How do we defend against quick point guard dribble penetration?

The only solution is our guards not being beaten off the dribble consistently. There is no magic solution. Also, Rafer and Luther should never be on the floor at the same time, it leaves our backcourt undersized and at a tremendous defensive disadvantage.

 

I sense a "play Vspan!!!" comment coming

 

play Vspan!!!

 

undercut the dirty b*stard.

 

Maybe we could play a lineup of

PG-Tmac
SG-Snyder
SF-Battier
PF-Hayes
C-Yao

With Tmac guarding the quicker penetrating guard. Tmac being a lockdown defender, will pretty much stop any penetration. This would be IMO an awesome defensive lineup. Of course this should only be used in situations like earlier tonite, where PGs like Chris Paul are destroying the team defense via penetration.

On offense, Snyder could bring up the ball so Tmac can focus on being the scorer/attacker rather than the distributor.

 

Vspan has the speed to keep up with him and defend him better.

 

When Chris Paul is drilling outside jumpshots, especially 3 pointers, he is unstoppable because of his quickness. He's like Tony Parker with a great outside shot, except he is even quicker and can't finish at the rim quite as well. Chris Paul didn't bother me about tonights game. I'm no Rafer-lover but I don't blame his defense for this game. I blame the fact nobody but Tracy stepped up to the plate on offense. If Yao's shot hadn't been so off we would have won this game, maybe easily. And I'm not worried about Yao because he's still rounding into form.

Believe me, Chris Paul doesn't always shoot this well, otherwise he would be an MVP candidate. When he hit those two straightaway 3 pointers early in the game, that was a very bad sign of things to come. Desmond Mason and David West also played over their heads. Call me crazy, but I don't think our defense was as bad as the stats indicate. You guys who think V-Mac would have been any better are clueless. V-Mac has the potential to be a better defender against heavier PGs, but Chris Paul would have left him eating even more sand.

One last comment: Even though he cooled off, Pargo's 4 minute demolition of Luther was uuuuuuuuuugly. There was no excuse for that. I thought Luther effort was lacking until the timeout was called.

 

Stick Snyder on the quick point guard, and have T-Mac bring the ball up the court and play the point forward role. Snyder's athleticism and bigger body gives me more leeway to space out away from the PG so the quicker PG can't blow past him as easily. His height and athleticism allows him to recover should the same PG decide to pull up for a jumper.

 

Devin Harris, Mavs

 

yeah... i wish Rox has him... he's a LOT longer and as fast..rafer sucks

 

Who the hell knows? Maybe try to match quickness by playing JLIII? That strategy seems to have had mild success this year when JVG tried that approach.

All I know is Deron Williams is going to cause us some MAJOR problems in the playoffs unless we can find a solution and/or find a way to rest Rafer and get his legs fresher. Playing Rafer against him 40 minutes a game is certainly not to our advantage.

 

KillBill is a better defender than Alston.

But other than driving to the hoop, that is only thing he is better at.

Unfortunately, Houston is going to see a ton of quick guards in the post season.

Defending the elite quick guards is not Skip's forte.

 

Correction: All NBA PGs are fast.. CP3 and Nash not fast, they are just good, smart, skilled and crafty..
their techniques combine with Pick and roll is hard to guard, not their quickness... it's a mental game, they outsmarted our team defense, not outquicked us....

it takes a team effort to limit their effetiveness, not certain individual.

 

In my opinion, since we don't have a single guard in our team who is capable of guarding those superior PGs, we must reply on team defense. One of the kep points in JVG's defense philosophy is to disrupte the opportnent's offense rhythm and make them uncomfortable. I think to defend guards like JP3 and Deron Williams, we must disrupte their rhythm and stop them operating in their comfort zone as much as possible. We can use Battier or T-Mac for a few key possession if necessary. If we disrupte their rhythm, we will have a chance to beat them. I admit in most case, Rafer and Head will be bullied but as long as they keep fighting, the team defense can bail them out.

 

Attack the point guard's dribble before the play is setup. The point has the difficult task of directing traffic, setting up a play, and aiming a pass or shot... all while he's dribbling. Attack his dribble or put a hand in his face when he's at the 3 pt. line to take his attention off of running the floor and to force him to pay attention to protecting the ball. This will take his head out of the game.

...

.. but watch out for the pick.

If their speedy point guard gets past our slow defender, and penetrates the lane, one of our players should come to help (which will leave an opposing player - we should leave open their team's worst long-range player).

...

(note: I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about. I've never coached.)

 

We need fresh legs to lock down these fast PGs. Can a rotation of Rafer+Head+VSpan+JLIII defeats Steve Nash/Chris Paul/Daron Williams?

That's virtually 4 on 1, if we still couldn't keep up with their paces in the last quarter of the game, then shame on them.

I used to believe being smart and decipline on defence was the key to gain playing time for our DNP players but now I wish VSpan and JLIII would listen to the Coach and improve their perimeter shots significantly. They should realise that this is the short cut to their play time. Offensively, they are competing with Rafer, Head and Battier for 2 spots on the court. And their shooting pct seems to be the only gauge used. When TMac and Yao are both on court, the other players' offenisive game is plain simple: make your open shots or grab those offensive rebounds. If I were VSpan and JLIII, I would just talk to one of the assistant coach and request for an OT after normal practice just to do 3pt shooting. 12 games left this regular season, would it be too late or it would never be too late?

As long as VSpan or JLIII plays, we may have better chance to keep up with those fast PGs at the defensive end. And Rafer or Head may reserve more energy to close the game as well.

A 100% Rafer may be < 100% Chris Paul/Daron Williams. How about an 80% Rafer vs 70% Chris Paul/Daron Williams?

 

stopping quick point guards is easier said than done. theres a reason why chris paul, steve nash, and deron williams are the permier point guards of the league. its because they penetrate and make their teammates better night in and night out. no one player can stop those guys. you need team defense to stop the whole team.

 

I agree. Chris Paul was in a zone - an anomaly. I wish we could beat this team. I hate playing them. Pargo has given us trouble before.

surely the other posters are kidding about Spanoulis- I really do not think he could help us much.

I really thought we would win....

 

have one of the Rockets on the court wear the opponents jersey; that way maybe the ball will get passed to him by accident