Let's hope Reggie Miller is right that they can build on this and reel off a 6 game win streak.
Why did we lose? Aside from not playing any defense (0 blocked shots)
Melo 4-18... (He did have 11 boards & 8 assists tho)
KP 2-9 (5 points and 4 boards)
6-23 from 3 (AA & Melo 1-5 each, KP 1-4... combined: 3-14)
Only NYK to play well was Lopez...
?I don?t think we offered any resistance in the first half, we didn?t play with any pride,?? Lopez said. ?I think there was some semblance of pride in the second half. You?re not supposed to win games when you beat yourself like that in the first half. All the scrambling and rallying in the last two quarters is negated. It?s fairly inexcusable. If we won, I would?ve loved to have gotten the win. But you?re kind of cheating yourself that way, I suppose.?
I give credit to DF for ripping these guys 1 at half... And adding:
?That?s the problem right there,?? Fisher said. ?Everybody thinks it?s supposed to come from somebody else other than what?s inside of the guy doing the job. They decided. It doesn?t matter what I said. As a player, you have to decide this means as much to you as anything else in life because it?s what you?ve chosen to do. They made the decision at halftime.??
AA and LG so bad in first half and down final 2 minutes... I'm not getting giddy about their scoring bursts... In the 3rd and 4th... After all, JAX, Johnson, Jennings finished with 54 & 12.
There's nothing to build on... As JVG says, easiest improvement a team can make on their trajectory out of the cellar is to go from a 17-win team to a .500 team...
Boston and Detroit just proved they WANT the playoffs more than us. You can debate and/or argue who has more talent... Bottom line: we had no business being on the court the last 2 games. We faced teams willing to bite, scratch, claw for a playoff spot... We just want one handed to us b/c we have shiny toys.
I'm not sure if it's age, the knees, the defensive attention, or fatigue... But 2.5 seasons is now enough: Melo isn't a closer... At best, he's a decoy. We had a 2-point lead with 2 to play and freaking Anthony Tolliver drains a 3... Melo had 0 points in the 4th?
I don't care that LG got hot... He isn't a PG. he never makes a pass to get somebody a basket... He had a guy in the air and easy was about to shoot 3 free throws... But he avoids contact to dribble forward, spin backwards, and chuck a long 2-point shot. I don't care it went in... That was dumb. Then, he lets Drummond shoot a layup... Wrap him up... He's the worst FT shooter in the league (and 3-9 tonight). LG lack of BBall instinct and IQ is appalling.
DF needs to be fired. He is such a bad in-game coach. How many possessions under 5 minutes did we allow DET to score when we could've easily fouled Drummond? We did it to DeAndre... Dude couldn't hit a FT in the 4th... Yet we don't play that card?
AA Wakes up finally in the 3rd... Then, with game on the line... Disappeared!
DET was 3.5 games ahead of us... And we come out and play like that in the first half?
6 under. Season is kaput. I'll be shocked if we win 35 games. I predict 33-49 final record.
Anyway... This is on all the players. For a bunch of losers to come out with this effort? Pathetic. Then, when game was there to be won... Melo was terrible (aside from the 3 or 4 assists he had).
And KP deserves blame too. This team desperately could use a 20+ point output from him... But his offense has disappeared.
Finally... How many 3 did we miss as soon as we go to within 5 (86-81)... We missed 4 alone when score was stuck there...
I'm not sure why refs gave DET 5 extra seconds on shot clock... But the Tolliver 3 and 2 JAX 3 were prayers... Still, LG failed to fight over screen and he should take a hit... You can't allow that.
Was DW hurt?
I think we all need to PRAY Phil blows this all up... Fire Fisher. Trade everybody. Our goal should be to trade Melo, dump Calderon, find a young player and procure a draft pick... Forget playoffs. It ain't happening.