<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mister Jennings:</div><div class="quote_post">Terrible, terrible coaching having Dunleavy bring the ball up by himself vs. Cassell.</div> Yep. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mister Jennings:</div><div class="quote_post">I hated seeing this quote: "We wanted to go early," coach Mike Montgomery said. "Baron just elected to hold and put us in an awkward situation."</div> Why did you want to go early, Monty? If you make your layup early, you leave say 6 or 7 seconds on the clock for the Clips to cruise down and torch the Warriors yet one more time? I understand the "what if we miss?" knee-jerk reaction, but you gotta take the final shot in that situation. So, IMO that's the wrong choice on your part, coach.
Actually I think the right move was to take an early shot. Different it was a tie game. It gives you too chances to win or at least get to overtime. And if you hold it to the last second you won't always get a good shot. They needed to make the shot it wasn't a freebie if the game were tied. In my opinion the more chances the better. I understand your worry that if they scored the clippers could have scored, but I think they can at least play good D for 6 seconds. What would you rather have them take a bad percentage shot at the last second? Which would mean they would have like a 20 percent of winning or something. Or to get a chance to take high unforced percentage shot, plus another shot if they missed? I think that drastically increases their chances to get to overtime or win the game. Like I said if the score were tied, you hold the ball to the very last second because the shot is a freebie.
Taking an early shot doesn't necessarily mean getting a high percentage shot, though of course I agree that what they didn't need was a "bad percentage shot at the last second." What they needed, IMO, was the final shot, and that could have been a decent percentage one. How? Playing for the last shot doesn't mean waiting until the last second on the clock and throwing up a hail-Mary buzzer-beater. It just means starting the play, that Monty called, with less time on the clock. You could run a pick-n-roll, a double-staggered screen, a drive-n-dish, or iso-play, or whatever, you don't have to start it at the last second, just start it at a time when, if the play develops as planned, you'll be shooting with 4-5 seconds on the clock and leaving say 2 or 3 at the most. If the play doesn't develop as planned, Baron can make that adjustment and go to the hole himself. It doesn't really matter, though. That was just one in a series of plays that demonstrated why the Warriors are not yet ready for the playoffs. I guess my biggest gripe is that Monty came out and said that his point guard just put the team in an awkward position by not following his plan. As if he had a golden idea that would secure the victory. Hey -- Monty -- your team was in an awkward position from the time your bench players started squandering that 19-point lead, bro.
