Stotts just isn't a smart coach.

[Playmaker0017]

We went away from EVERYTHING that worked in the past few games.

I was in the "Hawksquawk Chat" and after the first quarter, I said Reef hasn't touched the ball in the post. We will lose this game if he doesn't.

The second quarter rolls around and still ... no Reef in the post. We have him out on the three-point line. Why? Has this ever worked?

Then we run high screens ALL NIGHT and none work... EVER!

I went into the chat and said... we will lose this game. We didn't establish Shareef.

We can't ... cannot... ever... think... we .... are... a... jumpshooting.... team!

This is the coaches loss again! Reef was beating Gasol off the drives and beating his man when he did get it in the post, but it wasn't falling. You keep feeding him.

Just an awful spell of coaching.

Play.

[Admin]

How can you blame Stotts? It was obvious watching the game that Reef didnt want to be in the post. You think for a second that Stotts would tell him to not be in the post? I am sure he told him time and again to get down there and go to work but every time he tried to score down there he missed or got swatted. Reef was shooting horrible tonight and probably should have played less minutes, but then again nobody else was shooting well from the starting unit and thats the reason we lost. The bench finally plays a solid game and the starters decide to go cold in the 2nd half, thats what killed us, not Stotts.

[Playmaker0017]

Dolfan,

Reef didn't want to be down low?

Did you see the offense? Did you watch the game? Reef would go for position and they would immediately swing to the opposite side.

He went the first SIX minutes of the game without so much as a touch on the offensive end. Then he gets one shot and a tip-back attempt... FOR AN ENTIRE QUARTER!

Reef wasn't ON tonight, but you still feed him. His shots inside were good and barely rolled off the rim. 5 out of 10 times those shots fall... you keep feeding him.

Stotts does NOT tell Reef to get in the post?? You've got to be kidding me!! Haven't you heard his comments? He doesn't believe in it. He doesn't believe we need to establish Reef in the post. He thinks we need to run around and whoever gets the jumpshot... well, so be it. He doesn't run plays to the post.

Our starters were bound to go cold... which is why I said we would lose if we relied on jumpshots... which we did.

Play.

[Plainview1981]

You are so blinded by your love for Reef that you will

not face facts that he was outplayed. I don't need stats

to prove it because I saw the game...Gasol scored on

Reef nearly everytime he took him in the post...He also

made some nice passes.....Much to the dismay of Diesel

and you, Reef got outplayed.

[Playmaker0017]

Hotlanta,

You really are an idiot.

It is now completely official.

Whoever said that Reef dominated Gasol on the defensive end, please raise your hand.

Oh, no one.

Right.... the post was about establishing Reef on the offensive end.

So -- I guess you may have watched the game --- but you missed the heck out of reading comprehension.

Please ... GO AWAY.

Play.

[chillzatl]

Don't let your fanboy love for Reef cloud your vision. You do that far too often.

1. Reef didn't/coudln't get position

2. THey can't just give him the ball when he hasn't established position.

3. The grizzlies knew how to keep the ball out of his hands and made it their #1 priority.

So don't put all this on stotts. It isn't Stotts fault that Reef allowed himself to be pushed around in the post.

It isn't Stotts fault that his team left a known good 3pt shooter open, 3 consecutive times. He was quite furious after this himself.

In the end, you have to blame this loss on the Grizzlies. They wanted it more. They are a better team than the Hawks. Those three consecutive triples by Miller changed the course of the game. Had he not hit those, we would have won without question.

Diaw going down with a twisted ankle didn't help things either.

[phoostal]

I hate to pile on Play, but you are too one sided most of the time. And most give you the benefit of the doubt on things because Reef is the best player on the team.

But last night Reef was awful. He was not aggressive at all. I hate when he is settling for jump shots. He should be taking people off the dribble. Not to mention he had nothing down low when he got it down low. Gasol was blocking every shot he put up. Not to mention the layups I saw Reef miss. There is no reason some skinny B(*$# takes him to school. But Gasol did just that offensively and defensively.

This was by no means Stotts fault. I don't thing Stotts is the reason we lost this one. Just another bad game for the Hawks. Terry and Reef had bad games.

Sometimes you have to look in the mirror and admit when you have a bad game instead of blaming others. We all get caught up in not wanting to say something negative about our favorite players but no one is perfect. And last night Reef was awful. I'm sure he will bounce back.

P

[chillzatl]

well I don't even pin the loss on Reef not trying. He was trying. But they were defending him perfectly. Every time he went into the paint, he had three guys surrounding him. When nobody would rotate into a position to get a pass, he would try to put it up and get blocked.

They got outplayed by a better team, pure and simple. The loss isn't one persons fault. It was a team effort, or lack of.

[Diesel]

Weather they are better is dependent on prospective.

For instance.... Do they have better players? Or were they better coached.

You try to excuse the coach, however, what you have described is that there were much better coached than us. When your opponents stop you one way, you must MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. Aside from his lineups, I would think that making adjustments is the probably the second worst thing that Stotts does.

I'm not pinning all the blame on Stotts either. Memphis was Hot... Especially Miller and we were off... Especially Reef and JT.

However one more thing to bring to the table...

This is another case of the opponents Gaurds having their way with our defense.

Miller was open most of the time... and he dropped the long ball on us often....or atleast it felt like often. Watson is a good PG... Or at least he looked like one against our defense.

[Traceman]

It wasn't any one player's (or coach's) fault. We simply lost to a better all around team. They played Reef perfectly last night and made him a non factor in the game. We actually took care of the ball pretty well last night, we just couldn't make shots when it mattered and the Grizzlies did.

My only qualm with Stotts last night was wondering why he took Jax out in the 3rd quarter after he had hit a few shots? He went back to Diaw after Jax had just hit a couple of J's. If he was going to bring Diaw back, he should have brought him back for someone (ANYONE) else. Still, that's not why we lost.

[Playmaker0017]

Chillz,

This isn't about Reef being on or off. He didn't have a good offensive night, but you still go to your best player.

Especially in the opening minutes.

We did no such thing.

You can't go an entire quarter and not even ATTEMPT to put the ball in the hands of your best player. Okay, they attempted once.

It was frustrating to watch. I knew the lead was temporary. You can't rely on the jumpshot.

Play.

[Playmaker0017]

Phoostal,

Most should give me benefit of the doubt, because usually I am right on par.

I have a pretty good understanding of the sport.

Gordon.

[chillzatl]

Cuz in the game I saw, every time Reef touched the ball he was mugged by 2-3 guys. They didn't even give him time to move. He got the ball and they were on him, forcing it out of his hands.

You can say they needed to do this or needed to do that. It's easy to be an arm-chair coach. But saying it and doing it are two different things. Especially when the other teams primary goal is to keep it from happening. Their focus was on keeping the ball out of Reefs hands and flooding the lane any time he tried to enter it. It worked, Reef became frustred and started forcing it even more.

That's not Stotts fault. You can dog him all you want. But over the last 5-6 games, they've been going to Reef consistantly. While they didn't win a lot of games, they've been doing it and it's made some of those games pretty close at the end.

It just goes to show that the problems with this team go deeper than any one person. Whether it's a player or a coach.

[macdaddy]

Diesel is right. Our players certainly didn't look good. but we were leading most of the game and let it slip away. A good coach could do more to prevent that.

We went from a decent lead for 2 1/2 quarters to not even in the came with 4 minutes left. I don't care how bad the players are that just doesn't happen often on well coached teams. I'm not talking about losing the game I'm talking about not even being close at the end.

[chillzatl]

Too often you try to split credit for something one way or the other, failing to recognize the whole.

The Grizz aren't a better team, they are just better coached.

Well you know what, it's one and the same. The coach is part of the team. However you want to try to split things up to justify the loss, they won because they are better. In the NBA being better is rarely about having the best talent. It's about having the best team, and coaching is primary among those things.

They won because they are a better team. You can quantify that however you feel you need to. They didn't just win because they have a good coach and they didn't win because they have better talent. They won because they were a BETTER TEAM, PERIOD.

Again, quantify that in boring detail as much as you need to. They didn't win because of any one or even two simple aspects. They won because they are a better whole than the Hawks are.

[chillzatl]

We were leading for the first half...because of Dion Glover, Jax and Diaw. Do you really expect us to maintain a lead when your two primary scorers are contributing NOTHING from the tip off?

A good coach isn't goin to make shots go in the basket. You guys want to blame Stotts for every ridculous minutia in a loss and give him no credit.

I mean it was his move to bring in Dion and Jax off the bench. He did recognize that the starting lineup, as it was, wasn't getting it done. The first half lead we had was directly related to the moves he made.

But in the end, when your two top scorers can't get it done, you aren't going to win.

[Playmaker0017]

Chillz,

I agree. Reef was doubled and tripled.

But, if you hit him early and often, it opens things up.

ESPECIALLY when they double and triple him.

That is the point of going downlow. I am not saying Reef didn't get enough shots... I am saying we didn't use him correctly.

You go to the post and let them bring the double and triple... then kick out.

We didn't even do that.

When the Grizz started their run, instead of SLOWING the ball and gaining composure... we freak out and pick up the speed... leading to poor shot selection and TOs.

Play.

[Playmaker0017]

Chillz,

That move wasn't a "smart" coaching move. He got lucky. That is it. LUCKY.

Dion was cherry picking and got two wide open dunks. JACKSON was awful in the first half going 2-10.

The Grizz bench was dreadful in the first half. It had nothing to do with a smart move.

A smart move is about the system you play. The options you assign. Putting your second stringers in, when they are supposed to enter the game anyhow, is hardly coaching genius.

Play.

[Diesel]

In reply to:

---

The Grizz aren't a better team, they are just better coached.

---

Let me ask you something...

When the Lakers had NVE, EJ, Shaq, Kobe, Campbell, Fox, Ceballos, Fisher, and a few others.... And they lost to Utah with Malone, Stockton, Hornacek, and Russell in a sweep...

Was Utah that much better??

Or

This new Utah team, are they BETTER than the teams that they are beating...

You have to understand, it's not the players that make the system... 90% of the time, it's the system that makes the players. That means that often times, the buck should stop at the coach. Just for the argument... That laker team I mentioned above had 4 allstars ... the most allstars ever to play for the same team and they lost to a team with 2 allstars and a group of role players... Because the other team was coached better. The Next year, NVE was traded, EJ/Campbell was traded...other changes were made, Phil Jackson came in and won the NBA title with that team.. Coaching change made all the difference.

Even those Grizzlies showed last year that a change in coaching can make all the difference in the world.

So when I say it's about perspective...

They don't have better players than us. I think we have a very nice collection of players. IN fact, the fact that we jump out to a lead with about every team we face should tell you that our players are good enough to compete. However, the fact that we lose leads also suggests that somewhere along the way, coaching got involved. Either Hubie did something very brilliant or Stotts did something very stupid.

If they were flat out better than us, we would have never been able to hold the lead for 3 qtrs.

[macdaddy]

The whole point is that you can't blame just the players and you can't blame just the coach. But, it certainly is looking like we are getting out coached in a lot of games.

You can't have it both ways. In the first half Stotts is making great moves getting the hot guys in the game and in the second the players suck and he can't do anything about it.

Its his job to figure this stuff out.

Coaches are measured by results and so far his results are bad.