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2023-24 Season | Game #44 | Clippers @ Cavs | Jan. 29, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.

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Westbrook was successfully attacking Merrill when the Clippers had the ball and Merrill was unable to get off a 3-point shot. Like the Cavs' assistant coach said at the start of the second half, the Clippers have height at all positions and are switching everything, so they are very good at half-court defense.

JBB was smart not to use Merrill in the second half. The Clippers had scouted the Cavs and they weren't going to let Merrill get any open looks.
 
Wham with the Right Hand said:
Westbrook was successfully attacking Merrill when the Clippers had the ball and Merrill was unable to get off a 3-point shot. Like the Cavs' assistant coach said at the start of the second half, the Clippers have height at all positions and are switching everything, so they are very good at half-court defense.

JBB was smart not to use Merrill in the second half. The Clippers had scouted the Cavs and they weren't going to let Merrill get any open looks.
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Not many teams can do that
 
Did jbb have an epiphany or something? There’s even a thread on RealGM saying jbb is not as bad as we think in the general board, we all know I’m not the biggest jb supporter but man the offense has improved dramatically with ball movement while the defense is still the main focus and his rotations have been also been improved. Am I in a dream wtf is going on and I dig it!!!!
 
bleedwineandgold03 said:
Did jbb have an epiphany or something? There’s even a thread on RealGM saying jbb is not as bad as we think in the general board, we all know I’m not the biggest jb supporter but man the offense has improved dramatically with ball movement while the defense is still the main focus and his rotations have been also been improved. Am I in a dream wtf is going on and I dig it!!!!
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JBB himself said he was "old school" and reluctant to adjust to the new NBA. Everybody thought he sucked as a coach but in fact he was just stubborn, until injuries forced him to give in to the analytics, spread the floor with 3-point shooters, and give them the green light to fire often and early.

With Garland out he's using Mitchell and LeVert as point guards, which IMO is their best positions. Before the injury Mitchell was a shooting guard and LeVert a small forward or shooting guard. What I'm concerned about is that once Garland returns the effectiveness of both Mitchell and LeVert will diminish a bit and it will be a wash.
 
The Oi said:
JBB out here making adjustments…
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Not the adjustments we are going to need though. In the playoffs, guys are going to get their strengths schemed away. They are going to need to adjust so those guys can do their thing with wrinkles. Can't pull a guy or whole lineup and replace them as the solution everytime. These are the adjustments that he is going to need to make.

I also don't like LeVert being a point guard when the playoff defense starts. He can do it when they are running, but space cramps in the half court and he is turnover prone when there's less space. If they're not going to acclimate CPJ for post-season depth then we willl effectively have 1.5 point guards on the roster when DG gets back.

The Merrill situation was a good opportunity to see how you could get him open against long defenders. They need to start doing this stuff.
 
The Oi said:
JBB out here making adjustments…
Click to expand...

Not the adjustments we are going to need though. In the playoffs, guys are going to get their strengths schemed away. They are going to need to adjust so those guys can do their thing with wrinkles. Can't pull a guy or whole lineup and replace them as the solution everytime.

I also don't like LeVert being a point guard when the playoff defense starts. He can do it when they are running, but space cramps in the half court and he is turnover prone when there's less space. If they're not going to acclimate CPJ for post-season depth then we willl effectively have 1.5 point guards on the roster when DG gets back.

The Merrill situation was a good opportunity to see how you could get him open against long defenders. They need to start doing this stuff
 
Jscc said:
Not the adjustments we are going to need though. In the playoffs, guys are going to get their strengths schemed away. They are going to need to adjust so those guys can do their thing with wrinkles. Can't pull a guy or whole lineup and replace them as the solution everytime. These are the adjustments that he is going to need to make.

I also don't like LeVert being a point guard when the playoff defense starts. He can do it when they are running, but space cramps in the half court and he is turnover prone when there's less space. If they're not going to acclimate CPJ for post-season depth then we willl effectively have 1.5 point guards on the roster when DG gets back.

The Merrill situation was a good opportunity to see how you could get him open against long defenders. They need to start doing this stuff.
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One game.
 
The Oi said:
One game.
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Well you only have 4 games in the playoff before its too late, so yes you should try things quickly in the regular season. JBB made zero adjustment to get SM open and just benched him while the whole team struggled with shooting the 3 all game and we took a ton of them

Bad move and short sided. One that gives no confidence he will be able to make the moves quickly in playoff time
 
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