Richard Jefferson: Utah's Gimmick Defense Won't Work

This guy gets it. I agree 100.

Now if I was Utah I would just full court press him. N double him. U wear him out so if u made it to game 5 6 he would be exhausted..its easy really. No gimmicks just tried n true. Make a.guy work.hard for 7 games. Not free runs to the rim lol

 

Bro it's a gimmick n the only reason it worked twice that's it was because guys was missing wide open ass shots

 

yeah it was pretty obvious. We didn't have Paul or Gordon the first game and the second game was a fluke (Gordon and Tucker went 1/17 or something)

 

See, there's always the one jerk who just can't resist the keyboard. If you're not into Codman's hints, just lurk, please. Goodness.

 

Yeah I’ve watched hundreds of hours of MJ. It’s completely different and like you said not as comical.

 

In game 2, what do you think the Jazz's defensive strategy will be? Personally, I bet:

1. Donovan will be on Harden more
2. Jazz players will flop often on Harden's slight push off
3. CP3 will score more than Harden based on double teams

 

The reason it kinda works vs. the Bucks is because they have Giannis and Brook Lopez in the paint, so driving to the basket is a lot more difficult, and Giannis is so long, that Harden dishing it out for a 3 is harder too....The Jazz only have Gobert, and even if he is playing well, it's hard for him to continue to defend like that for 30+ minutes.

There really is no way to stop this offense. The defense has to hope we are cold from 3, and hope that the refs don't call many shooting fouls...but even if that happens, Capela lobs, Harden floaters, and CP3 mid-range are ALWAYS open.

 

The key to these playoffs, besides staying healthy, is this season we have Austin Rivers as a 4th ball handler and Kenneth Faried having more hops and athleticism than Nene.

 

They seemed to believe that HARGOD only has one move... step back 3.....

Guess they didn’t read the scouting reports or watch enough Rockets basketball......

 

It's worked for the Bucks because:
1) Our shooters missed their shots in those games.
2) The Bucks attacked the passing lanes and when he threw those weak passes they grabbed them and fast breaked all over us.

Quite simply if the Rockets shooters hit their 3s there is no defense that will stop the Rockets it just because a math game with the other team's shooters. We get open shots against the Bucks.

 

The Jazz just don't have the personnel to slow our offense down. We can make fun of them for trying this "gimmick" but they played their usual defense against us last year and we smoked them. Even if they slow James down CP3 can abuse them on the pick and roll.

 

Bucks also deny the corner 3. Something the Jazz failed to do big time.

 

Yeah, I agree with this take.

To stop the Rockets you need to be really long and athletic so you can switch everything. You need to be aggressive on the passing lanes. The Rockets throw a lot of soft passes. Drives me crazy. Teams need to force those into turnovers. Trap Harden on inbound plays if he's the only one down there, do ball denial, attack the passing lanes when he does those soft tosses to someone else, etc. Even then you still basically need the Rockets to just not shoot 36% from 3 or better. We take so many 3s that if the shots fall there just isn't much a team can do about it.

 

I think they will also attempt to take more charges on his drives.

 

There is nothing wrong with the scheme in of itself but that Utah simply dont have the personnel that a team like bucks have to execute it with even an iota of effectiveness i.e.. they lack the discipline, athleticism, size and length required. They would have been better served losing to Denver and falling to 6th

But they will likely make adjustments for game 2. No matter the point margin, the series is still only 1-0. Need to hold serve and win one or two of the road games to make the series as short as possible.

GSW will likely sweep clippers by Sunday and we should aim to do same, to have a good rest before facing them. Stealing HCA early is the best chance at beating them.

 

Doesn't help the Jazz that CP3 will come into Game 2 feeling disrespected by the media.

 

I agree they will start flopping more. That's their only true defense for Harden.

 

Rubio looks scared and incompetent mainly because he's scared and incompetent.

 

30-40 shots to score 20.....