Webster had the same problem. It's frustrating to see these guys with beautiful strokes not hitting their shots. Confidence is killer.
He has a beautiful stroke but it seems he doesn't get squared up all the way on a lot of his shots. And he needs a lot of practice finishing. then if his shot isn't falling, he can drive more. And rebound! No excuse for one rebound.
Given Batum's history, I understand the sentiment of this thread. However, we've played 2 games this season. At least he kept shooting tonight, judging by the boxscore. (had to work during the game) Let's give him a few weeks to keep being aggressive without killing the kid. Everyone has bad shooting nights.
I don't remember him getting that many good looks. A lot of his shots were runners coming off screens, fading away from long range etc.
I can think immediately of 3 3pt shots, 1 from the corner and two from FTline extended, two on Lillard dribble-drives. He was getting decent looks.
I hope this was just a rare thing. Not that I expected him to continue 26 points and 6 boards, but I'd much rather him be averaging 19 ppg by actually scoring 19 a game, instead of 26 one night, 3 the next, 24 the next, 23 the next, 11, 20 and then 34.
he was trying way to high a diffuclty of shots early on, not surprisingly missed them and it was all down hill after that. He needs to let his D and rebounding (like LA game) get him going, or be set up by the offense for some easier shots
that was later in the game when his confidence/rythym was shot after missing the early high difficulty shots he was attempting
I can somewhat live with a little inconsistency but his off nights need to be 10/4/2/1. Not 3/1. He has too much talent and skill to have nights like last night. New contract or not.
As i said above; i'm concerned about more than his shooting; he understands the problem: “This is the worst shooting night in my life ... and when I don’t have my shot, I stop playing. It’s my biggest weakness,’’ Batum said. My problem is that he has been playing professionally for 7 or 8 years now and he hasn't overcome this weakness.
He was guarding Kevin Durant, which is going to take a lot of work on the defensive end. And Durant was guarding him--KD is a long, athletic guy who matches up well on him. I'm hoping he turns this year from a guy who has 3 good games and 2 bad ones into one who has 4 good games and 1 bad one, and that this was the bad one.
