Kyle Korver's perimeter defense is killing Hawks at the end of playoff games

[hawks774]

Korver should have been benched in favor of Thabo Sefalosha late in the fourth quarter. The Cavs were worried for a minute but  the streaky JR smith saw an opportunity with Korver guarding him and put the Cavs up for good on a three-point shot, 90-88. This was the ultimate turning point in this game. If Coach Bud wants to emphasize defense playing the one-dimensional, defensively challenged Korver is a recipe for disaster.

LAST YEAR, Korver attempted to defend Wizards' guards and almost gave up the game-winning shot to Paul Pierce, but luckily for the Hawks, time ran out and the Hawks won.

Bench Korver for Game 2.

[Duff_Man]

So you're benching a guy because his man made one contested shot in the middle of the 4th quarter?

[macdaddy]

His total lack of offense was the problem last night.  

[Sothron]

Korver should be a bench player only at this point in his career.

[Cwell]

11 minutes ago, Sothron said:

Korver should be a bench player only at this point in his career.

he's ALWAYS been a bench player. He didn't become a full-time starter until he got here. Only the Hawks would use him as a starter and a big part of the offense. He's never been the same productive player in the playoffs. this is nothing new.

[Duff_Man]

1 hour ago, Cwell said:

he's ALWAYS been a bench player. He didn't become a full-time starter until he got here. Only the Hawks would use him as a starter and a big part of the offense. He's never been the same productive player in the playoffs. this is nothing new.

Semantics. He was playing over 30 minutes per game for three seasons in Philadelphia.

[macdaddy]

6 minutes ago, Duff_Man said:

Semantics. He was playing over 30 minutes per game for three seasons in Philadelphia.

Korver was a huge reason our offense was effective the last 2 seasons (before this one).    I think his D is underrated actually.   Still i'd like to see Thabo have a chance to get into a defensive groove in this series and play him more with Baze.  

[Atlantaholic]

2 hours ago, Cwell said:

he's ALWAYS been a bench player. He didn't become a full-time starter until he got here. Only the Hawks would use him as a starter and a big part of the offense. He's never been the same productive player in the playoffs. this is nothing new.

Korver was having one of the all time great seasons by a shooter last year and our offense was hot magma. So let's not knock the Hawks for their strat with Korver. Problem is, Korver is old and washed up... Also, his defense, or anyones defense really last night was the least of our worries. We need to make some damn baskets.

[Guest]

Starter or bench he needs less minutes, especially if he ain gonna shoot the damn ball.

Edited May 3, 2016 by JayBirdHawk

[benhillboy]

Bud is loyal to an unbelievable fault.  How he can stuff Hump in the doghouse for reasons totally unrelated to the floor yet give Kyle all the minutes he wants is one of the puzzling events of my life.

His more seasoned contemporaries wouldn't dream of operating this way.  If Myles Turner has it going for Vogel and Mahinmi has 3 points, the latter can put his warm-ups on and grab some pom poms.  Gerald Green is far more explosive than Kyle, yet he can go days without playing for Spo if he lacks defensively.  If Powell or Joseph is hooping for Casey and Terrance Ross is doing his Terrance Ross thing, he's sitting next to Drake.  Does Kyle have to be the first NBA player in history to score negative points to get benched?  It wouldn't even effect his ego.  I cannot understand it.

I'm as big a proponent of his defensive tools and spacing he provides as anyone.  All that sh@t is useless as a SG who can't score AT ALL and is missing the biggest defensive tool of staying in front.

Edited May 3, 2016 by benhillboy

[Cwell]

3 hours ago, Duff_Man said:

Semantics. He was playing over 30 minutes per game for three seasons in Philadelphia.

 I said full time starter. He was only a starter half the time in Philly. He was never a 82 game starter until he got here. He was always good at what he did but no team had getting him shots one of their main attacks on offense. I hate the way this team is built with only our PGs being able to handle the ball and create. Before Kyle started showing wear, he was always unreliable in the playoffs. This game plan we keep going out their with is a losing one. It's known in sports that there are some systems that are successful during the regular season but completely useless in the playoffs. This one is one of them, until we get some dogs on this team.  Point blank period

[DS17Fanboy]

If only he could shoot of the dribble somewhat...there are countless situations each game where that could get him a good shot. Why Kyle? Why? Maybe next summer when spending time in the gym with Dennis and his shot, spend time with his dribble as well. I mean Dennis has for a large parts simple yet effective handles.

[Alex]

How are contested shots the defenses fault?  On nearly every one of Smith's makes Korver had him defended very well.  JR Smith has a habit of making those types of shots.  

[Lurker]

I swear the only shots Jr Smith makes he has a hand up in his face. Kyle Korver is a major problem in this series but not due to defense, its due to the fact he's going to get absolutely nothing each and every game and continue to be played for 35 plus minutes despite this. There may be a solution to this, but it's funky and I doubt it's used (if you want to start more offense). It's start Mike Scott at PF and move Paul Millsap down to SF.

He won't stop LBJ either but Bazemore against LBJ is a layup whenever he wants because Bazemore will get overpowered physically every time.

[Iverwig]

18 minutes ago, Lurker said:

I swear the only shots Jr Smith makes he has a hand up in his face. Kyle Korver is a major problem in this series but not due to defense, its due to the fact he's going to get absolutely nothing each and every game and continue to be played for 35 plus minutes despite this. There may be a solution to this, but it's funky and I doubt it's used (if you want to start more offense). It's start Mike Scott at PF and move Paul Millsap down to SF.

He won't stop LBJ either but Bazemore against LBJ is a layup whenever he wants because Bazemore will get overpowered physically every time.

I can get with this but whatever they do Korver needs to come off the bench. He gets exposed against the Cavs and we can see his play in the playoffs last year was not just about him bein injured.