Pick and roll

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

The sorry state of the Celtics against the Cavaliers made me channel
surf to the Utah-Miami game on TNT. There were a couple things that
stood out.

1) There's a reason that the Celtics don't run the pick and roll as
a primary play. It would require that Kenny Anderson be able to 
consistently sink an open 18 foot jumper, because that is what the
defense will give him. If he want our offense to consist of Anderson
shooting open 18 foot jumpers, we don't need to run a pick and roll
for it. I'm sure opponent defenses will gladly give it to us. 

2) Team defense. Both of these teams play solid team defense. They
also trap down against the opposing post players and typically rotate
excellently. People talk about the idea of defensive rotation as
if Pitino is an idiot for using it but it's well-used around the 
league. Of course, Utah's players have probably been doing it for
a decade now and Miami has Mourning to erase mistakes.

I also have caught some of the numerous Lakers games that are 
constantly on national TV. The Lakers seem to have two plays. Throw
it down to Shaq and wait for the dunk, foul, or double team. Or
throw it to Kobe and watch him shoot or take it to the hole. 
I mean they don't do anything complex, they just have a ton of 
offensive talent. They have three guys who would probably be in
the top 5 in the league in scoring if they were each on different
teams. The reason why they still will probably not win the 
championship, in my opinion, is their defense. But compared to
the Celtics... 

There was a post characterizing Mercer as the second coming of
Jordan. I was watching Jordan's Come Fly with Me video last night.
It reminded me of how Jordan would attack the basket relentlessly
and how he was similarly ferocious on defense. I really don't see 
many similarities except that they are both shooting guards and 
both have nice looking jump shots. Mercer has talent and athleticism
but his game is totally different.

Alex