Am I the only one who remembers how poorly Ray played in the first series last year? In fact, he also played poorly in a couple of Cleveland and Detroit series games if I remember correctly. That is why I am not so sure he all of a sudden is going to turn it around Monday night.
Actually, Ray wasn't terrible against Atlanta. He shot 45%, and hit 50% of his threes (16-for-32) in the first five games.
Starting in Game 6, Ray went into a prolonged slump where he couldn't hit from deep; over the next 13 games, he went 9-for-51 on three pointers (17.6%).
Then, starting in Game 6 against Detroit, Ray picked it up again, shooting a blistering 30-for-56 on threes the rest of the way (53.6%).
Not once last season did Ray have a game that was as all-around terrible as yesterday's. It was a complete aberration, and I don't think people should be looking for a pattern.
maybe I'm too one-note in my analysis, but i think this also can be traced back to no KG.
we had so much trouble cutting off CHIs dribble penetration that it was kinda demoralizing.
The main message going into this game was to shut down the dribble penetration and they couldn't do it.
the human bowling ball, Ben Gordon, while not having a great night, was getting to his spots and to me Ray just looked frustrated all game long by it.
With no KG, adjusting to this is going to be difficult, but even with a slightly better job of cutting off Rose and Gordon (something we are capable of0, I think we can expect better production out of Ray offensively...
I mean, we're gonna see better production from him regardless, but i think better defense will be the real key...