I will agree with that. Barnes looked awful tonight, especially in the first quarter. The thing that frustrates me with Matt is that I think he steps outside of his bounds offensively at times. Matt needs to understand that when playing with the starting lineup he is our fifth best offensive player on the floor, or in other words...the worst. Now I am not saying that he should pass up open looks when they are there, but there are times when he tries to do too much when he has Grant, Steve, Shaq, and J-Rich all on the floor.
Usually I would be understanding of Gentry leaving Barnes in, but he was so overmatched trying to guard Aldridge that it was killing us on both ends of the floor. It just seemed to me like Lou, Swift, and Dudley were all better options after about the first four minutes.
Stevie was awful tonight, but it's hard to go away from the heart and soul of your team when he is struggling. We have seen Steve play terrible in the first half and then play incredible in the second. Same with Matt.
We just had a bad night all together and I don't know if perfect coaching would have changed to outcome.