From Last night: Against Shane Battier 8-for-22 17 pointsAgainst Ron Artest 3-for-5 6 pointsAgainst Others: 3-for-4 6 pts What do you think is the best method for keeping Kobe as under control as possible?
I think your post just answered your own question... Shane is by far the best defender to but on Kobe. Ron Artest is too slow and would be burn off the dribble constantly..
Being a little sick helped. But like I keep saying...you gotta beat these boys up. They are smarter than we are. They are more athletic. But guess what? We are rough and play smack down defense. As long as we don't collapse in the 4th quarter, we should be in good shape. Beat up the Lakers.
neither, you do what we've always done, let both go at him, it throws him off a little, ron is more physical, shane is more crafty, you stay with whoever is playing the best down the stretch, but i prefer artest lay off and come at him at particular spots hats off to both for last nights game, excellent effort even though kobe got his
ron gamble too much. There was a play where he try to go for the steal and kobe blew by him and almost got yao a foul but luckily it was on landry instead.
1) Leave Battier on Kobe for most of the game. 2) Spot Artest on him in some switches to muscle up on him to help wear him down and make him work harder. 3) Double, triple even quadruple team him anytime he visits the paint and put a hard foul on him if necessary. 4) Play the passing lanes and alley oops forcing him only to find 3 point shooters for pass offs. 5) Force him to play defense by whomever he is guarding being active on offense even if not scoring....cutting, setting picks, etc.
Shane and definitely not Artest the whole game. One reason is we need Artest's offense. If Ron is chasing Kobe the whole game, his offense will have a significant drop-off, which we have all seen in Portland's series. But I don't mind some occasional mix-up or 4th quarter lock downs with Ron.
Since I try not to give my thoughts in the OP and "lead" the poll: I'm also an advocate of using Shane as the primary defender, with Ron for spots and the occasional double. Artest can bring out the best in Kobe with his style (physical and mouthy). On the flipside, Artest's style does fluster guys like Odom and Gasol. Evan
This was the play that really exemplified why Battier is so much better on Kobe. That might have been a turning point in the game had Yao picked up the foul.
Good question, I think we should do it just like yesterday and how the majority of people seems to think it should be done.
There was one play where Kobe had given up his dribble about 8 feet from the basket and Battier hung in there with incredible defense against every move, pivot, and pump fake Kobe tried. That play could end being the symbol of this series. (Except the Lakers got the rebound.)
