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It's clear from the pic that Bowen's strategy is not to block Kobe's shot but to obstruct his vision. Hill has long arms and can learn Bowen's technique when guarding taller players.
It's clear from the pic that Bowen's strategy is not to block Kobe's shot but to obstruct his vision. Hill has long arms and can learn Bowen's technique when guarding taller players.
This one says it all about Mason's defense on Kobe. Great pics.
For a rookie.. Hill is getting better at defense.. His long arms play a great role in that part..
Mason should never guard Kobe for significant stretches, Pop needs to get over that..
Funny but his arms don't look that long in the pic.
Mason looks like he's trying to cast a spell on Kobe.
And speaking of Kobe, does he have turtle DNA? Against hill he seems to have retracted his head just like my pet turtle used to do.. against Mason, the head is back to normal.. Kobe does seem to have a small head though..
may not look like it.. but they are.. especially in person..
Come on People!
Bowen guards Kobe, Hill try to ..., Mason... only compliment Kobe
George Hill
puttin' in a great effort.
Spurs lacking answers for Kobe, Lakers
By Johnny Ludden, Yahoo! Sports 3 hours, 59 minutes ago
xxx
In those tense final minutes, with the Spurs having clawed within two, Bryant looked across the court to see a rookie guarding him. His first thought?
“Bake him.”
Bryant’s old rival, the man who had chased him through so many of those playoff battles, sat on the bench watching. Bruce Bowen doesn’t start games these days and, on many nights, he also doesn’t finish them.
But Thursday was different. With Roger Mason having picked up his fifth foul with two minutes left, the Spurs needed someone to put on Bryant. Gregg Popovich looked down his bench, past Bowen, and called on his rookie guard, George Hill.
Looks like Pop is testing the waters again. He'll probably settle for a loss in the regular season than a loss in the playoffs.
I distinctly remember Pop saying in one of his interviews that he view the regular season not as a contest to be first but AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET BETTER AS THE SEASON GOES ALONG.
In putting Hill on Kobe , he might have been checking out how hill will playout against Kobe...obviously this is an opportunity to see how Kobe took advantage of him. So that he could the spurs can play better on defense against him in the playoffs.
kobe willed that shot in
great D from george
With an aging Bowen playing less minutes, the need for an long athletic SF to defend the Kobes and LeBrons is really quite glaring. I don't think Hairston is the answer. Now if George Hill could grow 6 inches over the summer and put on 40lbs. then the Spurs would be set. If Gist does come over next season, I wonder if he has the mindset and the ability to play great perimeter defense; somehow I doubt it. I sometime wonder if the FO even considers this a priority.
I'd still want a "crafty" veteran guarding him rather than an inexperienced rookie...
Ariza and Artest are free agents next season IIRC. Too bad Batum isn't a Spur.Ariza has great length and athleticism and could be mentored by Bowen. Artest has the strength and toughness and is actually mellowing a bit in Houston. Either of those two would help plug the hole in the perimeter.
Beyond the fact that Bowen is inherently a good defender, he is also 6'7 (about an inch taller than Kobe). Kobe does a fadeaway on alot of his shots so getting a hand in the face to obstruct his view is particularly hard for a shorter player.
Other guys who guard Kobe well are John Salmons 6'6, Batum 6'8, Shane Battier 6'8, James Posey 6'8. I would also suspect Trevor Ariza 6'8 can do a good job against Kobe.
I've never seen a 6'2 guy like George Hill who can guard Kobe. It's not a knock on Hill but he's just too short even with his freakish arms. And add to that, his hops at age 21 just aren't even as good as Kobe's at age 30.
The good news for you Spurs fans is that James Gist looks to have great potential at 6'8, great athleticism, speed and above average defense too.
Kobe is in the prime of his career right now. He is the mosy unguardable player in the league. No one on the Spurs (or in the league for that matter) can stop him. The best you can do is hope he misses.
I understand Pop's reasoning for putting Hill on Kobe. Hill has been playing some good defense as of late, but I don't agree with Pop's decision. I thought Bowen should have been in the game to guard Kobe when its Kobe time. Bowen has lost a step, but I still trust him more when it comes to guarding the best. Mason trying to guard Kobe is a joke. I am not trying to be mean, but he's nowhere near Bowen's defense. Hill is a better defender than Mason.
the only way to guard kobe, and make it hard for him is to have a 6'6 defender on him with tight defense and try to get kobe to drive to the basket and double team him once he does, Celtics found a way to stop him last year.
Celtics had James Posey last year.
Pierce, surprisingly, also did a good job on him too.
This need has been glaring for about 3 seasons. In fact, ever since SJax left the building, the Spurs have had such a need. Yet, they chose to invest in a myriad of older shooters (Finley and Barry) and undersized wings (Udoka).
There was a time, prior to his leaving the Orlando Magic, when Trevor Ariza was available. Mikael Pietrus was avaiable this past summer too. Obviously, the Spurs didn't like either. So now, the need still exists.
How did Mason get called for so many fouls if he played with that much spacing?
surprisingly ?
Pierce is the !
mason on bryant in the playoffs will be just as disastrous as when udoka guarded bryant. herein lies even more importance in ginobili's health. with bowen seemingly unable to stay on the court long enough at 100%, spurs' next best perimeter defender is ginobili. i really think the spurs should have traded for salmons for this reason. with bowen unable to match kobe for a full 35-40 minutes in the playoffs, spurs needed to pick up another solid defender so that ginobili does not wear himself out guarding bryant.
Pop was definitely playing some CIA and some "let's see what happens if...." last night. Hill did as well as you could hope a guy his size could do.
With a player like Kobe, there's only so much you can do. One strategy I've noticed and liked is using different looks on him throughout a game to keep him from getting comfortable or in a rhythm against one defender. I think Hill's minutes on Bryant were an effort to figure out if he can be part of the "guard Kobe" team come playoff time. I think he proved he can.
Its not for lack of effort, but Mason just can't guard Kobe. Some of those fouls on RMJ last night were bogus, but Kobe's going to get those calls anyway and I don't think Mason can do anything against Bryant in any substantive way.
One question I just thought of....did Finley guard Kobe at all last night? I don't think he did and I doubt he would have had much success, but I wonder if this is something Pop's saving for the playoffs or has totally ruled out or what.
Other than the obvious ones, I think the real strain Kobe puts on our defense is that you want to guard him with a 3 -- either Bowen or Finley or Udoka, but if you do, then our 2 guard, either Mason, Manu, or Hill, has to guard their 3 -- either Ariza or Walton and those guys are just too big for our 2 guards. That's where the real match up problem comes and that's why I think Pop wants to be able to use a smaller player like Hill against Kobe, so he can keep Finley or whomever on LA's 3. Kobe will get his, and against a team with a dominant scorer, our strategy has always been to try and shut down everyone else, so I think we want to be able to bother Bryant somewhat while keeping someone on Ariza or Walton who can't be totally destroyed by them.
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