Pellies playing defense

And that’s without bledsoe...

Could someone start forcing Hayes to get seconds at dinner? Make him eat whatever the hell Adams eats/drinks.

Ingram, without a second of hesitation, on his defense: “I was shite.”

LINK

Love this guy’s attitude. He played better defense than he did all last season but he is focused on the opportunities to get better.

He did get better as the game went on. His DRtg in the first half was 109 and 85 in the second half. But he played really solid defense. Both the eye test and stats tell the same story. He still dies on screens somewhat but with his size I’m not sure that is really going to substantially change. He was extremely disruptive in the passing lanes which was huge.

SVG has said a bunch of times that his defense is predicated on staying in front of your man and preventing shots at the rim. That is the same philosophy as the Bucks, Raptors, and the other top defenses in the league. The whole team, BI included, executed that well, even in the first quarter when the Heat scored 30 (the Heat just couldn’t miss). The Heat attempted 46 3P and 36 2P. Granted, this is preseason and they were missing Butler and Dragic so they were likely settling somewhat, but the Pels did what they wanted defensively which is nice to see after years of getting abused on defense.

Obviously defense is not only a reflection of effort. But effort is a big part of it, especially when rule number one of your defense is stay in front of your man. It’s only one preseason game so effort is really the biggest thing you can take away from it. And this was the hardest I’ve seen BI try on defense since he’s been here.