JAZZ @ LAKERS 10/19/10

[Jazzfan Bayamon]

I find it surprising no one has mentioned the fact that Sloan cross matched AK/Millsap for this game (like many of us thought should happen and some even posted it on the last GT) on Odom/Artest. And IMO it worked REALLY WELL!! I think that really eliminated any matchup advantage they had over us on offense and at least, based on the outcome, one could argue that it had plenty to do with LA's offensive shortcomings, especially among their starting unit (who BTW managed to score <32 pts as a unit). Good to see Sloan willing to try other stuff and that it actually worked.

[schneiderjazz]

I find it surprising no one has mentioned the fact that Sloan cross matched AK/Millsap for this game (like many of us thought should happen and some even posted it on the last GT) on Odom/Artest. And IMO it worked REALLY WELL!! I think that really eliminated any matchup advantage they had over us on offense and at least, based on the outcome, one could argue that it had plenty to do with LA's offensive shortcomings, especially among their starting unit (who BTW managed to score <32 pts as a unit). Good to see Sloan willing to try other stuff and that it actually worked.

Great point. When the game started and I saw AK guarding Odom and Sap guarding Artest, I immediately thought "Jerry reads realgm". Joking aside, it seemed Odom tried to post up AK a few times but it didn't work. He lost the advantage he had against Sap in the perimeter. Artest didn't do much besides shooting some 3s. Great move and it paid off.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

AK has always been the anti-Artest and Odom is the anti-Millsap so it's a great idea to switch them, worked out great.

I'm looking at the teams in the West and I'm starting to think that we have the best overall matchups against the Lakers. Maybe Dallas or OKC but even they have bad matchups in a lot of positions.

[erudite23]

While I think that the jizzfest does need to be reined in a little, I do agree that much of the matchup issues that killed us each of the last two years seem to have been addressed. Bynum has never been a serious factor in any of the series we've played in, so that's not the matchup I worry about. It has been the Odom/Gasol combination that has been so hard to deal with. I have absolutely no idea why Jerry hasn't tried putting Millsap on Artest and AK on Odom before...oh, wait, that's right, AK was out with an injury. That's right, that DID actually happen, even though fans and media alike seem content to overlook the fact that we were missing two-fifths of our starting lineup.

But seriously, Artest has lost a ton of mobility and at this point in his career he struggles to defend a lot of the more agile and quick 3s. He's a great matchup for guys who rely more on length, technique or bulk than speed, so he still does great against the Durants, Grangers, Carmelos etc of the world but not so well against the Kobes, Evanses, and LeBrons. Offensively, the same thing applies. He was never great off the dribble, but now he's almost laughingly slow. Millsap can stay with him easy, and has the length to bother him on the catch and shoot. This makes it workable to put AK on Odom and neutralize the absolute domination he has inflicted on us, and then have Jefferson matchup with Pau. This makes the matchups work across the board, whereas we've had at least two serious issues on the floor at any given time in the past. I have to say, I'm encouraged. But just because we matchup better doesn't change the fact that they have better players. So there's still that.

[Hikari]

Going back to this game I really think Phil Jackson refused to bring double teams on Jefferson so that he could not work on playing out of them. I bet in the regular season double teams will come I hope that he can pass out of them.