Forgot the game was on tonight so I missed it, but reading the box I thought one stat told the story eloquently - 7 FTAs. Shades of the Knicks game where we went into the 4th Q wo one FTA, and ended up with a similar number because the Knicks started intentionally fouling at the end.
I think we are seeing the downside of D'Antoni's coaching philosophy. We have no plays (that we use) that have anyone going to the hoop except the pick & roll so the coach or Nash has no way of getting guys to make cuts to the hoop if they are not inclined to do it on their own.
I know I've been ragging on Shawn for staying outside too much since the Nets game but it's a subtle swipe at D'Antoni, too, because it's his job to make sure the players are doing what he wants, so he's either not doing his job or he's content with Shawn loitering on the perimeter, which is just as bad. The same is true of Shawn's crummy job on the P&R, which several people have commented on of late - is D'Antoni afraid it would hurt the morale if he insisted on Shawn actually staying with the pick or is he just so unaware he doesn't see it?
I did see Shawn set a pick for Raja in the Clips game... almost fell out of my chair. Shawn intentionally held the pick - it was not a P&R role situation . (But Bell did have the ball so Shawn has maintained his perfect record of never having set an off ball pick. And, yes, that is another swipe at the coaches.)
The obvious reason we lost the game was the injuries, JJax's continued terrible shooting, House having an off game at home, etc. But D'Antoni's offense is still sub optimal and with some way to force the players to make cuts Nash might have gotten them out of the doldrums - and picked up a few more FTAs.
IMO, if JJax would start making some cuts and setting some off-ball picks for his teammates - even post up some - he'd get into the flow of the game and get back into form. You'd think he's enough of a vet to know that himself but apparently he's not and since the coach doesn't teach or value such things it may linger on and on. Twenty-five minutes a game might fix him, too, and maybe that will be forced on D'Antoni.
I think this goes all the way back to coach Mikey not starting JJax at the beginning of the year - on the basis that he'd earned it last year and someone had to beat him out in games that counted. (This is an example of what I mentioned before, coaches judgement being hurt by what they see in practice!)