[Grades] Grades v. Sixers & Refs 1/2/2014
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
I voted the zebras and I almost never blame the refs for a loss. But this one...?
It was clear that the 76ers had zero shot of stopping Cousins and the refs basically tossed him out of the game with 2 ridiculous phantom calls. They decided then and there that they weren't going to let Cousins lead the Kings team to a win.
If he had committed fouls and it was one of those situations that they may-or-may-not call, then I'd understand. But those back-to-back calls cost us the game.
It was clear that the 76ers had zero shot of stopping Cousins and the refs basically tossed him out of the game with 2 ridiculous phantom calls. They decided then and there that they weren't going to let Cousins lead the Kings team to a win.
If he had committed fouls and it was one of those situations that they may-or-may-not call, then I'd understand. But those back-to-back calls cost us the game.
I agree on Kendall Marshall. I remember one time against the kings he put up like 10 ast while finding people left and right. I really thought he could actually quite be the PG of the Suns... but after trades and the draft, they just had way too many pgs on that team. I think he would thrive with us. He actually tore it against the D-League which is better talent than college.
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Malone really did a terrible in this game.
First, he should have called 49er-right-on-one. Substitute Gray for IT. JT lines up at left tackle; Gray as left guard, Rudy as center, Acy as right tackle, Cousins as quarterback in the shotgun. On "one", Gray pulls to the right and cleans Orton's clock; Acy chop blocks Hawes, Rudy hikes the ball to Cousins who finds any remaining Sixer and barrells into them going maximum speed.
Barring the above, if the team you face presses you, what should pop immediately into your mind as the response? ANSWER: Press THEM. The Sixers aren't exactly filled with a plethora of nifty ballhandlers. MCW had trouble with the Jimmers of college bring the ball up the floor; he certainly would have trouble with an NBA press.
Second. If the team you face is being very physical and getting the calls from the refs, what should you do? ANSWER: Make the game EVEN MORE physical. What happens when games get extremely physical? Even bad refs have an epiphany and say to themselves: Well, I guess I sorta have to get this game under control; I guess I better like have to call some fouls. Malone should have left Gray in the game, told him to lay some people out with screens and accidentally on purpose run into Hawes and Orton and whoever else came into his line of vision until he ran out of his six fouls.
Also, I'm sick and tired of Malone playing the Mother Teresa Cousin's protector role. Stop it! It's like a habit now: Cousins gets 2 fouls within the first 5 minutes; Malone keeps him out the rest of the half. Cousins gets a couple of more fouls; out goes Cousins; Malone doesn't bring him and the starters back until 5 Minutes left in the game?
Also, on Jimmer, this is what I heard from Kayte on the postgame. Jimmer gets hot. Makes a lot of shots; things are looking good; Jimmer misses one shot. What does Jimmer do then? He looks over to Malone on the bench with a face that said, "Sorry coach, I let you down." Ugh. From then on out Jimmer went downhill. Malone should have taken him out right there and then. You can't have that kind of attitude if you're out there trying to win the game.
First, he should have called 49er-right-on-one. Substitute Gray for IT. JT lines up at left tackle; Gray as left guard, Rudy as center, Acy as right tackle, Cousins as quarterback in the shotgun. On "one", Gray pulls to the right and cleans Orton's clock; Acy chop blocks Hawes, Rudy hikes the ball to Cousins who finds any remaining Sixer and barrells into them going maximum speed.
Barring the above, if the team you face presses you, what should pop immediately into your mind as the response? ANSWER: Press THEM. The Sixers aren't exactly filled with a plethora of nifty ballhandlers. MCW had trouble with the Jimmers of college bring the ball up the floor; he certainly would have trouble with an NBA press.
Second. If the team you face is being very physical and getting the calls from the refs, what should you do? ANSWER: Make the game EVEN MORE physical. What happens when games get extremely physical? Even bad refs have an epiphany and say to themselves: Well, I guess I sorta have to get this game under control; I guess I better like have to call some fouls. Malone should have left Gray in the game, told him to lay some people out with screens and accidentally on purpose run into Hawes and Orton and whoever else came into his line of vision until he ran out of his six fouls.
Also, I'm sick and tired of Malone playing the Mother Teresa Cousin's protector role. Stop it! It's like a habit now: Cousins gets 2 fouls within the first 5 minutes; Malone keeps him out the rest of the half. Cousins gets a couple of more fouls; out goes Cousins; Malone doesn't bring him and the starters back until 5 Minutes left in the game?
Also, on Jimmer, this is what I heard from Kayte on the postgame. Jimmer gets hot. Makes a lot of shots; things are looking good; Jimmer misses one shot. What does Jimmer do then? He looks over to Malone on the bench with a face that said, "Sorry coach, I let you down." Ugh. From then on out Jimmer went downhill. Malone should have taken him out right there and then. You can't have that kind of attitude if you're out there trying to win the game.
I have to think we were intentionally trying to show off some of our players for a possible trade (Andre Miller or other?). I can't think of another reason for Rudy being on the bench for that long. I mean.. as a coach you have Outlaw, Williams, Acy, and 2 ineffective SGs on the court at some point or another, and not once do you look at the bench and just see a star SF sitting there waiting to get back in? We aren't asking you to be a miracle worker coach Malone, just sensible and realistic!
The fact that defense was the culprit last night and that so many people can't see it is very discouraging.
The officiating was about as bad as we have seen this year. They did not control the game, and it could have become even more physical. They got a lot of collisions wrong, which is dangerous. But you can never blame the outcome of the game on the officiating. Bad officiating is part of the game at all levels, even the NBA.
The officiating was about as bad as we have seen this year. They did not control the game, and it could have become even more physical. They got a lot of collisions wrong, which is dangerous. But you can never blame the outcome of the game on the officiating. Bad officiating is part of the game at all levels, even the NBA.
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Malone's rotations in the second half are horrible. No way Gay (or Cousins, IT) should sit out half of the 4th Q. Malone gets fooled into his "energy" guys are playing well enough that he lets his starters rot until it's too late. Fortunately, most of the time Jimmer is so bad he doesn't get an extended run like last night. I still like Malone overall, but not liking some of his rotation choices in the second half of games.
That said, the sequence of fouls on the offensive/defensive end against Cousins was horrendous. I'm not a fan of conspiracies, because I agree with the sentiment that teams are more responsible for the outcome, and I always coach my team to not let the refs decide the outcome, BUT, Cousins sure looked like a targeted player last night.
Turnovers. 23 turnovers leading to 27 points. There's your ballgame. Demarcus led the team with 5, but I got the feeling that the Sixers took a page out of the Seahawks playbook, essentially hack away because the refs can't call *all* of the fouls. But the interesting culprits on the turnover front are Ben McLemore and JT. While at first glance, 2 TOs each may not seem like much, but when you are handling the ball as little as Ben and JT do, there's just no excuse for those TOs. Those are glaring to me as spots we absolutely need to upgrade because we are not getting anything there, either offensively or defensively.
The bench was pretty atrocious as well for most of the game, save for a hot streak in the fourth quarter. Outlaw and Thornton in particular stood out as being net negatives both offensively and defensively. Acy was terrible offensively, and tried defensively but he's not a rim protector.
Also, I thought Rudy was greatly underused. I didn't like the lineup that had Isaiah plus four bench players. That might work when you have Landry back who can score in the post, but until then you need to have either Rudy or Cousins in the game at all times to avoid becoming a jumpshot-only team. I thought Malone should have kept Rudy in the game with Isaiah for the entire first/third quarter so that there is some semblance of post play when Cousins goes to the bench. You can give Isaiah and Rudy a rest at the same time with Cousins out there alone surrounded by bench shooters to start the second/fourth, but either Rudy or Cousins needs to be in the game at all times. Your best player can be productive even with all benchers, but give your second best player offensive support with your third best player.
And yet, this is still a bad team. Every single player at least needs to be able to play one side of the ball. Today we got four guys who were nothing on either side of the ball. So while Rudy, Isaiah, Jimmer, and DWill got drubbed defensively pretty badly, at least they were giving you something on the other end. But when you have McLemore, Thornton, Outlaw and Acy who are giving you zero on either side of the ball, its just lost minutes and a guaranteed minus for that time. This team wont' be good until there is some serious housecleaning of the roster from all of the riffraff and players are brought in who can contribute defensively while taking few shots on offense.
The bench was pretty atrocious as well for most of the game, save for a hot streak in the fourth quarter. Outlaw and Thornton in particular stood out as being net negatives both offensively and defensively. Acy was terrible offensively, and tried defensively but he's not a rim protector.
Also, I thought Rudy was greatly underused. I didn't like the lineup that had Isaiah plus four bench players. That might work when you have Landry back who can score in the post, but until then you need to have either Rudy or Cousins in the game at all times to avoid becoming a jumpshot-only team. I thought Malone should have kept Rudy in the game with Isaiah for the entire first/third quarter so that there is some semblance of post play when Cousins goes to the bench. You can give Isaiah and Rudy a rest at the same time with Cousins out there alone surrounded by bench shooters to start the second/fourth, but either Rudy or Cousins needs to be in the game at all times. Your best player can be productive even with all benchers, but give your second best player offensive support with your third best player.
And yet, this is still a bad team. Every single player at least needs to be able to play one side of the ball. Today we got four guys who were nothing on either side of the ball. So while Rudy, Isaiah, Jimmer, and DWill got drubbed defensively pretty badly, at least they were giving you something on the other end. But when you have McLemore, Thornton, Outlaw and Acy who are giving you zero on either side of the ball, its just lost minutes and a guaranteed minus for that time. This team wont' be good until there is some serious housecleaning of the roster from all of the riffraff and players are brought in who can contribute defensively while taking few shots on offense.
