sully00 wrote:I have to say I am a little disappointed that we didn't have little payback in that game. I know it isn't Doc's style and we are short bodies but they were taking liberties.
Perkins sent a message by hip-checking Anthony on the moving screen. I know a lot of people will disagree and think it is a stupid foul but sometimes you have to look out for your team. If it takes roughing up the star player on the other team to re-establish control, you do it. Unfortunately, outside of Perkins, there just isn't anyone who will give an extremely hard message foul right now.
The beauty of Perkins doing it the way he did was that he kept his arms in and just stuck out his hip. The worst punishment you can get is an offensive foul. It sent an effective message, though. Anthony was pretty ineffective from that point forward.
Davis should have sent a similar message to Anthony later in the game when Anthony brought his knee up in Glen's face after a dunk. If you want to be punked, don't react and take it like a bitch. If you want to get respect, sometimes you need to take control of a situation because in David Stern's world, the referees are looking out for Stern's marketing opportunities, first and foremost.
One of the reasons they whooped up on us in Boston was that they played aggressive and physical and we backed down like a bunch of sallies. If you want to be alpha, sometimes you bite back when the pups start nipping at you. Establish and control your territory. We didn't do that in Boston and, outside of Perkins, we didn't really do it last night.
I am not saying do anything crazy stupid that will get you suspended but you have to establish your dominance. Luckily we were able to do just that because our shots were falling. If we have even a normal shooting game, the game would have been very different, imo. We were able to break their spirit via our offensive efficiency.
Consider that we didn't play this game at a quick tempo. In fact, we played slower than our average pace. We finished the game at 126.7 offensive efficiency and 84.4 defensive efficiency. It was our second best offensive performance, on a per possession basis, of the season. It was our second best defensive performance, as well. If we don't hit all those threes, early, this game isn't likely this lopsided.
Anyways, Denver is a very good team. I was pretty surprised they folded as easily as they did. They really missed Nene tonight because he is not only their best defender but he is also the heart and soul of that team.