After watching Houston vs GS last night and our game versus Houston this morning, i have to admit, that the difference in playstyle is really obvious. Houston versus GS was basically jumpshot after jumpshot and running up and down the court. Horrible to watch,
How exactly is watching teams run the fast break, move the ball, find the open man, and make open shots.....horrible to watch?
That's not horrible to watch, that is what basketball is supposed to be and what it was designed to be. Somewhere along the line through a combination of legendary big men and rules that allowed defenders to mug the swing players in the 90's.....basketball became a slow grind it out isolation type game. In part organically (because teams are finding success) and in part at the direction of the NBA, the game is going back to a more uptempo style where the best teams move the ball and make a lot of outside shots. The Spurs are no longer a grind it out team that scores 85 PPG in their wins. You won't see the current version of the Spurs running 1-4 ISO's to end the game.
Basketball is supposed to be about passing the ball and making open shots. I'm tired of hearing Kings fans here and on the radio trash the Warriors style of play (as if making outside shots is a bad thing) when deep down inside all of you would love to be watching their product every night. In terms of entertainment value and wins/losses it sure as hell beats watching Malone constantly draw up 1-4 Isolation Plays to end games. That's not fun to watch and it almost always ends in failure.
Of course if you have a great big man like Cousins that should be your primary offensive focus, but history has shown team's with great big men thrive by using that big man to facilitate the offense and create open outside shots for others when he is doubled. The real key with DeMarcus Cousins isn't just what he can score for himself but the fact that you can build an entire offense around him that leads to open shots for the other players. They have to make those open shots though.
As we have seen many times this year and mostly since Cousins went out, Rudy Gay as the primary offensive option in an isolation scoring role doesn't work. He's not good enough to make it work and perhaps more importantly nobody in the league is making it work anymore. Not working for Kobe or Carmelo.
One of the interesting things about these games lately (with Cousins out) is that the Kings use ball movement and a fun exciting style of play with Collison, McLemore, Williams, and Gay to get a lead and score well throughout the game. Once they get the lead and get to the 4th quarter, Malone then changes the plan to all Rudy Gay isolation plays all the time. They then lose the lead and struggle to score in the closing minutes of the game. Why Malone doesn't just stick with what got him the lead like good teams do is mind boggling. He's not stupid obviously so my guess is that he just doesn't have the confidence in guys like Collison and McLemore do make shots down the stretch. The thing is though after continually ignoring those guys late in the game and doing it "his way" with isolation plays and lack of creativity on offense.......it keeps leading to losses. Perhaps it's time to at least give it a try the other way?
