Post#2 » by durantbird » Sat May 31, 2025 7:27 pm
PG: Mike Conley 19' - 16.0
SG: Shane Battier 11' - 6.2
SF: Grant Hill 00' - 19.2
PF: Kevin Garnett 07' - 17.6
C: Shaquille O'Neal 04' - 14.1
Bench: Alex Caruso 21' - 5.3
Bench: Nicolas Batum 24' - 4.3
Bench: Boris Diaw 16' - 5.0
87.7/88
Mike Conley 38 / Alex Caruso 10
Shane Battier 32 / Alex Caruso 12 / Grant Hill 4
Grant Hill 34 / Nicolas Batum 14
Kevin Garnett 28 / Boris Diaw 14 / Nicolas Batum 4
Shaquille O'Neal 38 / Kevin Garnett 10
vs
PG: Chris Paul (38) / Steve Kerr (10)
SG: Ray Allen (38) / Danny Green (10)
SF: Mikal Bridges (18) / Royce O'Neale (24) / Danny Green (6)
PF: Karl-Anthony Towns (28) / Mikal Bridges (20)
C: Dwight Howard (38) / Karl-Anthony Towns (10)
Matchup
- Defensive assignments: Conley vs Paul, Battier vs Allen, Hill vs Towns, Garnett vs Bridges, Shaq vs Dwight.
- We match up great here. Hill has the size and intensity to guard Towns while Garnett functions ideally as an help defender. Towns' tendency to float to the perimeter allows a smart, physical defender like Hill to stay in front and disrupt rhythm without being overwhelmed physically, while KG functions as a roamer with Shaq being a rim protecting presence inside. Battier and Conley are great against his backcourt of Paul-Allen, while Caruso can have a huge role here as well. Batum and Diaw can both be effective here on Towns, with Batum also being able to guard Allen/Mikal.
- On the other hand, their matchup against Garnett is pretty problematic, which can be a decisive factor in the series, with Mikal playing almost half the game at PF as well, and lacking the size to match up against prime KG. Dwight is a good defensive anchor, but might struggle against a beast like Shaq.
- I think our bench of Lakers Caruso, Philly Batum and Spurs Diaw is better than O'Neale, Philly Green and Portland Kerr. Not sure how useful 02' Kerr is, while 22' Green lost a lot of his lateral quickness. Our bench brings three players who can defend, switch, hit the open three and even pass.
- Notice all of the guys in our team are good to great passers, which means our offensive flow will be great. Even Shaq who had among his skillset great passing out of the post when doubled, and Battier who is more than a 3&d in this regard.
- Ultimately, our balance of defense, spacing, ball movement, and physical interior presence gives us the tools to out-execute them on both ends.
