Hear me out:
Yesterday against Miami we lost by 6. We had a similar game against them that the Memphis Grizzlies did a couple nights before, and no one is calling Memphis chumps. Miami is just an incredible team playing their best ball right now.
We played well on D for most of the game, but not when it mattered most. Woodson's rotations are scaring me, but maybe he's still trying to figure it out for the playoffs...maybe.
Smith was horrible. But this is JR. He really is a carbon copy of Starks. He, more than anyone else, is someone we are going to have to live and die by. It is what it is. Woodson needs to reel him in and make him take the ball to the hoop. Melo's jumper is off and you see him getting to the basket now and taking 15 fta per game. Smith needs that mentality.
Chandler is playing like the guy we signed now. This is good. But please, for the love of God, set a good screen. They need to have a practice where they just set good complete screens. This bothers me so much.
Amar'e still has stone hands, but he's playing ok. We just need to do better at hiding him on D.
For all the crap Felton gets, and much is deserved, he's not a bad PG. He's not taking as many bad shots and he's trying to get to the rim more now. Besides the elite guys, who would you rather have at PG? Yes, Lin is good and will eventually be better than Ray and we shouldn't have let him go. But this year he'd have the same effect as Felton.
Shumpert's D is really coming on strong. I don't care if he isn't making jumpers. He's being smart with he ball in his hands. He needs to play late in games like yesterday.
Melo is being Melo. I perceive that as a wonderful thing because I think he's a great player. Some might not, but oh well.
In short, we beat ourselves yesterday. I honestly and truly believe that. We're not hitting makeable shots. If we don't hit jumpers, we don't win. That's the bottom line. Eventually they will fall at a more average clip...better than now but not as good as in Nov/Dec. The problems we see now are correctable. The biggest concern has to be Woodson getting comfortable with game situations and matching lineups. Yesterday he went small to match Miami which was a mistake. One which I hope he understands and fixes. And for the love of God, if anyone doesn't get back on D because they're complaining, take their ass out of the game and fine them 100K. This has to be fixed because it'll kill us in the playoffs.
We may not beat Miami in a playoff series. They have arguably the greatest player of all time. But I think we make it a series against them. If we play like we played yesterday with anyone else I think people will have a hard time beating us. From now until the season is over they have to bring it every night. I think this team can make the ECF. I really do.
Now if they come out and lay an egg against Cleveland tonight, I will probably be singing a different tune........
Two shots would be 4-6 points for us and 4 points less( 2 foul shots and a dunk) them. When the hired gun starts shooting blanks, sit him down and let him regain his focus. And speaking of blanks, what's up with Novak? Copeland needed to be there to take some of those minutes. He couldn't have been any worst.