Its obvious why we are losing...

Lets analyze the individual matchups for today

Earl Clark: 18 points, 9 rebounds, 8-17 FG
Dwight Howard : 15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Steve Nash : 15 points, 3-5 FG
Kobe Bryant : 26 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 11-19 FG

Haslem : 2 points, 5 rebounds
Bosh : 12 points, 11 rebounds
Chalmers : 13 points, 3 assists
Wade : 30 points, 12-18 FG

Now lets analyze one more

World Peace : 9 points, 0 rebounds, 3-11 FG
Lebron : 32 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 12-18 FG

We get absolutely destroyed in the SF matchup, usually on a nightly basis. I see no other glaring weakness in our lineup, we were even close in the bench points department. All 4 of those matchups are either a tie or a win for us, except the SF matchup. Look at the last game we had a good game for a whole 48 minutes against a tough opponent, against the Nets WITHOUT MWP.

Unless this team makes a trade for a SF, or Antoni wises up and stops putting MWP on good offensive players, this team isnt getting very far. If only we could somehow move Clark to the 3, I might even be in favor of putting Jamison at the 4 if thats what it takes.

I agree Metta is the problem....he need to go..

i honestly hope mwp gets traded.

Metta has definitely been useless. I still say we put meeks in the starting lineup and bench mwp.

no...we lost becouse we couldnt grab the rebound...
i agree we need to upgrade the sf position...but every game there is another problem...
its either pathetic d or ft or turnovers..today it were rebounds...

escobar8 wrote:no...we lost becouse we couldnt grab the rebound...
i agree we need to upgrade the sf position...but every game there is another problem...
its either pathetic d or ft or turnovers..today it were rebounds...

Even with the poor rebounding we can still win if MWP would just stay SOMEWHAT in front of Lebron. He basically just gave up a free pass to the rim every time. That was the worst defense ive seen anyone play in a while.

WHen you are minus 23 points at the SF position......pretty darn hard to win a game.

TheOp wrote:

escobar8 wrote:no...we lost becouse we couldnt grab the rebound...
i agree we need to upgrade the sf position...but every game there is another problem...
its either pathetic d or ft or turnovers..today it were rebounds...

Even with the poor rebounding we can still win if MWP would just stay SOMEWHAT in front of Lebron. He basically just gave up a free pass to the rim every time. That was the worst defense ive seen anyone play in a while.

agree 100%...i called him,for his idiotic D on lebron so far from the 3p line...

but for most season he was playing great...over all expectations,and we were still losing...

escobar8 wrote:

TheOp wrote:

escobar8 wrote:no...we lost becouse we couldnt grab the rebound...
i agree we need to upgrade the sf position...but every game there is another problem...
its either pathetic d or ft or turnovers..today it were rebounds...

Even with the poor rebounding we can still win if MWP would just stay SOMEWHAT in front of Lebron. He basically just gave up a free pass to the rim every time. That was the worst defense ive seen anyone play in a while.

agree 100%...i called him,for his idiotic D on lebron so far from the 3p line...

but for most season he was playing great...over all expectations,and we were still losing...

I agree with you.

It's not just Metta getting lit up. It's the team not rebounding today that did us in. We were outworked, simple as that.

Metta is a huge problem. However, I can't pin it all on him. Rebounding & turnovers played a major part in today's loss. Actually, if we would have been decent in those areas, we probably would have won this game despite Metta...

Wow it took you guys this long to figure this out?? what's sadder is it taking management even longer

any realistic trade scenario where we can get value for metta??

bench him, NOBODY is trading for him so live it and we have no major trading piece now that Pau is hurt unless we're still trading Howard?

dwighthowardsdad wrote:Metta is a huge problem. However, I can't pin it all on him. Rebounding & turnovers played a major part in today's loss. Actually, if we would have been decent in those areas, we probably would have won this game despite Metta...

this is what I mentioned in Metta thread, we are not good enough to make up for Metta horrible play on a consistent basis.

He has played like TRASH.

We lost today because in the beginning of the 4th quarter we didn't know how to throw an entry pass. We're in the game until we started throwing the ball away. What LBJ did to Metta, he does to EVERYONE.

I think we should've gone with Meeks on Wade & Kobe on Lebron to finish the game, even if Meeks cant defend at least he can be counted on for 3 pointers & spacing for Kobe

mwp no longer a premiere defender . can t defend the likes of james,durant or anthony anymore and on offense he is useless jacking up stupid shots making dumb decissions . he is done in my eyes . i hope i am not correct but i guess he realy is done as a good basketball player

Batum would be so good for this team, so good. Plays D, hits the 3, is young & athletic, and makes good plays for others.
But he's a pipe dream.

We just need a SF that can shoot and knows his role. Battier would've been awesome, a while ago I suggested I'd take him over MWP (at the time, the level of appreciation of their respective games was similar), and time has only reinforced that conviction.


Jeff Green would fit in too. He plays pretty well, athletic, rebounds, can shoot it from 3.. He played LeBron just about as good as anybody in their last meeting (Celtics won).
Boston needs a big.. Pau for Green and Terry? They wouldn't do that, right?

world peace of trash was done 2 years ago....

Ron is playing like trash, but I'd say turnovers have been a bigger problem all year. Today, lack of rebounding, along with turnovers.

Finwë wrote:Batum would be so good for this team, so good. Plays D, hits the 3, is young & athletic, and makes good plays for others.
But he's a pipe dream.

We just need a SF that can shoot and knows his role. Battier would've been awesome, a while ago I suggested I'd take him over MWP (at the time, the level of appreciation of their respective games was similar), and time has only reinforced that conviction.


Jeff Green would fit in too. He plays pretty well, athletic, rebounds, can shoot it from 3.. He played LeBron just about as good as anybody in their last meeting (Celtics won).
Boston needs a big.. Pau for Green and Terry? They wouldn't do that, right?

I've been lobbying for Green. Terry can stretch the floor and provide another good shooter. No, they wouldn't do that, IMO. I'm glad you noticed that defense that Green played on Lebron; I thought I was the only one...haha.

It's easy to point to a matchup against the best SF in the game and say that's why we're losing.

How about the fact that Miami shot 55%? Or the rebounding margin.

To me that's all because we don't have a big guy now. And the only big guy we have is playing lazy and uninspired.

When Howard went out the game, LeBron had a CAKEWALK to the hoop every time. It's not rocket science. LeBron is too athletic for once perimeter player to guard him. You have to force him baseline and make him take jumpers. Easier said than done, but that's what needs to happen.

When there's no center to stop him at the basket, he's either getting a layup or driving and kicking to a shooter when help comes.

Don't blame MWP. It's not his fault completely. How many players can guard James one in one now? Can we trade MWP, with his salary, to get one of those players? No team expect to James. In fact, James has a normal game today with 4 fouls and 3-4 turnovers. Unfortunately, Wade also has a good game. When both James and Wade perform, it is tough to beat them. However, agree we have to add a more athletic wing player. Right now, the problems are: Pau is out; Dwight isn't 100%. In fact, Clark, Kobe and Nash all play well, well beyond my expectation.

I think we can all acknowledge that nobody can guard Lebron one on one. It's impossible; too quick, athletic, strong, etc. The thing I think I'm frustrated by is Metta not taking an intelligent defensive approach to force Lebron to shoot a jumpshot or go left with the basketball. He gave him a clear lane to the basket . Why are you trying to body up on Lebron 30 feet away from the basket knowing there is no help? It's absurd.

It's already been referenced in this thread, but if you want to see an intelligent approach defending Lebron, watch tape of Jeff Green defending Lebron in the Celtics game or better yet, go watch Granger defend him last year in the Indiana series. Did Granger get torched? Sure, but he battled, and at least made Lebron work to get his points...