timvp
05-15-2006, 04:32 PM
Winner of Game 4 is going to win the series. The Spurs almost got Game 3 but it slipped out of their grasp. Today, the Spurs need to play like they did in fourth quarter all game and just dismantle Dallas. No more messing around.
Offensively, the Spurs looked good in the second half. The key versus the Mavs is spacing. When the floor is spaced, the Spurs can score pretty easily. Duncan has dominated in the post and it seems like Tony and Manu have figured out how to get to the rim consistently. The Mavs aren’t helping off of the perimeter much, so the Spurs should continue to get whatever they want. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili need to combine for at least 80 points since the rest of the team will be guarded closely.
Offense, however, is not the problem. Defensively and on the glass is where the Spurs have struggled. To improve their rebounding, the Spurs just need to box out. Bowen was doing a poor job in boxing out Dirk. He was engaging him late and letting Dirk get too good of position. Duncan wasn’t boxing out well either and was mistiming his jumps. It’d also be nice if Parker and Manu would join the fray and battle more for defensive rebounds.
I watched the second half of Game 3 a couple times and the Mavs are very predictable offensively.
The Mavs ran pick-and-roll every time up the court in the fourth quarter other than the one time they isolated Stackhouse. The Mavs look to see how the Spurs are defending them and then select which matchup they want to pick-and-roll with.
A favorite of theirs in the fourth was with their center (Dampier or Diop) and Harris. They ran this play at least a half dozen times in the final stanza. The reason why they continued to run it was because the Spurs were switching it and leaving Duncan alone to guard Harris. Harris got to the basket a few times for layups and another couple times he drew a foul, so the Mavs just kept running it.
Honestly, I hated the way the Spurs were guarding it. Leaving Duncan on an island versus a quick point guard is an easy way to get your bigman into foul trouble. It’s also a good way to give up a bunch of easy layups.
What I would do is not switch any pick-and-rolls that Harris is involved in. Just have the point guard go under the screen. What you want to do with Harris is make him shoot or pass. He can’t do either. Harris doesn’t have a jumper to speak of and had a grand total of zero assists in Game 3. He has below average court vision and never once looked to pass the ball off of the pick-and-roll. He put his head down and attacked the basket with a seven-footer guarding him.
Make dude shoot the ball. Go way under the screen and dare him to hit the 15-footer. Or just trap the pick-and-roll with the point guard and Duncan and make him pass. The one thing you don’t to let him do is go one-on-one. That’s the one thing he does well. Harris scoring 24 points was just a matter of the Spurs playing dumb.
The Mavs also like to run a pick-and-roll between Terry and Dirk. The Spurs switched this and that oftentimes put Parker on Dirk. And actually, that’s decent matchup. Dirk doesn’t post up so having a point guard on him isn’t too big a deal. But what Parker (or Van Exel) has to do is just stay in front of him. For some reason Parker was pressuring him too much and that let him easily drive the lane. Just stay in front of him, send help and Dirk will pass. At worst he’ll take a contested jumper … which he hasn’t hit consistently in this series.
Other matchups the Mavs have been attacking are Howard versus a big or Stackhouse versus Manu. With Howard, you just have to make him shoot. He might hit some, but he’s a streaky shooter. I’ll live with him taking jumpers. Regarding Stackhouse, Manu just has to do a better job guarding him. Stackhouse has scored on him too much this series.
In reality, nothing the Mavs do should be that hard to guard. I have no idea what the hell they were trying to do with the Harris pick-and-roll. The way the Spurs guarded that was beyond stupid. They guarded Dirk well, except they gave him too many driving lanes. Keep him in front of you. If he shoots and makes it … oh well, you live with that. You can’t let him drive into the lane and start flailing his arms and getting Duncan in foul trouble.
The Mavs hit one three-pointer last game. Dirk didn’t even attempt a field goal in the fourth quarter. Harris air balled his one jumper and finished without an assist.
Just make the Mavs shoot it and stop letting Harris go one-on-one. Do that and the Spurs win going away.
Believe.
Offensively, the Spurs looked good in the second half. The key versus the Mavs is spacing. When the floor is spaced, the Spurs can score pretty easily. Duncan has dominated in the post and it seems like Tony and Manu have figured out how to get to the rim consistently. The Mavs aren’t helping off of the perimeter much, so the Spurs should continue to get whatever they want. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili need to combine for at least 80 points since the rest of the team will be guarded closely.
Offense, however, is not the problem. Defensively and on the glass is where the Spurs have struggled. To improve their rebounding, the Spurs just need to box out. Bowen was doing a poor job in boxing out Dirk. He was engaging him late and letting Dirk get too good of position. Duncan wasn’t boxing out well either and was mistiming his jumps. It’d also be nice if Parker and Manu would join the fray and battle more for defensive rebounds.
I watched the second half of Game 3 a couple times and the Mavs are very predictable offensively.
The Mavs ran pick-and-roll every time up the court in the fourth quarter other than the one time they isolated Stackhouse. The Mavs look to see how the Spurs are defending them and then select which matchup they want to pick-and-roll with.
A favorite of theirs in the fourth was with their center (Dampier or Diop) and Harris. They ran this play at least a half dozen times in the final stanza. The reason why they continued to run it was because the Spurs were switching it and leaving Duncan alone to guard Harris. Harris got to the basket a few times for layups and another couple times he drew a foul, so the Mavs just kept running it.
Honestly, I hated the way the Spurs were guarding it. Leaving Duncan on an island versus a quick point guard is an easy way to get your bigman into foul trouble. It’s also a good way to give up a bunch of easy layups.
What I would do is not switch any pick-and-rolls that Harris is involved in. Just have the point guard go under the screen. What you want to do with Harris is make him shoot or pass. He can’t do either. Harris doesn’t have a jumper to speak of and had a grand total of zero assists in Game 3. He has below average court vision and never once looked to pass the ball off of the pick-and-roll. He put his head down and attacked the basket with a seven-footer guarding him.
Make dude shoot the ball. Go way under the screen and dare him to hit the 15-footer. Or just trap the pick-and-roll with the point guard and Duncan and make him pass. The one thing you don’t to let him do is go one-on-one. That’s the one thing he does well. Harris scoring 24 points was just a matter of the Spurs playing dumb.
The Mavs also like to run a pick-and-roll between Terry and Dirk. The Spurs switched this and that oftentimes put Parker on Dirk. And actually, that’s decent matchup. Dirk doesn’t post up so having a point guard on him isn’t too big a deal. But what Parker (or Van Exel) has to do is just stay in front of him. For some reason Parker was pressuring him too much and that let him easily drive the lane. Just stay in front of him, send help and Dirk will pass. At worst he’ll take a contested jumper … which he hasn’t hit consistently in this series.
Other matchups the Mavs have been attacking are Howard versus a big or Stackhouse versus Manu. With Howard, you just have to make him shoot. He might hit some, but he’s a streaky shooter. I’ll live with him taking jumpers. Regarding Stackhouse, Manu just has to do a better job guarding him. Stackhouse has scored on him too much this series.
In reality, nothing the Mavs do should be that hard to guard. I have no idea what the hell they were trying to do with the Harris pick-and-roll. The way the Spurs guarded that was beyond stupid. They guarded Dirk well, except they gave him too many driving lanes. Keep him in front of you. If he shoots and makes it … oh well, you live with that. You can’t let him drive into the lane and start flailing his arms and getting Duncan in foul trouble.
The Mavs hit one three-pointer last game. Dirk didn’t even attempt a field goal in the fourth quarter. Harris air balled his one jumper and finished without an assist.
Just make the Mavs shoot it and stop letting Harris go one-on-one. Do that and the Spurs win going away.
Believe.