12 of the 15 points from Cleveland can be directly linked to poor defense from Turner.
This is incredible that the great and genius coach of Stevens hasn't addressed that yet. His noobness is showing.
If you take Evan Turner out, you'd have to bench Smart, too (who is playing well) and bring on Thomas. So long as Smart is the point guard out there, Turner needs to be out there to provide secondary ball-handling.
Also, take Turner out early and then you have to play Crowder longer minutes, and you want to avoid playing him too much so he can have maximum energy to cover LeBron when he's out there.
I'd say Smart is fine as a secondary ballhandler, just not comfortable with him as the primary one yet.
Right, but if you put in Thomas now and keep Smart on, then you'll end up playing Pressey at some point (yuck), or you'll have Turner playing as the primary ballhandler at some point when Thomas and Smart are both sitting. That's double-yuck.
The time to experiment with lineups was the regular season. Shortening your rotation in the playoffs is good, but you've got to roll with the lineups that you've decided work best for you and keep your faith in them.
Topic: Cavaliers (2-0) at Celtics (0-2) Round 1 Game #3 4/23/15 (Read 111825 times)