards the future, so 3 rookies playing does do that. HOWEVER.... I can't and won't root for what appears to be a total lack of effort by the starters.... go down swinging but atleast fight.
Likes: JJ, English - both showed what effort you should bring and how hustle provides every bit the defensive results as skill Daye & BoT DNP and Kravtsov dressed - but should have played at least some minutes when coach sat all the starters. 5 man substitution - too little, too late but at least he stuck with it and didn't put them back out. Would actually like to see some starter spots taken away for the next game at least and see how they respond. Dislikes: Everything else about this game
Here were our centers' head to head +/- against Howard last night: Monroe- 9:40 stint: -13 8:25: -9 7:11: -7 Total: 25:16 at -29 Drummond- 3:34: +2 3:22: -1 Total: 6:58 at +1 Obviously very small sample on Drummond's part, but just got the stint by stint data, so was curious to separate Drummond's garbage time stats from his "vs starter" stats. PopcornMachine's GameFlows One standout stat so far is that Singler's total shooting % has been off the charts early (at > .700), so that might explain why his +/- has been good so far. He doesn't look very impressive to me, but either do the guys starting ahead of him.
It was a tossup between the double dip of Tay's dead-on pull up jumper against Gasol that missed the basket by 6 feet followed by them showing Stuckey's "stats" while he stood there with his mouth open versus the 5 man substitution that had me laughing the hardest last night. (Tay's follow-up air ball from the corner got me pretty good also.) I thought I was going to wake my family.
The picket fence? That's the same set that they used to run for Rip. ...or are you talking about the one where they have to make three meaningless passes prior to shooting?
Monroe getting stuffed and then following it up with a baseline bank-shot air ball was the most fitting offensive possession of the game.
Now if that wasn't' a laughfest nothing is. I was laughing at Monroe & Max trying to protect the paint against Gasol and Howard, at the airballs, at Smokin Rodney, at T-40, at the fumbles, at the coach pulling the only body big enough to play against the Lakers bigs after 2 minutes. I was even laughing as I imagined Lee's reaction when JJ entered the game for Max. This team is so far from the Lakers from a talent standpoint that we would have been major underdogs even with LeBron instead of T-40.
Not playing Drummond against Howard is quite simply a bad coaching move no matter how you look at it. He is the only guy athletic and long enough to cover him and hold him back. Even if Dre had 0pts/0 ass/0 st, it would be worth it just to keep DHo from banging alley oops from Kobe and Steve Blake. STEVE BLAKE! Also, stop sitting people because they foul. Maxiell isn't some crunch time master. He isn't Kevin Love/Chris Paul. I don't care if he isn't out there for the final 5 when we are down by 30. Oh and Max not bullying Gasol in the paint enough? SUPER SUB - lets bring in the white, 200 pound swede to body him up. I'm sure everyone was shaking in their boots.
what scares me is that I think that Stuckey is the locker room leader...and the rest feel lost at this point.
The players take their cues from the coaches and either buy in...or tune out accordingly. Our coach has been so clueless in regards to player management and substitutions, that Im fairly certain none of the players know what the hell their roles are even supposed to be. Dre is makin a mistake and getting screamed at and yanked...then max and monroe do the EXACT same thing and there isnt even a stern look. Our starters shat the bed for over a half of bball and it takes a 35 pt defecit before the idiot makes changes? We saw English' sweet stroke and Singler nice touch and a good coach would try to set plays ala larry browns curl for rip...to make good use of a strength. I have yet to see English and Singler in any type of set drive and kick to make use of their long ball. And for all of the Defense preached by Larry Francis...where is it? It certainly isnt in the Starting lineup. He screams for defense and puts a second rate defensive unit on the floor to start the game. Our best offensive weapon is ...GULP...Jason Maxiell with a jumper from the elbow. Yup that sounds like a well oiled machine right there folks...I would hate to mess up that championship starting 5 by allowing our youngsters playing time in anything but a 35 point blowout
I taped the game and was in a delimma tonight, watch the tape or tape the Eagles, I couldn't stand it any longer not knowing who won so I came on to see and now know I'll be watching football and deleting last night's Piston game. Doesn't sound like there's anything there for me to see.........
It seemed like the Lakers hit the floor with a plan to go at Monroe. Their first 5-6 plays went at him.
I LOVE this lineup. It's probably the most well-balanced and most productive lineup that can be pulled together from this crowd.
That's one of my big bball watching pet peeves. Coaches act as if it is a 10 point penalty to have a player get that last foul. I'm skeptical on whether it ever matters, but especially when it is a guy like Maxiell. The only way that I'd be on board with this strategy would be if the guy you're saving had special powers that were valid in the end game only (like intelligence with clock management as a PG, or 90%+ FT shooting, etc). Just being a good player isn't enough, because theoretically, you'd fall as far behind without the player in the game as you would catch up when you put him back in at the end. And if left in, there is a possibility that the player would avoid fouling and would contribute doubly.
I'm afraid we're going to see a horrible season from Monroe this year. The opposing defenses are regularly double teaming him since we have no other credible threat and he looks like he has no idea what to do when he is doubled. If he doesn't figure it out fast, he's going to keep stinking up the joint. At this point, I would trade the entire team for Dirk Nowitzki's twilight years.
