CAT ROUND 1---Gremz advances

[Sports Arsenal]

This will be the thread for the round 1 matchup between Gremz and Bcortell
Writeup's will be due Friday.
Once both write up's are in the three judges will vote.
The winners will move on to the next round.

[Gremz]

Best of luck to Bcortell. He has a fantastic squad. May the best team win.

Gremzville Fighting Iguanas

Rondo/Blake/Jack
Bryant/Smith
Iguodala/Hill
Garnett/Haslem/Harrington
Horford/Foster

Vs

Williams/Felton
Johnson/Gordon
Turkoglu/Finley/Williams
Boozer/Lewis
Biedrins/Haywood/Gasol

Depth Chart

Rondo (38)/Blake (10)
Bryant (40)/Iguodala (8)
Iguodala (26)/Hill (22)
Garnett (24)/Haslem (24)
Horford (32)/Garnett (16)

Gameplan
We're running an 8 man rotation to ensure a majority of minutes are shared between our most needed players.
Utilizing the phenomenal shooting ability of Kobe Bryant and the major two way presence that is Kevin Garnett we'll look to win this series through toughness and experience.

The strong guard play of Rajon Rondo will compliment Kobe well. His speed and passing game the main reason for this. Driving and keeping Deron busy, Kobe will have ample space to execute his shot with ease. Iguodala provides wing offense in a number of ways either roaming to find his shot or taking the aggression with him to the rim, while Horford's role is to play strong on the boards, and clean up with second chance points when needed.
Kevin Garnett is well Kevin Garnett. An expert at quality shot selection, and a deadly mid range game. His size and strength are a tough match for any defender, while his anchoring defensive presence alone is enough to remove most opposing PF's from their comfort zone.

We'll look to wear down the opposition through our incredibly strong defensive pressure, and look to expose their defensive weaknesses by attacking the rim when needed.

Our bench brings three diverse options. Blake can continue to run the point without the need for taking over the game. He has decent range on his shot, and has the ability to play with intelligence.

Hill is someone who's all around game compliments his teammates very well. His passing, scoring and man defense are qualities that allow him to effect games in a multitude of ways. Exposing weaknesses with his step and continuing ball movement, his "glue" play will provide us with ample opportunities on the offensive end, while being able to use himself as a nagging defender.

Haslem has a great mid range game and strong man defense. Two qualities that are greatly assertive from the bench.

Deron's size provides a problem for us, thankfully Rondo is a tough competitor who can stay in front of him and prevent his usual two way offense. Reducing his drive and holding him to a range scorer is the goal here.

Kobe is an elite defender. Someone who can stay with Johnson all game long, disrupting his shot and looking for force TO's on his handles.

Turkoglu provides solid all court offense, but thankfully someone like Iguodala can at the least stick with him throughout the series, ensuring he can't take a hold of the game with his occasional near triple-double form.

Garnett can force Boozer out of his comfort scoring range and maintain his position in the paint. Not allowing deep position will ensure his offensive can only come from range, something which will reap benefits for us.

Horford is simply a body enforcer. Someone who will look to prevent easy drive to the basket, and will look to control the glass. Not much is required from him, apart from holding his position. Something which he is very strong at.

With players like Gordon and Lewis, Bcortell's squad can stretch our defense and allow his offense to flow more freely. However, regardless of the magnitude of which his offense is increased, the defensive liability that they bring must also be taken into consideration.
Overall we should be able to compensate by remaining aggressive on our offensive plays, and looking to build pressure by attacking their weaker defenders and looking to get to the line wherever possible.


Onto the Matchups:

Backcourt Offense
Rajon Rondo/Kobe Bryant Vs Deron Williams/Joe Johnson
A perfect combination of slash and drive combined with pure shooting. Kobe and Rondo give you strong offense in two different ways.
Deron and Johnson are both strong from range and can light it up when needed, a little similar on offense however.
Due to diversity:

EDGE: Iguanas

Frontcourt Offense
Andre Iguodala/Kevin Garnett Vs Hedo Turkoglu/Carlos Boozer
Hedo has been a nice offensive player this season. He provides good range and intelligent scoring. Boozer has always been quality in the post.
We do however hold two players that can emulate their scoring ability in Iguodala and more importantly Garnett.
Garnett has a fantastic mid range game. One of the better shooting big men around. Iguodala's shot, while at times shaky, is still a quality weapon. And his drive is a strong asset.
I feel the main difference between the two sets is strength, in which we hold the edge.

SLIGHT EDGE: Iguanas

Center Offense
Al Horford Vs Andris Biedrins
Al Horford is someone who attacks the boards quite well, has a decent mid range game and is a sensible offensive player. With that said, I do believe that Biedrins will probably get a fair bit more offensive production playing with Deron.

Slight Edge: Bcortell


Bench
Steve Blake/Grant Hill/Udonis Haslem Vs Raymond Felton/Ben Gordon/Michael Finley/Marvin Williams/Rashard Lewis/Brendan Haywood
While Blake, Hill and Haslem bring a lot of diversity and quality, i do believe that the offense and range of both Rashard and Gordon is very strong.
Haywood's defense is a very solid boost here also.

EDGE: Bcortell

Defense
This is specifically where the series will be won. While bcortell has done a very solid job of building his team, there is simply no answer for the defensive dominance we hold here.
Deron can matchup well with Rondo and Haywood and Finley bring strong defense from the bench. Boozer is a slightly above average defender, apart from that there are major flaws across the board.
I really cannot see enough defensive pressure to halt Garnett and Kobe from dominating the series. Johnson will be majorly exposed by Kobe's playoff expertise, while as we have seen in the past, Boozer struggles to stay with a strong offensive opponent.
At every position we possess enough defensive threat to negate a whole bunch of offense. There is little weakness here for us.

Major Edge: Iguanas

Playmaking
A quite even setup here. Both Horford and Biedrins can be seen as redundant here. Deron, Johnson, Hedo are all strong passers. Rondo, Kobe, Iguodala and Garnett are the same for us.

Due to Deron's specific expertise i believe this could be seen as a WASH.

Overall Analysis
A series in which defense and superstar presence will be the deciding factor. Kobe and Garnett are surrounded with the ideal pieces to nullify the strong offensive capabilities of Bcortell's squad.
We can match up offensively with them across the board, yet hold enough pieces to nullify their own offense.
Boozer and Johnson are the main examples of this. While we can trump them both on offense, neither of the two can match up against their superstar counterpart.

Iguanas in 5.

Perhaps more to come later. Stay tuned.

[Sports Arsenal]

Very nice write up. Good job Gremz

[CellarDoor]

Damnit Gremz, I'm trying to find things people have to explain after their write-up...try and NOT make the next one so complete.

I did find something though...
this year when facing the Hawks Kobe Bryant is shooting 35% from the field and only scoring 13.5ppg, his second lowest total of the season. If Bryant throws up a game like the ones he had against JJ this year, how will your offense adjust?

[bcortell]

Nice write up Gremz... luckily I have a wrinkle that I don't think you were expecting.. hehehe

[Gremz]

Damnit Gremz, I'm trying to find things people have to explain after their write-up...try and NOT make the next one so complete.

I did find something though...
this year when facing the Hawks Kobe Bryant is shooting 35% from the field and only scoring 13.5ppg, his second lowest total of the season. If Bryant throws up a game like the ones he had against JJ this year, how will your offense adjust?

Considering this is to be played out as a playoff series, I struggle to find exactly what regular season games should have to do with it. Not to mention the fact that it is only two games here, one of which he only played 28 minutes and still managed to win one with his less than average form, but for fun, Let's take a look at the evidence.

Kobe Bryant during the playoffs for the past three seasons has recorded the following numbers:

2005-06- 27.9ppg .497 FG%
2006-07- 32.8ppg .462 FG%
2007-08- 301.ppg .479 FG%

Even without a team in 2004-05 he had an admirable 24.5ppg on .413 FG%

It should also be pointed out that during this span his numbers were put up against a much tougher Western conference.

My point here is that it's plain to see how he takes his game to the next level when the post season begins. To expect his to struggle so much that we need to readjust shouldn't be in the thought process.

Let's take a look at the possible matchup options for him.

Joe Johnson- They have faced each other 18 times, of which Kobe averages 26.0ppg which is still higher than his career average.
Joe himself puts up only 16.8ppg in these matchups.

Ben Gordon- He's at 24.7ppg over the 6 games played here. Gordon is held at 15.1ppg.

With the evidence shown, and considering that with the team constructed, we hardly need Kobe to get 35ppg. His all around play and playoff experience should be perfect in ensuring that while he isn't required to shoot every position, he will actually increase his production.

He's a notorious 4th quarter specialist, something that should always be considered. He always saves his best for when it is necessary.

Lastly it should be mentioned that he has a lot more scoring options around him on this unit, so his pressure levels are instantly reduced. He hasn't been surrounded with this quality of talent and such with his post season quality, a case could be made to actually expect him to up his play.

[bcortell]

Bcortell

Depth Chart:

Williams (38)/Gordon (10)
Johnson (38)/Gordon (10)
Lewis(22)/Turkoglu(26)
Boozer (34)/Lewis(14)
Biedrins(30)/Haywood (18)

Gameplan:
We plan to have Deron run the offense and use Boozer to get open looks for our outside shooters (JJ, Gordon, Lewis, Turkoglu). Even though Boozer may be minimized with Garnett on him, we believe that he can still be used effectively in our offense system. We also have guys capable of getting inside the defense.

Defensively, we believe we match up well against the Iguanas. No doubt, their offense will be run through Kobe, and we have a great defender to put on him in Joe Johnson, who has kept Kobe at bay throughout their games. Williams can handle Rondo’s speed easily enough, and Lewis matches up well against Iggy. We put Lewis into the starting lineup because of this matchup. We believe he can handle Iggy on defense and can provide more offense against him than Hedo. Boozer may have trouble handling KG, and if this becomes the case, we will make the adjust the more defensively oriented Biedrins on him. Boozer should be able to handle the less offensively minded Horford, then.

Matchups:
Guards- Deron/JJ/Gordon vs. Rondo/Kobe/Blake (and Iggy)

Deron and JJ from a nice inside/outside combination. (Gremz is wrong saying that Deron and JJ are redundant. Proof- over 51% of Deron’s shos are in the key and nearly 50% of JJ’s. They both have the ability to get to the rim.). JJ is effective at defending Kobe (well, as effective as one ca be), while still providing an offensive option. I think Gordon really helps us here and provides more of a scoring option than the Iguanas second team.

Edge: Bcortell


Forwards- Lewis/Boozer/Turkoglu vs. Iguodala/Garnett/ Haslem/Hill

I think Garnett’s offense is decreasing with age, but he still poses a big threat to any team. I think the combination of Lewis and Boozer can hold their own against Iggy and Garnett, though. (And if needed, Biendrins on Garnett.) The series may depend on Boozer, but we are confident that he can come through. (The last time Boozer and KG met was in the 07-08 season. Boozer tallied 19/11 and17/12 to KG’s 15/9 and15/4.) With that said, KG still provides some intangibles that gives the Iguanas a slight edge.

Slight Edge: Iguanas

Center- Biendrins/ Haywood vs. Horford/Garnett

We think Biendrins will win the matchup against Horford , and Haywood happens to be a great late addition for me and provides possibly the best backup center in the league.

Edge: Bcortell


Overall:
We believe we actually match up quite well with the Iguanas. They provide a strong defense, but we have guys still capable of winning the overall offense/defense battle against them.

Bcortell in 6

[Sports Arsenal]

Gremz-
bcortells team is surrounded with superior shooters, how do you plan to contain the shooting expo they plan to put on?

Bcortell-
Boozer typically plays better when he has Okur to stretch the offense for him, Biedrins on the other hand occupies alot of the same space as Boozer. How do you plan to stretch the offense and utilize Boozer to the max?

[bcortell]

Gremz-
bcortells team is surrounded with superior shooters, how do you plan to contain the shooting expo they plan to put on?

Bcortell-
Boozer typically plays better when he has Okur to stretch the offense for him, Biedrins on the other hand occupies alot of the same space as Boozer. How do you plan to stretch the offense and utilize Boozer to the max?

When we are running half court sets, Biendrins will be used as a screener to let Boozer operate on the block. This also allows Deron to get to the heart of the defense if it's available and Biendrins can roll to the basket. Assuming that Horford will give him some slack not respecting his mid-range game, I'd still take Deron to get past Horford or Biendrins rolling to the basket in a Chandler-esque roll. Boozer can then roll to the short corner and hit that jumper.

[Gremz]

Gremz-
bcortells team is surrounded with superior shooters, how do you plan to contain the shooting expo they plan to put on.

Quite simple, and i believe it's been covered in the main post.

Athleticism on defense is a key factor here. Take a look at the players we use.

Rondo, Kobe, Iguodala, Garnett and Horford.

All five are strong athletes and quality defenders.

Apart from Rondo's size, which he makes up for in speed and leap, all our players have the ability to man up well with their opposition. Kobe and Garnett are consistent All-Defensive 1st players.

Garnett is known for taking his opposing man away from the basket, thus restricting them to range shooting. Kobe himself is known as a lockdown defender, someone who always manages to restrict space for his opposite man to work in. He interrupts handles and stays with his man consistently.

Iguodala can easily run with Hedo, once again with athleticism in mind he'll be more than capable of getting a hand in to restrict the space and time used to execute the shot.

And as for Horford, I'm really not convinced he needs to worry about Biedrins' shooting, as he works primarily as a layup-dunk option. At the very least he is extremely comfortable at manning the paint on D.

I don't expect Rondo to be able to completely halt Deron due to strength reasons, but is more than capable at staying in front of him and playing the role of a nagging-steals type operator. Limiting his scoring options should be significant.


Defense here is far too dominant.

[Sports Arsenal]

Alright guys the voting period has begun

[Sports Arsenal]

Im gonna go with Gremz in 7 for this one. When you break it down the basis of these teams are very similar to current day Jazz vs Celtics.

Rondo-Rondo
Kobe>>>>>>Allen
Igoudala<Pierce
Garnett= Garnett
Horford>Perkins
vs.
Deron=Deron
JJ>>>Brewer
Turk=AK47
Boozer=Boozer
Biedrins<Okur

I just think adding Kobe to Boston is going to amount to more than adding JJ to Utah. While I do think that Bcortell does have the edge at the bench, I dont think its going to make the difference here.

[bcortell]

Im gonna go with Gremz in 7 for this one. When you break it down the basis of these teams are very similar to current day Jazz vs Celtics.

Rondo-Rondo
Kobe>>>>>>Allen
Igoudala<Pierce
Garnett= Garnett
Horford>Perkins
vs.
Deron=Deron
JJ>>>Brewer
Turk=AK47
Boozer=Boozer
Biedrins<Okur

I just think adding Kobe to Boston is going to amount to more than adding JJ to Utah. While I do think that Bcortell does have the edge at the bench, I dont think its going to make the difference here.

You know Turk isn't starting? You and Gremz keep saying that, and I don't know if you are going by mpg, but Shard is starting for me.

[Sports Arsenal]

Im gonna go with Gremz in 7 for this one. When you break it down the basis of these teams are very similar to current day Jazz vs Celtics.

Rondo-Rondo
Kobe>>>>>>Allen
Igoudala<Pierce
Garnett= Garnett
Horford>Perkins
vs.
Deron=Deron
JJ>>>Brewer
Turk=AK47
Boozer=Boozer
Biedrins<Okur

I just think adding Kobe to Boston is going to amount to more than adding JJ to Utah. While I do think that Bcortell does have the edge at the bench, I dont think its going to make the difference here.

You know Turk isn't starting? You and Gremz keep saying that, and I don't know if you are going by mpg, but Shard is starting for me.

Im sorry, my bad. But that really doesnt change the game much for me

[CellarDoor]

I think there's just too much firepower here. If you envision a healthy Garnett there to show on pick and rolls that Deron gets into, I think one of my favorite players (Deron) get's limited.

Gremz advances.

[Gremz]

Tough match. Good game bcortell.

[bcortell]

You too. Good luck in the next round.