in the "i hate sam" threads i never see the sam lovers in those threads defending him...
I've sort given up the fight. Much like I have with supporting Doc. It's tough to support someone after they've had a sucky game though (and they both have had some off performance this playoffs).
I used to throw an occasional douse attempt of "I LOVE DOC" against the flames, but I've given up the fight.
same here. i do my best to support doc and sam, but no one listens and these people are relentless in their pursuit of blaming people when it's not their fault.
I have been one of the biggest anti-Sam posters on here and still think that House could have performed the role that Sam is since he had been doing it for 60 games before Sam got here. That being said I have posted a couple of comments over the last couple of games praising some things he has done. He was solid in part of game one when we were struggling and hit some big shots. He was solid in the first half of this game and actually looked like he was interested in passing the ball. (maybe because KG was out there with him) He has however played 3-4 times the amount of bad minutes over the games he has been here than good ones. It really comes down to this. If he hits a few shots then the Sam supporters rave about him on here. If he misses them then the anti-Sam people rip him. The point is the guy is one dimensional and as long as he hits those shots then so be it. All I want is a championship.
I will point this one thought out though. Our offense is no where near where it was at the first of the year. We were clicking on all cylinders with the team we had. We moved the ball around the floor and got that extra pass in for the wide open shot because of us pushing the ball up the floor. That applied to both the first and second units. We only do that now though when Rondo is in the game. Sam walks the ball up and we lose 5-6 seconds a possession. This is that time for that extra pass. I am not saying that when he hits the shots we aren't successful. I am just saying that I loved our offense when we would push it up the floor and make 4-5 passes and get Ray a wide open 3, or KG a wide open jumper at the top, or PP would have an open lane to drive in. Sam doesn't give us that option as much.
It is just kind of sad that we messed with things because at stretches there where we had an amazing offense to go with this amazing defense we were unstoppable.
Just one small point.
This is just not true. Ever since the playoffs have started I watched Sam bring the ball up and he is 95% of the time at the top of the outer circle beginning the offense with 21 seconds left on the 24 second shot clock. Rondo on average is about the same.
Where Rondo gets things going over Sam is during turnovers or when the defense is lagging so Rondo beats them up the floor before they get set. Sam never does that. Even after a turnover Sam is usually in his half jog mode bringing the ball up and setting up the half court set rather than even attempting a fastbreak.
That does drive me insane because he is usually on the floor with Powe, Posey and either Ray or Pierce who are all excellent fastbreak finishers.
You have a lot of other good points especially about the offense being worse than the beginning of the year but I have to believe that part of that is the Eastern Conference style of defense that is played that is hindering the offense. If they were playing out west I think their offense would be flowing a lot better because those teams just don't D up like the Eastern Conference.
How is it that he can walk/half jog the ball up from the baseline in only 3 seconds?! If you were SPRINTING up the floor you'd have a tough time making it up the floor in 3 seconds. Go back and look after a made basket. He typically starts the offense with about 15-16 seconds on the clock, and if pressured sometimes down to 12-13 seconds. (I know you'll be counting this Saturday and thinking of this post as will I!) Rondo runs up the floor, and House usually passes it up the floor. Neither one of them is getting into the offense by 21 seconds. I think you're exaggerating a bit!
Another thought about your Eastern Conference explanation, is that 52 of the 82 games they played were against the eastern conference. 14 out of the 22 games he scored in double figures were against Eastern conference teams. Not exactly supporting your theory of him not being able to perform against the East's better defense.
Actually I was referring to the entire team's offense and specifically in the playoffs not at any other time. Sorry if I wasn't more clear but that is what I was talking about and it had nothing to do with who was running the offense. The offense as a whole, no matter who is on the floor, is just not running as well right now as it was earlier in the season and I was attributing part of that to the Eastern Conference playoff style.
As for your Sam getting the ball up and getting the offense going, I know what I see and I DVR every game and rewatch parts. Sam has the ball ready to start the offense at 21 seconds, maybe 20 seconds for the most part and he is not sprinting full speed. If you run a 4.8 fourty yard dash you can run endline to endline in about 3.3 seconds at a full sprint. Sam is usually getting the ball about 10-15 feet off one endline and starting the offense some 27-30 feet away from the other endline. If you're telling me Rondo, House, and Sam can't move 50-55 feet in 3 seconds then I counter that they probably don't deserve to be professional athletes.
Sam is starting the offense in the time I stated. He may not be making his first pass or move until another 7-10 seconds have passed. But you're incorrect about how quickly he gets the ball across halfcourt and starts the set. Also some of those sets, when he is playing with Ray Allen, are long developing sets because they are having Ray run his guy off multiple screens through the paint and Ray takes while to free himself from his defender going around the last pick.
Other times, its just Sam being Sam pounding the ball looking for his offense.
I will say this though. He's about 100 times better over the last two weeks than he was at any other time before that in getting the ball moving and looking for others and running good smooth sets.
That's absolutely insane. #1 people can't run as fast dribbling a basketball as a full out sprint. #2 they receive the ball facing the opposite basket and so it takes them a second to catch, turn, and begin to move up the floor. Then he doesn't even run up the floor. If he is walking the ball up the floor it will take him 7-8 seconds to get up and into the offense. Even YOU know that he isn't getting it to the other side's 3 pt line in 3 seconds. This 7-10 seconds waiting to pass the ball doesn't fly either. He doesn't go over and stand there at the top waiting to pass the ball that long. I think you need to rewind and watch it again...
I agree with nothing here, but that is okay.
Sam isn't always getting the ball given to him after a basket. Much of the time he receives an outlet pass while already being half way through the backcourt. Also he receives many balls almost 3/4s of the way out of the backcourt on inbound passes of side outs after offensive violations. And most PGs may face backwards to look for an inbounds pass but their bodies are already facing 90 degrees or more around in the direction they want to go thereby speeding up any delay of catching and turning 180 degrees in the other direction to run. Let's also remember that on at least one occasion per game and sometimes more Sam let's the ball bounce upcourt a ways before grabbing it and dribbling. Let's remember the 24 second shot clock doesn't start til he touches that ball. And lastly I said averaged a good amount(95%) of the time. Average.
Sorry EJ but between posts I did watch some of last night's game and Sam did indeed have the ball in the frontcourt calling a play with 20-21seconds left on the clock. Many, many many times. Sure some of those times he groundpounded the ball for a while but he did have it where I said he had it initiating the offense.
