Even Before Finishing Jay's Recap...

[Weez]

(and having read the Yahoo and Hawks game recap/quotes) I got the feeling that JV really played a lock down game on Eddie Jones, despite EJ's getting off to a fast start (on Glover).

If this is true, and such play can be continued and, gasp, expected, then the mini-me backcourt might just work (if JV can indeed guard larger sg's). This would allow us to have more of the true pg, move JT back to sg quite a bit of the time, and get Glover as more of an instant offense off the bench...or SJax?

Big if though on JV and his ability to guard larger sg's on a consistent basis...cross your fingers...

[Diesel]

We have to be very careful about who we play the teeny tiny backcourt against....

Here's why:

JT cannot gaurd SGs... He can barely guard PGs. So that means that JV gets the matchups with SGs. This is fine against SGs that mostly shoot from the outside like Eddie Jones... However, there are many SGs who won't hesitate to take JV to the Post:

Vince Carter, David Wesley, Kobe, Joe Johnson, Allan Houston to name a few.

The SGs that this defense shold work well against are:

Iverson, R Miller, Kittles, E. Jones, and maybe even Tmac....

All in all, it's what I have said from the beginning.... We need JV on the floor. He brings a sense of stability to our offense. Mainly in the passing department.

I believe that we will have to play with the MiniMe backcourt UNTIL Diaw is able to be a fruitful part of the rotation... That depends on Diaw's aptitude... Which should be pretty good.

[Traceman]

Actually, it wouldn't have mattered who we put on AI that night. None of our guys are good enough defenders to stop him when he gets it going. I would have doubled him as soon as he got the ball and forced someone else to beat me. I know doubling a perimeter player is easier said than done (particualrly one who is making 3's from the parking lot) but I would have doubled him as much as I could. JV, Diaw, Jax and Glove were all too slow and JT is simply not a good enough defender to stop AI when he's on.

[Diesel]

Good coaching suggests that you immediately double the hot hand.

I was watching Celtics Hawks 1988 playoffs game 7. Bird was hot, but every possession, he was doubled as soon as he touched the ball. Now, the rules are that you can double before the ball is delivered.

In a case like AI, Vince... Good Coaching says you Double and force Kenny Thomas, Mckie, or Davis to beat you. Jax should have been a doubling fool on AI.

[swolehawk2]

See the problem with doubling AI is that you can't..he is too quick ...he dribbles around most double teams and that leaves you vunerable to layups from weak rotations...thats why a lot of teams don't double him.....plus they run him around screens and he catches and shoots ...how do you double that?

The fact is when playing Philly you put your best defenders on AI let him get his ...play solid D everybody else and win...had AI scored a normal 30 instead of 50 ...I think we would have won.

But if we had started sending doubles at AI on the perimeter...it would have been worse...you would have seen a lot of layups and dunks.

[Diesel]

It would be better to try to double him than to back off him (respecting his speed) and allowing him to put up threes...

With Theo on the floor, JT is supposed to be able to gamble and play uptight defense against a guy like AI. If he recieves help from Jax... Good.

Play Snow tight and make McKie beat us.

That's sound basketball.

I don't think you can stop AI when he's hot... However, that doesn't mean that you let him go off for 50???

[Traceman]

been any worse. The guy simply wasn't missing so getting the ball out of his hands as much as possible couldn't have been a bad thing. I'd rather see guys like Thomas, Dalembert, Snow and Salmons taking open shots than to see Iverson CONTINUOUSLY killing anyone we tried to put on him one on one.