Wednesday, May 7, 2008

RIP Kobe Up


In the 2003-2004 NBA finals, Larry Brown and the Pistons found a way to slow down Kobe Bryant: make him play hard on defense. Rip Hamilton has always been one of the best conditioned players in the game and is a master at moving without the ball. When the Pistons realized that Kobe would be defending Rip, they forced him to chase Hamilton, who never stopped moving, during long offensive possessions and to fight through crushing screens from Rasheed and Ben Wallace. Make no mistake, Kobe is an excellent defender. But by forcing him to expend so much energy on the defensive end of the floor, the Pistons slowed Kobe down offensively.

Game 3 of the series provides a striking example of how effective the Pistons' game plan was. Kobe went 4-13 from the field and finished with 11 points. Rip took 22 shots making 11 of them and finished with 31 points.

The Jazz do not have a Rip Hamilton type player, but I would like to see us push Kobe on defense by looking for Brewer on cuts to the basket, posting up AK and running Korver off double screens when Kobe is defending them. Kobe will surely make some nice defensive plays, but as the Pistons proved, making Kobe play hard on defense may be the best way to slow him on offense.

3 comments:

Orlando said...

I'd love for the Jazz to employ some version of this. Unfortunately I think running plays for Brewer or Kirilenko would hurt as much as it helps. It's really a tragedy that we don't have a wingman that is a real threat to score.

P.S. I noticed Kobe picking up Deron on a few possessions on Sunday.

outlet muebles madrid said...

Here, I do not actually think this is likely to have success.

www.muebles-en-palencia.com said...

It will not succeed as a matter of fact, that is what I consider.