What's wrong with Horford is he playing bad or playing hurt?

dwalton · Post #1 » by **dwalton** » Thu May 5, 2011 5:00 pm

Horford has been horrible, and generally has been playing horrible through out the playoffs. I understand not getting 20ppg when Dwight is around, but Noah and Boozer are basically two small PFs playing in the post for the Bulls. you would expect that Horford would dominate smaller post players like he has in the past, but now you just hope that he plays up to par, because the performances he has been having, have been bad.

What is wrong with Horford, he just been overhyped who can't dominate Noah, who is smaller that he is (in weight and reach), or is Horford playing hurt?

Ruhiel · Post #2 » by **Ruhiel** » Thu May 5, 2011 10:15 pm

Horford is like an athletic Kevin Love.
Bread and Butter is the midrange jump shot off of a pick and pop. Noah's reach is all but the same as Horford's and is enough to bother Horford on close outs.
Noah is essentially a PF but his rebounding level is equal to current Tim Duncan's level. So we need to throw bodies at either Noah or Boozer to let Horford get a chance at the ball.
Horford can really mix it up in there but he needs some help to get some boards
All it takes is for us to be down ten and it becomes a one and done jump shooting contest with everybody.

On offense if Collins'/Pachulia screens and Joe gets doubles Horford is wide open. He hit a 3 in March off this play. If Horford sets the screen high and rolls he'll have to turn catch and shoot without focusing. Chances are Noah's going to crowd his shot, he'll have no option to dribble, only shoot and if he misses no one will rebound the miss etc. It just becomes a one and done jump shooting contest.

Horford is not the best post player ever but opposing players don't really know the difference. They see a big guy backing down Boozer or Noah and as Horford backs down he'll get fouled or when we have another C/big guy bumping just a little for boards good chance Horf will get his own board ala Kevin Love or a tip out like we did against the Magic or how Chicago did to us.

In a lot of ways we went from beating Orlando using a team strategy to trying to beat Chicago using Orlando's style.

Wont PerDont · Post #3 » by **Wont PerDont** » Sun May 8, 2011 4:01 am

Horford has had to contend with the 3-time DPOY in Dwight Howard and the league's best defense in the Bulls. Wouldn't you expect his production to be down a little?

Ruhiel · Post #4 » by **Ruhiel** » Sun May 8, 2011 4:25 am

gineric 12 wrote:Horford has had to contend with the 3-time DPOY in Dwight Howard and the league's best defense in the Bulls. Wouldn't you expect his production to be down a little?

At least we matched Orlando on the offensive boards. Deng had 11 boards in game 2 and Noah is on pace to reach 30 offensive boards if we make it to 6 games.

Dwight Howard had 25 in 6 games. The extra possessions are killing the Hawks, yet Drew has failed to make any changes. Probably hoping for Joe to shoot 100% and 5/5 from 3 pt. territory again.

Yet and all Drew is still trolling. AL HORFORD’S DAD FOR GM! lol Josh Smith versus Deng draws doubles for Horford and Joe to shoot and slash.

Deng in the post=foul trouble
more screeners= more mismatches and the chance the Rose gets caught in the post and draws a foul.

Bulls want to single cover Josh and put some length on him so he cant recieve the ball in scoring position out of Joe's doubles. By the time the ball swings to Josh out of a Joe double the defense is back in position and Josh has to settle for a contested hook shot or jump shot or trying to drive.
Josh would have to foul out both Gibson and Boozer for the Bulls to be in trouble and even then they would have Kurt Thomas's physicality to counter Smith.

The single time Josh got semi-doubled in the post was a broken play someone turned their head and Al got a dunk.

Josh in the post is a good thing. However, only as a SF where doubles will come and Joe, Horford, and Teague/Crawford will be open and Pachulia and Horford will position themselves under the rim for the possible rebound.

We used this lineup against Los Angeles, Miami and even Boston. Sad that Teague emerges off the pick and roll and has to work with a 5-out equal opportunity offense. Even sadder that even with the big lineup a victory against Chicago is not guaranteed. Remember, Orlando blew us out by getting an early lead with energy, hustle. But at least we got good shots and matched Orlando's personnel on the boards.

johnny878 · Post #5 » by **johnny878** » Mon May 9, 2011 3:51 am

horford just has no offensive game at all other then that jumpshot. so its hard for him to make a real big impact other then boards which he is doing.

Geaux_Hawks · Post #6 » by **Geaux_Hawks** » Mon May 9, 2011 4:00 pm

gineric 12 wrote:Horford has had to contend with the 3-time DPOY in Dwight Howard and the league's best defense in the Bulls. Wouldn't you expect his production to be down a little?

Didn't Collins/Zaza/Etan/Powell play against Howard as long as they could(most the time, through late in the 4th qtr). I know this is the league's best defense in the Bull's, but Josh Smith is creating on his own with ease. Horford never really had a post game besides a small hook shot and relies heavily on his mid-range. If he isn't on target with that, then it's going to be hard for him to score.