[FOX SPORTS] Lakers have adjusted, can Rockets counter?

Lakers have adjusted, can Rockets counter?

by Charley Rosen

From game to game in the playoffs, it's incumbent upon the losing team to make the most — and the most radical — adjustments, especially after suffering a blowout.

After Game 4, the Lakers had to address and correct several issues:

* They had scored only 87 points, many of these in garbage time.

* On defense, Houston's high screen/rolls were devastating.

* Aaron Brooks seemed to penetrate the lane whenever he so desired.

* Shane Battier had at least a dozen open looks from the wings.

* Kyle Lowry easily powered his way to the basket.

But adjust the Lakers did, and here are three measures of how effective these tweaks were:

* L.A. increased its point production by 31 points.

* In Game 4, Brooks, Battier and Lowry combined to score 69 points.
They totaled only 21 in Game 5.

* In Game 4, the Rockets' biggest lead was 29, and the Lakers' largest
margin yesterday was 42. That's a huge swing of 71 points.

Here are the changes that Phil Jackson and his staff made in the game plan:

The most immediate necessity was to control Houston's high S/Rs, and thereby to control Brooks. With Chuck Hayes playing instead of Yao Ming, the Lakers understood they essentially had an extra defender with which to combat Houston's explosive offense. Even if Hayes was totally ignored, he'd be capable of hurting them only with an occasional offensive rebound and put-back. However, in Game 4, both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum often were caught in no-man's-land — neither guarding Hayes nor making a firm enough commitment to closing the middle.

In Game 5, the Lakers reemphasized their strategy of letting Hayes run free. But they also instituted several other significant changes in the specific defense of Houston's various S/Rs:

The player defending the screener stepped back and shifted to the weak side of the proffered high screen. Previously, the same defender had bodied up on the screener. Plus, Brooks' (or Lowry's) defender made no effort to fight through the screen, each simply chasing his man over the top.

With the big defender already positioned in the driving lane near the closest elbow, Brooks either had to retreat or flatten out for at least one count — thereby allowing his original defender (Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar or Shannon Brown) to catch up with the play and be close enough to pressure any 3-pointer that Brooks might take.

Once Fisher et al were once again in touch with Brooks, the Lakers' big man lingered for a couple of counts to further discourage any ventures into the paint.

While all this was transpiring, the Lakers' wing defenders were sloughing off their own men and further narrowing the available driving lanes.

Moreover, whereas the Lakers worked hard to deny incoming passes to any post-up players, in Game 5 these same post-up defenders played behind their men — the better to jump into the middle and help on ball penetration by Brooks and his backcourt buddies.

Because Hayes could be ignored, his defender was free to rotate to the middle. Here's where Bynum and Odom proved to be much more active and alert than before.

In other words, against high S/Rs, the Lakers moved into a sliding 2-1-2 or 1-2-2 "zonish" defense.

This tactic worked extremely well, except when the bigs dropped too far from the screen and Brooks was able to generate sufficient momentum to mount an attack hoopward. Or else when the bigs moved too far from the screen laterally, and Brooks was able to split the two defenders. Or when Fisher simply didn't recover in time.

On wing S/Rs, Brooks' defender drastically overplayed the screen, and a big assumed a position on the strong side about 10 feet from the convergence of the baseline and the lateral edge of the foul lane. Now Brooks' options were to continue his drive into a certain double team, look for a dive-cutting teammate (who would be tagged by Hayes' defender), pull the ball back out or force up a quick shot.

That's why Brooks was 4-for-11 for 14 points, and Lowry was 1-for-7 for 2 points.

Denying Battier his favorite corner treys was much less complicated: Kobe Bryant was simply admonished to avoid his habitual freelancing and to always remain within defensive reach of Battier. As a result, Battier was 2-for-7 for 5 points.


The only other major defensive concern for L.A. was Ron Artest. While Ron-Ron certainly has the capacity to score points by the dozens, the Lakers took advantage of his stubborn, ego-driven desire to score, as well as his impatience.

Artest doesn't utilize high S/Rs to the fullest advantage, instead choosing to shoot his perimeter jumper in his man's face. And using the same chase-and-show technique on the high S/Rs that were available, the Lakers encouraged Artest to take much longer shots than he wanted to take. He was 1-for-7 from beyond the arc and 4-for-15 overall for only nine points.

With Hayes' defender moving into the middle, Artest's driving lanes also became more crowded than usual. But instead of recognizing the situation, Artest persisted in forcing shot after shot — hence his solitary assist and his four turnovers.

To boost their offense, the Lakers stuffed the ball into Gasol; when he couldn't maneuver around Hayes' stolid defense, he looked to pass to cutters and open perimeter shooters. As a result, Gasol's shots were limited — 6-for-9, except when he was opposed by Brian Cook's inept defense, and he registered three assists.

After having so much success turning and facing Hayes in the fourth quarter of Game 4, the unfolding of the rout in Game 5 meant that Gasol could save this particular maneuver for future use. As such, he turned and faced Hayes only twice, forcing a no-shot foul and then scoring a layup.

What else did the Lakers do to amp up their offense?

* Made concerted efforts to push the ball to the basket, both in their half-
court sets and in full-court situations. Subsequently, they shot 36 free
throws to Houston's 16 and out-scored their opponents in points on the
run 24 to 10.

* Also, with Brooks and Artest successfully cramped, the weak-side wings
were free to overplay the passing lanes. As a result, the Lakers had 12
steals and registered 24 points off Houston's turnovers.

Looking forward to Game 6, what kind of adjustments must the Rockets undertake to avoid being closed out?

* Get more action on the weak side — screens and curls for Battier, Von
Wafer, Brent Barry and even Artest — to occupy the Lakers' off-the-ball
defenders and discourage them from sliding into the lane to thwart Brooks.

* Post up Artest, move Luis Scola to the stripe and have Hayes charge the
glass from the weak-side baseline.

* Run 1-4 sets with screens and pops on both wings, and allow Brooks to
take his man one on one from the top of the key.

* Slow the pace by avoiding careless passes and headlong dribbling into
crowds.

* In half-court situations, instead of planting Battier in a corner (the left
being his favorite), move him side to side along the baseline to distract
Kobe and bait him into roaming.

* Front Gasol in the low post, and have help ready to react on the weak side.

* Make shots!

* Box out and rebound!

* Above all, not panic.

And what do the Lakers need to do to close out the series?

* Have their bigs be more precise in their reactions to high S/Rs involving
Brooks.

* Be ready to focus the triangle around Gasol at the high post if necessary.

* Not get over-confident.

* Run. Run. Run.

* Attack the glass at both ends.

* And mostly, keep on keeping on.

Link: http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9570768/Lakers-have-adjusted,-can-Rockets-counter