Post by DERRENMATTS on Nov 2, 2006 21:53:16 GMT -5
Watching the game for the second time has allowed me to see many things I did not see last night, due to the high emotions.
First of all, we missed a lot of open shots. Wally had a lot of good looks, but last night, he just wasn't able to connect. We win if some of our open shots go down. Also, our FT shooting was horrendous. I'm not sure what's going on with Pierce, but starting with last season, his free throw shooting has gone downhill. Not just his %, but also his mechanics and confidence.
Despite losing by just 4 (which is quite an accomplishment, being that we came back from double digit deficits a couple of occassions), we played well enough defensively and we rebounded the ball well enough to win the game. We held the Hornets to just 43% and we outrebounded them 52 - 46. But we just couldn't get into any kind of groove offensively, and it was a struggle the entire night. Defensively, we did not play a perfect game by any means. But we played defense well enough to put us in position to win the game. It was our lack of offense that killed us.
I'm hoping it was just a case of a rare off night, but Perkins, Delonte and Tony were non factors on the court. Delonte had a few defensive efforts that led to some fast break plays, but he was pretty much invisible. He needs to be a scoring presence since he is no longer in charge of running the team. He has little value giving us just 2 pts a game. Perkins just didn't seem to have energy or passion. IMO, he seemed upset at something. And Tony was just not playing with focus (he fumbled a couple of passes that led to turnovers). These 3 guys need to produce for us--they combined for just 7 pts, 11 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 8 turnovers. Without production from our role players, we'll see a lot more nights like this one.
Ryan Gomes needs to be used more offensively. His 20 footers are valuable and effective, but not used nearly enough. If you watch the Hornets, this is like their 1st and 2nd options. They run this play over and over for Chris Paul and David West and its effective. We need to give teams a different look on offense so they don't know what's coming. Teams know that Pierce and Wally can score, but when we start throwing Gomes and Delonte at them, they are at our mercy.
I was happy with Al's effort last night. He played with energy and he was sprinting hard down court. I liked the offensive putbacks he gave us. He was also more active with his own scoring, and he had Tyson Chandler confused. I think he can grow into this 6th man role.
Sebastian and Rajon need to play more freely, which means Doc needs to call less set plays. And they also need to look to score more often. Their ability to penetrate and score opens up plays for others, but they weren't doing it last night. Rajon helps push the tempo, offensively and defensively, and the ball flows better with him controlling the ball. I'd like to see him and Telfair used more often together.
A pet peeve of mine is our lack of using picks and screens. It is such a basic concept and is proven to be effective when you have playmaking PG's who know how to pass, but yet we don't use this.
I think some of our uncohesive play stems from the players not knowing each other well enough yet. They are going to need time to gel. But I see good things coming from this team, and this 1st game is no indication of how our team will play this season.
First of all, we missed a lot of open shots. Wally had a lot of good looks, but last night, he just wasn't able to connect. We win if some of our open shots go down. Also, our FT shooting was horrendous. I'm not sure what's going on with Pierce, but starting with last season, his free throw shooting has gone downhill. Not just his %, but also his mechanics and confidence.
Despite losing by just 4 (which is quite an accomplishment, being that we came back from double digit deficits a couple of occassions), we played well enough defensively and we rebounded the ball well enough to win the game. We held the Hornets to just 43% and we outrebounded them 52 - 46. But we just couldn't get into any kind of groove offensively, and it was a struggle the entire night. Defensively, we did not play a perfect game by any means. But we played defense well enough to put us in position to win the game. It was our lack of offense that killed us.
I'm hoping it was just a case of a rare off night, but Perkins, Delonte and Tony were non factors on the court. Delonte had a few defensive efforts that led to some fast break plays, but he was pretty much invisible. He needs to be a scoring presence since he is no longer in charge of running the team. He has little value giving us just 2 pts a game. Perkins just didn't seem to have energy or passion. IMO, he seemed upset at something. And Tony was just not playing with focus (he fumbled a couple of passes that led to turnovers). These 3 guys need to produce for us--they combined for just 7 pts, 11 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 8 turnovers. Without production from our role players, we'll see a lot more nights like this one.
Ryan Gomes needs to be used more offensively. His 20 footers are valuable and effective, but not used nearly enough. If you watch the Hornets, this is like their 1st and 2nd options. They run this play over and over for Chris Paul and David West and its effective. We need to give teams a different look on offense so they don't know what's coming. Teams know that Pierce and Wally can score, but when we start throwing Gomes and Delonte at them, they are at our mercy.
I was happy with Al's effort last night. He played with energy and he was sprinting hard down court. I liked the offensive putbacks he gave us. He was also more active with his own scoring, and he had Tyson Chandler confused. I think he can grow into this 6th man role.
Sebastian and Rajon need to play more freely, which means Doc needs to call less set plays. And they also need to look to score more often. Their ability to penetrate and score opens up plays for others, but they weren't doing it last night. Rajon helps push the tempo, offensively and defensively, and the ball flows better with him controlling the ball. I'd like to see him and Telfair used more often together.
A pet peeve of mine is our lack of using picks and screens. It is such a basic concept and is proven to be effective when you have playmaking PG's who know how to pass, but yet we don't use this.
I think some of our uncohesive play stems from the players not knowing each other well enough yet. They are going to need time to gel. But I see good things coming from this team, and this 1st game is no indication of how our team will play this season.