Walter is getting the lion’s share of the credit for the championship, and deservedly so, but Will Richard saved us from disaster in the first half of the championship game. I don’t think enough is being said about it. Houston sold out on stopping Clayton and someone had to step up. That guy was Will Richard last night. He kept us in the game, and close enough for Walter and the rest of our team to take over.
That's what is so wonderful about this team....there isn't a single player the other team can key on that someone else won't step-up. Its been that way the whole season.
Richard made some big defensive stops in the final semi-final too. You can’t deny Clayton’s jaw dropping barrage of scoring in that same game which is why he won final 4 mvp. Richard really stepped it up and was the overall MVG of the final game if there was such a thing. Clearly they were set on stopping Clayton so we needed someone else to drain some 3’s or we lose. I didn’t love Clayton coming right out of the gate with “heat check” 3’s although he’s the one guy that earned that right. It felt like he played into their hands a bit. The best thing the gameplan did early was get our bigs a few easy buckets on run outs. Late they made that adjustment to have Clayton off the ball more, which helped get him some better shots.
What seems important is that the PLAYERS do not look at things the way the media and fans do - focusing on WCJr. TBF, WCJr does nothing to bring this attention on himself and even up on the award stand last night gives credit to the team when he himself was off.
Actually, I think that was the right strategy to start with. See if you can demoralize them and break their strategy. Everyone knew Houston would throw two defenders at Walter and hedge when he tried to turn the corner. If Clayton hits those first few threes, it would have completely changed their defensive gameplan and the game likely turns into a Gators tempo and style... which Houston had absolutely zero chance of winning.
That is true. No idea if those shots were a particular strategy to just hit deep 3’s to where Houston couldn’t blitz him and trap him that far out, but either way he’s one of very few guys where he’s earned the “no such thing as a bad shot” right.
He absolutely needed to have a big game, and he came through. And while you talk about his first half,game saving clutch shooting, his defense in the second half was a huge factor in the win. He was awesome!!!!
