Undefeated wrote:- Bargnani got off to a mild start to the game first with the interception by Glen Davis for the dunk. It was nice to see him start his offense inside-out swooping in for layups with those dribble-drives, but I still don’t like how he’s sizing up from the 3-point line when he should be catching the ball from the elbow and converting those fakes to attacks with a single dribble instead of two dribbles. It gives the defense too much time to react even if his first lunge to the basket is explosive, the defense can easily make that defensive slide way faster when they don’t have to cover as much ground. It basically forces Bargnani to contort his body because he has to maneuver around the help defender to get to the basket and those layups he tries to finish end up having a 50/50 chance of dropping into the basket. Layups should go in the basket 80% of the time. He also has to stop this poor habit of ducking his head whenever he’s separated between the rim and his defender. By doing that, he eliminates where his teammates are for the kick-out because he’s so focused on at the rim, and the layups ends up being short.
He missed a couple of easy layups that should’ve been converted into points, so his FG% is a bit deceiving. Nonetheless, I kind of expected him to have a dominant offensive performance against Glen Davis and Andrew Nicholson. They’re giving up 4-inches in height, and their speed can be count on a calendar, so it was kind of a disappointment he didn’t do more.
- Dominic McGuire needs to chill out a bit out there sometimes. He had numbers on a 2-on-1 fastbreak with Calderon running with him on the left sideline and he decides to pull-up for the foul-line jumper that hit nothing but glass. That was a WTF moment. Aside from that he had a solid game.
- Amir and Ed did a good job of making those rim-runs and ducking in for easy baskets. I was surprised that Calderon didn’t get picked off once when he made those entry passes because he’s usually never that quick and accurate on his passes when he has to make laser quick moves. Calderon’s even using the hit-ahead pass to push the pace like Andre Miller does.
- The offense was ugly to watch, but I can’t blame Coach Casey for running those high/middle screen-and-rolls and dribble hand-offs repeatedly to death because he’s got to keep things simple for a roster that can’t do much offensively. They don’t have any players that can read the defense off –the-ball and make timely cuts to the basket. No one on this team is a premier cutter that can pick apart the defense with their deception and motion to open up the floor for other players. I don’t know, but besides Lowry, Amir and Fields this team lacks guys with BBall IQ to make something happened when they have to improvise.
- I don't see much of a problem having Bargnani started in the 3 point line. If the defense shifts, then he should pass the ball to the open player, which I prefer ball movement over the Bosh isolation. As for some of his layup, some of them are fouls with no call (not surprised I guess if DeRozan is getting the same treatment). On defense, they played back to back, so he was slow at the end, but still dominate Orlando.
- It was good for McGuire to get some of the opportunities. I think he never has those situation leading in a 2-on-1 fastbreak. So I hope he learns from it. And yes, solid performance from him, particularly on the defensive end with blocks and steals.
- Amir and Davis were playing great with a stretch big. Amir was using his speed in the open area, where no help defense can come in time for his dunks. Same for Davis, got a few lobs to show his soft touch around the rim.
- Offense wasn't that bad, and we try to use the clock at the end (one situation was Calderon started PnR in less than 7 seconds, and passed to Bargnani who is guarded with 3 seconds, so he missed the shot as a result). And again Kleiza off the bench contributed great with his scoring; he should be in the rotation. Jonas also got some touches, but he is still learning, hope he understands he is not ready to create for himself (turnover when doubled).