That great start that year really screwed us. We started buying into the hype and Flip's (offensive) philosophy. After the All-Star break, there were warning signs all over the place. Losing the way they did might have humbled them, but then Ben left, and the discontentment with the Flip happened, and everything became a mess. Maybe LB didn't get enough credit.
I'm not talking only about points and teh shots that he (AI) takes. When he puts constant pressure on the defense with the threat of his drive, it opens it up for Tay and Stuck. I'm a big proponent of the drive and kick, drive and kick again offense. You gotta look a little deeper my lady, jus a lil deeeper. It's not just about scoring and shots, I look at the shots our TEAM gets when he's on the floor as well as when the shot gets taken relative to the shot clock. With AI the ball always will get swung weakside because he drives, kicks, the defense scrambles, and the ball gets swung. In the NBA, or heck B-Ball period, you win games when you can gett the ball moving from strong to weak side on a continual basis. Rip curling off screens always leaves the ball strong side, and for some reason that play now takes way too long to develop now. Believe me I'm aware of AI's flaws and EFF -UP's, no player is perfect, but I personally prefer how this team looks with a 3 guard rotation of AI, Stuck and AA as opposed to AI, Rip, and Stuck; even though we lose outside shooting that we desperately need and Rips on ball perimerter D is better than AI's (neither of them fight through screens off the ball), but no Rip means more AA, who has superior defense to Rip and obviously AI.
If it's opening so much up, why can't we score ? Rip wasn't on the floor in the 4th or OT. And even throughout our win streak we were constantly blowing leads b/c we went cold or had to have a miracle last second shot to win games against relatively bad teams. Offense was not a strong point during that win streak. I agree with what you're saying in theory, but in practice i don't see it. Teams aren't nearly as concerned with AI's potential drives, and seem to be quite adept at shutting off the paint in general against us. I remember the AI in PHI and it would be nice if he showed up more often.
Because the ball stops. Take a look tonight at how many times AI is on the week side at the 3 pt elbow and the ball comes to Tay and it either stops there or he puts it back to same side of the floor. That is a perfect spot to get AI the ball. He has a ready made lane to drive and the other team would have to scramble to defend that. If they could pull that off they might look like the teams they play against with many open and easy shots.
I'm going to watch for that. I know Tay has a problem with holding the ball in post-up situations, but i haven't seen an inability to reverse it. Then again maybe everybody does that so i haven't noticed.
He's just doing it to mess with my fantasy team. It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
...indeed. Jermaine O'Neal = moral compass Somebody email this link to Rip & AI to let them know that when you make team oriented gestures like this, they write nice articles about you.
I'd like to see our SB lineup get a shot at the Western Conference All-Star starters. CP3/ Stuck Kobe/ AI Amare/ Rip Duncan/ Prince Ming/ Sheed Pretty even I'd say. They might be a little bigger, but once Sheed drew Yao out to the 3-point line once Prince muscled TD out of the lane, we'd have a field day driving on Kobe and Amare. On defense, we could just do stuff and hope for the best.
Oh my God. I'm sitting here staring at those lineups and the longer i stare the easier it is envisioning how easily they would score on us.
