Kobblehead wrote:Then why was Manu Giboboli, and then Tony Parker, closing games for the Spurs on title runs when the great Tim Duncan was on the floor?
Why was Kobe closing games on title runs when the colossal Shaq was on the floor?
You don't run your offense through a non-ball handler. It's too easy to defend. That's why nobody does it.
I can think of tons of examples of Shaq or Duncan taking shots at the end of games, especially when they were being covered by their era's Aron Baynes or Ivica Zubac. You're acting like teams do the same thing every time down the court.
Centers also have a bunch of other responsibilities on defense beyond just covering post ups, plus there's a whole other end of the court.
This is the compartmentalization stuff all over again. It's easy to talk yourself into a role player when you act like you can make it so he only has to do one specific thing. The whole strategy of a playoff series is the other team trying to force a player into doing things he isn't good at. Lebron won't be able to shake Kawhi off every time but he will sometimes and if all it is is Zubac waiting for him the next level he's toast. You keep talking about the last 5 minutes which is important but you might not get to them if your centers were BBQ chicken for the first 43.
There's no need for the Clippers to have 11 guys. 6 of those guys aren't going to be on the court at the end of a close playoff game, and 3-4 of them probably won't play in the game at all. Maybe it makes sense for a long regular season but I expect them to consolidate by the deadline to fix some of their issues.