Revived wrote:I think considering the circumstances for the whole game, we have to pleased with how it played out and of course getting the win.
Ayton was really good defensively but just had some terrible calls against him. Luka is just so crafty that when he drives, the player has to basically move away from him and still try to contest somehow. He’s way too good at drawing fouls and the league needs to change this crap because nobody will play defense at this point.
Offensively Ayton had some good post buckets but he also had some really dumb fade aways when he was matched with smaller players. I have no idea who taught him that he should go AWAY from the rim but whoever that is has no business coaching basketball.
CP3 did ok. I think he’s gonna learn that he needs to be more aggressive looking to score. There were times when the Mavs knew he wasn’t gonna try to get a bucket so they essentially just played passing lanes when he had the ball. I think better chemistry will help and it’s gonna come with time. Great bucket at the end there.
Booker was really good in the 1st QTR and sort of first half. Then in the 2nd half he wanted to make it a Booker vs Luka show and dominate the ball a little too much. Hopefully he remembers how bad this team was when we had too much Point Book in the past. He’s also learning to play with CP3 so it’s gonna get better imo.
Rookie Smith was better than Jones imo. We really need someone like Dwayne Dedmond though even as an emergency big after Saric gets back.
Cam and Bridges were the biggest reason we won the game imo. Both showed they can do more than just 3 & D. Especially Bridges, I really liked watching him try to do more off the ball. Hope it continues same with Cam.
I agree with all that. With CP3 and Book playing bad overall, despite the shots at the end, Paul's 2nd quarter and Book's 1st quarter. Crowder hitting nothing until very late in the game, and Ayton's foul calls, on offense oddly enough, getting that win was huge.
Bridges will be a very important player. His overall efficiency, quick release 3 with his old college %s back, Cam with the quick trigger, and better backup PG in Cam (cross my fingers it continues, even if the 3 doesn't all and he has the occasional bad pass like the one that was WAY too high and went out of bounds), and of course Galloway never missing and being a quick trigger too.
Also Saric being out hurt and even Kaminsky is good in short spurts against backups....the problem last year is when Ayton, Baynes and even Saric was out, he had to start a number of games and that should not happen.
Two years ago he had a near 59% TS % hitting 36% from 3 and over 55% from 2 (dropped to 53% last year from 2 and also from 2) and the year before that, he shot 38% from 3.
If he can just get back to 37% from 3 and 55% from 2 he'd be a nice player over Jones. When he plays with confidence he looks good. He looked good early last year...better than Saric when Saric struggled. People were not particularly high on Saric and much preferred Baynes back until the bubble....at least the majority.
