I knew momentum shift was likely when Joerger sat Skal and returned Affalo. Skal was causing havoc on the boards, running the floor, providing post threat and moving extremely well in help defense. We lost his activity when genius coach decided to shut him down for the night. No reason he couldn't have given Skal a two minute blow and sent him back in for crunch minutes except for stubbornness and stupidity. It would have been great morale booster to win game with pending loss streak and guys being engaged and emotionally invested in this game. You saw that when Tyreke got called for bogus charge in backcourt and bench erupted in unison. We did not see this type of togetherness and engagement with Boogie because of the oxygen he sucked from the room.
The other point is when you lose 28 point lead and lose by 10 (38 point swing!) you have to look for culprits and one guy who sticks out is Willie. We need him to be an impact player not just another guy on the court. He needs to be plus rebounder or plus scorer, preferably both, but not neither! When you look at quality of competition minus Aldridge this was game Willie needs double digit scoring or rebounding not 8 and 3 in 27 with 5 fouls.
After great game at home Willie had he's been pedestrian at best. To partially make up for the loss of Boogie I said we needed Willie to double his production in double minutes. Reasonable, right? That meant going from 15 MPG and 6 PPG and 3 RPG to:
If Willie posts these numbers that would be half loss of Boogie production, with the other half in points provided by Buddy. I am not saying this is fair exchange in total but would allow team to compete respectably. Buddy has carried his weight in points with 13 PPG on 52% in 7 games. Willie has been invisible too often with inability to finish plays. In his last 55 minutes of court time Willie has shot zero free throws! You are telling me a guy that can sky like that can't be aggressive enough to draw a foul?!? Give me a break! Willie needs to turn it up and quit mousing out between now and end of season and put together stretch of 14/10 production that shows he has starter potential. Otherwise it only creates more questions and uncertainty in a offseason with a lot more questions than answers.