Our transition game didn't show up tonight. I really cannot affirm if that was due to Hornets' strategy of getting back quickly on defense, or we were just trying to approach this game with a halfcourt offense mindset in order to rest. Perhaps, what happened was that they were getting back fast on D, and we were not trying too hard to force our running game, since NOrleans seemed a winnable team even on halfcourt.
The fact is that the game was slower than usual, more conventional and that explained also the "low" scoring (it's funny when we put on 100+ points and Harden calls it a low scoring game!). On the other hand, that also revealed that it is not the kind of game we thrive on. We had a hard time beating the Hornets. Even if we kept a 8 point lead almost the whole time, we were not able to consistently build the lead up.
The bads:
- Mediocre halfcourt offense: when a game comes down to halfcourt the whole time, our offense is just mediocre. We had a hard time scoring on NOrleans, which is not the hardest team to beat nor has a particularly solid D. The fact is that we don't have a variety of plays, and basically we end up with an iso play from Harden, or a drive and dish from Lin/Parsons.
- Lin-dependency on halfcourt: none of our players, except Lin, is able to run a proper halfcourt offense. Harden can drive and dish or make excellent passes from the top to our centers, however he does not move the ball as a PG. TDouglas is a scorer. So, when Lin is out, the ball moves very poorly, and the offense seems unorganized and iso-centered. As a result, Lin had to play almost 42min tonight, and that is not sustainable.
- 3-point shooting: 5-24 from the 3-point line. That really hurt our game, and made it hard to build up a lead. Besides being an off night from several players, there is also the fact that our offensive strategy on halfcourt settings is not fluid and we have some ball stops every now and then that makes the opposing defense recover and close the gap to contest the shots
The goods:
- Post play/scoring in the paint: Asik and PPat had a great night, scoring and working hard inside the paint. Our guards were finding Asik in the beginning, and then Asik started to get physical against Lopez and achieved some and-ones and good post plays.
- Closing the game: we were able to close the game and get it under control after they cut the difference to 1 point. PPat came up huge tonight, and Lin, Harden and Parsons made excellent plays down the edge. It is nice to see that 4 of the 5 players o court were playing well the last 4 minutes, and that made hard for the Hornets to defend.
- Low TOs: the game was under control, and slow. So, it helped to keep the TOs down. That, along with the solid D, was the main contributing factor for our win tonight.
- Defense: the halfcourt defense was very good. We were fighting hard on the perimeter, and specially Lin was great locking down Vasquez, fighting through the screens and almost every time making the right call about going under it or not. Asik was very solid as usual controlling their bigs and Parsons was his usual self. Even Harden was very solid tonight. Our defense won us the game.
The players:
Lin: not a productive scoring night. However, he was terrific on D, and OWNED Vasquez. Props to him, really showed up on D and made the Hornets offense to struggle. That was the brightest part of his game tonight, and it was huge even if the stats don't show it. On offense, he was the only point-guard of the team. Lucid passes, stimulating the ball movement, made the game flow. When he was out, it was clearly much more difficult to our offense to keep up.
Harden: Always scoring and getting to the line and reaching 30 points easily, almost unnoticed. Sometime we tend to forget how brilliant he is doing that effortless night after night. And played good D tonight!
Parsons: good overall game. Not getting his 3-point range back tonight, however, made several timely drives that were very important to keep our scoring going on. Always solid on D, and ended up with a double-double of 10 pts and 10 rebounds.
- Morris: quiet night, was controlling Davis on D, but not hitting his jumpers nor making post plays.
- Asik: he is always improving something, and that is a gorgeous thing to see. Every game he makes a catch a little bit better, put up a jumper or hook, position and show improvement on using his body to get space under the post, protect the ball better... it is like watching a very talented guy learning to play a guitar. I can hear the music now Omer, keep working hard.
- PPat: huge game, he stepped up and his 10 rebounds show a new motivation. He fought really hard for some of those, and that was very important down the stretch. Besides that, he showed several scoring options, from 3-pointer to post play, and, of course, his usual efficient midrange jumper. I think he is trying to get his starting job back. Good to see 2 guys trying to outplay each other (Morris/PPat), since that will only lead them to improve and help the team.
- TDouglas: not his kind of game. That slow halfcourt style only shows his lack of playmaking abilities and expose him as a point guard. As a shooting guard, he was also bothered by some taller defenders, and a locked up paint. Not good and his D was not very solid on the second half. But he hadn't a bad game, either.
- Delfino: solid D, shaky offense. One of those nights when his shots are not getting in. Credit is due that he realized that and started to pass more.
- GSmith: really didn't notice him, besides a very nice dunk. In fact, I'm surprised he played 17 min because it didn't seem that long. So, no impact tonight.
The coach:
- McHale: on his credit, the fact that he realized the players that were most productive tonight, and kept them on court. And he made a good call keeping PPat in the end. On the other hand, our halfcourt offense was exposed tonight, not fluid, very limited plays and slow passes. Really need to add some more plays from the book, and also, practice the current ones in order to get the ball moving fast and make the several variations after the third or 4th movement automatic.
Overall, it was interesting to watch. A more standard halfcourt game, slowing down our pace. I just don't know if was good or bad. Of course, we have to develop a halfcourt offense, and which games are better to practice that if not against the bottom teams? On the other hand, if our slower pace was a result of the Hornets' gameplan and defense, I'm worried. No one was able to slow us down so far, until tonight. The games that we lost were still fast paced and we were beat by facing a more efficient team or by having and inefficient night. This one was a game where our pace was reduced. We have to figure out why and if it was something unwanted, figure out how to overcome that if it happens again. At the end, a game that we were supposed to win, and we won.
The fact is that the game was slower than usual, more conventional and that explained also the "low" scoring (it's funny when we put on 100+ points and Harden calls it a low scoring game!). On the other hand, that also revealed that it is not the kind of game we thrive on. We had a hard time beating the Hornets. Even if we kept a 8 point lead almost the whole time, we were not able to consistently build the lead up.
The bads:
- Mediocre halfcourt offense: when a game comes down to halfcourt the whole time, our offense is just mediocre. We had a hard time scoring on NOrleans, which is not the hardest team to beat nor has a particularly solid D. The fact is that we don't have a variety of plays, and basically we end up with an iso play from Harden, or a drive and dish from Lin/Parsons.
- Lin-dependency on halfcourt: none of our players, except Lin, is able to run a proper halfcourt offense. Harden can drive and dish or make excellent passes from the top to our centers, however he does not move the ball as a PG. TDouglas is a scorer. So, when Lin is out, the ball moves very poorly, and the offense seems unorganized and iso-centered. As a result, Lin had to play almost 42min tonight, and that is not sustainable.
- 3-point shooting: 5-24 from the 3-point line. That really hurt our game, and made it hard to build up a lead. Besides being an off night from several players, there is also the fact that our offensive strategy on halfcourt settings is not fluid and we have some ball stops every now and then that makes the opposing defense recover and close the gap to contest the shots
The goods:
- Post play/scoring in the paint: Asik and PPat had a great night, scoring and working hard inside the paint. Our guards were finding Asik in the beginning, and then Asik started to get physical against Lopez and achieved some and-ones and good post plays.
- Closing the game: we were able to close the game and get it under control after they cut the difference to 1 point. PPat came up huge tonight, and Lin, Harden and Parsons made excellent plays down the edge. It is nice to see that 4 of the 5 players o court were playing well the last 4 minutes, and that made hard for the Hornets to defend.
- Low TOs: the game was under control, and slow. So, it helped to keep the TOs down. That, along with the solid D, was the main contributing factor for our win tonight.
- Defense: the halfcourt defense was very good. We were fighting hard on the perimeter, and specially Lin was great locking down Vasquez, fighting through the screens and almost every time making the right call about going under it or not. Asik was very solid as usual controlling their bigs and Parsons was his usual self. Even Harden was very solid tonight. Our defense won us the game.
The players:
Lin: not a productive scoring night. However, he was terrific on D, and OWNED Vasquez. Props to him, really showed up on D and made the Hornets offense to struggle. That was the brightest part of his game tonight, and it was huge even if the stats don't show it. On offense, he was the only point-guard of the team. Lucid passes, stimulating the ball movement, made the game flow. When he was out, it was clearly much more difficult to our offense to keep up.
Harden: Always scoring and getting to the line and reaching 30 points easily, almost unnoticed. Sometime we tend to forget how brilliant he is doing that effortless night after night. And played good D tonight!
Parsons: good overall game. Not getting his 3-point range back tonight, however, made several timely drives that were very important to keep our scoring going on. Always solid on D, and ended up with a double-double of 10 pts and 10 rebounds.
- Morris: quiet night, was controlling Davis on D, but not hitting his jumpers nor making post plays.
- Asik: he is always improving something, and that is a gorgeous thing to see. Every game he makes a catch a little bit better, put up a jumper or hook, position and show improvement on using his body to get space under the post, protect the ball better... it is like watching a very talented guy learning to play a guitar. I can hear the music now Omer, keep working hard.
- PPat: huge game, he stepped up and his 10 rebounds show a new motivation. He fought really hard for some of those, and that was very important down the stretch. Besides that, he showed several scoring options, from 3-pointer to post play, and, of course, his usual efficient midrange jumper. I think he is trying to get his starting job back. Good to see 2 guys trying to outplay each other (Morris/PPat), since that will only lead them to improve and help the team.
- TDouglas: not his kind of game. That slow halfcourt style only shows his lack of playmaking abilities and expose him as a point guard. As a shooting guard, he was also bothered by some taller defenders, and a locked up paint. Not good and his D was not very solid on the second half. But he hadn't a bad game, either.
- Delfino: solid D, shaky offense. One of those nights when his shots are not getting in. Credit is due that he realized that and started to pass more.
- GSmith: really didn't notice him, besides a very nice dunk. In fact, I'm surprised he played 17 min because it didn't seem that long. So, no impact tonight.
The coach:
- McHale: on his credit, the fact that he realized the players that were most productive tonight, and kept them on court. And he made a good call keeping PPat in the end. On the other hand, our halfcourt offense was exposed tonight, not fluid, very limited plays and slow passes. Really need to add some more plays from the book, and also, practice the current ones in order to get the ball moving fast and make the several variations after the third or 4th movement automatic.
Overall, it was interesting to watch. A more standard halfcourt game, slowing down our pace. I just don't know if was good or bad. Of course, we have to develop a halfcourt offense, and which games are better to practice that if not against the bottom teams? On the other hand, if our slower pace was a result of the Hornets' gameplan and defense, I'm worried. No one was able to slow us down so far, until tonight. The games that we lost were still fast paced and we were beat by facing a more efficient team or by having and inefficient night. This one was a game where our pace was reduced. We have to figure out why and if it was something unwanted, figure out how to overcome that if it happens again. At the end, a game that we were supposed to win, and we won.
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English is not my 1st language, sorry in advance for any bad spelling/grammar!
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