RJ adapted to the spot up shooting role fairly well. We just don't have many shot creators out there outside of Manu/Tony (Neal is probably a distant third). So now that Tony is down, Manu will have to create more for the rest.
Hill being slow to start the offense is also a problem. We ended up jacking up bad shots or giving the ball to Tim with 5 secs left. Some of that is correctable, and hopefully the Spurs can work on it in the next few days.
That's a bit of an overreaction.
And we have another idiot that can't read or is unable to grasp the most simple concepts like TiC. Dudette, you should be worrying more about that pic of ??? on your alias page where the guy looks like he just got through eating a bowl of and he enjoyed it. Amazing that the guy was able to lick his teeth clean. Now if you don't mind, go to school and get an education so you can follow along here, ok? OK! Sheeeesh!
The writing is on the wall . . .
dont blame RJ, he was perfect from the field in this game. how can he score when he gets only 2 touches in a single quarter? the rock has got to be distributed to everyone!
Hey Lakaluva, are these two characters, Ericb and budkin from central casting of the Jay Leno show? The skit they do where Jay goes out on the streets of Burbank and finds dumbasses who don't know who the President is or how many dimes in a dollar. they don't know how many dimes are in a dime.just sucks... period.
Thanks...!
The Lakers can't win without HCA?
The expectations for RJ is that his level of offensive contribution should go up.
As for whose fault it is, I believe it's a two-part deal. RJ needs to be more aggressive. And the two guys handling the ball (Hill and Manu) need to help generate offense for others, as they do for themselves.
Certainly the team is out-of-sync without Parker. Too often I saw Hill and Manu playing their version of hero basketball - and struggling all the while
With TP out it's time for RJ to stop being so passive and pick up some of the scoring slack. Time to earn that bloated contract.
Come on I thought it was funny... thus the
Solid analysis ... I hope you are right hope Lakers vs. spurs inthe WCF ...this board will be epic ...
Come on I thought it was funny... thus the
Okiedokie!
That will be EPIC. And God help those of us that support the team that loses the series. They will never hear the end of it.
Wouldn't have it any other way. If you're going to win it, might as well go through the 2-time defending champs.
Besides, despite the in-state skirmishes and matchups the league's done their best to glorify and make sure take precedence over others, SA-LA has been the best NBA rivalry going for a decade. Unlike some of the other ones, maybe the more aesthetically pleasing or star-studded, these matchups have had real consequence - championships.
It's partially Pop's/Parker's/Ginobili's/Hill's fault for not calling his number and looking to get him involved more, but it's partially Jefferson's as well. He doesn't look to assert himself, he seems more than content to play the role of a typical Spurs wing player not named Ginobili. Which, to an extent, is fine. But what happened to the Jefferson of early in the season, where he was mixing it up and getting to the line some? He might as well be Bowen or Finley at this point.
I'd like to see them come out tomorrow, first play of the game, get Jefferson off. Maybe even the first two. After that, don't just forget about him for the rest of the game.
What was RJ brought in for, his stellar D and rebounding?
He was brought here primarily to take some of the offensive load off of the big 3, making us more versatile and dangerous overall.
Two years in, I'm not sure if he's being used properly or if he was who we thought he was.
In other words, we don't know what we have in RJ, and that's kind of problem.
Rather a steep price to pay for a spot-up shooter, ain't it?
Think about how RJ started the season. Remember all those transition, early offense jumpers he was taking and making? Where have those gone - they've zipped up their game quite a bit while attempting to shore up their D.
That's the biggest difference to me with RJ. He's not someone you run a play for and he gets going offensively. He needs to get up and down that track. He's a thoroughbred. His game is very temperamental when it comes to hitting seams and attacking off the dribble. His handle isn't all that great, his lateral movement isn't either, but once he gets warmed up running the wing and out in transition ... things seem to work a lot better and come a lot easier. He gets a little more confidence, starts feeling his oats, taking matters into his own hands and venturing out to do a little more than he's accustomed to.
The problem is, I don't think Pop and the Spurs are committed to being that up-tempo, not at the expense of the defensive end. I'm just not sure there's ever going to be the right ratio of halfcourt-to-transition basketball for RJ to be the player he started the season as.
But I do believe he can be successful for the team. He's at least given me reason to believe he's got what it takes to make do and help this team get back to where they want to be - I just don't think they'll ever be able to fully utilize his talent.
The biggest thing I'm noticing about RJ is his overall intensity is down. Earlier in the year he was able to make an impact regardless of whether or not he was scoring...which was a huge difference from last year. It seems like lately he's been reverting back to his overall game suffering if his not involved offensively.
I concur. He has always been at his best with an assertive point guard to open things up ala Kidd in NJ and here with Parker. Had hill played a lick better RJ gives a little more. We will be fine.
scary to say but the closer we are getting to the playoffs the more suck versions of Jefferson and Ginger bonner show up.
Not to mention Splitter is a goddam pussy.
Not
Holding
my
Breath.......
Fail. won us the most important game of the post season last year vs. the Mavs in their homecourt
I agree. But I also believe that's due to his involvement in the game and offense.
RJ's got basketball ADD. You have to keep him involved and/or chasing the carrot. When the Spurs were really forcing the pace, giving him the green light to take those pull-ups in transition and just having him get up and down the court more - regardless of outcome - we saw a player much more in tune with the team. We began to see him making contributions in facets of the game he rarely did last year.
Now ... he's pretty much back to being the same player of a year ago. The difference being, he's a much more confident player in that limited role - he won't be stepping inside that arc and destroying spacing like he did against Dallas in the halfcourt.
There's no doubt RJ's a better player for this team than a year ago. But I'm afraid we won't be seeing the RJ that started the year finish the year without the Spurs upping the pace - hopefully they can find a happy enough medium.
I completely understand your point here, but it's still pretty damn funny.
y J chasing a carrot =
In some way, in other teams, he has been able to average a high ammount of points with a respectable ammount of shoots and %.
Pop has to take his head out of his arse and realize that the SF spot can contribute on offense as well from other places than the corner 3.
Okey, he is not Manu, nor Parker, but Jefferson needs to have some sets run for him. At least a couple of sets where he is the second option, he seems to always be the last option in every play.
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