fast+forward wrote:Surprising to see Lively and Gafford have only 2 fouls combined. They really need to be more physical on defense and make the refs call those fouls. They're not going to call them all.
Interestingly Gafford got two early on and subbed out due to foul problem.
More aggressiveness needed but also better offensive sets to use that lob threat. Of course blitz will happen, and LAC is going to flood the Luka offense side. He was really rusty today, and didn't wanted to take those turn around, high post shots nor stepback 3s early on. He should bounce back. Kyrie wasn't good at the start but played pretty good in the second half.
I still would like to have more defensive players and athletics then seeing THJ minutes.
At the 4th quarter, 6 min to go, our roster was like Luka-Kyrie-THJ. As a result Luka became our best perimeter defender in that situation. Its far from ideal. Having plus defender around KYrie-Luka helps all of the defense.
THJ doesn't worth it IMO....
PJ, Gafford, DJJ, even Exum... Not much playoff experience. Hard to expect them to shine from the first game. Give them some time they'll get better.
Clippers were the 2nd hardest matchup for us so I didn't fully surprise losing the first game. I am optimistic for the Game 2.
Kidd is not that bad in adjustments in general. However, he should also focus on rotation minutes. Dont go for full offensive lineups. Those should be last resort.