Ive heard some claim that this is an inherent flaw in Rudy's defensive philosophy (i.e. that Rudy instructs his wing men to funel everthing into the middle). I don't believe it for a second. Kenny Smith, Sam Cassell and Steve Francis were all just bad defenders. Matt Maloney was too slow. This is why we haven't been much of a breaking team because our guards don't force a whole lot of turnovers. JP did his part and we saw him on the break some. This is where I give credit to Moo. Other's don't believe me, but if you watch Moo, he makes much more of an effort to keep his man in front of him than Steve does. Granted, this hardly makes Moo more than an average defensive player. But at least he tries. If Moo brings nothing else to the court, he brings energy, hustle and passion. Too bad he doesn't always bring his brain.
I bet they don't want to say it; the Kings might want to keep the seriousness of the injury secret. But, I'd be surprised if he plays next game. Web limped back to the bench (after popping it back). He's on the bench now.
have loved watching the playoffs, but after this game, also game 1 and the game 2 of the spers v lakers is anyone else sick of garbage time......
Yeah, I'd trade 2 pointers all day with the Mavs. It's when you let them shoot 3's that hurt you. Always take away the 3 from the Mavs. Stopping their point guards (Nash/Exel).
Who wouldve thunk that Bradley would break a fight involving the Wizard and Turgalou after they fought themseleves a few years back.
this from espn All-Star forward Chris Webber was carried to the locker room by four teammates late in the third quarter after he injured his left knee while going for a lob pass. He limped back to the bench on his own early in the fourth and didn't return. He'll be re-evaluated Thursday. Also, backup guard Bobby Jackson, winner of the NBA's Sixth Man award, fractured his right cheekbone in a fourth-quarter collision.
Here where I am, they (ESPN) showed the 2nd part of the double header but not the 1st part. Weird eh?
it's not that i think steve is a good defender, he's not. but you can't tell me our pnr defense is not geared towards getting the guards killed in terms of points scored by the other guards. our big men do not show. since i don't think they all just decided to not do it even though rudy wants them to, i have to believe that is how they are taught to play it, basically just let the guard shoot but don't let things break down past that point (and if it's a pass first point, make him feel uncomfortable by shooting more). when your big man never shows, how can you guard your guy after you were just picked off. it's the same way hudson murdered the lakers last series. run a pnr with one of their big men, and then hudson comes off open on the pick and gets an easy shot. or he just keeps juking back and forth on a pick until fisher or the guard gets lost without any help. we do the same thing, and it is definitely a reason guards score so much against us. maybe i'm completely off here, but that seemed to be a highly favored play by our opponents, pnr with steve and a big man. combine steve's bad D with our big men's lack of mobility with the fact they won't show, it's a successful play, and a reason it's run so much. 2 years ago, steve got burned a lot just by the PG dribbling, crossing over, and steve still going the other direction. that didn't happen nearly as often this year b/c people just ran pnr as much as possible. it may not make steve a better defender, but i say if we played the pnr different (aggressive trap or simply switching), the box scores would look a lot different. may not affect the end point total, but maybe our guards wouldn't take so much heat. i certainly don't blame fisher for not being able to guard hudson w/ a man picking him the whole time.
Game One = Kings' passing clinic Game Two = Mavs' shooting clinic What a matchup!!! Kings need to slow the game down a bit, play their own pace, get back to their half court passing offense style of play and just don't fall into the Dallas run and gun trap.. I can still see some more offensive records being broken in this series.
Simple strategy for the Mavs: bomb them into submission. Shoot 3-pt shots whenever you can. They have the personnel to do that. But you can't do it every game. The law of average will catch up on you. I think they used that strategy last year against the Lakers once and lost.
The key for the Mavs is to throw up as many shots as they can. This game they shot the ball 99 times. They remind me of that quick shooting college team - sorry, forgot the name - in which quick shooting was mandatory made by the coach and they averaged over 100 points. As many good shooters as the Mavs have, it's important for their players to get enough touches individually to maximize their advantage at scoring. They've done that through quick execution. Very interesting game. At least the Mavs won some respect now.
Bingo. I did a google search on it. Paul Westhead, the coach that made quick shooting a part of system, led the Lions of Loyola Marymount to two WCC Tournament titles, with his team setting the scoring mark at 120 in 1990. Paul calls that system as the Fast Break Offense. Here's a summary of that offense: Here's a more elaborated page: Not sure if the Mavs were running the Fast Break Offense, but Chris Webber and Bobby Jackson did get worn down pretty bad.
Answer: There's no way the Kings can stop Shawn "The Beast" Bradley in the low block... Question: what's the #1 Walton comment heard in bizarro land?
