Post#842 » by StitchJones » Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:58 pm
Last nights game was amazing! I had a feeling we were going to come back and make a game of it, we have too many high character, tough guys to just give in. My general thoughts.
1st half defense was horrible. We allowed guys to get into the lane way to much, especially brandon knight, Kemba needs to tighten up that perimeter defense.
We definitely need to be prepared for teams doubling Al throughout the game now. With Big Al's season last year, teams realize he's our go to guy and are game planning for it. We have to find the proper spacing when we feed it to him and Al needs to be prepared to kick it out to open guys for uncontested threes. I think we'll get this cleaned up.
The bench rotation seemed kind of off. I can understand though because we haven't really had everyone available all preseason so it's hard for the coaching staff to get those combinations right. One thing is for sure; I think someone between Gerald and Neal will have to go. PJ definitely needs minutes and Clifford even stated in the press conference today that he had a conversation with PJ because he feels PJ has earned minutes but he's till trying to figure out the rotation. One thing I did really like was when we had lance in with the bench. it was a very nice three minute stretch where Lance facilitated while Neal, Roberts, and Cody found spaces for open shots. I feel like we need to have either Kemba or lance on the floor at all times or with minimum stretches where one of them is not on the floor.
MKG was phenomenal! He looked liked the second overall pick in the draft last night. He played great defense, he was hitting that mid range jumper, he rebounded, blocked shots, and even facilitated a bit. He was an even better version of Gerald Wallace when he was at his best with the Bobcats. 17pts 8reb 3ast 3blks 6-8fg 5-6ft in 34 minutes of play. And what i loved even more is that Clifford played him late with the game on the line. He would have had more minutes if not for some early foul trouble due to a bogus foul call.
Marvin Williams was a great spacer last night. He won't go 8-12 every night with 50% from three, but I think we got a sense of what a confident Marvin Williams can give us. he needs to get better on the defensive end as far as his rotations and help defense, but I trust Coach Cliff to have him improve as the season goes on.
Lance was 3-12 and got frustrated but never stopped competing. Even when he started cramping up, you could tell he wanted to be out there. He didn't take some open shots in the second half probably because he didn't feel he had his legs under him, but that last quarter and a half and into OT he put it all on the line and had some really good assist and rebounds. When his legs are back and that shot is falling we could really be dangerous.
I can't wait for Saturday now. Memphis is going to be a real test against a team some are picking to go to the Western Conference Finals.
