Why are the Lakers struggling against Zone Defense?

[Lakeshow2417]

kenny smith summed up some reasons as to wh ythey are struggling,


in High School you can use it because you don't have 5 players who can create their own shot and all have a high basketball knowledge. yet in the NBA its difficult to throw at teams because of the simple fact that everyone on the floor is talented

[richboy]

They are struggling I guess if you compare what they did offensively in the first 2 games. I wouldn't consider 50% from the field. Over 60 points in the second half of game 3. Over 100 points tonight as struggling.

[Dez Bryant]

b/c the triangle is a spacing and movement offense, the zone just basically dares the lakers to make perfect passes and cuts, which the lakers outside of kobe and odom do not do. it also lets the suns protect the paint from drives

[richboy]

You know every playoff game that someone looses it seems like everyone instantly points to offense as the reason they lost. The Lakers scored 120 plus points in the first 2 games and TNT said the reason they lost was because not enough points from Nash and Amare. Even though they scored a ton. Now they win 2 games scoring about the same as they did in the first games but now the story is what is wrong with the Lakers offense.

Both of these teams are playing offense well enough to win. The Suns zone is only capable of slowing down the Lakers a few points a game. The question now is what will the Lakers do to slow down the Suns.

[Guy986]

Laker's bigs(Gasol + Odom + Bynum)

Game1: 21/32: 65% 44pts
Game2: 23/34: 67% 59pts
Game3: 16/29: 55% 35pts
Game4: 18/36: 50% 42pts


Once you take away LA's bigs, what else they do have? Kobe Bryant's one man show. Thats what the zone does. When the Suns employ the zone, the Lakers big take less shots and shoot considerably worst on the field.

[Doctor MJ]

really? They're not playing bad, it's just that the suns are playing really really well.
They're showing a lot of heart!! Their bench is amazing!!

Basically this, though in my words: When people say zone doesn't work in the NBA, they don't mean you should expect to score 150 points against it. Lakers are scoring more than adequately, they're losing because 1) the zone is more effective than the Suns completely ineffective defense from games 1 & 2, and 2) the Suns offense is doing fantastic.

[D2Procon]

who was that black official today? i want to know his name. he was absolutely god awful. he couldn't have made it more obvious he had direct orders from adolf stern.

[mgilmartin]

They're still doing what they did in the first round - let Kobe go 1-on-1 and create for teammates. But that doesn't work against a zone. Now they need to cut and move the ball quickly, but they're not doing it.

[DEEP3CL]

Another ridiculous thread........not surprised.

[TAI8]

Well at least the Suns have a better chance of coming back and winning the series than the Magic...

[seanbig]

To be honest, I don't think I have EVER seen Zone being effective in the nba. The Suns tried it a few times against the SPurs and failed badly.

The raptors have tried it at times, and now BOSH is leaving ASAP.

A few important points

1) The Zone is getting Pau out of his sweet spot
2) The Zone, when done well has allowed the Suns to have a better chance of grabbing a defensive board
3) More importantly, the Zone has allowed the Suns Defender on Kobe not to be entirely exhausted, and to have more energy on the offensive end
4) Furthermore, less energy used on D has allowed them to really push the pace/get out on transition offense

[Egg Nog]

This zone defense stuff is garbage. You want to know why the Suns won? Rebounding and free throws. That's it in a nutshell..

Dude, these things are not mutually exclusive. LA took way fewer free throws as a result of the zone...

[seanbig]

The real question is why WAS there a discrepancy in FT?

Well when you spend half of the game jacking shots, you aint getting no FT calls.

You get a higher percentage of a FT when you drive and attempt a shot. When Kobe caught fire from 3/outside he is much less likely to get the FT call/wade call than when you drive. The negative part was his teammates got complacent and got used to watching the kobe outside, and made it hard to start driving again.

It also doesn't help that you don't have anyone slashing to the hole.

[Cqc_Nastyn8]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/interviews/

Listen to the interview today. Donaghy said that the Suns would get all the calls and the Suns would win.

Once again, the rouge ref kinda knows what he's talking about.

32 FTA's to just 13 tonight for us. This is beyond ridiculous. In the 4 games we have lost we have shot 73 FTA's to their 154

[Eiss]

I agree with you Seanbig. Defensive stops into getting a shot off before the Lakers have a set defense in play was probably the biggest reason why we won tonight (aside from a lot of other things). The possession looks downright ugly at times when the Lakers have their D all setup. Gotta keep running.

[jmb987]

The real question is why WAS there a discrepancy in FT?

Well when you spend half of the game jacking shots, you aint getting no FT calls.

You get a higher percentage of a FT when you drive and attempt a shot. When Kobe caught fire from 3/outside he is much less likely to get the FT call/wade call than when you drive. The negative part was his teammates got complacent and got used to watching the kobe outside, and made it hard to start driving again.

It also doesn't help that you don't have anyone slashing to the hole.

Good points except that Kobe’s teammates were already “complacent” when he caught fire. IIRC, the lakers were down about 10 points before he started taking over the offensive load. Had kobe done nothing, lakers would have got blown out by 20+. At least he gave the lakers a chance to win.

[RaisingArizona]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/interviews/

Listen to the interview today. Donaghy said that the Suns would get all the calls and the Suns would win.

Once again, the rouge ref kinda knows what he's talking about.

32 FTA's to just 13 tonight for us. This is beyond ridiculous. In the 4 games we have lost we have shot 73 FTA's to their 154

How are you going to get FTA when you keep jacking up 3s? There's more to it then simply looking at the box score.

[KobeFarmarEra]

How are you going to get FTA when you keep jacking up 3s? There's more to it then simply looking at the box score.

The same way Phoenix got 32 FTA by jacking up 3s.

What's funny is if you actually watched this game you would realize Phoenix was given every touch foul while blatant fouls weren't even being called for LA. Game 1 and 2 LA pounded the ball inside and they still weren't being rewarded FT like the Suns were rewarded in game 3 and 4. It's hypocrisy, basically.

But hey, cheers Suns fans. Good luck getting almost a +40 free throw advantage the rest of the series.

[Kerrsed]

How are you going to get FTA when you keep jacking up 3s? There's more to it then simply looking at the box score.

The same way Phoenix got 32 FTA by jacking up 3s.

What's funny is if you actually watched this game you would realize Phoenix was given every touch foul while blatant fouls weren't even being called for LA. Game 1 and 2 LA pounded the ball inside and they still weren't being rewarded FT like the Suns were rewarded in game 3 and 4. It's hypocrisy, basically.

But hey, cheers Suns fans. Good luck getting almost a +40 free throw advantage the rest of the series.

OMG!!!! The little old Suns Beat the Mighty POWERHOUSE LAKERS !!!!!1!!

The game is soooooo rigged!!!!! The league hates the Lakers!!!! OMG !!!!!


GTFO of here with that sh*t.

[88' Draft Pick]

OMG!!!! The little old Suns Beat the Mighty POWERHOUSE LAKERS !!!!!1!!

The game is soooooo rigged!!!!! The league hates the Lakers!!!! OMG !!!!!


GTFO of here with that sh*t.

congrats man. you have mastered the art of sarcasm. no why dont you actually try and have a legitimate debate/argument. Isnt that what realgm is for? If you feel a certain way, try and prove it. Dont just respond with childish "comebacks" or whatever.