Dirk wrote:OH MY GOD PJ WASHINGTON MAVS CAREER HIGHLIGHT REEL
I don't know what go to him, but Hornets fans scouting report did often highlight that he comes and goes as far as his "focus". I'd say he's generally always been engaged on D, but he definitely has a very low key/passive looking demeanour. Fingers crossed he has turned some kind of page and gets to hit the 3s with consistency.
Nice clips. Especially the block was so refreshing to see during the game. Other than Lively no one was blocking shots for this team. Now Maxi is also back, PJ is here, Gafford is great rim protector. So we have much better defense!
For both PJ and Gafford, I was able to notice some of their easy mistakes, 'losing team' habits and in some cases lack of urgency for tight moments. These two played less competitive games than Maxi-DFS etc. When you play those hard 4th quarters where both good teams want to win, then the intensity increases.
Moving screens, easy foul calls, not securing the rebound. I mean other teams players know those tricks, sometimes just flopping and getting offensive foul calls on Gafford. You may ask how can PJ-Gafford can avoid other teams flopping. It is possible to avoid a considerable part of them. As you play more in those tight games, and also understand how REFs are acting depending on home-away court and momentum, you need to adjust how hard you set a screen or how careless you can be. For instance, you sometimes need to take the rebound in a way that you also take the hit and get foul call, easy FTs. These are not so important for Wizards games but for clutch games, its always nice to get FTs due to foul on rebounding.
Its easier to play when you're down 20 in 2nd quarter with Hornets. Or against Wizards, no player takes those game serious unless if the game goes close to the 4th quarter. So some of those bad habits needs improvement. It may take time. But as we play 'winnning baksetball', I think both PJ-Gafford will get better. I trust their effort. They seemed to be locked in!