SpursFanFirst
05-13-2007, 01:46 AM
Suns need to switch strategy on defense
Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 1 hour ago
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6804734
The Spurs seemed to have a lot going for them in their impressive 108-101 win over Phoenix on Saturday. And the key to the game was San Antonio's manipulation of the matchups.
Let's take a closer look.
The most critical matchup of them all was Kurt Thomas versus Tim Duncan. Because Thomas had given TD such a hard time in Game 2, the Suns were confident that they could avoid having to two-time Duncan and therefore control Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. But Duncan simply destroyed Thomas. :tu
At least two inches shorter than Duncan, with an abbreviated wing-span and minimal hops, Thomas was seldom able to challenge TD's release point. Instead, Thomas had to swipe at Duncan's dribble. If that tactic was fruitless, then Thomas resorted to swiping at the ball as Duncan brought it up to shoot. But the Big Fundamental made sure to fend off Thomas with his off arm and his lead shoulder.
Yes, Thomas clawed, shoved, bumped, held and forced Duncan to take several difficult shots. But Duncan made most of the difficult ones and the easy ones as well.
For a couple of possessions, Phoenix also sicced Boris Diaw on Duncan. After licking his chops, Duncan scored an easy jump hook, then a layup on a backdoor cut.
In Game 4, the Suns absolutely must double-team Duncan.
Steve Nash started out opposite Tony Parker but was chumped by repeated high screen/rolls. The visitors' long-range game plan was to use Shawn Marion as the primary defender against Parker, but the Matrix couldn't keep TP out of the middle either. However, Phoenix was ready to collapse into the lane whenever Parker did turn the corner and Parker's kick-out passes went for naught as Michael Finley and Manu Ginobili couldn't find the ring even though they had plenty of open looks.
Come the third quarter, though, and the Suns' interior rotations started to slow down. And that's when Parker really went to work, plaguing Phoenix with a rash of spinning layups, and once Bowen, Finley and Brent Barry finally found the range, also with a variety of assist-passes.
Raja Bell had the task of containing Ginobili, and he did a fairly good job early on. Ginobili was inserted into the game with just a few minutes gone in the first quarter, but couldn't get anything going. He was also the designated scorer for the Spurs' second unit and accordingly drew a crowd whenever he drove into the lane. In the first half, Ginobili was either stripped or his shots were smacked at least four times.
In the third quarter, however, Ginobili commenced to abuse Bell, who for some reason failed to push Ginobili to his right hand. Indeed, on only one drive was Ginobili forced to execute a right-to-left crossover. Otherwise it was go left, young man, go left.
Of course, the fact that Ginobili knocked down a couple of jumpers did much to soften Bell's defensive pressure. In the middle of the last quarter, Marion took over the task but it was already too late.
On the other side of the ledger, the Spurs tried multiple defenders on Nash. Parker picked up Nash as he crossed the time-line and hounded him as much as possible. Even though Parker succeeded in getting around several high S/Rs, the Spurs didn't mind showing the bigs and then switching.
Bruce Bowen took a few turns bumping and grinding against Nash, as did Ginobili. And whoever had this difficult task was greatly helped by the Spurs' bigs stepping up and helping out. Instead of waiting to meet Nash at the rim, San Antonio's helpers were suddenly there a step or two below the foul line. The weakness of this maneuver, of course, was in allowing Amare Stoudemire, Diaw, and (sometimes) Thomas to slip behind the rotators and to offer attractive targets for drop passes by Nash. Even so, once these passes were completed, the Spurs (especially Robert Horry and Duncan) were quick enough to recover and swarm the ball so that Phoenix seldom wound up with unimpeded layups.
Even though the long-armed Ginobili blocked a layup, he was mostly unable to keep up with Nash. But the physicality of Bowen's efforts seemed to bother Nash the most. Bowen constantly hassled him, overplayed Nash screen-side, and even ripped him once or twice. In any event, Nash was scoreless for the first half, and didn't get his mojo working until 4:58 of the third quarter, when he tallied his initial field goal. By then, it was too late to salvage the game.
Bell picked up some of the slack by downing four (of four) treys in the first half but was a total non-factor thereafter. Amazing as it may seem, the Spurs' defensive rotations were even quick enough to slow down the Blur, Leandro Barbosa. In fact, the only Sun who routinely found holes in the Spurs' adhesive defense was Shawn Marion.
San Antonio also concentrated on trying to keep a lid on Stoudemire's explosive offense. As the game began, Stoudemire was guarded by Francisco Elson to no avail. Stoudemire zipped his way to a pair of floaters and a putback, to say nothing of a neat assist-pass to Marion.
Elson was quickly yanked from the game, never to return. Fabricio Oberto was up next and did a creditable job. Banging the young man around. Executing a floperoo special 30 feet from the ball that the refs in their finite wisdom decided was a foul. Robert Horry also took a turn and succeeded in bothering a couple of Stoudemire's jump hooks.
But the Spurs' offense was their most important defense against Stoudemire. Mainly because of his late reactions and late rotations, and because of his eagerness to block shots, Stoudemire was easily suckered into committing enough fouls to force him into spending more time on the bench than on the court.
Still, it wasn't until Barry, Bowen, Finley and Ginobili found the range from the perimeter late in the third quarter that San Antonio took control of the game. And, of course, Big Shot "Call Me Rob'" hit his customary rally-squelching 3-ball.
Give Phoenix credit for not conceding anything at any time. And kudos to San Antonio for making more of its favorable mismatches than the Suns did of theirs and for the Spurs' incredibly swift and excellent interior rotations.
So what can we expect in Game 4?
Since Duncan got too comfortable playing against Thomas, the Suns need to double-down on a regular basis. They might also use Thomas against Duncan more selectively, just as a change of pace. And by two-timing TD, Stoudemire can guard him without being too vulnerable to picking up an inordinate number of early fouls.
Since Bell and Marion are the Suns' only reliable backcourt/wing defenders, they must necessarily match up against Parker and Ginobili.
Phoenix also has to ratchet up its intensity and rescue more loose balls and stray rebounds. Bell has to stop woofing :lol at Bowen and concentrate more on putting the ball in the basket. Stoudemire has to stop bellyaching to the refs. Nash has to find a way to find a way.
Above all, the Suns need to tweak their baseline defense. Their bigs have to come quicker, higher in the lane, and under more control.
As for the Spurs?
They're in the enviable position where Phoenix has to adjust to them.
And so the human chess match continues.
Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 1 hour ago
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6804734
The Spurs seemed to have a lot going for them in their impressive 108-101 win over Phoenix on Saturday. And the key to the game was San Antonio's manipulation of the matchups.
Let's take a closer look.
The most critical matchup of them all was Kurt Thomas versus Tim Duncan. Because Thomas had given TD such a hard time in Game 2, the Suns were confident that they could avoid having to two-time Duncan and therefore control Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. But Duncan simply destroyed Thomas. :tu
At least two inches shorter than Duncan, with an abbreviated wing-span and minimal hops, Thomas was seldom able to challenge TD's release point. Instead, Thomas had to swipe at Duncan's dribble. If that tactic was fruitless, then Thomas resorted to swiping at the ball as Duncan brought it up to shoot. But the Big Fundamental made sure to fend off Thomas with his off arm and his lead shoulder.
Yes, Thomas clawed, shoved, bumped, held and forced Duncan to take several difficult shots. But Duncan made most of the difficult ones and the easy ones as well.
For a couple of possessions, Phoenix also sicced Boris Diaw on Duncan. After licking his chops, Duncan scored an easy jump hook, then a layup on a backdoor cut.
In Game 4, the Suns absolutely must double-team Duncan.
Steve Nash started out opposite Tony Parker but was chumped by repeated high screen/rolls. The visitors' long-range game plan was to use Shawn Marion as the primary defender against Parker, but the Matrix couldn't keep TP out of the middle either. However, Phoenix was ready to collapse into the lane whenever Parker did turn the corner and Parker's kick-out passes went for naught as Michael Finley and Manu Ginobili couldn't find the ring even though they had plenty of open looks.
Come the third quarter, though, and the Suns' interior rotations started to slow down. And that's when Parker really went to work, plaguing Phoenix with a rash of spinning layups, and once Bowen, Finley and Brent Barry finally found the range, also with a variety of assist-passes.
Raja Bell had the task of containing Ginobili, and he did a fairly good job early on. Ginobili was inserted into the game with just a few minutes gone in the first quarter, but couldn't get anything going. He was also the designated scorer for the Spurs' second unit and accordingly drew a crowd whenever he drove into the lane. In the first half, Ginobili was either stripped or his shots were smacked at least four times.
In the third quarter, however, Ginobili commenced to abuse Bell, who for some reason failed to push Ginobili to his right hand. Indeed, on only one drive was Ginobili forced to execute a right-to-left crossover. Otherwise it was go left, young man, go left.
Of course, the fact that Ginobili knocked down a couple of jumpers did much to soften Bell's defensive pressure. In the middle of the last quarter, Marion took over the task but it was already too late.
On the other side of the ledger, the Spurs tried multiple defenders on Nash. Parker picked up Nash as he crossed the time-line and hounded him as much as possible. Even though Parker succeeded in getting around several high S/Rs, the Spurs didn't mind showing the bigs and then switching.
Bruce Bowen took a few turns bumping and grinding against Nash, as did Ginobili. And whoever had this difficult task was greatly helped by the Spurs' bigs stepping up and helping out. Instead of waiting to meet Nash at the rim, San Antonio's helpers were suddenly there a step or two below the foul line. The weakness of this maneuver, of course, was in allowing Amare Stoudemire, Diaw, and (sometimes) Thomas to slip behind the rotators and to offer attractive targets for drop passes by Nash. Even so, once these passes were completed, the Spurs (especially Robert Horry and Duncan) were quick enough to recover and swarm the ball so that Phoenix seldom wound up with unimpeded layups.
Even though the long-armed Ginobili blocked a layup, he was mostly unable to keep up with Nash. But the physicality of Bowen's efforts seemed to bother Nash the most. Bowen constantly hassled him, overplayed Nash screen-side, and even ripped him once or twice. In any event, Nash was scoreless for the first half, and didn't get his mojo working until 4:58 of the third quarter, when he tallied his initial field goal. By then, it was too late to salvage the game.
Bell picked up some of the slack by downing four (of four) treys in the first half but was a total non-factor thereafter. Amazing as it may seem, the Spurs' defensive rotations were even quick enough to slow down the Blur, Leandro Barbosa. In fact, the only Sun who routinely found holes in the Spurs' adhesive defense was Shawn Marion.
San Antonio also concentrated on trying to keep a lid on Stoudemire's explosive offense. As the game began, Stoudemire was guarded by Francisco Elson to no avail. Stoudemire zipped his way to a pair of floaters and a putback, to say nothing of a neat assist-pass to Marion.
Elson was quickly yanked from the game, never to return. Fabricio Oberto was up next and did a creditable job. Banging the young man around. Executing a floperoo special 30 feet from the ball that the refs in their finite wisdom decided was a foul. Robert Horry also took a turn and succeeded in bothering a couple of Stoudemire's jump hooks.
But the Spurs' offense was their most important defense against Stoudemire. Mainly because of his late reactions and late rotations, and because of his eagerness to block shots, Stoudemire was easily suckered into committing enough fouls to force him into spending more time on the bench than on the court.
Still, it wasn't until Barry, Bowen, Finley and Ginobili found the range from the perimeter late in the third quarter that San Antonio took control of the game. And, of course, Big Shot "Call Me Rob'" hit his customary rally-squelching 3-ball.
Give Phoenix credit for not conceding anything at any time. And kudos to San Antonio for making more of its favorable mismatches than the Suns did of theirs and for the Spurs' incredibly swift and excellent interior rotations.
So what can we expect in Game 4?
Since Duncan got too comfortable playing against Thomas, the Suns need to double-down on a regular basis. They might also use Thomas against Duncan more selectively, just as a change of pace. And by two-timing TD, Stoudemire can guard him without being too vulnerable to picking up an inordinate number of early fouls.
Since Bell and Marion are the Suns' only reliable backcourt/wing defenders, they must necessarily match up against Parker and Ginobili.
Phoenix also has to ratchet up its intensity and rescue more loose balls and stray rebounds. Bell has to stop woofing :lol at Bowen and concentrate more on putting the ball in the basket. Stoudemire has to stop bellyaching to the refs. Nash has to find a way to find a way.
Above all, the Suns need to tweak their baseline defense. Their bigs have to come quicker, higher in the lane, and under more control.
As for the Spurs?
They're in the enviable position where Phoenix has to adjust to them.
And so the human chess match continues.