Please Larry it's our only hope...

[BobcatsAllDay]

LB you have to get our PGs involved in the offense. When Ray & DJ are agressive we are a far better team. Add the fact that our PG contribution needs to be the 3rd head of the offense (of course Crash and Jack are the one, two punch). I know you have the plays in the playbook that can put these guys in attack mode on offense. All you have to do is tell Ray and he may go overboard but that's better than what we have seen so far (besides the 2nd half of game 1). DJ hit two threes in the 1st half of game one and I'm not sure if he took a shot after that. If our PGs are not attacking we don't stand a chance. That's what I'm looking for on Saturday from the 1st to the 4th.

[spectre]

I'm sure he wants them to, but you can't discount Orlando's defense. They've been doing a very admirable job keeping our PGs out on the perimeter.

Jax...love him or hate him...does not really contribute to ball movement. I know he likes to think he does (and sometime he really does), but we see way too many times him doing that iso game. Until we really start to move the ball like we have in the past we're not going to get that much penetration other than from our wings.

[Felton for Prez]

Jax...love him or hate him...does not really contribute to ball movement. I know he likes to think he does (and sometime he really does), but we see way too many times him doing that iso game.

Thank you. The problem with his iso game is that it's 12 seconds of jab steps and ball fakes which basically causes the other 4 guys to just stand there. All "flow" dies. It drives me nuts.

[spectre]

Heh...remember when people bitched about Felton shooting? What was that line..."going into hero mode"? He's been deferring for most of the year (and that's been a good thing), but now we all want him to shoot!

I agree we need more aggression from the PGs and everyone else. Felton did a great job of that in the 2nd half of the 1st game and we need more of that. DJ looked like he's shaken some of the fear off last game with those 2 3s, but he can't stop looking not to shoot. Unlike Felton scoring has always been more his forte'.

Playoffs look bigger than Felton, so far

A lot of it is true.

Of course...give Felton the reins of the 2nd seed/defending EC champions with one of the best Ds in the league and match them up against a 7th seed in their 1st playoff series and I don't know that it'd be the same.

Eh. A lot of guys could be doing "more". Again...I just don't know what the hell some people actually expected.

[110oldeast]

My man. I just wrote a thread called: Will the Real Raymond Felton please stand up? Of course, I accidentally hit a button and the beautiful system kicked me back to the login page, leaving my post nowhere to be found. I will try to put it in this thread.

LB you have to get our PGs involved in the offense. When Ray & DJ are agressive we are a far better team. Add the fact that our PG contribution needs to be the 3rd head of the offense (of course Crash and Jack are the one, two punch). I know you have the plays in the playbook that can put these guys in attack mode on offense. All you have to do is tell Ray and he may go overboard but that's better than what we have seen so far (besides the 2nd half of game 1). DJ hit two threes in the 1st half of game one and I'm not sure if he took a shot after that. If our PGs are not attacking we don't stand a chance. That's what I'm looking for on Saturday from the 1st to the 4th.

[110oldeast]

While many things have disappointed me thus far in this series (our approach to defending the 3 and NOT running guys off the 3 pt shot being near the top), one of my biggest disappointments has been the PASSIVE and DEFERRENTIAL play of Raymond Felton. While Bobcats folks (media/fans) have always had a hate/love relationship with him, what cannot be denied is that whenever we have beaten or been competitive with the top tier teams in the league is that he has been a significant factor. Even in this series, the one good half of ball we had was one in which he had (an unmentioned/glossed over) 14 pts including 10 in the 4th quarter when we came back in Game 1.

The one plotline I disagreed with from the beginning, as nice as it was for PR purposes, was that we would go as far as Jack and Crash "carried" us. Because, while this may be the case against lower level teams like Philly or the Clippers, they have not, cannot, and likely will not "carry" us against the top teams. The 3rd and often 2nd significant factor in our games against top comp has often been Felton. In this series, we have gotten better shots when he has been aggressive, whether through driving and dishing or getting it up on the board and giving the help defender's man a lane to the offensive boards. When Ray has passed it off and watched the other guys run the offense, it has opened us up for more TOs and bad shots, leading to easy shots for Orlando. We are turning it over about 17 times a game in this series and Felton has 3 of the total 34 TOs. To me that says he's not handling the ball enough.

I honestly thought that after Felton's aggressive 2nd half in Game 1 that he would come out aggressive in Game 2, but instead he went back into "coach/people pleasing let the game come to my, don't do too much" mode. The problem is that when he does this against quality teams, other guys on the floor start trying to do too much with detrimental outcomes. That approach is cool if it is working, but when you as a pg see that it's not, you need to adjust and get aggressive.

Felton and the team are at their best when he is assertive as a PRIMARY ballhandler/offense initiator and allows other guys to be SECONDARY ballhandlers/playmakers and play FINISHERS. I love when he says that he doesn't care how much he scores, he only cares about winning. However, in this series, he needs to accept that in order for his team to win, he is going to have to be an AGGRESSIVE participant making plays for himself and his teammates, pushing the ball when the opportunity is there, and not deferring so much in the halfcourt.

While folks have tried to call out "a hero complex" in the past, I would prefer that much more than his Zen/Monk approach of letting what will be, be. Go out swinging. You have been as much a part of this team's success as anyone else and it's time you take on that role and responsibility.

[110oldeast]

The thing Ray has done this year is that he has deferred until he realized the team needed him to step up. He has deferred in this series, but has not stepped up as the team has needed him outside of Game 1 2nd half.

He has stepped up against good teams a lot this year. He's gotta realize this aint Philly, LAC, or whomever else our wings can carry us against. He's gotta be part of a 3 headed monster.

And this is from someone who has always thought he was undervalued relative to our typical overvaluing of our players (his best assumed role has been scapegoat) and thought the hero mode talk was a load of crap.

Heh...remember when people bitched about Felton shooting? What was that line..."going into hero mode"? He's been deferring for most of the year (and that's been a good thing), but now we all want him to shoot!

I agree we need more aggression from the PGs and everyone else. Felton did a great job of that in the 2nd half of the 1st game and we need more of that. DJ looked like he's shaken some of the fear off last game with those 2 3s, but he can't stop looking not to shoot. Unlike Felton scoring has always been more his forte'.

Playoffs look bigger than Felton, so far

A lot of it is true.

Of course...give Felton the reins of the 2nd seed/defending EC champions with one of the best Ds in the league and match them up against a 7th seed in their 1st playoff series and I don't know that it'd be the same.

Eh. A lot of guys could be doing "more". Again...I just don't know what the hell some people actually expected.

[BlackH20]

LB you have to get our PGs involved in the offense. When Ray & DJ are agressive we are a far better team. Add the fact that our PG contribution needs to be the 3rd head of the offense (of course Crash and Jack are the one, two punch). I know you have the plays in the playbook that can put these guys in attack mode on offense. All you have to do is tell Ray and he may go overboard but that's better than what we have seen so far (besides the 2nd half of game 1). DJ hit two threes in the 1st half of game one and I'm not sure if he took a shot after that. If our PGs are not attacking we don't stand a chance. That's what I'm looking for on Saturday from the 1st to the 4th.

Hughes, if given the minutes would have got this team 1 win. Nothing for the future, maybe pissed off some young ones, but one win is what this team needed. A 6 foot 5 point guard with 12 years experience and good hands and can still steal the ball. One quarter last night, and he caught fire, but benched most the third, need to win a game. Hughes is no superstar, but earning 17 mil this year, he is here cause he wants to win and play in the playoffs. At 31, best defender on the team and still some of the best hands. Hand broke twice, not the best shooter, but can catch fire and put up a quick 20 and dish assist that you can't follow with your eyes. We should have won last night, Hughes was in with 5-7 point leads and some players did not want to pass to him (too hungry for play off stats). Plain shame. Brown, Jordon, too many questions, but I always say, get a W. Let a Vet do it. Hughes took Cleveland to the finals as a point guard. Lead the league in steals at Washington. Scored 14 points a game over 12 years. Fresh legs from D'Antoni's goofy system, let him loose a half.

[Marvel]

Felton is who he is.People are discrediting Jameer by saying he has a dominant big,sure, but not in this series.Put Felton in Meers shoes he probably couldn't hit the backboard.You can try and put a twist on Felton's deficiencies but he's still doing the same thing he's always done-drive too deep and look for the kickout or bring it back out and try his luck again with another pick n roll.
The bitter-sweet thing about playing Orlando is the exposure.They've exposed our weaknesses just like they did Cleveland last year and they made adjustments to counter that.We all knew we were deficient offensively but that deficiency has been magnified playing a team that made the finals last season.
The questions start to roll out,adjustments to the roster are made, we make progress.I have full confidence MJ will put a winning team-even better team on the floor next season.

[G Force]

Hughes, if given the minutes would have got this team 1 win. Nothing for the future, maybe pissed off some young ones, but one win is what this team needed. A 6 foot 5 point guard with 12 years experience and good hands and can still steal the ball. One quarter last night, and he caught fire, but benched most the third, need to win a game. Hughes is no superstar, but earning 17 mil this year, he is here cause he wants to win and play in the playoffs. At 31, best defender on the team and still some of the best hands. Hand broke twice, not the best shooter, but can catch fire and put up a quick 20 and dish assist that you can't follow with your eyes. We should have won last night, Hughes was in with 5-7 point leads and some players did not want to pass to him (too hungry for play off stats). Plain shame. Brown, Jordon, too many questions, but I always say, get a W. Let a Vet do it. Hughes took Cleveland to the finals as a point guard. Lead the league in steals at Washington. Scored 14 points a game over 12 years. Fresh legs from D'Antoni's goofy system, let him loose a half.

Is this some lame attempt at comedy?

Larry Hughes "earning 17 mill this year?"

Try $160,000.


He's one of the worst players and still hasn't bought into Larry Brown's system. "Best defender on the team?" Just stop. You've made a complete fool of yourself today. Larry Hughes was not the difference between a loss and a win. STOP.