06-02-2024, 03:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-02-2024, 03:46 PM by KillerLeft.)
(06-02-2024, 03:38 PM)Smitty Wrote: I don’t think it matters much who is at the 5 offensively if DJJ or PJW are setting the ball screen and KP blitzes.
That's where we disagree. PJ and DJJ have both been far better offensively than I expected, but the few times they've looked silly have been when they've driven into congested paint (because a center was in the dunker spot) and either tried to force a shot up to draw a foul (DJJ) or tried an ill-fated pass to the center in the dunker spot (PJ's worst moment from Game 5 of the past series).
It's not finding multiple defenders in the paint as they get close that's the problem, it's that those defenders can easily be in the paint because there's a guy in the dunker spot. Luka and Kyrie can manipulate them into passing angles quickly and calmly, but PJ and DJJ cannot. Without a guy in both corners, that becomes a winning strategy for Boston pretty quickly, to my mind.
Moving forward, I expect PJ Washington to become a much more complete offensive weapon for this team. I think people will be shocked at how much improvement he shows as soon as next season. But in this series, I think they need to make those reads really easy.