Steal One -- MIN/POR

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Our bench had 5 fg's on 21 shots!

yep..our benchmade more FGs than Love

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

So in your opinion, markkbu, the starters were the reason we lost tonight. Is that correct?

[mjs34]

Our bench had 5 fg's on 21 shots!

yep..our benchmade more FGs than Love

And scored the same amount of points on 9 more shots while being out scored over 2 to 1 by Portlands bench !

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

So in your opinion, markkbu, the starters were the reason we lost tonight. Is that correct?

How are you so slow?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I am saying that we will not win ANY game where LOVE can only score 4 FGs.

[thedoper]

Just got back from the game. I will keep it short because it was really a repeat of all of my suspicions about this team. Our starters played really great for the most part. Our bench is horrible. The player I was least impressed with in person is Cunningham. I thought he was supposed to be a hustle guy, but he is one of the laziest players I have ever watched. My second disappointment was Bud. He is in the right spot but he is way to slow for the pro game. I think it is time for him to retire. I just don't think he is going to get any spring back in his step. For our starters. Ricky is a stud and gaining confidence. I am not worried about him in the least. The other thing I am convinced about is that Brewer is a 2. He could not handle Batum in any way tonight. He is skinny and gets pushed around. Martin surprised me on both ends of the court. He actually plays tough man d. But there is a fundamental problem with the way our team gets back. There is no urgency and it seems like they are giving up 10-20 points a game from just jogging back. It may be the athleticism issue Lip keeps bringing up, but to me it is just a basic hustle issue.

[thedoper]

Love was not great on offense tonight but he was definitely part of the success of the first unit. Both times our bench came in we went down 10. It was pretty simple math tonight. Their bench outscored ours 30something to 11. It was not even close. Plus our D gets even worse (if that is possible) when our bench is out there.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Just got back from the game. I will keep it short because it was really a repeat of all of my suspicions about this team. Our starters played really great for the most part. Our bench is horrible. The player I was least impressed with in person is Cunningham. I thought he was supposed to be a hustle guy, but he is one of the laziest players I have ever watched. My second disappointment was Bud. He is in the right spot but he is way to slow for the pro game. I think it is time for him to retire. I just don't think he is going to get any spring back in his step. For our starters. Ricky is a stud and gaining confidence. I am not worried about him in the least. The other thing I am convinced about is that Brewer is a 2. He could not handle Batum in any way tonight. He is skinny and gets pushed around. Martin surprised me on both ends of the court. He actually plays tough man d. But there is a fundamental problem with the way our team gets back. There is no urgency and it seems like they are giving up 10-20 points a game from just jogging back. It may be the athleticism issue Lip keeps bringing up, but to me it is just a basic hustle issue.

I'm glad you were able to see a competitive game, doper. I was really worried about a blowout, but our guys (well, our starters at least) played well and kept it close most of the game. I'm very impressed, especially since they were banged up and coming off a high octane game the night before.

I have to disagree with you about Corey's defense last night though. He got two quick fouls and was replaced 2 minutes into the game by Bud, who had no chance of staying with Batum. Batum had 11 points at halftime. But Corey completely took him out of the game in the second half, holding him to two points and not many shots. He frustrated Batum and made him completely irrelevant on offense. You're right that his lack of bulk sometimes causes him to get pushed around, but usually (like last night) he makes up for that with his quickness and hard work.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

It's games like this where we really need the bench to step up. They have been playing better lately, but last night they laid an egg.

The big takeaway here though is that our starting unit continues to outplay most other teams' starting units. Portland and Golden State have two of the best starting 5s in the NBA and our starters beat their starters on both nights. Which problem would you rather have? A broken starting lineup or a broken bench?

The Chicago game is a must-win now.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

So true, q. I'm very impressed that our starters outplayed two very good starting units on successive nights. Love didn't have his shot last night, but shined in all other aspects of the game (defense, rebounding and assists). Pek continued his exceptional play...no other NBA center can match him physically. And the resurgence of Martin and Rubio could put us on a good run.

The bench was flat out horrible though. I'm going to give JJ a pass on last night because he was clearly beat up from the night before, and that seemed to ripple through the whole unit. The bench better pick it up tomorrow against the Bulls.

[Papalrep]

Why the hell didn't Luc guard Batum instead of Corey? Too slow?