CoolBreeze's 2 Thngs I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[Coolbreeze44]

We talk all the time about our weaknesses and how we don't match up well with the elite teams in the league. Then we go put on a show like that and it makes you wonder. I really don't know what it means, but for one night we were as good as anybody in basketball. Remember this Laker team went into Houston and won earlier this week. I'm not saying beating the Lakers is any great feat, but our performance tonight was. Very, very impressive. So here is the streakbusting 2 + 1:

1) It's going to be tough being very convincing in this section of the report. But the obvious issue was the substitution, or lack of substitution pattern that had our starters dragging at the end of the 3rd quarter. Now, it all worked out fine because we played well at the beginning of the 4th quarter, but what if we hadn't? What if the Lakers had cut it to 6 or 8 and we would have had to play guys over 40 minutes to insure the win? That would have left us susceptible to injury and vastly reduced our energy level for tomorrow night. So I don't agree the way St. Rick played this tonight, but it's hard to argue with the end result.

2) The sad shadow of himself that has become Steve Nash. I don't want to remember him like this. It's hard to see one of the greatest players of all time stumbling around the Staples court, not being able to call on the skills that make him a hall of famer. When you think about it, this is how baseball players would look in their late 30's if they didn't juice up. Kudos to Steve for a great career, I just don't want to see him play like this anymore.

Plus 1 - Ricky Rubio with a virtuoso performance. That's the guy we would like to see every night. Completely in control of everything on both ends of the floor. I'm not sure what his best contribution was tonight. Was it his defense garnering 5 steals and making every possession a struggle for the Lakers? Was it his floor generalship picking up 14 assists and acting as the great maestro in directing everything at the offensive end? Or was it his tenacity fighting through picks and grabbing 10 rebounds? Tonight he was the most valuable player on highly impressive team. Glad he's on our side. And he will be one guy who will come with a lot of energy tomorrow on the 2nd night of back to backs. Bravo Ricky!!!!!

And that's CoolBreeze's 2 things I didn't like tonight Plus 1

[TAFKASP]

More rest would certainly have been better than less rest. But given they aren't leaving town and simply go back to the hotel to rest it isn't as big of a problem as it was after the NY game, going to the airport, flying to Ohio, then finally on to the hotel.

The stat line for the starting five is flat out amazing! If only a few of the bench players could find some consistency, and by that I mean not their currently consistent lousy play!

[kekgeek]

I saw a tweet tonight and I completely agree with it we are last years Pacers, have amazing starters but the bench is below average, I hope that changes once Bud comes back, but besides Barea, I don't trust anyone to put the ball in the hoop.

[worldK]

Tonight was a statement game by the wolves. You can tell that adelman and the starters wanted to win this one in a blowout.

Sp makes a good point in that we wont have to travel for this back to back games in la.

Pretty much agree with what you said cool.

On your point #1, Its obvious that the only bench players rick trust are jj and dante. That makes it only 7 guys that adelman has confidence in. Shved continues to be given chances but he has not figured out a way to be effective with his skills. Turiaf and bud would help a lot if both were healthy. They may not be 6th man material but they can at least play effective 10-15 mins a piece for adelman and give us a proper 9 man rotation.

[thedoper]

How Dante keeps rick's trust is beyond me. I think Derrick was basically held out as a precaution tonight. I am sure he'll get much more burn against the bigger Clips.

[worldK]

Doper, with regards to dante, rick knows what he is getting from him every game. He knows he will play hard. His jumper is a mess right now, but if he can get shoot the way he has he past 2 seasons then he will be solid as love's backup. Problem with him right now aside from his jumper is he is being used in a 3 man rotation with love and pek since turiaf got hurt.That forces him to play too much and reduce his effectiveness.

[mjs34]

Doper, with regards to dante, rick knows what he is getting from him every game. He knows he will play hard. His jumper is a mess right now, but if he can get shoot the way he has he past 2 seasons then he will be solid as love's backup. Problem with him right now aside from his jumper is he is being used in a 3 man rotation with love and pek since turiaf got hurt.That forces him to play too much and reduce his effectiveness.

Dante played 19 minutes! If he can't maintain for that amount of time, there is something wrong with him.

World if you mean Rick can expect an inefficient offensive player with mediocre defense, then I agree with you. Dante was inefficient last season and is worse so far this season. Playing hard is great, but not if you aren't playing on the same level as your opponent. I think Flip should be looking for a PF.

Cool, i agree with you completely on the substitutions. I can't believe we still had starters in the game with 5 minutes to go and a 24 pt lead. How many points could we possibly give up. He ran our guys into the ground tonight. They looked like they were ready to collapse half through the third during a timeout and we were up over 20.

The game being in LA tomorrow does help some, but we aren't playing the Cavs!

[worldK]

Doper, with regards to dante, rick knows what he is getting from him every game. He knows he will play hard. His jumper is a mess right now, but if he can get shoot the way he has he past 2 seasons then he will be solid as love's backup. Problem with him right now aside from his jumper is he is being used in a 3 man rotation with love and pek since turiaf got hurt.That forces him to play too much and reduce his effectiveness.

Dante played 19 minutes! If he can't maintain for that amount of time, there is something wrong with him.

World if you mean Rick can expect an inefficient offensive player with mediocre defense, then I agree with you. Dante was inefficient last season and is worse so far this season. Playing hard is great, but not if you aren't playing on the same level as your opponent. I think Flip should be looking for a PF.

Cool, i agree with you completely on the substitutions. I can't believe we still had starters in the game with 5 minutes to go and a 24 pt lead. How many points could we possibly give up. He ran our guys into the ground tonight. They looked like they were ready to collapse half through the third during a timeout and we were up over 20.

The game being in LA tomorrow does help some, but we aren't playing the Cavs!

Sjm, you and i have been into this dante discussion before, it used to include williams who is a non factor this season so far.

Ive said it before and il say it again,dante is a backup pf in this league. He is a 15min guy. He should not get starter mins or be part of a 3man rotation at the 4and5 spots
He struggled offensively this season so far. I still like his hussle andneffort and if he could get his shot back then he is a solid backup to kevin love.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Remember the discussion about whether or not Rubio is a max contract player? Yeah? Well, if he plays like this on most nights, he definitely is. No doubt about it. We should show some love to Pekovic, who hopefully just jumpstarted his 2013 campaign. 14 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast on slightly under 50% shooting while also limiting whoever his opponent was on defense (Gasol/Kaman/Hill). He's getting his body into game shape and that will likely get him back to the player we know him -- want him to be. Glad Rubio and Pek started getting in rhythm tonight.

[Yosimar]

The negative as has been said is how many minutes the starters had to play in what was basically a blowout the entire game, especially considering they have to play a very very good clippers team.

Hopefully they have their legs tomorrow.