esqtvd wrote:NippySudz wrote:The story that just came out in the American suggest this team is not together. SMH. Can't win a championship if they're bickering over amenities and being jealous of kawhi
Please see my posts above? I subscribe to The Athletic and excerpted the actual article so everybody could see for themselves. It's a great piece of sports journalism and PLEASE don't believe the "fake news" summaries of it.
If anything, it might explain why Doc gave Trezz free rein last night. True, Zubac sucked ass and was partly or even greatly to blame for that 12-1 run at the beginning of the 3rd quarter that let ATL back into the game. It wasn't about Mann missing shots, it was about missed defensive assignments and rotation, the only reason Zu is out on the floor. Doc was right to yank him after only 4 minutes.
But at the end of the 2nd quarter, with a 20-point lead, Trezz started jerking around too, and Doc said that was the beginning of trouble. I saw it too. Everything Trezz had complained about his teammates, Trezz was guilty of too.
And he copped to it.“We got real lackadaisical, we took bad shots, all of us, including myself, and like I said we just relied on thinking we were going to coast our way through the game where they were going to lay down. And we should have known that’s not the type of team that they are.”
Doc taught Trezz a lesson. You rocket out to a 20-point lead, you get bored. Even you, Trezz. You're all human.
So blame the coaching if you must. But the coach was sending messages. Zu, keep your head in the game. Trezz, don't be such a dick and slamming your brothers in the press.
That's coaching strategically, not just tactically. The big picture. Both Zu and Trezz needed some serious straightening out. The loss was on THEM.
That's some cool fanfiction, but Doc has been doing this his entire time here. He plays favorites. Certain players (like Trez) can do no wrong, others (like Zu) are benched for the slightest mistake and blamed for things that aren't even their fault.