No, I don't buy that Marion talk.
FBB is about matchups,and after Marion had an easy one in rd 1 with Profit, who knows defense only as a theroretical concept, he met Vlad, who is way underrated in that regard. I had him, I know him, he's just experienced, big and on occasions has some fine offense himself too. This isn't a choke job from Shawn, this is just a good opponent.
I just realized what HUGE size advantage the Hornets had.
Their starters are 7'6" - 7'5" - 6'9" - 6'10" - 6'7"
My starters are 6'9" - 6'10" - 6'5" - 6'7" - 5'10"
And it's not like these are crappy guys. No wonder I was lost on the boards and shot only 41%.
I just had the misconception that my depth would carry me to some upset games and that maybe this could turn the series into my favor. But in the end, the outcome was pretty much like the reg season, where i only won the one game when Livingston was injured.
Don't think I didn't go through all lineup options i had. But what shold I do? None of my guys can defend Yao, maybe Etan would have been better, but he scores and rebounds even less than Booz. Strait? Roof? Griffin? (tried and fouled out in 17 minutes).
So in the end I was hoping Matrix had 3 good (30ppg) games (in a long series), that one of Griff/Booz/Schabi would give me 25pt offense each game and Trump could outquick Livi for 15-20ppg. And that Lewis, Thomas, Strait and Julius would give me some extra offense from the bench. Force some TOs, play at least solid D and outhustle them to loose balls.
Well, what happened ...
Boozer did actually good on offense. 18/13 on 46% and 1.3 blocks. That's what I wanted. But of course, Yao with 39/14 on 57% exposed him on D.
Trump was sensational again, 18ppg, 9 apg, just 1.3 TO and 46%. even better on D where he held Livi to 9/12 on 34% (way down from 13ppg on 46% this season).
Matrix wasn't bad offensively either, getting 20/7 on 53% (55% from 3pt), but Vlad only gave him 13 shots a game (way less than Booz, Griff and Trump) and Marions defense was the downside, letting Vlad go for 16/7 on 54%. Schabi wasn't much better, giving Stromile 14/7 on 52%. Thanks so much, my "A" defenders ...
But what cost me the chance to steal some wins was Griffin, who was held to 14/9 on 32% and the bench, which averaged a paltry 14ppg on bad shooting. Hornets got 17ppg on 55% from his reserves. That's a huge difference !!!
Now I see that I was too much Paxson, playing it too conservative. Maybe a high pace could have lowered their % (but i'm not too good at fast pace myself) Maybe I should've put Marion to SF and top option, where he would have had an easier time against Stro, and let Schabinger deal with Vlad (which he did pretty well last season). Probably the best change I could have made, but Shawns historical SF/top option performances scared me away. Also Strait might have looked better than Griffin, but I still can't see him elevating me to take the series.
So let's try again next year, if Marion doesn't retire I have still some good 2 seasons left with this team.
