Gaff made a couple shots and RJ never found his stroke so it may have played out the same, but, as soon as Gillespie backed RJ down for the first 'and one', it was obvious they were going to do that until we stopped it. We should have made a defensive adjustment to trap and get the ball out of Gillespie's hands and risk their ball movement in spite of our need to scramble. We chose to risk giving up 2 instead of 3, but by default we also lost our point guard a minute later because he was physically outmatched to play that scheme. Not having your starting point guard for 15 minutes in the first half doesn't help offensive flow much. Then they backed down Gaff the same way and we were really at risk.
We are so close. Even against a well coached efficient opponent we are a couple plays away. That's what makes a handful of calls so impactful. We can't lose Jackson because refs anticipate fouls. The out of bounds called off Whaley cost us a foul and basket. I'd also love to hear the explanation of how Gillespie can keep throwing his body into defenders until he gets the advantage he is looking for. If you don't knock the defender down it's not a foul? I thought contact that resulted in advantage was the foul. I think a big like Sanogo would be called.
