The only way I know to make this point is through a true anecdote:
One of my coach buddies (whom I've mentioned in previous posts) is as big a Carolina guy as I am, and we sometimes text back and forth during games. Now, these texts are not frequent and usually are no longer than a few words, but anyway...
with 15:17 to go in the second half Joel Berry enters the game and we go on a scoring jag as y'all saw. With just under 10:00 to go we peak at a 9 point lead, but it looked like trouble was brewing so I compose a quick text that says:
"Roy needs to go small"
No sooner than I hit "send" my phone vibrates and whistles and I look down and I see a text that says:
"Roy needs to go small"
He had texted the exact same thing within milliseconds.
What we had both seen was that our Bigs were struggling to keep up on the defensive end amid the frenetic pace. Unfortunately 2 minutes later we still hadn't adjusted and now the game was tied, and then we actually went back to a bigger lineup. By the time Roy did go "small" at the 6:15 mark we were down 6 and the Big left in (Brice) was gassed.
The point is this: While we can gain some short-term advantages with our size in big lineups against a team like ND, in the long haul it's easier for them to guard us than for us to guard them. In other words, having one of our 4-men guarding a 6'5 3-point marksman is a problem over the long haul. As soon as they manage to a) spread us out and b) our Bigs get tired, it just won't end well.
Now obviously it doesn't help matters when the zebras constantly bailed out their drives with foul calls, while we can't get anything on our end.
A 32 to 7 FT advantage is a joke, the fouls at the end of the game notwithstanding. Granted, some of our fouls were reaches by out-of-position Bigs on help D, but many were just invented calls.
Even with that, it's usually not the drives that hurt as much as the guys they kick it out to. And that's where a lineup with 2 Bigs eventually can't keep up. (BTW: The three-guard lineup from the first half doesn't help because we still have 2 Bigs in)
Anyway, leaving out the skewed numbers from desperation time:
Paige alone (18:38) 1.6 PPM (8 TOs)
Berry/Paige (13:02) 2.4 PPM (4 TOs)
I'll leave it at that... and now I'm gonna forget about this one and go to bed.
This post was edited on 3/15 2:29 AM by gary-7
One of my coach buddies (whom I've mentioned in previous posts) is as big a Carolina guy as I am, and we sometimes text back and forth during games. Now, these texts are not frequent and usually are no longer than a few words, but anyway...
with 15:17 to go in the second half Joel Berry enters the game and we go on a scoring jag as y'all saw. With just under 10:00 to go we peak at a 9 point lead, but it looked like trouble was brewing so I compose a quick text that says:
"Roy needs to go small"
No sooner than I hit "send" my phone vibrates and whistles and I look down and I see a text that says:
"Roy needs to go small"
He had texted the exact same thing within milliseconds.
What we had both seen was that our Bigs were struggling to keep up on the defensive end amid the frenetic pace. Unfortunately 2 minutes later we still hadn't adjusted and now the game was tied, and then we actually went back to a bigger lineup. By the time Roy did go "small" at the 6:15 mark we were down 6 and the Big left in (Brice) was gassed.
The point is this: While we can gain some short-term advantages with our size in big lineups against a team like ND, in the long haul it's easier for them to guard us than for us to guard them. In other words, having one of our 4-men guarding a 6'5 3-point marksman is a problem over the long haul. As soon as they manage to a) spread us out and b) our Bigs get tired, it just won't end well.
Now obviously it doesn't help matters when the zebras constantly bailed out their drives with foul calls, while we can't get anything on our end.
A 32 to 7 FT advantage is a joke, the fouls at the end of the game notwithstanding. Granted, some of our fouls were reaches by out-of-position Bigs on help D, but many were just invented calls.
Even with that, it's usually not the drives that hurt as much as the guys they kick it out to. And that's where a lineup with 2 Bigs eventually can't keep up. (BTW: The three-guard lineup from the first half doesn't help because we still have 2 Bigs in)
Anyway, leaving out the skewed numbers from desperation time:
Paige alone (18:38) 1.6 PPM (8 TOs)
Berry/Paige (13:02) 2.4 PPM (4 TOs)
I'll leave it at that... and now I'm gonna forget about this one and go to bed.
This post was edited on 3/15 2:29 AM by gary-7
