OKC is one of the best three point shooting teams in the league. A zone defense caters to that strength. Defensively, I'd tell Lin/Beverley to sag off of Westbrook in an effort to bait him into taking the "easy" jumper. I'd rather concede the three point shot with him than watch him carve up our interior defense. Match Parsons' minutes with Durant's. Simply put: he's our only prayer for containing him. You just have to hope he doesn't get in foul trouble. Offensively, I agree that you need another shooter out there to space the floor. Ibaka absolutely killed us in the paint and on help defense in G1. You need to pull him away from the basket. The problem is I don't like the idea of playing Delfino at the 4 (we concede too much size/athleticism by doing that). I'd give D-Mo and Jones a chance to see if they can get anything going. Use Smith to spell Asik and against Perkins. Honestly, our PF spot was so abhorrently bad in G1 that a drastic change of this nature is in order. I'll also echo the sentiments about less ISO-ball and more ball movement. More screening, more cutting, more PnR'ing. Less standing around waiting for Harden to do everything. Give Lin some opportunities to screen and roll to the basket to try to draw fouls and boost his confidence.
1. Bench Greg Smith for the rest of the series. 2. Exculsively guard Durant with Parsons. 3. Have TJones and Delfino gaurd Ibaka when he slide to the 5. 4. Play Brooks whenever Fisher is in. 5. If OKC is on fire, go to zone for a few possessions to break their rhythm 6. Keep shooting 3's 7. Slow the pace down when their big three is in, push the tempo against their bench units. I would match OKC's Rotations like this 1a. Westbrook - Beverly Sefalosha - Lin/Harden Durant - Parsons Ibaka - Harden/Delfino Perkins - Asik 1b. Westbrook - Beverly Sefalosha - Harden KMart - Garcia/Delfino Durant - Parsons Ibaka - Delfino/TJones 2a. Jackson - Lin Fisher - Brooks KMart - Garcia Durant - Parsons Collison - Asik 2b. Westbrook - Beverly Jackson - Harden Fisher - Brooks Kmart - Garcia Ibaka - Delfino/TJones
I think Parsons going out in the 1st half with 3 fouls had the biggest impact on the game. Granted, we were not likely to win the game either way, but that killed our momentum. Delfino at the 4 against Ibaka should never be an option. I'd rather see Thomas Robinson than Delfino against Ibaka, but I doubt this is going to happen and recognize he makes a lot of mistakes.
I would pick up the defensive pressure. OKC can get rattled if they have to fight for every shot. So, stop letting Westbrook and Durant have such easy shots and wide-open paths to the basket. Make the others shoot outside shots. I would allow Sefalosha to shoot more even if he's making his shot, because the offense doesn't flow through him very well. It means we have to be quicker on the switches, crowd the shooters more, and contest every shot, but if we rattle them defensively, they will lose their composure (ever seen a Westbrook meltdown?). That's our best hope. It worked for Miami, it can work for us.
I'm not really sure what adjustments can be made as far what players should be played more than others (bench players). The big issue with that is we just dont have the talent on the bench to make a huge difference. Our young PFs have some talent in their own respective ways, BUT none of them are really ready to contribute consistently on this level. Thats just a FACT. The only thing that still makes me think we have a slight chance two win a game or two is that Ibaka and Perkins are not threats to score in the paint. Neither of those guys command the ball in the paint and make post moves. If they are scoring in the paint its off passes from guards. Ibaka will do more scoring from the perimeter. So with that, just like us, OKC is a perimeter uptempo scoring team. Albeit a very good one, but they can have a off shooting night. So I hope our young guys come out with more energy and fight this time to keep this thing close.
Starters: Lin Harden Parsons D-mo Asik Bench: Beverly Garcia Delfino Tjones GSmith D-mo would help pull Ibaka away from the basket on offense and at least have the speed to contest some of those long jumpers he was nailing. Asik needs to have a good game and in order for this to happen he has to have breathers. The tandem of GSmith and Tjones should help somewhat give us some presence in the paint when Asik is out. Ideally I think Beverly should start at PG but we all know that won't happen. Lin would be great coming off the bench when Harden sits.
as I read your post I saw you in your front yard sitting (on a bright sunny day) on your sandy driveway, under the shade of trees, half yawning and stretching your back against a 55 gallon barrel that you hope to sell for scrap one day.
In my opinion, TJones right now is the best defender and rebounder of the bunch including Greg Smith. I think he would be the best matchup to pair with Asik against Perk/Ibaka. Then you bring DMo off the bench in tandem with Greg Smith to spell the starters unless we are going small.
I don't think you guys understand what playing zone would do.... It would leave their shooters wide open on 3's. A zone isn't gone prevent Durant or Westbrook from penetrating, and when they do drive and the 2nd level of the zone steps up to help, they'll hit Martin, Ibaka, or Sefelosha in the corner for a wide open three. And as if it wasn't already a problem, they destroy us on the offensive boards! Playing zone works against a team that rely's on one man getting to the rim (Miami in 2010) OKC is too versatile offensively to play a zone on them!
Do what the Warriors did with David Lee out and go with a 3 guard rotation. I suggested this before last nights Warriors game. Starting 5 1) Bev 2) Lin 3) Harden 4) Parsons 5) Asik -Bev should constantly pressure WB to try and slow him down. Don't even worry about offense just strictly expend all energy and focus sticking with WB and pestering him. -Offensively Lin should have his way with Sefolosha and be able to get by him on a consistant basis. Defensively Lin should be fine as well since Sefolosha isn't a threat on offense... Lin just needs to make sure he doesn't give up the wide open 3. Lin should gamble more defensively but he needs to close out quickly if he does leave Sefolosha. I challenge Harden to step up to the plate and take the task of guarding Durant. Harden is our best player and his defense is questioned but if he wants to be elite and take it to the next level man up and step up to the challenge. It's going to be tough for Harden to stop Durant as he's giving up a lot of length but the good news is Durant shoots a lot of long jumpers. Harden can definitely contest those. Again, Lin needs to be agressive and bring the double when KD does get to the paint or tries to post. As challenging as it will be for Harden to stop Durant we can and should make it equally difficult for Durant to stop Harden. Parsons on Ibaka. The one weakness on Ibaka is that he's not a good passer. Just stick with Ibaka and make sure he doesn't get any open jumpers. I think Parsons is definitely up to the task of not letting Ibaka get wide open jumpers like game 1. If Ibaka tries to post then Lin needs to double quickly. As I mentioned Ibaka is NOT good at finding the open man and he's not good at putting the ball on the floor so Parsons can gamble a bit as well. If Sefolosha beats us so be it. Asik on Perkins. Asik needs to box out and get good position and be the double-double machine he's been for us all season. Limit OKC's second chance opportunities aka don't let Perk or Ibaka get easy put backs/garbage buckets around the hoop. Take your time offensively and stay within yourself. Other notes. When they bring in Martin we bring in Brooks. Only play Greg Smith when Perk or Collison are in and Asik isn't available. Smith cannot hang with Ibaka.
Too much Harden at the beginning of the game. I felt like that took away from the team's rhythm in game 1. Go back to what got the team here...
Lots of high screens for Harden and Lin. Leave Smith in at 4 and put in TJones at 3. Bring Parsons off the bench. We're getting killed inside and Parsons doesn't bang inside. Jones also a better matchup defensively vs. Durant.
I think we do understand. OKC is a pick your poison team. They're #3 in 3pt percentage, #3 in 2pt percentage, #2 in FTA, #1 in FT percentage, #1 in block percentage, and #1 in blocks per game. and #10 in points in the paint per game. However, pushing OKC to the 3 point line also increases their variance. Playing a zone and working to close out on 3 point shooters in my opinion isn't nearly as bad as trying to adjust on switches. Defensively our team just isn't that well organized and hasn't been all season. Expecting them to suddenly step up and not get screened off switches is a LOT to ask from a team this young. And yes, a zone can deter driving if the team closes the driving lanes reasonably quickly. It's not an accident that Zone defense was illegal for decades. It slows down the game significantly. Given a choice, I'd rather give an outside perimeter shot with a chance at closing out than letting them waltz into the paint and dominate players like Smith and Tjones on the block, more importantly keeping them on the perimeter takes away their fouls and FT's if we're not fouling them on the perimeter. The refs hand out fouls for OKC like it's handing out candy. Keep them out of the lane and not driving, and I think our chances are a bit better. This is also aside from taking Perkins and Sefolosha out of play in terms of rebounding as much as possible. 3 pointers = long rebounds which makes it harder for their bigs to dominate on the inside. Sure, we won't gobble up every defensive rebound with long rebounds, but it wasn't like we were dominant on the glass anyway. And at least on a long rebound you got a shot at getting in transition vs giving up the offensive rebound. I'm okay with giving up 3 pointers. Anything that ups OKC's variance and reduces stable performance works in our benefit.
