[外電] Zone defense for Mavericks might work ... might not
Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/nbainsider/story/1239884.html
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Zone defense for Dallas Mavericks might work ... might not
By JAN HUBBARD / Posted on Thu, Mar. 05, 2009
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DALLAS — Rick Carlisle has yet to ask for help with his defensive game plan,
even though I periodically make myself available.
I do believe I have credibility. For instance, I never have subscribed to the
simplistic view that every time Jason Kidd plays against another team, he and
the other team’s point guard go head to head for the entire time they are on
the court.
I have no problem with the notion that Kidd has lost a step or two or that he
can’t go one-on-one with Tony Parker or Chris Paul. There are several points
that some seem to consistently miss, however.
The first one seems obvious. No one stops those two guards, including when
they play each other. In two games this season, Paul has averaged 28.5 points
vs. San Antonio and Parker has averaged 22.5 points against New Orleans.
The second point is that when in the game, Kidd doesn’t always guard the
other point guard. When Paul went for 33 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists
against Dallas in January, Antoine Wright spent most of the night guarding
him.
And Wednesday night in a 107-102 victory over the Spurs, J.J. Barea and Jason
Terry spent a significant amount of time guarding Parker.
The third — and this is where I tried to help Carlisle on Wednesday night —
is that if a quicker point guard is burning the Mavericks in a one-on-one
matchup, why not go zone?
Last week when the Mavericks played the Spurs in San Antonio, Parker was
unbelievable and made 10 of his first 11 shots, most of them against Kidd.
But then the Mavericks went to a switching, help defense and then to a zone,
and Parker made only five of his last 21 shots.
So under the theory that even basketball is not rocket science, I asked
Carlisle if a zone would be effective against quicker, penetrating players.
"It can be," Carlisle said, and I felt pretty good about my expertise. "It
just depends. The real quick guards generally can find a seam in the zone and
get into it [and] you’re going to get one or two 3-point shooters open.
Therein lies the dilemma. But it’s something we’ve looked at and will
continue to look at because we’ve had some effective stretches with it and we
’ve gotten hurt with it at times."
It is kind of maddening for head coaches that they have to make quick choices
on the lesser of evils. The NBA has become a league of two basic philosophies
— the pick and roll, which every team runs, and the penetrate and dish.
If you play a zone and try to stop Parker from getting to the basket — and it
’s tough because despite being only 6-2, he either leads or is among the
league leaders in points in the paint — then he penetrates and finds an open
3-point shooter.
That’s where the Spurs have been so brilliant in assembling their team. They
not only draft and sign free agents who are good defenders, but they also
fill their roster with 3-point shooters.
The Spurs lead the league in 3-point shooting, making 39.7 percent of their
attempts. And they have four players in their playing rotation who make
better than 40 percent of their 3s —Matt Bonner (48.7), Bruce Bowen (44.7),
Roger Mason (42.7) and Michael Finley (40.4). Four others hit better than 30
percent.
"It’s a rhythm-changer," Carlisle said of the zone. "But if you go to it and
then hit three 3s right away, it’s not working well for you."
Despite Parker’s ability to get to the basket, the Mavericks went to a zone
only briefly Wednesday night. Parker scored 37 points again, but 15 of those
were the fourth quarter and some of them were desperation.
It was kind of interesting — and showed how silly it is to describe
defensive matchups in absolutes — but on the key play of the game, it was
Parker who got burned on defense and Kidd who provided the offense.
With less than four minutes left in the game, the Mavericks led by 10 points
and seemed to be in good shape. But the Spurs battled back to within two with
48.9 seconds left.
Kidd had the ball on offense, gave it to Dirk Nowitzki, cut through the lane
and went to the corner. Nowitzki passed to Jason Terry at the side of the
court and Parker left Kidd alone. Terry gave it to Kidd, who spotted up and
calmly sank a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to give Dallas a five-point lead
and ultimately, the game.
That enabled Kidd to end the night with 17 points, nine assists and seven
rebounds. He was 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
"He’s a great player," Carlisle said. "The things he does for this team ...
how much better he makes guys when he’s on the floor. It’s just beyond
belief.
"I was really happy for him because the game meant a lot to him just from the
standpoint of it’s a big-time team in our division [and] the matchup against
Parker is one that everybody talks about. So much of Kidd’s greatness gets
overlooked when he doesn’t put up big point numbers.
"And that’s a sin. It’s a sin. Shame on the media for that."
I thought about sending a quip back Carlisle’s way, but ultimately,
considering some of the things I knew he was referring too, I really had no
defense.
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