The defense has played well in stretches, but Krstic is a major liability in the middle. He's been terrible -- I mean, legitimately horrendous -- at rotating / switching and cutting off penetration. He looks lost regarding when to help, etc., and he's too slow to recover or to slide over to pick up opponents driving to the hoop.
If Shaq comes back, that hopefully won't be a huge issue. Shaq has some of the same issues (but to a lesser extent), but he's a big, imposing figure in the lane who makes opponents pay with hard fouls. Krstic just plays soft.
However, if Shaq can't come back, here's why Krstic's play is important: our defense is built around our big men, from the inside out. The tough play of KG + Perk or Shaq has allowed our perimeter defenders to play tighter defense on the outside, without having to worry as much that their defensive assignment will blow by them. The team has been successful at sealing off penetration, in other words, which further allows Rondo to gamble more, etc. If one of our bigs -- i.e., Krstic, but really any of them -- starts playing matador defense, that not only allows the opposing center to go off (like Ronny Turiaf), but also leads to the other team running layup drills against us (like Carmelo did several times).
So, let's get Shaq back in there, and if JO can contribute as well, fantastic. Without either (or both) of them, I worry that we're in trouble.
Now I haven't noticed this at all. I actually went to the game last Sunday against Milwaukee and I watched Krstic specifically. He made the correct rotation every single time he was supposed to make it and on time. He was not late with help. He hedged perfectly on the pick n roll in that game and got back to his man quickly. He's not Perk but I just haven't seen what's being described above.
Even in the Clippers game that everyone likes to throw at Krstic's doormat, Krstic made all the proper rotations to help in that game. The reason why his man scored 21 was because Randy Foye treated Rondo and more specifically Ray Allen like a turnstile and Krstic had to step up and make the correct rotation to cut off the penetration leaving his man open. I'd say the real issue with this team lately has NOT been in the middle but the inordinate amount of penetration by guards that our starters have allowed. Watching Ray and Rondo play defense the last week plus has been an unmitigated disaster.
Will all due respect, I think your grasp of the Cs defense is superficial at best, and that doesn't put you in a very good position as a fan to determine whether Krstic is making the proper rotation or not. The Cs defense is built on making the right read at the right time, selling out physically to make the rotation, and then having the knowledge to know EXACTLY where to rotate to. I think Krstic struggles in all three areas.
I guy like Krstic--somebody with limited athleticism--needs to have a firm grasp on the defense in order to be a decent defender. His understanding--right now--is lacking, and that makes his physical limitations that much more impossible to overcome. There's a reason our defense is much much better with a 6'7" Glen Davis at center--he knows the defense and he makes the right rotation almost every time, and he does it ON TIME.
There was a play last night where Krstic was out of position by a half step (about 2 feet). He was trying to position himself outside of the lane as a 2nd defender behind Anthony, but he overcommitted himself by that half step and it opened up a lane to make the pass to the man he was supposed to be guarding and forced Ray Allen to drop back and make the foul, leading to an And-1. And even before the ball went through the hoop, Ray Allen was in Krstic's face showing him exactly where he needed to be to stop that pass AND still provide backside support for the potential dribble penetration.
Krstic has the potential to be a DECENT defender once he completely understands when and where he needs to be at all times. He's not there yet and I don't think there's enough of the season to get him there.
On the specific play you're referring to it was Turiaf with the and 1. That particular play was a glaringly obvious example where it was hard to figure out what the heck Curly was doing.
The problem is that it's one play. Yes, you'll be able to find others, and some plays will be more debatable as to who got burned and who got lost in the rotation and who didn't.
I've watched Nenad pretty closely on the defensive end and have come to the conclusion (or at least formulatted the theory) that the guy is no less than a serviceable NBA defender. I've seen many of the same things as Buckner's Revenge. He moves his feet, rotates when he should, hedges on the pick and roll, and recovers.
Maybe I should be added to the list of folks who don't understand the Celtics D.
I just think that these purely observational denunciations of a guys D can take on a life of their own. Now it's established as a truth in many people's eyes, and it becomes easy to pick Krstic as the one who blew it when the D gets broken down. He's an easy target for a number of reasons. He's European which leads people to think of the "soft label", he doesn't have an overwhelming physique, he's not chiseled or a high jumper, and he's got that goofy doo with the receding hairline. So, he looks soft, and to make matters worse for him, he's been the replacement for a player who most of us idolized for his toughness and defensive prowess.
It's a set up, and then when this blog's pre-eminent posters start posting that he's just horrible on the defensive end, it gets picked up, and now it's "a fact."
Our overall team defense has remained the best in the league since Krstic has joined the team. Curly's doing his job, in my opinion.
You could take a single game of any NBA player, and find specific examples to support an argument that he's a lousy defender. Everyone gets burned some time, but if your mind is made up that one guy is a lousy defender, you'll ignore his good defensive plays and magnify the bad ones.
Topic: Celtics Defense Looks Fine to Me (Read 21177 times)