re:Kedrick is tying Danny's hands

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

>>>>Finally, I'm going to give Obie a mulligan on the NO game, but I'd better
see a trend toward the style of the opening game tomorrow night, and not
toward the style we saw in NO. I know Josh was encouraged because it was a
close game, on the road, and the third game in four nights. True enough. 
<<<<<<<<

I agree with Josh there.  I think last years team loses that game by 20 
points.  Instead, we had stretches were we matched them shot, stretches were we 
made some stops and we were in it till the end.


>>>>But watching it was discouraging because they went back to last year's 
style of
trying to force it to Pierce, who then started forcing shots. There wasn't
much ball movement. They didn't recognize any mismatches. And the rotation
was shortened quite a bit with the emphasis on Blount and McCarty (Walter
looks as bad as he ever has right now). <<<<<<<

My thoughts exactly.  I've never been a huge O'Brien fan.  I think games like 
Saturday nights just magnify his lack of offensive ingenuity.  He's just 
so......vanilla.
Is there any question who was the better coach out there Saturday?  Floyd 
changed the tempo of the game with pressure on the ball.  Floyd dictated how the 
game would be played on the Hornets offenisive end by playing a three guard 
offense for a good portion of the game and we never tried to exploit it at the 
other end.  We never tried to force a change ourselves by just pouning it down 
low, play after play.  We had an advantage in height and numbers and never 
once used it.  Magloire was in early foul trouble and we never took advantage.
West, a rookie,  was playing Baker for a stretch and we never went at him.
Why?

>>>>But they have to find ways to handle this pressure. I was really
disappointed to see less and less of the high-low offense in the last two
games. They have big men perfectly suited to that attack, but a little
pressure on the ball seemingly took them out of that altogether. <<<<<<<


I don't understand why Raef and Vin aren't on the floor together more often.  
They would be perfect for the high low game.  I think O'Brien puts his 
lineups together with defense in mind, and I can understand that I suppose.  He 
thinks Baker/Blount and Battie/LaFrentz give the best combinations of offense and 
defense.  Still, it wouldn't hurt to mix things up a little bit.  Especially 
down the stretch when you need points.  


>>>And the way they were trying to force it to Pierce when he was being 
overplayed was
embarrassing. What about a down screen? Or using Pierce as the pick man on a
pick-and-roll? It's like Obie forgot Basketball 101. There are plenty of
ways to get a guy the ball when the defense is overplaying like that.<<<<

More of the same basic vanilla.  I think O'Brien called his number every 
single play down the stretch and the Hornets just weren't going to let that 
happen.  Forget the double teams on the sidelines 23 feet from the basket.  Forget 
all the over playing and denial.  How much time did we waste just trying to get 
him the ball?  Yet O'Brien made no changes.  I just find that mind-boggling.

If you want more proof as to how unimaginative O'Brien is, just look at the 
quotes from James about the last play against Memphis.
Get James the ball, clear out.  Let him go one on one and everyone else get 
to the baseline for a possible rebound.  Wow!  
Ok, so it worked, this time.  I give Mike James all the credit in the world.  
But you would think that we could have come up with something better than 
that for the last play of the game.  


TAM