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Holy shid has Westbrook been bad in the postseason.

Westbrook has now lost 22 of his last 29 playoff games going back to 2016 Western Conference Finals where OKC blew that 3-1 lead to GSW. 23 of 31 if you count the play-in games.

Last 8 postseasons:

FG% are 41%, 42%, 40%, 39%, 40%, 36%, 42%, and now 33%.

3pt %'s are 22%, 28%, 32%, 26%, 36%, 32%, 24%, and right now 00%.

Turnovers are 4.0, 4.4, 4.3, 6.0, 5.2, 4.6, 3.8, and now 5.0.

Holy shid has Bertans been terrible in the postseason.

He's shot 36% from FG. Has shot only 33% from 3 point range in his time with the Spurs and now Bullets.

I wish we had this guy back ......

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Would he make a difference in this series? Probably not. But it will be interesting to see the Bryant/Gafford tandem next season. It could be a very effective high energy tag team at Center.

Worth a mention that Rui has shot well in both playoff games. He's recorded 23 points on 14 shots & 3 FTAs. Made all 3 of his 3-point attempts.

A total of 52 minutes, however, so it's not really enough to have helped much.

So double (kinda sorta) teaming Embiid didn’t work. How about we let him get his, while letting him feast on our centers one on one. Guard everyone else well. If we don’t let everyone else beat us, maybe we stand a chance to win. Maybe. Go wizards!

Bryant is the 2nd best offensive option on this team. Unfortunately, he's also arguably the worst defender.

WallToWall wrote:So double (kinda sorta) teaming Embiid didn’t work. How about we let him get his, while letting him feast on our centers one on one. Guard everyone else well. If we don’t let everyone else beat us, maybe we stand a chance to win. Maybe. Go wizards!

This is the obvious thing to do. The fact the Wizards literally doubled Embiid on the 1st play of this series I really think psychologically shot this team in the foot. You don't double a player until it's proven he'll demolish your team 1 on 1! What evidence is there that Embiid would demolish Len 1 on 1? Seems all he does is take 20 footers worth him and he's missed more than he's made from what I remember.

Side-note on the other end: Len has literally scored inside more on Embiid this series than vice versa; Len actually bullied him and a scored a basket last game inside. I see people saying the Wizards miss Bryant and I'm wondering if we're watching the same series. But it's no surprise since it seems everything Len does goes unnoticed on this board. In 28 total minutes, Len has 18 points on 7-11 shooting & Gafford's been scoring decent too. The Wiz got to continue to use their big guys as much as possible. Run pick & rolls with them. In the game vs. Indiana, Len got the ball at the top of the key & gave the ball off to Beal off screen action & that worked beautifully in the 3rd quarter. They've yet to do that in this series. It's too much isolation from the guards this series.

What is so ridiculous about them doubling Embiid is literally the game before this series we saw Len set the tone vs. Sabonis 1 on 1 early in the game & the 3rd quarter playing him 1 on 1 and it worked great .... Instead of sticking with that, they immediately double Embiid on the 1st play - What a terrible way to show confidence in your team! Doesn't make a lick of sense. Embiid has not scored at will at all, the 1 time he actually tried to take Len 1 on 1 in the paint Len forced an offensive foul. ... This is what I wrote in the last game thread with specific reasons why the Wizards should play Embiid straight up. They have NO CHANCE to win this series if they continue to double-team him, wear out the guards on defense, AND keep Embiid fresh for 4th quarters:

1. They don’t have the consistent size, off the ball defense to have effective double teams. That’s obvious. They’re too often in no man’s land doubling and doing nothing other than leaving a guy open on the floor and making it so much easier for Philly.
2. It is making it EASY on embiid. This might seem the opposite but by doubling it is simplifying things for embiid. He either shoots or just passes out. Whereas if they don’t double, he suddenly has to make a move and bang with the opposing center. The wizards strength in this series is they have 3 quality bigs to throw at him and wear him out for 48 minutes. If you’re just doubling, you’re neutralizing this advantage and just keeping Embiid fresh for the 4th quarter ….. AND keeps the wizards guards/forwards a bit fresher too if they don’t have to worry about scrambling on defense every single play on a double team.
3. The Wizards have size, why not use it? Embiid is not dominating inside at all. He’s dominating through mid range jumpers right now. Especially when Len is in it makes no sense at all to double – I don’t remember embiid scoring on Len inside all series other than ironically when they did double and Len thought Hachimura had the weak side when he didn’t & embiid went right in between them. All of his baskets have been on fade-away 20 footers or open shots from the defense scrambling for 1 reason or another on Len otherwise. He’s not backing Len down all the way to the basket. Play embiid straight up – that’s why you have big bodies in the 1st place. Let him shoot his jumpers.

Even if you double off a poor shooter Ike Simmons – now Simmons gets the ball wide open & can make a move with the defense scrambling. It’s a recipe for disaster.

If they continue to have all 5 guys worried about embiid – it will make no difference at all on Embiid (at least when Len is in game, and probably with Lopez too) & give Sixers a ton of space to work with.

Play embiid straight up. Trust your bigs to wear him out. Stay focused on the other individual matchups.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the highlights to specifically point out what I'm talking about the lazy double-teams/roaming ...

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5:52 in Video - Embiid has ball FAR OUT & Westbrook is just shading this side doing nothing at all - Easy pass for a Green wide open 3'

6:04 - Len plays great D' on Embiid - makes him pick up dribble 17 feet out. For no reason at all, Westbrook stays with Embiid and loses track of his man Green - who then is able to drive by him easily & throw alley-oop to Simmons

Who is telling Westbrook to double Embiid when Len clearly has him covered 20 feet away from the basket? THAT is the main defensive issue I saw in the last game.

They skip other plays from the beginning of the period so was most likely more - these are just 2 examples of terrible and pointless half-@ssed double teams that lead directly to Sixers score. Len can cover Embiid, I have no idea why the coaching staff is not trusting the bigs to make Embiid work. Len's strength is post defense; put it to use

TGW wrote:Bryant is the 2nd best offensive option on this team. Unfortunately, he's also arguably the worst defender.

Nah... Bertans is easily the worst defender on the team

Bryant's defense had taken baby steps in the right direction. His bad close outs on stretch bigs and his lack of lateral ability on screen and roll defense are the big negatives. But he does bring a fire/intensity to play better which a bum like Bertans has none of.

I don't think Bertans is the abysmal defender y'all make him out to be, he shows passable division making when defending a lot of times with brooks stupid line ups he's left on miss matches of either size or speed . If brooks wasn't so trash he could do more to spell that.

FAH1223 wrote:

TGW wrote:Bryant is the 2nd best offensive option on this team. Unfortunately, he's also arguably the worst defender.

Nah... Bertans is easily the worst defender on the team

Bryant's defense had taken baby steps in the right direction. His bad close outs on stretch bigs and his lack of lateral ability on screen and roll defense are the big negatives. But he does bring a fire/intensity to play better which a bum like Bertans has none of.

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gambitx777 wrote:I don't think Bertans is the abysmal defender y'all make him out to be, he shows passable division making when defending a lot of times with brooks stupid line ups he's left on miss matches of either size or speed . If brooks wasn't so trash he could do more to spell that.

Perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history benched Bertans in the postseason when he could have used his shooting threat. But his defense was so awful he was unplayable.

That was only 2 years ago.

Match-up better with size and don't double Embiid much.

With that being said, I used to say it all the time when Wall was here but you just aren't going to win if your stars play like crap. We sucked to start the season because Russ sucked, we won win he played great, and now he is back to suckin again. If mvp Russ shows up with Beal then we can beat them but it doesn't matter what adjustments you make if Russ can't help Beal offset their big 3.

Philly wouldn't beat us if Embiid was trash every game. It's just not realistic to win if your star is garbage. The good thing is that Russ won't go out like a punk and think that both Stephen A and that fan will light a fire in him. We are a totally different team with an efficient, explosive Westbrook. He needs to help Brad and I think that he will. I've been saying every game that he's due to breakout. Hopefully he doesn't wait until we get swept.... Lol

dlts20 wrote:Match-up better with size and don't double Embiid much.

With that being said, I used to say it all the time when Wall was here but you just aren't going to win if your stars play like crap. We sucked to start the season because Russ sucked, we won win he played great, and now he is back to suckin again. If mvp Russ shows up with Beal then we can beat them but it doesn't matter what adjustments you make if Russ can't help Beal offset their big 3.

Philly wouldn't beat us if Embiid was trash every game. It's just not realistic to win if your star is garbage. The good thing is that Russ won't go out like a punk and think that both Stephen A and that fan will light a fire in him. We are a totally different team with an efficient, explosive Westbrook. He needs to help Brad and I think that he will. I've been saying every game that he's due to breakout. Hopefully he doesn't wait until we get swept.... Lol

Westbrook at his best is rebounding the ball, pushing it up court and either bullying a smaller, weaker defender or getting easy buckets before the defense has a chance to set up. Problem is the Sixers have bigger defenders who can neutralize Westbrook. This keeps him off the boards, slows him in transition which turns him into a jump shooter, that's why is isn't playing well. If Westbrook doesn't play faster in game 3 and get the transition game working, it will be another blow out.

FAH1223 wrote:

gambitx777 wrote:I don't think Bertans is the abysmal defender y'all make him out to be, he shows passable decision making when defending a lot of times with brooks stupid line ups he's left on miss matches of either size or speed . If brooks wasn't so trash he could do more to spell that.

Perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history benched Bertans in the postseason when he could have used his shooting threat. But his defense was so awful he was unplayable.

That was only 2 years ago.

Then one of the greatest FOs in NBA history proceeded to let him go for nothing.

Now, as it happened we were completely rebuilding the team . With the exception of Thomas Bryant & Jordan McRae, we let every single player from the previous year walk unless he had a guaranteed contract.

So, we needed players: Davis was a great pick-up for us.

The problem came when we way way way overvalued him & proceeded to re-sign him for way way way too much money/time.

FAH1223 wrote:

TGW wrote:Bryant is the 2nd best offensive option on this team. Unfortunately, he's also arguably the worst defender.

Nah... Bertans is easily the worst defender on the team

Bryant's defense had taken baby steps in the right direction. His bad close outs on stretch bigs and his lack of lateral ability on screen and roll defense are the big negatives. But he does bring a fire/intensity to play better which a bum like Bertans has none of.

Totally agree...especially with that last part. Bryant has indeed improved on D. Saw it in the bubble and again at the beginning of the season before he got injured.

TB will never be a plus defender but you know he'll put in the work to get better. Meanwhile, Bryant's offense, particularly his ability to spread the floor with his 3pt shooting, is a tremendous asset.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how a Bryant/Gafford tandem works out...and whether they can play together with TB at the PF.

Snotbubbles wrote:

dlts20 wrote:Match-up better with size and don't double Embiid much.

With that being said, I used to say it all the time when Wall was here but you just aren't going to win if your stars play like crap. We sucked to start the season because Russ sucked, we won win he played great, and now he is back to suckin again. If mvp Russ shows up with Beal then we can beat them but it doesn't matter what adjustments you make if Russ can't help Beal offset their big 3.

Philly wouldn't beat us if Embiid was trash every game. It's just not realistic to win if your star is garbage. The good thing is that Russ won't go out like a punk and think that both Stephen A and that fan will light a fire in him. We are a totally different team with an efficient, explosive Westbrook. He needs to help Brad and I think that he will. I've been saying every game that he's due to breakout. Hopefully he doesn't wait until we get swept.... Lol

Westbrook at his best is rebounding the ball, pushing it up court and either bullying a smaller, weaker defender or getting easy buckets before the defense has a chance to set up. Problem is the Sixers have bigger defenders who can neutralize Westbrook. This keeps him off the boards, slows him in transition which turns him into a jump shooter, that's why is isn't playing well. If Westbrook doesn't play faster in game 3 and get the transition game working, it will be another blow out.

A better coach would have figured out that Russell was being kept off the boards by a bigger, more athletic player. The worst thing to do is to go smaller as Scott Brooks has done.

The most galling part of the midget strategy is that it’s being deployed without ANY of the advantages of a small ball lineup.

The reasons to go small are to:

1. Force the other team’s big to chase on the perimeter.
2. Exchange their twos for your threes.
3. Get consistent, pesky on ball pressure.

Our small lineup Russ, Neto, Brad, Hachi and Len has:

1. No three point shooting big
2. One decent three point shooter
3. Typically switched everything and often gone under screens.

It’s like Scott read about small ball in a book somewhere and only got through page one

long suffrin' boulez fan wrote:The most galling part of the midget strategy is that it’s being deployed without ANY of the advantages of a small ball lineup.

The reasons to go small are to:

1. Force the other team’s big to chase on the perimeter.
2. Exchange their twos for your threes.
3. Get consistent, pesky on ball pressure.

Our small lineup Russ, Neto, Brad, Hachi and Len has:

1. No three point shooting big
2. One decent three point shooter
3. Typically switched everything and often gone under screens.

It’s like Scott read about small ball in a book somewhere and only got through page one

This!

My point stands that is POP, didn't try to do it then brooks absolutely isn't the dude to find a way .

FAH1223 wrote:

gambitx777 wrote:I don't think Bertans is the abysmal defender y'all make him out to be, he shows passable division making when defending a lot of times with brooks stupid line ups he's left on miss matches of either size or speed . If brooks wasn't so trash he could do more to spell that.

Perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history benched Bertans in the postseason when he could have used his shooting threat. But his defense was so awful he was unplayable.

That was only 2 years ago.

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long suffrin' boulez fan wrote:The most galling part of the midget strategy is that it’s being deployed without ANY of the advantages of a small ball lineup.

The reasons to go small are to:

1. Force the other team’s big to chase on the perimeter.
2. Exchange their twos for your threes.
3. Get consistent, pesky on ball pressure.

Our small lineup Russ, Neto, Brad, Hachi and Len has:

1. No three point shooting big
2. One decent three point shooter
3. Typically switched everything and often gone under screens.

It’s like Scott read about small ball in a book somewhere and only got through page one

True. You just can't play well small ball if you don't have some decent shooters on the floor, Moreover, if your 5 can't make threes as well. That's why Brooks is an idiot lol Must go away please.