I thought I heard one of the announcers say that was Ime's plan - might have been Grande as I was in the car for a bit last night.
Looking at the PBP, in the 1st quarter PP came in right after Kyrie left, with 3:23 left, he played the whole 3:23, Kyrie sat that whole time.
I think this is generally right. The model to follow being the Spurs.
Last night, according to the NBA matchups stats, Irving went 1-1 against PP but that was early in the 2Q. The only other person to shoot over PP was Dragic, and he was 0-2. One 3P early in the 2Q and one fadeaway after a drive early in the 4Q.
yep in the 2nd quarter Dragic missed a 3 over PP and Kyrie blew by PP for a layup on the first 2 possessions and Ime pulled him before the Nets' next possession. Then in the 4th, the Nets just never hunted the matchup. I'll check to see who else was on the floor in the 2nd, maybe it was a Drummond/Claxton thing, but PP played well, while at the same time the Nets (and Nash who has been really unimpressive this series) never tried to force mismatches.
I think this gets at the core of what the Nets are missing, namely a head coach with more gravitas than the star players. Kyrie and KD are trying to run everything thru themselves, instead of attacking what the defense is offering. Nash either can't or won't overrule his two stars.
There were long stretches of that game where they took away our toys and we took away theirs. The Celtics smothered Durant and Kyrie and shifted to Brown/Dragic, but they never adjusted back, as you accurately point out. By that time I think the Nets were getting frantic at having lost the lead to a Celtics team that did find a way to adjust back to their stars carrying the load. This was largely because Williams and Pritchard stepped up.
Some of that also is .....
I thought it was super funny when 8 Mile hit the step-back 3P over Bruce Brown after the broadcast had been talked about Brown's defense all half.
I really didn't get why he didn't play more. I get the theoretical concern that the Nets will pick on him, but it simply hasn't been happening, because Durant is too up in his own head.
I'd guess it's going for a quick change of pace and exploiting the PP matchup but sitting him before the Nets can adjust.
yep, also I'd guess part of it is, the Nets were really struggling on offense in terms of running anything. If you put in PP there is a clear attack angle available. Whether it works... who can say, but at least it makes it easy to decide how to attack, vs where they were with no real plan and a lot of confusion/trepidation
In game 1 they ran him off the floor very quickly.
haha, touché! I don’t think I was alone in those feelings gas of frustration, but thrilled to be witness to what this team has done the past few months, incredible! Sometimes, things just all come together and it’s a beautiful thing.
I feel like he’s the guy who other teams often have had who have burned us in the past: the scrappy, under-sized, under-estimated, over-achieving, (usually) white guard who comes in and drains threes and grabs boards that leave you saying “we’re getting beat by THIS twerp?!?”
2 more years of title runs after this -- I'm fine worrying about his contract later.
To be fair, Kemba and IT would be playing 40+ mpg. Easier to hide someone for 15-20.
Yeah, this is a case against relying on smurfs as key starters in general, as I'm sure you and PBS agree.
Pritchard was helped more than anyone by Tatum's emergence as an elite playmaker. No more need for PP to try and create advantages (he can't, in any case), and his spacing 4 feet behind the line really opens up some powerful Tatum+Brown lineups.
He's always been willing. During his stretch last year when he was getting time, he was fearless driving, was strong on the ball offensively, fought for rebounds, and was giving what appeared to be max effort and being physical on defense. Through coaching or whatever, his defensive "skill" has gotten closer to his effort. Successes on defense have gone up. He's not a lockdown defender, but I feel more confident that he might stop 2 or 3 of 5 than I did with Kemba.
He can’t create advantages? He did in Game 7, using the heavy Tatum coverage to his advantage. In the first two plays of this clip, he deftly got open for a three, and then drove and dished to AL with Giannis defending the rim, two huge plays as the Celtics overcame an early Bucks lead. He also used his step back to generate a big three later in the game. Pritchard is probably not going to be a guard that can consistently break down defenses on his own, but playing in the Tatum/Brown undertow, is a needed weapon.
He's less of a smurf anyway and probably a better shooter, at least from an accuracy stand point. He upped the volume a lot this year too, but who knows if it'd hold up over more minutes. I'd guess he's going to have a bigger role next year but looking at the line up, I don't really see how. Assuming health, anyway.
The bolded is what I mean. He is not going to initiate the offense and consistently force help or beat his man. He needs to play in the "Tatum/Brown undertow."
Maybe a bigger role just from being higher up in the rotation when guys inevitably miss time and play fewer minutes in the regular season.
I'm not sure the bolded is necessarily true, in that PP has probably the best "standing" handle on the team. What I mean by that is that I think he's the best player on the team (maybe other than JT) at creating space off the dribble for his step back, side step 3s and jumpers. That's not to say that he could do that consistently against the Jrue Hollidays of the world, but as noted, if he's playing with JT and JB and a 3rd defender is guarding him, I'm pretty confident that PP could consistently beat his man. It's academic for now, because on this team, we want him for 15-20 minutes to play exactly how he did yesterday.
I understood what you meant, and I agree. I may be a little more hopeful that Pritchard eventually figures out how to beat man coverage without the Tatum/Brown undertow, since he has a good handle and shot.
