No need. Shut down the supporting cast, make LeBron work for his, and take care of the defensive glass.
I was impressed with Gibson, but his Longhorn history shows that if you even get a remotely close challenge on his shots he's trash.
Maybe a little zone if Snow is on for Gibson, or the rare box and 1 zoning the middle and covering the shooter.
Nah, too fancy and probably won't be needed. I'm sure the Spurs aren't used to those sets anyway.
Zone is effective for teams with sophisticated offenses; it's designed for overthinking and fouling them up. Cleveland has far from a sophisticated offense and would be doing the same thing regardless of the defense - give it to LeBron, sort of screen for him, stand around for a shot.
Where zone hurts is in defensive rotations in case LeBron makes it in the lane. I don't anticipate much zone.
One thing I was thinking about today is that the Cavs haven't really seen anyone similar to the players in our big 3.
Washington, New Jersey and Detroit have nothing like Tony Parker. Sure they have Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups, who are great PG's, but Parker brings a scoring mentality and incredible speed in which Cleveland haven't seen this playoffs. Also, he is a one man fast break who will score on you. Kidd is no longer a threat to score like that, Cleveland are going to be in for a rude surprise with Parker. Hughes is injured and to slow. Gibson is to small and doesn't have the strength or athleticism to make up for it. Snow is to slow. Parker could score 22-24ppg this series.
They also haven't faced a premier bigman like Duncan. Obviously the Wizards and Nets have nothing even close. Detroit had Sheed, but he hardly operates down low these days. Ginobili is a unique player who since his shaky start has been relentless. The only slasher Cleveland have really had to worry about these playoffs is Richard Jefferson and to a lesser extent Rip Hamilton and Vince Carter. But even those last 2 are mainly jumpshooters these days.
Some might say the Spurs haven't seen anything like LeBron, but we have seen a bully of a perimeter player in Carmelo. Melo can be just as unstoppable LeBron on offense when it comes to pure scoring, and is probably just as strong with a much more refined game down low. It's nice to know the Spurs have seen a whole lot of different players and offenses coming into the Finals, the Cavs, I'm not so sure about.
Watching bits and peices of a few of the ECF finals games, I picked up a few things.
- Cavs look vulnerable in the 3rd quarters. For some reason they don't come out of the locker room to well, and LeBron tends to get passive. Could be a good time for the Spurs to really attack them.
- They don't go to Z enough. Spurs can probably get away with Elson on him for stretches just due to the fact they don't go to him. Elson could run him as well, and perhaps even Oberto. We saw Oberto run Boozer a few times, if he can do that, he can definitely run Z.
- LeBron is uncomfortable shooting from a stand still. If he is wide open receiving a kickout pass, I would like the Spurs to close out on him passively. He shoots far better off a dribble or a couple of dribbles. Also shoots a lot better on the move, fading or after making a step back. Seems to prefer one dribble to the left and jumpshot.
- Detroit were effective when they moved the ball. I saw far to much dribbling out top and letting the Cavs set there defense up. I want the Spurs to move the ball like they have been all playoffs, and I think it could expose the Cavs D a little.
As a Spurs fan shouldnt ur biggest obstacle or worry be keeping duncan outof foul trouble? see game 3 vs jazz. Verejo is a flopper who can get offensive fouls called on Duncan, add to it Lebron and his need to drive to the basket and create contact....could mean frustration/trouble for duncan...
If everyone not named Tony Parker fails to show up like in game 3 the Spurs have other to worry about.
Duncan is a smart player, he won't let himself be taken out of the finals by foul trouble.
Yeah, it's weird how LeBron doesn't shoot when he's in a catch-and-shoot situation. Even if he's wide open, he'll either drive or pass the ball. He rarely hits jumpers that are created for him. The threes and long jumpers he hits are almost always fading away off the dribble.
It's a odd quirk but hopefully the Spurs can use it to their advantage. Bowen could play off him when he doesn't have the ball and try to force him to make a couple wide open jumpers.
One area you guys can exploit is the habit of our big men showing hard. Z is basically running through quicksand at this point (after about a thousand foot surgeries), and has a very difficult time getting back to the basket after he shows. Add Drew Gooden's habitual slowness on rotations and it can create wide-open opportunities for your secondary post players. Detroit wasn't able to take advantage of this, but New Jersey was- Jason Kidd made Mikki Moore look like an All-Star time and time again when Z showed, Drew was late, and Moore was all by his lonesome under the hoop for the catch.
"I'm better when I move."
Did you see Oberto in the Jazz series? He killed Boozer doing this. Hopefully he'll be able to get 10+ pts a game on 70% shooting again.
I love Oberto hitting those seams. He's a brilliant basketball mind.
If Oberto can guard Big Z, that'd be huge. Duncan on Gooden or Varejao would probably help him stay out of foul trouble. Oberto might be too small to guard but I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
Do you think that if Pop had decided to play oberto last season against the Mavs, it would have made a difference? Seeing as how much of an impact he's been in this years rotations.....and how successful he's been esp when he plays with ginobili....
Maybe but Oberto needed time to learn the system. He had points during the regular season this year when he sucked. Plus he isn't that good of a matchup against Dirk.
How is Oberto away from the basket? He'll spend quite a bit of time out there if he's guarding Z. Aside from put-backs, the bulk of Z's points come from the elbow 15-18 feet from the basket.If Oberto can guard Big Z, that'd be huge. Duncan on Gooden or Varejao would probably help him stay out of foul trouble. Oberto might be too small to guard but I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
Oberto is mobile. He's closer to 6-foot-8 than he is to 6-foot-11 so that's why I worry about Big Z posting him up. On the perimeter, Oberto can move his feet. Pop even put him on Shawn Marion for stints.
If the Spurs put Oberto on Z, the Cavs would be insane if they didn't post Z on the blocks and just feed it to him every time. Staying on the perimeter would play right into the Spurs' hands.
You know as well as I do that there is no way that team with Lebron on the floor posts Z more than a couple of times a quarter, it doesn't matter if Tony Parker is guarding him. Whether the thinking is flawed or not, Lebron and especially Brown are not going to put their championship hopes in the hands of Z.
If Pop had decided to play Nazr and Rasho last season it would have made a difference. They already knew the system.
Z just isn't a really effective low-post player, no matter who guards him. He's an excellent offensive rebounder, has a nice soft touch on the jump shot, but he just isn't a banger. His low-post scoring ability went out the window when he suffered his foot injuries.
Yeah this is what I was talking about earlier in regards to the movement of the Spurs and catching the Cavs out with slow rotations. They have a very good team defense, but it is liable to collapse at times because there is a few average defensive players who sometimes lapse and ruin the whole team D concept. As long as when Z is showing on the PnR the guard throws it low and fast to our bigman, which is fine because Timmy, Oberto and Horry have great hands, they should be right. I'll throw something at the screen the first time I see one of our guards try lob over Z
Watched some more of the ECF... Cleveland hardly trailed throughout the series. Through the first 4 games the most that Cleveland trailed by was something like 7pts. It will be interesting to see how they respond to being down 15+ because against the Spurs that is going to happen.
Cleveland isn't built to come back from large double digit point deficits. If the Spurs can jump on them early and make them press the Cavs will struggle to score and likely force things with James.
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