Willie Green was chosen as the star of the game in the win over the
Raptors,
and at first blush, it's easy to see why: he led the team in scoring, 23
points on 10-18 shooting from the field, with 5 asissts and 4 rebounds to
boot. However, take it from a guy who watched the whole game, the
boxscore
is very misleading. Willie did have a fine first three quarters, but he
was
a waste the 4th quarter. I think he scored 19 of his 23 in the first
three
quarters, and more to the point, by the 4th quarter, he was either gassed,
or just decided not to play defense at all. His failure to cover guys on
the perimeter was a large factor in the near-comeback by the Raptors. It
seemed so obvious to me, I don't know why Coach Cheeks left him out there
at
all.
This is hardly the first time I've noticed the the play of WG tends to
deteriorate the longer he is out there, and it deteriorates rapidly once
he
gets past 26-28 minutes or so. Last night he played 36 minutes, and
whatever time he had on the floor in the 4th quarter was just too much for
him. I don't know what it is about WG, he usually starts game like a
house
on fire, but you just don't see that player all game. Because he tends to
play so well at the outset of games, I guess it makes sense he should
continue to start at the two guard spot, but my modest proposal is that
whether he starts or not, the Coach should limit his minutes to the 26-28
range, because that seems to be about all Willie has in the tank for any
one
game. *Maybe* if he gets on the floor or 10 minutes of the first quarter,
and then is limited to 5 in the second and 5 in the third, then you might
try playing him in the 4th quarter and see if he can still go at top speed
in the 4th.
Anyone else notice this?
---- Kurt Straub
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