Game Thread GAME# 43: BLAZERS @ MAVERICKS - JANUARY 17, 2020 - FRIDAY, 6:30 PM, ESPN & NBCSNW

Eh, even the best ran zones will still have those major weaknesses. Why do you think no one consistently runs it?

 

Isnt it obvious?

 

Yes I have.

 

The screen wasnt even there and Melo completely overplayed. Youre not suppoed to be all the way upcourt before the screen even gets there, you're supposed to time it right. Then right when the screen releases, the on-ball defender can fully recover, and the hedging defender releases back to the pop man.

Just because Melo made a mistake on one possession and got caught completely out of position doesnt mean that it wasnt the right strategy. The alternative is to let Doncic light you up for 35 so....

Maybe if they did it more theyd be better at it.

 

Explain the nuances of it then.

 

How much detail would you like? You want me to go over the difference between a hard hedge and a feathered hedge?

We could spend all off-season going over the advantages and disadvantages of hedging, downing, switching, blitzing, jumping, etc. Of course all strategies can work and all of them can be attacked. I'm going to assume you know all this stuff though, so I'd probably be wasting your time.

PS- Go Niners!

 

Yea I did. I was way wrong about him. I’d trade Simons for anything at this point

 

Good thing you're not the GM then

 

Lol, or maybe a youth basketball team first so we can critique them.

 

He is good and yes Luka Doncic might win a few chips. He has a great organization and an Owner that will support and spend to get another trophy. They also have a pretty darn good coach to lead them. Dallas looks to be in a good position to grow.

 

Actually he hedged well for about 4 games to begin the season. Then they were starting to do it well again after about 20 games. My bet is they will start to do it well again here in about 2-3 weeks. Then i would guess they will do it even better in March. At least that is the tentative timeline i'm coming up with. Of course i don't know any of this for sure and there might be something that happens around the beginning of Feb that might help a bit?

 

Because they are another defensive stunt like just about every option other than Man to Man which in some cases could be called a stunt also. Some things work and some don't against different teams in different situations and different line ups.

 

No idea what you're trying to say..

 

Ive learned that Stotts is limited by his personnel in every facet. For the past 3 years, He hassnt have the personnel to run in transition, move the ball more than a bottom 5 team, cut, hedge screens, etc.

 

Well that Mavericks lineup was one of the worst to run zone against.

 

lol, no. Please tell us which high profiled program you played er sat for.

 

Basketball 101-
When to use this coverage!
You can use it in many different instances throughout a game, and is probably the most commonly-used coverage that you’ll see in the high school game but less in college and it will be spotted and exploited if used too much in the NBA. Use this coverage if the ball-handler is very quick and good at turning the corner, but not as good of a shooter. You can also use this coverage if you have versatile big men that can hedge out hard on the ball-handler to stop his momentum, and also recover to their man quickly.

When Not to use this coverage!
This coverage can hurt your team if you have slow bigs that struggle to hedge out on the ball-handler, instead allowing him to turn the corner to the basket. If you have big men that just can’t stop the ball-handler using the screen, this probably won’t be a good coverage for you.

This is what Dame does all the time-
The man hedging out on the ball-handler cannot let there be any space between him and the screener as he hedges out. If he allows space there, the ball-handler can split the hedge and attack the rim. How many times have we seen Dame split the defenders?

Explaining the "Nuances" isn't that hard.
Now would you honestly like to talk P-n-R, Blitzing, How about Icing the Ball? Would you like to know about how to do it from different types of sets? There are even some "Junk Type" defenses that could help at times but only in a singular situation to make them think. Maybe the Diamond and 1, Triangle 2 or inverted Triangle 2? I would throw the Box and 1 in there but i figure you know about that one. You use those when you are playing a team that has a certain player that is absolutely killing you. But again they don't work well in the NBA because EVERY player can kill you.



Here is a video of the Blazers using the Ice Down. You called them out last night for doing this on Luke. They did get the stop a couple times and made him pass out of it. Unfortunately Luka is a good player and sees the court well. Also the Blazers lack a couple of long quick defenders that can cruise passing lanes. If you watched the Lakers destroy the Mavs last week you saw Luka literally tear his shirt because he was so upset that his passes were getting plucked off. Blazers lack the talent to defend in that capacity. It's time to come to grips with that fact!

Here is a soft hedge i dug up. Blazers do this all the time.

As a matter of fact every team does this all the time. But when you have more than one shooter on the court in the NBA guess what happens? Yep exactly what the Blazers do to other teams that do it to them on a nightly basis. They dump to Melo or CJ for the Mid range. If the shots are falling soft hedge can get burnt also. Evan Turner used to take advantage of teams trying this also but his shots rarely fell and at times he tried to do too much.

Kjironman is a fan!!!

 

Cup that response was not about Bones. there are a couple other posters bashing 1M and saying he is done. Got to agree with Bones on that.

 

I agree they could not do it all night. But you have to remember Stotts coached that team back into the game and kept them within reach using variations of it that worked right until three wide open looks simply did not fall. The Blazers held them and should have been able to drop those shots. How many times is dame that wide open and misses?

 

I was merely replying with a follow up to hailblazers question where he asked bones if he ever played competitive basketball and jones replied "isn't it obvious". Not sure how that relates to Simons in any way. What am I missing as I just skimmed through the game thread (hard to stomach to much of it).