Boston’s Gotta Get Back on D
L.O.In game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics were struggling mightily during the first half to find the man they were guarding in transition. The “cross-matches,” as Jeff Van Gundy put it, allowed Antonio McDyess to rattle off six straight points for the Pistons.
Now, as the Celtics try to minimize the mismatches with the Lakers, the majority of Boston’s squad will be guarding someone different than the man who guards them. And L.A.’s first and second units both know how to get out on the break. As McDyess was the one to hurt Boston in that series, watch out for Lamar Odom in game one of the Finals on Thursday.
From Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times…
Lamar Odom said he expected to match up against physical Boston center Kendrick Perkins, who outweighs Odom by 34 pounds.
“I’ll try to meet him as far out on the court as possible,” Odom said. “I’ll have my hands out, be like an offensive lineman coming right off the line and jam him early. I guess I’ll be Orlando Pace out there.”
First of all, everyone knows that Perkins weighs like 60 pounds more than Odom. And while Odom will struggle to keep Perkins’ caboose out of the paint, the real issue will be for Boston to account for Odom in transition. Odom won’t be guarded by KPerk, and he has the ability to sneak out and do damage in the open floor. If the Celtics defense “loses” Odom after a rebound, the Lakers will find him for an easy bucket.
But Boston does have the right idea with Kobe, keeping the man who is guarded by him on him on the other end. As of right now, it looks like Ray Allen will be on Kobe-watch.
“Ray is a guy who’s had his battles and knows how to defend Kobe playing in the Western Conference the last few years,” Pierce said. “And [he's] a guy that can make him work a little bit. . . . [He's] a guy you have to pay attention to and hopefully that’ll wear [Bryant] down, take away some of the things he does offensively.”
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June 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Korady says:
So if Odom is on Perkins, that means our post game should be vicious. Who’s going to stick KG? Gasol? Now if KG can just play in the post and Perk can have some 12 point 13 board half’s, things are looking a little more solid.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
Chuck...Haters come in all fashions and forms so bear arms says:
No one and I do mean No one can stop or slow Kobe down!! Why would Paul peirce even say some asinine garbage like that? Ray allen?? Are you serious? Bruce Bowen gets lit up, and Ray Allen is the answer?Matt harpring Gets lit up and Ray allen is the answer? WOW! Maybe we have all been in the dark on the defensive juggernauts of the league.
If Odom is holding Perk, that means Perk is holding Odom, which would mean foul trouble every game for perkins. Odom is too quick, and all odom has to do is box out on the block after missed shots and he’ll be fine. Perkins isn’t some kind of Post playing offensive magician! Dude BARELY has a workable jumper!
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
djKianoosh says:
maybe putting odom on perkins forces the celtics to try and space the floor and KG stays out of the post. cause perkins would take him straight to the low post, but that clogs up the middle a little… mind games.
who on the Lakers guards Pierce if not Kobe?
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:20 am
Juanito says:
Perkins is a slow piece of shit. He can’t guard Odom, just like Pierce can’t guard Kobe. Unless Garnett can dominate Gasol every game to make up for that, this series will be short and sweet in favor of the Lakers
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
Gangsta D says:
“Now if KG can just play in the post…”
Haven’t Cetlics fans been wishing that the entire post-season? lol
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 am
BmoreRvensFan says:
I agree with Juanito, K Perk cannot guard Lamar. If you thought he was gettin lit up by Dice last series, he’ll get smoked by LO. The only chance the Celtics have is KG going Hakeem on Pau and gettin busy all series. He has to dominate and they can win.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
Washington the Frog says:
Good question. Who’s guarding Pierce? It’s gotta be Kobe. See if Sasha can get under Ray Ray’s skin…
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
DaPro says:
I thought of something about the Ray vs Kobe matchup
Ray should guard Kobe as long as you can get Kobe to go back into “Alpha Male Kobe” and jack up a lot of bad shots
That was the difference in the previous matchups-Ray and Kobe had a beef that’s been goin on since forever and Kobe always took the matchup personal
The goal is to let Kobe go against Ray and take perimeter jumpers
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 am
turambur says:
I think that a lot of you are misreading the article. The way I read the quote from Odom, he will be checking Perkins on D, which means that Gasol will be on KG (which will work about as well as PP gaurding Kobe if KG comes out aggressive).
On the other end, they will flip. KG will check Odom and Perkins will get Gasol. These are the only pairings that make any sense for either team (the Lakers are betting that KG falls in love with his jumper and Gasol’s length gives him a hard time, which is why KG needs to attack the rim for Boston to come out ahead.)
What the Celtics are worried about is if KG and Perkins don’t switch up and find their guy fast enough in transition Odom will eat Perk alive with his speed and handles.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:10 am
Smitty313 says:
Kobe is shooting over 50% in the playoffs. If you want him to shoot from the perimeter it’s still going to be ugly. Kobe knows this is for a title he’s not going to let any personel stuff get in the way. They can’t do what they did to Lebron on Kobe because Kobe will pass it to the open man like Lebron did, but Kobe’s team will nail their open shots. I think this will come down to how well the benches play, and if Phil could get Gasol to stop throwing up them Pussy baby hooks.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Smitty313 says:
When do we ever see KG attack the rim? Never. He shoots jumpers and fadeaways. That dunk he did on Maxiel last week, I haven’t seen that in a long time.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
DaPro says:
Smitty Kobe has shown flashes of the “old Kobe” during the playoffs
4th quarter and OT against the Jazz in game 4 I believe
1rst half against San Antonio in game 1
The thing is to let Kobe get his without getting the other teammates involved
Make the rest of the Lakers become high priced fans
We’ve seen how the Lakers sit back and watch Kobe do his thing and the team suffers
That should be the goal if your Boston
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
Kudabeen says:
One thing that Boston does do well (when Posey and/or Rondo are in the game) is pressure the initial ball handler after an inbounds or rebound. This makes it difficult for the ball handler to concentrate on who is up court. When you have these cross matches you have to have a good defensive backcourt to pressure the ball before it gets to to the 3/4 area. Rondo is good at this.
One thing that may occur is KG will have to sprint back a lot, but he shouldn’t be as worn down because LA isn’t as physical as Detroit, the Cavs, or even the Hawks (Horford & ZaZa) for that matter. But this is where coaching shows.
Good stuff…
My only thing about Odom is he is a more reluctant shooter than McDyess was proving to be against Boston. Boston is a good team at keeping penetration to a minimum, so LO will have to knock down some shots. I don’t think Kobe will shoot 50% agaist the Boston, but that’s why I can’t wait to see what their strategies will be.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Kudabeen says:
Everyone keeps referring to Pao’s length like KG doesn’t get his shots off against everyone in the L. Pao is long, but he doesn’t get off his feet that well. KG has a high release point on his shots. The area where KG struggles is where he is played physically, guys push him off his spots throwing off his shot. Gasol hasn’t been that type of defender. Duncan had a good series verse the Lakers, so I wouldn’t make Gasol out to be All-NBA Playoff defender. Does anyone have a sense of how they have matched up in the past? Does KG go at Pao? I have to look up their match ups.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Celts Fan says:
The thing you guys keep missing is that they said ” the majority of Boston’s squad will be guarding someone different than the man who guards them.” which means Perk on Pau and KG on Odom.
Like I said yesterday, the biggest issue is whether or not KG decides to play like 4 instead of a 2. If he’s down in the post this whole series, we should win and he will MURDER whoever they put on him. If he’s hovering around the perimeter doing his best impression of a 2 guard, it will be a tough series and Kobe gets his parade.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Kudabeen says:
Last three KG/Gasol “Match-ups”
1/4/08
KG – 23pts 5rebs 5ast 1blk 9-10 FTs 7-10 FGs
Gasol – 12pts 8rebs 5ast 3blks 6-8 FTs 3-13 FGs
1/12/07
KG – 28pts 11rebs 4ast 5blks 7-7 FTs 10-21 FGs
Gasol – 20pts 5rebs 1ast 2-2 FTs 9-16 FGs
2/9/07
KG – 20pts 17rebs 6ast 3blks 2stls 2-2 FTs 9-18 FGs
Gasol – 10pts 17rebs 5ast 2blks 1stl 6-6 FTs 2-13 FGs
In each Gasol played 4+ more minutes than KG. I’m just saying that KG hasn’t been bothered by length in the past, especially Gasol’s. Lets put that weak argument to bed. It’s going to be about KG’s will to dominate. If he has a poor series it will give credence to all the talk about his inabilities to step up to pressure not Gasol or LAs D. They are not Detroit or Cleavland…
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/garneke01.html
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Chuck...Haters come in all fashions and forms so bear arms says:
Garnett is gone beat Pau down on the offensive end like an african drum!!
Kudabeen you hit the nail on the head, pau can’t jump over a pebble in the street!
Garnett is gonna be smashin on Pau all game if dude get big and hit the block!!
But like Celts said if dude decide to curl up and hover the perimeter, then it’s a wrap for the Celtics
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Kudabeen says:
Celts will hurt for not having shot blockers on the floor. If KG has to stick to LO, then who is blocking shots. Also, Gasol will get much easier shots over Perk off the pass, but not off the dribble. It’s going to be a great series and we will see if Doc Rivers is a good coach or lucky coach with how he makes adjustments.
I still think LA’s style of Defense will give life to guys like Cassell, Glen Davis, Powe and House. These guys can find holes in LA’s D.
Really can’t wait to see how it all breaks down…
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
DaPro says:
Perk has really stepped up his D, help and man
It’s a strech to ask him to cover LO an entire game but he will punish LO physically
This will be a good time to use Powe, he has the athletism to give LO fits on both ends similar to way Milsap was able to hit the boards hard and score against LA
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Kudabeen says:
Powe would be a good look.
One thing that Boston didn’t do effective was put a guy like Rip in the post to wear down his legs. Perk could lean on LO enough to take away from his energy to drive and create on the other enough. I think Glen Davis can be effective too, because he moves his feet really well. LA will not have as easy a time as some are predicting. Match-ups outside of Kobe (which isn’t that great if Pierce is focused) aren’t in their favor.
What will Sasha, Walton and Farmar do in this series. Will Trevor Ariza make a difference? He will have the freshes legs to play as hard as anyone in this series…
Will Mbenga play or will LA dust off Mihm to give him some looks? PJ will be able to be more effective agaist LA too.
Tony Allen injury may have meant something if this wasn’t the finals. I think Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Kobe, LO, Gasol will be putting in 38-40min easy per game. Ray just has to do like DaPro said and make Kobe work and try to challenge him…
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
JHov says:
This series is gonna be decided by who makes the best adjustments! Perk may start out guarding Pau..but that will only lead to foul trouble for Perkins! If Kobe is being played by RayRay then he will also be spending a lot of time on the bench! Pierce is the best equipped starter to match up with KB24. D. Fish should be the one chasing Allen thru all those screens! Kobe should be on Pierce..I understand that both coaches would want to save their star player for the offensive end..but in the 4th qtr when both players have 35pts..they’re gonna be holding each other anyway! LakeShow in 6gms
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
K Dizzle says:
@ #18
I hope Cassell, Davis, Powe and House get BIG minutes against the Lakeshow bench. Ask San An how that worked. All this talk about Pau vs KG gonna be pointless if Fish, Kobe, Lamar, PP and Ray bring it. Shooters start hittin, then the whole game opens up
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Kudabeen says:
Don’t understand why we would be asking San An anything…
LA’s D has holes. Boston’s group plays with more energy than the Spurs’. where the Spurs’ bench are seasoned and efficient, the celts’ bench play with great energy. Spurs lost because Ginobli couldn’t get it together and their bench was lacking energy to take advantage of the Huge leads they had in game 1 and 5. Boston won’t have the same troubles. What Luc Walton, Sasha, Farmar, Turiaff are just that dominant over House, Posey, PJ, Powe, and Davis?
I don’t think so, but we’ll see.
I don’t think the rotation is going past 7 or 8 anyway.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
doc says:
KG aint gonna even get in the post for no mismatch.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Celts Fan says:
That’s what I’m afraid of Doc.