So we're still only a handful of games into Rambis' run and the most promising sign so far is that the bench has had consecutive productive games for the first time in what feels like forever. Not just one guy, the entire bench is contributing. It's only two games, so no crazy or grand statements from me, but at least in these past two games I'd say that there's more aggression from the bench as a collective. D-Will came back from a DNP and attacked more than he settled, leading to less FGA's and more FTA's. Grant in the games he's gotten under Rambis has actually been taking the open looks he gets and he's always been our best slashing guard. He and KP really looked great as a tandem in that fourth. Lance got to the FT line like mad also, best game in a long while. Galloway even shooting poorly was a positive impact player, mainly through defensive pressure.
The starters really spread the wealth. Even with Melo shooting like crap again, everyone else picked up the team FG% with really great shot selection. Jose did his thing early and his defense was helped by Payton having no jumper whatsoever. AA had 12 rebounds and shot the threeball well. RoLo has been a presence for us consistently for a hot minute now. KP is scoring well again. Melo shot like crap but he had 19 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists...his passing is just on a higher level this year. The high pick and roll to end the half was the obvious play to point to, but there was also a baseline drive in that first half where he got Oladipo to commit too far and found AA for a wide open corner three...dribbling to create openings for others even when he's got a decent chance at an inside attack; that's an awesome wrinkle he's added this late in his career.
Rambis for his part did a nice job on rotations last night. He tossed Sasha out and hopefully Grant's good play will make that permanent but I'll wait and see. He kept one of RoLo/KP out there pretty much the entire game and he featured KP late which led to a nice run. He trusts the younger guys enough not to force Calderon into precarious situations where defense is most important. If this is his rotation going forward, I'll be good with that. He could have targeted Orlando's runs sooner with TO's because the defense was clearly getting lazy at times, but he did do it off of especially egregious plays at least...and I liked that he was animated about it. We gave up a fourth quarter alley-oop and he was on the floor before the whistle blew for the TO. He had a good one last night, but I'm skeptical until he plays Grant two games in a row, benches Sasha consistently and gives me confidence that he'll utilize those pick and rolls effectively.
Random: BJ's face at the end of the game was that "I was almost a Knick" ish, I swear. Elfrid Payton needs to drop the Basquiat look, it's hard to take him seriously with that hair. Hezonja looks legit, Gordon is gonna be good.