48MoH: The Devil and On-the-ball Defense

[Blackjack]

The Devil and On-the-ball Defense
by Graydon Gordian

“La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu’il n’existe pas.” -Baudelaire

Kobe Bryant’s early exit and Pau Gasol’s overall absence dampens the enthusiasm that would normally follow a 20 point win by the Spurs over the Lakers. But even before back spasms made Bryant a non-factor, a 23-year-old second year point guard from Indianapolis, Indiana was doing his damnedest to make sure the reigning NBA Finals MVP didn’t impose his will on the game.

Bryant’s pre-spasm line was impressive: 7-10 from the field, 16 points. But I’ve never been threatened by Bryant the scorer. It’s Bryant the facilitator, perched above his orchestra, baton in hand, conducting the triangle with symphonic perfection- that is the most venomous species of Mamba.

It’s hard to recognize good defense against Bryant when you see it. That’s because defending Bryant is not about denial; it is about encouragement. Defending Bryant requires the same Mephistophelean at ude he himself has adopted. You must be the devil on his shoulder, pushing him over so gently towards the selfish decision. You must feed his urge to score.

And, in all likelihood, Bryant will do just that. He will strut and smile, believing he has outdone you. But, as Baudelaire said, you will have performed your finest trick. You will have convinced him you don’t exist. That was once the genius of Bruce Bowen and, this evening, that was the genius of George Hill.

Then again, there was that one play where George Hill stole the ball from Bryant at half court and slammed it home on an open rim. That had none of the subtlety of French Symbolist poetry. No interpretation required.

[draft87]

I have no doubts that Hill can defend Bryant on the perimeter..

It's the post that I'm worried about..we didn't see much of that tonight, so it's still a mystery of how Hill is going to defend Kobe when he takes him down low..the other side of that argument is that Kobe can't play in the post as much when he has both Bynum and Gasol in the game, so that would take away from the Lakers spacing and overall game since they're better when Odom is in instead..

We'll have to see what happens in the next matchup, but that's the main concern I have..

Hill's versatility on D continues to impress though..he was even guarding Artest at times, where he was effectively fronting him..the athleticism and long arms are excellent for his ball-denial, that used to be Bruce's specialty..

Very valid point. Great way to appreciate the good that happened tonight but still respect the reality of future improvements.

I was writing in another thread about Lakers' post-up game in general. They have a ton of guys that can play it. I'm anxious to see Blair improve on-the-ball D and see if he can be used. I see him matching up with Artest to some degree. Our frontcourt will obviously face a different opponent at some point. We play them FOUR times this year.

Anyway, I think George has the footwork to stay with Kobe on the post, do you think his arms are long enough to contest the shot? Can he keep Kobe from backing into the rim?

Quick George praise: How about those two grabs from Artest? One was a straight rebound snag and the other was a loose ball. Awe inspiring displays of talent and heart. It was contagious too. Timmy got a nice grab and a timeout, everybody was scrapping.

The game was a nice step into the second half of the season...and hopefully a nice motivator for this ugly week of games. NONE of these opponents will be easy. All of them are physical. We're gonna be running with Zebras tomorrow, banging chests with Charlotte, and then some conference rivalry with up-and-coming, hot streaking Memphis and New Orleans. There's too many games in a short time, we'll really be out of gas by the time we get to Memphis. I'm not saying anything you haven't already heard but I know a bunch of members are discounting the Hornets and the Grizzlies.
and looking at the schedule after Monday it's:

Utah, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, Denver.

That starts with only one day rest after New Orleans. There's only one day off between each of those games except Houston-Chicago is two days. These are all physical, athletic teams and Chicago is the only team not around .500 mark. Here's our chance to put a big dent in that ugly vs.+.500 teams record. And actually every single one of these games, even Chicago is against a playoff caliber team. I know "playoff caliber" doesn't always mean that much in the Eastern Conference but Chicago is a good team with poor guidance. They have an athletic frontcourt; we have to avenge that ugly second-game-of-the-season loss.

Anybody think I'm crazy? Memphis is 4.5 games behind us. That's it. They're 19-18. A nice run the rest of the month could shape up our conference record as well. That might count for something should there be a lot of tie-breakers like there have been the past couple years.

[silverblackfan]

The upcoming schedule is going to be brutal, but hopefully our deep bench will mitigate this. I am looking forward to seeing more Theo, Malik, Marcus, and Ian during this stretch.