Encouraged by the play of Irving and Waiters.
Love the way Kyrie came out early and worked to set up the offense... but wanted to see a quicker tempo like we saw in the Sixers game. The pace was so slow that we saw 2-3 3 seconds calls, and some very dull Iso's in the first half that we didnt need to see.
I still would much rather see Dion be the primary ball handler/initiator as soon as he comes in the game, as opposed to Jack. Did not like seeing Clark given Bennett's minutes either. Bennett needs the minutes.
Was Dion wearing Kyrie's shoes? If so, that's a pretty awesome development.
Yes, thank you. When we get into that stagnant offense, our guards have to figure out how to replicate this. There has been games where the lack of ball movement, lack of good picks, lack of any 2 man game..... at those moments, our guards need to throw the switches and focus on the other parts of the game.
It's like the Frankenstein monster comes to life when the players start moving around swiftly, with a purpose and unselfishly sharing the rock after defensive stops. It was a beautiful thing, we just don't get to see enough of it. This is just young players learning it takes time, and sometimes our shots won't always be falling like they were tonight, which makes it all the more important that Bennett, Irving, Waiters doesn't sulk because their shot is not dropping. If Irving's shot is not falling, share the rock, draw the defense to you on the drive and make plays for others.
I have seen Kyrie go into that mode at points this season where he was deliberately forcing himself to pass the ball and make plays for others rather than keep trying to find his shot. Other times I have seen Dion really lock down on defense and take it personally, even when his shot isn't falling. Dion is also highly capable of driving and dishing to the right man.
Like Brown says, we have to remember that we can win games if our shots are not falling by doing all the other little things on the court. Set good picks, crash the boards, drive and dish, get random tap-backs on rebounds, double at the right moment.....
Once we figure out that we can re-route our focus to doing all the little things right until our jumpshots are falling again...... that will be the next progression of our youth and our team growing in a really positive direction.