SAGirl
01-26-2016, 12:06 PM
GSW has become an elite team not only by Steph and Draymond raising their level of play, they have also become a much smarter team. That is the addition of Steve Kerr to the team.
Whereas they attacked Kevin Love against the Cavs and caused David Blatt to be fired... against Spurs, they attacked Parker and Mills. They didn't use PnR as much bc they didn't want to get Kawhi on Draymond and on Curry, so instead they attacked Tony. You can't hide Tony anywhere. Everyone scored on Tony, or caused whoever Tony was guarding to be doubled, and unlike some of our guys, they are skilled passing up out of double teams immediately. Several of Livingston's baskets were obtained this way.
I am not a fan of Raymonds. I hope our own Kyle Anderson can match him eventually, if not defensively bc that is a tall order, offensively and in passing and ball handling, much much superior. . . (allow me this fangirl's hope), but Kawhi already has that potential as well (so it is a realistic hope). But Raymond was clearly their leader, making passing decisions, and he would get the ball a lot to create, not even to score for himself. He's not a great post scorer, but learned to copy Diaw in the sense that he would attack any mismatch to pass, what he is, is a great passer. The PG are off the ball a lot in this game a lot, and Curry didn't need the PnR since he could take Tony off a screen or one on one when he wanted.
GSW showed me how our team could progress to the future centered on a forward, since there were also sequences in the 2nd Q when Pop did give the ball to Kawhi and Kawhi was very efficient scoring, and also moved the ball very well and we got buckets out of that for himself and others. We even got the game to within 10. However within that same span, we could not get stops on the other end bc GSW attacked Tony with whoever he was guarding.
On our own end, there were mismatches we missed. We are not as smart as they are offensively and didn't execute on either end. Defensively, the story of the night was exploiting Tony and getting backcuts since all our perimeter players were hit with them. Yes there was some questionable officiating... and dare I say it, everyone in our team is a veteran save Kyle and Simmons. There was a moment Kyle let the excitement and the showboating, the pressure get to him, and drove to the basket getting fouled, but getting no calls. Kawhi had a sequence also going one on one forcing up a bad shot early in the shot clock when there were options right in front of him like Kyle guarded by Livingston almost right under the basket, but instead Kawhi forced up a bad contested midrange shot over Draymond I believe. Simmons started well but then was out of control. I believe these guys are the ones who Pap may say there were like boys among men against GSW. Everyone else should know better.
The Positives:
Our young future. Kawhi knows better than to get rattled by the situation as he's been in these atmospheres and level competition before, but not in this role. This is something else and he's learning.
Kyle and Simmons are new. Both different, bring different things and we need them to develop for our future. They were not ready for this, I believe Kyle got rattled by all the showboating (Raymond getting to him? who knows?) and forced up a drive that got a very bad look. The silver lining is that he has fire in his belly to attempt something and not get passive. The bad is that he's not yet good enough for that something he attempted to be a good thing. But he was competitive and I liked that, good instincts on defense too. All I saw is, he needs to develop and needs experience.
Simmons, super athletic, and very competitive, was also aggressive and not scared because of the situation, but it also maybe got to him a bit with a bit of an out of control play at times. The silver lining is that he also has that fire in his belly to not back down from the situation.
Finally Boban, competed hard and showed heart out there. He was playing with determination and ended up scoring and getting fouled out of his own will to not surrender and in quite dominating fashion.
The negatives:
Our PG situation is a liability against an elite team and we are not winning as we are bc GSW is now a smart enough and talented enough team to attack our undersized and defensively challenged PG every time with whoever they are guarding.
Tony. If you don't have him scoring, and have him off the ball, why have him out there to begin with. In the 2nd Q, we could have made a run if GSW didn't constantly attack Tony (Danny made a few mistakes on defense and Kyle forced up a bad shot-getting fouled no-call), but still the worse problem is that we were not getting stops. Patty was not much better, and he was exposed also getting attacked by Livingston and anyone else.
Manu played with fire but he wasn't much more effective than Tony. Overall our backcourt situation is a concern.
LMA. He was engaged defensively but GSW is an elite team and he's not a rim protector by trade or experience. They didn't target him specifically and he held his own several times, also rotating to contest 3s. Offensively he wasn't able to assert himself and it is a concern in a game we were counting on him. So much has been said about him elsewhere, that lets just say, he was not what we were expecting this game offensively.
Whereas they attacked Kevin Love against the Cavs and caused David Blatt to be fired... against Spurs, they attacked Parker and Mills. They didn't use PnR as much bc they didn't want to get Kawhi on Draymond and on Curry, so instead they attacked Tony. You can't hide Tony anywhere. Everyone scored on Tony, or caused whoever Tony was guarding to be doubled, and unlike some of our guys, they are skilled passing up out of double teams immediately. Several of Livingston's baskets were obtained this way.
I am not a fan of Raymonds. I hope our own Kyle Anderson can match him eventually, if not defensively bc that is a tall order, offensively and in passing and ball handling, much much superior. . . (allow me this fangirl's hope), but Kawhi already has that potential as well (so it is a realistic hope). But Raymond was clearly their leader, making passing decisions, and he would get the ball a lot to create, not even to score for himself. He's not a great post scorer, but learned to copy Diaw in the sense that he would attack any mismatch to pass, what he is, is a great passer. The PG are off the ball a lot in this game a lot, and Curry didn't need the PnR since he could take Tony off a screen or one on one when he wanted.
GSW showed me how our team could progress to the future centered on a forward, since there were also sequences in the 2nd Q when Pop did give the ball to Kawhi and Kawhi was very efficient scoring, and also moved the ball very well and we got buckets out of that for himself and others. We even got the game to within 10. However within that same span, we could not get stops on the other end bc GSW attacked Tony with whoever he was guarding.
On our own end, there were mismatches we missed. We are not as smart as they are offensively and didn't execute on either end. Defensively, the story of the night was exploiting Tony and getting backcuts since all our perimeter players were hit with them. Yes there was some questionable officiating... and dare I say it, everyone in our team is a veteran save Kyle and Simmons. There was a moment Kyle let the excitement and the showboating, the pressure get to him, and drove to the basket getting fouled, but getting no calls. Kawhi had a sequence also going one on one forcing up a bad shot early in the shot clock when there were options right in front of him like Kyle guarded by Livingston almost right under the basket, but instead Kawhi forced up a bad contested midrange shot over Draymond I believe. Simmons started well but then was out of control. I believe these guys are the ones who Pap may say there were like boys among men against GSW. Everyone else should know better.
The Positives:
Our young future. Kawhi knows better than to get rattled by the situation as he's been in these atmospheres and level competition before, but not in this role. This is something else and he's learning.
Kyle and Simmons are new. Both different, bring different things and we need them to develop for our future. They were not ready for this, I believe Kyle got rattled by all the showboating (Raymond getting to him? who knows?) and forced up a drive that got a very bad look. The silver lining is that he has fire in his belly to attempt something and not get passive. The bad is that he's not yet good enough for that something he attempted to be a good thing. But he was competitive and I liked that, good instincts on defense too. All I saw is, he needs to develop and needs experience.
Simmons, super athletic, and very competitive, was also aggressive and not scared because of the situation, but it also maybe got to him a bit with a bit of an out of control play at times. The silver lining is that he also has that fire in his belly to not back down from the situation.
Finally Boban, competed hard and showed heart out there. He was playing with determination and ended up scoring and getting fouled out of his own will to not surrender and in quite dominating fashion.
The negatives:
Our PG situation is a liability against an elite team and we are not winning as we are bc GSW is now a smart enough and talented enough team to attack our undersized and defensively challenged PG every time with whoever they are guarding.
Tony. If you don't have him scoring, and have him off the ball, why have him out there to begin with. In the 2nd Q, we could have made a run if GSW didn't constantly attack Tony (Danny made a few mistakes on defense and Kyle forced up a bad shot-getting fouled no-call), but still the worse problem is that we were not getting stops. Patty was not much better, and he was exposed also getting attacked by Livingston and anyone else.
Manu played with fire but he wasn't much more effective than Tony. Overall our backcourt situation is a concern.
LMA. He was engaged defensively but GSW is an elite team and he's not a rim protector by trade or experience. They didn't target him specifically and he held his own several times, also rotating to contest 3s. Offensively he wasn't able to assert himself and it is a concern in a game we were counting on him. So much has been said about him elsewhere, that lets just say, he was not what we were expecting this game offensively.