I fell asleep on this game in the 3rd, but I just finished checking the box scores. I'm sure glad they calm down those 3 balls, it was the main thing killing this team. I see Gallo has wised up a bit and learned that he could take his shooting to the foul line instead of the parimeter, I don't know whats more funny thou, his drive to the hoop, or the fouls these other teams are willing to give him....at this point, I'll take em.
Fields and chandler is still consistant, Douggie's D is still strong, and Amare and Turiuf was dominating the paint. After smelling that familiar stench of yester years, I welcome the breath of fresh air. Over all our D still sucks, but if we can slack up on the 3's and play these guys to their strengths (more often) we can have some entertaining games. I'm still skiptical with this roster, mainly because of how its used...I see a bunch of players who are more skilled around the basket then away from it. I need to see more of this to determine if the coach and/or the players are a match for this city.
Gallo proved last night he can be an effective player when he uses his jumpshot as a threat as opposed to the main weapon. When he takes the ball to the hole, he seems to draw fouls. The long range jumper is a weapon in an arsenal for Gallo, not the entire game. Unfortunately he gets encouraged to employ only one weapon it seems like.
If he can continually take the ball to the hole, get teams in foul trouble (making teams go to their backup and third-string centers and power forwards), that opens up the offense a lot.
It's easy to hate Gallo. He hasn't been good and hasn't lived up to his promise and draft position. But it's nights like this where you realize, if this kid decides to actually attack the hoop he can be a deadly weapon.
We need to be smarter with the 3 ball, realize that the outside shot will always be there. We need to attack the basket and look for better shots. This is middle school-level basketball, fundamental. Get to the hoop, take high percentage shots. When we do that it opens up Amare, unquestionably our #1...if teams are collapsing on Gallo driving it prevents centers and powerforwards from sticking to Amare like glue...
For the love of God, take the ball to the hoop. When we played well in the Denver game, we crawled back into it, it's because we went to the hoop. That said, sometimes it looks like we can't buy a layup. Hate on Mike D, but we had plenty of open layups that we missed in the Houston games. This is 3rd grade basketball - hit your layups if you want to win. Mike D isn't out there missing open layups like we did over and over in the Houston game.