Again, good points. Well, your talking points, not OUR POINTS.
When Elfrid was on the floor, even with his trademark bricks from the perimeter, there was pace and coherence.
I am rooting for Dennis, and CLEARLY, so is Coach Thibs.
Still, I remain baffled by what happenned to his game compared to the aggressive, penetrating force he was during his late season, post-Dallas cameo in the final 20+ 2018-2019 contests. In both games, I can only recall a few instances where he doble clutched, changed speeds and went hard to the hoop. He is clearly trying to facilitate in a manner that jibes with Thibs' expectations. Payton gets to the hoop and finishes. Why not Smith. That is OR WAS his game.
Frank can garner floor time by playing D, while waiting for Godot.
Austin Rivers gained traction at the point and off the ball just by chilling. And clearly Thibs is trying to figure out a way to get Quickley on the floor, either off the ball or as a facilitator.
As our MSG pundits noted last night, Coach Casey's response was to force us off the block and dare us to beat them from outside.
Be interesting to see how pre-season rotations evolve, and on the basis of the third quarter last night, Noel-Randle-Barrett-Burks-Payton makes sense. Now Coach has to figure out who he can trust for the next five offa the pine...?
Robinson-Toppin-Bullock/Knox-Rivers-Quickley?
I hope we get an opportunity to see Spellman and Brazdeikis, who can both shoot, though in my heart of hearts, I do not think they are going to see daylight. Right now Rivers and Quickley are the most tantalizing X-Factors. Burks has established that he is as advertised...an adult scorer with probably the best outside shot on the team.
Thibs has until Wednesday to address our faux pas from last night, which was not as godawful as it could've been, giving our outside shooting and foul shooting.