Should LeBron guard the best player in the play-offs??

[LBJ]

or would he be best suited conserving his energy on offence?

Would you have him guard the likes of Joe Johnson, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant??

Would you have he guard them in the 4th quarter and only if he doesn't have foul trouble? I notice LeBron usually guards the opponents' weaker wing player so I don't see him in foul trouble often. you think he can guard the best w/o foul trouble??

What do you think Mike Brown will do? It seems like he has Bron guard opponent's best player only in the 4th. I think LeBron is young enough for this. If he demanded it, he would get it.

[Rise Against]

The Cavs will play more of a team defense in the playoffs, so I expect different defenders to be on the best player, not just LeBron.

[JustAwesome]

Williams, Jamison, and O'Neal are all capable of stepping up during a playoff game on the offensive end. If James is the best candidate to stop an opposing player, then the team will go with that option.

[tidho]

Of your list, Pierce and Carter play his position so in those cases, yes.

West and Moon are very capable defenders. We shouldn't create match up problems for ourselves by shifting LeBron all over the place.
If we're fortunate enough to get there, I'd say closing 3 or 4 minutes only on Kobe. Interesting thing about the Lakers though is that a big lineup is the best match up with them. So LeBron would play SG if we rolled with West, James, Jamison, AV, and O'Neil.

[Skip2MY]

Why are we always talking about going away from what has worked? Why would we do something that hasn't been done all season. Brown has done one thing and that is play matchups depending on the lineup. So for a couple of stretches Lebron may play the best opposing player but sometimes him playing Scottie Pippen defense(best help defender) allows him to control more of the court while the other four suffocate passing lanes and make other teams one dimensional. So in the 4th quarter when Lebron has a lot left in the tank he plays both ways against their best and teams that turned one dimensional can't win one on one against Lebron in the 4th and that is the reason it has worked for us.

[Benedict_Boozer]

I like Lebron defending the best wing player in crunch time in the 4th.

Other than that, keep him fresh and out of foul trouble.

[Bomb_First]

Carter was shutdown by arguably the worst player in the NBA for the 07 playoffs. Keep Parker on him for now. As for Johnson, I can't remember him ever having that great of a game on us. Lebron can handle Pierce and still score at will on him. As for Kobe, keep Parker on him for now. He held Bryant to 33% shooting or something like that.

[gflem]

It depends onthe team. Last year we lost to Orlando and Brown inexplecibly had Lebron guard Rafer Alston, leaving Delonte on Lewis or Hedo. It killed us. Lebron would totally take wince carter out of the series if Brown doesnt try to outhink himself this year.
With no Hedo and a helathy Shaq, this question shouldnt even come up until the finals. Hopefully Lebron will just tell Brown what the matchups will be, and when he will guard Kobe. Otherwise, we will see a repeat of last year.

[stunnar0b]

Of your list, Pierce and Carter play his position so in those cases, yes.

West and Moon are very capable defenders. We shouldn't create match up problems for ourselves by shifting LeBron all over the place.
If we're fortunate enough to get there, I'd say closing 3 or 4 minutes only on Kobe. Interesting thing about the Lakers though is that a big lineup is the best match up with them. So LeBron would play SG if we rolled with West, James, Jamison, AV, and O'Neil.

good luck with that lineup

[marc2210]

Part of why Lebron guards the other team's worst perimiter player is so that he can play LOTS of help defense. Alston was supposed to be a bad three point shooter so Lebron guarded him so that he could play off of him and disrupt passing lanes and protect the basket. Unfortunately Alston became an amazing three point shooter that series.

Lebron can guard the other team's best player in the first half sometimes. For the most part we should mix it up though.

Against Kobe, we can start Parker on him and then bring West in to put some more quickness on Kobe. If Kobe starts making shots over West then we can put Moon on Kobe for length. And then when we want a few minutes of stops we put Lebron on him.

I'd say leave Lebron on Pierce most of the game. I'm not really sure about Carter and Johnson. Lebron could do a really good job on them, but they'd still create regardless (Johnson especially). Having said that I don't think they'd take over the series without Lebron on them.

[goddago]

Of your list, Pierce and Carter play his position so in those cases, yes.

West and Moon are very capable defenders. We shouldn't create match up problems for ourselves by shifting LeBron all over the place.
If we're fortunate enough to get there, I'd say closing 3 or 4 minutes only on Kobe. Interesting thing about the Lakers though is that a big lineup is the best match up with them. So LeBron would play SG if we rolled with West, James, Jamison, AV, and O'Neil.

good luck with that lineup

Actually tidho has a point. Go to 82games.com and the closest lineup MB's used is West-Parker-James-Jamison-Varejao. Only 35 minutes but a healthy +25. Luck may not be needed after all.

[kenneth9265]

I believe if Lebron have set his mind to keep shutdown a perticular player to keep him off his game he could, but real question is, it best for his team as a whole to do that on a regular basis...?