CB Draft Eastern Conference Finals: Sixers (1) Vs Knicks (4)

[Roy H.]

I feel Duncan gets his 16 and 10 in this series. If Duncan is good enough to get his team past Randolph and Gasol then he is clearly not slowing down and is good enough against the Philly front  court still.

Sadly, Duncan isn't good enough anymore to get his team past Gasol and Randolph in real life.  He's a 13/10 guy at this stage of his career, and can't carry a team.

[Fafnir]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

[Roy H.]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

[Who]

I am leaning towards Philadelphia.

I think this is fairly even but they have the best player and the better defense so that is the way I am leaning.

[Rondo2287]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

And more Pooh Bears

[Fafnir]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

What the picture said, and this is coming from two guys who aren't shy in a debate. 

[Fafnir]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

And more Pooh Bears

Chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff!

I still love that line to this day.

[KCattheStripe]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

[Roy H.]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

For those occasions when honey doesn't work:

[indeedproceed]

What the picture said, and this is coming from two guys who aren't shy in a debate. 

Ha!

[action781]

The Mavs played zone throughout the whole playoffs and won the title. The zone is effective. It worked against Miami and the Celtics were too proud to try it.

The Mavs played some zone, but they probably played it less than 20% of the time.  In fact, the Mavs used the zone in Game 1 of the Finals, and quickly went away from it because Lebron and Wade were successfully penetrating against it, and Chalmers was hitting outside shots.

Great passing beats a zone.  Wade, Iggy, and Hinrich are all very good passers.  Playing the zone against the 76ers is a recipe for failure.

I am honestly shocked that multiple astute observers on CelticsBlog believe than an NBA team could regularly employ the zone and have it work successfully, especially against a team that has the caliber of penetrators/passers that Philly has.

As a gimmick defense, sure, run it out there until the opposing team adjusts.  However, to rely on it heavily in a 7 game series is a terrible idea, in my opinion.

Actually, the Mavs used it a little differently http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4679720/mavericks-mixing-up-the-defenses

Here, it talks about instead of using it for a few consecutive possessions, the Mavs would use it for singular possessions at random times to throw off the Heat and make them unsure of what offense they were setting up as they came down the court.

A zone is very easy to adjust to by bringing in the right personnel and running good sets against it.  But if it's thrown at you while you have poor personnel on the floor, it can definitely cause you to have random ineffective possessions AND furthermore, throw a team out of its rhythm, which I think is the single thing that makes D-Wade most dangerous - he's ridiculous once he gets hot.

Also, from a basketball prospectus article in Feb. of the regular season, Mavs had used a zone approximately 10.5% of their possessions and allowed just 0.85PPP when doing so.  They can be very effective when you have the right personnel, the other team does not, and it's not overly relied on. http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1448

[action781]

The entire front court is coming off injury for Philly. West, Varejao, and Martin missed a ton of games last year. I know people disagree but I hate this front court and have for a while. I feel Duncan gets his 16 and 10 in this series. If Duncan is good enough to get his team past Randolph and Gasol then he is clearly not slowing down and is good enough against the Philly front  court still. I factor how teams did in previous series based on our votes in my analysis.

Where were you when Duncan's #1 seed got bounced out of the first round by Randolph?  What makes you think his numbers will go up when he goes from 35 to 36?

Where were you yesterday when you voted that Duncan would help lead NYK past Randolph and Gasol?

If you felt that Duncan's numbers would go up from age 35 to 36 against the same opposing frontcourt (Pawnee), I'm sure it's plausible that they could go up against this frontcourt.

(p.s. I know you never explicitly stated that Duncan's #'s would have gone up, but logistically, if Duncan's #'s didn't go up, then D-Will/Meeks/Deng would have needed to outscore Parker/Ariza/Gay by 15-20 points per game in our series to beat us which I didn't hear out of anybody)

[action781]

p.s. mgent, I apologize.  That was a bit of a personal attack from me, but I do feel like you are taking two different sides on a player when each seems more convenient to you.  When he faces you, you say Duncan will decline, but when he faced our team you didn't seem to factor any decline in at all.  I have my personal opinions why, which I'll keep to myself.

Regardless, I apologize for making this public.  It's just that a single vote (considering we got HCA) lost us last round, so I think I've taken this a little personally.  I'll already consider myself warned and am going to stop.  I'll submit my vote now and stay outta this.

(Vote has been submitted and going to see Louis CK tonight!  Good luck all!)

[Gainesville Celtic]

I feel Duncan gets his 16 and 10 in this series. If Duncan is good enough to get his team past Randolph and Gasol then he is clearly not slowing down and is good enough against the Philly front  court still.

Sadly, Duncan isn't good enough anymore to get his team past Gasol and Randolph in real life.  He's a 13/10 guy at this stage of his career, and can't carry a team.

I agree... this is what we've been saying for Duncan all along: 13/9... 13/10... maybe there's a single game where he busts out for 21 just for ol times sake.

This is Deron Williams & Luol Deng's team generally speaking.

RE: the earlier debate over Duncan can't beat Zach/Gasol so he can't win now....I don't believe that Duncan didn't win vs. MEM... MEM *as a team* beat SA *as a team* Duncan might not lead the way anymore but no one who watched the MEM series would put the entire loss on him.

[mgent]

You and SO must be blind.  Mavs played the zone what?  5% of the time?  Less?  How is that the whole playoffs?

To my knowledge, no team has ever gotten anywhere with the zone as their main strategy.  This isn't HS, I'm about fed up with this argument.

To my knowledge no one has ever won any votes in CBDraft by calling someone blind or comparing them (even tangently) to high school.

People tend to get fed up with that sort of thing, it detracts from the fun of this game.

I wasn't comparing him to high school.  I was saying that playing the zone anything more than sparingly is more of a high school basketball defense.