CAT ROUND 2- Gremz advances by default

[Sports Arsenal]

Welcome to the second round of the CAT game.
This will be the thread for the matchup between Gremz and Vintage
All write up's will be due Friday.
Good luck to both teams

[VintaGe36]

F***

[Gremz]

F***

[VintaGe36]

If I lose to his team of all teams, the irony, it would hurt so good.

[Gremz]

I second that notion.

But going down to you again could have some form of permanent effect on me.

[CellarDoor]

f***








What? I thought we were all doing it.

[VintaGe36]

lawl.

Cellar, we should've just told him to take David West.

[CellarDoor]

Hey I'm a bit of a David West homer, he couldn't HURT the team.

[Gremz]

It's been a hectic week, so this writeup is fairly rushed.
Best of luck to Vintage and his ridiculous team, this one should be a series for the ages.

Gremzville Fighting Iguanas

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

Vs

Harris/Duhon
Howard/Arenas
Prince/Green
Duncan/Murphy
Okur/Pryzbilla

Depth Chart

Rondo (38)/Jack (10)
Bryant (40)/Smith (8)
Iguodala (32)/Hill (16)
Garnett (24)/Haslem (24)
Horford (32)/Garnett (16)

Gameplan

This series should all be about Kobe. There is little the Coconuts can do to prevent him taking over this series. They just don't hold enough defensive pressure to prevent him from dominating here.

Once again we'll look to use a distinct gameplan. Rondo as a primary ball handler and slasher, Kobe as our offensive disctator and go to guy, Iguodala as the floor spacer and aggresive driver, Garnett as the mid range operator who keeps Duncan busy all game long, and Horford to control inside while working with putbacks.

Defensively we'll play man to man, looking to utilize the strength that we have at this end to prevent any open chances. Okur is our main problem in this regard, but a combination of Horford's strength and Haslem off the bench, someone who is a quality defender for range shooters, should restrict him significantly.
Duncan will face his old nemesis in Garnett, the two are extremely similar and should negate each other quite well.
Rondo has the ability to stay with Harris, one of the few in the league who can do so, and in return should sufficate his movement to prevent open looks.
Kobe should be able to shut down a Howard/Arenass combination fairly comfortably, with Howard not exactly being peak this year, and with Arenas in injury concern, that should also help us.
Iguodala and Prince should be fascinating. Iggy has been very prominant on offense lately and should give Tayshaun a serious workout. On defense, Iguodala can size up well with Prince and maintain pressure in an attempt to restrict Tay's winspan and usual open looks.

The Matchups

Backcourt Offense
Rajon Rondo/Kobe Bryant Vs Harris/Howard
IT's quite obvious that both sets of backcourts are solid offensively, each could quite easily combine for 40-50 ppg in a series like this.
But both Kobe and Rondo can put a game on their back and be a major factor, while I see this in Harris, Howard falls a little short in this category IMO.


EDGE: Iguanas

Frontcourt Offense
Andre Iguodala/Kevin Garnett Vs Tayshaun Prince/Tim Duncan
Throughout their careers both Duncan and Garnett have been considered extremely similar to many extents. However, recently I do believe Duncan's offensive game has remained more intact. This could be simply due to Garnett's new role in Boston as he is not required as a primary scoring option, but we can still give Duncan the nod.
Which leaves us with Iguodala V Prince. Recently Iguodala has had more of an offensive impact than Prince. so combining both sets of players will leave this category rather even.

WASH

Center Offense
Al Horford Vs Mehmet Okur
Okur's range and ability to stretch the defense should overshadow Horford's solid all-around offense game here. The differential in options should be key.

EDGE: Coconuts


Bench
Jarrett Jack/Grant Hill/Udonis Haslem/JR Smith Vs Chris Duhon/Gilbert Arenas/Jeff Green/Troy Murphy/Joel Pryzbilla

Overall, with Grant Hill and Udonis Haslem supplying the experience, JR providing a quality long range threat and Jack supplying great mid range and defense, the bench compliments the starting unit well. All have had solid seasons. There are few flaws in our team's stucture and rotation when all are combined.
Arenas should come under performance question with his lack of PT and I'm not convinced he will be a pivotal focus point in this series. Duhon has played well this season. Jeff Green's lack of experience may hurt him during a lenghty series, while Troy Murphy (having a career year numbers wise) still fights his teammates for boards and can still go walkabout on defense. Joel Pryzbilla provides excellent backup defense, but has little offensive game to compliment it.


EDGE: Iguanas

Defense
Both units are set up extremely well defensively, but we feel with better defenders at the SG and C spots, as well as a complimentory bench, that we overshadow the exceptional qualities of the Coconuts.

EDGE: Iguanas

Intangibles
It's an extremely close series, so holding two definitive superstars in this league is a major bonus. Duncan is phenominal, but a Kobe/Garnett duo gives you headaches on both ends of the court all the time.
While Duncan and Garnett should spend most of the series cancelling themselves out, there is simply no answer for Kobe for the Coconuts.


Overall Analysis
A tough fought series where a game winner from Kobe will settle the score. After a tremendous series the overall defensive pressure and quality finishing of the Iguanas will overcome the solid structure of the Coconuts.

Iguanas in 7.

Perhaps more to come later. Stay tuned.

[Sports Arsenal]

Gremz advances by default.