shrink wrote:Guest84 wrote:I just want to shout out Julius for his play this series. What we lost shooting, we gained major grit and toughness. I think this was underestimated a bit in terms of how it might translate during the playoffs. Him as a 2nd or 3rd option might not be too bad next to Ant. Similar dog mentality and willing to apply pressure in the paint. Loved his performance.
Frank Borman from Locked on Wolves made a similar point. He said we all love Towns, and he is an incredibly gifted scorer, but he did have a tendency to get over-excited in big moments, and it surely affected the team. Randle is a lunch pail guy, he goes to work, he doesn’t get too high or too low - he just goes out and does his job. We needed KAT to lead when Ant was younger, and while he is a great dude who is self-sacrificing, leading really isn’t his personality. Now, Ant is the leader, and we don’t need Randle to lead, and he seems very comfortable just being a great teammate that doesn’t create any problems.
That was a great series from Randle, tremendous effort, composure, played smart and kept his turnovers very low.
Even shot well from three.
All the things that drove me insane in the regular season were largely absent.
He badly fouled a 3 point shooter a few times but I'll take that if we get the consistent effort we got from him.
But I would be cautious into reading too much into one series when it comes to looking into the future or comparing him to KAT.
This was the perfect series for him.
He got to attack Luka Doncic, Austits Reeves and Rui Hachimura all series long. 3 poor defenders.
Also playing defense in the pick game against Luka Doncic and Lebron James is worlds different than playing team defense against Steph Curry or SGA.
Randle is great at being able to stand up guys who create an advantage by being physical.
Guys who create space and playmake with their quickness take a whole different skillset to stop or even slow down.
Each series will be different and every team will try to counter and re-counter with adjustments.
I will grant that one of the unique things about this year's team is the variety of ways we can match up and beat teams defensively.
You need to stop a bully and be able to punch back? We've got Randle, Naz, and Dante.
Lightning quick guard giving you problems? We can bring NAW in.
All around stoppers who can do both? Ant, Jaden and Rudy.
Heady veteran to lead the orchestra against a complicated scheme? Enter Mike Conley.
Want to take out all your big men and try to hunt switches?
We'll give you our death lineup of Dante, Ant, Jaden, Naz, and Julius.
And TSJ and Jaylen Clark are ready for prime time defensively right now.
Offense is a little different story.
What would that Dallas series have looked like with Dante and Julius instead of KAT last year.
The Lakers really threw a very similar scheme at Ant to what Dallas did defensively.
IMHO the Lakers just didn't have to players to do what Dallas did to us.
