Will Lakers use half court trap earlier in game 5?

That move also kept Wafer from getting back in the game in the 4 Qtr.

 

Phil's gimmick trap. He's been doing this for as long as I can remember. He always throws it randomly to steal a possession or two. It works for him about 50% of the time, that's why he is still doing it. He never does it more than several times in a game.

 

I think he will. It' the best way for the Lakers to get going early. Turn Chuck's weaknesses on offense and our all-around shaky ball-handling against us. Particularly with Artest, a hard trap makes too much sense.

 

^^^
My bad I thought you meant his full court pressure trap.

 

Agreed. All the ingredients are in place.

1. inexperienced point guard (brooks)
2. poor ball handling wings (battier/artest)
3. offensive non factor to trap off of (hayes)

hopefully rick and the gang will plan something for this inevitability.

 

The press seriously throws off Lowry and Wafer. I will look for them to press if one of these guys is handling the ball. If they run it against Brooks, he will burn them every single time.

Is it me or has anyone else noticed that Von can't handle the ball?

 

He might, but I don't think it'll be a good idea. Aaron Brooks held back on a couple of wide open shots and Kyle Lowry could have drove into the lane a couple times a drew a foul. He might just use it for a few possessions but that's it. Traps don't really work out really well in the NBA.

 

I think the best counter would be Landry since he is our most explosive finish at the PF/C position. But then we would have to see if Landry could slow down Gasol.

 

doubt jackson will do that early. he just saw the rockets playing Prevent def/offf killing the clock in the 4th quarter which is why he called it. do that early in the game and RA will just tell his guys to blitz the basket.

 

i expect adelman to cover that in practice and they should have something set to go to if it happens...

 

I doubt it would be too effective. The Rockets were not looking to score off of being pressed. They were looking to use clock so it seemed like they didn't know what they were doing. If they had been looking to score, they could have had several wide open shots and/or layups.

 

With no shotblocker in our middle, I expect the Lakers to drive to the basket early and often and get our bigs in foul trouble in game 5. I don't know how many charges and flops Hayes, Battier, Landry, and Scola can handle but they better practice it before the game, they'll need every call.

 

If he does it will be move that the Rockets I am sure will have a something to break the press since Jackson has shown his cards. Desperate move by the Lakers and goes to show that they are not dominating the Rockets like they think they should be. Rockets by 6 on Tuesday it is going to be awesome game. Lakers thuging like in game 2, Rockets should not rattle this time around.

 

This isn't college ball, the rockets will be able to break it with ease.

 

I think Churk can make Gasol hard in Game 5!

 

Maybe, but not for long. Many coaches have tried this in NBA before, but had little success, e.g., Pitino with the Celtics. The reason is that at this level, the player's athleticism makes it hard to fully trap them, and their strength enables them to make across court passes rather easily, which often result an easy layup.

Obviously, Aaron cannot make those long passes due to his height, but he is fast enough to break the trap before the help close in. If he does that a couple times, the Lakers will be forced to give up that.

LA may use that here and there, but won't for a sustained period.

 

I think Chuck has more offense in him than people make it out to be... If they leave Chuck open under the basket, they only have to burn them a couple of times and that will put and end to that.

 

Er, I meant to say, we only have to burn them a few times... too many theys there