Re: I'm Picking New Jersey In Five

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We all know about the problems New Jersey presents, so I'm not going to
comment on most of Ray's post. But this item warrants a response.

Here are the keys to beating the Celtics: 

1.	Double team Pierce. You have to. Even if he isn't hitting his
jumper, he can get to the line and kill you that way. Guarding him
one-on-one is suicide. Of course, that's what Isiah did. If you double
Pierce, he has a tendency to try to dribble too much and turn the ball over.
He's not a great passer, although he has improved, so he usually doesn't
make the defense pay for the double team. Jersey knows this.
2.	Guard Antoine with one guy. Again, Isiah screwed this up. Put a
bigger guy on Antoine and play off of him. Keep him on the perimeter. Let
him take the three-pointers. Even if he gets hot, the damage he does out
there isn't as bad as what he accomplishes when he's posting up, attacking
the basket, drawing double teams and finding open shooters. Antoine is a
good enough passer and ball-handler to exploit double teams. So don't give
him the chance. Keep him outside.
3.	Make the other guys shoot contested 3-pointers. The rest of the
roster simply spaces the floor. If they're left open, they'll hit shots. But
with a little pressure, their percentages drop considerably and guys like
Walter and Delk really don't do a good job of dribbling past a defender who
challenges that 3-point shot. 

This is the formula Jersey used last year. They also attack the C's defense
effectively because they score in transition, before the defense can set up,
and they have a lot of motion in their half-court offense.

It's a bad matchup for the C's, but that's no secret, right?

Mark

--- --- --- 

Ray wrote:

6. In fact, one of the reasons New Jersey plays so well against the
Celtics, is that they don't have to double team Pierce or Walker -
Martin and
Jefferson are so good defensively, they can get by with single coverage,

but if they should decide to double Pierce, they, the Nets have the
ability,
the team speed, to recover and prevent the other Celtics from getting
open shots.