Defense is all about Desire

[Ghost Writer]

Before the season started, I was skeptical of the Celtics, thinking "Sure, they'll score points, but they won't play defense."

Well, I guess I was wrong.

I could not find the official rankings, but they said Sunday on ABC that the Cletics are ranked like in the top 3 in team defense.

KG is a solid defender and so is Pierce, but there's no way the Celtics can go from sucking on defense to being great in one year unless it simply has to do with desire.

Remember how Avery Johnson got the Mavericks to suddenly become a stingy defensive team in his first year?

I think that bbasically any player can play defense if he wants it bad enough.

You look at our own Bruce Bowen and here's a guy that is not athletically gifted and is offensively limited. But he committed himself long ago to playing great defense and has parlayed that into a successful NBA career. He simply wants it and tries harder on D.

It's kind of wild to think these millionaires all have the ability to play defense like the Spurs, but many refuse or need someone to draw it out of them.

[timvp]

I don't know if anyone is capable of playing good defense. Players like Ferry, Barry, NVE and Ward have all tried to play good defense for the Spurs ... but they just don't (or didn't) have the athleticism to pull it off.

The Celtics have good defenders. Garnett has always been a very good defender. Rajon Rondo might be the best young point guard defender in the league. James Posey is a defensive stopper when he puts his mind too it. A player like Pierce has never really played good defense but he's always had bad defensive players around him. I think the Celtics' rise to prominence defensively is mostly because they added good defenders to their roster.

The Mavs is a bit of a different story. Nellie doesn't really stress defense at all. AJ just brought in a new emphasis for that team. Players like Devin Harris and Josh Howard were good defenders before AJ even took over.

That said, you do have a point if you are talking specifically about the Spurs. This team in recent years likes to build up their defensive intensity as the year goes on. Their level of defensive effort increases as the year goes on and their level of defensive effectiveness also rises ... so yeah, in that sense, defense is all about effort and desire.

But even if Pop and Pat Riley co-coached a team that consisted of Steve Nash, Brent Barry, Antoine Walker, Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire .... that team would still suck on defense no matter how much they tried to inspire them.

[rascal]

No doubt its about desire. Bowen would not even be in the league if he didn't work hard on defense.

Defense takes energy and work and many players who are great offensively often don't work as hard on defense because they need to bring it on offense.

Bowen does little on the offensive side so he saves his energy for the defensive game.

[Ghost Writer]

timvp, you make some valid points and don't forget about shot-blocking Kendrick Perkins, but teams and their players seem to turn it on defensively when they believe that they can contend and have a coach that harps on defense.

Listen to rascal.

[SequSpur]

The Spurs are old.