Sitting Cousins at the end of the fourth

If he was sitting due to "match up" issues---that is fireable. The fact that Boogie can only come in when dedmon came in at the end is so disheartening. If we want to win with boogie and brow we need to force teams to match up with us, and the fact the coaching staff doesn't know how to do that is just absolutely terrible. The fact that we can't play a top 25 player in the league against one of the worst teams in the league shows the issues of this staff.

I would love to know the most frequent location where boogie catches the ball on offense. I am willing to bet it is about 18-20 ft from the basket. It is rough knowing that we have boogie and AD and we can only get boogie near the block on DESIGNED PLAYS.

Ive been a Gentry supporter for the past couple years due to the crop of players he has had to coach, but even despite this groups low IQ, they look to be way off.

Let's keep winning though, I'm down with that.

look...it worked out.

But I agree it was one of those things that absolutely HAD to work out. If you pull a stunt like that and then lose...

Most important thing is I think Boogie was ok with it. At least he was up cheering them on on the bench.

I actually agree with this certain thing, and I've been a critic of Gentry's. Demarcus is such an extraordinary talent, but there are times he can get sooo frustrating. Tonight, he kinda put the team in jeopardy by making bone headed decisions and turning the ball over. Because of that, Atlanta was getting hot, so we needed to change it up.

I'm usually not for benching your best players towards the end of the game, but in this situation, we needed to do that.

I think it was just one of those nights it made sense.

Crazily enough the Hawks had our bigs number tonight. They were swarming both Davis and Cousins when they touched the ball. Almost constantly putting two and three players on them when they got the ball. Davis and Cousins turned the ball over 12 times combined despite combining for only 19 FGA's.

We absolutely needed to have someone step up and take advantage of that defensive over-commitment, and thankfully Miller did. That lineup was hot and getting us back in the game so I can understand why Gentry kept riding it.

The only really questionable thing for me was keeping Clark in as long as they did down the stretch. And maybe waiting a bit too long to put Cousins back in.

We are 8-6, two games over. 500 for the first time in forever, during this time we have had two starters that were injured for an extended period of time, we had AD miss 2 games, we currently have 5 players on the injured list including both of our backup centers....

And you say that our coaches should be fired because the wins weren't pretty enough? Get out of here with that nonsense. The only reason this game was close was because of Cousins having 12 turnovers. Gentry saved the game by pulling Cousins and getting another small player in who could keep up on defense. Then once Miller got hot you better believe Gentry wasn't going to pull anyone out because it was working.

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Originally Posted by kinglio21093

I actually agree with this certain thing, and I've been a critic of Gentry's. Demarcus is such an extraordinary talent, but there are times he can get sooo frustrating. Tonight, he kinda put the team in jeopardy by making bone headed decisions and turning the ball over. Because of that, Atlanta was getting hot, so we needed to change it up.

I'm usually not for benching your best players towards the end of the game, but in this situation, we needed to do that.

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Agreed!

Cuz was costing the team tonight, between guarding 3 point threats and turning the ball over. Despite being a superstar and our future depending on him, I truly believe we lose tonight if he plays his normal minutes.

Example A is his inbound pass to AD, going for a lob we didn't need and giving them a chance to win it.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

We are 8-6, two games over. 500 for the first time in forever, during this time we have had two starters that were injured for an extended period of time, we had AD miss 2 games, we currently have 5 players on the injured list including both of our backup centers....

And you say that our coaches should be fired because the wins weren't pretty enough? Get out of here with that nonsense. The only reason this game was close was because of Cousins having 12 turnovers. Gentry saved the game by pulling Cousins and getting another small player in who could keep up on defense. Then once Miller got hot you better believe Gentry wasn't going to pull anyone out because it was working.

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I don’t know where I said they aren’t pretty enough, but if beating the Hawks is your goal for this team, then enjoy the greatest season of your life. My goal is to figure out a way to have teams beat Davis and cousins, you know, like good teams. Is he going to sit against Golden State, another less than ideal matchup team?

He sat like 2 plays

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

He sat like 2 plays

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I think he sat the final 6 or 7 minutes and came in for the last couple plays where Gentry smartly had him throw the inbounds pass in, cause he is known for his conservative good passing

I would like to see a better mix of running the offense thru Cousins and working the ball to him down deep where he can use both his skill and his strength being down there already ... he can be totally unstoppable, but has to make better decisions on his passing and driving into trouble time and time again... I'm thinking that a lot of this will ride on a healthy Rondo playing normal minutes... hopefully anyway...

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Originally Posted by ramsters60

I would like to see a better mix of running the offense thru Cousins and working the ball to him down deep where he can use both his skill and his strength being down there already ... he can be totally unstoppable, but has to make better decisions on his passing and driving into trouble time and time again... I'm thinking that a lot of this will ride on a healthy Rondo playing normal minutes... hopefully anyway...

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Nah he likes dribbling and threes too much. And what Boogie wants he gets

It was the right move and Gentry deserves credit, not criticism, for making it.

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Originally Posted by heybigmatt

I don’t know where I said they aren’t pretty enough, but if beating the Hawks is your goal for this team, then enjoy the greatest season of your life. My goal is to figure out a way to have teams beat Davis and cousins, you know, like good teams. Is he going to sit against Golden State, another less than ideal matchup team?

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He had 12 turnovers. 12! The Pels had a 191 offensive rating and a +63 net rating with him on the bench during that stretch. You don't sacrifice a win to try to prove a point.

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Originally Posted by ramsters60

I would like to see a better mix of running the offense thru Cousins and working the ball to him down deep where he can use both his skill and his strength being down there already ... he can be totally unstoppable, but has to make better decisions on his passing and driving into trouble time and time again... I'm thinking that a lot of this will ride on a healthy Rondo playing normal minutes... hopefully anyway...

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Boogie got a rebound, waved Rondo off and brought the ball up court. Rondo stared him down the whole time. So yeah Rondo will probably put an end to alot of that.

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

Boogie got a rebound, waved Rondo off and brought the ball up court. Rondo stared him down the whole time. So yeah Rondo will probably put an end to alot of that.

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I hope that probably is more like a definitely. We can't keep having that happen.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

He had 12 turnovers. 12! The Pels had a 191 offensive rating and a +63 net rating with him on the bench during that stretch. You don't sacrifice a win to try to prove a point.

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Pelicans had 19 turnovers. Boogie had 7, NOT 12! AD had 5 .

AD got a raw deal. Two turnovers he got credited with were due to terrible passes he tried to save including the last inbound pass by boogie.

I like Boogie, but that game exemplified why AD is the better player. Boogie loses his mind out there sometimes.

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Originally Posted by 23speedkillz

AD got a raw deal. Two turnovers he got credited with were due to terrible passes he tried to save including the last inbound pass by boogie.

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You could say the same with Boogie last night TBH.

Though Boogie also had a couple that should of been turnovers that weren’t.

Frankly last night just magnified for me the growing problem of this team. A problem that even captured Davis who so far had managed to find ways around it. Which is defenses do not respect our guards and forwards. So they sell out to double and triple Cousins and AD and swarm the paint.

That’s a big problem because for someone like Cousins who likes to drive, and for his size is solid at it, it means 4 to 6 hands are there to swipe at the ball. As the Locked on Pelicans podcast was pointing out. Which forces two choices, Boogie can settle for more threes, or he can pass the ball. Problem on the later is that during many plays guards are getting bunched up, slow to rotate over, or trying to cut into a clogged paint, unable to give him an outlet(though to be fair he does also force things too much at times) and guys like Cunningham have been abysmal in spots like the corner three they were once very good at last season. So at the same time I can’t 100% blame Cousins for choosing to take his chances against three defenders when the rest of the team outside AD has been so sketchy.

It’s concerning because if it’s not cleaned up this next ten game stretch could be ugly. Rondo coming back and Miller finding his niche could be a godsend for that problem. Hopefully.

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Originally Posted by lawless522

I like Boogie, but that game exemplified why AD is the better player. Boogie loses his mind out there sometimes.

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Was there ever much doubt?

AD is the rare talent in the mold of Durant, Shaq, LeBron, and Duncan. That you just give them whatever replacement level team and he will by and large still find a way to put up big numbers efficiently.

Cousins is almost that type of player, but his game needs just a bit of assistance IMO. What it needs is guys that defenders can’t completely abandon and a solid facilitator to get him better looks than he can create.

I have zero doubt in my mind that if you replace Cunningham with a Robert Covington and Jrue with Jeff Teague(who is shooting 40% from three and getting to the FT line at double the rate of Holliday) Cousins has at least 2-3 less turnovers a game and we have 2-3 more wins right now.

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Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco

Was there ever much doubt?

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For some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhBtKWU5OB8

Y'all are missing a key point. Ad was off in every way. Maybe boogies poor passing was too much for the pels to risk. Rondos return will be huge for us.

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Originally Posted by wnelson

Y'all are missing a key point. Ad was off in every way. Maybe boogies poor passing was too much for the pels to risk. Rondos return will be huge for us.

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AD was off in large part because they committed 2-3 defenders to him the moment he touched the ball. He had a few nice passes out of the post and such that make me interested in us letting him facilitate like that more often, but to me it all speaks to the same core issue of needing role players to step up and hit open shots. It could get really ugly in games like Golden State or Portland if teams now understand they can swarm our bigs and clog the paint and dare our role players to hit open shots, or force our bigs to take more threes.

Teams have been steadily doing it more and more but Atlanta really committed to it last night.

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Originally Posted by lawless522

For some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhBtKWU5OB8

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That was last season but I do believe Cousins is better offensively and is a better passer

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Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco

AD was off in large part because they committed 2-3 defenders to him the moment he touched the ball. He had a few nice passes out of the post and such that make me interested in us letting him facilitate like that more often, but to me it all speaks to the same core issue of needing role players to step up and hit open shots. It could get really ugly in games like Golden State or Portland if teams now understand they can swarm our bigs and clog the paint and dare our role players to hit open shots, or force our bigs to take more threes.

Teams have been steadily doing it more and more but Atlanta really committed to it last night.

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Moore/miller combined for 44pts.... I think that suffices for bench/role players stepping up big

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Originally Posted by Tinman

Pelicans had 19 turnovers. Boogie had 7, NOT 12! AD had 5 .

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I saw it reported as 12. They must have meant it as both bigs combined. Checked the box score and saw they gave AD 5 TOs. Clearly it's wrong. Multiple turnovers accredited to AD should have been on Cousins. At least 2 off the top of my head when Cousins tried to Brett Favre the pass to AD and it was too high for him to control.

Either way, the point is, in NO WAY should anyone be calling for the coaching staff to be fired for putting Cousins on the bench. He had a terrible game and the team played better with a smaller lineup, especially with Miller and Moore going off.

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Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco

Was there ever much doubt?

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There is and remains a ton of doubt.

A.D. is the perfect efficiency master. He's made for analytics. But he has weaknesses in physicality and creativity and forcefulness. To a lesser degree he's behind the curve in developing a three point shot like seemingly every other top big has, but I'm old school enough to barely consider that a wart.

Cousins may be MORE talented. And by that I mean he can do more things. He can and does create for himself and others. He has guard perimeter skills. Might be the best center off the dribble ever. Obviously he's about the most physical player in the entire league. Forcefulness is not ever an issue. But Boogie's weaknesses are sloppiness related. He makes more things happen than A.D., but not all those things are good things. And of course mentally he's always in a battle with himself. If A.D. can be too passive, Cousins obviously can go the other way. He plays high risk high reward, Davis plays low risk high efficiency. When A.D. has a bad game, he softly disappears into the background. When Cousins has a bad game, it's like the man himself, he goes down wildly swinging and actively hurting you.

They are HOF talents with very different portfolios, and neither can do it alone. Together they cover everything. But right now this season there is little doubt that Cousins has been the straw that stirs the drink:

https://i.imgur.com/hjI77rf.png

In fact in the entire NBA the only guy having a larger positive impact for his team this year is James Harden. To whatever degree this thread implies anything different on a larger scale than 5 minutes last night, it's an eye test failure.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

I saw it reported as 12. They must have meant it as both bigs combined. Checked the box score and saw they gave AD 5 TOs. Clearly it's wrong. Multiple turnovers accredited to AD should have been on Cousins. At least 2 off the top of my head when Cousins tried to Brett Favre the pass to AD and it was too high for him to control.

Either way, the point is, in NO WAY should anyone be calling for the coaching staff to be fired for putting Cousins on the bench. He had a terrible game and the team played better with a smaller lineup, especially with Miller and Moore going off.

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22pts 16rebs 7ast on .670TS% isn't generally considered terrible.

And people forget it was when Cousins took over the defensive glass in the third that the Pels closed the gap down and made it a dogfight. He grabbed 7 defensive boards in about 10 minutes of action and the Hawks went cold and got nothing easy.

But obviously this was a game with a lot of warts -- for the last 3 games something has been so off with Cousins' reads and decisionmaking -- and by the time he came out in the 4th, he was pretty clearly gassed. There was a dangerous point at about the 3:30 mark when there was an obvious moment where you normally reinsert your guy, the Pels didn't and the Raptors instantly pounced and had it either tied or a 1pt game within a minute. If that had gone south, that would have been a giant stinky question mark. You can sit a star, but you HAVE to win if you do it. If you sit a star and then lose, the questions will be, and should be, intense. Luckily the Pels hung on and pulled it out, and just as importantly, Boogie seemed ok with it. Which again, you can probably only say if you hold on to win.