"Questionable" Bench Leads The Way

Although I ultimately settled with Lost, just watchin on the computer during commercial breaks. I’m gonna have to go back and re-watch the 2nd half

Yes, the officiating is usually bad, but tonight was especially bad. Two of Pierce’s first three fouls were total baloney. No wonder he got a T.

If you don’t give credit where credit is due – there are more than just “haters” debating on this board…Glen Davis has skill and is capable of having an impact on a game…i just want consistency before I upgrade his status as a prospect…good game tonight, looked smart in using the threat of a set shot to get to the rim – unlikely that he’ll cover 16 feet on two dribbles against a superior interior defense on a consistent basis, but he took what was there and made good decisions overall….

…especially nice counter, fall-away in the lane…great balance and touch – the best of Big Baby…using a one dribble side-step and step-up shot to avoid closing defenders will give him 3 ranges to attack off the elbow. I’d like to see him take a page out of Walker’s book and use a half-post, hip-bump to knock his defender back to create space for more 8-12 foot fall-aways too. As a finesse player with size, Davis should be looking to utilize both elements in unison more as his confidence grows…it’s early here though, this stuff doesn’t develop overnight. Should be fun to watch down the stretch, especially if the team sticks with its current bigs.

There were some encouraging signs from Powe as well – very stout perimeter defense from him tonight and he took 3 or 4 bull-rush post-ups from the Kings talented frontline and didn’t get moved or pick up cheap fouls – that hand-checking foul call was ludicrous, as was the hack by Hawes on the o-board. Mixed his shots up nicely and got within 6-7 feet of the hoop under control and in position for an easy bucket – missed dunk, uncontested hook, and a nice step-through to beat his primary defender – clearly been reviewing his game with group and taking advantage of PT.

The more we go along through this past 10 games, the more I like the idea of keeping the frontcourt as it is and focusing on finding a veteran PG who is better than Cassell. I think Sam would actually run the offense brilliantly over a sprint-length playoff run, but if the team can upgrade I think it would tie things together.

Pruitt has not been assertive enough with his play-making instincts, settling for too many jumpers. They are good shots, but its not helping anyone else. Transition is his play-making forum right now and I don’t see half court becoming his forte before the season ends.

With Eddie House exploding offensively at almost the identical time Doc chose to tweak the rotation, the bench looks substantially more effective – which was predictable and discussed during the team’s poor play. Moving Eddie off-ball has put him in the shooting zone and he is looking like a major microwave scorer right now – he’s had sustained seasons of this type of play from him, so im optimistic he may have found his groove…

I’d be nice to see Walker get a chance to practice with the Green team and get a crack at earning a spot in the rotation. With Scal playing so well and being able to play the 4/3 though, I think we’re going to see a lot of interesting frontcourt combination’s. It’d be tough for Walker to dislodge any of the frontcourt players at this point.

Good test games coming up. Detroit has pride and San Antonio has been going well. If we get through the upcoming long road trip we’re sailing with home games while Cleveland and LA have road heavy schedules…can get a lot of this accomplished before the trade deadline to, so the current team has great tests before management has to make any decisions.

…but he is pretty much the cardinal example of why I don’t get too excited about games like Davis has had recently…as always, i await a point of consistency where he can stay healthy and learn to adapt his game to multiple situations – I know there’s genius inside him, but I no longer believe he has the ability to fully master it – always easier for him when Ray, Eddie, and KG can space the floor for his drives though – good mixes for him as well with a more starter-heavy rotation…

Hehe, he’d make a great blogger

I think 3 factors have alot to do with the improvement of the bench. One is playing Scals, especially against bigger forwards. The second, and maybe the main reason is moving Eddie to his normal position and having him play with Ray or Rondo as the pg and even more of the starters, in other words mixing and matching starters with bench. My hope was for Pruitt to be the 2nd unit pg, but so far that hasn’t worked out. The third is the improved focus on defense from the bench players. With them now using Eddie in a different way, regardless of who the pg is, and the improvement in the bench’s defense I don’t see what Marbury could add to this team.