Here's what I think we should do: 1. Alston on Deron Williams 2. T-Mac on D-Fish 3. Shane on Memo 4. Chuck on Boozer 5. Yao on AK47, 3-4 feet away. Explanations: Mac on D-Fish is an easy job and will keep him fresh on offense. If Deron is killing Rafer (very possible) T-Mac can switch on him late in the games. He can do it, he's just that great. Shane gives up some pounds to Okur, however, Memo is a big who plays small, he's not really a power post player. Chuck Hayes will have his hands full with Booze, however, he has the agility and the strength to match up. Kirilenko has had a terrible year offensively, the Rockets should challenge him to shoot the ball by putting Yao on him, but keeping him way withdrawn. This will free him for help defense on Deron's drives as well as protect against Kirilenko's drives. The Jazz prefer the P&R with Boozer and Okur, not as much with kirilenko. Hayes and Shane are good p&R defenders, Yao is not. I feel more comfortable with Shane and Hayes on the swtch than with Yao. Just my thoughts, I'm sure JVG's staff will figure out the best defense.
since fisher is faster but shorter while okur is taller but slower, might make more sense to put shane on fisher and tmac on okur.. but whe okur tries to post up, yao or hayes has to either switch or help..
Are you kidding me? How can you put 7-6 Yao on Kirilenko (SF) No way. I would be good if Shane would guard Okur, but this in unreal. Hayes will guard him (Okur) Yao - Boozer, Shane-AK. It will be good if T-Mac wil be on Deron Williams (he guarded Nash so well last game with PHX) and then we put Rafer on Fisher
not to sure either. i think your points sound good but sloan is too good of a coach and will be able to change his game plan to take advantage of the mismatches. ie shane on okur and yao on kirilenko. On another note aussierocket where you from im from Australia as well. i live in Sydney
Keep the lineups the same and adjust as dictated by the game Yao on Boozer Chuck on Okur (no threes Chuck, make him put it on the floor) Tmac on Dfish Battier on AK47 plus weakside help on booze when they PNR - Booze never passes after receiving the rock from Deron Rafer on Williams (Williams is definitely tired from a long season, you can see it in his shot falling short) Defensive adjustments to PNR by Boozer and Deron * Shane on Deron to make a difficult pass into the post * Tracy on Okur to keep 3's from raining down plus it makes Okur play D on Tmac on a break *
It'll be as follows and this is for real: Shane on Williams Rafer on Fisher T-mac on AK Yao on Okur and Hayes on Boozer
Putting Yao on AK is only a good idea if fastbreak/transition offense was illegal in the NBA. You institute a defensive assignment like that, and all Sloan will do is have AK guard Rafer where he will always be on the perimeter on the defensive end and up the court waaaaaaaaaaaay before Yao on the offensive end. It won't work.
Boozer would destroy Chuck inside. I like Hayes a lot, but he's no match for Booz. Yao would be a much better matchup on him.
I think no doubt it will be Yao on Booz, Hayes on Okur! All I know is that we better post the heck out of Battier because D-Fish though very strong is just to small. They will run out: Memo on Yao Booz on Hayes Ak47 on Mac D-Fish on Battier D-Will on Alston
You gotta be kidding Battier is not going to guard Williams all night. We will start with: Rafer on Williams Mac on Fisher Shane on Ak47 Hayes on Okur Yao on Booz( just like they played it on the 1st)
This makes absolutely no sense. Whether Yao guards AK, Boozer, Okur or whoever else on defense does not prevent Sloan to put AK on Rafer and let him take off on the shot ... Match up against the fast break requires the 1st guy back to pick up the 1st offensive player.
It's an idea and you have to read AussieRocket's reason. Puttin Yao on Boozer is fine and we''ll see that for sure but that can also get Yao in foul trouble. When that happens, putting Yao on Okur has been tried and it has not been good. Okur loves to camp outside and take jump shot all day long. AK is having a bad year. Even in his good year he is not as good an outside shooter as Okur. He passes up a lot of outside shots. AK is more of a slashing, cutting to the basket type.
Deron - Play a two man zone on him with Rafer and T-Mac Fisher - Make him earn your attention Kiralenko - Hayes Okur - Battier plus help in the post Boozer - Yao and Hayes from time to time
i'd go with: yao on boozer - he did an excellent job 2 weeks ago on him. hayes on kirilenko - keep our rebounder close to the basket. shane on memo - shane is quick enough to go out on the perimeter and get back in the paint for help. tmac on fisher - fisher is just a spot up shooter. easiest guy to guard. rafer on deron - for obvious reasons.
I'm in Brisbane... Kirilenko is a SF only on paper, his offensive style is more of a PF. I concur with Bill Simmons on that one.
Kirlenko is too fast for yao. I don't care how bad he's shooting it, if yao guards kirilenko, yao will get in foul trouble just from kirilinko's drives. Keep him on Boozer. On the flip side i don't think Battier can guard boozer either because Boozer is a beast man. That guy is too powerful for Battier. Yao and Mutombo have done an awesome job on Boozer when they guarded him, so i think we should stick to that.
I forgot to mention that you can put t-mac on deron and rafer on fish. I'll take fish beating on the ball and jacking a fadeaway postup shot over rafer rather than Deron getting into the paint any day. I think T-mac's length is something that deron won't be used to also. I also think that everyone on the jazz besides Deron is a huge target for getting steals. If you look at them, they all have very very poor ball handling skills.
If you read my post, you'll see that I want Yao withdrawn 3-4 feet. This should give him plenty of reaction time for iso drives, Yao is not that slow. Plus AK's drives is not such a weapon, if you are talking drives, you should be much more worried about the ones that come from a pick and roll, that's where Yao gets in trouble. The way Rudy T was defending Sloan's PNR he would just have our bigs stay with their man. That led to many open jumpers from the likes of Stockton and Hornacek, after Maloney or Kenny Smith would get picked. It made no sense to leave Malone or Ostertag - they were well schooled on how to roll and get a layup, as Stockton (to lesser extend Horny) would hit them perfectly. On the other hand their guards could not really get a path to the basket as Dream would slide and stuff them. So they got their open looks on mid- to long -range all night long and Rudy was fine with that. Yao Ming, however is no Dream, his PNR defense is much worse. If he stays with the big the guards will drive to the basket at will and get him in foul trouble, as he is often late sliding in. If he jumps on them that leaves Boozer free to roll to the basket for a layup. On the other hand Kirilenko is mostly a garbage man on offense, they don't run plays for him. You put Yao on him and he will be able to help on Boozer or on deron if Rafer gets beat off the dribble. AK reminds me a bit of Rodman, remember when Rudy would put CJ(the Legend) on Robinson and leave Dream on Rodman. That worked very well defensively, the problem was that we were playing 4on5 at the other end and the Legend could only be used for 5-6 mins at a time without getting charged with cruelty and abuse against the elderly...
No Dude.. Alston/T-mac on Deron T-mac/Guard on Fisher Shane on AK Yao on Boozer Hayes on Okur Hayes is mobile enough to go out and get Okur, we cannot have Yao go out of the paint on defense, or all hell breaks loose.
