(1) why does Twitter / this sub preach patience with Giddey and players when they have a bad stretch behind the whole “they’re young and developing” rhetoric but that doesn’t seemingly apply to Mark after a couple of mistakes in a game? Mark is one of the youngest coaches in the NBA and he’s also learning. (2) I’ve been a lifelong fan since the Earl Watson was our starting PG days… we’ve never had a coach that can scheme as well as Mark. PJ isn’t even near the discussion, Scott Brooks was a great locker room guy, Billy Donovan made great lineup adjustments between playoff games, but no one can make the tactical x and o’s like Daigneault can… just look at the many nuanced zone schemes he deploys and when he uses them in regular season games. People are quick to criticize but don’t realize how great we have it compared to our past (3) the criticism from last night seems to be “what’s he doing with SGA and Chet not being brought back sooner into the game” and “why are we fouling the wrong guys”…it was a one possession game against the best team in the west at their home court in a game where they had stakes for their in-season tournament.
I also think the blame is more on just how good that Minny zone defense in the second half was and if anything we had open looks, the guys gave up the open looks to make the extra pass and Minny was so good at resetting their zone on that extra pass. They planned man on SGA for the first half which allowed Shai to feast but even if Shai had extended minutes in the fourth, I don’t know if we would’ve succeeded against their scheme.
… just think people should chill on the Mark D criticism.
I’ve learned to just ignore them. It’s honestly hilarious to see how many “coaching experts” we have around here that think if Mark just would have done what they would have done, this would have been a W… it’s always the player he did/didn’t play or the extra minutes he didn’t give that were the difference in the game, not the best defense in the league led by Gobert shutting down Chet, or J Dub building a mansion with bricks… Valid criticism of decisions is fine. I think we should have given Cason more minutes, for instance. But acting like Mark is “throwing away winnable games” because he didn’t follow the exact substitution pattern you wanted is laughable. When our 2nd and 3rd best players have games like that against one of the best teams in the league, we’re probably going to lose. It’s a testament to Mark and the “never say die” attitude he’s instilled in this team that we were able to keep it as close as it was in the first place.
Coach D is doing a lot of things right but it’s clear that the team gets very frustrated with Giddey on the floor d watching a lead evaporate due to Giddey’s poor play.