So when JR grabs 2 or 3 boards, it's solid, but when others grab the same amount it's putrid? I dont even know why you think JR's rebounding numbers are going to magically get better as the season goes on when he avgs around 3 boards for his career. I don't know where you got this notion that people look to JR for all those things. JR is a scorer. Plain and simple. If he happens to give you some boards and some soild passing, you'll take it and run. The reason Tim doesnt get playing time is because his defense is terrible and up until tonight he was struggling on offense. Not because he's not a good rebounder or passer.
No, he didnt' get us back in the game with timely buckets in the second half. He was 3 -10 in the third. He hit a couple shots in the fourth like the scoop layup near the end, but that doesnt erase that fact that he was terrible up until that point. His rebounding wasnt special. It was 6 boards. 6. STAT had more boards in almost half the time. Shump had the same amount in less minutes. Larkin, who it seems you're determined to throw under the bus, had 5 in less minutes. Acy had 6 in 14 minutes. Cole had 5 in 11 minutes. You're throwing guys like Early in there for some reason, but if they played the same amount of mins as Melo, he would've been on pace to have more boards than Melo. How is 6 boards in 39 mins special? Could Dalembert and Smith have had more boards? Sure, but you're acting like they could've just got them when they wanted and didnt. Monroe/Drummond/Smith are all great rebounders.
You really gonna act like Josh Smith being a clown jacking up bricks and Drummond being a terrible offensive player isn't the reason why they shot 36%?
. Melo was getting blown by by guys like Bulter. Was he the only one terrible on d? No. Like I said, everyone was bad. We're a bad defensive team so I dont know why you're bringing it up.
Yes he deserves heat. He set some guys up, but he was outscored by 4 teammates and he took more shots than any of them, and outside of Shump, all of them shot over 50%. I dont know how you can look at 5-21 and not
just because he had some assists. And no he wasn't driving to the basket and not getting calls. If that were the case, no one would have any issue with how he played tonight. Go look at his shot chart and show me where all the drives are.
Only reason Bron had that terrible ast/to total against us is because he was trying to show out with his passes. Even then, he had more points shooting a better percentage than Melo did tonight, and he did something Melo didnt tonight. Drive to the rim.
You can keep going on if you want , but tonight was on Melo imo. You obviously feel differently, but I'm on to the next one.
3 boards is solid for a guard. 0 to 1 board (Tim, Pablo) is not. 0 to 3 boards is not solid for a forward (Jason, Wear, and Early), nor a center who can't make up for it with his scoring (Sam), especially when that is needed against a certain team.
Swish has not been scoring much, but he still plays because he does more than that. He plays d, passes, and rebounds well. Stat doesn't even get many minutes because his d and passing is bad, even though he's a decent rebounder. You don't even want to know the passing disparity between Tim and Swish. You need willing passers in the Triangle, which Tim is not. So, like I said, Tim
did not fill Swish's shoes; not even close
Stat
should have had more boards than 'Melo because he's taller. 6 boards in 39 minutes is special because he went up against a big team. Those guys who had more boards were more special. That doesn't mean 'Melo's weren't. That said, 'Melo didn't have to be special on the boards. All he had to be was solid and he was and many other teammates were not. It's funny you talk about Larkin having a lot of boards who is the shortest guy on the team but then you cop pleas for Sam. It's also funny that you would accuse me of throwing Larkin under the bus for saying he was
one reason NY lost (not even the main reason) for his late turnovers and his minimal to lack of contribution in any other category than boarding, but what you're doing to 'Melo isn't throwing him under the bus when Larkin did more damage than 'Melo and never made up for it.
Apparently Butler wasn't blowing by 'Melo too much because Butler was 2-7. Jennings 2-9. Singler 0-1 in 13 minutes. So, no, it wasn't just Josh and Dre. If you don't play d, they will be efficient. They shot 44.7% as a team last season when they were at their worst. That is 0.3% less than being efficient. They are an improved team this season. They will be at least a little bit better later. Good d makes struggling teams struggle even more. NY did that last night.
He did go to the rack. He was cold-cocked on a reverse layup; every star gets that call. There was a play where 'Melo had perfect position, had Josh pinned down, and got no call. Headband gets knocked off, no call. James Harden is a jump-shooter with less than 18.8% of his attempts coming at the rim last year. He attempted 9 fts. 'Melo had 21.3% of his attempts coming at the rim last year. Durant is a jump-shooter with less than 24.5% of his attempts coming at the rim last year. He attempted 9.9 fts. 'Melo isn't just a jump-shooter. He is the best post player in the NBA. No, he didn't have "some" assists. He had
eight assists and he doesn't even dominate the ball. That was more assist than anyone on either team had, so you can go to the store with that trying to minimize everything he did and maximize everything everyone else did, just because they ball didn't go in for him last night. He contributed more than Jason and Jason had 17 efficient points (all of which came in the 1st half). 'Melo helped those 4 teammates outscore him. 'Melo
should have shot more than them because superstars are known to make a positive impact on the game if they keep shooting. Non-superstars are not. There's a reason superstars are the only ones with the green light to take 20 shots per game. You must think Iverson is trash huh? 'Melo got to the line 3 times less than his average, despite the fact that the refs were against NY like they always are and were determined to keep NY off the line and keep the Pistons on the line, proven by the fact that NY only got there 10 times.
Why are you copping pleas for Lj? Who cares about him? This discussion is about NY. I see, you're one of those. The one's who love to throw 'Melo under the bus because of your love affair with your Bron. Lj may have had more points and a better percentage but that's
one stat because the point total is meaningless if it's inefficient. Only
key buckets matter in that situation, which Lj had late (only 1), just like 'Melo did last night (and 'Melo had several). You claimed Lj put up better numbers and he didn't. He had less assists (and he dominates the ball; 'Melo doesn't), less boards, and never plays d. 'Melo did a good job on him as usual, just like Shump and Wear did. Apparently he wasn't driving to the basket too much because that's his game and he was putrid on offense even for a jump-shooter, which he is not. He gets the calls to do so and he only got 'Melo's average in trips to the line (7). And that's all he can do. He can't shoot. That's why he gets punked by guys half his size like Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, and J.J. Barea in the Finals.
That's why he got punked by Kawhi for 2 straight Finals series. Kawhi can't guard 'Melo. Bully Butler can't even guard 'Melo. And again, he even got punked by Shump.
And no, it wasn't on 'Melo. This is not a matter of "opinion". You made a truth-claim. It was on Swish. The main reason NY lost the game is that Swish behaved like an idiot. If you combine what 'Melo gave with anything Swish gives, do they still lose? Of course not. Do they get out-rebounded as badly? I highly doubt it. I missed most of the 1st half, but word on the street is that
no one could make a shot in the first half, except for Jason. The team was gassed and 'Melo played the whole 4th quarter the night before. They needed as many players as possible because they're running out like they did last season when only 4 players missed less than 16 games. Swish really messed up.
One thing on Lj I will say is that the loss wasn't
only his fault. Love played like trash too. Kyrie played very well. However, it was
mainly his fault because he had 8 to's, was inefficient while primarily being guarded individually by players smaller than he is, didn't drive to the hoop enough when that's his game and he has the favoritism to do so, played no d (as usual), didn't board well enough, held the ball too much (4 assist is nothing for a guy that dominates the ball as much as he does while having played huge minutes in that game), and most of his teammates were efficient. At least in the wizards loss Sam, Larkin, Cole, Swish, and Tim were all inefficient. More of all of their shots should have gone to Jason Smith.
. I would not shyt on my nikka Melo if it was not the truth
Stop wishing bad juju on us.
