TooNice00 wrote:We ignore dwight when he does bust his ass on the court. Numerous times all year. Just because dwight isn't out there dominating on rebounds and defense, you should punish him and make him have no effect on offense either. Get him going by giving him some dunks or something. Dwight should be grabbing rebounds and playing great defense but you can't leave that as his only task.
No, but see....for the past three weeks at least, it seems like every team is just double- and triple-teaming Dwight -- surrounding him so that it's impossible to get the ball to him without creating a turnover or putting him in a position to turn it over because he can't catch it cleanly because they get at his knees, they push him in the back, they smack at his hands when he goes for the ball. Sometimes the fouls are called. And sometimes they aren't. It's happening every game now.
Stan has commented on the fact that it's why it's so important for this team to get the ball up and down the court quickly so they can make the pass before the defense gets there. The problem is -- and this has been happening all season, not just recently -- many times the guy with the ball (I'm not talking about just the point guards here; I'm talking about whoever gets the ball) runs up the court and the rest of the team is trailing. By the time they get there, the defense already is set up. Or, the second guy who gets up the court is a guard on a fast break. There aren't loads of possessions when everyone is running. That's why Stan is always swinging his arms and yelling, "Go, go'' or "run." They say they want to be a running team, but I don't think some of them do.
I don't know if this is making Dwight feel like they are ignoring him, but he just needs to try to fight through it. The loss to the Knicks is certainly not all his fault. But...you've got a guy who is averaging almost 21 points and more than 14 rebounds and he's had two games in a row where he's only had one rebound in a half? Before Sunday's game, he had dominated the Knicks this season. He was averaging 21.3 points, 17.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks against the Knicks, and he had 13, 15 and 1 tonight. Something is not right there.
He's not the only one by any means, though. They played all of Sunday's Knicks game like they played the first half of the Cavs game. Mo has been playing aggressively (sometimes a little too much like when he got that foul on the inbounds play), but he's needing more shots. And Bogans just hasn't been shooting as well or defending as consistently as he was earlier. I thought Rashard was key to getting the Magic going in the second half on Saturday, but he couldn't seem to buy a bucket on Sunday.
I just hope they are not just satisfied with getting close to 50 wins and are shutting it down now. I mean, over the past three weeks, they are 3-5. That's not exactly building momentum for the playoffs. And meanwhile, the Sixers are almost unbeatable, and the Wizards are getting healthy. This is when they need to be their sharpest. I know that they don't really have anything to play for between now and the end of the regular season, but by the same token, I don't think they can just flip the switch for the playoffs so I hope they aren't thinking that.
I believe in this team, but they are not playing right now like I know they are capable of playing, and it concerns me. I mean...the Knicks? They are 21-56 this season.
