23 replies to this topic

[LakerGeezer]

u cant have MWP, Pau, & Jamison on court at same time with no D12. They gotta be the worst trio on defense

Yup. And who thought that was a good idea? He got away with it against the Wolves but it wont work against a top tier team. Watching Addleman coach and work a young team its just such a shame we cant trade coaches. Or maybe ... how about Pau and MDA for Addleman?

[J-H!zZl3]

While getting back on D is an issue, that goes hand in hand with what the real problem is...

Too many three pointers.

We started off the game on fire but once they switched to the zone, I was shocked D'Antoni coached like he never saw a zone before.

The T'Wolves baited the team into taking threes because we weren't going to hit them all game, as a result, they were expecting misses and getting out in the open court. I swear it was like D'Antoni told them, "Okay guys, they switched to a zone, that means more open threes! Keep shooting!"

This is the biggest issue I have watching games. You have to be somewhat knowledgeable with game management when almost up 30. Lakers should have been finding easier baskets with ball movement despite the zone. Instead we continued to chuck threes and it nearly cost us again.

Remember when PJ took 2-3 games to figure how to attack the zone that Phoenix was using against the Lakers in the 2010 WCF's? I'm not taking a shot a Phil either. My point is that this team looked just like that Lakers team that settled for long jumpers over and over again and that led to leak outs and fastbreaks for the opposition.

I most certainly agree with you that they took too many 3's. Kobe said that they are an inside out team. But in the second half everything was outside. Lol. Thank goodness for Jamison, because while every one else was stagnant, he was essentially the zone buster. He is probably the best cutter on this team and not only did his cuts lead to baskets for himself but also for others. The play that stood out to me was when Kobe passed to Pau and he dunked it for the and 1 when Minnesota cut the lead to 4. That basket was created by Jamison. He cut across the lane and curled around the backside defender which caused Cunningham to stay on him which freed up Pau. Instead of just camping out at the 3 point line and allowing the defense to sag off of him (which is what Minny wanted when playing the zone) Jamison forced Cunningham to guard him and that left Minnesota's defense vulnerable.

[Majesty]

Remember when PJ took 2-3 games to figure how to attack the zone that Phoenix was using against the Lakers in the 2010 WCF's? I'm not taking a shot a Phil either. My point is that this team looked just like that Lakers team that settled for long jumpers over and over again and that led to leak outs and fastbreaks for the opposition.

I most certainly agree with you that they took too many 3's. Kobe said that they are an inside out team. But in the second half everything was outside. Lol. Thank goodness for Jamison, because while every one else was stagnant, he was essentially the zone buster. He is probably the best cutter on this team and not only did his cuts lead to baskets for himself but also for others. The play that stood out to me was when Kobe passed to Pau and he dunked it for the and 1 when Minnesota cut the lead to 4. That basket was created by Jamison. He cut across the lane and curled around the backside defender which caused Cunningham to stay on him which freed up Pau. Instead of just camping out at the 3 point line and allowing the defense to sag off of him (which is what Minny wanted when playing the zone) Jamison forced Cunningham to guard him and that left Minnesota's defense vulnerable.

Yep, if Metta doesn't make that game winning layup, who knows, momentum definitely on our side while it took Phil "games" to solve the zone.

But anyway I loved what I saw last night, once we settled down we started using Jamison's off the ball movement and awkward shots to attack the zone as well as some triangle with Gasol.

Actually the pass to Gasol over the shoulder to a cutting Jamison for the baseline dunk WAS a triangle move. Seems the "sprinkle" of triangle here and there D'antoni is gonna use like Mike Brown did. Kobe and Clark also had some good looks against it too but missed. So Jamison and Pau got the looks and then Nash iced the game.

But the way we attacked the zone late was brilliant and I loved watching it.

Took us two quarters but we got it down. And that's the most important thing.

[Ham]

Are we really stressing over zone defense..? That defense is bound to break down at any time during a game.