I think we can all agree last night's offense was, for the majority, superb. It's what we imagined a Nets team with these players could do. There was much less ball holding, faster and crisper passes, drives for scores and kickouts, outlet passes and hard fast breaks, and hustle all over the court (devin, carter, and even RJ!). My question, is why last night? Was it because Frank adjusted his team's offense, and almost perfectly read through and prepared for Cleveland's offense/defense? Before today's game, he talked about players holding on the ball too long. Team defense was great last night. Was it because the players finally started giving a shit and playing to their abilities and strengths? It wasn't just being better on offense, but they were hustling out there, on defense and loose balls. It looked to me like Carter took defense seriously and was quite active. I wasn't really looking at RJ, but he had the job on Lebron, and that is never easy. Or was it because Cleveland was missing Big Z and Big Ben? In their place was flopping Andy and perimeter-oriented Joe Smith. I'd also like to add that if it's Frank, then the future looks bright. If it's the players, then we can only hope this is more than temporary effort. If it's Cleveland, then this game was an illusion just like the Milwaukee game.
I think it's a combination of all these things, but I'm not sure how we would have faired with Gibson, Z, and Wallace in it..
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (soul driver @ Mar 13 2008, 05:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think it's a combination of all these things, but I'm not sure how we would have faired with Gibson, Z, and Wallace in it..</div> And Pavlobitch... We're pretty good against shitty teams. That has to be a building block of some sorts.
I think our defense was the major reason. I think if Wallace were playing we would have seen more Nenad Krstic. He was on fire during the first quarter but didn't play much against Cleveland's small line up. With Big Ben in there we don't get the easy baskets inside, and rely on Krstic's midrange game even more. I still think we could have won, as Cleveland was absolutely horrible in defending the pick and pop.
The offense was really good the first quarter and alternately good, fair, or poor the rest of the game. There was definitely at least one tangible, tactical adjustment I saw for which Frank should receive credit: on high pick and rolls when the ball handler was predictably trapped, a second Net came cut from the baseline out to the high wing area while the screen setter continued to roll to the basket. Instead of the first pass going directly to the roller, it went to the high wing cutter, who made a quick second pass at a more favorable angle to the roller. This resulted in good interior scoring on several occasions and was a different wrinkle to the P/R than I've seen from this team (in recent memory, anyway.) In general, ball and player movement was more crisp, and crisper movement is crucial for getting "rhythm" shots. I thought most folks looked more comfortable shooting last night for that reason.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (kdub @ Mar 13 2008, 04:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think we can all agree last night's offense was, for the majority, superb. It's what we imagined a Nets team with these players could do. There was much less ball holding, faster and crisper passes, drives for scores and kickouts, outlet passes and hard fast breaks, and hustle all over the court (devin, carter, and even RJ!). My question, is why last night? Was it because Frank adjusted his team's offense, and almost perfectly read through and prepared for Cleveland's offense/defense? Before today's game, he talked about players holding on the ball too long. Team defense was great last night. Was it because the players finally started giving a shit and playing to their abilities and strengths? It wasn't just being better on offense, but they were hustling out there, on defense and loose balls. It looked to me like Carter took defense seriously and was quite active. I wasn't really looking at RJ, but he had the job on Lebron, and that is never easy. Or was it because Cleveland was missing Big Z and Big Ben? In their place was flopping Andy and perimeter-oriented Joe Smith. I'd also like to add that if it's Frank, then the future looks bright. If it's the players, then we can only hope this is more than temporary effort. If it's Cleveland, then this game was an illusion just like the Milwaukee game.</div> Also the players and coach are still adjusting to each other. Probably need at least 5-10 more games. Given that the Nets have undergone more changes than any other team, it is informative to listen to Steve Nash on Wednesday night state that it was still like training camp for the Suns, whose trade occurred earlier and involved fewer players.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 13 2008, 11:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The offense was really good the first quarter and alternately good, fair, or poor the rest of the game. There was definitely at least one tangible, tactical adjustment I saw for which Frank should receive credit: on high pick and rolls when the ball handler was predictably trapped, a second Net came cut from the baseline out to the high wing area while the screen setter continued to roll to the basket. Instead of the first pass going directly to the roller, it went to the high wing cutter, who made a quick second pass at a more favorable angle to the roller. This resulted in good interior scoring on several occasions and was a different wrinkle to the P/R than I've seen from this team (in recent memory, anyway.) In general, ball and player movement was more crisp, and crisper movement is crucial for getting "rhythm" shots. I thought most folks looked more comfortable shooting last night for that reason.</div> I agree, everyone but Vince took rhythm shots. Don't understand why he was forcing so many tough off-balance attempts. Also, in the 4th Marcus went into his old pound-the-ball mode.
