ADSENSE Link Ads 200 x 90
ADSENSE 336 x 280
Young v. old: The grindThe night after getting beat by the New Jersey Nets, the Mavericks showed their asses again against the Memphis Grizzles, 96-85. Adding injury to insult, the Mavs lost Dirk Nowitzki to "back" issues stemming from warm-ups. "Back" injuries are never, ever good.
Nonetheless, the Mavs probably lost worse without Nowitzki. The Mavs have lost three straight in pretty awful fashion: A no-show against the Lakers, getting school at home after the All-Star break against the bad Nets and squashed against division foe Memphis.
Why Dirk doesn't matter, to a point, is the defense in the lane. The Mavericks have been bad on transition defense, against good point guards and centers.
The last three games, centers have abused the Mavericks particularly Brendan Haywood, a low-impact, no-expectation guy, who when he does something good, we shit our pants and when he's terrible we get quiet. The man's play is indefensible.
The last three games, Marc Gasol, Andy Bynum and Brook Lopez averages:
31-52 FG - 17-19 FT - 26 PPG - 11 RPG - 3 APG - 1.6 BPG.
Haywood in those games:
14-24 FG - 4-8 FT - 10 PPG - 8 RPG - 1 APG - 1.4 BPG.
Night and day, friends. Haywood is terrible. He's not a top-tier center (not even an argument) and you don't win without a center at least in the top 15 in the league. Tyson Chandler was that type of guy and he is the missing cog in this machine.
Right now, you have a bunch of 30-somethings busting it offensively and defensively. Haywood does not alleviate anything. He's not a force in the lane on either end. What Nowitzki or the backcourt lack defensively, Haywood's feet-in-peanut-butter movement is not sealing the gaps.
Offensively, he's not good for a cheap alley-oop or put-back. He makes a basket, scores 10 points and we're ready to hoist his jersey to the rafters saying things like, "Man, if we can just get this type of play consistently from this guy!" or "If we could get just 50 percent of Haywood out of what we got tonight, we'll be set!"
Note: This is the same bullshit we said about Erick Dampier. And how quick did we want him out of here?
0 Response to "In the lane"
Posting Komentar