If you care to subject yourself to another viewing of the final set, here’s the video [go to 2:00 mark]:
Here’s Mike Dunleavy’s explanation of what he designed in the huddle:
We ran a side out-of-bounds play, trying to get the ball into Baron to set up our last play of the game. We didn’t do a good job of setting screens there. We came to the ball with our safety valve on the play, which was good. We had six seconds. We had plenty of time to run our normal safety play, to be able to go and attack the basket. I guess Zach didn’t realize the time, and he turned around and shot that shot.
Preferably, we’d like to get the ball in…get your catch. We’ve got cutters who come off. We’re in attack mode: Get to the rim for a score, or a draw-and-kick for a good shooter for a three.
That last shot [by Randolph] was definitely not designed. We would have the ball in Baron Davis’ hands. We’re going to attack. We’ve got Novak, and Eric Gordon, and Thornton, and Zach — four guys who can make a shot off of Baron’s penetration.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. First and foremost, much of that responsibility lies with the coach. Maybe the set was poorly designed, or maybe Dunleavy didn’t communicate clearly, or maybe it was a failure of KYP. In any case, what transpired was a disaster. However, he’s right on one account: The Clippers’ stack at the foul line [Randolph and Novak] was atrocious, and you can’t fault the coach because professional ballplayers can’t execute a screen that most fundamentally sound varsity high school players could. Watch the play again, and try to discern what Zach Randolph is doing when Baron darts high from the baseline. It’s inexcusable.
Want to know where I fault Dunleavy? He’s the guy who brought in the personnel. He’s the person who fetishized Randolph’s 20-and-10 stat line and determined that this [see below] would translate into wins for a team in desperate need of players who can perform the workaday duties of the professional basketball player — things like setting screens for teammates, defending the pick-and-roll, conditioning, and not assaulting Louis Amundson.
So do I blame Dunleavy the Coach for Zach Randolph’s stupidity on the final set? Not entirely, provided he conveyed his intentions in the huddle with the necessary clarity. I think 85% of the starting bigs in the league get Baron the space he needs on the play to get the ball and work that drive-and-kick. But I do blame Dunleavy the General Manager, for being suckered into accepting Zach Randolph and his three year/$48M contract without considering that this left-handed savant has consistently demonstrated awful judgment as a teammate, defender, and crunch time producer.
21 Responses
“But I do blame Dunleavy the General Manager, for being suckered into accepting Zach Randolph and his three year/$48M contract without considering that this left-handed savant has consistently demonstrated awful judgment as a teammate, defender, and crunch time producer.” … you forgot awful judgement as a person as well, which was always a big red exclamation mark for any GM thinking of signing this guy
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1676104
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Venting our anger against Zach Randolph is just plain ridiculous.
As if we hand 12 seconds on the clock. There was no time to analyse on the court. Why didn’t Dumbleavy call the T/O?
Let’s not pick on any player. If the HEAD Coach doesn’t take the responsibilty for the outcome, why do we need a Coach? Let the players play on their own. Then we can blame them instead.
Just plain tired of all these name calling. Players damn play hard every nite. Unfortunately they don’t have a coach who knows how to take care of the team. Sad. It’s really sad.
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Section 113 Reply:
March 11th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
FYI, the coach can’t call a TO…just saying. He sucks, Zach sucks, Baron sucks, Thornton 1/2 sucks.
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Dj Reply:
March 12th, 2009 at 12:56 am
“Players damn play hard every nite.”
If you’re saying what I think you’re saying…are we watching the same Clippers?
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Kudos Kevin. “I guess Zach didn’t realize the time” and wouldn’t that be the coaches responsibility? And thank you for lending support to my thoughts posted numerous times here of the acquistion of Randolph and the Knicks suckering Dunleavy and the Clips. We now have a 300 pound/$50M albatross for the next 3 seasons.
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kirbs Reply:
March 15th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Z-Bo has a brain and 2 eyes hasn’t he ?. A NBA player shouldn’t have the coach needing to tell him how long to go in a game. If MD had executed that play, then its the players who f**ked it up, by not setting a decent screen, then shooting half cocked.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
What happened toward the end of the game when the coach took out Thornton and then relized his mistake and put in right back in the game..wtf????
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
The shot by Zach was not designed? Well no shit you fuckin retard, nobody was open and your best shooter was inbounding the ball!
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Dj Reply:
March 12th, 2009 at 12:54 am
It is kind of interesting that our best shooter coming off screens is inbounding the ball on a play that’s perfect for him. Just stupid stuff.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I think it’s pretty short-sighted to hang this loss all on Z-Bo. Yes, it was a stupid and ugly shot, but how the hell do we let the game come down to a desperation three after being up 19 (NINETEEN) points at the top of the 4th quarter…at home no less.
Horrible loss, but it’s not all Zach’s fault. We can’t hang this all on the players, I am convinced this EXACT team would win 45+ just by changing coaches.
Hire Eddie Jordan!!
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James Reply:
March 11th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I agree, Zach had nothing to do with Chris Kaman throwing the ball to the other team or Dunleavy not subbing in Camby whilst Kaman was fumbling around, or the fact that Dunleavy said he is LIMITING KAMAN to 24 minutes and still kept him in the damn game making retarded plays to con tribute to coughing up our lead. Kaman was rusty therefore you don’t play him while trying to maintain your 19 point lead.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Yeah. Seriously. Surprising to be reading that here. Zach has produced for us. And before people bring up Gordon and Camby, Zbo’s play has actually correlated to wins on the court.
The Zach criticism is ridiculous. Espn Page 2, Bill Simmons. “The Dumbleavy Era”
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090311&sportCat=nba
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Dj Reply:
March 12th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Enjoy the next three years of the Zach Randolph era, loyal Zach Randolph supporters!
Just keep looking at those point and rebound totals and nothing else, and everything will be just fine. Ignorance is bliss!
I find it ironic that you link to the Bill Simmons post, which pretty much kills Z-Bo throughout.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I blame Baron, not Z-Bo. He’s the guy getting $65 million to be the team leader, to nail that dagger 3 that inspires confidence and makes the other team realize its not going to come back from a 19 point hole. He’s supposed to will the team not to lose, and yet he says we were looking over to the coach to save us? That’s your job schmuck!
And I disagree with Simmons (and agree with KA) on Thornton last night. He played LeBron as well as could be expected.
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benoit benjamin's two left shoes Reply:
March 11th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Forgot to add — I bet that loss bothered every Clipper fan in the building more than it did B-Diddy. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about what a horrible loss it was. Do you think he did?
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Stian Reply:
March 11th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Baron did say, “from here on out it’s all on me” to Bill Simmons a couple of weeks ago so he should be the leader to rally the team like LeBron did with his team at half time.
The problem is – Baron, through his own behavior, has created a big disconnect with his team mates an has no credibility as a leader. How can you possibly respect and be inspired by a guy who doesn’t even have enough pride to show up to camp in shape, who only gives effort when he feels like it, especially on D, and who won’t even sit behind the bench with the rest of the guys when he is injured?
This team’s leader needs to be Eric Gordon because he does lead by example every night. I hope he’ll be made team captain and is ready to take over that role next year. But for that to happen, Baron needs to be removed from this team because he would never stand for being usurped by a youngster.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
This game wasn’t lost on the final play. It was lost much earlier in the 4th when we let the lead get under 10. We got to a double digit lead (11) once or twice after that, but once they got within 7 the game was effectively over.
Dunleavy made changes to the personnel on the court when the Cavs were approaching the 10 point margin, but he never called a time out, which I thought he should of. That was the time this team needed leadership to step-up and win. Baron was also absent as a leader when we needed him to be then. At that crucial moment, somebody needed to get the group together and command the team to focus down the stretch, and it didn’t happen. Lebron gave his team a great on-court pep talk (ass chewing) at half time, but when it was time for either Dunleavy or Baron to step up and motivate the guys, neither one did.
I think conditioning was also a factor, which is also on Dunleavy. At least partially …players need to take pride in themselves, but it’s the coach’s responsibility to demand it. Kaman and Camby get a little bit of a pass since Kaman obviously needs a little more time to get back and shape, and Camby was off due to his ear problems. I’ve never seen him mishandle the ball so much. But there were too many healthy or near-healthy players to use the “not 100%: excuse.
I think they slowed the game down because they were up by so much that they figured time would run out before the Cavs could take the lead. But when it became a game again, it looked like they’d lost the energy to get going full-speed again. Guys ran out of steam, as they often have throughout the year. This team’s conditioning needs to improve if they’re ever going to be winners. I thought it was really telling earlier this year that when we traded Tim Thomas to the Knicks, D’Antoni didn’t play him right away because he wasn’t in good enough shape. He was starting for us a week earlier. If someone who starting for us, can’t even play for D’Antoni because of conditioning, then we have a problem.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Forgot to add. That loss probably bothered every Clipper fan in the building more than it did B-Diddy. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about what a horrible, spirit-crushing loss it was. Do you think he did?
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Wow, Kevin, you’re better than this.
I know you were a Z-Bo hater and criticized the trade but then he played too well for us to rip the guy. Even you couldn’t say anything negative – he gave you no legit ammo.
Now that Zach makes a bonehead play at the most crucial time out com the knives. Bill Simmons is the worst hack of them all. And, sadly, you chime right in.
Other than Gordon, Zach is the single BIGGEST difference maker on this team (as our record with and without him proves) and to dismiss the guy’s 20/10 as basically ‘whatever’ is just ignorant.
Weak, dude. Very weak.
This game wasn’t lost on that last play – it was lost before that, and Zach had a hand in it. As did EVERYONE else. Zach might have blown the last play but this team collectively blew the whole 4th quarter, especially the last 7 minutes.
There is no need or point to hate on Zach (who wasn’t even supposed to be in uni in the first place because of his dad’s pending funeral) – unless you want to unload on everyone equally.
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Posted on March 11th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
You guys need to work on your reading comprehension. Read his post again.
K.A. is using that last play as the perfect example of what Zach Randolph is all about. NO, Zach Randolph is not responsible for this loss. K.A. isn’t saying that- he’s saying that Zach’s effort on that last play is a perfect summary of his game as a whole.
Lazy- Not setting a basic screen.
Selfish- Not looking for anyone once he caught the ball.
Stupid- Shooting his third airball 3 of the night with enough time to get a better look.
There is a reason this post is called “General Management”. It’s more of a criticism of Dunleavy than anything else.
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Jax Reply:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Stian knows that it was a criticism of Dunleavy. Which is the real reason he responded the way he did.
Stian – do you have any criticisms of Dunleavy for that game? Or did you enjoy the final quarter.
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Posted on March 12th, 2009 at 12:38 am
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