doone
Bench
Overview:
Historically, Sacramento has been a scoring team, under Coach Rick Adelman, that put enough points on the board to get a buffer for their defense. The Achilles' heel had been their team defense and their ability to hold on as their opponent mounted a charge. The same holds true today. They can still score points – 98.9 points per game – but they do have a different toughness on defense thanks to Ron Artest.
The Spurs are the Spurs. They’ve been here before and they know what it takes to get it done. With Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and their ability to get big shots from their bench people, they will not be an easy matchup.
What to expect from the Kings:
Watch to see whether it becomes more of a “push” game rather than a “push-pull.” By “push-pull” I mean, Sacramento pushing it up and then having to pull it back out. The more “push” they have against the Spurs the better because the Spurs can grind you in the halfcourt set. The key is for Mike Bibby not to let that happen. He has to score. Earlier in the year, he wasn’t scoring and they didn’t thrive. The onus is on him. I don’t care where he gets his points. He has to get them pushing it up and shooting his jumper or he has to get them in a drive and kick.
Can the Kings get the ball up the floor and get easy baskets for Shareef Abdur-Rahim who likes to run, for Bonzi Wells who can spot up and for Brad Miller who can trail and be the kickback on the “push” game to get the jumper at the top of the circle? Those types of “easy” points are huge against a team like San Antonio. The more they can get stuff in a scrambling situation – or like the old saying, the rat game – where they are just getting it up and scoring versus always having to execute at half court, the better.
If Sacramento comes down and gets its quick hitters, that puts pressure on Duncan running back. However, if you come down and fire it up, it can also hit front rim, and boom, Parker is grabbing it and going coast to coast. That would be a concern. What do you do then if you are a coach? Do you say we’re gonna keep pushing it or do you get a little more conservative, which then I believe helps San Antonio.
What to expect from the Spurs:
The overall scheme we are going to see in all of these games is the pick-and-roll. What I just said for Sacramento is also true for the Spurs. The Spurs like to get it up quickly at times. They are a great secondary offensive team, where if Parker doesn’t take it all the way through – and if he is consistently beating Bibby off the dribble, the Kings are in trouble – the Spurs always have a guy lagging behind at the top of the circle, a Duncan or an Horry. When he gets the ball up top, he can dump it down, shoot it, quickly reverse it to Barry or Ginobili and get them in a one-on-one situation, follow the pass and initiate pick-and-rolls, or he can dive down into the post to get the ball himself. There is a lot of action that goes on there.
Who will have the responsibility of stopping these two guys coming down off these cuts for Sacramento? You can’t get a lot of help because Barry, Horry, Ginobili, Parker, and Finley are all catch-and-shoot threats, which opens it up inside for Duncan and Nazr Mohammed and puts a huge amount of pressure on the Kings to get back on defense. So the fan really has to be conscious of how both teams are defending the pick and roll, because it will be a monster for both teams, but more so for San Antonio. Bibby is good at coming off the screen, but he doesn’t have as many outlets as Parker.
X-Factors:
Who will guard Artest and vice versa? He is a key factor in shutting down their guys. I think they might put Artest on Duncan to try and jam him quickly and set the tone. On the other side, I don’t think Duncan will guard him. Artest is a good pick-and-roll player who likes to take that jumper. If you come off him, he’ll roll down and post up.
Brent Barry and Robert Horry are the x-factors for the Spurs coming in off the bench. Will they make the Kings pay in the pick-and-roll game as mentioned?
Prediction:
The seven game series aides and abets the veterans, the ones who have been through it before who can have a bad game and still come back. This is hard for teams that haven’t been in this type of setting, which is the case for Sacramento and its current group. But they’ve recovered tremendously since the earlier part of the year. The trade getting Artest has helped both in a basketball way and a psychological way, and they’ve responded, namely Bibby. They played the Spurs very well in their last regular season meeting, winning 97-87, and they feel that they can do it again.
With that said, I think San Antonio is ready. Sacramento can win a couple, but I think beating the Spurs is a little too much to ask. San Antonio in six.
-- Don Casey appears courtesy of the National Basketball Coaches Association
http://www.nba.com/playoffs2006/analysis_sassac.html
Historically, Sacramento has been a scoring team, under Coach Rick Adelman, that put enough points on the board to get a buffer for their defense. The Achilles' heel had been their team defense and their ability to hold on as their opponent mounted a charge. The same holds true today. They can still score points – 98.9 points per game – but they do have a different toughness on defense thanks to Ron Artest.
The Spurs are the Spurs. They’ve been here before and they know what it takes to get it done. With Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and their ability to get big shots from their bench people, they will not be an easy matchup.
What to expect from the Kings:
Watch to see whether it becomes more of a “push” game rather than a “push-pull.” By “push-pull” I mean, Sacramento pushing it up and then having to pull it back out. The more “push” they have against the Spurs the better because the Spurs can grind you in the halfcourt set. The key is for Mike Bibby not to let that happen. He has to score. Earlier in the year, he wasn’t scoring and they didn’t thrive. The onus is on him. I don’t care where he gets his points. He has to get them pushing it up and shooting his jumper or he has to get them in a drive and kick.
Can the Kings get the ball up the floor and get easy baskets for Shareef Abdur-Rahim who likes to run, for Bonzi Wells who can spot up and for Brad Miller who can trail and be the kickback on the “push” game to get the jumper at the top of the circle? Those types of “easy” points are huge against a team like San Antonio. The more they can get stuff in a scrambling situation – or like the old saying, the rat game – where they are just getting it up and scoring versus always having to execute at half court, the better.
If Sacramento comes down and gets its quick hitters, that puts pressure on Duncan running back. However, if you come down and fire it up, it can also hit front rim, and boom, Parker is grabbing it and going coast to coast. That would be a concern. What do you do then if you are a coach? Do you say we’re gonna keep pushing it or do you get a little more conservative, which then I believe helps San Antonio.
What to expect from the Spurs:
The overall scheme we are going to see in all of these games is the pick-and-roll. What I just said for Sacramento is also true for the Spurs. The Spurs like to get it up quickly at times. They are a great secondary offensive team, where if Parker doesn’t take it all the way through – and if he is consistently beating Bibby off the dribble, the Kings are in trouble – the Spurs always have a guy lagging behind at the top of the circle, a Duncan or an Horry. When he gets the ball up top, he can dump it down, shoot it, quickly reverse it to Barry or Ginobili and get them in a one-on-one situation, follow the pass and initiate pick-and-rolls, or he can dive down into the post to get the ball himself. There is a lot of action that goes on there.
Who will have the responsibility of stopping these two guys coming down off these cuts for Sacramento? You can’t get a lot of help because Barry, Horry, Ginobili, Parker, and Finley are all catch-and-shoot threats, which opens it up inside for Duncan and Nazr Mohammed and puts a huge amount of pressure on the Kings to get back on defense. So the fan really has to be conscious of how both teams are defending the pick and roll, because it will be a monster for both teams, but more so for San Antonio. Bibby is good at coming off the screen, but he doesn’t have as many outlets as Parker.
X-Factors:
Who will guard Artest and vice versa? He is a key factor in shutting down their guys. I think they might put Artest on Duncan to try and jam him quickly and set the tone. On the other side, I don’t think Duncan will guard him. Artest is a good pick-and-roll player who likes to take that jumper. If you come off him, he’ll roll down and post up.
Brent Barry and Robert Horry are the x-factors for the Spurs coming in off the bench. Will they make the Kings pay in the pick-and-roll game as mentioned?
Prediction:
The seven game series aides and abets the veterans, the ones who have been through it before who can have a bad game and still come back. This is hard for teams that haven’t been in this type of setting, which is the case for Sacramento and its current group. But they’ve recovered tremendously since the earlier part of the year. The trade getting Artest has helped both in a basketball way and a psychological way, and they’ve responded, namely Bibby. They played the Spurs very well in their last regular season meeting, winning 97-87, and they feel that they can do it again.
With that said, I think San Antonio is ready. Sacramento can win a couple, but I think beating the Spurs is a little too much to ask. San Antonio in six.
-- Don Casey appears courtesy of the National Basketball Coaches Association
http://www.nba.com/playoffs2006/analysis_sassac.html