Onus wrote:vvoland wrote:Onus wrote:Was the defense good? We got crushed on defense once Steph went out.
I think the defense was outstanding. Like title-winning good. Once Jimmy and Steph got hurt, the offense was sooo bad, the defense suffered. Not just because Dray isn't the same defender once he knows it's over. I think any team would find it much easier to score when they can relax on defense, not worry about giving up large scoring runs, and basically play pressure-free on offense. It's also much harder to muster up the required chutzpah to play hard nosed defense for 48 minutes when, deep down inside, you know you can't score enough.
It's like the opposite effect when everyone is healthy - the opposing offense often finds itself competing with Steph, at which point, they've already lost.
Sure the offense and defense are connected but there were still issues on defense. We couldn’t guard both
ant and Randle when they were on the court. Yea we’d still win some games if Steph was on the court but there were still issues defensively.
If Steph goes down we’re done regardless but as long as he’s healthy we’ll have a chance offensively.
I don't think we had a perfect defense and the wrong matchups would hurt us. But to be fair, those are two tough covers. That said, the defense was our best unit, I thought, until the injuries hit.
Could/should we improve it, this summer? Yes. Horford and Melton, if they come, would give us a lot of what we lack. If we keep JK and play him on-ball against the ants and randles of the NBA, it'll be another plus.
The scoring issues, to my mind, were more pervasive, particularly in the 4th quarters of close games, even with Steph.
clue what he's doing on a basketball court. So much energy being spent on someone with no on-court vision and no ability to understand the full game. He's looking to the highlight reels, and that's it.
