Why are Lakers Double-Teaming Dirk?

shobe_81 · Post #1 » by **shobe_81** » Sat May 7, 2011 6:11 am

It's clear as the blue sky this team is over-guarding Dirk.Dirks a great shooter, but it shouldn't require doubles when he has the ball in his hands. I think the Lakers are giving him too much respect.

1. Guard Dirk straight up and maintain the 3pt line and penetration.
2. Especially on switches, the Lakers are leaving the open man to double Dirk. Force him to score on the smaller player instead of giving WIDE-OPEN 3's which ACTUALLY CREATE not only 3PT's but LONG REBOUNDS!

cs hauser · Post #2 » by **cs hauser** » Sat May 7, 2011 6:22 am

shobe_81 wrote:Dirks a great shooter, but it shouldn't require doubles when he has the ball in his hands. I think the Lakers are giving him too much respect.

Litany · Post #3 » by **Litany** » Sat May 7, 2011 8:11 am

cs hauser wrote:
shobe_81 wrote:Dirks a great shooter, but it shouldn't require doubles when he has the ball in his hands. I think the Lakers are giving him too much respect.

These kind of graphics and the emoticons are part of why I love this forum so much. I was literally rolling on the floor laughing.

Litany · Post #4 » by **Litany** » Sat May 7, 2011 8:13 am

shobe_81 wrote:It's clear as the blue sky this team is over-guarding Dirk.Dirks a great shooter, but it shouldn't require doubles when he has the ball in his hands. I think the Lakers are giving him too much respect.

Dr Pepper · Post #5 » by **Dr Pepper** » Sat May 7, 2011 8:21 am

They need to double-team less especially if they're not going to do it effectively.

The keys to beating the Mavs which the Spurs showed last year includes mainly single-covering/not fouling Dirk and covering the 3 point line. And abuse the slow Jasons. Easier said than done, and Dirk will get a ton of numbers, but outside of Dirk the Mavs are really limited. However the Lakers have done a good job on not fouling Dirk.

But the Lakers really don't have the speed to make the slow and old Mavs pay especially at the PG position ala Tony Parker and George Hill. Also the Lakers defenders seem to be doing a worse job 1v1 on Dirk than McDyess (especially Gasol) did for San Antonio but that ballclub also has much more experience facing the Mavs as well.

That Nicka · Post #6 » by **That Nicka** » Sat May 7, 2011 8:38 am

cs hauser wrote:
shobe_81 wrote:Dirks a great shooter, but it shouldn't require doubles when he has the ball in his hands. I think the Lakers are giving him too much respect.

chefy · Post #7 » by **chefy** » Sat May 7, 2011 4:38 pm

Dr Pepper wrote:They need to double-team less especially if they're not going to do it effectively.

The keys to beating the Mavs which the Spurs showed last year includes mainly single-covering/not fouling Dirk and covering the 3 point line. And abuse the slow Jasons. Easier said than done, and Dirk will get a ton of numbers, but outside of Dirk the Mavs are really limited. However the Lakers have done a good job on not fouling Dirk.

But the Lakers really don't have the speed to make the slow and old Mavs pay especially at the PG position ala Tony Parker and George Hill. Also the Lakers defenders seem to be doing a worse job 1v1 on Dirk than McDyess (especially Gasol) did for San Antonio but that ballclub also has much more experience facing the Mavs as well.

+1

Mass Rig · Post #8 » by **Mass Rig** » Sat May 7, 2011 5:59 pm

Maybe you should hold back your funny pictures - the thread starter is right, as Phil said yesterday after the game: he called most double teams "irrational" and he was absolutely right, they destroyed us when the German was doubled.

dyukcs · Post #9 » by **dyukcs** » Sat May 7, 2011 9:43 pm

I noticed that the Lakers doubled him with bigs which isn't effective on him at all. Usually the way it's done is to mob him with his defender + a quicker guard to disrupt his dribble. Once he gets into the shooting motion it's over. That's pretty much where the misconception that he struggles with smaller defenders come from, it's never actually worked without a committed double team.

You always give something up when you do that, but you're taking a gamble that your perimeter defenders will be able to recover before one of our 3 point shooters gets a shot. Or sometimes teams just want to force someone else to beat them.

chefy · Post #10 » by **chefy** » Sun May 8, 2011 6:30 pm

kevinding's avatar@kevinding: If the Lakers make their first 17 3-point shots today, they'd still be behind the Mavericks' 3-point % for the series.

JustAwesome · Post #11 » by **JustAwesome** » Mon May 9, 2011 1:15 am

Pretty sure that the coaching staff noticing Nowitzki shooting 75% against Gasol. You almost have to double team with those numbers.

kobe808lak · Post #12 » by **kobe808lak** » Mon May 9, 2011 1:47 pm

They worried way to much about Dirk. He didn't have any trouble passing over the double team finding wide open 3pt shooting specialists the entire series. They should have played him straight up w/ odom as much as possible and double only at certain times. Let him get 30 put shut down all the shooters around him..