whiskey tango foxtrot

Sam told us all year. We lost a ton of games and most of us got down. But slowly the team started to get healthy. Doc played the minutes out good and by the grace of god we are 100% at playoff time. We just laid an alabama asswhuppin on the best team (record wise) in the nba.

I'll say it again. This is gettin good.

Viva la Pinches!

And wtf happened to Atlanta? That is one team I'm sure will be looking for a new coach.

bobc

iso street ball and threes dont cut it as a game plan.

playoffs are all about matchups.

Cs match up very well with the Cavs and are much mentally tougher.

Orl owns ATL. Terrible metchup for Hawks. Plus- Hawks chemistry is terrible.

They relied too much on Crawford and Johnson two ball jackers who both shat the bed at the same time. And you are dead right about matchups.

Orlando is lookin scary for everybody. aw hell. nice problem though...

BSH,

Matchups are definitely important. But, in the playoffs, I believe adjustments are even more important. And, as I've said in another thread, I believe Doc's adjustments have been fairly subtle as he has focused on finding ways to get guys like Rondo and Pierce to play up to their maximum capabilities. While Brown has been panicking with over-adjustments such as inserting Z just when Cleveland needed to speed up the pace and abandoning his game plan in the third quarter by encouraging (even to the extent of subbing Gibson and Moon) his team to go for the home run on most possessions.

Sam

the one cav I feel bad for is z...good soldier

Sam-

I guess we're both right, but if it's a bad matchup, no amount of adjustments is going to make a difference.

LA owns Utah. It's a nightmare matchup for the Jazz.

LA and Utah have played 27 times in the last 3 seasons. The Lakers have gone 21-6 in those games. 14-0 in LA and 7-6 in Utah. The Jazz can't handle the Lakers' length, they have no one to match up with Kobe or Odom, and Fisher plays very well vs DWill.

The Jazz have a lot of talent, and with Sloan coaching, they never give up, so some of the games have been close, but there are no adjustments he can make to increase the size of his frontline or his wings. Bad matchup.


Same with Orl and ATL. Magic beat the Hawks by 20-30 pts each time in 3 games in the reg season, with ATL's only win coming on a tip-in at the buzzer. PLayoffs played out exactly the same way, and once the Magic came back and won game 2, the series was over, as the Hawks (along with the Nuggets) are one of the most brain-dead and mentally weak teams in the NBA. No amount of adjustments would have allowed the Hawks to contain Howard and Jameer- they have no answer for those guys. Bad matchup.


On the other hand, if teams are evenly matched, as the Lakers and Celtics are (last 3 games each decided by one point), then adjustments (and mental fortitude) become the deciding factors, so I agree with you in that sense.

If it's Lakers-Celtics in the Finals (and hopefully it will be), the chess match will be fascinating between Doc and Phil. The Lakers are much tougher mentally and physically than they were in '08, and those (IMO) were the deciding factors that year, so that means adjustments and strategy will be even more important this time around. Doc definitely out-coached Phil in '08, so the score right now is Doc 1, Phil 0.

Hopefully we'll see the rematch. That would be awesome.

Sam-

I do wholeheartedly agre that the Coach of the Year's biggest mistake is that he's trying to overpower the Cs with Shaq and now Z. If he were smart, he'd go the other way and have Hickson playing more to speed up the pace. Athletic teams are a bigger problem for the Cs than a slow-down power game, which plays right into the Cs hands and also tends to make Lebron more of a spectator as they try to get Shaq going.

Hopefully the COY stays alseep and doesn't make any changes for game 6.

Would it not be interesting if the Coach of the Year gets terminated, if the CAVS don't take the title?-MD

BSH,

You're right about matchups, but I'm not quite ready to close the book on the LA-Utah series. It was a tough matchup for Utah (or anybody else!) as it was and Utah was without their starting center and SF. That's like Mike Tyson beating up on a middle schooler. The end result proves nothing. Phoenix doesn't have the size and height to compete with LA, but they run and shoot like OKC AND are healthy. That should be an interesting series.

I agree with Sam about inserting Z slowing them down when they needed to get faster. I thought Z was very effective in the few minutes he played, but Hickson's athleticism would have worked better, IMO. Put Varajao on Perk, Hickson on KG and you've got a mobile, flexible defense. Z and Shaq are glacial in speed.

bob

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MD- it wouldn't be the first time a recent COY got fired a year or two later.

Bob- the end result of the LA-Utah series does prove one thing: the Lakers are a bad matchup for the Jazz. That was my only point.

Lakers are a bad matchup for the Suns also. LA in 5.