JawsGT wrote:
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I get what you're saying. Bubble ball or not, Pascal played basketball games on a regulation basketball court, just like everybody else. There is a reason to be concerned here about his basketball skills - especially since he's a max player now. And that concern is: what if opposition teams now have a "book" on how to guard Pascal, especially in the playoffs? It's part of a trend we saw in the regular season against better defenses (e.g. Boston) and it became more pronounced in the playoffs and then painfully acute against an elite defense, like the Celtics.
1) Get back in transition
2) Put a long, athletic defender on him in the half-court.
3) Have a second defender waiting on his spin move and exploit his weak handle.
You don't see teams sprinting back in transition in the regular season, but you saw even the lowly Nets do that in the bubble, because it was the playoffs.
That said, I'm still perplexed why we didn't see more Lowry + Siakam pick & roll. That was supposed to be the secret weapon we were going to unleash in the playoffs to unlock the half-court offense. Instead, we saw a steady diet of Lowry & FVV playing your-turn / my-turn keep away.... reminiscent of the Lowry-DeRozan Ride or Die offense.
Regardless, Pascal really needs to work on that handle. It's not even remotely close to where it needs to be for a first option.
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