Marcus hurts us on offense. Very poor shot selection, always. But worst of all he kills the ball movement on offense. He doesn't probe, he never moves the ball quickly, eating up shot clock time with just meaningless pounding the ball nearly every time the ball comes to him. He forces passes frequently. Of all people why, last night, did he have the ball to finish time periods? It's not like he is good at creating his own shot or penetrate and kick, or running the pick and roll. If we need him on the defensive end have him stand in the corner on offense! Keep the ball out of his hands.
Game 5 he brought some energy and didn't hurt us too much on offense, there was his 5 turnovers. Game 6 I cringed every time he touched the ball.
There is some truth here, but it's overstated. Marcus is by no means the prime offender when it comes to dribbling to nowhere. Terry also holds onto the ball. Last night, Terry's average length of possession was 4.78 seconds while Marcus was 3.73 - more than a second less. Average dribbles per touch: 4.0 for Terry, 3.16 for Marcus.
https://stats.nba.com/players/touches/?Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Playoffs&LastNGames=1&sort=TEAM_ABBREVIATION&dir=-1Marcus does, sometimes, seem to get static, while Terry is at least moving around looking for a shot. But some of that is an illusion. A lot of the time Terry dribbles to nowhere, seemingly forgetting who else is on the court with him. When Marcus holds the ball, he is usually looking for another player to establish position or to get himself into position to make a pass. And Marcus is definitely more likely to make a quick, hockey-style pass - moving the ball around the perimeter to an open man. As a scorer and shooter, I'll take Terry every time. As a passer, Marcus.
But this goes way beyond the guards. We had a number of failed possessions last night in which everybody was standing around. The ball moved between static players, without any obvious purpose or plan. Or, Mook, Jayson, or Jaylen stopped the ball after getting a pass, let the defense set, then tried to dribble past with a crossover or spin. It works once in a while, but it's not a recipe for success. We do best, especially against the Bucks, when the ball is moving. Players get the ball on a handoff, already moving, and put pressure on the defenders to switch or hedge and react. We drive and kick, then if the closeout arrives, drive again. Or we have Al pass out of a double-team.