Memphis announcer & former Blazer Hank McDowell on Courtside tonight. He said the Grizz have struggled mightily in the last 25 games offensively as teams have been pressuring their guards. He said Portland's defense was "soft" in Game 1 and allowed the Grizz to get too comfortable getting into their offense. No pressure, no anticipating passing lanes = easy night for an offense that's been struggling. We know Stotts doesn't like to trap or pressure, but Conley is playing with a golf ball under his foot. Why not make him work? Pressure and push the pace. It hasn't been our style, but given the Grizz dominance over our usual scheme is it desperate measures time yet? How do you force the tempo so we're not in a half court slugfest with these guys? What adjustments do you make if you're Coach Stotts?
Why doesn't Stotts like to pressure and traps? What's his reasoning by this? I know he loves giving up the mid range but why not do both here and there?
I said this in another thread, but if Stotts fails to adapt throughout this series, he needs to be on the hot seat. Obviously, our defensive strategy hasn't been working over the past two months - maybe longer, so why not try something different?
Agreed. If we get bounced easily this round because of not adjusting and not even being competitive, get a new coach.
Stotts doesn't seem to like to do anything different whether it be lineups, defensive settings, or rotations. I hope he sees that whatever the game plan was in game 1 it obviously didn't work and I would hope for some sort of change in the lineup, defensive approach or rotations. I would like to see Leonard get some more time to open some lanes and help in some threes.
This post would make sense last year but this year stotts has changed everything you said multiple times. This idea around here that Stotts isnt a good coach is crazy, he isnt a top 5 coach but id put him somewhere between 7 to 15. He is most definitely good enough to not just look to get a different coach to just get a different coach. The only upgrade on the market this summer seems to be Thibs. Thsts not to say if he shows himself to be inadequate at making decisions when the pressures really on then we should start exploring other possibilities.
This series is not over. It wouldn't surprise me if its lopsided the other way on Wed. The pressure is now for the Trail Blazers to produce and I think they'll respond and bounce back.
I want to see switches on every screen, I want either Rolo or Freeland to be on the court all the time and I want to see effort and dedication - these 3 simple things would make us good defensively and the first two would lead to the third happening naturaly. There's only one reason for this not to happen and that's inadequate coaching. On offense I need to see the bigs setting screens as much as possible and everyone to play unselfishly, take shots they need to take - I don't care for hero-ball or coward-ball, I want players like Batum and Blake to not give up scoring opportunities and not be afraid of attacking the rim.
Lots of good points here. However, There are a few details being missed. I have a tendency to side with Rhal here. The fact is this team made huge strides defensively. The first game he had to start this series making a bunch of adjustments. Right off the bat he had to make a decision on which 3rd stringer he was going to start? It happened to be a guard. Thus Portland's defense was not good at pressuring their guards. Hank McDowell was correct but he just pointed out the obvious. One change i could see happening is maybe bringing in Gee for his defensive qualities. They will not bring Afflalo back until there is no chance he might aggravate his shoulder. CJ was started because he can score the ball. He did not do that well for a couple reasons but mostly i think it was because it was his first Playoff start.
So you would like to see Lillard try to guard Gasol all night? You would end up with CJ on Randolph quite a bit also. Maybe they could mix it up a bit and get Gasol on CJ a few times also? Maybe you would like to see Rolo get smoked out on the perimeter by Conely only to have no rim protection when he waltzes to the hoop? The fact is Memphis is not a great team to "Switch up" on. It could work periodically in a pinch or as a defensive adjustment when certain players are in the game but really those players are Aldridge with Kaman or Leonard Not Lopez or Freeland. Mobility is the factor you are looking for when you switch defenders. Lopez and Freeland have less of it. Lots of people use "Basic" basketball principals when they comment but very seldom think their whole idea through all the way. You have to play the game with the players you have. This is not High School basketball with all players from 5-8 to 6-4. This is the NBA with Powerful 7 footers and lightning quick 6-3 guards with precision timing.
You're right, it would be too dramatic to incorporate this defense at this point, we should keep this as an option for next year.
I would clarify that the idea is for the guards to switch back to their players unless the defenders are mostly interchangable like if the switch is between Lillard and Afflalo for example.
That isn't the way they will run it. They will set the pick with Gasol and drive Allen out to the corner for the outlet. Then after they have a mismatch they will drop Randolph out of the block and open the lane. If our bigs follow? Allen will streak to the hole or just set up camp in the corner and hold AAA out. The key is Lillard gets torched or has to foul. Gasol walks to the line and makes two free throws then they walk back and set up easily on defense. Again and Again....
Start with playing harder. Some guys played with the intensity of a preseason game. Took a punch and just fell right over-- pretty pathetic
Well yea.. LMA is on the brink of leaving if Lillard doesn't sway him with some awesome play. Forget about winning the series, yea it would be fantastic if we did. But most importantly we need Lillard to show up and help make the decision harder for LMA leaving..
I would try ISOs with Dame, going the B-Roy route on some plays. Mix some shit up so Memphis isn't telegraphed every offensive possession. If you had game one recorded, watch through it and you will see Memphis knowing every play as its beginning to be set. Pay attention to how the entire team moves into a defensive set, anticipating the screen, who it goes to next, and so on. If Dame had some ISO from the top of the key, and Aldridge being a decent 3 pointer now, we could basically take 4 guys off dame and let him collapse the defense.
He's just stubborn with his defensive principals. I think we finished #10 in defensive efficiency ranking, and were near the bottom of the league in steals. He preaches staying sound and not giving up sho Before the injuries, the defense was the best we've seen under Stotts. But even back then Memphis came to PDX early in the season and worked us on our home floor. The last time we beat them was towards the end of last season. They came to PDX with less than 10 games left in reg season, pretty much a must win for both teams. We played brilliantly winning 105-98, but the game was not as close as the score. Early in the game we pushed the pace. Not vintage Phoenix Suns 7 sec or less, that's not our style. But we ran and got a lot of points in transition. Mo & Will came off the bench and really pushed the pace. They even mixed in some backcourt pressure. Not Nolan Richardson 40 minutes of hell full court pressure. Again, that's not us. But enough pressure so that by the time the Grizz were getting into their offense, the shot clock was under 10. That's what I'd like to see. Even when we are healthy and at our best playing Stott's defense, it doesn't appear that it's the right philosophy for this matchup. They have a hard time when teams pressure their backcourt, and their PG is hurt. I'd like to see more defensive pressure. In that game we won, we only went 5/15 on 3s, but shot 52% from the floor. The style, the pace, the shot selection were not typical Blazer basketball. We adapted our style to exploit their weaknesses. That's the model I would look at game planning for Game 2.
