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Whether the Lakers want to admit it the Zone defense is frustrating them and not just on Defensive.
This Zone defense takes practice to conquer and major focus. The Lakers are beating the zone I would say 1 out of 3 times up the court but they are having to focus so much on beating it. This is causing them to lose focus on their defensive Plan.

They are spending almost the full shot clock working the ball in then out then left to right then around. When they do score they come down on defensive and dont have their heads into what they should do on defensive.

The Zone is having a two fold effect. Both on the offensive and defensive end.

The thing I like is that you dont use it the whole game. You switch back and forth from Zone to man to man. It is messing their rythym......again whether they want to admit it or not. They are having "some success" but it has been sporatic. The only reason they were close because Kobe he went on a hot streak which eventually died like it always does.

Anyway I am proud of these LESS Talented Suns team! Heart, will, faith can overcome anything

http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/05/26/suns-4th-quarter-defensive-adjustment/

I did not expect the Suns to go to the zone straight away, let alone the entire game. The Lakers did what they did in the 3rd quarter of Gm 3 and made adjustments to attacking our zone. We one upped that and made adjustments to their adjustments in the 4th by playing a soft box-and-1 ddefense since Kobe was hurting us in the 3rd when the Lakers got him open looks by keeping him on our zone's weak side.

The most amazing thing about our defense so far is that the zone's we've been using are very, very basic zone defenses. They are the type of zone defenses we grew up playing with during school and there's really nothing special about it. Gentry was talking after Gm 2 about keeping our defense simple and that's what we did in Gm 3 and Gm 4. I'm very surprised P-Jax couldn't find a way to beat our zone consistently. I think one of the reasons they haven't been able to consistently beat our zone is because they just don't have the personnel to do it. They have the inside game but they don't have the complementary 3PT shooters that stretches the zone. They don't have a penetrate and dish PG either and if they use Kobe as that PG, then they lose another potential 3PT shooter. They have beaten our zone 2 times in 2 quarters only. In the 3rd quarter of Gm 3, they used quick passing to find open guys and they got uncharacteristically hot from the outside. In Q3 of Gm 4, they packed court on one side to occupy the zone while leaving Kobe on the weak side where we couldn't get to quick enough with our rotation.

What I like about our 2nd unit is that they are very quick and they are so good at the zone it just seems like they have been doing nothing but practice zone all season long. They rotate very quick, they cover each very well and they run on almost every defensive stops and that puts a lot of pressure on the Lakers.

Right now the only way I could see them breaking our zone is if they keep up the quick passing and having guys hit shots from the outside. Or if somehow Bynum and their bigs get our bigs in foul trouble. I know our defense is Boston great but with the Laker's being in the bottom 5 in 3PT shooting during the regular season, our defense does not have to be superb to make them miss perimeter shots.

The Lakers severlly need a three point shooter. Its killing them. Also they need a real point guard. If nash was playing against the Zone, he would have 20 assist a game.

Their assist are coming from desperate passing right now. Kobe perfect example. His passes are not from his vision or setting up teammates. For him, he gets up into shooting motion then realizes that he may get blocked or doesnt have a good shot then has to pass to a cutter or Gasol down low!

To be fair, he's one of the very few guys in the NBA that can attack the paint and look like he's going in to score but does so to draw help defenders while he's in shooting motion to pass off to the guy left open. He did that on quite a few occasions throughout the series. That's how he's picking up all these assists. A lot of those plays are actually set plays which they've practiced because they know he's going to get the double when he takes it in, so guys like Odom and Gasol are getting free for the pass off. He's not passing out of desperation.

But it's true, if they want to beat us and beat us handily, they have to hit their perimeter shots and stretch our zone. Right now our zone is being helped by them trying to get into the paint because they can't hit shots from the outsider consistently. We're collapsing on Gasol and trying to shut him down while forcing Kobe to make moves and facilitate every facet of their offense. Like Gentry said, he's OK with Gentry scoring 81, if it means we're shutting down the rest of the team. I believe the Lakers would've swept all 3 rounds to the Finals if they had made a move for Hinrich during the season. They could've really used his 3PT shooting and have someone to put on guys like D.Will, Westbrook and Nash.

AZdeuce wrote:The Lakers severlly need a three point shooter. Its killing them. Also they need a real point guard. If nash was playing against the Zone, he would have 20 assist a game.

Their assist are coming from desperate passing right now. Kobe perfect example. His passes are not from his vision or setting up teammates. For him, he gets up into shooting motion then realizes that he may get blocked or doesnt have a good shot then has to pass to a cutter or Gasol down low!

Lol expect them to pick up Chris Paul and Jason Kapono this offseason.

The thing I like is the Lakers, media, and fans are still saying the Lakers are having no problems with the zone. Well, IMO they are having major problems with it, because it disrupts their flow of the game, and they are having to find alternate ways of scoring. Pau was a major factor the first two games of the series, and because of the zone, he has been a non-factor in the last two games.
Because of the zone the Lakers are shooting slightly under 50%, which is actually pretty good. But compare that to their 60% shooting from the first two games, it's pretty incredible. This means their offense has been less efficient, which is causing them problems, they are too focused offensively and it is making their defense slip up.

I noticed we were switching between zones (2-3 and 3-2) particularly when Kobe was got hot from the wings. Very subtle adjustments but ones we need to make.

It is definitely frustrating them. Kobe's taking a lot more jump-shots (unfortunately he continues to make them!). We seem to have taken Gasol in particular out of his game. He has half-a-second to hold the ball where as in the first 2 games he had about 4 seconds to make a decision and usually made the right one.

Game 2 became a jump shooting contest and when Kobe misses 2 or 3 in a row we seem to take over. I'll take that!

Well as most said, I agree, that the inside scoring for the lakers has become less efficient and less reliable with the zone... and lakers rely on Kobe drawing doubles and dishing to open men and shoot long range himself..

Gentry has found an even footing with the lakers. Previously, they had every advantage possible, minus the play making point guard. But now they are forced out of their triangle and are no doubt practicing zone defense as we type these posts.

Expect Gasol to be switching side to side down the post next game and expect Kobe to try to find him by penetrating and dishing... if not Gasol... Odom.



Suns need to continue to give Kobe the jumpshots.... as long as contested.... he has to shoot 85% all game to keep them up, and if Kobe does that... well... the lakers deserve to win.