re: Facts are facts..

I didn't get to watch the game, but despite the demoralizing loss, I'm seeing more than a few comments about how BI looked good as a small ball center. Maybe not even small ball, they were saying he looked good defending Jarrett Allen.

This is something I've been wondering about for a while because last year he showed he had put on enough strength to defend down low, and his length means he can play up from the SF spot. If one of BI/Zion/Herb/Trey can play small ball center on defense, that unlocks so much for this team. Removing a shooter or ball handler for a big at that 5th spot is what gums up the works for this team.

What did you guys think of BI at the 5?

Maybe I spoke too soon. Here's a clip from one of the people talking him up. All I see is BI getting beat for a sure layup if Herb didn't steal the ball, and BI boxing out. Now BI did stand his ground well. 2 years ago he would have been backed into the basket, so I still see the possibility, this just isn't the best example. LINK

quote:

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2. Our 3-point shooters may go from above average to total crap if they're not wide open. So when Zion drives into the wall and kicks, guys like Naji, Herb and Trey have to make teams pay. If not, we're gonna get blown out.

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Live by the three, die by the three.
It's why you have to have more to your offense than simply kicking out for 3's all game.
But even saying that, if a good 3 point shooter is wide open, they have to take the three. You can't pass up wide open 3's b/c when you do it makes it even harder to score.


There's no need to overeact to one game. It was a bad shooting night, and they were lights out from 3. It happens. Move on to the next game.


We're still 1 of 9 teams in the league with a +.500 recrod against teams with a winning record. We've beaten plenty of good healthy teams this year, Clippers, OKC (without BI), Denver (without CJ), and Minny, on top of a slew of other wins over healthy playoff teams.


What's more concerning to me is we still don't know how to play in the clutch. we are 1-6 this year in games decided by 3 point or less, which is the worst record in the league. That 1 win was the Spurs win where BI blocked WammerJammer on the put back with like 10 secnods left adn then Zion took it the length of the court to put us ahead by 1. It seems we either beat the crap out of teams, or they beat the crap out of us. 40 out of our 65 games have been decided by double digits, and 9 more of them were by 8 or 9.