Even after rewatching the last game against Howard I remain convinced the defense was very good. The Tigers merely fell victim to a shooting variance. Even Matt Harris did a deep dive into the effort on the Plus Forums and came away with the same conclusion. After two games my thoughts were the defense looked improved and could be on their way towards being the type of unit many envisioned under Dennis Gates.
Every game is different. What you hope is for your team to build off each one and impvoe in areas where they weren’t good.