We have to play Shavlik Randolph

[tarheelsxxiii]

It sickens to me say that. I despise Duke. I don't trust someone that has spent time in China. But I'm watching the recent game against the Pistons, and he's doing work against Monroe and Drummond.

Someone else pointed out that we started getting killed on the boards in the second half last game. If NYK continues to crash, we're in bad shape. I think Shav not only gives us protecting against easy points from offensive rebounds, but could even space the floor a bit if he can score from the post as he's showing in this game. At the very least, he can't be much less successful than Bradley at spreading the floor, at this point...

Down with Duke. And China produces scrubs minus the dude on the Hawks that got kicked out of the league (purely because that's legendary, and he's the angriest man alive)... but I think it's worth giving him some minutes in game 2. I think it's almost necessary, honestly.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Have to add it's worth giving Terrence Williams minutes too, particularly over Terry. Someone mentioned giving Terry some minutes and, if he doesn't show he's locked in, yank him. That's probably the best strategy with him - he's as streaky as they come. But T Will can handle the ball, defend, and set up the offense better... as long as he isn't turning the ball over, I think he's a better option. Will obviously just take a lot of faith and cajones for Doc to make these decisions. I'm sure it's extremely difficult to give these guys time in the playoffs, being so new and probably not even knowing the offensive or defensive schemes very well yet... and I'm sure there are political factors involved too too. But just based on observation, these two seem as though they could help in this series and possibly contribute, perhaps more than others.

[indeedproceed]

"And it has come to this."

[lightspeed5]

can we at least activate more than 8 players? rockets and thunder had 13 players activated.

[bfrombleacher]

can we at least activate more than 8 players? rockets and thunder had 13 players activated.

Pretty sure they're activated.

Let's see what game to game adjustments Doc makes before hammering him.

[PhoSita]

"And it has come to this."

Yeah. 

Guys, hate to break it to you, but the dudes who were playing in China at the beginning of the season are not going to save our season.  If that's where we're at, we've already lost.

[ACF]

We're saving him for LeBron 

[NocturnalRebel]

This is more about Randolph helping with rebounding rather than him being tha savior of this team. He was brought in to help defend and rebound so why not play him? There's no way Raymond Felton should get to a rebound before whoever's in tha paint. Tha extra possessions for tha Knicks played a part in Saturdays loss.

So I agreee with tha OP on Randolph to help cut off ths offensive rebounding for tha Knicks.

[connor]

No we need to limit our turnovers. This game was extremely winnable but we quite literally threw it away with bad passes and some terrible 4th quarter shot selection.

If we had 6/7 less turnovers (what we averaged in the regular season) we would have that many more possessions to try and score and the Knicks would have 6/7 less trips down the court for easy bucket chances.

That game was entirely winnable, we just failed to execute. We don't need to shift our approach all that much and start relying on China castoffs to try and turn things around. We just have to play smarter and be more protective of the ball.

When Doc decides to bring Green's minutes down (which will have to happen) I think Wilcox (and then maybe Shav) can get some minutes down low and hopefully at the very least limit the Knicks 2nd chance opportunities, but I don't expect much past that.

[Snakehead]

I think Jordan Crawford and Shav have to be the first two off the bench.

"And it has come to this."

Yeah. 

Guys, hate to break it to you, but the dudes who were playing in China at the beginning of the season are not going to save our season.  If that's where we're at, we've already lost.

He's not being asked to do anything crazy, just play solid D and rebound.  Someone who played in China can do that, we've already seen Shav do it this season.  KMart is helping the Knicks out.  Who cares where he was before, he has the ability to produce.

[connor]

I think Jordan Crawford and Shav have to be the first two off the bench.

"And it has come to this."

Yeah. 

Guys, hate to break it to you, but the dudes who were playing in China at the beginning of the season are not going to save our season.  If that's where we're at, we've already lost.

He's not being asked to do anything crazy, just play solid D and rebound.  Someone who played in China can do that, we've already seen Shav do it this season.  KMart is helping the Knicks out.  Who cares where he was before, he has the ability to produce.

Shav's defense has been pretty suspect at times and his play really suffers due to his impressive ability to pick up fouls so quickly (admittedly some of them are rookie calls).

We didn't lose to the Knicks because we got killed on the boards, we actually had the same number of rebounds (they had 6 more offensive rebounds). We lost because our team was careless with the ball and turned it over too many times unnecessarily.

[chambers]

Doc should give him a shot but he's not suited necessarily for small ball type play.
I think he pick and roll defense is okay, but can he hold up against Felton and Chandler.
Lord knows what would happen if we had Crawford and Randolph trying to guard Martin and Prigioni or something, let alone Felton and Chandler.

Tough call. I think either Wilcox or Randolph will get some burn, as will T Will.

[Snakehead]

I think Jordan Crawford and Shav have to be the first two off the bench.

"And it has come to this."

Yeah. 

Guys, hate to break it to you, but the dudes who were playing in China at the beginning of the season are not going to save our season.  If that's where we're at, we've already lost.

He's not being asked to do anything crazy, just play solid D and rebound.  Someone who played in China can do that, we've already seen Shav do it this season.  KMart is helping the Knicks out.  Who cares where he was before, he has the ability to produce.

Shav's defense has been pretty suspect at times and his play really suffers due to his impressive ability to pick up fouls so quickly (admittedly some of them are rookie calls).

We didn't lose to the Knicks because we got killed on the boards, we actually had the same number of rebounds (they had 6 more offensive rebounds). We lost because our team was careless with the ball and turned it over too many times unnecessarily.

But then we could have outrebounded them perhaps.  It's not just about matching their output.

His defense is solid enough, definitely better than Wilcox.  And he can score inside some.  I'm not saying this is how I wanted the season to go, but I think Shav deserves some time.

[Clench123]

He's bad on defense though

[Bankshot]

I agree with the OP, play him.  We are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league.  It's just dumb to be that bad at rebounding and not play someone who can rebound.  He can score the ball a bit too.