Nice first half, terrible second half. Horrid defense and tons of missed shots. That won't cut it against a gritty team playing together.

You have to give Orlando credit, they are 11-13...look at their roster. Props to Jacque Vaughn.

Wow what a horrible game. They giftwrapped that win for the Magic. Hopefully they are done handing out Christmas presents and try to win some games here.

-Terrible games by Shved & Rubio. They were total nonfactors.

-Yo K-Love, your defense is embarrassing. It smells like stanky ball sweat. How do you let Faried go for 26 and then give up 28 to Big Baby on 13-17 shooting? I thought this dude was supposed to be the best PF in the league yet he gets outscored by everyone?

-I don't think anyone on the team actually played very well, besides CunningHAM and Pek whom had decent games, so there is really nothing else to say.

roundhouse wrote:
+1

Totally Agree.

BonK wrote:
He's a Popovich disciple... all ya need to know.

Our guards' play was the difference:
Barea 4-13 fg
Rubio 0-3 fg + 3 TOs
Shved 1-8 fg + 4TOs
Ridnour was the only one who played somewhat decently...

College Wolf wrote:
So is Mike Clown.

Barea's unnecessary hero-ball hurt chemistry more than you all think. Things were moving smoothly, then Barea starts driving 1 on 5 in half court and next thing you know Shved and Ricky are doing the same. There is a saying that goes like this: "Good basketball is contagious. Bad basketball is contagious." Shved and Derrick Williams are probably the most affected by how their teammates play. Both are terrific when the ball is moving well and can be brutal when things stagnate.

Love doesn't hustle. Physically Big Baby has no advantage on Love but he outworked the hell out of him. Let Adelman worry about the calls, you do your job and get your @$$ up the court.

Without Lee, we have no answer for a guy like Afflalo and Reddick (the quick rangy prototypical 2 guard). Kirilenko does awesome against the 3 guys, the 2/3 guys, and the 3/4 guys but was really ineffective against Afflalo last night. Likewise Shved could not bother Reddick.

The thing I saw when both games started to get away from us last night and Saturday was that the opposing team suddenly started playing very physical and the refs were letting it happen. Our guards don't know how to cope, and Love... well, you know. That is one of the situations where Roy thrives even when he was playing at 1/4 speed because he knows how to use his body on the perimeter to keep his man off the ball and gain leverage so he can get a decent shot off. I'm not sure anyone else on the team has that ability besides sometimes Love and sometimes Kirilenko. Shved and Rubio get handled for real.