Wes Matthews can't possibly get enough credit

[KingSpeed]

You should add onto his numbers the amount he kept Harden below his season numbers--even with his increased MPG--to get his effective scoring rate.

He also had an Ortg of 98, a Drtg of 117, and WS/48 of -.011.

He played decent, but let's not go overboard here. A PER of 9.3 on 19.9 USG kind of stinks, too.

Those stats don't matter cuz we won the series. Those stats don't measure that.

 

[Mediocre Man]

His defense wasn't that great.

 

[Natebishop3]

His defense wasn't that great.

What are you basing this on?

 

[Mediocre Man]

What are you basing this on?

My eye sight and knowledge of the game

 

[KeepOnRollin]

My eyeball test tells me Matthews had a down offensive series but an up defensive series (which I think is to expected with the energy he was wasting guarding Harden). Harden had a tough 5 games in a row and Wes was a big part of that (not the only part but a big part).

 

[Natebishop3]

My eye sight and knowledge of the game

How does your eyesight and your "knowledge of the game" account for Harden's horrible shooting percentages?

 

[Mediocre Man]

How does your eyesight and your "knowledge of the game" account for Harden's horrible shooting percentages?

No reason to put it in quotes, everyone has some knowledge of the game. I think the fact that Houston changed their entire offense for the playoffs is the main reason. Wes did an admirable job, but nothing spectacular, IMO

 

[PapaG]

Wes did the lion's share of the defending.

The Drtg says that the team was better defensively with Wes off the floor than on the floor. Not sure how many of those minutes involve Harden being off the court, but Nic had at least 6 minutes each half defending Harden when Wes went out of the game.

 

[PapaG]

Those stats don't matter cuz we won the series. Those stats don't measure that.

Hey, I love the win! It's such a relief as a fan. Let's not overvalue what Wes did, though. He needs to step up in this next series, because San Antonio doesn't have a ball-dominant SG.

 

[Daweez04]

What really impressed me about Wes was his ability to not only stay with Harden, but his effectiveness with help defense on Howard when needed. You have to cover lots of ground to guard Harden and still be able to help with the double teams. How many times did he sneak down there and just hit the ball out of Howard's hands?

 

[PapaG]

What really impressed me about Wes was his ability to not only stay with Harden, but his effectiveness with help defense on Howard when needed. You have to cover lots of ground to guard Harden and still be able to help with the double teams. How many times did he sneak down there and just hit the ball out of Howard's hands?

Twice?

 

[Natebishop3]

I don't think anyone expected Wes to shut down Harden, but he made him work for every damn shot. We were able to single coverage Harden for most of the series, which was nice because it allowed us to double Howard at times. Obviously Wes didn't guard Harden all the time, but he was on Harden most of the series. I think he had a huge factor in making Harden shoot very poorly.

 

[B-Roy]

Wes is going to be huge this next series. I have a good feeling he's going to spend a good amount of time guarding Parker, as he seems to be our best guy at getting around screens.

 

[Draco]

My eye sight and knowledge of the game

Your eyes told us we should tank the season so I'm glad nobody that matters agrees with them