Jamal Murray

[Atlanta Blue]

If he can't play better defense, we have no chance. He's our best offensive player. We need him to be in the game. And he's athletic enough to be a good defender. So frustrating.

To be honest, Jamal's poor defense is just as big of a problem as the fact that Briscoe can't make FTs and Skal can't grab a rebound. It seems that all of our players (except for maybe Tyler) have a fatal flaw.

 

[BourbonBalz]

That's the problem. Every single player has a glaring weakness. Tyler is great but his size is sometimes an issue. Murray's defense is terrible, and that is being kind. Briscoe can't shoot free throws, or jump shots most of the time. Alex is hot and cold and has no handles at all. Lee and Skal are basically cardboard cutouts. That about covers it.

 

[W2R]

Briscoe was balling till he picked up that ghost foul. Our backcourt compliments each other so well when they all are on the court. Briscoe was defending rebounding and making good drives. Then fourth foul early.....it bs

 

[CatPhight]

That's the problem. Every single player has a glaring weakness. Tyler is great but his size is sometimes an issue. Murray's defense is terrible, and that is being kind. Briscoe can't shoot free throws, or jump shots most of the time. Alex is hot and cold and has no handles at all. Lee and Skal are basically cardboard cutouts. That about covers it.

^ Rack it

And our bench is a joke.

 

[FiveStarCat]

Briscoe was balling till he picked up that ghost foul. Our backcourt compliments each other so well when they all are on the court. Briscoe was defending rebounding and making good drives. Then fourth foul early.....it bs

Check out @BigBlue9ation's Tweet:

 

[.S&C.]

Check out @BigBlue9ation's Tweet:

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That's unbelievable.

 

[Icecoldbrewdoggy]

Check out @BigBlue9ation's Tweet:

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WOW! And the ref got really into making the call. This is what is killing the enjoyment for me.

 

[.S&C.]

You have to want to make that call. I mean, that should be an investigated call

 

[FiveStarCat]

That's unbelievable.

It really is. Would love to hear this ref explain this.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Did they call a foul on Briscoe because he didn't give the shooter room to come down? lol

I'm just trying to understand this one lol

 

[HICATFAN]

Check out @BigBlue9ation's Tweet:

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Yep, and that wasn't all...Ullis posting foul...Alex on the block out....Zebras had many, many poor calls!

AlohaCat

 

[spotter34]

Yeah each player has glaring flaw and no one has improved their flaw over the course of the season. Unfortunately Ulis can't make himself 3-4 inches taller.

Murray - defense
Briscoe - outside shooting, free throws
Poythress - dribbling, consistent effort, fouling
Willis - defense
Lee - offense and defense
Skal - everything but mid-range shot and blocking shots
Hawkins - offense, ball-handling
Matthews - offense, effort
Mulder - defense, ball-handling
Humphries - too slow
Wynyard - ????

 

[crestcat]

Briscoe was balling till he picked up that ghost foul. Our backcourt compliments each other so well when they all are on the court. Briscoe was defending rebounding and making good drives. Then fourth foul early.....it bs

Terrible foul call

 

[.S&C.]

Can one of the "Yall are paranoid" semi UK fans please chime in and explain how you make that call with good intentions?

THey know who they are. I'll wait

 

[katsrhot14]

That's the problem. Every single player has a glaring weakness. Tyler is great but his size is sometimes an issue. Murray's defense is terrible, and that is being kind. Briscoe can't shoot free throws, or jump shots most of the time. Alex is hot and cold and has no handles at all. Lee and Skal are basically cardboard cutouts. That about covers it.

That is the best summary of our team that I have heard.....and the truth!

 

[lakercat]

I think Murray can be a great player, but he half-steps it on defense. That dunk he gave up late was just awful. He looks to get his on offense, and couldn't care less about the how he can often disrupt the flow of the offense. It doesn't matter if you score 20 points if you are inefficient in doing so, coupled with giving up 25 on the defensive end.

 

[willievic]

It's hard to win on the other team's floor. Poor refs, or crooks.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[The_Answer1313]

officiating is bad but it really doesn't excuse our guys. Some of the fouls we had tonight were just complete dumb fouls.

 

[Mojocat]

Yeah, Murray has too many defensive lapses - the one late in the game where he gave up a dunk on an out of bounds play made me howl.

But here's the key: we have no rim protection, and that changes everything. That's the reason our D is subpar. So mistakes we wouldn't notice in other years are magnified now. If Skal had been what we expected, the whole season looks entirely different.....

 

[The_Answer1313]

I mean Alex on his 5th.......come on. Your our only inside presence. You have to be smarter than that.

You have to stay on the court.

So frustrating.

 

[CatPhight]

Yeah, Murray has too many defensive lapses - the one late in the game where he gave up a dunk on an out of bounds play made me howl.

But here's the key: we have no rim protection, and that changes everything. That's the reason our D is subpar. So mistakes we wouldn't notice in other years are magnified now. If Skal had been what we expected, the whole season looks entirely different.....

Agreed, but I've also seen the same mental lapses from Poythress and consistently from Lee who have been here long enough to know better than a freshman.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

If he can't play better defense, we have no chance. He's our best offensive player. We need him to be in the game. And he's athletic enough to be a good defender. So frustrating.

To be honest, Jamal's poor defense is just as big of a problem as the fact that Briscoe can't make FTs and Skal can't grab a rebound. It seems that all of our players (except for maybe Tyler) have a fatal flaw.

Ulis has problems as well, don't know why others can't see it. On this type of defense switching is something we do not need to do as he his height is limiting. Also his shooting is suspect a lot of games. What did he hit tonight? 2/10? 3/10?? I know it wasn't good. He has games where he can't hit either.

Murray has problems on D in communication with others on switching. But he rebounds well. He prob had a 20/5/5 game.


What I would love to see is for us to play zone and see how that looks.

 

[jameslee32]

Yeah each player has glaring flaw and no one has improved their flaw over the course of the season. Unfortunately Ulis can't make himself 3-4 inches taller.


Lee - offense and defense

Other than that he's been great!

 

[UK2005_24]

Ulis has problems as well, don't know why others can't see it. On this type of defense switching is something we do not need to do as he his height is limiting. Also his shooting is suspect a lot of games. What did he hit tonight? 2/10? 3/10?? I know it wasn't good. He has games where he can't hit either.

Murray has problems on D in communication with others on switching. But he rebounds well. He prob had a 20/5/5 game.


What I would love to see is for us to play zone and see how that looks.

Ulis gets a pass because he's 5'9...

 

[Mike-D]

We got up 21 on the road, and thought the game was over. Lowered the speed to 15 mph, and hit cruise control. Next thing you know, we're in a dog fight up 6 at the half. The game was won and lost right there. We can hash this or that, but that's stupidity and inexperience. Yes, we have veteran players that know better, but we are still a very young team. I'm as pissed as the next guy, and you can nit-pick a lot of things in this game.. But that's where the game was lost. IMO.

 

[qwesley]

So similar to James Young.

 

[spotter34]

So similar to James Young.

And Booker

 

[ulismyman]

Uncoachable..never listens to Cal

 

[LightningCats]

I mean Alex on his 5th.......come on. Your our only inside presence. You have to be smarter than that.

You have to stay on the court.

So frustrating.

Agree he needs to be smarter, but in reality, he should have been shooting free throws at the time the foul happened instead of defending a secondary break. Terrible no-call led to the semi-break that cost him his fifth foul.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

Please list all the freshman shooting guards who are good at defense. I'm quite certain it will be a very short list.

 

[The_Answer1313]

He might not be great defensively but it's hard to get on him. He's at least providing some value to this team.

Not when we have black holes like Lee and Skal. I still think Skal improves but right now those two are really giving us nothing and it shows when Alex has to come out with foul trouble.

 

[moe#8]

Did they call a foul on Briscoe because he didn't give the shooter room to come down? lol

I'm just trying to understand this one lol

yeah