Our perimeter players simply let KB shoot over their heads. When he got a hot hand, why not just foul him and put him to the ft line? That will keep him out of his rythm and cool him down. I know our perimeter players lack the talent to stop KB, but they should be able to grab his hands, to hold his body. Just do whatever that is not dirty to stop him shooting the ball. Looking at the statistics, Head has only 2 fouls and Bogans has only 3 fouls. Come on, play tough!
So you're basically saying that instead of forcing/letting Kobe shoot 20 foot fadeaways and contested 3's, we should foul him on purpose? On jumpshots? I have no problem with hammering when he goes to the basket (which he really didn't do too much), but fouling Kobe on jumpers is the worst thing you could do. Also, hitting freethrows can also help a guy get into a rhythm.
Kobe Bryant isn't exactly someone you can stop. Foul him? The entire Rockets team would foul out if they had to tie up Kobe everytime he touched the rock. When he is hot, there really is nothing you can do to stop Kobe Bryant, it's the same thing with Tracy McGrady. Fouling him everytime just makes it easier because FT's are easier than tough J's, even if you are on fire.
Keith Bogans is a poor man's Bruce Bowen. He should be able to slow down Kobe and make him shoot 35-40% like Bowen does, even though Bogans is only 6'5. In all seriousness, we need perimeter defendERs. For the most part, both Rafer and Luther stink on defense. Bogans is borderline serviceable. At least he is strong enough not to be backed down and posted up like a chump every time down the floor. But at 6'5, he has no chance against Kobe's height and he can't deny him the ball.
I am not telling to foul him every time when his is shooting. I am saying that when KB made his shots consecutively. We foul him once on purpose. Let him go to ft line and call a short timeout. I know we may not be able to disturb his shooting rythm in this way. But at least that worth a try, right?
This season is over, and why JVD not let our young plays play more time! Head have grown up, please let swift, hayes and other young play more!!!!!
I'd rather give up 20 foot fade aways than layups. Rarely is somebody going to beat you over the top. Occasionally, yes ...but it is rare. I can only think of maybe two other games where we got toasted by a hot outside shooter. Maybe there's a couple others but I don't recall. Boston. LaFrenze destroyed us jacking up 3's. Freak occurance. Suns. They shot something like 65% one game. That's high even for them. Most games we lost this season is due to our crappy offense and/or a 4th quarter melt down ...not necessarily cause we got torched defending outside shooters. Normally when guards torch us its cause they are driving to the lane not killing us with long bombs.
While picking on the Rox because they could not defend KB is wrong, the entire league has a hard time defending KB, we do have a problem that stems from a lack of athleticism and height among our backcourt players. We haven't had a guard that could take it strong to the hole since SF, pathetic since even 5'11" Speedy Claxton and 6'2" Jason Terry can.
that won't do anything but him 2 points from the line and burn our time out. your point is correct though. we do need better perimeter defense. with tmac and bogans we can guard the wing pretty effectively. the thing that holds us back is on the ball pressure. out PG's cant pressure the ball at all. look at how well lindsey hunter, derek fisher, and even tony parker pressure the PG full court during thier championship runs. i think a trade of stro and either our second round pick or head for duhon would help both teams.
I do not think that the ROX SG's were not playing aggressive defense on Kobe yesterday. The problem is that we have no one on the freaking roster size wise to mach up with not only Kobe but most of the top SG's in the league. When you continue to march out 6'2 and 6'3 guards to match up with 6'8 Kobe, 6'8 Lebron, 6'7 Stackhouse, 6'6 Genobli, 6'6 Maggette and a plethora other 6'6 to 6'9 SG's, you are going to continue to be killed. Van Gumby, get a freaking clue and adjust this roster! Players like Rodney White 6'9 and Kareem Rush are available and he continues to fill the roster with scrubs like rick brunson and richie frahm. With that type of thinking, the ROX will continue down this dead end street!
