Coming into this playoffs our advantage was our supposed double headed monster of Artest + Battier on the defensive end to throw at the star swingmen on the other teams. But so far all I've seen in this series is Roy blowing up for really big scores on reasonable percentages. I have't been able to see any full games just highlights but from what I can see on the play by plays Roy is getting into the paint at will. With the exception of the game 4 where Roy was relatively quiet (still got like 18 points I think) we haven't been really effective in containing him given our supposed "advantage". What is going wrong with our defence of him? I know his a stud but if we defend like this against Carmelo or Kobe I'm sure the results will be WORSE.
please refer to the hundred other threads we have in reference to our defense against Roy. The guy is damn good, and will get his points, just like KB, Wade, and Lebron would get theirs.
There's your problem. Roy highlights tend to highlight when Roy beats the defense, not when he's forced into bad shots or turnovers. Highlights are not a random sampling of game possessions. Roy is a superior player (arguably the best on the floor), and he's had a good series, but the defense Battier and Artest have played against him is in no way poor.
You should watch the whole game. The turnovers Roy commited in late 4th quarter are perhaps not reflected in game recap.
Our gameplan was to try to stop Roy as best we could but prioritizing stopping his allies at the same time. So far we've been able to do that, and as time has gone on we've locked down more and more on Roy and Aldridge and dared their teammates to do something about it. It's worked so far. Only one stat matters in the playoffs and right now it's 3-1 us.
Overall, our defense on Roy has been solid. We've especially done a good job overall keeping him out of the paint and forcing him to shoot from the outside. When Roy tries to drive, the perimeter defender has often funnelled him to where Yao can attempt to alter or block his shot. The fact that Roy still produced two great offensive games so far (Games 2 and 4) is a testament to how good a player he is, IMO. Also, though Roy is putting up points, the Rockets have kept him from being a playmaker and creating shots for others. He averaged 5.1 assists in the regular season, but only reached 5 assists in the playoffs once (Game 4). In the other three games: 2, 1 and 2 assists. We're not going to stop him, but we've been making things pretty difficult for him.
There are aspects of Roy's game that are on par with Kobe and better than Carmello. Some games Roy even has a better feel for the game than Kobe.
I've been watching Carmelo a fair bit (probably cause Denver games are for some reason shown alot over here) but with Billups he has ALOT more space. There is noone on the Portland team that is like Billups and adding Carmelo means our spacing is going to be a bit stuffed I feel. What I'm specifically saying is we haven't been able to shut down Roy. I've seen heaps of commentary where we are supposedly meant to shut down Roy. YES we have made him have bad turnovers YES he hasn't shot inefficiently. But it seems to me that Artest or Battier isn't getting the job done. I just don't feel confident if we let Brandon Roy get his points like this then we can stop the other more talented wing man we are going to take on next, Kobe Bryant. This thread is more looking forward to why we are getting absolutely pasted by Roy with an eye to Kobe.
Are the jumpshots tough though? Or is this a significant problem in regards to Yao in the pick and roll. I mean Hamilton does the same thing, run through a stack of screens and hits jumpers. The Cavs seem to defend that fine. Something doesn't feel right with Roy bursting into 30+ pt games. I just can't pick it for me. The guy is a stud don't get me wrong, I just didn't expect him to get double 30+ games with Ron Artest and Shane Battier on our team if you get my drift.
Portland has lived and relied on their outside and mid range jumpers the entire series. Brandon Roy has been just fantastic from mid range and outside. When ur shooting like that from outside, it does not matter how great of a defender you are. Main reason for the Rockets leading this series is because of their defense and it starts with Battier who has been awesome defensively this whole series.
Part of the issue is that Roy is too quick for Artest. Anthony and Bryant won't have as much of an advantage with quickness.
If you are expecting Ron and Shane to strip the ball or block his shot and holding that to the standard of being a great defender, you are entirely wrong in every sense of the word. What Ron and Shane are expected to stick with him as much as possible, force him away from his comfort zones, and contest the jump shots he is forced to take. Unfortunately, when we are dealing with someone of Roy's caliber, he has the skills and abilities to make those tough contested shots and beyond keeping your hand in his face and make it as difficult, there is nothing more we can expect them to do. As for Roy coming off the pick and roll to shake off Shane and Artest and then blowing by Yao to get to the rim or drawing the foul, this is completely Yao's fault. He needs to stop trying to take the charge and take lessons from Mutombo on how to block as well as rotate faster.
It's not how many points he gets, it's how he gets those points. Like an earlier poster said, he's getting the bulk of his points off of jumpshots made around a screen near the top of the key. If you, as a coach, can pick a shot to give him, you give him long twos.
I can sort see of this. It would be an amazing thing to say that Kobe would be a relief compared to holding Roy, but Kobe is more relentless and would put more pressure on our guys I think.
It's hard to defend pick n roll...that's what ROY did 100% of the time. Do you ever see him post up Artest or Shane?? NEVER! Why?? Because he knows he can't do much one on one against them! So he had to rely on pick n roll to freeze himself up. This has nothing to do with Artest or Shane not playing great D. Anybody can pretty much freeze themselves up with pick n roll. Now when and if we do play the Lakers, we know that Kobe like to separate himself and post up. This is where our advantage is with Shane and Ron because I really don't think Kobe can do much one on one against either Shane or Ron. Now i am saying Kobe will not make his shots posting up one on one...but it's going to be hard every time. Unless he had to go pick n roll again like Roy did.
you need a mobile athletic big to defend the pick and roll, thats where Garnett's value is in and thats celtics last year rarely got burned on defense. You need to have mobile defenders at all five positions to be able to counter certain offensive plays particularly the pick.
