Only two complaints: the Bron + non-shooters bench lineup was rough early on. I don't like Jax on Sengun, Jax needs to match Capela's minutes. For the first, I know we don't have a lot of options and half of our "shooters" are streaky but when you swing it to the corner and it's repeatedly a hesitant Vando, the pass was right and the play was wrong. On the second one, JJ caught on to this as well and matched it better in the second half. But liked the game plan, especially defensively. Guys were ready for their assignment, activity was high. Good job late pivoting to a KD-less team, the broadcasting crew said JJ didn't find that out until he was in the pre-game meeting with them. Curious to see what each coach counters with, I definitely think JJ is the better coach. He had us composed and in control, Udoka and his guys lost composure with those Ts and those out of ball turnovers to the fans signified how lost that young group was out there without a point guard or KD.
I assume you mean the lineup at the beginning of the 2nd Q, which was Bronny/LaRavia/Vando/LeBron/Hayes. I agree that this looks bad offensively, and I would not prefer it. Needs Kennard in there instead of Bronny (and can take away some Kennard minutes from other lineups that need him less). However...this lineup went +3 with an ortg of 166.7, drtg of 50.0, and netrtg of 116.7! It was just 2 minutes, and I doubted it as well, but somehow it worked incredibly. For 2 minutes, lol, but I'll take it.
If Ayton is on Sengun, the Lakers should not double. Doing that burned us a couple of times with offensive rebounds and easy buckets. Sengun in not Shaq or Jokic, Ayton can handle him. One thing I liked was seeing Marcus refuse the switch on the perimeter and sticking to his man. That makes a big difference as that switch everything defense we usually do leads to mismatches.
He just kills me with his lack of timeouts. Just let that 15 point lead dwindle to a one f***ing possession game before calling a TO. I really like him as a coach but Jesus why?
think i said this exact thing in another thread. good plan that i can't see working against like, any other playoff team. yeah, wheels were obviously falling off and it was at nearly the same exact point as they did in game 1, so it was curious to just...let it unfold...
Problem for the Rockets is that Durant is a pure scorer he's not a playmaker and of you watch the Lakers with Luka AR and Lebron who are all playmakers the difference is glaring. His passes are off and it's not like these are Magic type of looks. They can't play shepherd because they're terrified of Lebron and Smart picking on him Amen is can't shoot and he's another whose got no vision They should run the offense thru Sengun at the top of the key but Durant I think hates him and he tends to over dribble. But the bigger issue is Ayton kind of locks him down
Phil Jackson-esque. He just really trusts his players! JJ definitely not calm cool and collected though. While Phil's forte was not X's and O's, and JJ's is. So, instead of the Zen-master, perhaps JJ is... the Pen*master. *whiteboard marker
Yep. And even when Ayton was off, Hayes was limiting Sengun fairly well. I think this is a mistake. Rockets aren't going to beat Lakers solely through defense, they need to score more also. LeBron and either or both of Smart and Kennard are going to get theirs, even without picking on Shepherd. Udoka went away from Shepherd, and Smart had an even better night last night, LeBron scored more points, and Kennard still had a great night too. They need Shepherd plus Durant. Shepherd still had 5 3's on 36% in Game 1. When Durant gets doubled, they need him to pass quickly to Shepherd, who needs to make a shot or get it to the open person who can. It's a coaching mistake that they need to correct, which I hope they don't do, but think they will.