12-17-2022, 12:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-17-2022, 01:06 PM by DanSchwartzgan.)
I went back and re-watched sections of the game just now.
There is a five minute window (last 2.5 of the 1st and first 2.5 of the second) where Portland scored 2 points. This corresponds perfectly to Nurkic subbing out. As I said last night, Reggie and Frank were working hard. But, Wood had some big-boy rebounds during that stretch. In fact there wasn't a single Offensive Rebound by Portland during that five minutes of game time.
The Nurkic minutes in Q1 were positive against both Powell and Wood, but when Nurkic returned in the second he immediately had two turnovers and fouled Wood on the perimeter giving up a 3 point play. The momentum had already swung as those mistakes were the tail end of a 12-0 Dallas run. Wood immediately then went on a personal 6-0 run on three offensive possessions to open up a 16 point lead. The lead fell to 6 as Dallas went cold before Wood came out and Powell finished the half +3. For the first half, Wood was +0 against Nurkic and +11 against Eubanks.
Dallas bumps the lead by six to 15 against Nurkic before Powell goes out. Wood is +3 against Nurkic before Nurkic goes out four minutes into the second half with four fouls. Then Wood hangs a +7 on poor Eubanks as Billups called off the dogs. Final tally, Wood vs. Nurkic +3 and Wood vs. Eubanks +18.
I watched part of this again wanting to see if I could detect something that explains why the D played so much better with Wood in the game. It helped that he soaked up so many rebounds. It helped having two of DFS/Reggie/Frank on anytime Wood was in. It helped that Nurkic is fairly one dimensional (and Eubanks offered very little). The other thing I noticed was Luka. He was guarding Hart and any time Portland put Wood in the PnR and the guard got by him or hit Nurkic on the roll, Luka was there to help aggressively.
Unless Powell misses time and Wood starts, I suspect we'll spill significant ink debating whether Wood should start or not. Personally, I'd like to just see more of what we saw last night. I've always thought there was value to having Wood plunder the Drew Eubanks and Kevin Love's of the league. If Powell or someone like him can just hold their own for 16-20 minutes a game, we can make this work (though I think the Cleveland game taught us that Powell starting in the playoffs still won't work).
I'm not ready to predict Kidd moving Wood to the starting lineup yet (other than tonight maybe). You can keep two of Luka, SD and Wood on the floor at all times if Wood comes off the bench. That seems to be the most important thing. If Wood starts, you probably have to sit SD to be able to play two of them at all times. I'm not sure SD deserves to come off the bench any more than Wood. Yeah, you could bench THJ, but starting seems to have unlocked him. So, what to do? Since much of Wood's great recent play has come against Eubanks and Love, I'd probably leave well enough alone for now. With Maxi out, Kidd will get more chances to try Wood against starting bigs like he did against Nurkic last night without necessarily starting Wood. If it works, take the next step. With Maxi out, the most interesting thing to me is who finishes. Two games into this we haven't played a close game, so no idea based on those two games.
There is a five minute window (last 2.5 of the 1st and first 2.5 of the second) where Portland scored 2 points. This corresponds perfectly to Nurkic subbing out. As I said last night, Reggie and Frank were working hard. But, Wood had some big-boy rebounds during that stretch. In fact there wasn't a single Offensive Rebound by Portland during that five minutes of game time.
The Nurkic minutes in Q1 were positive against both Powell and Wood, but when Nurkic returned in the second he immediately had two turnovers and fouled Wood on the perimeter giving up a 3 point play. The momentum had already swung as those mistakes were the tail end of a 12-0 Dallas run. Wood immediately then went on a personal 6-0 run on three offensive possessions to open up a 16 point lead. The lead fell to 6 as Dallas went cold before Wood came out and Powell finished the half +3. For the first half, Wood was +0 against Nurkic and +11 against Eubanks.
Dallas bumps the lead by six to 15 against Nurkic before Powell goes out. Wood is +3 against Nurkic before Nurkic goes out four minutes into the second half with four fouls. Then Wood hangs a +7 on poor Eubanks as Billups called off the dogs. Final tally, Wood vs. Nurkic +3 and Wood vs. Eubanks +18.
I watched part of this again wanting to see if I could detect something that explains why the D played so much better with Wood in the game. It helped that he soaked up so many rebounds. It helped having two of DFS/Reggie/Frank on anytime Wood was in. It helped that Nurkic is fairly one dimensional (and Eubanks offered very little). The other thing I noticed was Luka. He was guarding Hart and any time Portland put Wood in the PnR and the guard got by him or hit Nurkic on the roll, Luka was there to help aggressively.
Unless Powell misses time and Wood starts, I suspect we'll spill significant ink debating whether Wood should start or not. Personally, I'd like to just see more of what we saw last night. I've always thought there was value to having Wood plunder the Drew Eubanks and Kevin Love's of the league. If Powell or someone like him can just hold their own for 16-20 minutes a game, we can make this work (though I think the Cleveland game taught us that Powell starting in the playoffs still won't work).
I'm not ready to predict Kidd moving Wood to the starting lineup yet (other than tonight maybe). You can keep two of Luka, SD and Wood on the floor at all times if Wood comes off the bench. That seems to be the most important thing. If Wood starts, you probably have to sit SD to be able to play two of them at all times. I'm not sure SD deserves to come off the bench any more than Wood. Yeah, you could bench THJ, but starting seems to have unlocked him. So, what to do? Since much of Wood's great recent play has come against Eubanks and Love, I'd probably leave well enough alone for now. With Maxi out, Kidd will get more chances to try Wood against starting bigs like he did against Nurkic last night without necessarily starting Wood. If it works, take the next step. With Maxi out, the most interesting thing to me is who finishes. Two games into this we haven't played a close game, so no idea based on those two games.
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