Post#128 » by 76ciology » Mon Apr 22, 2024 9:48 am
Watching the game for the second time gave me the impression that we played as if we had superior talent, while the Knicks knew they were not as talented, so they worked twice as hard. The Knicks were not only more energetic, but they were also a lot more physical than us, and sometimes our guys looked surprised that such physicality was allowed.
I also kind of understand why Oubre is paired with Jojo. Oubre seems to struggle with his decision-making, needing Embiid to clean up his mess. I don't understand why Oubre would pass up that open corner 3, especially when it's in his preferred left corner. There might also be a spacing issue with Oubre and Reed. Nevertheless, we need to find a way to win those minutes when Brunson isn’t playing. We probably should have called a timeout to break the momentum, but Nurse played it like Doc in Game 1 of the Hawks series, showing no sense of urgency because he knows we were the better team.
The Knicks were run like one of those old-school coaches, reminding me of Doug Collins and Rivers, where they’d keep their not-so-good starting five in the game with the better team and have microwave scorers off the bench to gain an edge. Off the bench, McBride and Bogdanovic were making shots like VC in that 2000 playoff series against the Raps, while Mitchell was really active around the rim on both ends.
Nobody knows what to expect from Jojo. I didn't even expect him to play in the second half. He was on the court where there were possessions where he looked okay and a lot of possessions where he didn't. If I were to guess, there were many times when our guys were just expecting Jojo to jump for rebounds, and when he didn't, our guys should have adjusted.
The playoffs can be summed up by choosing between stars or role players determining the game. I thought we shouldn't have sent that much help on Brunson, as we were already doing a good job defending him individually.
Maybe it's just me, but I thought I got some answers from Nick Nurse on how he would coach the Celtics series. Firstly, he wouldn't die for guys he's comfortable with, preferring to end games with Batum over Tobi. That shows he wouldn't have played PJ Tucker that much. Secondly, when Embiid couldn't get his shot off at the elbow, he would ask Biid to drive to the lane. Thirdly, when Tatum or Brunson weren’t making their shots, he wouldn't let them shoot their way into getting their rhythm back; instead, he would send help and let their teammates win it for them.
There’s never been a time in history when we look back and say that the people who were censoring free speech were the good guys.