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Great win yesterday. However, trailing NO by 25 pts at one pt of the game kind of show there are still lots of problems. The team definitely has improved comparing to the first half of the season. The followings are what I think we have improved.

1) The big three started to find and accepted their roles: Kobe is the primary ball handler and main offensive threat. Nash is the secondary ball handler and spot-up shooters. Dwight is patient to wait for his touches in offense and always plays great defense.

2) More production from the bench. 8 man rotation seems to help Meeks, Jamison and Blake to be more consistent. All of them can shoot the 3 very well.

Now, what I want to see the team to improve on

1) Defensive rebounds. It is very frustrating to see Dwight came out to alter the shot then no one boxed out to get the defensive rebound and let the opposing team scored an easy 2nd chance basket. I think Earl Clark needs to get better at rebounding. He is a surprise of the season. However, he seems to be too soft at rebound (if we think gasol is soft, he is like 10x softer). To me, apart from Dwight, our 2nd best rebounding seem to be Kobe.

2) Dunk the ball, Dwight. Dwight is definitely not 100%. He went for layups when he could have dunk the ball. So often, he missed the layup when he got fouled and then missed 1 or both free throws. If he can dunk the ball and scored at least 2 pts, then the and-1 is just bonus. Hopefully, this will become better with Dwight recovery.

3) More player movements offensively. While we play a lot of iso ball these days, i still think players should keep moving to open spots. A lot of time, lack of movement cause Kobe or Nash to make predictable passes that resulted in turnovers and conceding fast break points.

4) Get back quicker after shooting 3s. Our players (except Dwight) should try to get back to defense quicker once a 3 was shoot. 3 normally result in long rebound. It seems that if the opposing get this rebound, our defense will not be quick enough to get back to stop the fast break. Maybe the players should just run back once the 3 is shot. Don't wait and see whether it gets in or not.

Basically, I think the team still have chemistry problem. But we are definitely improving. And if we get into playoff with Gasol getting back, we can definitely cause problems in the playoff.

I want to see Clark and Howard practice receiving the ball as they roll off the pick and roll. Nash is perhaps the best of all time at this, and I can't understand for the life of me how these two other guys make it look so freaking difficult. Howard either sets moving screens, or no screen at all, then looks confused as he rolls, fumbles the ball, then complains to NASH that the ball is in the wrong spot (ya dwight, THAT'S what the issue is). And clark travels almost every time he receives the ball on the P&R. I don't get it. How can they not have figured this out by now?

I don't see any softness in EZ's rebounding - he does often fly in from above the key to try for offensive boards and leaves us scrambling in transition. The PnR problem is there, for sure, just needs to gain confidence I think. Bit of a wall he's hitting, never played this kind of minutes before.

JohnVancouver wrote:I don't see any softness in EZ's rebounding - he does often fly in from above the key to try for offensive boards and leaves us scrambling in transition. The PnR problem is there, for sure, just needs to gain confidence I think. Bit of a wall he's hitting, never played this kind of minutes before.

We got out-rebound by NO by 16 rebounds yesterday when most of the time, they are playing Lopez + Anderson as their front court. They have 15 offensive rebounds. It is hard to believe when we have Dwight in our team. EZ has talents but his skill is still quite raw. I think he really need to bulk up a little bit and learns how to box out. Dwight just can't do it all by himself. Teammates need to help him out so that his defensive effort won't be wasted.

Penberthy wrote:I want to see Clark and Howard practice receiving the ball as they roll off the pick and roll. Nash is perhaps the best of all time at this, and I can't understand for the life of me how these two other guys make it look so freaking difficult. Howard either sets moving screens, or no screen at all, then looks confused as he rolls, fumbles the ball, then complains to NASH that the ball is in the wrong spot (ya dwight, THAT'S what the issue is). And clark travels almost every time he receives the ball on the P&R. I don't get it. How can they not have figured this out by now?

Yeah, it was funny...Sacre ran one pick and roll in the game and it was 10x better then anything Clark or Howard have done. Its easy, set a screen and roll hard and get your hands ready. Sacre does it well. He has no offensive finishing ability to speak of but that's another story. Seriously though...the one time he has done it in 30 games he was way better than these two.

ngcoolman wrote:Great win yesterday. However, trailing NO by 25 pts at one pt of the game kind of show there are still lots of problems. The team definitely has improved comparing to the first half of the season. The followings are what I think we have improved.

1) The big three started to find and accepted their roles: Kobe is the primary ball handler and main offensive threat. Nash is the secondary ball handler and spot-up shooters. Dwight is patient to wait for his touches in offense and always plays great defense.

2) More production from the bench. 8 man rotation seems to help Meeks, Jamison and Blake to be more consistent. All of them can shoot the 3 very well.

Now, what I want to see the team to improve on

1) Defensive rebounds. It is very frustrating to see Dwight came out to alter the shot then no one boxed out to get the defensive rebound and let the opposing team scored an easy 2nd chance basket. I think Earl Clark needs to get better at rebounding. He is a surprise of the season. However, he seems to be too soft at rebound (if we think gasol is soft, he is like 10x softer). To me, apart from Dwight, our 2nd best rebounding seem to be Kobe.

2) Dunk the ball, Dwight. Dwight is definitely not 100%. He went for layups when he could have dunk the ball. So often, he missed the layup when he got fouled and then missed 1 or both free throws. If he can dunk the ball and scored at least 2 pts, then the and-1 is just bonus. Hopefully, this will become better with Dwight recovery.

3) More player movements offensively. While we play a lot of iso ball these days, i still think players should keep moving to open spots. A lot of time, lack of movement cause Kobe or Nash to make predictable passes that resulted in turnovers and conceding fast break points.

4) Get back quicker after shooting 3s. Our players (except Dwight) should try to get back to defense quicker once a 3 was shoot. 3 normally result in long rebound. It seems that if the opposing get this rebound, our defense will not be quick enough to get back to stop the fast break. Maybe the players should just run back once the 3 is shot. Don't wait and see whether it gets in or not.

Basically, I think the team still have chemistry problem. But we are definitely improving. And if we get into playoff with Gasol getting back, we can definitely cause problems in the playoff.

I agree with all of the points. Howard though also has been out-rebounded a lot...unlike earlier in the season. It appears to be related to the shoulder and him not wanting to extend.

Also Nash needs to stop playing uninspired. As does the team defensively. The defensive was improving but is terrible again.

I was watching highlights of last game and think Dwight was jumping about like Pau... His explosiveness is nowhere near where it hopefully will be.

I would like to see more plays for Dwight. And Dwight to show more effort/aggressiveness.
Kobe with more defensive assignments. Mix it up in 4th Q or when closing games. Instead of being aggressive on offense try to shutdown the opponents best scorer. And then let Nash or Howard takeover on offense.
Metta to be more discipline in his shots. Instead of shooting a bunch threes, cut to the basket more.
Nash to be more aggressive on offense. I like the way he's been playing the last couple of games. I want him to be more aggressive at 4th Q tho.
Clark to guard the athletic pg/sgs.be consistent in rebounding the ball too.
I think the bench is fine. Defense could use some work but what could you expect from Blake,Jamison,Meeks? If they hit the shots they're supposed to make, chip in 15 points and a couple of rebounds and assists I'm cool with that. I just want more energy/fierceness from them to energize the team. And don't rely in shooting three's too much too.

Clark and Metta need to close out shooters better