MemphisX wrote:Whole Truth wrote:[b]I see some false information being spread about Jonas not being able to perform in the playoffs. He was 4 for 4 starting in the East with 2 losses coming to the Lebron led Cavs.[/b]
Jonas is horrendous defensively if game planned against. Any team with an able pick and roll combination will ALWAYS be able to generate efficient shots against him. And he is not good enough on offense to make it a worthwhile trade off.
True teams can & will attack Jonas in the PNR, it is a weakness in his game. Raptors fans said that when Casey reduced his minutes in the first Washington sweep, everyone said he was the problem despite playing under 25 mins a game, fans need a scape goat in losses ... Wall & Gortat were a very good PNR combo especially with refs allowing Gortat to set moving screens as Gobert was allowed to help open Jazz shooters .. A couple years later, Jonas was reason Raptors beat that same Wizards PNR duo (4-2). As I was trying to point out above, It's only the Cavs Jonas/Raptors really struggled with. Cavs being Utah, with no post defense but Love got a favorable whistle with his arm bars & flops. As all Lebron teams get that favor.
Jonas in all his Raptors playoff showings was playing with an equally poor perimeter defender in Derozan. People might not want to admit it but Jenkins also had to hide Ja in the post where he was continually & successfully posted up by a lesser offensive threat, which made Utah even more dangerous. What I'm saying is they were punching more holes into Memphis defense than just Jonas in the PNR considering Memphis lost 3 close games against a top seed, potential champion. I can only imagine what would have been said if they got swept with no close games as was expected by other fans.
For a long time I've been talking about how easy it is to point out the obvious.
Here's another point of view.. how did Memphis manage to win game 1 with Jaren -19 & Tillman -10 ?, Someone had to offset the fact Gobert & Jazz were having their way in the post & second chance opportunity. Jonas was +15 in that game because Brooks was able to contain just Conley, it wasn't just a poor shooting night. With just Conley playing, Ja was also easier to hide off guard. DM's addition gave Utah 2 attack points in the PNR which spread Brooks thin & reduced Morant to being successfully posted by a lesser threat. Reason I've been advocating for adding Brown. I think if Memphis had one more dog to help DIllon pressure the ball, it would have been a different series, considering Memphis played 3 close games with Utah having both Conley & DM.
Clippers with Kawhi, PG, Jackson + have the perimeter defenders plural to help pressure the ball, which has made Cousins, who is also slow footed & bad PNR defender be effective, funny that. Mitchell is the scorer & Conley is the PNR quarter back. Utah has yet to play Conley, so Clippers figured out all they have to do is shut down & double DM. They couldn't do that with Conley in the fold. Series tied 2-2 with Conley out. I'd argue Memphis could have gone up 2-0 in Utah if DM didn't play game 2.
Youngest team since OKC to make the playoffs lost to the top seed, blow it up.