Zone Defense

[dm17415]

Obviously D'Antoni knows more then us on how to use the team, but i would like the Suns to run Zone defense more. The problem with playing man to man is if there is a penetrating/fast guard he use the pick and roll or go around the screen and if Shaq comes out to guard his man, the guard has an easy lane to the rim. Another problem is if there is a pick and roll situation or screen and Shaq is hesitant to come to the perimeter to guard his man then his assignment is open and could just get an easy jumper.

We can use 1-3-1 zone


1-2-2


or the "20"-2-3 zone


Running any of these plays at least for a few minutes can take out the disadvantage the opposition has with a fast pg or a jump shooting big man. Well thats it for my brief rant/suggestion and like i said, DA has more knowledge about basketball then i ever will so in DA we trust.

[TASTIC]

That zone worked really well against SA, I watched it again last night - Parker seemed to be the only guy who could do anything against it.

Amare was even making an effort and switched out at the top of the key a couple of times too, he even barked instructions at the other guys which is something he never used to do...

[Sarlonus]

I was suprised that MD did not go to zone aganist Houston last night. He seems to go to it sometimes. Sometimes it works (like aganist SA) other times it doesn't (like aganist Detroit). From what I have seen, I think MD likes the 2-3 matchup zone. I am fairly sure that is the zone he plays.

[raff]

I think the important thing is that its ONLY used for a few minutes, as a way to throw something different at the opponents. As long as they don't come to fall back and heavily rely on it all the time, it can be an effective strategy.

[ClosAZ]

^^ I thought the same thing. I mean Houston only ran the same play 56 consecutive times where they had Shaq's man (Mutombo) come up and set a pick on Tmac's man (Bell or Hill) and force Shaq to the perimeter. I'm not a coach but I was curious as to why we didn't try the zone too like we did against San Antonio in the 2nd half??? They killed us with that one play alone all night. That along with giving them way too many 2nd chance points.

Teams will definitly use the strategy of trying to get Shaq out guarding pick and rolls in the playoffs. We'd better come up with strategy or we're toast.
Use the Zone baby!!!!!!!

[chrice]

Big fan of the zone. I'd actually prefer that Shaq and Amare stay near the paint, because a lot of teams have been getting easy offensive rebounds on us which end up being like an extra 10 points each game for the other team.

I think it will work well with Spurs, even when they get Barry back. Play Bowen tight, force him to drive or pass it, then you only have 3 guys to worry about...but a lot of Manu and Parker's production comes from points in the paint as well. Take away paint production from the big three, and it will make things much more difficult for them.

Lakers, same thing. I'd be content with Lamar chucking shots 24/7. Don't care about Sasha, he's a streaky shooter, and he's a guy who gives up all his production on offense, when players abuse him on defense.

We'll need a different game plan against Boston for sure though.

[eastsidecrossover]

I loved playing against the zone than man. But the suns need to change it up, and I think they will.

[Mr. Sun]

Zone defenses are fine against certain line-ups. The problem with D'Antoni is he doesn't know when to use zone defense and when not to.

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

The bad thing about having Shaq and Amare constantly in the paint is the opposition PG might drive into the heart and draw fouls on our big guys, we know Nash can't prevent that.

[KJ7]

I think the zone is the best idea to get us out of the situation we had the other night where Shaq was just completely useless guarding the PnR against Houston. Heck, it wasn't even a "roll", they just set a pick and TMac burned us time after time.

If Shaq's on and they are running a PnR go to a 2-3 zone. I don't wanna see Amare having to come out and guard wing players.

It's either that or get Shaq off completely. Shaq is just out of his league when he's not within 10 feet of the basket at either end of the court. His natural instinct when forced out of his comfort zone is to go back to the basket. The zone just means he's there all the time.

[-SDU-]

the trick to beating a zone is to hit your 3 point shots or to drive into the paint and finish / create

so a zone against some teams would be useless (ie new orleans due to paul and peja, utah due to deron and their shooters, phoenix due to nash and our shooters etc) BUT if we were to get a good zone working and throw it out there against the lakers, spurs etc, or even the jazz and hornets when certain players were off the court, then it is definately worth a try

[KJ7]

The thing about the 2-3 zone is that teams have to hit their 3s from 45-90 degrees from the basket. Because you've got 3 guys along the baseline you can usually cover the corners.

That generally means that teams must have more than 2 players who are able to hit from that sort of range. For me, SanAn is a perfect opponent to use the zone on in patches. I would much rather see TP drive into the lane against our bigs than have him spot up for easy jumpers and or uncontested lay-ups.

Likewise against the Lakers. Farmar and Kobe are inconsistent from that range (altho when Kobe gets hot he can shoot it all the way out to 30 feet). I would rather it become a shoot-out than have Gasol and Odom go into the post.

Watching Lakers the other day Odom is living in the post and rarely taking an outside jumper let alone a 3 pointer. They consistently bang it into the middle and attack the post/lane. Lets park the big fella inside and challenge shots.

I just don't wanna see us giving up uncontested 18-20 footers against guys like Manu, TP, Kobe, CP, TMac etc .... I would much rather these guys be taking 3 pointers and ignoring their big men. We've finally got a good rebounding team lets make them shoot from outside and gather up the rebounds.

Having said all this I'm fine with going man when Shaq is off. I actually think we have some good match-ups but when Shaq is on it's a totally diff ball game ... we have to change something and zone seems like the obvious thing for me.

[Sun Scorched]

I think all of this discussion is brilliant.

Can you imagine having to play a Suns team that could throw several different lineups at you with several different looks defensively?

The addition of Shaq makes us the hardest team in the league to predict. By this I mean that we can go small with Amare at center and Diaw, Bell, Barbs and Nashty running around. Or we can go big with Shaq and Amare down low.

We proved we could run with the Warriors and slow it down with the Spurs. If we could further that end by throwing different defensive looks at teams... I don't know if there would be a way in which an opposing coach could prepare appropriatley.