I was watching Tim Duncan yesterday

[bokes15]

Lately i've been observing the late game plays of certain teams, so yesterday I was watching the Lakers/Spurs game because I was particularly interested in what they would do down the stretch against Kobe and the Lakers.

My first thoughts in the last couple of minutes were "what the hell is Roger Mason jr. doing on Kobe? are they retarded?" and sure enough, Kobe starts going off. Now, if you just watched the game highlights you probably saw Mason's game winning shot + foul shot, but what you may not have seen was Duncan aka Mr. Reliable down the stretch.

They passed it into Timmy twice with the game on the line, and he has such a wide array of moves that it's nearly impossible to stop. He can make a strong move with his back to the basket, pump fakes, hook shots, go glass, and even take the mid-range jumper with the game on the line. In this case he made a back to the basket hook shot to bring them within one I believe. Then they gave it to him again and he made another one to put them ahead one, before Kobe made the 3 and Mason had the go ahead 3 point play.

But my point being, Bosh is not a go-to player, very similar to what KG was before coming to Boston. When Bosh gets the ball down the stretch everyone and their mother know exactly what he's gonna do. Either: catch the ball, pivot and do a step back fadeaway jumper, or pump fake a bunch of times and try to take his man off the dribble. A guy who stands back a little, stays on the ground and keeps a hand in his face essentially takes away both of these moves with relative ease.

So, my point in all of this is that for all of the talk about guard play, the typical thing to do with the game on the line is to give the ball to the teams best player (whoever that player may be) and let him go to work. Bosh just doesn't have the game to do that, and not necessarily just because he's a power forward.

[Valliant13]

Um...using the GOAT PF as an example of what PF’s in general should be able to do is terrible analysis. It’s like pointing to Jordan and saying a guard should be able to anchor a championship team.

[bokes15]

Originally Posted by Valliant13

Um...using the GOAT PF as an example of what PF’s in general should be able to do is terrible analysis. It’s like pointing to Jordan and saying a guard should be able to anchor a championship team.

I didn't post anything about what he should and should not be able to do, I posted about what he can and cannot do. There's a difference.

[huppcap]

Originally Posted by bokes15

But my point being, Bosh is not a go-to player, very similar to what KG was before coming to Boston. When Bosh gets the ball down the stretch everyone and their mother know exactly what he's gonna do. Either: catch the ball, pivot and do a step back fadeaway jumper, or pump fake a bunch of times and try to take his man off the dribble. A guy who stands back a little, stays on the ground and keeps a hand in his face essentially takes away both of these moves with relative ease.

Bosh certainly has not finished the last couple of games well.

Last night I wonder if they were originally trying to go to Bargnani on the last offensive play or was it Bosh the whole time where he got stuffed.

[bokes15]

This is what Noah said after the game:

Noah said the key was not biting on Bosh's initial move.

"I knew he was going to try to pump fake because he pump fakes a lot,'' Noah said. "I didn't go for his first pump fake and the shot clock was going down so I knew he had to get it up. I got my hand on it and got the block.''

And to answer the other question, I read somewhere (can't remember now, can't find it) but the play was drawn up for Bosh. JT said something to the effect of "you give it your teams best player with the game on the line, but he was just defended well so credit to the Bulls" pretty much a some nights you have it and some you don't type of comment.