re: New Orleans Pelicans vs Denver Nuggets: Lessons

quote:

---

You don't need to sustain that to avoid being outscored 93-55 in 28 minutes. In less than 2.5 quarters, we gave up 93 points. Why are we trying to excuse that?

---

No one is trying to excuse it? I don’t think anyone is sitting here saying the Pels defense in the second half today was acceptable

Herb did sit out like 8 minutes he should have played so that certainly didn’t help things, but obviously our defense was poor

quote:

---

What? They sustained it. The problem wasn't the role guys. It's crazy that you keep scapegoating them.

---

No, they didn’t. We finished 43% from 3 so if we were 69% in the first half that means our 3pt% was really bad in the second half

I’m not scapegoating them. They had great games. They shouldn’t need to shoot 69% for us to be winning games

But they were, and they were always going to come back down to earth, which is why I was thinking even at half time the lead was a bit fake

They did sustain it. You're talking about team totals. Both Hawkins and Ryan shot well throughout the game.

Hawkins had what 5 or 6 first half 3s and finished with 7, Ryan had 3 first half 3s and finished with 4

I mean dude what are you even talking about?

And the worst part is you’re gonna say I’m blaming them for the loss when that’s not what I’m doing

Did he not have 5 threes in the first half am I tweaking? I could have sworn he did.

Either way he was far more efficient in the first half. Which is what really matters in this discussion because we’re talking about keeping up efficiency not keeping up scoring

Stop hiding behind the issue. The star players were the problem. It's not rocket science. The role guys did their jobs. The stars failed them.

quote:

---

I think your whole argument is based upon sustaining three point shooting efficiency. But let’s be honest, we shot more than well enough to win this game. BI and yes to a lesser degree Zion didn’t step up and win it. Again this loss is on both of them, more BI than Zion though.

---

My point was that using us being ahead as an argument for why losing the game was unacceptable was a bad premise because the lead was built on unsustainable shooting numbers

My point had nothing to do with the reason we lost, it was about how acceptable of a loss it was

It wasn’t good enough to win and frankly if you’re a great star thats just not good enough. With CJ and other guys missing, he needed to do more. When your the best player on the team thats the burden you have.

“My point was that using us being ahead as an argument for why losing the game was unacceptable was a bad premise because the lead was built on unsustainable shooting numbers”

- Yes they had hot shooting nights from their role guys, especially in the first half- BI and Zion just didn’t take advantage of that. So yes it was unacceptable loss because we wasted a great shooting night and ridiculously hot shooting half. The stars didn’t step up and control this game when they had the lead, instead according to Willie “they got bored.”

Zion got one FT attempt the whole game, btw. Pretty ridiculous for a star player who drives to the goal. Can you imagine if LeBron or some other star took 20 shots in the lane and only shot one free throw? Sportscenter might lead with it.