Luka Kings

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nikku

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Published on June 9, 2023 9:08:58 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPOtV5E65po

Duration: 1:05:27

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challenging myself... because of the schedule

I had a bad feeling looming over these next two games. Adding extra players into the pool is only going to make it harder, but same for the Thunder so it's doing its purpose. "Who let the Hornets get Tatum" is something I'll be kicking myself over. He's a lower overall then their star incumbents and tendencies have to be pushing him way up. There is already Napier and Lance, who are invincible at the rim and capable of hitting tough shots. Lance literally got 4-on-1'ed before somehow drawing the foul on Hines. Now Tatum is also sly enough to maneuver around for open shots or create for himself. There is not a hole at SF that you can leave wide like MKG - who now finds all of his points at the line instead (imagine that). I tried my best to do it with Drummond, the insane rebound monster with a never-before-seen acrobat layup. Hacking him barely worked, as I pushed on to the next target when it failed on MKG. They always had a timely answer when I made a run, but Lance sitting for a while and some 3rd quarter anger shifted the balance.

Offense was going to be generated out of pure frustration. The third quarter threw out whatever the plan was in favor of a fight for survival. I was not going to be able to fly my way back in with threes, because Charlotte covers ground well to get crazy blocks. What did work was looking at how much Luka had, comparing it to one of their top names, then utilizing his star power. A 99 overall cannot afford to disappear, so he had to go out swinging. Both he and Russ manned this rocky boat, working hard through pacing for their spots and drilling most of the threes. Jeffries hasn't blocked multiple shots in a while, being mostly beat down by Drummond. He can miss a lay right under the rim in one moment and dunk on two defenders the next. Armstrong and Frank took turns guarding Tatum each half respectively. I thought the former was effective drawing fouls, and the latter made an impact in slowing them down. They need to not fall behind in this pecking order, that is something dependent on me. Hines was limited by a shorter lineup late where starters needed to dominate minutes. Moody is the star of the rookies for his two confident buzzers when I desperately was looking for confidence. Fuller might be miscast but I know he will have a performance somewhere down the line.

From being down 8 forever, I scraped back into the game at the end of the 2nd and 3rd. I still fumbled it to go into the half at a deficit worse than 8. One more ball not picked up off the ground might end me. It's a good challenge that forces you to turn the fan on, take your hoodie off, and really focus.

6/7

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