Post Game Thread - vs Hornets, Away 12/31/19

[bobheckler]

Taking care of business against an inferior team.  Not impressed, but happy to see.  Although, there were a few eye-openers.

Hayward with an excellent all-round game.  21 points on 9-14, 3-6 from 3, 10 rebounds (5 of them offensive) and 6 assists.  He started off weak, 0-2 and an ugly turnover, but then found his groove.  This was an All-Star performance everything considered.  He won't be an All-Star because of all the games he missed and because this game is not 100% representative of his season, but this game was.  A real OG game.  The question is "how can he have games like this when Jaylen is playing?".  There's only one ball and if he's putting up 14 fgas then how many will Jaylen get, and vice versa.  Nevertheless, a very good problem for Brad to have.

Kanter with the best defense I've ever seen from him, bar none.  A career-high 6 blocks.  He's a double-double machine.  His defense and outside game aren't really good enough for him to be a starter in today's perimeter-oriented NBA but he's a great bench player.  He fills a specific role and he does it very well.  13 points and 14 rebounds in just 23 minutes for Saint Enes.  If what we've seen from his defense the last few games is the new normal then he might be one of the best off-season signings from last summer.

Smart and GWill were a combined 3-15.  I'm just talking about their shooting here, it was awful.  Defensively, well, Smart is and will always be Smart.  He played some absolutely magnificent defense in the low post against the MUCH bigger Cody Zeller that I hope I can find somewhere.  He was working SO hard to deny an entry pass, and succeeded. It was magnificent.  GWill was assigned to guard their point guard Grahame.  I would not have thought to put someone Grant's size on a point guard but that's why Brad's the coach and not me, Grant did pretty well though. Kept the much speedier point guard in front of him and yet stay close enough to be able to contest his shots.

97 fgas is really good.  I like this a lot.

We close out the year with:

Defensively
The #1 defense, giving up only 103.6 ppg
5th fewest fg% allowed
6th fewest fgas allowed
9th in 3pt fg% allowed
9th fewest total rebounds given up (44.4)
6th fewest assists allowed (22.8/game)
10th in steals/game (8.1)
6th in blocks/game (6.1).  I did not expect this.
6th in fewest turnovers/game (13.7)
4th in fewest opponent points in the paint (42.6).  I did not expect this either given the shortness of our front court.

Offensively
The 2nd best MOV (+7.9)
2nd in fewest points given up from turnovers (14.5).  Orlando is 14.4.
9th in offensive rebounding (10.7/game)
9th in fast break points/game (14.5)

Top 10 on offense and defense.  That's winning ball.  Let's stay healthy, re-integrate our returning players and see what kind of noise we can make in 2020.

Happy New Year everybody.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401161139


bob


.

[cowens/oldschool]

Bob I’m shocked with those defensive stats, if were no 1 in points per game, wonder how much better we can be if RWill ever gets his shit together and if Smart is over his eye issues? Smart plays so hard, I’d give him some load management games off, especially since everybody else does it and against weak teams we can get away with it and win as this team is blessed with young depth, we obviously have waves of talent at the wing and backcourt. Coming out party for Kantor defensively, someone pointed out he barely played in college, then got to the pros and was thrown in, he might never have been coached right. Hoping we can see his quick hands and better positioning more, I sure didn’t realize he blocked 6 shots during the game....

Jayson easily could have went for 30, he was content to not dominate the ball in the second half and let the game come to him as the game was never really in doubt. His defense was stellar as it has been all season. It was great to see him respond early after last game where he never got going. Even better to see GH find his rythmn after a shaky start and hit a couple tough finishes in traffic on his way to a very efficient 21 points. My eye test told me there was an extreme talent disparity in our favor. They are trying to develop P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges and have completely given up on Kidd Gillhurst who should be in his prime. As soon as you saw Jaylen even in limited minutes as a rookie go right at Lebron and saw Tatum’s refined smooth moves and athleticism as rookies, you knew they could be special. Didn’t see any of that in either P.J. or Bridges, they might be solid rotation guys to be, but don’t see either developing into the all star types that every team needs. Anyway we did what we had to do, very good games by Kantor, Jayson, Kemba and GH.

[dboss]

Walker, Tatum and Hayward with A games
Enes with best overall game this year. Supporting cast with contributions.

Hayward was the best player on the court.

I think it may be time to start Kanter.

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