Very true. There are certain exceptional talents that can kill you on the contested midrange jumpers. But generally speaking, that's the shot you want to give up. Van Gundy stressed a lot of things . I distinctly remember him also often saying that perimeter defenders have to take pride in containing their man's penetration. You can't just assume your teammates will back you up if you get beat. I didn't watch the game tonight, but I assume that it wasn't in the game plan to give up open 3-point looks to Tim Thomas.
In the past our defense was amazing because, 1) we had continuity on the perimeter and were able to talk out our D this year we've been plagued by injuries 2) our 4 man's rotation was AMAZING!!!!! This year we have been having a steady dose of Scola and Landry. They are great role OFFENSIVE players. There rotations on D are horrendous! They leave jumpers open they leave backdoors open they hedge to hard they rotate back to slow and they give up lay ups to easily. This isn't a knock on their one on one D, its a knock on there rotations and Defensive awareness. In the past we have had a Defensive stopper with Yao usually playing heavy minutes. Cato was a mobile big and a shot blocker that would allow Yao to anchor the D. Cato in turn was able to close out jump shooters and provide outstanding weak side help. With Chuck we had a quick 4 that could swithch picks instead of hedge, could close out quickly on shooters, could rotate quickly and efficiently, and strip the ball efficiently. The problem with our D has been the 4 spot. They have to realize Yao is to stay in the paint at all times to deter slashers. Scolandry has to rotate down quickly enough to pick up the weakside man and rotate quickly up to cover the shooter. In the past we had players capable of doing this. Thus our rotations were much quicker and the offense was covered at all times. Scolandry doesnt recognize the rotations and isn't quick enough to make it. Thus allowing the D to collapse
