12-25-2022, 10:42 PM
(12-25-2022, 08:50 PM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Merry Christmas all!
Was late watching the game and even later reading the board. Was a little surprised no one mentioned the fact we played two bigs in the pivotal stretch to start the 3rd quarter. In the 6:45 stint with Powell and Wood playing together, we outscored the Lakers 27-11 (+16).
The Offense looked just fine obviously (the O-Rating for that 6:45 would equate to almost 190) and Wood wasn't required to stand in the corner the entire time. Amazingly an NBA coach was able to figure out ways to have Wood in the action up high while Powell was in the dunker's spot. Wood had a block, an assist (and a hockey assist) and hit two 3's. Powell had an assist (on a short roll), two buckets and 3 offensive rebounds. The two of them scored 10 points and their two assists accounted for six more on two made 3's. That is 60% of the offense that was generated during that time. Yeah, two bigs...including one who has no outside shot...not only played together in this +16 stint. They contributed to it in a significant way.
Oh, the D-Rating for that stint would equate to about 80.
Wood played really well...loved the passing (and I agree with FGump's observation about Wood contributing to the Houston game on a night he wasn't scoring). Nothing I'm writing here should be construed as a critique of Wood. It is an effort to point out that there is more than one way to skin a cat. By necessity Wood and Powell are going to have to cover most center minutes as a solo-big. But, there is room for this for a piece of games. I suspect this was probably Laker-specific today since they don't shoot 3's well. But, it absolutely didn't hurt at either end of the court. In fact, it was part of kick starting what was a pretty putrid offensive effort to that point.
I didn’t know the two big portion of the game lasted that long (I believe you), but I agree it wasn’t bad tonight. They have that option, of course, although less so right now with Kleber out I guess.
But for my money, the stints during which they spread the floor for Wood/Luka were magical, and have been consistently better recently than most of what they’ve tried this year. I don’t think it’s the ONLY way they can play offense, but I sure believe it’s the best.
I think it’s just Wood finally getting shots out there during important parts of these games that’s exciting us all, most likely. I halfway feel like the solo big minutes in the fourth quarter would have gone to Kleber, had he been healthy. Maybe I am wrong about that, but they were definitely games during the first two months where I thought Wood could have made a difference and was not given a chance. As you say, that debate is over, since Kleber isn’t coming back anytime soon. For better or worse, we are going to see a ton of Christian Wood now.