The Playoff Rotation
Posted: Sun May 2, 2021 5:47 pm
If Alex Caruso comes back tonight which is likely, it's time we put the kids to bed and bring out our big guns for a playoff style rotation. Which means: Markieff Morris, see ya later. THT, see ya later. Marc Gasol, unless Harrell/AD/Drummond get hurt or dinged up, see ya later. Ben McLemore? Maybe a shift or two if KCP isn't making jumpers.
What is your playoff rotation and what line-ups would you like to see heavy doses of for the last 9 games going into the playoffs? My rotation and some of my line-ups would look like:
The Starters:
Schroder, KCP, LeBron, AD, Drummond: We need to see if this line-up works. Because if we play it to start the first and third quarter of every game and we're down 7-8 points when LeBron heads to the bench for the end of his first shift, then we're not maximizing AD/LeBron minutes. We have to destroy teams when those two are on the court and if we're not then we need to make some changes around it. If it works? We need to bully ball people. For this line-up to work, the AD front court needs to dominate the offensive glass like how Pau/Bynum did it in 2009-2011. We used to see Bynum and Pau playing volleyball on the boards and having possessions where they'd have 4 or 5 straight offensive rebounds or tip-ins. The AD front court is totally capable of that. Add in LeBron? Come on.
Caruso (24-28 MPG), Kuzma (26-30 MPG), Harrell (18-25 MPG), Wes Matthews (14-18 MPG) off the bench. In the playoffs, trim Wes Matthews from that quickly if he's not hitting.
Line-ups I'd Like To See:
Schroder, KCP, Caruso, LeBron, AD: A line-up I think will close a lot of games for us in the play-offs. We went to that 3 guard line-up a lot last year (with Bradley in the regular season and Rondo in the playoffs). We need to see how that works with Schroder in the mix.
Schroder, KCP, Wes, Kuzma, AD: With LeBron on the bench, pick-and-roll the s**t out of teams with Schroder and AD. You got AD who can roll or pop out, you got great cutters in Kuzma/KCP and everyone in that line-up can spot up and knock down shots.
LeBron, KCP, Caruso (or Wes), AD, Harrell: If you recall back to the Denver home game this year, this line-up specifically and three-man combination of LeBron/Trezz/AD absolutely dominated the Nuggets in that second half. The P&R of LeBron and Trezz led to dunk after dunk after dunk.
Schroder, Caruso, Kuzma, LeBron, Harrell: Again, pick and roll with LeBron/Trezz with a whole lot of Kuzma activity and hard nosed perimeter D out of Caruso and Schroder.
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Let's quit f**ing around and get in a playoff rhythm. In my opinion, the following games should be our dress rehearsal games:
vs Toronto (tonight)
@ Clippers (Thursday)
@ Blazers (Friday)
vs Suns (Sunday)
vs Rockets (banner night)
@ Pacers
That's 6/9 games where we need to play our guys playoff level minutes. The other 3 games we can screw around and do whatever we need to do. But I think we need to come out with 5 wins from those 6 games specifically.
What is your playoff rotation and what line-ups would you like to see heavy doses of for the last 9 games going into the playoffs? My rotation and some of my line-ups would look like:
The Starters:
Schroder, KCP, LeBron, AD, Drummond: We need to see if this line-up works. Because if we play it to start the first and third quarter of every game and we're down 7-8 points when LeBron heads to the bench for the end of his first shift, then we're not maximizing AD/LeBron minutes. We have to destroy teams when those two are on the court and if we're not then we need to make some changes around it. If it works? We need to bully ball people. For this line-up to work, the AD front court needs to dominate the offensive glass like how Pau/Bynum did it in 2009-2011. We used to see Bynum and Pau playing volleyball on the boards and having possessions where they'd have 4 or 5 straight offensive rebounds or tip-ins. The AD front court is totally capable of that. Add in LeBron? Come on.
Caruso (24-28 MPG), Kuzma (26-30 MPG), Harrell (18-25 MPG), Wes Matthews (14-18 MPG) off the bench. In the playoffs, trim Wes Matthews from that quickly if he's not hitting.
Line-ups I'd Like To See:
Schroder, KCP, Caruso, LeBron, AD: A line-up I think will close a lot of games for us in the play-offs. We went to that 3 guard line-up a lot last year (with Bradley in the regular season and Rondo in the playoffs). We need to see how that works with Schroder in the mix.
Schroder, KCP, Wes, Kuzma, AD: With LeBron on the bench, pick-and-roll the s**t out of teams with Schroder and AD. You got AD who can roll or pop out, you got great cutters in Kuzma/KCP and everyone in that line-up can spot up and knock down shots.
LeBron, KCP, Caruso (or Wes), AD, Harrell: If you recall back to the Denver home game this year, this line-up specifically and three-man combination of LeBron/Trezz/AD absolutely dominated the Nuggets in that second half. The P&R of LeBron and Trezz led to dunk after dunk after dunk.
Schroder, Caruso, Kuzma, LeBron, Harrell: Again, pick and roll with LeBron/Trezz with a whole lot of Kuzma activity and hard nosed perimeter D out of Caruso and Schroder.
--------------------
Let's quit f**ing around and get in a playoff rhythm. In my opinion, the following games should be our dress rehearsal games:
vs Toronto (tonight)
@ Clippers (Thursday)
@ Blazers (Friday)
vs Suns (Sunday)
vs Rockets (banner night)
@ Pacers
That's 6/9 games where we need to play our guys playoff level minutes. The other 3 games we can screw around and do whatever we need to do. But I think we need to come out with 5 wins from those 6 games specifically.
