Prokorov wrote:
Great game.... didnt get to watch it live so just finished. my thoughts:
1) Harden is the best floor raiser in the league. not Lebron, not KD. He grinds you out. 40 minutes and controls the game every second he is in. If he is guarding a big, you can argue he is near All-NBA defense. guys dont back him down, dont score on him and he grabs boards and goes the other way with it.
2) Last week i admitted i was wrong with claxton for saying he wasnt good enough to be a rotation player on a contender. But i also said that i didnt think he was a 5 on defense. I'm wrong there as well. he can handle it... and not just in a "small ball" way like Jeff green does. he still has a way to go as a 5 on D, but he can be a legit 5 on both ends.
3) Can marks just cut TLC? 9 times out of 10 nothing good is happening when he touches the ball. I'd prefer if Nash didnt even have the option to put him in the game. a -17 in 7 minutes is hard to achieve
4) Suprised reading the comments here because i thought DJ played well. Nash had him out there for a 12 minute stretch/the entire first. I dont think you can do that with him at this point in his career. first 8-9 minutes of the 4th he was good on both ends. he is a plus within the minutes he can handle stamina wise. with Claxton/green/Brown no reason he needs to go a full quarter. especially if we are watching the go on a run.
5) Brown stuggled to make those floaters, which is fine. but something both green and brown did all night was be overly aggressive with those shots, which isnt terrible but they could have passed those good shots up for great ones as harris/shamet/TJ where often left wide open from three after that hard double on harden and FT line pass to green/Brown. gotta make those passes and make them pay with threes
6) Tyler Johnson gave us excellent minutes. he has quietly been a big part of this 14-1 streak. solid 2-way play.
I know we got off to a bad start, but this is excellent analysis from start to finish. DJ is playing well, but Nash has to bear in mind that some of these guys are old by NBA standards and despite their playing well, it's important to limit their minutes. Claxton's emergence, for example, gives Nash the luxury of limiting DJ's minutes even if you still favor starting DJ.
The only other thing I would say is I believe that hand injury, the one that has Bruce Brown wearing that glove, has effected his shooting more than most people care to mention. Suddenly he is missing mid range jumpers that were like layups for him before he got hurt. Hopefully that hand heals, ASAP, and he can remove that glove.