Huh? How did we lose that? I was looking at the scoreboard and went away for 10 minutes and everything changed.
1) Inability to execute against a zone defense
2) Ineffectual lineup that contributed to #1
3) Lack of substitution to address #1
4) Inability to secure key defensive rebound
5) Boneheaded defensive errors
There's more but that's the gist of it
Teams keep playing zone because they can't shoot - as a result the zone is very effective. Even when they make the right passes - which is about 50% of the time - chances are the shot gets missed.
Yep this. Have really noticed lately more and more teams playing zone against us just daring us to shoot given how awful we are at it.
In the 4th quarter vs Charlotte the other night, they made the right passes on 4 consecutive trips - and missed the shots every single time. All of the shots were wide open 3's. The thing is - half the time, the 3's they're taking are contested. It wouldn't shock me if they lead the NBA in contested 3's. They are just brutal right now.
They average 4.5 3-point attempts per game with a defender within 4 feet, and 30.2 attempts with a defender at least 4 feet away. Both of these are pretty middle of the pack, but the C’s take more than 6x more open 3s than contested ones, so your frustration at the misses is seeping into your observations.
To be honest, that's even worse. The fact that we can't even hit the open ones is just a fatal flaw in today's game.
And that really does pair well with the eye test. Tonight, especially early in the game, I thought their ball movement was pretty good, and they were making Portland's D look silly with all of the open shots they were getting. Yet they still couldn't get them knocked down.
Perhaps it really all does come down to primarily needing more shooting and playmaking. Realistically, I'm sure the guys would play more consistently and less tight if they were making more shots and not as futile in that regard.
Topic: Trailblazers (18-26) at Celtics (23-23) Game #47 1/21/22 (Read 44280 times)