Guarding LBJ

[Who]

Also, Do we use the Hack-a-Ben in this series like the Spurs have done these playoffs?  He's averaging a 25% from the FT line in the playoffs and 42% for the season.  Or Anderson Verajo at 59%?

It works well while he's in the game but as soon as Washington used it Mike Brown pulled him for Joe Smith. Joe Smith is better at everything, and he defends KG extremely well, I don't want Joe on the floor. Let's leave Ben alone. Better that Ben plays more minutes than Joe. We want Ben Wallace on the floor.

Ben Wallace played surprisingly good defense against Antawn Jamison. Jamison only scored 17ppg on 40% shooting. I didn't see that one coming. But he's never played good defense against KG. Yeah everything is still fine, Ben's crap right? That messes up my head if he starts playing good man-to-man defense.

[wdleehi]

Guard him just like they did in the regular season. 

Ye, Lebron is going to score, but the method of defense the Celtics used on Lebron had him shooting well below his shooting %. 

Plus, Pierce and Posey on Lebron is better then Ray on JJ.  (well, maybe not)


Do not get Ben Wallace in foul trouble.  Keep him in the game as many minutes as possible.  Help off Wallace and sideshow. 




I think the key backup big man may be PJ Brown.  He has the length and the savy to guard big Z.

And play Perkins stater minutes (as long as he is out of foul trouble)  He does the best job of keeping big Z from getting to his comfort spot.

we have used different strategies against LeBron this season, so when you say guard him like we did in the regular season, i'm not sure what you mean.

in the first two games, we basically played him straight up and he killed us. in the last game, we trapped him early and often and IMO it was the best way to deal with him.

i don't think you can use one strategy all the time on Lebron, but i do think you have to give him a heavy dose of trapping and do it with different players so he doesn't get to used to where the trap is coming from.

i also think we need to game plan for Z because he has not been an easy match up for us with his size and shooting ability....

LeBron is a beast, so we're also going to have to play it by ear a little too and make adjustments on the fly....

i can't wait.

So basically, the Celtics used different methods on James during the season.  Mostly using help defense.


That's why James shooting percentage was 7 points lower and his TOs were up by 1.  His assists were up by two.

The key seems to be for the Celtics is to keep him off the line.  He went on average, 3 more times a game against the Celtics.  He also shot 9 points higher in his FT %. 

[EJPLAYA]

I think that you need to just play him straight up in most cases. Let PP and Posey backing him up know that they are going to have to give 100% of their effort on that end of the floor just to slow him down a bit. Lebron will get his. That's a fact. We just need to make sure we don't get killed on the kickout for a three after a double team, or the offensive boards if one of our bigs switches on them.

The time to double him is at crunch time and make someone other than Lebron or even Delonte beat you. This way he isn't expecting the double team.

Perk has done a better job of pushing the pick towards the sideline lately, but that was his biggest knock for the first couple years. He would bump them and pick up a quick couple fouls and be sitting. You know Lebron is going to get the benefit of the doubt on those so it scares me a bit.

[wdleehi]

Also, Do we use the Hack-a-Ben in this series like the Spurs have done these playoffs?  He's averaging a 25% from the FT line in the playoffs and 42% for the season.  Or Anderson Verajo at 59%?

It works well while he's in the game but as soon as Washington used it Mike Brown pulled him for Joe Smith. Joe Smith is better at everything, and he defends KG extremely well, I don't want Joe on the floor. Let's leave Ben alone. Better that Ben plays more minutes than Joe. We want Ben Wallace on the floor.

Ben Wallace played surprisingly good defense against Antawn Jamison. Jamison only scored 17ppg on 40% shooting. I didn't see that one coming. But he's never played good defense against KG. Yeah everything is still fine, Ben's crap right? That messes up my head if he starts playing good man-to-man defense.

No.  Don't do that. 

All that does is bring in a better offensive player for Wallace that makes it harder to double James. 

[winsomme]

Guard him just like they did in the regular season. 

Ye, Lebron is going to score, but the method of defense the Celtics used on Lebron had him shooting well below his shooting %. 

Plus, Pierce and Posey on Lebron is better then Ray on JJ.  (well, maybe not)


Do not get Ben Wallace in foul trouble.  Keep him in the game as many minutes as possible.  Help off Wallace and sideshow. 




I think the key backup big man may be PJ Brown.  He has the length and the savy to guard big Z.

And play Perkins stater minutes (as long as he is out of foul trouble)  He does the best job of keeping big Z from getting to his comfort spot.

we have used different strategies against LeBron this season, so when you say guard him like we did in the regular season, i'm not sure what you mean.

in the first two games, we basically played him straight up and he killed us. in the last game, we trapped him early and often and IMO it was the best way to deal with him.

i don't think you can use one strategy all the time on Lebron, but i do think you have to give him a heavy dose of trapping and do it with different players so he doesn't get to used to where the trap is coming from.

i also think we need to game plan for Z because he has not been an easy match up for us with his size and shooting ability....

LeBron is a beast, so we're also going to have to play it by ear a little too and make adjustments on the fly....

i can't wait.

So basically, the Celtics used different methods on James during the season.  Mostly using help defense.


That's why James shooting percentage was 7 points lower and his TOs were up by 1.  His assists were up by two.

The key seems to be for the Celtics is to keep him off the line.  He went on average, 3 more times a game against the Celtics.  He also shot 9 points higher in his FT %. 

yeah, we used different methods. some worked. some didn't.

the game where LeBron played the best against us, we played him straight up and the game where he struggled the most was the game where we trapped him more.....

that's my take anyway....James basically epitomizes the "you can only hope to contain him.." saying. when he gets to the basket, he is a nightmare...

[PRIDE]

Posey and Pierce will have to get the job done. LeBron will get his anyway..the key here..ATTACK WALLY. That guy cant guard ME. Whoever is matched up with Wally should PUNISH him. Then his 3 pt threat will be eliminated when he has taken out because he cant guard d-league players. That will allow us to throw more doubles at LBJ and take the ball out of his hands.

[MBz]

I do want to see Pierce and Posey covering LeBron.  I also agree about more Big Baby this series compared to Powe.  Powe is not a good defender and doesn't have the size to match up against the Cav's bigs.  I'm not saying Big Baby has the height, but he has the girth to push these guys out and make them work a little more.

[NYDan]

One thing we need to do is make him play defense every time he's on the court, make sure he's not able to save any energy at that end of the floor. Get him to chase around our shooters on the perimeter and have Pierce posting up on him in the paint.

Even if we aren't trying to score with whomever he's matched up with we need to make him work all series long. Also this should help cut down on fast break opportunities if LeBron is busy fighting in the paint for rebounds instead of waiting to run down the court after a missed jump shot from us. The Cavs aren't a fast break team but one outlet pass to LeBron is all it really takes for an easy 2 points.

[jaketwice]

Posey and Pierce will have to get the job done. LeBron will get his anyway..the key here..ATTACK WALLY. That guy cant guard ME. Whoever is matched up with Wally should PUNISH him. Then his 3 pt threat will be eliminated when he has taken out because he cant guard d-league players. That will allow us to throw more doubles at LBJ and take the ball out of his hands.

Hahaha

Off-topic but TP.  Look for PP to get 30 a game.

[D Dub]

I would like to see some straight man D.  Lebron's game is all about drawing doubles and kicking out.  Put Posey/Pierce on LBJ 1on1 and cut off his passing options.  By cutting off the open looks elsewhere, LBJ will need to put up 60+ to get his team the W - and that just won't happen in 4 out of 7. 

[Hoops]

I also think we should avoid the double if we can - maybe we can't. I have no insight on who would be best to take the defensive assignment on him. What I do know is that the most important thing will be to keep LeBron from penetrating. In that Washington series, he got inside virtually anytime he wanted it. That leads to lots of kick-outs to open shooters, FTs, and confidence-building, momentum-changing dunks by LeBron. His jump shot has vastly improved this year, which is part of the reason he is so tough. BUT, I'd much rather take my chances with LeBron shooting contested jumpers all day as opposed to him attacking the rim.

Also, the C's have to find a way to put a ton of pressure on LeBron to make him play defense. Wear him down, frustrate him, draw fouls on him, etc.

[libermaniac]

If I'm Doc, my strategy for handling Bron is:

1) Have Pierce take it to the hole at Bron all game long.  Put Bron into foul trouble, or, at the very least, make him expend energy playing D.

2) Spell Pierce early and often with Posey to hound Bron on the defensive end.

3) When Pierce gets back in, repeat step 1.

[indeedproceed]

All you can do is try to get bron in foul trouble on the offensive end, go at him so he can't rest on defense, and try to force him into jumpshots. I don't know how you force a guy that is in all likely hood about as strong or stronger than any other 1 player on our squad.

Which man is stronger, Lebron James or Dwight howard?

Trick question, both are so incredibly naturally strong that its not at all possible that they are in actuality human and thus should be barred from competition.

[ma11l]

He's gonna get his 30 plus points a game, that's fine.  We need to make him work for them though.  Keep the Cavs out of transition by slowing the pace, taking good shots and limiting turnovers.  I think we need to focus on keeping his other stats down, aka no triple doubles.  Good team rebounding can keep him off the boards.  I think the real key is his assists total.  If he averages 5 or 6 APG this series we will win it convincingly.  Close out on their shooters and shut them down inside KG and Perk. 

I also agree that we need to key on LeBron and more importantly Wally on the defensive end.  Maybe the King work and exert energy at the least, and hopefully even better, get him in foul trouble.  Paul has really been keyed up in the past against LeBron and has had some monster games.  No reason he shouldn't have a big series.  That leaves Wally to cover who? Ray?  We need to exploit this matchup, dominate this matchup.  Ray no longer has to exert the energy on defense against Johnson, he can just stay on Wally's shooting hand and not over commit to helping on LeBron.  Wally is UBER slow on the defensive end.  He will not be able to stay with Ray running our offense.  Ray needs to knock down the open shots he has, and by running the plays really break down their team defense as they need to help good old Wally. 

[Who]

(posted this on the wrong thread initially, meant for it to be here)

The Celtics should try and do what San Antonio did. They can't do it as well but it's still likely their best option.

San Antonio defended him one-on-one with their best perimeter defender and then had the other four players load up. By that I mean they (Spurs) stood off their man enough to offer quick help and to shrink the open space (deny open lanes for penetration or at least make the lane smaller) but never came to double or trap. The minute he drives (at the 18-20 foot mark not 6-10 feet mark, he gets that deep it's too late and you'll have to leave your shooter), collapse and try to force him to take jump shots off the dribble

We've nobody that can do what Bowen did. Nobody with enough quickness (maybe Tony could but he didn't get burn against JJ so he's probably not playing) to stay with LeBron off the dribble from 40 feet while also being able to contest the shot. It's still likely the best option though.

............................

I'm not wild about the trapping. They've got a lot of good shooters. Plus Z and Joe who can score and shoot. Trapping helps a below par supporting cast score. Cleveland are great on the offensive boards, they'll destroy the C's on the offensive glass if they're running around the place all out of position. Very wary of the trapping.