Page 1 of 1

Game 1 analysis with outlook for the rest of series

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:57 pm
by jozef
The Jazz need different rotation and playcalling. For sure it will not happen in the way I prescribe it but at least some of you will be able to focus on decisive trends.

PG - Brevin Knight has limited range and cannot work against tall Lakers. I would put Ronnie Price in backup role against any other West team but tall Lakers are big challenge for Jazz execution and a precise ballhandling is needed so CJ Miles would be best solution. It would outbalance height disadvantage a bit as well.

SG/SF - Brewer obviously cannot score against Lakers. His jumpers bounce to sides, inside he is denied by tall Lakers. He should be used as a SG/SF backup defender when someone gets in foul trouble.
Korver lateral slowness makes him useless in numerous defensive rotations. What Ariza made to him was not funny. Korver should camp on perimeter on every possession. He should come off the bench at SG.
Miles played very good defense. He stole one pass on defensive help rotation, poke the ball out of postman, was in the Bryant's on tough turnaround jumper, fought through screens, Jerry liked it. His jumpers was long, rattle out, in, short, but they were taken in good rhythm. He should start at SG.
Harpring posted up Odom and Walton very well, got open on curl, Jackson sent double team to help Walton. Harpring should start at SF to set tone for the game, we need more fouls to be called.
Kirilenko should be backup SF cause he gets out push at PF. When he was on Bryant then Jackson send a screen to explore Kirilenko's inability to get around screen. Bryant had success but then he got cocky and tried one-to-one which is his common trend.

PF/C - Collins had good game, drawing charges and fouls but his limited leaping ability is wait-to-happen disaster. Fesenko is too stupid yet to be effective in playoff battle and with Okur out Koufos is the only real option to match up Lakers athleticism. Koufos should start at C. Collins should be backup C. When the Lakers will play Powell then the Jazz could go small with Millsap and Boozer that's the only way how to find more playing time for Millsap beside backup PF duty. Millsap is in trouble to score around tall Lakers.



Playcalling.
Unfortunately playcalling was huge advantage for Lakers. Running Jackson's offense through tall Gasol and Bynum, setting screen for Bryant and spreading the floor on perimeter put the Jazz in uncomfortable position.
In contrary the Jazz had only few model executions, usually from midkey Williams passes or Boozer's jumpers.
The Jazz should attack Lakers more on high and side picknrolls, set small-on-big screen for Boozer. Post up Harpring and Kirilenko. Proper spreading with Williams, Miles or Korver on perimeter but not in corners, the Jazz don't have so many wings with efficient 3pt%.
In contrary, they should limit UCLA cuts and deny Stacks cause smaller Jazz players get in uncomfortable position when running 4-on-4 inside or around the paint area.
On the defensive end the Jazz could send different double teams and fakes on different occasions on Bryant and Gasol but I prefer immediate hard double-team with Williams. Harpring or Korver should provide the following help the helper defense while Miles, Kirilenko or Brewer should provide roaming weak side defense. Keep big men around the rim, rotate with wings and guards.

Re: Game 1 analysis with outlook for the rest of series

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:49 pm
by d-will8
I definitely agree with you that Price should be the backup PG. He was a huge spark for us at times in last year's playoffs and Brevin was absolutely horrible last night. The few minutes he was in the game killed us. Other than that, I don't really agree with you about Brewer not being able to score against the Lakers. He struggled last night, but he was great against them in the regular season. Having Memo in the lineup certainly helps him, though, which brings me to my next point: if we are going to have any success in this series, we need Memo to be healthy to draw either Gasol or Bynum away from the basket. Other than that, we need to play better defense on pick and rolls, contest threes much more aggressively, Deron needs to shoot better and guys like C.J. and Korver need to hit open jumpers. If those things start to happen, we could definitely win a game or two. If not...

Re: Game 1 analysis with outlook for the rest of series

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:30 pm
by jozef
I don't know if I ever saw Bryant dare anybody to shoot the way he did it to Brewer when denying a feed to Boozer. With Memo out the Lakers have two tall players in the paint quick to block Ronnie. I think he will be limited to fastbreak points and one or two layups as in Game 1.

Re: Game 1 analysis with outlook for the rest of series

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:52 pm
by jozef
My new impressions from Game 2:
disaster is what happened in 1st Q: 22 points in the paint. And I highlight "Koufos is the only real option to match up Lakers athleticism" cause without him is an uphill battle. That's the difference between Jackson and Sloan: Jackson can analyze strength and weakness and is not afraid to call out names or make changes, Sloan rather "lets them figure it out" and is kind of semi-blind loyal.

Bryant took sagging of Brewer to higher level. There is no chance for Boozer (who still seems not to be in 100% shape) to score on inside moves. Bryant is always there lurking around. Either Brewer starts to knock jumpers at .500 or he needs to be removed from starting lineup or Okur must to come back or... we are done.

The defensive improvement after 1st Q was hard to describe. No real stops, but the Lakers got in uncomfortable mood somehow. Williams doubled harder, Lakers made long passes without cuts to the basket, roaming players Millsap, Kirilenko, Brewer and Miles made Lakers to hesitate a bit.

Deron scored more on quick shots, Jazz stopped to run UCLA cut in 2nd half so the execution was simplier but it is not at level to be very confident for next games.

Re: Game 1 analysis with outlook for the rest of series

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:50 pm
by jozef
Boozer and Millsap work their butt off but we need Koufos athleticism to get any spark based on size.
Brewer is a bit slow laterally and Kobe feel confident to go one-to-one and make any shot over him. He was 10-10, finished for 11-13 on Ronnie, 5-11 on other players. Offensively Brewer's presence harms Jazz execution cause of Bryant's sagging off. Sloan should make adjustment and take him out of starting lineup. Phil Jackson did not hesitate and took Bynum out of starting lineup.

That's the only way we can beat them three times in a row. Otherwise, bye-bye.