Real talk about Belinelli

[Juggity]

What do you think has happened to him? Statistically and eye-test wise, no spur has been worse in this series on both ends.

During the regular season his shot was wet. I mean, shit, he won the 3 point competition, and regularly smoked any and all teams from beyond the arc.

Is this just a bad matchup for him or is high pressure playoffs defense just too much for him to overcome?

If the spurs manage to advance past the first round, can they count on King Beli to show up again or should he be relegated to the end of the bench for the duration?

[jkid12456]

he just crumbles against high pressure defence. he knocks down open shots with ease tho. he cant get an open shot for himself to save a life

[timtonymanu]

I have no problem with Belinelli's struggles on offense. Similar to Green, he can't get touches because the Mavs are doing a great job of preventing it.

His defense is what is killing the Spurs though, especially when he has to guard Carter.

He should be benched for this series. He's bringing nothing.

[T Park]

They're putting a mad on him and not letting him have a shot. It's really that simple.

[hater]

Green sucks dick too. Green and Belli need to be discussed in conjunction

[hater]

They're putting a mad on him and not letting him have a shot. It's really that simple.

and what about Green? they are basically letting him handle the ball, since he cannot dribble a fucking basketball he is neutralized :lol

[Malik Hairston]

He's not getting any clean looks, just like Green, which is fine, it allows the Spurs to play 4 on 4, tbh..

The problem is that he's arguably the worst defensive wing in the NBA and he has by far the worst defensive metrics of any player in this series..

If the Spurs advance, Portland doesn't have any decent wing players off the bench, so he would be fine in that series..

[DapDaGenius]

Pop said in a post game interview that they'll make Marco and Danny perform the fusion dance from Dragonball Z. They don't know if it will work, but they're hoping it will do something positive.

[Spurs21Fan4Ever]

Part of it matchup, part of it he doesn't have the energy or fire. Prime example. Tonight, when Blair had that put back dunk, Beli practically stood out of his way. If Beli moved to the middle of the paint, then Blair would've gotten a foul. Sure it would've hurt like hell, but I honestly feel like every other player that played tonight would've been willing to do that.

[Raven]

He has been beyond awful for a few months now, and dallas is easily his best defensive matchup due to their lack of athleticism.

[Drew2354]

He has not had any open looks, lack of ball movement is causing him a Green to be useless on offense. Still prefer Green at this point because of his defense. But its not by much...I think Pop should start Marco and let Danny come off the bench to see if that would jump start something.

[jkid12456]

this is where patty comes in, patty has a significantly an easier time to get an open shot for himself, because of his lateral movement and general speed.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

He was wide open on a couple of cuts but our guards are being conservative with those types of passes, tbh.

[DarrinS]

Green sucks dick too. Green and Belli need to be discussed in conjunction

But Green is a starter

[$pursDynasty]

I'd trade Green and Belli for Tony Allen, he has that nasty, that American grit, the Spurs lost when SJax left. we go into a finesse care free euro haze for long stretches. we need guys who play like their mother's life was on the line.

[DarrinS]

I've been bitching about Danny for a while now.

[Spurs21Fan4Ever]

Trade Green and Beli for Batum and find a good SG to pick up, but ya that won't happen.

[crc21209]

I have no problem with Belinelli's struggles on offense. Similar to Green, he can't get touches because the Mavs are doing a great job of preventing it.

His defense is what is killing the Spurs though, especially when he has to guard Carter.

He should be benched for this series. He's bringing nothing.

This. When a team keys in on you and doesnt give you an open look, that's fine. It's his shitty ass defense that pisses me off, but then again...Belinelli has never been a defensive wizard. So this falls on Pop, he knows Belinelli can't defend Ellis, Calderon, Harris, or Carter. I guess you could try and hide him on Marion but I don't even know if that would work..

[Staplepuffs27]

Well, maybe he'll play better against Portland if we make it that far. He's owned them in regular season.

[dallasmaverickslose]

I think the Mavs are just a matchup nightmare for him. If we somehow make it out of the first round, give him a clean slate and hope he finds his rhythm.

The problem is we're having to rely on a 36 year-old Manu to provide all of our scoring at the 2. That, I guarantee you will NOT work long term.

All we can do at this point is keep our fingers crossed than Green and Belli get out of their slumps (particularly on offense) and get back to work.

[kaji157]

He is not a really difficult player to defend, just not leave him open, and Dallas is doing it just fine.
On the other hand, most of Dallas guards are either faster (Calderon, Harris, Ellis) or taller (Carter, Ellis) or more athletic (all of them). So Bellinelli has nothing to do on court at this series.
I would rather give that 12-20 minutes to Cory Joseph who can at least defend either Calderon or Harris and even less effective, can knock down an occasional shot.

[sexinthatsx]

Like the posters above said, the Spurs are just not giving him touches. And if he doesn't get touches, he's just not effective on either end of the floor. Part of me feels as if he needs to shoot some contested 3's just to get his rhythm going though.