Game 3 was lost because of major deficiencies in coaching. Defending home court failed because of the Blazer's lack of what winning coaches consistently do. On the home court, coaches need to at least insist on foul calls that are consistent at both ends of the court. When phantom fouls against the Blazers are not countered by calls of the coaches to the refs to use consistent criteria against the Griz, the refs determine the outcome, as they did in Game 3. The proof is that Griz got 13 more points (39 vs 26) from FT than the Blazers. Blazers were called for 31 vs the Griz 22 fouls. In contrast to whistled-by-percentage phantom fouls against the Blazers, the wrestling, pushing, hitting so obviously taken by the Blazers at the other end were not called. And this was on the home court! Another deficit was the choice of players in the game, and who to go to for scoring. AA wanted to play, but did not deserve the 27 min. Based on ML success in Game 2 Quarter 1, if the coaches had played Myers for that 27 (instead of only 5!) min, and told him to take 16 instead of 0 shots, there could have been better scoring. Game 3 Quarter 2 might not have been lost 38-30. What ineffective defense! This was a coaching mistake like that in the Thunders game in which Myers had made the first 5 points and when the refs similarly called a phantom foul 2, they took him out. This is when the coaches should be objecting, defending the player, encouraging his defense, and leaving him in the game. The Griz have trouble with the tall 3 forward Blazer team, which seems to be the only chance for getting a win. LA started the game cold, and should not have shot the 6 early missed shots. ML is the highest percentage 3 point shooter, and should have been given some of these early shots. Coming up court and passing to LA on the left side has become too predictable, and is painful if he is in a cold stretch. Using multiple 3 point shooters to give the Griz multiple threats worked in Game 2 Quarter 1. If the coaches better defend against inconsistent ref calls and put the highest percentage shooters (and best defenders) on the floor to score, the game can be won. Let's count on better coaching on Monday.
I thought the fall calls were ridiculous but you also have to understand that there were 8 fouls called in the last minute and a half of the game against us (for a reason). Obviously that skews the numbers.
