Post#63 » by CellarDoor » Tue May 11, 2010 1:51 pm
I think my opponent built a pretty solid team that fits in well together, but I just think my TEAM is better at almost all aspects of the game. I think not having a play making PG or a scoring PF will hurt him in this series. Yes Pippen and Vlade are great playmakers, but both were basically career 2nd options and played off of another superstar. I playmaker at the point or a better scoring BIG would have really improved their team (in my opinion). I think I just have too much balance and spacing to go with the best defenve team in the entire game.[/quote]
PG: Blaylock was a relentless defender...on-ball. He picked a lot of pockets. He played the lanes too, but not nearly to the extent you'd need him to do to be effective. It's also worth noting that with superb passers at almost every position, there aren't going to be many bad passes to pick off when Horny's in the game. When AJ comes in, he'll be the one with the ball initiating the offense, and he's not easy to force into TOs. BTW, Horny also pulled in 2 steals a game in the given season. Playing next to John Stockton, that's not a terribly easy feat. Further, BOTH of my point guards were more efficient than yours, and my team isn't relying on a double not coming into the post, so spacing isn't something I need at every position. When Avery is in, imagine the current Celtics offense, only my PF being the inept one (Perkins) with my C being the mid-post passer (Divac)
SG: The funny thing about chucking, it's only a bad thing when you're not using your posessions well. 55% is nothing to sneeze at, and the funny thing about their up-tempo team...they were only 6th in pace in this season. What this match-up comes down to is Phills bringing down Hawkins amazing efficiency (sub 48% TS compared to Hawkins over 62%) Measured against the effect you think the two will have defensively on Jackson. I think you're going to find him difficult to contain with Zo on Divac for a large portion of the game, and the help they're used to having behind them being late or nonexistent.
SF: Kudos on the gloss over. And Hill wasn't a cloan of Pippen. Ever. He wasn't a good man defender until post-injury, and he's NEVER been the weakside defender Pip was. Pippen will outplay him pretty well the entire series, not because he's better offensively, though when we're talking rookie hill, he is a bit better, but because of the player and team one another is going against. Zo is a huge presence, but he's somewhat restricted by Divac and Hill isn't the sort of guy to slow anyone down at this point. On the other side you have, along with Rodman and Bobby Jones, the GOAT defender at the SF position with a good help defender in Divac behind him.
PF: I actually think this is the most irrelevant position in this series, though my opponent seems to disagree. Dino's the better scorer and rebounder (though scoring is close), while Laettner is, for the one and only time ever, the better defender. Meanwhile, Thorpe isn't even close to what you'd call a volume scorer and is being played by Brown, a very good defender. The only things that discourages me here is I can't really put PJ out there and let him play safety and help on D thanks to the jumpers, and he has an efficiency advantage. Given that this is both team's fifth options though (I guess Christian might be 4th?), I'll live with that.
C: Zo is absolutely the better player in a vacuum here, but I see him running into a few problems here:
-is young Alonzo disciplined enough to stay with his man away from the basket and not go for the block on the weakside?
-can young Zo handle Vlade's get-under-your-skin style?
-can his jumper be enough of a threat to keep Vlade off the weakside glass and help defense?
I think the answer to two is yes, but one and three will prove difficult for him. It's also worth noting Alonzo is going to give up a lot on the glass to both of my guys who are flat out better rebounders. That problem only gets exacerbated when Laettner and Big George come in.
X-Factor: Experience-
Pippen was a 3-time Champion, Perdue was a 3-time Champion, Avery was in his 7th season and established as a terrific leader. On the opponent's side you have a rookie Hill and a 3rd year Mourning as your best players while Laettner, Phils, Smith, etc are all pretty weak in the experience department themselves. Can more quiet guys like Thorpe keep the team steady in pressure situations, or can the young guys rise on their own?
I see the series over in 6.
tsherkin wrote:You can run away if you like, but I'm not done with this nonsense, I'm going rip apart everything you've said so everyone else here knows that you're completely lacking in basic basketball knowledge...
