nixluva wrote:You can't kill Mike about the last plays when you're PG isn't able to run the most basic of NBA plays. Also there were so many opportunities to get better shots and this team still doesn't have anyone other than Amar'e that we can depend on for end of game shots. This is where it hurts not to have Gallo. We can't spread the floor enough without him and teams are just taking Amar'e away. You can't run PnR without a spread floor, well you can, but you need a PG that is good in traffic. Felton can get his own but he doesn't have the court vision to find guys when he drives. At least not from what i've seen.

This team is so close to being REALLY good. I can't get too crazy, cuz they're playing very good BB. They should've won this game, but just don't have it all together yet. Give it some time guys cuz I didn't even think we'd be this good this early. Especially if you told me Gallo would be in a funk.

Clean wrote:Amare is just wasted talent until our PGs can learn how to actually pick and roll. We are not able to take advantage of his strength.

HALLELUJAH!!! This is what fans have to understand. His a bigman, you don't want him to have to create EVERYTHING for himself. You're freakin PG's are supposed to set him up so he can finish.

ramtour420 wrote:Felton needs to learn to look to dish even after commiting to driving it to the hole, Amare is still a much better finisher in the paint. It was hard to tell at which point exactly Amare became open on that last play of ours, down by 1, single posession game. The play where he cut into paint like a razor, only to be met by both aldridge and camby at the hoop. Thats when Amare became open. Once he starts passing it off to him, and others, in situations like that- he'll be an all-star. Think of it as a pick-and-roll that ends up with Felton penetrating until double team comes, then he'd be dishing it off to an open man in the paint. I really hope that last possesion for the win will get dissected and our pick and roll attack will get better.

EXCELLENT POST!!! This is what i've been saying. If you watch the plays, they would be successful if the PG would draw the defender and kick, but Felton didn't do that. He had Amar'e right there and didn't drop it off to him for the finish. Man until our PG's get better and recognizing when to hit Amar'e they're just wasting his ability to finish.

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:You can't kill Mike about the last plays when you're PG isn't able to run the most basic of NBA plays. Also there were so many opportunities to get better shots and this team still doesn't have anyone other than Amar'e that we can depend on for end of game shots. This is where it hurts not to have Gallo. We can't spread the floor enough without him and teams are just taking Amar'e away. You can't run PnR without a spread floor, well you can, but you need a PG that is good in traffic. Felton can get his own but he doesn't have the court vision to find guys when he drives. At least not from what i've seen.

This team is so close to being REALLY good. I can't get too crazy, cuz they're playing very good BB. They should've won this game, but just don't have it all together yet. Give it some time guys cuz I didn't even think we'd be this good this early. Especially if you told me Gallo would be in a funk.

I agree that the team seems close but I don't think you would blame D'Antoni for anything ever. If the offense is free wheeling and unstructured you need to have some plays set up for coming out of timeouts and you need to practice them.

I'm telling you that Mike knows how to draw up plays, but you need guys that can execute and know how to react when the defense stops the initial play. We haven't have a Guard with that kind of ability since he's been here and that's why you see things look so bad. The coach can only do so much. Players have to have good instincts and counters to what a defense does.

We've played 2 excellent defensive teams and they're gonna take away the initial play. Our guys aren't good at reading and reacting to what the defense does. That's not the coach. If you see how many open shots we get that we didn't hit then you can see that the plays work. This game shows how good teams are gonna play us this year. TAKE AWAY the PnR. We have to learn how to still get it even when they stop it initially. That's where back doors and cuts from other players come in.

We were up 9 and there's no reason that we should've lost except for bad offense.

islesfan wrote:

nixluva wrote:

OjilEye wrote:Stoudemire's handle is atrocious. I've seen way too many plays where he has been fed the ball on an isolation play and we haven't even been able to get a shot attempt off because he loses the handle.

Either learn how to pass out of the double-team or don't start with the ball at the top of the key!!! Christ, so this is Amare without Nash.

DUDE! Amar'e has GREAT handle for his size. He's not supposed to be to there creating his own shot play after play. If we had better PG play, not great, just freakin decent PnR, which is highschool level stuff, we'd see how great Amar'e really is. Plus we don't have our shooting yet. This means teams can cheat and pack it in on Amar'e.

Amar'e keep getting the ball with no advantage and then has to go against the whole team just to get his points. That's not how you use a player like him. Our PnR is all screwed up and it's our PG's fault.

Blaming this on Felton is bogus. He's not Steve Nash and he never will be so they can't live and die with the pick and roll. It wasn't working tonight and give credit to Portland for defending it well. It's up to the head coach to come up with ways to score when the offense gets stagnant. The last 2 plays were on D'Antoni for failing to do that.

When they showed the replay of our last "for the win" posession, you know the one where Felton drove and went against Aldrich AND Camby, you can see Amare by himself on the opposite side of the rim. It wasn't for long , not sure axactly how long, maybe only a second ot two. So they didn't defend PnR that well, they were sharp defending Felton's penetration, but Amare was open. I think Felton will pick it up soon. He seems like a driven guy.

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:You can't kill Mike about the last plays when you're PG isn't able to run the most basic of NBA plays. Also there were so many opportunities to get better shots and this team still doesn't have anyone other than Amar'e that we can depend on for end of game shots. This is where it hurts not to have Gallo. We can't spread the floor enough without him and teams are just taking Amar'e away. You can't run PnR without a spread floor, well you can, but you need a PG that is good in traffic. Felton can get his own but he doesn't have the court vision to find guys when he drives. At least not from what i've seen.

This team is so close to being REALLY good. I can't get too crazy, cuz they're playing very good BB. They should've won this game, but just don't have it all together yet. Give it some time guys cuz I didn't even think we'd be this good this early. Especially if you told me Gallo would be in a funk.

I agree that the team seems close but I don't think you would blame D'Antoni for anything ever. If the offense is free wheeling and unstructured you need to have some plays set up for coming out of timeouts and you need to practice them.

I'm telling you that Mike knows how to draw up plays, but you need guys that can execute and know how to react when the defense stops the initial play. We haven't have a Guard with that kind of ability since he's been here and that's why you see things look so bad. The coach can only do so much. Players have to have good instincts and counters to what a defense does.

We've played 2 excellent defensive teams and they're gonna take away the initial play. Our guys aren't good at reading and reacting to what the defense does. That's not the coach. If you see how many open shots we get that we didn't hit then you can see that the plays work. This game shows how good teams are gonna play us this year. TAKE AWAY the PnR. We have to learn how to still get it even when they stop it initially. That's where back doors and cuts from other players come in.

We were up 9 and there's no reason that we should've lost except for bad offense.

This is getting really old. He needs to do it in NY. You are almost saying that he can't do it without Nash which up to this point has been the case for the four years he has coached without him.

Let's take a step back here. Mike has this team playing GREAT defense and for the most part this team looks ready to play. They're pretty sharp on most aspects of the game, however, the most basic and prolific part of Mike's attack is the PnR. It's an easy and bread and butter play, but our PG's this year have been horrid at running it. They're doing most of the other things we need, such as pushing the ball, penetrating, hitting jumpers when open, but the PnR has been putrid and that's the main way that Amar'e kills other teams. So it's not about scapegoating Mike. You want him to go out on the court and run the play for his PG's? They should be able to do this!!! This is not about Nash. This is about what this team needs to do in the most basic form just to make the most use out of our best player. Everyone has their role. Gallo has to hit shots and Felton has to run PnR. It's that simple

holfresh wrote:It's kind of silly now that Chandler doesn't start...To rely on him to bring you back into games shouldn't be a plan...

gallo is killing us. imagine how we'd look if we could actually shoot. i'm gonna be patient. we gotta beat either orlando or chicago and then take the wizards to climb back to 3-3. love the defense. love the blocks.

i have to believe the team will get better as the season progresses. they are holding their own against vet teams that have been together for a few years competing at a high level. meanwhile, we've got 10 new guys and most of them are key pieces. reason for optimism in the wake of another brutal beat.

nixluva wrote:Not sure what you're saying here, but the use of Chan off the bench is a GREAT move. When we finally get Gallo going and the team is even more settled in, it's gonna workout great having Chan be the 6th man and free to play like he's doing.

Why not start Chandler, who is way more versatile than Gallinari, and bring Gallinari off the bench as an instant-offense shooter?

oohah