Dirk wrote:Brutal loss. Similar to some others this season against teams missing their best players.
Obviously Kidd is the prime target... but I also really struggle to understand how the players don't show a different energy. After that 11-0 run, they (this includes Kyrie, Luka) just never looked like they were 100% engaged in the game. The number of turnovers was comical... and Kidd just watched, hands in his pockets as they couldn't run any plays for prolonged stretches.
Just off my head, I can remember at least 6 losses similar to this one. It's nuts... we all blame Kidd... but it's also deflating that the players just allow themselves to be punked by other teams that they should actually beat.
This team had that nice run after the trades. We had some fun... we've seen these guys play well... let's see if they can somehow muster some ability to come back from this hole and go on to give us something to look forward to come the playoffs or play in ugh.
Team chemistry is often overlooked.
Its been 1.5 years since our WCF appearance but we only have Luka-Maxi left in the rotation from that run. (THJ was out)
DFS was a defensive leader for the team. Kinda knew how not to get demotivated by Luka's defensive lapse, and DFS also understood the momentum of the game, what refs would whistle or not. I think Gafford-PJ doesn't understand that. They need to learn how to defend aggressively without making easy foul-calling mistakes.
I think both Brunson and Dinwiddie were better at understanding when Luka is frustrated and actually helping him when needed. Brunson going around the paint with dribbling and waiting patiently to find position... He was not a flashy player but he was leading offense at times and adjusting the tempo. Kyrie is amazing finisher with crossovers but he is SG who doesn't know how to lead a team, adjust tempo. And old-Kyrie is often ineffective against main rotations, playoff teams.