Re: Walker in the Paint

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

OK, this is a great point and something I didn't bring up in my earlier post
because I've beaten my head against this brick wall far too much already.
Josh, Antoine was guarded by a smaller player almost exclusively last night.
And he exploited it beautifully. So, you might ask (and many of us have),
why not play him at small forward and give him that same advantage all the
time? Well, I'm still waiting for a good answer.

Would Antoine have trouble guarding Grant Hill or Latrell Sprewell? Yes, but
doesn't he have trouble guarding Tim Duncan and Chris Webber? At least give
him the physical advantage on the offensive end. Playing small forward
emphasizes all his strengths and minimizes his weaknesses-it encourages him
to post up smaller players, encourages double teams because Antoine will
have an advantage in the low post, and allows him to pass because he can see
over the smaller defender in the post and pick out open teammates.

It's one reason I'm so skeptical we'll ever see a repeat of last night's
performance. This whole "Antoine will play 40 minutes a game at power
forward" thing just seems set in stone. Why can't they see the difference?
All Obie wants to talk about is how great Antoine has been when the truth
is, as great as he was last night, he has been just as bad in every game up
until this.

Mark


--- --- --- 

Since -!@#%&*@!-- I missed the damn game, let me ask
you this question.  How much of Antoine's ability to
operate out of the post was due to his being covered
by guards and small forwards?  Would he have been able
to work down there if an decent NBA big man, such as
Ervin Johnson or Antonio Davis, had been guarding him?
Find a job, post your resume.