ImNotMcDiSwear wrote:1. Book may have had the stats last night, but it took all of no time to confirm that KD is the best player on this team. He's a killer.
2. Our defense is really different with KD out there. As I predicted - Ayton was allowed to switch and close harder with KD being able to pick up the big when they rotate. Our starting unit was much more aggressive on defense than I've seen pretty much all season.
3. I really liked what TJ Warren brought to the court and was very pleased to see him moving up in the rotation.
4. The big weakness on this team is Chris Paul. He's still smart and can run an offense, but he's no longer an effective scorer. He's gotten the same looks this year he's gotten his whole career, but his FG% has dipped from 42% compared to 49% last season. It wouldn't be so big a deal if his backup was reliable, but given Payne's inconsistency, I think it's safer to use him as a change-up 9th/10th man. Bottom line: defenses will dare CP3 to shoot. And Monty will play him regardless, as we know.
5. There is a danger to playing the way we plan to - not taking nearly as many threes as our opponents. Looking at box scores around the league I noticed we took the fewest of any team in the league last night. We shot 9/25. The Bucks hit 26/56 against the Magic. We ended with 105 points on 89 possessions. They ended with 139 points on 94 possessions. We were each playing a bottom feeder, and the Magic ended up with 117 points compared to Charlotte's 91, but it's hard for me to believe we're better defensively than the Bucks.
6. Is there a better backup 5 out there? Playoff opponents would be wise to try to put DA in foul trouble. The more minutes we're forced to give Landale (or Biyombo, who is the better option overall), the worse our chances.
Bottom line: I'm pretty confident going into the playoffs with this crew. Out west, we can beat anyone. In a finals series, I feel we'd have favorable odds against the Celtics. Sixers could be a problem if they emerge. But the Bucks? I fear the deer. I said it months ago. Led by the guy who will go down as the greatest power forward of all time, they should be considered the favorites to win it all.
Yeah, I've mentioned even though we have such great midrange players, that when opponents get hot from 3, even if we are great from 2, it's just hard to keep up...just do the math.
I think Paul is much better from 3 this year too so that drop in FG% really shows how his 2pt% must have dropped drastically. He used to be in the mid 50s I think and now must be low 40s. I kept saying from game 3 on against Dallas last year something happened and he just stopped going to his midrange spots and lost that part of his game, which was the best part of his game when it came to scoring (which was elite...one of very top midrange guys in entire NBA). I still think something happened to where he can't move as well to get into spots. I think I read somewhere his hip got screwed up in that series. But he was just settling for 3s after game 2 where he had a huge game with tons from midrange....he was only scoring like 2-4 ppg from midrange from game 3 on..and suddenly was playing like a floor spreader for the first time I remembered. And it's largely been the same.
