Offense/Defense Our style of Play

[runrondo]

Now this recent slump in offense and lollygaging of it until tonight agaisnt the sixers made me think of a reason why...My quick solution to this was Doc but that's a weak one since it's too easy to pin it on the coach, it's the players that produce..So, do you think this new found energy and hustling on the defensive side is actually causing us to overthink and essentially play poor on offense(low energy, sluggish)..Let's look at it, we try the HARDEST on Defense, more than any other team in the NBA but i think that's why our offense is coming along slowly..Pierce, Ray, and even Garnett have never put so much effort on D and are having to adjust to being more tired for the offensive side..That's one thing i think i noticed and then tonight against the Sixers we played poor defense but had great offense..Then when the offense was warmed up it kept hot while we also brought up the D...Maybe we should enter games trying to get the cylinders for offense moving then later on turn on the defensive intensity


My next point is about our tempo..When are we most affective? Is it all out fast break like the Suns or our half-court offense..I personally believe our pace is in between..I don't wanna be like the Suns since it's too fast a pace but we will lose playing half-court offense to teams that are more experienced at it(have more of the mold of a roster for it)..We need a tempo that's ideally in between the two which is tough to establish because sometimes you can't stay consistent with it and end up playing too fast which leads to fatigue(what we did most games in the beginning of the year) which leads to slow and sluggish half-court offense..I believe we are the worst when we play slow down half-court offense..I think we should have our mind set on a little bit of a pushing tempo game but really focus on the moving without the ball, picks, energy on the offense..
Thoughts on the tempo? or focus on offense and defense?

[DERRENMATTS]

You know what? It could be our energy/intensity. Last night vs. the Sixers, we really turned up our focus and energy in the mid 4th quarter and ran away with the game. Up until that point, the Sixers were hanging around (though it was never a threat that they would win).

Has anyone else noticed KG's energy level has gone down?

[runrondo]

Yes, KG's energy level has come back down to earth...I think what we saw early on was a little too much of KG's intensity..If he played like that for most of the season he would be dead come playoff time..I'd rather he calm a bit down during the season(tho still turn on in the 4th when it matters) and then unleash it all in the playoffs..And Doc has been sitting KG more lately to get him some rest..I think our players finally realized it's a long season and we can't kill ourselves..That's given our bench a chance to produce more and they're starting too though we had trouble adjusting to the calmness of our actions and caught a few losses...

[Roadrunner]

I would like to see the team use different offensive, and defensive schemes. Using them same scheme, teams can better prepare for the team. Also, the team may find a scheme that is better than the existing.

[runrondo]

^Well, there's times where we become predictable in offense definitely but i don't think anyone has really stopped us..More of us just missing the shots..As the season progresses I'm sure we'll get more creative and free flowing with the offense..Plus the penetration Rondo brings spices up the offense a bit too...and if Perk has a 18-foot jumper like Tommy was saying Clifford Ray told him during the Knick's game then it'd be even more interesting..