Who is going to guard Shaq?

[moiso]

Baby is the only one with a shot at staying in front of him.  POB would be a joke.  I've seen Leon guard him and he flops on every play.  It was annoying but he did get Shaq into foul trouble and made him turn it over a couple times.

[bdm860]

The biggest mistake most teams in the league ever made was trying to find a solution for Shaq.  Quite simply, there isn't one.  If you get a big guy to match his strength, he will out-quick him.  If you get someone to match his quickness, he'll out muscle him.  In the rare case where someone like Big Baby may be able to match him pretty close with strength and quickness, Shaq's got 5 inches or so. 

This futile effort to match Shaq literally ruined teams drafts as big stiffs like Vitaly Potapenko, Todd Fuller, and Sagana Diop all became lottery picks. 

The Celtics should simply go for what makes them best.  All putting a big body out there does is make Shaq's job easier at the defensive end.  If Shaq's going to put up 20 and 10, he'll do it on Scalabrine, Davis, or Powe.  We might as well do what we can do to make him work hard on the defensive end and make our offensive and defensive plan run as smoothly as possible. 

Well said.  Teams tried to find someone to guard Shaq and ended up weakening their team.  Shaq's not the player he once was, so he's not going to dominate the game.  He still can make a big difference, but not dominate.  To the best of my knowledge, it's still five on five. They are going to have match-up problems against us as well.  They aren't going to be able to guard Rondo, Paul, or Ray. We won't be able to guard Shaq.  The great one-on-one match-up is going to be at the four.

We have the advantage on match-ups.  It will be a matter of which Celtic team shows up.

I was going to actually post this is a joke, but the more I thought about, it started to make a little sense.  Who is going to guard Scal? Seriously though who is Shaq going to guard if we start Scal?  Scal can shoot and has 3 point range, and Garnett can hit the 18-20ft jumper.  Shaq has got to guard one of them right?  If Scal starts, Shaq is going to have to guard him or Garnett, and then they can just shoot jumpers which will pull Shaq out of the middle and open things up for guys like Rondo, Pierce, and Allen to drive.

Also it seems like Shaq gets called for alot of offensive fouls, he'll be so excited to see a guy like Scal on him, he may run over him and get a quick offensive foul or two.

I'm only semi-serious, but I agree with the people who are saying we shouldn't switch the match ups for particular teams and just play our game.  Let Phoenix match up to us.

[BballTim]

This futile effort to match Shaq literally ruined teams drafts as big stiffs like Vitaly Potapenko, Todd Fuller, and Sagana Diop all became lottery picks. 

  People have been wasting high picks on big guys since I started watching the league. It's not a Shaq thing. Look at Bradley, Stipanovich, Konkack, Kleine, Burleson and the host of others before he joined the NBA.

[celticinorlando]

gotta play great team defense...garnett has to stay on stoudamire....rondo needs to handle nash from outside...pierce on richardson...

[Toine43]

The biggest mistake most teams in the league ever made was trying to find a solution for Shaq.  Quite simply, there isn't one.  If you get a big guy to match his strength, he will out-quick him.  If you get someone to match his quickness, he'll out muscle him.  In the rare case where someone like Big Baby may be able to match him pretty close with strength and quickness, Shaq's got 5 inches or so. 

This futile effort to match Shaq literally ruined teams drafts as big stiffs like Vitaly Potapenko, Todd Fuller, and Sagana Diop all became lottery picks. 

The Celtics should simply go for what makes them best.  All putting a big body out there does is make Shaq's job easier at the defensive end.  If Shaq's going to put up 20 and 10, he'll do it on Scalabrine, Davis, or Powe.  We might as well do what we can do to make him work hard on the defensive end and make our offensive and defensive plan run as smoothly as possible. 

Well said.  Teams tried to find someone to guard Shaq and ended up weakening their team.  Shaq's not the player he once was, so he's not going to dominate the game.  He still can make a big difference, but not dominate.  To the best of my knowledge, it's still five on five. They are going to have match-up problems against us as well.  They aren't going to be able to guard Rondo, Paul, or Ray. We won't be able to guard Shaq.  The great one-on-one match-up is going to be at the four.

We have the advantage on match-ups.  It will be a matter of which Celtic team shows up.

I was going to actually post this is a joke, but the more I thought about, it started to make a little sense.  Who is going to guard Scal? Seriously though who is Shaq going to guard if we start Scal?  Scal can shoot and has 3 point range, and Garnett can hit the 18-20ft jumper.  Shaq has got to guard one of them right?  If Scal starts, Shaq is going to have to guard him or Garnett, and then they can just shoot jumpers which will pull Shaq out of the middle and open things up for guys like Rondo, Pierce, and Allen to drive.

Also it seems like Shaq gets called for alot of offensive fouls, he'll be so excited to see a guy like Scal on him, he may run over him and get a quick offensive foul or two.

I'm only semi-serious, but I agree with the people who are saying we shouldn't switch the match ups for particular teams and just play our game.  Let Phoenix match up to us.

Another great post from you, bdm. That's definitely a valid point, and a good reason to stick with Scals in the starting lineup. I guess you could say that the Suns are running into Scalabrine at the wrong time, with him hitting all his jumpers.

If Scal started, Shaq would have to guard him, but I'm not exactly sure how he would. You can't just let Scal shoot jumpers with the way he's been shooting them lately. Also, if Shaq followed him out to the perimeter, Scal would drive right by him (I can't believe I just typed those italicized words). The problem is the Suns can probably play some sort of zone to eliminate that matchup problem, while there's not as much the Cs can do on defense to eliminate their's.

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

every "big guy" we got will get a chance at guarding him, scal will probably start again But I doubt he will spend the most time on him...it will have to be a team effort.

The only thing good about Phoenix is there roster on paper, other than that they're putrid imo

[billysan]

I think BDM has nailed it. We need to make them worry about matching up with us. If we get out early and score a bunch with jumpers from Scal, Shaq will have to match him. I think Scal can also get out on the break and make Shaq run or he will force someone to run. When Shaq comes out, we use Powe to score inside. If they leave Amare in too long, he will be gassed at the end. Either way, we can play that to our advantage. The Suns do not have great depth and will be hard pressed to match up IMO.

[Cman]

I think Scal can also get out on the break and make Shaq run

Yep,  Scal showed his ability to run in the game against the Nets.

[cordobes]

Yep,  Scal showed his ability to run in the game against the Nets.

And in his previous 7 seasons playing in the NBA. The guy is a combo forward, of course he's going to beat every center in the League running down the court and a large majority of the PFs. I've been feeling people are pleasantly surprised by the way Scal has been playing, but I don't see why.

Anyway, this topic doesn't make much sense. Shaq can still drop 30 points on you, but he's nowhere near a 30 points threat every night. Davis and Scal will front him, Ray and Pierce have to deny the entry pass from the wing. The other night Kevin Love worked him very well, I think our guys can duplicate it (or, at least, come close to it). I'd be much more worried if we were playing the Gasol/Bynum, Howard, Yao Ming or even Andrew Bogut, for example.   

[Jon]

In response to a couple things:

1) True, big stiff have always occurred, even before Shaq.  The difference is that there are now more of them.  Furthermore, a lot of them were drafted with Shaq in mind.  I can still remember on the night Diop was drafted we (and the media) were talking about how he had the size and strength to stay with Shaq. 

2) As far s Scalabine being a tough guard for Shaq, that's absolutely true.  And that's why big stiffs don't work against Shaq.  All they do is give him a license to sit under the basket.  This is exactly how the C's beat the Sixers in 2001 or 2002 with Rodney Rodgers at center.  Mutombo either had to drift out to guard Rodney, opening up the middle or if he didn't, Rodney hit wide open threes.

Thus, I see no reason why we can't use the same game plan we've been using (Scal) against Phoenix. 

[xmuscularghandix]

Semih Erden

[billysan]

Yep,  Scal showed his ability to run in the game against the Nets.

And in his previous 7 seasons playing in the NBA. The guy is a combo forward, of course he's going to beat every center in the League running down the court and a large majority of the PFs. I've been feeling people are pleasantly surprised by the way Scal has been playing, but I don't see why.
Anyway, this topic doesn't make much sense. Shaq can still drop 30 points on you, but he's nowhere near a 30 points threat every night. Davis and Scal will front him, Ray and Pierce have to deny the entry pass from the wing. The other night Kevin Love worked him very well, I think our guys can duplicate it (or, at least, come close to it). I'd be much more worried if we were playing the Gasol/Bynum, Howard, Yao Ming or even Andrew Bogut, for example.   

Here's what I see if I am Doc:

I send Scal down the floor as fast as he can run after every Phoenix possession. I dont care if Shaq scores a few, he will do that anyway regardless of who we put on him. With Scal "racing" down the floor, we will have a numbers mismatch every single time to exploit. This works to our advantage no matter what anyone thinks of Scal.

My choice would be to have Scal go to the basket every time and be ready for the pass or screen off the defender so someone else is open. We will either score bunch of points or Shaq will get tired early and the Suns have to make a lineup change. That still works to our benefit doesnt it?

[cordobes]

That option has it merits and will certainly be used to some extent, but Davis can do a far better job than Scalabrine - and that most backup centers in the league - guarding Shaq.

I would be more worried if I were the Suns, their backup bigs are Robin Lopez and Amudson.

[Toine43]

2) As far s Scalabine being a tough guard for Shaq, that's absolutely true.  And that's why big stiffs don't work against Shaq.  All they do is give him a license to sit under the basket.  This is exactly how the C's beat the Sixers in 2001 or 2002 with Rodney Rodgers at center.  Mutombo either had to drift out to guard Rodney, opening up the middle or if he didn't, Rodney hit wide open threes.

Thus, I see no reason why we can't use the same game plan we've been using (Scal) against Phoenix. 

The only flaw in this gameplan is that Scal could very easily have a poor shooting night. He's been hot lately, but he's worse at home than on road, and he's not exactly a model of consistency as far as his shooting goes.

[Finkelskyhook]

Nobody can guard him.  Doesn't matter.  As long as we're boarding and running, there will be nobody that Shaq can guard.  We'll be 5 on 4 (or 3 if you count Nash's pathetic defensive effort) offensively.  We're still the better team.  The key is defensive rebounding.