Really nice game all around. Bigs were excellent, Pritchard has clearly gotten the message to fire away—I think some of his struggles occasionally come down to hesitating. His shot is so nice he just needs to let it fly.
Kemba was immense with a number of shots that either prevented a Clippers run or were direct responses to LA makes on the other end.
Tatum just needs to move the ball and let the game come to him. I mean, the guy has to feel what we are seeing. Teams just don’t respect the drive right now because it’s too easy to get him to settle. Basically all you have to do on D is quick double, have one guy retreat, and he will feel free to iso again. 5 assists is good but he can do better if teams are going to press him this much. These struggles can be good for him if it forces him to be a better playmaker.
Really starting to dream on TL getting in 30 mpg shape and seeing what we can do with that. That said, Thompson has been playing really well since getting into game shape, and Theis’ 25 are super important as the only real floor stretching big.
Most importantly, we’re seeing some much needed intensity and mental fortitude, which has been severely lacking in Smart’s absence. Keep grinding.