Peggy Po's
Nino had a career day 1-3 on baseline jumpers, but he cuts well, he positioned himself well for putbacks and he finished well at the rim. His defense was solid if unspectacular and because oscar had us switch on 4 out of 5 guys he even guarded the point at times without any complete breakdowns. I am still not backing down from my stance that he deserves more minutes and he should probably not be starting, but he did everything that could be asked of him and more. It is really striking how much better his understanding of the offense is and he plays with much more confidence and knows how to find his spots on the floor better than any of the other big men, and it led to easy points for him today. Great job Nino.
Sprads doing what must be done He got open and knocked down looks. Good. He had a few nice passes as well. 10 pt/g would be enormous the rest of the way if that is what he is going to bring. With Tay and Angel still out, he played about as well as he could. His distribution and ball security kept the game from spinning out of control when Shane and Omari were being idiots.
JO sparked the run with his defense. He was dominant on defense.
Shane spit hot fire is the swag for real? I hope so. Also, he gave me a dirty look when I yelled at Diaz to learn how to set a screen. Good job defending your teammate Shane, it forced me to be a better fan in the second half (also Diaz didn't play).
Playing passing lanes in transition! overall the defense was excellent.
Rod what can be said that hasn't already been said? His rebounding and ability to get curls/floaters in the lane is the key to our season. I feel confident about his shot, we just need him to be the best of the JYC.
Nancy Neg's
JO on offense is not getting good looks which is partially his fault, partially the offenses fault and partially player's fault. Players that are flashing to the free throw line never looked for a quick lob or feed to JO, he struggled to get enough time or space to post up and he spent way too much time setting screens too far from the bucket before scrambling to get back in the paint to rebound. When he got looks he was dangerous and I think it needs to be priority #1 to get him right offensively. We will absolutely need him Saturday to play as well as he did on defense and to get better looks offensively. His foul trouble involved two very soft foul calls, but that hurt a lot. With some more guard minutes, Nino and Shane could've helped carry the load, but Diaz was forced in to significant minutes because of foul trouble and that is something JO needs to work on.
Diaz cannot be trusted to correctly set a screen, defend or rebound
Lacksadaisical with the ball
We struggled against the zone again the only thing that ultimately saved us was some of our best all-around 3pt shooting of the year, and those looks were wide open. Granted we did not have Angel to dribble drive, but Shane's passing is usually an asset against the zone and it was not today.
The switching is going to be a problem with JO on the bench with him there to clean up it works and it is familiar. Without him, it was a disaster. Overall the defense continues to be an area of strength and I can't complain.
