Yeah, Wilbon was going crazy last night over CP3's 11ast/1 TO. LeBron had to 1up his boy. :lebron:
The rotation was really interesting tonight, with Joel making an unplanned but necessary, albeit clumsy, cameo after UD's ineptitude. Further, no Cole. Odd against a team with two PGs who are the team's main motor. Cole may've gotten abused in the post by Dre Miller, but he probably could've done a better job keeping up with Lawson. I love having Mike in the rotation, and he showed his ancillary benefits with the quick pass to Ray for the 3 in the 2nd half, as well as grabbing more boards in his 16 mins (3), than Lewis, UD, and Joel grabbed in a combined 27 mins (ZERO), but I don't love it being at the cost of all of Cole's minutes this early. I don't see why it such an issue to go 10-deep, seeing as the best coach in the league uses a 10-man rotation (Joel/UD played the part of guy tonight, essentially).
:laugh: Ray led the bench with 5 boards, and was the only bench player with a block. BEASTING.
I think some (myself included) were being a bit too harsh on Dwyane. The FG% wasn't lovely, but 4 blocks, 2 steals, and only 1 TO to go with his 4 assists is a solid contribution on a night when Bosh got Jurassic on fools and LeBron teased us by being one board shy of a trip-dub. Dwyane enticed us to declare him back with his look and performance in that Detroit game, but realistically, you have to accept the likelihood of a 2-steps-forward-1-step-back kind of rhythm for the early parts of the season. He warned us of this, saying not to expect the best of him until later in the season. My biggest concern was shot selection and TO's, and he at least shored up the latter for this game.
The bigman rotation is still uneasy to me. Here's where a Moultrie or Ezeli, shit, even the athleticism of a PJIII, would theoretically help on the boards against teams with bouncy bigs. So it goes. I think Spo's going to experiment with it a ton, seeing if Joel can fit what we're trying to do once he gets some rhythm. He'll probably also see if Pitt's youth and girth, to go along with his Wilt-like game compared to Joel, can help. And, of course, Jorts should get an opportunity at some point.
Had a funny thought when I saw a tweet from Juwan's wife after the game. I'm sure somewhere in the AAA he was sitting in his suit, thinking to himself, "Man, I can stop this. This team needs me." Delusional-ass mother****er. :rofl: