RedDawg#8

We've had guys miss half the season who didn't need to be carried off the court. Even if it turns out not to be that bad, he wont be playing for a while if its up to our medical staff.

DAMMMMMIT

Do not be fooled by this half, the same thing happened when they played the Hornets. The Knicks will let you get all you can eat in the 1st half but really turn up the defense and shut teams down in the 2nd half. We have not slowed them down at all despite forcing hella turnovers. That half was fools gold and we are in for a rude awakening if we cant pick up our defensive intensity.

Im worried about Gallo that it could be something serious they aren't disclosing. He is noticeably absent from the bench and practices right now and they are choosing not to mention his name when they give updates now. Did he pull a Dennis Rodman on us and fly out to Vegas, or Italy for that matter and we just haven't heard back from him, like whats going on.

Until we get more pieces back, Lou IS the 2nd unit offense. He is missing Gallo big time right now as a 1-2 punch. Eventually, 2 of Kev, Snell and Dre will be on the 2nd unit and really make them potent. Until then, Lou has to carry the load off the bench, which he is quite familiar with doing.

Its like people forgot that size (with skill) in basketball is not a bad thing. The Lakers run out AD as a PF next to actual 7 footers and nobody bats an eye. We put out 2 smaller bigs together and all of a sudden we are trying to reinvent the wheel. We have the makings of a dominant frontcourt, don't listen to the doubters!

I dont want to count any chickens, but we need to take care of business with the Magic being depleted, so that we can rest and be fresh against New York tomorrow.

This next stretch of 10 games is the most important if you ask me. It may be too late to matter by the time guys come back if we end up dropping a handful of games the next few weeks This race is going down to the wire. 40 wins (9-6 over the rest of the season) would be a great overall season, but that may not be good enough to hold on to 4th let alone try to climb up to 3. We may have to go something like 12-3 to keep pace. We need all hands on deck to close this thing out strong

Celtics or Heat. Knicks are a tough matchup for us, and if we landed Charlotte, best believe we wont get any primetime slots for the entire 1st rd, plus zero respect for winning that series. Knocking off the Celtics or Heat would be a much bigger deal and honestly, I like those matchups better.

100% spot on. Solo already let on that they are looking at the standings too, trying to win as much as they can to climb and not being satisfied with #4. These games matter double right now because of how tight it is, and the fact that everyone is starting to face each other down the stretch.

Does that chart consider Covid related absences as injuries or no? We have been very lucky in that regard

I like that. Snell was shooting too. No Dre, Gallo or Cam sighting

We are now 4 games behind Milwaukee. Their next 3 games are Philly, Philly and Atlanta. There is blood in the water. Solo spoke on it, how they have a chance at 3. We need to handle our business, and handle them when we see them next.

Refs gave Phoenix some help there but I will take it. Let's go!!!

Thank you Chicago! Phoenix, get your ish together!!!

Can someone with Twitter ask her about Gallo? Ya'll bout to make me rejoin Twitter after like 10 years off.

The way I see it, we need Gallo back and realistically at least one of Snell or Dre to be competitive in the playoffs. If we can get all three back, we win a series and push our 2nd round series to the limit. If we can get EVERYONE back and contributing on some level, we can realistically win 2 series this year. We need Gallo's experience, size and firepower. We need Snell's length, consistency and floor spacing. We need anything Dre can give us at this point. But especially his ability to matchup on both ends of the floor at the 3 and get buckets and defend a variety of positions. He may not round back in to his pre injury form so anything he can give us would be gravy at this point. If he IS able to get back to his pre injury level, watch out. No starting 5 we will face can defend us at thar point. Yes I said it. We can survive without Cam and Dunn, but if we can have them available too as another option to defend or provide a spark for us, that would really put us over the top if you ask me. They are the cherry on top.

Thanks for the info. Still hoping for more on Gallo

It's possible that Trae just may not be a good off ball player. He hasn't shown any ability to play off the ball, and both of his coaches to date seem to prefer him standing way outside of the 3pt line as a way to pull his defender far away from the paint and let the team go 4 on 4. Trae's small stature may be a reason they prefer this than him cutting through the lane and coming off screens because he is easy to recover on and contest. Trae's gravity could be neutralized in close quarters, so hovering way outside is probably their safest bet to stress and stretch the defense and allow our bigs and other wings to work inside more freely.

We missed a golden opportunity to close in on Milwaukee, but we are still just 4.5 behind them now after they lost to Memphis on Saturday. That being said as far as the playoffs go, there are 3 tiers shaking out if you ask me. You still have the top 3, who are beginning to become fixed in their spots as of late. 1. 76ers, 2. Nets, 3. Bucks Then the next group is 4-8 , still jockeying for final positioning, but pretty safe bets to get in. 4. Hawks, 5. Celtics, 6. Knicks, 7. Heat, 8. Hornets Last is the play in hopefuls 9. Pacers, 10. Bulls, 11. Wizards, 12. Raptors I think the Hornets are succumbing to injuries and starting to fall towards Indy as we close the year, but they are hanging on for now. Our peer group appears to be Hawks, Celtics, Knicks and Heat. I feel any of those 4 teams could realistically present a threat to the top 3. as well as each other. That 4 team block will be the most competitive down the stretch as they all have bigger aspirations than just getting in the dance, and are going to fight to avoid that 7th spot at all costs. You could see it today and yesterday with the games Boston, NY and Miami played. Grinding out tough victories that had playoff energy. The intensity is ramping up. I hope our boys are ready for a dog fight, because the competition is not going anywhere soon. 4 teams fighting for 3 remaining guaranteed spots. Lets go

Yes, plus he really shoots up the rebound totals in a heartbeat, he went from 18 to 22 in less than 1 minute just by tipping the ball to himself over and over.

I think there should also be an asterisk by this season when discussing load management and what not. In years past I think many teams abused the system for strategic purposes. I think this is the time of year you will see that strategy more frequently, but for the most part, this season has been more about survival and attrition more than anything. Minor injuries have a bigger impact with less scheduled days off to treat them, thus forcing teams to sit guys more often than they probably would have in a normal year. Also just in general with the brutal day to day schedule of guys having to get up early even after long trips to get tested, so even less down time and virtually no days off to recharge mentally (which plays a part in physical health). I think it's understandable for teams to hold guys out more often in such a hectic season as this one.

Knicks are a matchup problem for us. If we get them in round 1 it's going to be brutal

And not just that he scores differently, it an adaptation/evolution in his game in response to how aggressively teams have to guard him. Trae is such a threat with the ball that he sees tight physical defense to force him off the ball. Drawing fouls isn't a Trae Young trick just to score points, it's a counter attack to deter defenses from playing him so tight. In other words, he doesn't NEED the free throw line, if teams defended him straight up he would just cook on his own. But teams are scared so they to force his hand which is why a lot of his worst shooting games come with high free throw attempts. The tighter the D, the worse he shoots from outside but the more he gets to the line. We have seem enough examples where teams opt not to pressure him and he scores and passes just fine. No matter how he is defended he will find a way to impact the game offensively. A mark of a true star player

Yo, thanks. Reading is fundamental. Lol