Why not do what the Bulls did in 96? They kept switching up their defense and it completely threw off opponents because they didn't know what was coming. The Bulls played a very tight trapping defense. And after their Game 2 dismantling of the Magic in the conference finals, the Bulls came back against a decimated Orlando team and held it to 67 points in Game 3, the second-lowest point total in playoff history. The Magic shot 16.7 percent (3-for-18) in the final period for 10 points and committed seven turnovers. For the game, they shot 33.8 percent with only 11 field goals in the second half (26 for the night). For the series, the Bulls outscored the Magic in the second halves of games by an average of 55-37. "When the games got tight," guard Ron Harper says, "we went back to the thing we know we can do--play defense." The last time three members of the same team were named to the all-defensive team, as Jordan, Radman and Scottie Pippen were this season, was when the 1982-83 76ers did it with Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks and Moses Malone. But ask opposing coaches and players why the Bulls' defense is so scary, and more often than not they will talk about the cumulative effect of the entire team exerting pressure. And the case with which it seems to do it. "We had it with Detroit," reserve center John Salley says. "It's knowing you can stop anybody and stop them whenever you want. It breaks a team's spirit. All you have to do is watch the film (of the Orlando series). Penny (Hardaway) is frustrated because guys don't want to throw him the ball because he missed a couple of times. They're afraid to throw the ball across court because it's been stolen so many times. And then you've got them thinking, `OK, I've got to play my man so tight,' (so) there's no defensive rebounds." Orlando assistant coach Richie Adubato rattles off a bevy of technical reasons the Bulls' defense is so lethal, and it's obvious it's not done with mirrors, though sometimes it appears to be. "They have the ability, because of their athleticism, to cover a lot of ground," he says. "And there's so much versatility in their defense. They'll vary the zone press full court with a diamond and a box. They can run a three-quarter-court press, a half-court, run-and-jump (another type of trap), which they used against us in Game 2. "They do a very good job of denying the point guard the ball, so your two-guard and small forward have to bring the ball up, and that's where they really take advantage because they have guys who can pressure the ball in Pippen and Jordan." During the Orlando series, Hardaway lamented that very obstacle and the ensuing confusion it causes. "If we do get the ball up-court," he said, "we have no time to get into our offense before the shot clock runs out." Bulls assistant coach and defensive specialist Jimmy Rodgers says mixing things up defensively is a deliberate strategy. "Phil is a great believer in posing the unexpected for an offense and keeping people off-balance," he says. "So we use a combination of different things and different points on the court to trap, sometimes triple, sometimes double." Against the Magic in the second half of Game 2, the Bulls turned the game around by severely limiting the number of times O'Neal received the ball inside and pressuring the Magic in the backcourt. When Shaq did get the ball, he was immediately double-teamed--something the Bulls did not do in the first half--and he had barely any time to do anything with it. "It caught me by surprise," O'Neal said. "I just had to give the ball up then."
But ask opposing coaches and players why the Bulls' defense is so scary, and more often than not they will talk about the cumulative effect of the entire team exerting pressure. And the case with which it seems to do it. "We had it with Detroit," reserve center John Salley says. "It's knowing you can stop anybody and stop them whenever you want. It breaks a team's spirit. All you have to do is watch the film (of the Orlando series). Penny (Hardaway) is frustrated because guys don't want to throw him the ball because he missed a couple of times. They're afraid to throw the ball across court because it's been stolen so many times. And then you've got them thinking, `OK, I've got to play my man so tight,' (so) there's no defensive rebounds." Orlando assistant coach Richie Adubato rattles off a bevy of technical reasons the Bulls' defense is so lethal, and it's obvious it's not done with mirrors, though sometimes it appears to be. "They have the ability, because of their athleticism, to cover a lot of ground," he says. "And there's so much versatility in their defense. They'll vary the zone press full court with a diamond and a box. They can run a three-quarter-court press, a half-court, run-and-jump (another type of trap), which they used against us in Game 2. "They do a very good job of denying the point guard the ball, so your two-guard and small forward have to bring the ball up, and that's where they really take advantage because they have guys who can pressure the ball in Pippen and Jordan." During the Orlando series, Hardaway lamented that very obstacle and the ensuing confusion it causes. "If we do get the ball up-court," he said, "we have no time to get into our offense before the shot clock runs out." Bulls assistant coach and defensive specialist Jimmy Rodgers says mixing things up defensively is a deliberate strategy. "Phil is a great believer in posing the unexpected for an offense and keeping people off-balance," he says. "So we use a combination of different things and different points on the court to trap, sometimes triple, sometimes double." Against the Magic in the second half of Game 2, the Bulls turned the game around by severely limiting the number of times O'Neal received the ball inside and pressuring the Magic in the backcourt. When Shaq did get the ball, he was immediately double-teamed--something the Bulls did not do in the first half--and he had barely any time to do anything with it. "It caught me by surprise," O'Neal said. "I just had to give the ball up then."[/QUOTE] This is the reason why defensive teams in the NBA have won so many championships in the last few years is because a greater defense usually beats a greater offense....offense takes rhythm to be effective....defense is more about effort and causing slight disturbances and throwing off the teams timing....
Let's just suffice it to say that Adelman knows a little more than you. He sees the big picture which is keeping Yao on the floor. And it's not just the fact that less chasing out top for Yao allows for him to save a little energy and keep him from getting as many fouls. It also allows him do other things on the defensive end and concentrate more on the offensive end. Not to mention I've always been a believer that Yao's toe injuries were a big part due to the constant hard starting and stopping demanded on Yao's feet when he came out. Of course JVG wanted to blame it on the shoes. Yao is the most important player on our team. Keeping him on the court is and should always be paramount to any defensive strategy. JVG never thought outside of the box or saw the whole picture. It is his narrow-mindedness that caused us the Utah series. But alas he is gone, we have a smarter coach who understands the whole game and not just a small piece of 1 side of it and better days for true Rockets fans are ahead.
I think the big picture is that Adleman puts more emphasis on offense than defense. Yao is NOT a great shot blocker. If you are 7 foor frickin 6 and you DONT average 1 or 2 a game, your probably not playing much. With Yao showing on the pick and roll, at least he had the option of having the 3 or 4 help on defense if he couldn't get back. And he could usually discourage the spot up jumper. When Yao tries to defend the basket, he gets a foul called because the opposing guards usually run right into him. They power the ball in, cause Yao is too scared to hit em, and then get the and1. Look, i love Yaos offense but he is NOT a defensive player. And Adleman is no defensive genius either. We are probably just gonna run the point up like Pheonix or Golden State. Fine by me.
Before you can see the 'big picture', you have to know what you are talking about. Yao averaged 2 blocks last season and 1.87 in his career.
Great post guy. Most people don't remember the stifling defense the Bulls played. They made teams look very foolish at times and would just destroy their opponents confidence when they turned up the heat. It wasn't just about MJ's sizzle on offense.
It is an intriguing idea that perhaps it's better to play Yao less (against some teams) but use him to the full defensively. I don't know. I've never thought it that way. I know you are thinking that since we have more offensive firepower this year, we don't need his offense as much. But playing him less also means having him less on defense. Do we have a better defensive player at his position? Mutombo? Hayes moving to the 5? Butler? Scola? Is any of these guys a better choice than Yao defensively? If not, then we are sacrificing on both ends.
Wow. Did I ever say that I did know more than RA? Have an opinion, not attitude. But again, did you read my posts about how it's a huge misconception that Yao exclusively showed hard b/c of JVG's strategy? Were you ever in chat last year? Yao showed hard most of the time in the 2004-2006 seasons, but not much in the 2006-2007 season. And it was extremely rare in the 2007 playoffs. Does anyone have the 7 game film from the playoffs? Now your last paragraph is an actually opinion, so let's take a look at that. You said "keeping Yao on the court should be paramount to any defensive strategy" and that's a valid opinion. But really though? What if Yao is awesome on offense and totally abused on D, like vs Utah? JVG played Yao defensively the way you guys wanted to vs Utah...he sacrificed his own principles b/c the offense was such crap w/o Yao. And imo, that is the fault of management AND JVG. Just saying, if the offense is good enough to be productive w/o Yao and still play great D...would it be that bad for Yao to only theoretically play 25-30 minutes in certain games?
It's a very detailed analysis along with some very good points. I'd like to point out something worth considering though: 1)Sample size is too small. Like somebody has already mentioned in previous posts, Keeping yao inside will work well against most opponents in the west/east. 2)The front office is not to be blamed. They are actually so frustrated that JVG just ignored talents like Bonzi,Span,Snyder,Novak,etc. No coach could do worse in offense than JVG when you have Yao/Tmac. I noticed some fans are even sleeping at seats last year in some regular season games. 3)It's a trade-off. When it's a trade-off, you gotta find out what's most important. Dominant shaq doesn't defend PNR and wins rings, so why don't he and Phil Jackson do that? Won't it be easier to win the rings without letting Bibby shooting open jumppers? Because it's trade-off, shaq won't be as efficient as he was in the post if he chase Bibby outside. Bill Gates won't pick up some thousand dollars at corner because he can earn much more in that minute working at his strength-Microsoft. 4)That's why we have a hole and recruit Scola. Now a pf can defend pf and a center can be a center.
In my Looking Back thread of the Rox vs Mavs, Buckner flopped bigtime on a pick set on him. It was a legit screen, but he made this big face like he was hurt & got the call.
This is the kind of threads which make this site great. Kudo to Kim and a few other posters who really know the x's and o's in basketball even though I don't agree with everyone of them.
You're full of crap. Yao averages 1.9 blocks in his career and he averaged 2.0 last year. His fouls/48 minutes were at a career low last year. He gave up an average of 11.9 PER to opposing centers, this is on par with Ben Wallace.
No, it won't. There are a few really bad shooting PGs that it will work against, but the vast majority will burn you every time you leave them open.
You could also tell McGrady to play all-out defense against guys like Bryant/Wade/Carter, but he would then tire himself out and suck on offense, or possibly even injure himself, thus limiting his effectiveness. Why don't we do that, and instead have Battier do it, even though if McGrady applied full effort he might be better? Because it would bog down our offense. Same reasoning applies to Yao. Besides, he's slow anyways and has always had trouble keeping up with the guards on the perimeter. That's why you have Hayes do that crap instead. The offense in the playoffs wasn't great with Yao but it completely bogged down without Yao.
im sorry, did you just use novak, snyder and vspan to highlight the rockets talents? And then using those guys' names to show the ability to score?! seeing as those were the best players you could muster up off the bench...then its a miracle the rockets only avged 1 less pt than the spurs. *i exclude bonzi, b/c bonzi himself deserves more blame for being lazy
Given credit and props to - poprocks for the old Bulls-Magic article. I think we should take a page out of that Bulls team (from 95-98), when comes to defense...I know no one on this team is as good as those players defensively. But we could use some of the same strategies. They had so many strategies and schemes to couple with the athletic ability of Pippen, Harper, Jordan, and Rodman....and bench players like Brown, Williams, and others. Routinely shut down great offensive squads and made it hard for passes coming into the post.....And they did about the best job possible, since their achilles heel probably was Luc Longley at center. People should realize the Bulls had one of the greatest defenses in sports history (not just basketball), but in all of sports. They were like the 2000 Ravens on the basketball court. There defense was about as stifling as they came, you rarely saw teams score 100 on them consistently. And remember, this team did not have a dominate center or great presence inside the paint (especially coming from C or PF). Their backcourt defense was so great and pressuring that they made it difficult for all phases of game for the other team, especially when you had to come back on the other side and stop number #23. That can be really tiring for team. I think we should treat Yao like Luc Longley defensively, give him less responsiblity and not make him chase after pg's or let Scola guard Amare on the wing and let Yao get Diaw or Marion.
But not for the whole game they should keep switiching defenses and matchups....not letting just one person have exclusive coverage to one player....let Hayes and Scola guard Amare for certain stretches and for others let Yao and Mutombo do it.
In the playoffs, T-Mac's defense has been extraordinary at times, pretty damn good most of the time. As for when you say "have Hayes do that crap instead" what do you mean? I'm specifically writing about the Utah PnR on the left side w/Boozer and Williams. Yao was getting killed in the paint b/c Rafer would be behind the play and both Deron and Boozer would be attacking Yao at deep angles, making him helpless. Here are some possible solutions: 1) show hard most of the time (this is the one I like) 2) Have Hayes guard Boozer on the left side, which would put Yao on Okur on the right side perimeter 3) Have Yao stay back, but have Rafer go under the pick instead of around it, meaning Deron would have the open pull up jumper from the elbow area 4) Keep Yao on Boozer to avoid him from rolling, let Rafer fight over, allowing the Deron drive but have Hayes/other players rotate to Deron in the middle of the lane Come on guys constructive thinking here. I'm tired of people saying general statements without any evidence or logic. Just my opinion here, but before one makes a claim, one should run the scenario through your head, or draw it, or find some game tape that shows it happening. Don't just throw out a statement without thinking hard about it. For while Yao showing hard isn't the only solution, Yao staying back vs Utah if he's guarding the Boozer pick n roll is a HUGE PROBLEM. It was ridiculous how efficient the Utah PnR was in the playoffs. Yao did stay home during the series, and the Rockets ended up staying home after game 7.
I think Phil Jackson is a offensive and defensive genius when it comes to basketball. Defense By switching up the defenses it confuses the opposing teams. His transition defense was very tight because he'd try to trap guards in the corner. If a guard or forward got the ball near the boundaries, there'd be two players on him (trap). They played the passing lanes tight too and denied the ball. It took the other team out of their offensive rhythm. Jackson had his teams played some zone, some man to man, some diamond and one and some full court press and even more trapping. I remember seeing this on Sports Center a long time ago and they showed how the Bulls were spot on defense every time down the floor. They killed opposing teams with their pressing trapping active defenses. Offense The Triangle Offense. It was made for players like Kobe and Jordan. That offense used a lot of pick and rolls with motion similar to what Adelman is running. It overloaded one side of the floor and allowed a player like Jordan to take advantage of it. The pick and roll came sideways from either side of the court. Most pick and rolls are run from the key or near the foul line and vertically. I would say that the pick and roll of the triangle with it's motion is very similar to Adelman's. Would it be hard to play the Van Gundy defense with the triangle offensive set? I think it would because Van Gundy's defensive sets were all predicated on offensive court spacing where players would be able to run back to cover their area defensively as a unit. With the triangle offense, the players would also be not be in the same place every time down the floor which is why I think Jackson put in that full court pressing defense emphasizing the traps. But Phil Jackson went further than that, he kept switching up the defensive looks which kept other teams from ever getting into an offensive rhythm. Very nice tactics when you think about it.
McGrady shut down Dirk in 2005, it is true. However, since then, he has visibly coasted on defense, even allowing scrubs like Harpring to beat him in the post and allowing guys to get open jumpers. The huge AK47 trey that tied the game at 88-88 happened b/c McGrady didn't guard him. We have Battier so that McGrady can coast a bit on D, but even then it's still clear that he's not giving it his all on that end. If we had him play all-out on D like Battier he would get even more winded than he gets now, and at the end of games at this rate he still shows signs of fatigue. Only extraordinarily great players like Jordan in his prime can give full effort on both offense and defense. I mean that Hayes should show hard on picks, chase guards, and it doesn't matter that he gets tired or picks up some bad fouls that way, because this is his role, to hustle, and he only plays 20-25 mpg anyway. Yao on the other hand is expected to carry a big chunk of the offense, play 35 mpg, (this year) possibly create for teammates, and protect the rim. He's 7'6" 310 lb, and his stamina is not that great. Not even Shaq in his prime could do all that and chase guards around the perimeter. He basically sat in the lane on P&R's; the championship Lakers never defended the P&R well. Olajuwon could but he's not huge like Yao or Shaq and he was extraordinarily quick. The offense wasn't great with Yao in the game, but it totally bogged down with Yao out. McGrady carried the offense in January, but by the end of February it bogged down too. The Rockets need both guys to carry the offense, and so they need to preserve their stamina. Basically you want Yao to play defense like Chuck Hayes. He can't do that well since he's not quick and it wastes his stamina and hurts his offense, and the Rockets need his offense. There are basically 3 ways of guarding a pick&roll; showing, switching, or going under the screen. Fighting over the screen without a double is not a good option since a properly set screen will always get the ballhandler an open shot if the defender tries to fight over the screen. Switching is not an option because Yao is slow. Personally, I'd have the defender go under the screen and Yao stay on the screener. This surrenders a jumper but better than a foul or an attempt at the basket. If the ballhandler (say Nash) hits a few that way then start showing a bit. But showing isn't a perfect solution either; if you remember the Mavericks would show very hard on Yao's screen for McGrady, so Yao would simply slip the screen and go into the lane, and he'd have a layup with Michael Finley or Dirk guarding him. Certainly guys like Boozer or Amare could do this too. There really is no one way to stop a pick&roll. But mixing up your defense and prompt rotations are the best way to contain it. Personally I'd start by going under the screens to preserve Yao's stamina.
