Why Is MKG Not Starting?

[RMT]

I've not been able to watch the last few games but I notice when I check the box score that he came off the bench tonight and did'n play at all aginst Chicago.

[JamieMcNeill]

Scratched cornea held him out against chi. Working him back slowly tonight


Perpetual Optimism

[fan_of_a_fan]

MKG played tonight. I didn't understand why he didn't start or play any minutes in the 4th quarter though.

[Adam42R]

MKG played tonight. I didn't understand why he didn't start or play any minutes in the 4th quarter though.

Heard the post game on the way home from the arena and coach said it [he & Kemba not in for the 4th] was because the guards on the floor were being efficient on both ends of the court (Dell suggested he didn't want to upset that rhythm also). He didn't start I assume because he was a GTD and that must have been the decision.

From my POV (and I was amassing tix all 3rd quarter so I missed most of that ), they [Kemba & MKG] weren't doing as much to propel the team as Sessions & Gordon in the 2nd half so it seems justified.

[StakJak]

I wasn't in favor of Dunlap subbing in anybody at that point. The offense looked good with that unit in the 4th; our offense is too shitty for us to afford to fuck with it when it gets going...the flow of our offense is about as fragile as a Christmas ornament. Give the youngins their minutes, but play to win a la the hot hands...by Bobcat standards, they were offensively on a role.

I'm not a fan of this "put the young guns in during crunch time" mentality. When the younger players are on the floor and hot, or at least in good form, I'm fine with them being left in in the 4th; when the "older" offense is on the floor and struggling, I'm fine with plugging in the youngins in the 4th ...but when the game's in the balance late, and you got Sesh, Taylor, Gordon playing well, keep them in and play to win.

[JGib23]

Just my .02 but, I have zero interest in watching Sessions and Gordon play an entire 4th quarter while our 2 best players and future of our franchise sit the bench.

I'm pissed that we lost and Kemba and MKG didnt play a single f'ing minute in the 4th. I can take the losing as long as the young players are getting game deciding minutes... Really pissed at Dunlap right now.

[Scottley Crue]

Just my .02 but, I have zero interest in watching Sessions and Gordon play an entire 4th quarter while our 2 best players and future of our franchise sit the bench.

I'm pissed that we lost and Kemba and MKG didnt play a single f'ing minute in the 4th. I can take the losing as long as the young players are getting game deciding minutes... Really pissed at Dunlap right now.

I'd argue that Kemba and MKG did play deciding minutes...the first 36. I love those two and think they're the core to our future success, but tonight? Neither one of them really had it going. I have no problem with Dunlap doing that tonight. If he makes a habit of it, that's something different. But he was clearly trying all night to find a group that would work, and when he did, he stuck with it. Nothing more, nothing less.

[BlockParty]

A couple of observations...

I was surprised that Kemba never made it back in, but at the 3 minute mark in the 3rd, CLE had 86 points, until Kyrie went off, the Cavs had scored well south of 10 points in almost 12 minutes.

I was also surprised at how scrappy Tyrus was (MKG is usually playing the 4 spot late in games when we go small ball).

We had just had a 3 day break from games, in Dunlap's world, fatigue would not be an excuse if a player had to go 48 minutes.

Multiple times early in the game, Dunlap was visibly more frustrated with his team then I can ever remember. So not changing lineups once something was working makes sense.

Finally, Diop's minutes... horrible! Proof that some pro-contracts can be even less productive then a group of politicians.

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[Adam42R]

A couple of observations...

I was surprised that Kemba never made it back in, but at the 3 minute mark in the 3rd, CLE had 86 points, until Kyrie went off, the Cavs had scored well south of 10 points in almost 12 minutes.

I was also surprised at how scrappy Tyrus was (MKG is usually playing the 4 spot late in games when we go small ball).

We had just had a 3 day break from games, in Dunlap's world, fatigue would not be an excuse if a player had to go 48 minutes.

Multiple times early in the game, Dunlap was visibly more frustrated with his team then I can ever remember. So not changing lineups once something was working makes sense.

Finally, Diop's minutes... horrible! Proof that some pro-contracts can be even less productive then a group of politicians.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2

Thought the same about Tyrus' scrap. I was concerned that he might have gone and hidden after the blunk but he didn't. Think he had a tip oob on the Cavs end following that and soon after, took the charge from Irving - I thought we needed that kind of grit out there and he delivered.

Diop's minutes were odd - I had missed most of the third so I wasn't sure why he was in - guess it was to spell a winded Haywood?? I hope it was that and not just a perk to let him log some minutes against his old team. He [Diop] seemed like he wanted to be aggressive but was very much a non-player.

And I thought the same thing re: Dunlap seeming frustrated. He cracked a nervous smile very early in the game but then several times he seemed quite irked. Even the post game that I caught he seemed to emote more than normal. Perhaps the W-L is starting to get to him as well - esp. if the execution doesn't match (his) intensity. And to me, that (intensity) did seem missing from much of the team for the first half (spare oddly enough TTime).

[Plowright]

At one point TT was staring at Dunlap in the 4th, he looked like he was trying to stare Dunlap to put him in... When Dunlap didnt make eye contact he started shaking his head like he was really dissapointed, don't know if anyone else saw? Also in the interview after the game he talked about how he had lost so many games over the time he had been in Charlotte, his body language was pretty bad, deflated.