GAME 5: OKC (3-3) @ DAL (2-3) | 111-117 OT loss

[DanSchwartzgan]

No, it aged SUPER well. It was right after the swing that put them up by like 12! 

I stand by it soooooo confidently. Things fell apart when Luka, DFS and Bullock re-entered, as has been stated by everyone along the way and had nothing to do with Wood being unable to play defensive center. Maybe that's even true about him, but that certainly isn't what went wrong in the stretch you're talking about. 

I don't want to jump to conclusions like some, but I can understand why they are wondering whether Kidd has preconceived biases against Wood at this point. He's definitely not being integrated to full potential. Hopefully, it's a matter of time and patience.

We’ve got a bit of a logical fallacy going on here.  You don’t get to assign credit to Wood in the good run and exempt his misdeeds during the poor stretch.  To be clear, we are talking about the time from 9:10 to 4:52 as the good run (recall this started as a post about Wood as a single big…Maxi went out at 9:10).  We are also talking about the period from 4:52 on…the one in one thousand change of losing a 16 point lead in under five minutes.

Wood did do some nice things in the +9 section without Maxi.  He hit a two and blocked two shots.  He picked up his 4th foul.  I would rank him fourth in terms of importance to the run.  Much more credit should go to Dinwiddie, Hardaway and Green.

Yes, things did fall apart when Luka, DFS and Bullock entered (and Green left).  But, it wasn’t necessarily BECAUSE they entered.  Wood is as much to blame as anyone for the collapse.  Yes, he hit a bucket early, but his D was terrible.  He was a traffic cone and provided no rim protection (part of the problem with Wood as the solo-big).  Everything OKC got was at the basket.  Joe scored a two on him.  Wood wasn’t even looking offering no help when SGA blew by Bullock (because Wood spent too much time posing on his missed 3).  SGA blew by Wood getting all the way to the basket and hitting Joe in the corner for a three.  Then SGA got a loose ball that went right by Wood and shot a two right in his face.

I’d challenge you to go back and watch that final 4:52 (without the rose-colored glasses) and tell me that Wood wasn’t part of the problem.  I’m not saying he was the entire problem.  No one could buy a bucket.  But, he was a significant contributor to our defensive woes.  Remember, you are the one creating the logical fallacy that credits Wood for good team play and pushes blame for bad team play elsewhere.  So, the standard is that Wood’s play was fine and it really was the others who caused the collapse.  I think you will be disappointed if you watch that stretch again.  His D was really bad.

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BTW, I’m not anti-Wood.  All summer I said he’d be the key to a prolific bench.  I also pointed out his history defensively as a solo-big is much worse than his history playing alongside another big.

Clearly, the coaching staff feels the same way (of felt the same way until Kidd childishly let the media pick the closing lineup just to show them how little they know).