[Clutchfans] Dwight: Defensive woes "starts on the perimeter"

finally.

 

Said this in the other thread, but McHale has got to take a page out of Pop/Doc's book and not be afraid to get in his stars' faces when they make bone-headed plays.

 

At least Dwight speaks the truth instead of avoiding the media.

 

There will be a group of people wanting to put this on Harden...but really...nearly every perimeter player goes off on us. Gay looked Like Durant, Isiah looked like Chris Paul, Thornton looked like Crawford...pretty much any SF or Guard just goes off on us on any given night. The Rotations and the overhelping in the paint is just terrible.

 

Let's not lump Harden's atrocious effort in with players who actually try.

 

McHale won't do it. The players he criticizes the most are Lin and the bench. He doesn't hold Harden accountable for anything.

 

the problem is the PNR. if you don't defend it well, it makes the perimeter players look great.

and for defense starts at the perimeter, that goes for the bigs also in helping defend the PNR. the whole idea of the PNR is to rub the defender off so the player chasing the ball handler is usually the one having to recover.

 

Whatever, whether they try or not is irrelevant because he's right. They still get burned over and over again. Not just whoever Harden is guarding...but basically any player that plays on the perimeter is capable of simply going off.

It's more discouraging that according to you these other players are trying...because despite all their effort they are not even close to getting it done.

 

Before this thread becomes an opportunity to bash Harden... It's not just Harden. I'm glad that Dwight has stepped up to call out the laziness on D. Although the perimeter D does indeed suck, I think he was overpowered by Cousins in the 2nd half. He should continue calling others out until the whole team is putting in a full effort. Otherwise, he should take back their Rolexes and leave town.

 

Have you guys seen Isaiah's game log in december? Lin did as well of a job as he could tbh. He's actually trying to defend, unlike Haren, who lets Thornton and McLemore go off in the first half. Parsons also needs to work on his defense, but he is probably exhausted from having to log so many minutes.

 

I agree with Howard calling out his teammates here. They should be embarrassed. I want to see Dwight get more of a nasty streak and demand the ball in the post as well. He's got to command the respect of his teammates. Dwight is such a goof ball a lot of the times I don't know if he commands as much respect as he should. I feel he is the best player on this team, I used to think Harden was but he's not.

 

This is so true. Everyone on the perimeter is below average on defense. This is leading to major defensive breakdowns and lots of drives for layups or wide open 3-point shots.

 

Harden doesn't log minutes?

So instead of talking about the perimeter defense, this is going to be another "Harden sucks at defense, lets excuse every other player..." thread.

Well, Happy New Years.

 

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every player on our team gets blown by. it isn't just Harden though it's everyone. plus Dwight hasn't been looking that good on d either for some reason

 

What else is new?

 

Lin played solid defense and has since he's been in the starting lineup with the exception of the OKC game where 4 out of the 5 starters didn't show up. Lin is not at fault at all on the defensive end.

 

Thabo goes for 9 points on 4-6 shooting in the OKC game in the 1st Q-- guarded by Harden.

Lin has made improvements on D but is still terrible fighting over screens.

Overall our perimeter D is bad to very bad. We can't rely on outscoring our opponent's every game.