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Points are not the only aspect of the game.Originally Posted by hornetsrebirth
Trey plays defense, and gives length and size. Graham doesn't.
Defenses pay attention to Trey, they're happy to concede Graham self-creation.
The impact Trey has on opening things up for other guys is therefore considerably larger than Graham's right now.
Basketball.
Right now, JAX is basically a non-factor with the starting group. I would consider starting Naji who is a better rim runner than Hayes (and probably a better rebounder). Then when I put Nance in, I put Hayes in with him.
Also, it goes without saying that Jose' should be first guard up.
Unit I would close the first and third quarter with....
JAXSON
Nance
TM3
BI
Alvarado
My point is not that Graham is better than Trey or Alvarado. My point is that he played 12 minutes, but people are making him the scapegoat for the outcome of this game. CJ played 40 minutes. Other guys played good minutes and didnt do much.
He's not a scapegoat. It's not his fault that they're exploiting him hard, and unlike CJ, Graham doesn't have the upside to make playing him worth it, nor the playmaking skills, nor the ability to warp a defense. Reputation matters, weirdly enough, and even if CJ is missing shots defenses will pay him more attention than they pay to Graham on an average night.
He's not the reason we lost. But he is a reason he lost, part of the reason, and the policy in Game 6 should be to minimise those potential reasons. As few weak spots as possible.
Mikal Bridges was a lockdown defender in Game 5. He held the Pelicans to 7 points on 3-of-17 shooting as the primary defender.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 27, 2022
In the series, New Orleans is shooting 36% from the floor and has turned the ball over 12 times when Bridges is defending. pic.twitter.com/EEMHJAafkw
I don’t understand why Ingram and other Pels keep trying to score on him instead of using a screen to get one of their ********ty defenders like Laundry Shamet on them instead?
I really hope we can add a veteran guard to facilitate the potential offensive juggernaut in the works for next year. We'll have BI, CJ, Zion, and JV who can all close with the best of them. Personally, I think we are asking CJ to do too much...he was never the lead guard in Portland.
I think Ricky Rubio would be just what this team needs to facilitate the offense. Whether he would start or not is irrelevant. As I think back to the Portland Sweep in '17-'18, I recall that Rajon Rondo 'stirred that drink' allowing for Jrue to go insane. He averaged 11.6 Assists per 36 that year...in the Portland Series, he averaged 13.3 APG. We'll never get that kind of production from CJ when he's asked to score too.
Devin Booker was reportedly yelling at the Pelicans bench “I’m back” as he walked off the court.
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) April 27, 2022
Game 6 return incoming for the Suns’ superstar?pic.twitter.com/hUwmokX1FW
Pretty soon to return from a hamstring injury no?
They predicted 2-3 weeks. So yeah it would be fairly soon.
That said, he's back? From how much time he spend stood on the court it felt like he never left.
Of course, no penalty was ever given for it despite it being a fairly clear instruction that players who are not currently checked into the game (or in the process of checking in) should remain on the bench, and as far as I'm aware Booker was never given coaching credentials, but whatever. Apparently that's fine now.
This is absolving way too much blame from CJ. He has a history of not playing up to par in the playoffs, you can check his stats since entering the league and it reflects that.
Hell, this series is reflecting that. If CJ played in the playoffs as well as he did in the regular season, right now we would be talking about game plans to defend Doncic and how to stop Brunson in the next round of playoffs.
Is he the only reason the Blazers didn?t have post season success? No. But they expected more from him with the contract they gave him as the 2nd highest paid player on the roster behind Lillard for most of Lillard?s prime.
Because they've been scoring on him all the other games outside of games 1 & 5, where they just shot awful no matter who was guarding. Pretty sure CJ tore him up game 2.
Also keep in mind he played the entire game last night. Which was a little odd for a 1st round series.
Phoenix just had more energy and treated this game like it was game 7.
Meanwhile Pelicans keep missing 4Q free throws and were lazy with the ball once again.
Young team vs veteran team on display.
Last edited by luckyman; 04-27-2022 at 08:06 AM.
The only real young guys are Herb, Murphy and Alvarado. Guys like Ingram, Graham, Nance Jr, McCollum, Valaciunas have all been in this league for a while now they gotta know better.
Which is confirmed by the fact that Trey has been in positive +/- every game except one, and that was Game 2 when Booker was on fire. He still only finished -1 in that game.
Graham, Nance, and McCollum just got here. Especially the Portland guys. Ingram's 1st time in the playoffs and he's been largely spectacular. Jonas has performed offensively when they feed him the ball.
So while games 3 and 5 were disappointing, they get a slight pass this year.
Booker was all over the court, chirping to the referees at the SKC for game 4. He's a superstar. They get treated differently. It was annoying to see, but ultimately inconsequential.
This would've been a great game to have Zion, we struggled with getting points in the paint and putting pressure on their Biggs getting them in foul trouble. We should play him if we are in a "all in mode, win now mode".
This would've been a great game to have Zion, we struggled with getting points in the paint and putting pressure on their Biggs getting them in foul trouble. We should play him if we are in a "all in mode, win now mode".
Should've been playing him since Game 3 imo
How Zion is not in game shape or healthy for just 10-15 minutes is mind boggling. Can 10-15 minutes really set him back? Just play him and use him for putbacks and drawing fouls
Last edited by SonOfNOLA; 04-27-2022 at 12:03 PM.
Zion drawing fouls off of offensive rebounds or from posting up wouldve made a huge difference since he gets a lot of FTAs and actually makes his FTs. That’s all the Pels need him to do for 12 or so minutes and there wouldn’t be big Suns leads
Ummm... Devin you were scoreless in the 3rd and your team was losing when you got hurt. Who cares if you're back...
That call on Herb was uhhh…. Interesting
Game 5 is over. Let’s refocus and win game 6. I’m not ready for the season to end.
It feels pretty safe that we will win game 6. No team really been able to impose their will on each other.
Yeah it’s been alternate back and forth.
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