D'Antoni had a good game

[Gaddabout]

I thought D'Antoni won the floor game against Jackson today. The Suns matchups seemed to forcing the Lakers into how they used Smush Parker and Shammond Williams today. Farmar didn't have a good game, so I think the way D'Antoni rotated the guards today was especially effective.

He's not Cotton Fitzsimmons, but he doesn't have as many pieces to play with as Cotton did. For an 8-man rotation, I think D'Antoni held his own as a game-day coach against Jackson.

 

[Steel Sun]

I thought D'Antoni won the floor game against Jackson today. The Suns matchups seemed to forcing the Lakers into how they used Smush Parker and Shammond Williams today. Farmar didn't have a good game, so I think the way D'Antoni rotated the guards today was especially effective.

He's not Cotton Fitzsimmons, but he doesn't have as many pieces to play with as Cotton did. For an 8-man rotation, I think D'Antoni held his own as a game-day coach against Jackson.

Yeah Gad
He brought his "A" coaching game today

 

[Furio]

He sometimes doesn't get enough credit.

 

[Freddie]

I agree. The best move he made today was putting Nash back in around the 10 minute mark to stunt any run the Lakers were going to make.

 

[Gaddabout]

I agree. The best move he made today was putting Nash back in around the 10 minute mark to stunt any run the Lakers were going to make.

Nash went out late in the 3rd, and the fact the Lakers didn't make any serious runs in that time allowed Nash to rest up for the last important minutes of the game.

I would be curious if someone had stats on how many minutes Nash and Barbosa played together in this game compared to how much they normally play during the season.

 

[TucsonDevil]

As one who is quick to criticize D'Antoni, I would have to agree; Mike was better than Jackson today. However, you have to look at the tools that Mike has at his disposal, and botches it more than he nails it. One mistake I thought he made - He kept Diaw in much longer than he should have. Diaw finally made a couple of good plays in the 4th, but played quite a bit in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd - and just sucked... KT would have been a better option.

 

[TucsonDevil]

For an 8-man rotation, I think D'Antoni held his own as a game-day coach against Jackson.

BTW... it's 8-man because of Mike, but he could go 10 deep - they have that type of talent on the bench.

 

[Gaddabout]

BTW... it's 8-man because of Mike, but he could go 10 deep - they have that type of talent on the bench.

This is only an issue to me if Phoenix loses a series because of lack of depth. Otherwise, he could do a Nellie and go to a 6-man rotation for all I care.

Successful coaches do stuff I don't agree with all the time: Tony LaRussa likes to sometimes put his pitcher at No. 7 in the lineup. Bobby Bowden is too in love with the shot gun. Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy are obsessive over-coachers who are capable of stealing their team's passion for the game.

Point is, every coach is allowed quirkiness if they win. D'Antoni has a chance to prove he was right -- or at least not wrong -- by going with a short playoff rotation. If the Suns lose because they didn't go deep enough on the bench, I'll jump right in with you for the second or third chorus.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Point is, every coach is allowed quirkiness if they win. D'Antoni has a chance to prove he was right -- or at least not wrong -- by going with a short playoff rotation. If the Suns lose because they didn't go deep enough on the bench, I'll jump right in with you for the second or third chorus.

I then misunderstood your original point. I thought you were taking the position that Mike was succesful in spite of having only 8 quality players to put on the floor... rather, you feel that he has done well with his strategy of using only 8 players, inspite of the league tendancy to use a deeper bench... I agree with that.

 

[Gaddabout]

I then misunderstood your original point. I thought you were taking the position that Mike was succesful in spite of having only 8 quality players to put on the floor... rather, you feel that he has done well with his strategy of using only 8 players, inspite of the league tendancy to use a deeper bench... I agree with that.

My comparison to Cotton ... Cotton started with a big lineup, and his centers, Mark West and Andrew Lang, skew the numbers a bit. Cotton only went small as the game went on. D'Antoni starts small and stays small.

So my point is in Cotton's system, they had legitimately 10 people who could play the kind of way he wanted to play, which is entirely about matchups. The Suns don't have 10 players who can play like D'Antoni wants to play.

Do I think D'Antoni gave Jumaine Jones a fair chance? Not really. I would have given him some transitional minutes just to give him a chance to get a feel for the Suns game in a live situation. Instead he was asked to sink or swim, and when he sunk, he sunk all the way to a lot of DNPs. Heaven forbid if anyone on the front line gets injured, it's either going to be Jumaine or Pat Burke logging some key minutes.

 

[azirish]

Read some of the Phil Jackson's comments and you get a pretty good idea of how many adjustments D'Antoni made. Sometimes we get taken in by Mike's "aw shucks" speaking style, but PJ knew better.

1. Nash passed when he saw the Lakers trying to trap, which open the paint.

2. On defense, the Suns packed the paint and stopped letting penitration kill them like in game 3. They turned the Lakers into a three point shooting team, which at 9 of 27 wasn't a winning strategy.

3. The Suns doubled Kobe but rotated very quickly once he got rid of the ball.

4. The Suns attacked the basket and did not settle for bad three point shots. (They missed a lot of shots they usually hit, but did not force them up like in game 3). The back door plays to Marion in the first quarter seemed to disrupt the Laker's defensive scheme.

Obviously with Amare and Steve having monster games, it is easy for any coach to look like a genius. Still, it looked like the Suns really made use of the time between games and had a very solid game plan.

 

[Mainstreet]

Read some of the Phil Jackson's comments and you get a pretty good idea of how many adjustments D'Antoni made. Sometimes we get taken in by Mike's "aw shucks" speaking style, but PJ knew better.

1. Nash passed when he saw the Lakers trying to trap, which open the paint.

2. On defense, the Suns packed the paint and stopped letting penitration kill them like in game 3. They turned the Lakers into a three point shooting team, which at 9 of 27 wasn't a winning strategy.

3. The Suns doubled Kobe but rotated very quickly once he got rid of the ball.

4. The Suns attacked the basket and did not settle for bad three point shots. (They missed a lot of shots they usually hit, but did not force them up like in game 3). The back door plays to Marion in the first quarter seemed to disrupt the Laker's defensive scheme.

Obviously with Amare and Steve having monster games, it is easy for any coach to look like a genius. Still, it looked like the Suns really made use of the time between games and had a very solid game plan.

All very solid points. I also noticed the Suns really pushed the tempo. It seems they ran the ball down the court even when the numbers were not there. This really payed dividends in the late 3rd quarter through the mid 4th quarter when the Suns broke the game open. I noticed the Lakers started missing shots during this period they normally hit. My guess is the Lakers had tired legs both on offense and defense.

 

[azirish]

All very solid points. I also noticed the Suns really pushed the tempo. It seems they ran the ball down the court even when the numbers were not there. This really payed dividends in the late 3rd quarter through the mid 4th quarter when the Suns broke the game open. I noticed the Lakers started missing shots during this period they normally hit. My guess is the Lakers had tired legs both on offense and defense.

The Lakers played 12 guys and all at least 5 minutes. http://www.nba.com/games/20070429/PHXLAL/boxscore.html

Kobe and Odom were the only guys who played over 30 minutes. It is stunning to realize the Suns wore them out with only seven guys playing over 7 minutes.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Lakers played 12 guys and all at least 5 minutes. http://www.nba.com/games/20070429/PHXLAL/boxscore.html

Kobe and Odom were the only guys who played over 30 minutes. It is stunning to realize the Suns wore them out with only seven guys playing over 7 minutes.

Kobe and Odom are the Lakers guns and they had to play very hard. I noticed Odom missed some shots early in the 4th that I was surprised he missed. However near the 7 minute mark of the 4th the Suns began to slow the tempo down a bit. It was amazing how much better the Lakers started playing and shooting after that. Of course the Suns tried to smother Kobe all game long and were successful at slowing him down and make him work for his shots. My theory is a cumulative total of fatigue on both Kobe and Odom... and of course good Suns defense inside.

 

[Gorilla]

I really liked it when D'Antony had Thomas, Amare, Marion, Bell and Nash in the game. That's a lineup we don't get to see too much but I believe will come in handy in the 2nd round.

 

[Covert Rain]

I don't think D'Antoni had a good game. I thought the team had a good game. I mean if D'Anotoni had made some adjustments in the last game the series could have been over. I give him all the credit in the world for making some adjustments for this game. I would just like to see him make these types of changes IN GAME.

 

[Mainstreet]

I really liked it when D'Antony had Thomas, Amare, Marion, Bell and Nash in the game. That's a lineup we don't get to see too much but I believe will come in handy in the 2nd round.

I think this was the Suns projected starting line up going into the season.

 

[Chaz]

I really liked it when D'Antony had Thomas, Amare, Marion, Bell and Nash in the game. That's a lineup we don't get to see too much but I believe will come in handy in the 2nd round.

From the game flow it looks like that lineup keyed a 12-2 that gave the Suns the lead for good.

The Key for the Suns is defensive rebounding. The Suns offense is good enough to beat anyone when they don't give up second chance points on defense.

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20070429&game=PHOLAL

 

[elindholm]

I think this was the Suns projected starting line up going into the season.

Only by this board, unforunately. D'Antoni's plan all along was to go with "skill" and use Diaw instead of Thomas.

 

[green machine]

I think this was the Suns projected starting line up going into the season.

That was the projected starting lineup going into last season.

 

[Chaplin]

That was the projected starting lineup going into last season.

Absolutely. After last year, there was no way that Boris was going to start off on the bench.

 

[F-Dog]

I really liked it when D'Antony had Thomas, Amare, Marion, Bell and Nash in the game. That's a lineup we don't get to see too much but I believe will come in handy in the 2nd round.

Given the matchups, that lineup would look even better with Barbosa instead of Marion. And of course, there's no way the Suns could start KT for any length of time--KT can't even handle James Jones minutes over a 100-game season. Just be thankful KT is finally starting to hit his shot again...



Anyway, I thought D'Antoni did a very nice job. I think it was Charley Rosen (who knows basketball but doesn't follow the NBA at all) who pointed out that the Suns came into game four with two plans to frustrate the Lakers' traps--one for the beginning of the game (handoffs) and one they didn't show until after halftime (slipscreens).

From the look of it, Phil Jackson's halftime adjustments weren't quite as effective as usual.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Nash went out late in the 3rd, and the fact the Lakers didn't make any serious runs in that time allowed Nash to rest up for the last important minutes of the game.

I would be curious if someone had stats on how many minutes Nash and Barbosa played together in this game compared to how much they normally play during the season.

That's Barbosa's doing. He's been huge in this series.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

That's Barbosa's doing. He's been huge in this series.

Early in the first half, the Suns went from being +3 in points when Nash got his rest, to -7 when he came back.

The second half was much better, and he held the same lead, (or very close to it)

 

[Errntknght]

F-Dog,

Anyway, I thought D'Antoni did a very nice job. I think it was Charley Rosen (who knows basketball but doesn't follow the NBA at all) who pointed out that the Suns came into game four with two plans to frustrate the Lakers' traps--one for the beginning of the game (handoffs) and one they didn't show until after halftime (slipscreens).

Was it Rosen who said the Suns beat the traps with handoffs in the first half? In any case, it wasn't the case at all - they used handoffs less than normal, not more than once or twice. The principal reason Steve didn't get trapped was that they didn't run the high pick and roll nearly as often - and the Lakers trapped about half of the few the Suns did run. The second reason was that Steve was very quick to drive to the hoop after he brought the ball across the midcourt line. The two things went together, of course, because normally he slows up very frequently to run the P&R. It didn't hurt that James Jones hit a couple of threes to keep the defense spread early on.

I wouldn't say the 'slipscreen' played that big of a role in the second half either. The did it once or maybe twice with Amare which is unusual but altogether they couldn't have done it more than four times. A couple of times when the Lakers did trap the P&R they had someone pop out high for Nash to pass to and they scored on two pick&pops to KT when the Lakers trapped that. A few times Kwame Brown simply didn't spring the trap when he might have and Odom missed it once that I recall (might have been in the first half.)