Honestly I’m not trying to be a Frank Vogel apologist here & I think once again he deserves some blame for these losses.
But what is a coach supposed to do when players miss free throws, wide open shots & shots right at the rim? Yes he then is supposed to put people in who can do better, I present you with Ian Mahinmi & his glorious 0-6 from the field making Roy’s 30% from the field seem almost Moses Malone like.
We’re in trouble, there is just no other way to say it and I know nobody is going to want to hear this but in my mind it’s true.
The only way out of this is by getting our guys to start hitting some shots. Sounds easy doesn’t it, but this is akin right now to asking a parakeet to pilot the space shuttle.
There is going to be no trade that is going to be made to fix this, they are not going to fire the coach (yet but if the team quits on him they will) and while Danny Granger being healthy & returning would fix a lot of this well to paraphrase Rick Patino again “Danny Granger isn’t walking through that door”.
Our offense can be readjusted, tweaked or revamped and it will not matter if Roy Hibbert & David West are going to continuously miss either wide open or poorly defended shots within 10’ of the basket. If not a single guard or small forward can begin to come close to shooting a respectable field goal % from mid to long range on a nightly basis.
Again our defense is good enough normally although we aren’t getting as many turnovers as last season it seems and generally we do a decent job of rebounding (the Knicks today got to many offensive rebounds) but right now we are losing because we will have stretches where we will score 6 points in 10 min. or won’t hit a field goal for 5 min. or something.
Other than Tyler Hansbrough there is not a single player who night in and night out is bringing it & even then I would state that Tyler is just giving you what you always get out of him with slightly improved defensive skills so far this season.
I mean look I said at the forum party that I thought that the Knicks were going to be the second best team in the East this year & I changed that when I did my pre-season predictions but either way they are a very good team and Chandler did just win DPOY which a lot of people forget so he disrupts a lot of shots. Also honestly I thought the Pacers did ok through the first quarter but then they went on one of those streaks where they couldn’t score and then we never really close again.
Now if I have a fault with Frank it is this. He let’s runs go on to long before he takes a time out to break the momentum. He tends to let it run to double digits and by then he takes a timeout and usually it’s too late. But I understand he wants them to play through it however that is just not working right now.
I don’t like this anymore than anybody else but I think I have had to resign myself to knowing that the only thing that is going to change this is going to have to come from within & yes I understand that this may never occur & our season officially went to crap the day Danny Granger injured his knee.
Let’s do grades again shall we.
Paul George: B
At least he got to the free throw line and unlike other Pacers of recent actually hit his. I’m not impressed with his scoring today because I just never get happy when on occasion someone gets hot from three point land, to me that is fools gold. But I do acknowledge that I can’t be hypocritical either, he at least hit his shots for the most part from there so God knows we need any offense we can get. I think there is almost no hope of this guy ever being the type of player who can attack the basket drive it home & draw a foul so we’re just going to have to accept him for what he is. BTW, he did as well on Anthony as we could expect but he just wasn’t strong enough.
David West: B
Not exactly sure why we only went to him 10 times on offense but again today he missed a couple of the wide open variety so who knows what he would have done with more. He just could not guard Anthony at all, which is no shame as very few players can and a big lumbering four like David will have no chance at all. We really missed Danny’s defense today more than anything.
Roy Hibbert: F
Sorry Roy the 6 turnovers more than trumped the 2 blocked shots and 8 rebounds. Not to mention shooting 30% from the field again and being blocked by old man Camby is not really embarrassing until you realize that he came from behind to get that and Roy was not strong enough to put it through. It’s going to be a long winter folks
George Hill: D-
Love George normally but he just was not on his game today at all. Raymond Felton just did whatever he wanted to do & George did not provide any resistance at all.
Lance Stephenson: C
I’m giving Lance the benefit of the doubt here because he was home and this was his first time starting in the Garden & I think in the beginning he was pushing too much. Later I wanted to strangle him for being to unselfish. He drove the lane and had a decent look at a layup but dished it off to Roy who should have had an easier layup but instead threw it back to Lance who was under the basket who then threw it out to Paul for a three but was whistled dead because Roy was called for traveling. We blew at least two easy looks right there. Kidd is a crafty old veteran and yes he was playing some mind games with Lance and it worked.
Ian Mahinmi: F-
People keep telling me he is better than Lou and I keep wanting to believe them because of his size but then games like this occur and all I can say is maybe Lou wasn’t better but he certainly was a hell of a lot cheaper & he couldn’t have done any worse than this.
D.J. Augustin: F
Hick’s keeps calling him a walker & frankly right now I can’t think of anything that better describes him. Is there anybody any less interested than being on the court than he is? I know we can’t judge players just by body language but damn this guy just looks like he’d rather be back with the Bobcats (and comparing records right now who could blame him)
Sam Young: B
Hit your damn free throws and we could go a little higher. Other than that this is what you expected from Sam to start with and the fact that he is starting to hit from the field is a bonus. Solid defense but still God awful passing.
Gerald Green: C
Not a bad game, not a good game. Sadly though I have a feeling that this was not the description that management wanted when they signed him to that fat free agent contract.
I’m not going to grade the garbage time players you can assume that they each did what they had to do in garbage time.
Now before I go I want to address one thing with Augustin. He played 6:20 in a game where George Hill was actually stinking up the floor.
Is there now something between Augustin & Vogel or does Frank just see what the rest of us see & realize that he is a waste of space?
Off to Washington for what I fear may be one of the more embarrassing games of the year.
But what is a coach supposed to do when players miss free throws, wide open shots & shots right at the rim? Yes he then is supposed to put people in who can do better, I present you with Ian Mahinmi & his glorious 0-6 from the field making Roy’s 30% from the field seem almost Moses Malone like.
We’re in trouble, there is just no other way to say it and I know nobody is going to want to hear this but in my mind it’s true.
The only way out of this is by getting our guys to start hitting some shots. Sounds easy doesn’t it, but this is akin right now to asking a parakeet to pilot the space shuttle.
There is going to be no trade that is going to be made to fix this, they are not going to fire the coach (yet but if the team quits on him they will) and while Danny Granger being healthy & returning would fix a lot of this well to paraphrase Rick Patino again “Danny Granger isn’t walking through that door”.
Our offense can be readjusted, tweaked or revamped and it will not matter if Roy Hibbert & David West are going to continuously miss either wide open or poorly defended shots within 10’ of the basket. If not a single guard or small forward can begin to come close to shooting a respectable field goal % from mid to long range on a nightly basis.
Again our defense is good enough normally although we aren’t getting as many turnovers as last season it seems and generally we do a decent job of rebounding (the Knicks today got to many offensive rebounds) but right now we are losing because we will have stretches where we will score 6 points in 10 min. or won’t hit a field goal for 5 min. or something.
Other than Tyler Hansbrough there is not a single player who night in and night out is bringing it & even then I would state that Tyler is just giving you what you always get out of him with slightly improved defensive skills so far this season.
I mean look I said at the forum party that I thought that the Knicks were going to be the second best team in the East this year & I changed that when I did my pre-season predictions but either way they are a very good team and Chandler did just win DPOY which a lot of people forget so he disrupts a lot of shots. Also honestly I thought the Pacers did ok through the first quarter but then they went on one of those streaks where they couldn’t score and then we never really close again.
Now if I have a fault with Frank it is this. He let’s runs go on to long before he takes a time out to break the momentum. He tends to let it run to double digits and by then he takes a timeout and usually it’s too late. But I understand he wants them to play through it however that is just not working right now.
I don’t like this anymore than anybody else but I think I have had to resign myself to knowing that the only thing that is going to change this is going to have to come from within & yes I understand that this may never occur & our season officially went to crap the day Danny Granger injured his knee.
Let’s do grades again shall we.
Paul George: B
At least he got to the free throw line and unlike other Pacers of recent actually hit his. I’m not impressed with his scoring today because I just never get happy when on occasion someone gets hot from three point land, to me that is fools gold. But I do acknowledge that I can’t be hypocritical either, he at least hit his shots for the most part from there so God knows we need any offense we can get. I think there is almost no hope of this guy ever being the type of player who can attack the basket drive it home & draw a foul so we’re just going to have to accept him for what he is. BTW, he did as well on Anthony as we could expect but he just wasn’t strong enough.
David West: B
Not exactly sure why we only went to him 10 times on offense but again today he missed a couple of the wide open variety so who knows what he would have done with more. He just could not guard Anthony at all, which is no shame as very few players can and a big lumbering four like David will have no chance at all. We really missed Danny’s defense today more than anything.
Roy Hibbert: F
Sorry Roy the 6 turnovers more than trumped the 2 blocked shots and 8 rebounds. Not to mention shooting 30% from the field again and being blocked by old man Camby is not really embarrassing until you realize that he came from behind to get that and Roy was not strong enough to put it through. It’s going to be a long winter folks
George Hill: D-
Love George normally but he just was not on his game today at all. Raymond Felton just did whatever he wanted to do & George did not provide any resistance at all.
Lance Stephenson: C
I’m giving Lance the benefit of the doubt here because he was home and this was his first time starting in the Garden & I think in the beginning he was pushing too much. Later I wanted to strangle him for being to unselfish. He drove the lane and had a decent look at a layup but dished it off to Roy who should have had an easier layup but instead threw it back to Lance who was under the basket who then threw it out to Paul for a three but was whistled dead because Roy was called for traveling. We blew at least two easy looks right there. Kidd is a crafty old veteran and yes he was playing some mind games with Lance and it worked.
Ian Mahinmi: F-
People keep telling me he is better than Lou and I keep wanting to believe them because of his size but then games like this occur and all I can say is maybe Lou wasn’t better but he certainly was a hell of a lot cheaper & he couldn’t have done any worse than this.
D.J. Augustin: F
Hick’s keeps calling him a walker & frankly right now I can’t think of anything that better describes him. Is there anybody any less interested than being on the court than he is? I know we can’t judge players just by body language but damn this guy just looks like he’d rather be back with the Bobcats (and comparing records right now who could blame him)
Sam Young: B
Hit your damn free throws and we could go a little higher. Other than that this is what you expected from Sam to start with and the fact that he is starting to hit from the field is a bonus. Solid defense but still God awful passing.
Gerald Green: C
Not a bad game, not a good game. Sadly though I have a feeling that this was not the description that management wanted when they signed him to that fat free agent contract.
I’m not going to grade the garbage time players you can assume that they each did what they had to do in garbage time.
Now before I go I want to address one thing with Augustin. He played 6:20 in a game where George Hill was actually stinking up the floor.
Is there now something between Augustin & Vogel or does Frank just see what the rest of us see & realize that he is a waste of space?
Off to Washington for what I fear may be one of the more embarrassing games of the year.
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