The "advantages" of not having Roy are this 1. We run more. I don't mean we turn into the NY Warrior Suns, but like Doug Collins said last night, we run when we get the opportunity. With Roy, we seem to hold up a lot more, and not take advantage of the easy baskets as much. 2. The team seems to have much better ball and player movement without Roy. Brandon is a great player, but I think the team stands around too much when he is on the floor. Without him, they seem to cut, and pass a lot better. 3. We make the entire opponent play better defense, and not just one guy. This sort of goes back to point number 2, but without Roy, players like Batum and Miller look to score more.
Roy needs to take a look at our success without him in the lineup and see if he can synergistically merge those attributes with his skill set. If he can learn to get other players involved more and defer to teammates for longer stretches it could improve our offense while allowing Roy to spend more energy on defense. Hopefully Roy gets excited about the teams success and thinks about how he can add a little bit here and there to elevate the group. Some players start feeling sad that the team isn't completely depended on them to win.
I'm as excited as anyone about the win, but it's one fucking game. We'll need Bayless (or Rudy), Batum, and Miller to play like this every game, and I don't think they can. It's going to be a long series. I still think we'll win in 6 games, but Bayless, Batum, and Miller played about as well as they could, and we still only won by 5.
Aldridge hitting a few more open shots would make up for Miller not producing at this level. I think Batum and Bayless can keep it up. Bayless can play better...he had a nice sequence, but wasn't dominating all game long or anything.
Bayless concerns me the most. He can play better, but I'm not counting on him for 18 points on only 10 shots every night. Rudy is the one who needs to step up, considering that he's starting and that he has played in pressure-packed games in Europe and in the Olympics. Anything from Bayless is a bonus, IMO. I'll add to you post this: PHX won't get 17 offensive rebounds every game this series.
Right On. I think Roy needs to modify his game so he doesn't have to work so hard, were gonna need him for the long haul.
By my calculations we're now 9-9 without Roy. By my further calculations that would mean we have a better record with Roy. So I don't understand your comment. Are you saying Roy should figure out how to make us a .500 team? I don't like that idea.
