TKF wrote:OK.. I never blame the coach.. but today that changes..
First , we play a good defensive game.. not sure how the heck we let the bozo trio of anderson, stankylu and reddick, look like the celtics big 3, but just inexecusable..
the offense is still all melo, bail us out iso's, but at times we did have some good ball movement...
My big beef is with 6 minutes left, the magic go to a zone, and what does dantoni do? he goes with douglas? really, why not bring in harrelson along with novak.. why did we get him dantoni??? why!!!!!!!!!!! sit chandler, dwight was doing nothing, plus he can't hit FT's.. let amare guard dwight and let melo create and hit novak and jorts for shots.. shoot them out of the zone..
Honestly, if dantoni is going to mail it in.. just quit dude, QUIT!!! I watched vangundy go from Q richardson to earl clark trying to find matchups that work.. what do we do? we bench the best shooters while being stifled by zone...
yea, the players share some of the blame, amare still doesn't look comfortable, we missed open shots, but honestly, the coach didn't give us a chance to win....
To me, just trash the season if dantoni is going to mail it in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The problem with our defense was apparent today. We want to defend, we move our feet, are active and everything (Melo, Chandler and Shumpert are spectacular at times). But we will never be a really good defensive team if we do not clear out our problems with the pick and roll. Every high single pick and roll gets us into trouble. We smitch too much, we get lost and lose players who do nothing else but shoot. The mental aspect of our defense isnt there yet. Its on the coach aswell. Another stable of what we want to do is double players but we do it way too often and thus we get out of position. Yes, we can trap someone in the corner but when we double even though we a) dont have a chance to really stop the ball and b) bail out guys who have no business being doubled, then problems arise.
On offense it was too much Melo and too many jump shots. When he moves the ball, everything is fine but he took a few too many jumpers today. Guys are still trying to adjust to him and they are still trying to define their roles. Shumpert doesnt know when to drive, when to score, when to shoot. Fields is a desaster.
Another thing, not that we would have won the game with him but how can Balkman not even get 5 minutes today after playing very well in garbage time against the Thunder?! Stubborn by DAntoni. Balkman is a better offensive player than Jeffries who just hurts us on offense. I dont like when the coach stays with his rotation even though players do something to earn minutes and thats what Balkman did. You dont have to give him 20 minutes but atleast give him the feeling that when he does well he has a chance to be on the court.
Anyways, still not time to panic, season is still long and we just have to much talent to let it all go to waste over the long run. Talent will prevail in this league.
