This happens over and over and over again against this team. Ginobili is guarding Gordon and makes that play. He's old and slow so how does he do it? He cheats. How do we beat that and open up that rim? Easy. Quit leaving a weakside player in the corner. Corner threes haven't been a big factor, but their putting a lid on the rim for anyone in the paint, has. Watch Manu, he only checks Gordon once because he stops moving. Thus, he becomes a pure help defender because their Anderson has both Ryno and EGo checked. This is the fault of Gordon and Anderson. They allow one defender to guard two men. If Gordon continues his run earlier in the play, Ginobili loses sight of him. I'm not thinking that Trevor needs to hit him in the corner, but that is an option. If that's not in the cards, he's gotta work with Ryno to free himself so that Manu has to react. My advice would be to never put a weakside corner guy on the court. Strong side corner three guys are way more effective at opening up the rim. The Spurs entire defense is based on sagging off the weakest shooters and collapsing to the rim. Is EGo a bad shooter? No, he's just in a bad position to receive that pass from a guy set on dunking. We HAVE to get them out of position on their weakside help. We can beat bigs in the paint, but we can't beat 3 in the paint. My solution: Use the range of our two three point shooters that shoot best from long range. So you start Gordon and Ryno together. We can hit really long 3's and we're not using that to free up the paint. You can still play PnR out of this with either 3za or CC. But if JH goes left, there is weakside help, if he goes right, Ariza is wide open and an easy/low risk pass if they help. If he goes left, he's further from help provided they don't sag. The key is to react to them sagging. If they sag, make them pay. Look for an alleyoop to 3za, or slash with 3za, but that T formation allows for more space in the paint.
It's a good play. Ariza couldnt even finish at the rim against the 39 years old Ginobili is pathetic. Period.
If that had been Sam or Troy with a 20 foot head of steam, Ginobili would be deceased and therefore wouldn't have blocked Harden's game-saving three. I kid...but seriously, I wish we'd play at least eight guys.
The thing is, Manu never should've even been there. Gordon allows him to sag off so much that he can get to Ariza. Ginobili is slow, but he's smart. Gordon could go under the basket or use Ryno to get himself open, but he's just standing there. I'm not blaming EGo because this happens over and over again. It's the set. They know how to defend it. We just need to alter the set so Manu is out of position.
That was in the 1st quarter. At that point it had nothing to do with fresh legs and more to do with not refreshing the way the play is designed.
We do this almost every play and they are taking advantage of it: The corner guys on defense are able to sag enough that once the decision is made to drive or throw an alleyoop, they can be there in a split second. That really needs to change for us. We only need one guy in the corner on the strong side of the play. If they help from the strong side, the pass is quicker and gives them less time to react. Weak side gives them that extra split second they need to recover. But if they're on their heels, they can't react quick enough, so we need movement out there or no one in the corner. Either should work. It's all about space and they're using our spacing against us with 2 in the corners. Make them guard our shooters. Never let them sag and offer help defense. Help defense is killing us.
Personally, I'd bring Bev off the bench. When they adjust for longer 3s, let Bev find the space they leave closer to the 3 point line. Hammer them with tear drops from Bev/Lou/EGo. Also, put Harden in the corners sometimes and let Bev/Lou/EGo run the point. They'll never sag off Harden... he's too dangerous. That would open up the rim as well.
It's hard to keep the defense honest when they know your shooters are afraid to shoot the ball. But, I do agree with your overall assessment in general -- outside of the human element that goes into it.
Remember earlier in the year when MDmA was watching Corey Brewer brick at like 18% and he talked to him about still shooting anyway? Brewer had a leap in percentage after that. I have no clue how Mike did that, but coach knows how to instill confidence in players. Brewer was a terrible shooter, but if he can help Corey, he can definitely help the remainder of our team. I bet he could even help recently broke handed Dekker believe in his shot again.
Dont ask for too much from Ariza. Even IF he had the vision to see Gordon cutting inside, the chance of turning it over is much higher than making that assist.
Agreed, that's why the gamble to sag off Gordon paid off. It's a low risk, high reward gamble they're taking. My argument is just that something needs to be done that gets Gordon to a position to help free the lane. The corner of the weakside isn't doing that for us. They're using our strategy for spacing against us.
Ariza was never a good rim finisher sadly. I feel bad for saying this. But I'd rather him shoot threes than contested layups.