re: Re: I'm Picking New Jersey In Five

[Kai_Brunnen_G@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

> ** Original Subject: Re: I'm Picking New Jersey In Five
> ** Original Sender: "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>

> 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. 

Well, if you have a crappy defender, yes, but Jefferson is
a phenomenal defensive player.  However, I can see where double teaming him
would exploit his biggest weakness, which is passing,
and the Celtics biggest weakness, another efficient scorer besides Pierce 
So, that's a good point. 

Of course, that's what Isiah did.

That's true, but the Pacers were coach dumping and their defense against 
the non-Pierce players was even more pathetic. No way should McCarty be a factor
at all, and the Pacers bench should have killed the Celtics.  Didn't happen
because Isiah is Isiah.  


 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.

That's true, but I still think Jefferson would be adequate in single coverage,
though you definitely want the non-Pierce types to be the ones to beat you. 
Unlike Indiana, that won't happen. 


> 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.

Right-O. That's why Kenyon Martin is the perfect Antoine stopper.
Toine has his troubles against bigger quick guys both on the offensive and
defensive end.  Amazing Isiah didn't use O'Neal on Walker.
Can you imagine what McHale would have done to Walker?


> 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 where NJ's team defensive speed really helps. They should have no 
problem rotating on coverage guarding the whomever is the open shooter.
I'm afraid they're going to turn the Celtics into a completely perimeter
team in this series.
Ray

> 
> 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