On May 27 2010 15:10 XaI)CyRiC wrote: From what I'm seeing is that PHO's defensive strategy is to pack the paint, swarm Kobe and Gasol at all costs, and live with the rest of the Lakers beating them with either contested shots in the paint or 3s. While it's true that a true PG who could penetrate the zone would be very useful at breaking the zone defense, PHO can still just pack the paint and leave the Lakers with open shots on the perimeter.
Based on my very rudimentary knowledge of basketball, I think the Lakers need to start making their open shots to spread out the Suns' defense, play some much better defense, and get some better play from everyone on the floor other than Kobe and Gasol to make the Suns pay for swarming those two so hard on defense. Like I said in my other post, I just think the Suns have outworked and just wanted to win more in the last two games. If the Lakers can match their intensity and effort, and go back to playing smarter ball, they can retake control of this series.
It's not just about hitting the open shots, since like KumquatExpress said, the point of the zone is to make you take outside shots. They've got a very basic 3-2 zone, which is basically like a perfect counter to the Lakers's zone offense. You start to break it by having someone penetrate or dish down low, and then someone hits their shot when the defense collapses, which the Suns purposefully do vs. Gasol and Kobe. Since Nash is playing at 1, it's pretty easy for any guard to drive and make that happen, as long as the wings are spread out, although it might actually make more sense to have one of the wings do the driving. The intuitive thing would be to not drive against Hill, but that's actually a good idea because it takes him away from the rest of the play.
After you drive, you kick to the wing where Hill isn't playing and that person needs to start hitting shots, or at least be a threat. It could even be a big, like play Gasol at 12-15ft. Once they have to play a bit more honest on that side, then you can really break it. Run things like cuts or baseline screens from the off-ball side, and either have Kobe do the driving/passing (I don't think the Lakers have enough good passers tbh) or if you're slashing from the wing, pull Gasol or Odom to the key-ish area to receive a pass from the slasher. They can either take their shot, drive or find one of those cutters from the opposite side.
Part of the problem is the Suns mixing up their defense, but if they do, then they can just exploit Amare like they normally do.
What's great is that it's not like this is the first time Phil has seen this. Now we get to see why Kobe is no MJ.
Or if you'd like to have Hubie Brown explain it by YELLING AT YOU
On May 27 2010 21:55 Jibba wrote: What's great is that it's not like this is the first time Phil has seen this. Now we get to see why Kobe is no MJ.
Total and utter nonsense.
What he meant is that he doesn't have Pippen as extra firepower on the perimeter.
... Kobe is no MJ because they're different players on different teams. I thought people would have finally got over trying to compare them.
That's not what I mean. Different types of teams, different eras of defense, etc. but the Lakers are more equipped to handle it than the Bulls were. If they can't do it in the next 3 games, it's on Kobe and Phil, no matter what his stat line looks like.
On May 27 2010 21:55 Jibba wrote: What's great is that it's not like this is the first time Phil has seen this. Now we get to see why Kobe is no MJ.
Total and utter nonsense.
What he meant is that he doesn't have Pippen as extra firepower on the perimeter.
... Kobe is no MJ because they're different players on different teams. I thought people would have finally got over trying to compare them.
That's not what I mean. Different types of teams, different eras of defense, etc. but the Lakers are more equipped to handle it than the Bulls were. If they can't do it in the next 3 games, it's on Kobe and Phil, no matter what his stat line looks like.
a) troll successful b) of course it'll be on them, but they are not better equipped to break down a zone than a team with two perimeter monsters (MJ and Pippen would be like Kobe & Wade on the same team if you want a modern comparison).
You don't need 2 perimeter monsters. You need 1.5. The big in the middle is a better counter than having a second perimeter star. The Bulls had Grant for a while to do it, for Gasol or Odom are still much better in that role. Someone who can score or pass from 8 feet out.
The Lakers can just run Shannon Brown on the other side as the cutter, and he'll provide more than enough utility to get it done. The extra skills of Pippen obviously made them a better team, but it didn't necessarily make them much better at breaking down a zone defense with their #1 lineup. If you want to make an argument in their favor, it should be because of BJ Armstrong and Paxson.
EDIT: There's a difference between scoring on a zone and actually breaking it down and taking advantage of it. Lakers could still probably win without breaking it if enough shooters get hot or their defense decides to show up.
On May 28 2010 10:25 Servolisk wrote: Suns really came with a nice attitude. It looks like their is no zone and they are mostly playing half court sets yet dominating ^_^
They're not dominating so much as the lakers are shooting 25%
Hm, when Stoudemire catches the ball around the top of the key as soon as he pivots he attracts 1-2 help defenders to only give 1 path so that Gasol can cover him, they shouldn't let the lakers cover him with help like that without getting a wide open passing option. T_T
On May 28 2010 10:25 Servolisk wrote: Suns really came with a nice attitude. It looks like their is no zone and they are mostly playing half court sets yet dominating ^_^
EPT
