Boston's new defense : The Manwich Zone

[syfy9]

http://sportsglory.com/profiles/blogs/boston-celtics-new-defense-manwich-zone-1502

“We were laughing because, I think someone called it a manwich, a man zone, I mean, we were half zone, half man. It was almost silly, it really was,” said coach Doc Rivers via ESPNBoston.com. “But it was really good.

“We went into timeout  [and said], ‘Any pick and roll, we’re man; any ball swing, we’re zone.’ [The players] figured it out. We’ve been doing that a lot lately, we have enough guys on the floor that can do it. And it’s really important with [Jason Terry] at the end of the game, because that’s the guy they are going to try to attack. And to be able to put him in the zone -- and he’s great in zone from Dallas -- it’s been good for us.”

Rivers added: “It’s really a matchup zone more than a college zone. We switch everything, but we guard the ball, whereas a college zone, they are standing there with their arms up -- you can’t do that in our league. Our guys actually go out and guard the ball. They play our man defense in pick-and-rolls; whenever the ball goes to the post, we draw up into a man; under 5 seconds we go up into a man. So it’s a lot of changes and you have to be really alert to do it. Kevin Eastman has been the guy, he’s done a terrific job.”

Rivers said even Kevin Garnett likes the zone defense.

“Kevin wants to just play man-to-man and he thinks you should just guard your own guy, and if everybody did what he did, then it’d be perfect defense,” said Rivers. “But he’s gotten into it. He likes it [the zone], too, at times because of the switching."

[Celtics18]

The "manwich" is a great name. 

Thanks for posting that.  Jeff also posted an article about this on the front page. 

[ScottHow]

Ha good stuff.

Whatever works

[CelticsFan9]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3FP8SJBsl0A

They need to play this over the PA at the Garden.

[Redz]

KG gives them an awful lot of flexibility still.  The guy is having an amazing season.

[cltc5]

Please be educated on this.  Manwich, today, is a reference to the male genital region .  Please DO NOT coin this for our defense.  If we get made fun of you'll know why.

[Redz]

Please be educated on this.  Manwich, today, is a reference to the male genital region .  Please DO NOT coin this for our defense.  If we get made fun of you'll know why.

Grits and Balls and Manwiches?

[Evantime34]

The name is hilarious, the zone is clever. I was always told by coaches that the best zone defenses have some man principles and the best man defenses have some zone principles.

[vjcsmoke]

Whatever wins!!  Celtics are turning themselves into playoff contenders without Rondo?  Very interesting.

[action781]

The name is hilarious, the zone is clever. I was always told by coaches that the best zone defenses have some man principles and the best man defenses have some zone principles.

I remember them being called matchup zones

[mainevent]

Please be educated on this.  Manwich, today, is a reference to the male genital region .  Please DO NOT coin this for our defense.  If we get made fun of you'll know why.

I'm in my mid 40's and would consider myself "in the know" about the world today, especially with 2 teenagers and 2 in their early 20's and NEVER had I heard this term in such context. Sounds like something only select company would know...Hmmmm

[jdz101]

Manwich

Three-way intercourse between a female and two males.

Not meaning to drag this topic into the gutter. Just making sure that people don't go around raving about a Boston manwich.

[Chief]

I never understood why they did not use zone and play Melo when we were really thin.

[Fafnir]

The name is hilarious, the zone is clever. I was always told by coaches that the best zone defenses have some man principles and the best man defenses have some zone principles.

I remember them being called matchup zones

Which is exactly what Doc called it in the article when they talked to him.

[LooseCannon]

Manwich

Three-way intercourse between a female and two males.

Not meaning to drag this topic into the gutter. Just making sure that people don't go around raving about a Boston manwich.

Well, there seems to be some dispute as to whether the man is the meat, the buns, or both in that human sandwich.

Of course, the appropriate pop culture reference to a manwich is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCuuGNc96lw