Erick Blasco

Why isn't this game on ESPN? Utah-New Orleans is a happening game with one of the best individual rivalries going and it hasn't been a nationally televised game in what, two years?

I didn't even know I could edit thread titles until this very second....

Poe, I agree with everything you're saying. With the attack the hoop mindset, teams really clog the lane against the Heat. They aren't taking advantage because Arroyo isn't hitting his jumpers, Miller is out, and Wade and LeBron aren't catch-and-shoot guys. Ilgauskas is scoring a bit, but he gives it up on the other end. Jones has been streaky, and House doesn't have the handles to start. This is the problem with niche players who aren't well-rounded. If you have too many of them playing critical roles, eventually their weaknesses will be exposed if the stars aren't playing well. Plus people assume that simply walking the ball up is being a point guard, when being a point guard also involves understanding the action, calling out plays, and making the right trigger passes. LeBron and Wade aren't point guards.

First Mike Miller misses a chunk of time, then David Lee has zombie Wilson Chandler chew up his arm, and now Haslem is probably out for the year...if I'm Matt Bonner, or Anthony Roberson, I'm not sleeping too comfortably.

It's almost exclusively Wade now too. LeBron is picking it up and playing at LeBron levels, while Bosh is improving his screen defense. But when you have a player like Wade who is taking 90% of defensive possessions off, it just puts the Heat in impossible situations. Plus everything I feared about Ilgauskas is coming true. He's falling apart and he just can't move at all. The team isn't playing hard for Spoelstra, and for better or worse, these next few weeks are crucial for him. If he can't rally the team around him, the Heat are in trouble. If he wants to make a ballsy move, he'd bench Wade to take back control and hopefully light a fire under him. LeBosh should be good enough to keep Miami rolling. One other aspect about the Heat I read on basketballprospectus earlier today...they have no youth anywhere in their rotation. Because of that, they don't play with any youthful energy. Of course they shouldn't need some random second-year player to supply a pick-me-up, but it's almost as if the Heat (Wade) realize they've already made names for themselves, what do they have to play for? Because LeBron and Bosh have improved. It's almost the exact opposite scenario of what happened in Boston. Boston's Big Three were all used to playing in systems that went beyond iso ball. They had no adjustment because they simply knew how to play five-man basketball. Miami's big three still has no idea how to play five man basketball, and whereas Bosh and LeBron are making mistakes but trying to learn, Wade is the one who is simply blowing things off to isolate. And of all the potential disaster scenarios I envisioned of the Heat, this is one I did not see coming. at. all.

Good, here's two weeks ago... http://www.youtube.com/user/heatbreakdown#p/u/4/wtGZ-dsD9PA

Dude, I've been lugging camera and lighting equipment around all day...cut me some slack!

And of course...Coach Nick is already on last night's game http://www.youtube.com/user/heatbreakdown#p/a/u/0/h7EsQGjpxf4

And even though this isn't the right forum, I'd like to see the Pacers if they actually get some talent. Jim O'Brien is one of the best offensive coaches in the game. Lots of smart, coordinated action on both sides of the ball...maybe the Heat should sign O' Brien!

Since everyone is jumping solely on Spoelstra, here's some video of Zydrunas Ilgauskas' non-existent help defense, and Dwyane Wade continuing his horrendous season. Wade hasn't played hard or smart in a single game this year. Not one. He's blown assignments on both ends of the court and it's ruined Miami's chances of executing. The fact that he isn't being called out is astonishing. He's pulling a Baron Davis right before our eyes... http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/11/23/why-was-miamis-interior-defense-so-bad-against-indiana/

I LOVE the stuff Coach Nick is doing. All the stuff I've been saying for years (not about Wade really...I've never seen him this consistently lazy), he lays out in video so you actually see it. It's absolutely terrific. Everything you want to know about the Heat---it's right here. Flash, Poe (if he's still around), every Heat fan should be checking out these videos. Every one. Pure basketball fans too. http://www.youtube.com/user/heatbreakdown#p/a/u/1/Srux6Vwqt3o

After an early season home loss to the Hornets, the Spurs have reeled off 10 in a row and now have the best record in the game. They haven't beaten a murderer's row of teams, but have defeated Phoenix, Utah, and Oklahoma City all on the road. Discuss.

He needs to learn how to play professional basketball. The D-League would help him immensely in terms of how to run the triangle.

Aldridge is too soft to be a number-one anything. He has trouble scoring around the hoop and it really limits Portland's offense.

The Sacramento Kings made just enough plays in their 86-81 win over the New Jersey Nets to offset their youthful mistakes. Let’s examine Sacramento’s roster to see what the Kings have now, and what they’ll need going forward. Tyreke Evans—8-21 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-5 FT, 4 AST, 5 TO, 3 STL, 20 PTS—is the point man of Sacramento’s attack, despite questions surrounding whether or not he’s a true point guard. The Kings mostly featured wing or high isolations or screen/rolls for him against the Nets, though they sometimes posted him 16 feet out along the baseline and allowed him to go one-on-one. Evans has a terrific body and attacking mindset that favors him someday being a primetime scorer. He also has a tight crossover with either hand and an explosive first step that always left him a half step past his defender before that player could react. Despite knocking down 5-9 jump shots, his form still needs tweaking. While it isn’t as pronounced as it was in the past, Evans still brings the ball above his head before he releases it. His touch is somewhat better as his release point is somewhat lower, but the catapult motion generated by his mechanics is still too great. One of his pull-up jumpers was an airball, and another pinballed between the front and back rim several times before dropping through. Evans also has a bad habit of fading away on his jumpers when it isn’t necessary, causing his shots to fall short. In time this should be corrected if he cares enough to correct it, but it’s still a problem in the short term. The biggest hole in Evans’ offensive arsenal is his lack of a short jumper. Inside 15 feet, Evans is either putting his head down and attacking the hoop no matter what, or he’s overpenetrating and making wild kick out passes back to the outside. Evans forced several drives this way resulting in missed layups through multiple defenders, offensive fouls, and stolen passes. As a passer, Evans almost exclusively looks to drive and kick back to the perimeter. Not all of his passes are on target either. Several drives and kicks that found their intended targets were still made at the players legs or caused the player to break out of his natural movement. He also tends to overhandle and overpenetrate. Because of Evans’ proliferation as a slasher, and his relatively flawed passing skills, he projects to somebody best served as a two-guard than a point guard, though he’ll need to learn to work more off the ball to make that switch. Defensively, Evans applies more ball pressure than he has in the past, and he has great ball skills to intercept lazy dribbles and passes, but he still gets caught on screens, still fouls jump shooters, and is still flat-footed on defense, on one possession letting Anthony Morrow blow by him while hardly leaving his stance. With all of Sacramento’s defensive difficulties this early season, and with Evans’ role as the face of the franchise, the onus is on him to stop being lazy on defense. If he doesn’t take defense seriously, why should anyone else? Carl Landry—7-12 FG, 1-1 FT, 6 REB, 0 AST, 6 TO, 15 PTS—has an explosive first step and is comfortable finishing in traffic, but he can’t jump and is undersized, which causes his shot to be blocked an inordinate number of times. Also, like Evans, he’s a bull in a china shop around the paint who goes full-speed ahead, with no finesse around the hoop. Landry is not a good rebounder, as he’s often outjumped in a crowd, or too short to keep players from reaching over him for loose balls. Defensively, he’s too short to alter many shots, and he’s not a good rebounder, though a switch and hard closeout late on a Travis Outlaw three forced a huge miss. To compensate for Landry’s poor defense, the Kings start Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert held his own in forcing the disappearing Brook Lopez into another rough game (3-9 FG, 7 PTS), but he seldom boxes out, misses rotations, and can be overpowered around the hoop. On offense Dalembert is a capable high post passer who otherwise displays terrible shot selection. Against the Nets he missed badly on a 10-foot fallaway, a clumsy right hook, and a short jumper, while also bricking a layup. Luther Head has come a long way in improving his once-disastrous defense to respectable levels. He also made several crisp passes, didn’t make any egregious mistakes, and knocked in a trey. He’s not good at penetration, partially because he doesn’t have a great deal of talent, but moreover, because he doesn’t use ball screens well, coming off of screens too flat to allow defenders time to fight or squeeze their way through screens and stay in front of him. Donte Greene spent the game against the Nets going through the motions when the Kings ran sets that didn’t involve him, and he was habitually late on his rotations. This after reporting to camp out of shape and winding up in Paul Westphal’s doghouse. It’s time for this kid to grow up. DeMarcus Cousins—2-8 FG, 10 REB, 1 AST, 1 TO, 8 PTS—is Sacramento’s prized rookie, but he can’t stay on the floor because of perpetual foul trouble. When showing on screens he has a tendency to jab at the ball, a needless exercise that will only continue to feed his foul problems, and when defending shot attempts, he throws his hands more forward than high, leading to more contact with opponents arms than the ball. When guarding the post or defending cross-screens, he’s all about fighting and shoving with his upper body than using any kind of positional advantage, and he’s flat-footed as a defender. Offensively, Cousins’ foot work is slow and clumsy, and none of his moves—a mechanical right hook, an awkward step through, a clumsy baseline spin—are executed with any degree of grace. What Cousins did do well was read double teams and make the appropriate pass to both spot-up shooters and cutters, no easy task, and he always, always boxed out. He also has good touch on his shot, and executed an impressive high-arching, reverse pivot fadeaway jumper that dropped in—shades of Rasheed Wallace. Until Cousins unlearns his bad defensive habits he’ll be hard-pressed to improve because he’ll never be on the floor. Until he improves his footwork, he’ll be predictable to defend by good defenses. At the very least, he has good potential as a rebounder and help defender, though the Kings need him to develop to move Landry to a sixth-man role off the bench. Beno Udrih—5-9 FG, 2-3 3FG, 3 AST, 0 TO, 12 PTS—is a good backup point guard because he has good vision, takes care of the ball, and has an accurate mid-range jumper. Against the Nets, Udrih’s clutch three in the final seconds eventually iced the game. However, Udrih is another poor defender who lacks the athleticism to stay in front of most NBA point guards, hence why pairing him with Evans gets problematic. Francisco Garcia—3-7FG, 7 PTS—is little more than a streaky, inconsistent scorer who only has eyes on the basket. Jason Thompson knocked down an 18-footer, was active in tracking down three rebounds, and played some effective defense in contesting a Jordan Farmar drive, and stuffing a Derrick Favors layup, though he tends to get pushed around down low because of his thin frame. What will the Kings need to rule the Western Conference? A defensive minded guard or wing who can shoot the three.Evans to improve his passing, his decision making, his jump shooting, his left hand, and his defense, while also developing either a floater, or a short jumper.Because of Landry’s limitations, he’d be best served as a designated second-unit scorer. To facilitate that, Cousins needs to improve his offensive game to become the designated frontcourt scorer.A power forward with three-point range to take advantage of Evans’ drive-and-kick game.Greene to take the game more seriously.Omri Casspi to get tougher.In lieu of the above two, one more creative wing scorer or a wing defender who can shoot.The entire team to start committing itself to playing defense on every possession. Right now Sacramento’s offense, while raw and rugged, at least has the right idea. Westphal calls a lot of split cuts that take advantage of Cousins’ and Dalembert’s passing, and the players play with physicality and aggressiveness. However, as the Kings’ defense rests, so too does the approach of their potentially bright future.

After a pair of impressive victories over the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns were thumped in Miami, losing to the Heat 123-96. The problem wasn’t strictly that Phoenix’ defense was its usual sieve, but that the offense wasn’t prodigious enough to compensate. Let’s examine the specific performances by Phoenix’ cast to discover the biggest culprits. Excluding fast breaks, extreme early offense, broken plays, and the extended garbage time of the fourth quarter, I’ve charted Phoenix’ defensive responsibilities and offensive sets to assign credit or blame to Suns’ players. Taking a look at the Suns’ defense first, they had too many breakdowns to stay competitive with a potent team like the Heat. Charting possessions and assigning individuals as the most important defenders to specific plays (the individual defender in an iso or post up, either the ball handler or screen defender on a screen/roll, and the appropriate player in a zone, a closeout or a rotation), you can see the disappointing totals on an individual basis. Jason Richardson was the second most egregious defender, allowing 15 points in nine possessions. On five possessions where J-Rich needed to close out on a shooter or simply gave his man too much space, the Heat scored nine points in five possessions. Totaled in that includes J-Rich not tagging a wide open Chris Bosh in transition, and leaking out on a brake after contesting a Bosh miss, only to have the Heat grab the offensive board and find Bosh for a basket. Not fighting through screens and poor rotations made up the remaining numbers. Grant Hill was decent, mostly because LeBron’s jumper was iffy. He gave up seven points in six possessions. Channing Frye had a hit-or-miss game on defense. His final total was 20 points allowed on 21 possessions. He was posted twice by Bosh and was mercifully forced to foul him, leading to four Heat points. He was also attacked directly in isolations for eight points on six possessions, leading to 12 points on eight possessions, a poor number. In his screen and perimeter defense, Frye was guilty of at least four bad shows (including twice where he hedged on the wrong side of the screen!), but wasn’t heavily punished, allowing six points in 10 possessions. When stationed under the rim or asked to rotate to protect the hoop, Frye actually only allowed two points in a trio of possessions, holding his ground on a Wade assault, and rotating to force a Wade miss near the basket as his two highlights. Still, while the numbers don’t back it up, Frye was largely responsible for not checking Bosh on a number of plays, and his screen defense needs to be much improved, at least at his 2010 postseason level, for the Suns to be respectable at that end of the floor. Jared Dudley was a huge plus. He did foul Wade on a jump shot (he hit one free throw), but two exceptional rotations led to a block on Dwyane Wade (which he got credit for) and a half-block on Chris Bosh (which Turkoglu got full credit for). Indeed, Dudley is a shining defender blessed not only with athleticism, but terrific awareness. Earl Clark also acquainted himself well, jumping straight up as Wade tried to sucker him into contact with a pump fake, and rotating over on a LeBron drive, forcing a miss. Hakim Warrick is another non-defender, with Heat players shooting 5-7 for 13 points on 10 possessions against him. He was iso’d or posted up four times for eight points, and had several poor shows on screens, leading to five more points on three possessions. His stat line would look even worse if not for two offensive fouls drawn, one when Udonis Haslem tried to create space with three Suns draped around him (after Warrick completely botched a rotation leaving Joel Anthony wide open at the rim where he missed a point blank layup), and one on a Wade forearm extension navigating a screen. Despite his reputation, Steve Nash’s defense wasn’t too bad—seven points on nine possessions. Most of his defense involved helping elsewhere and allowing Carlos Arroyo to shoot long jump shots, but against the Heat, that’s simply executing the game plan. No, Hedo Turkoglu was the biggest disaster. In 13 possessions where Turkoglu was the most important defender, he was responsible for 23 points allowed. Turkoglu’s defensive deficiencies were exposed right from the opening tip when he was posted and toasted by Chris Bosh on Miami’s first possession. Later on Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and even Juwan Howard got in the act, taking Turkoglu into the post and having points come out of it, whether directly, with an assist pass, or a series of plays that directly transpired out of Turkoglu being posted. For the duration, Turkoglu was posted four times with the Heat going 4-4 for 8 points against Turkoglu’s overmatched defense. Turkoglu was also asked to defend the paint once, in which Dwyane Wade blew by him and hit a layup, plus a foul (though on another possession a Heat player simply threw the ball right at Turkoglu under the hoop). This means that in six possessions of Talk the Turk defending the basket, Miami shot 5-5 with 11 points, for an incredible ratio. Naturally, Turkoglu is out of position as a power forward and defending post players is not his repertoire. However on close outs and screen defense, the Heat shot 5-7 for 12 points on seven possessions, another awful ratio from Phoenix’ end. The fact is that Turkoglu is a deplorable defender, and without Dwight Howard erasing his mistakes, his miscues are even more egregious. On a small-ball team like the Suns, Turkoglu doesn’t have the shot-blocking behind him to compensate for his mistakes, and he isn’t quick enough to gamble for steals and deflections that would fuel Phoenix’ running game. This means he must compensate by producing on offense, but no plays were directly produced out of his screen/rolls, and three isolations led to four points. He did move the ball with alacrity, but his five shot attempts are not enough for a team needing a second offensive front for teams that can stymie Phoenix’ screen/roll game. That second front was needed because Miami made excellent hedges on Steve Nash’s high screen/rolls, often taking away the roll man by blitzing Nash, while closing hard on three-point shooters. In plays that didn’t result in an offense reset (most of Phoenix’ halfcourt possessions start with a Nash screen/roll somewhere), that staple of Phoenix’ offense resulted in the Suns going 7-17 with 18 points in 20 possessions, a suboptimal number. Nash did end up simply isolating on six possessions, resulting in six points. Nash also was involved in a curl which resulted in Channing Frye missing a jumper on one possession, and a baseline flex sequences leading into a pin down for Nash was run twice with Hedo Turkoglu getting one free throw in two possessions out of the action. With Miami’s defense sufficiently bottling up Nash, Phoenix had trouble generating offense from its supporting cast members. Grant Hill shot 1-6 on various isolations, leading to five points on seven possessions. Hill screen/rolls were marginally better—four points on three possessions. Against the exceptional defense of LeBron James, Hill simply looked like an old man. Action run by Jason Richardson on the perimeter had some success—seven points on five possessions, but he was ineffective in the post against Miami’s physical denial, well timed double teams, and perimeter closeouts—three post ups, zero points. Richardson was awful from downtown—0-5—though many of his misses were open looks that he usually makes with reliability. Goran Dragic had trouble operating for the same reasons Nash did—six points in eight possessions. As for the rest of the team, Josh Childress had some success in limited possessions in the post, Jared Dudley left his three-point shot at home, and Hakim Warrick was near useless without open rolling lanes to catch and finish. Against teams lacking the personnel, the wherewithal, or the desire, the Suns won’t need to worry too much about secondary options as Nash’s screen/roll game is one of the most difficult plays in the league to corral, especially with Phoenix’ roster of athletes, gunners, and spare parts that fit perfectly into a normally well-oiled machine. The Suns also play with admirable unselfishness, and are explosive in an open field. Plus, Alvin Gentry is a creative play caller and the Suns’ base sets get enough spacing and weak-side action (usually on a baseline brush screen for Jason Richardson) to overwhelm average teams, or good teams playing average basketball. The problem comes against teams like Miami, which executed a well-conceived defensive gameplan to trap and hard hedge Nash’s screens, and used its superior defensive talent to limit an explosive Suns offense. Whereas in the past, Amar’e Stoudemire high post isolations would put severe pressure on a defense as a second option, Jason Richardson isn’t quite as dangerous. Defensively, the performance displayed just how valuable Robin Lopez is to the team as he gives the Suns a toughness and a ruggedness that Frye and Warrick can’t fathom to match. Overall, while the Suns don’t have the defensive chops to seriously contend for a title (they aren’t winning four shootouts with the Lakers in a postseason series), they could be able to storm to the conference finals again in a good, but ultimately wide open West, even without Stoudemire. Phoenix’ would be well-served from here until then to try to develop a reliable secondary offensive attack better than Grant Hill creating or Jason Richardson posting up. If they can’t, with their inability to stop anybody, they may not be able to go on a run like last season’s screen/roll through the postseason.

http://bballbreakdown.com/ It's defense like this by Kobe and the Lakers that allow a team to make 22 threes...

Your boy Riles is infamous for two-a-day practices in mid-season. If Spo gets canned, Bosh can get used to some ridiculous practices every day.

:lol: :lol:

I want you to watch the video!!!

Nah, OTR's better than a forum...it's a community. You make an assumption about my favorite team right off the back based on location---I'm certainly not a Knicks fan. You also used a tone insinuating that the only reason I wrote this article was because the Knicks lost---when you can clearly see from the other articles that I'm not simply writing articles bashing teams that the Knicks lose to. Also, your biting, confrontational demeanor doesn't lend itself to discussion. All you're doing is coming off as a Wolves fan who wants to pick a fight with anyone anti-T-Wolves, and I'm not going down that road. Check your tone or you'll be yelling by yourself.

Most teams need at least one special player or two to become really good teams. Right now Love is a "star" because he's a recognizable face. If he were the kind of star that can flat out win games with his offense, the Wolves wouldn't be a team with 20 or so wins the past season-plus. Sure he wouldn't be a star on the Hornets---because he's not a star. And the term star is misleading too. It implies popularity and other factors other than pure basketball skills. It's the same thing with Emeka Okafor back in the day...he's a star only because he's the only thing the Bobcats have going and he has semi-decent numbers. When he leaves, nobody cares about him as a "star," but he's become a pretty solid role player. I didn't see Johnson create much offense off the dribble so I can't project him right now. If you think he's an exceptionally talented player, so be it. He sure has a pretty high basketball IQ for a rookie. Webster can't create his own offense. Never has, never will. He'll stroke the three and play some D. Ridnour is a sub-35% three-point shooter for his career. I'd like to see him duplicate last season's modest success before I trust his jumper as reliable. I didn't field a team against the T-Wolves. You're damn right they shut me down. I scored zero points from my laptop because of their great defense. I'll work on my zone-laptop offense when I get the chance. Then the Wolves will really be in trouble. They have the fastest pace in the league, so I'll use my bad dorm wi-fi to slow the game down. That's my strategy. Brewer needs to be deconstructed because right now he's just a guy who can run and jump and crash the paint without reason, while reaching in all the time, and playing with his hands permanently in the cookie jar. Players like that become fourth wings for mediocre teams. This guy clearly has talent, he's still young, and he was a seventh overall pick. Get the most out of his natural gifts. Teach him to shoot. Teach him to handle. Teach him a proper defensive stance. Make him consistently useful. You're not getting rid of Darko because teams won't want to take on four years of him, for a relatively pricey sum of money. Darko, Love, Webster, these guys are non-athletes. Ridnour's a system runner. I don't think Flynn is anything special from a talent standpoint. The Wolves are like the anti-Wizards who are all athleticism and have no court IQ. The T-Wolves are all role players and Beasley, who's a touch soft.

You are obviously very new here...

Is that Urquel in a Hornets jersey?!?!

Ahem,...now that I've gotten your attention... here's a beautiful piece illustrating just how good Utah's offense is. Notice how diverse the types of sets are, the constant motion, the terrific spacing, and the collective intelligence of many of the Jazz players. Fans of the Clippers...Bobcats...Hawks, etc, you'll want to click here...it may be your only chance to see an offense this sweet. Other than the Triangle, it's probably the best offense in the NBA and the toughest to guard because the continuity is so good. Bait and switch for the win! http://bballbreakdown.com/2010/11/15/nba-offense-breakdown-the-utah-jazz-system/