Cavs will blitz the pick and roll

[KeepRondo]

My biggest concern going into this game is how will the Celtics handle the defensive pressure from the Cavs. There was a game earlier this season that the Cavs took us completely out of our offense by blitzing every pick and roll. I also remember an earlier game against Houston who also blitzed every pick and roll. In both games, our guys kept getting pushed back and we were running our offense from 5 feet beyond the 3 point line.

There's a lot of great 'feel good' threads about our chances against the Cavs, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how we struggled on offense against them.

Hopefully I'm wrong and Stevens will have the Celtics prepared for the pick and roll blitz.

[Celtics4ever]

Attack Love every attempt we get on offense, he is a weak link for them on D.

[BudweiserCeltic]

My biggest concern going into this game is how will the Celtics handle the defensive pressure from the Cavs. There was a game earlier this season that the Cavs took us completely out of our offense by blitzing every pick and roll. I also remember an earlier game against Houston who also blitzed every pick and roll. In both games, our guys kept getting pushed back and we were running our offense from 5 feet beyond the 3 point line.

There's a lot of great 'feel good' threads about our chances against the Cavs, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how we struggled on offense against them.

Hopefully I'm wrong and Stevens will have the Celtics prepared for the pick and roll blitz.

People are not forgetting, you simply are stating something that is completely false. We haven't struggled against the Cavs offensively. In one game of four yeah, but for the rest we actually been quite good offensively, with the asterisk of course of them not fielding their best teams last two games (though in the 3rd game they did have their best defensive units).

Blitzing is a concern, but let's not rewrite history either.

[KeepRondo]

My biggest concern going into this game is how will the Celtics handle the defensive pressure from the Cavs. There was a game earlier this season that the Cavs took us completely out of our offense by blitzing every pick and roll. I also remember an earlier game against Houston who also blitzed every pick and roll. In both games, our guys kept getting pushed back and we were running our offense from 5 feet beyond the 3 point line.

There's a lot of great 'feel good' threads about our chances against the Cavs, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how we struggled on offense against them.

Hopefully I'm wrong and Stevens will have the Celtics prepared for the pick and roll blitz.

People are not forgetting, you simply are stating something that is completely false. We haven't struggled against the Cavs offensively. In one game of four yeah, but for the rest we actually been quite good offensively, with the asterisk of course of them not fielding their best teams last two games (though in the 3rd game they did have their best defensive units).

Blitzing is a concern, but let's not rewrite history either.

You can discount the last two games for reasons you stated. They simply were not blitzing us in either of those games. But when they need to or if they feel like flexing their muscle, they will blitz our pick and roll. And we do have a pattern of struggling with teams who extend their pressure against us. So I don't think it's a stretch or false to say we will struggle against them if they blitz us.

[BudweiserCeltic]

My biggest concern going into this game is how will the Celtics handle the defensive pressure from the Cavs. There was a game earlier this season that the Cavs took us completely out of our offense by blitzing every pick and roll. I also remember an earlier game against Houston who also blitzed every pick and roll. In both games, our guys kept getting pushed back and we were running our offense from 5 feet beyond the 3 point line.

There's a lot of great 'feel good' threads about our chances against the Cavs, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how we struggled on offense against them.

Hopefully I'm wrong and Stevens will have the Celtics prepared for the pick and roll blitz.

People are not forgetting, you simply are stating something that is completely false. We haven't struggled against the Cavs offensively. In one game of four yeah, but for the rest we actually been quite good offensively, with the asterisk of course of them not fielding their best teams last two games (though in the 3rd game they did have their best defensive units).

Blitzing is a concern, but let's not rewrite history either.

You can discount the last two games for reasons you stated. They simply were not blitzing us in either of those games. But when they need to or if they feel like flexing their muscle, they will blitz our pick and roll. And we do have a pattern of struggling with teams who extend their pressure against us. So I don't think it's a stretch or false to say we will struggle against them if they blitz us.

That's fine and dandy, as I made mention, the blitz is a concern, but let's not rewrite history about how we have struggled against them is simply false.

We'll see what strategy they employ during the playoffs, and if that strategy is sustainable for them rather than a gimmick they can use in a few short spurts, or what adjustments the team makes as needed.

We struggled against the blitz? Cool, let's focus the discussion on that, it shouldn't taint the rest of what actually occurred on the floor though.

As for Houston, we didn't have Thomas when we played them. As for Cleveland, we had that one poor game... so you're going off on a VERY small sample size.

[snively]

They are not a good defensive team.  They can never really field a complete defensive squad with two of their best players as near liabilities defensively and the limited stamina of their only good defensive big (Mozgov). 

Unfortunately, their best defender happens to be guarding our point forward, and I think LBJ's going to swallow up Turner. 

And it's their offense we have to worry about.  We should be able to score some, especially with our bench.  But how on earth are we going stop two of the best slashers in the game with one of the worst defensive frontlines in the league?   

[KeepRondo]

My biggest concern going into this game is how will the Celtics handle the defensive pressure from the Cavs. There was a game earlier this season that the Cavs took us completely out of our offense by blitzing every pick and roll. I also remember an earlier game against Houston who also blitzed every pick and roll. In both games, our guys kept getting pushed back and we were running our offense from 5 feet beyond the 3 point line.

There's a lot of great 'feel good' threads about our chances against the Cavs, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how we struggled on offense against them.

Hopefully I'm wrong and Stevens will have the Celtics prepared for the pick and roll blitz.

People are not forgetting, you simply are stating something that is completely false. We haven't struggled against the Cavs offensively. In one game of four yeah, but for the rest we actually been quite good offensively, with the asterisk of course of them not fielding their best teams last two games (though in the 3rd game they did have their best defensive units).

Blitzing is a concern, but let's not rewrite history either.

You can discount the last two games for reasons you stated. They simply were not blitzing us in either of those games. But when they need to or if they feel like flexing their muscle, they will blitz our pick and roll. And we do have a pattern of struggling with teams who extend their pressure against us. So I don't think it's a stretch or false to say we will struggle against them if they blitz us.

That's fine and dandy, as I made mention, the blitz is a concern, but let's not rewrite history about how we have struggled against them is simply false.

We'll see what strategy they employ during the playoffs, and if that strategy is sustainable for them rather than a gimmick they can use in a few short spurts, or what adjustments the team makes as needed.

We struggled against the blitz? Cool, let's focus the discussion on that, it shouldn't taint the rest of what actually occurred on the floor though.

As for Houston, we didn't have Thomas when we played them. As for Cleveland, we had that one poor game... so you're going off on a VERY small sample size.

I get your point but I think you can't over look that game. Maybe it was only one game but it was the only time they blitzed and extended their pressure against us.

So I'll take back my comment for now that our motion offense struggles against the Cavs. But I feel confident that if they extend that pressure it will disrupt our motion offense again.

[WeMadeIt17]

IT4 and Evan should do the majority of the ball handling then. IT4 can squeak through defenders when he is blitzed and Evan can hold his own. With those two handling it have Marcus and AB cutting back door all night. And run the picks with KO,JJ,and Bass guys that can either roll with or step out to 3. Thats the best way to attack that. AB struggles with the handle sometimes and idk if Marcus is ready enough to handle that pressure. Plus with doing that we could get Mozgov in trouble by attacking him as much as possible.

[KeepRondo]

They are not a good defensive team.  They can never really field a complete defensive squad with two of their best players as near liabilities defensively and the limited stamina of their only good defensive big (Mozgov). 

Unfortunately, their best defender happens to be guarding our point forward, and I think LBJ's going to swallow up Turner. 

And it's their offense we have to worry about.  We should be able to score some, especially with our bench.  But how on earth are we going stop two of the best slashers in the game with one of the worst defensive frontlines in the league?   

Good points. Love and Mozgov are not ideal players to blitz the pick and roll. But Mozgov is a good player to have to clog up the paint if a player steps through the blitz.

[kozlodoev]

They are not a good defensive team.  They can never really field a complete defensive squad with two of their best players as near liabilities defensively and the limited stamina of their only good defensive big (Mozgov). 

Unfortunately, their best defender happens to be guarding our point forward, and I think LBJ's going to swallow up Turner. 

And it's their offense we have to worry about.  We should be able to score some, especially with our bench.  But how on earth are we going stop two of the best slashers in the game with one of the worst defensive frontlines in the league?   

Good points. Love and Mozgov are not ideal players to blitz the pick and roll. But Mozgov is a good player to have to clog up the paint if a player steps through the blitz.

If he can clog it up like this every time, I'd be ecstatic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8KZkZz-DZQ

[droopdog7]

The one thing I know is that each staff will do what they need to do to understand each team's strengths and weaknesses.  So I am not concerned that we will not be prepared from that standpoint.

At the end of the day, the team that plays better wins.

[WeMadeIt17]

Heres a little video on the cavs defense as well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2p7Ud57bWU#t=150

[WeMadeIt17]

If you watch the video a point of being exploited for the cavs is dribble hand offs which Brad loves to run.

[KeepRondo]

Heres a little video on the cavs defense as well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2p7Ud57bWU#t=150

Thx for sharing. I saw a lot more icing then blitzing so it will be interesting to see what they do against us.

[WeMadeIt17]

Heres a little video on the cavs defense as well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2p7Ud57bWU#t=150

Thx for sharing. I saw a lot more icing then blitzing so it will be interesting to see what they do against us.

What i saw as well. Also he talks about dribble hand offs and Smith inability to play solid D all the time. These are the things we need to pick on.