I'm still not totally convinced, I would like to see him hold players accountable, do less politicking with the refs and more coaching, and realize that his rotations should be more fluid, right now they're set in stone and if a player is on fire and lighting it up...he gets his regular rest regardless. We started to give away a few leads at the Garden in the 4th because Melo was sitting on the bench with 25% of the team's points and about 90% of it's defensive hustle. Sometimes you gotta say "**** regular rest, go get 'em champ." Those leads will evaporate in an instant if he doesn't adjust to the game he's coaching in the playoffs.
And he absolutely has to reign the players in a little bit in the 4th. We don't want to use his system that's based on creating extra shots, late in the game...it just doesn't make sense. Early shots, late in the game, with a lead, will lose you a game more often than it'll win one. Too often we play with the lead in the 4th like we're trailing in the 2nd...it's ugly sometimes. Obviously the defense is picking up a little, but I'll reserve judgement on that one until I see what STAT does on Tuesday.
And I don't want to live or die by the 3 anymore. I just don't...those teams haven't won many championships and I'm not up for reinventing the wheel, bucking the trend, or any other cliche out there. I'm not saying that a chip can't be won like that....but let some other team try it.
I'm not hating on the man, but I'm also not gonna fall in love with his style because we won 7 in a row...we won 8 in a row earlier in the season...it doesn't mean anything. If wins and losses during the regular season were indicative of anything then the Cavs would have been back to back champs and the Mavs and Suns would be rocking championship banners as well. But how you win an lose those games speak louder than the box score.
Last night's win and the win vs Orlando were, in my opinion, the two most impressive in this winning streak. Yea I felt good leaving the Garden after the Cavs, Nets, and Raptors games with a W but at the same time Amar'e looked like defense was optional, MDA never got on him about it, and we gave up over 115 points in 2 of the 3, over 105 in all 3. Why is that good enough for us? Are we to not expect better? You don't have to be a defensive juggernaut to not give up 116 to the Nets and 118 to the Raptors.