Aldridge scoring against Hawks

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Just by looking at the play-by-play, I'll list which PF & C combo was in the game, when Aldridge scored his points.

1st quarter

ZaZa & Smoove: 4 points on 2-2 FGs in the first 3 minutes of the game. ZaZa also picks up 2 quick fouls. Horford in the game.

Horford & Smoove: 2 points on 1-3 FGs. Shelden in for Smoove.

Horford & Shelden: 2 points on 1-2 FGs.

2nd quarter ( Aldridge came back in the game with a little over 7 miuntes left in the quarter, but picked up a quick foul. Channing Frye scores 8 points on the Smoove & ZaZa combo to end the 1st half )

3rd quarter

ZaZa & Smoove: 2 points on 0-1 FG, 2-2 FT

Horford & Smoove: 4 points on 1-1 FG, 2-2 FT

Shelden & Horford: 7 points on 2-4 FG, 3-4 FT

4th quarter

ZaZa & Smoove: 2 points on 1-2 FG

Horford & Smoove: 4 points on 1-2 FG, 2-2 FT. He fouls Smoove out.

ZaZa & Horford: 2 points on 1-2 FG

I didn't see the game, so I don't know if we were playing a lot of man-to-man, or a lot of zone.

[jerrywest]

When Horford was in, Aldridge played like an ordinary player. That's expected. Aldridge is a finess player who doesn't like to play against physical guys.

[exodus]

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When Horford was in, Aldridge played like an ordinary player. That's expected. Aldridge is a finess player who doesn't like to play against physical guys.

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Aldridge scored 17 of his points when Horford was in the game.

Zone was at the game and said none of our guys could handle Aldridge.

[BigDirty]

According to these stats Aldridge made 21 of his 29 points when Horford was on the court (7-14 FG).

Zaza 10 (4-7)

Smith 18 (6-11)

Shelden 9 (3-6)

[Zone034life]

This game really put Billy Knights philosophy against the complete opposite in personnel in Portland. Billy has 6'8 to 6'9 power forwards like Sheldon and Horford while portland had thin skyscrappers such as Frye, aldridge and Pryzbilla. Frye could have just as easily reached 20 points if some his shots fell. Thier length negated the power of our big men to get rebounds and block thier shots. The problem with the stick men crew is that they will get killed by true post players. But we all know true post players are hard to find these days.

It looked like Texas vs Duke here in atlanta all over again when Sheldon matched up against aldridge.

[lunar]

it says more about how good top draft picks can be. aldridge was a no. 2 pick, frye a no. 7 pick, and oden (who will prob be better than both a no. 1 pick. meanwhile ours were marvin (who was very good this year, a no. 2 pick, sheldon a no.5 pick with no other big men availible after him, and smith a no. 17 pick. also, all of portland's big men have very high scoring mentalities. we are more rebounding / defensive oreinted.

[Zone034life]

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we are more rebounding / defensive oreinted.

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These two words should not be associated with Shelden Williams right now.

[Diesel]

It's easy to try to point a finger at Shelden, but the truth of the matter is Shelden only played a little more than 1/4 of the game. The true damage took place against Smoove. Fouled Smoove right out. It really says that Smoove is not a PF.

[Sevin]

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It's easy to try to point a finger at Shelden, but the truth of the matter is Shelden only played a little more than 1/4 of the game. The true damage took place against Smoove. Fouled Smoove right out. It really says that Smoove is not a PF.

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WOW!!! You've got to be in either politics or PR. That is true talent.

[Zone034life]

There is a reason Shelden was on the floor in limited time. Because he stunk it up when he had his shot. At least Josh is aggresive on defense and actually goes after shots. The shot I see shelden contest will be the first. If he did he would have no chance to block it. The fact you would even try to say Smoove had a worse day than Shelden shows you couldn't have been at the game. Sure Smoove couldn't defend aldridge but no one else on the roster could as well. At least smoove can make up for his bad days with blocked shots, rebounding well and hustle. Something your guy Shelden can only dream of.

[Diesel]

Irregardless of weather Shelden gets significant playing time or not...

Bigger PFs will still give Smoove problems because Smoove is not a PF. Offensively, he doesn't want to score in the low post. Defensively, these "Long" guys will always find it easy to score on him and put him in foul trouble. That's going to be a problem and the sad part was, that that was not as LONG as PTL could have been. Wait until they get Oden out there... It will be teams like PTL who will force the ball inside and just dominate us because we're still trying this undersized crap. Then they will play Zone on defense because we don't have penetrators or low post scorers.

This is the problem.

Sure, we can point our finger at Shelden and dislike him because he went to Duke and propose trades for Shelden all day long... However, after the trade is made... More than Likely, we will still have the same problem and we will still struggle because we're playing Smoove out of position... So keep up the distraction!

[frosgrim]

The real problem in the game was that 3 of our top 4 points did not play. The tempo could not be pushed and there was no outside shooting. Smith said after the game that he screwed up. Sometimes guys give up points and foul out. Does that mean everytime Shaq fouls out he's not a true center?? Silly argument D, and you know it.

[Diesel]

I'm not saying that everytime a guy fouls out he's out of position... I'm saying that let's keep our eye on Smoove's fouls especially when he plays long or Physical PFs.

You don't have to worry about teams not picking up on this. When teams see that they can take Atlanta inside, what you will see is every game, teams will try to establish their bigs in the low post and dare us to stop them. It will be on the job training for Smoove and Horford if we play them out of position.

Just like Hack-a-Shaq or Putting Small players on Dirk...Once they find your weakness.... They exploit.

[exodus]

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Defensively, these "Long" guys will always find it easy to score on him and put him in foul trouble.

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Yeah that was such a big problem last year....not.

BTW who are these 4s on our team who are "longer" than Smith? Other than Solomon there aren't any.

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Then they will play Zone on defense because we don't have penetrators or low post scorers.

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Wrong. They play zone specifically to prevent us from driving and force us to shoot from the outside.

[Diesel]

How many times has a zone defense stimyed Dwayne Wade? How about Shaq? How about Kobe?

There are several ways to kill a zone...

Basketball 102.

1. You can try to shoot over a zone (which is what JJ reccommends). The problem is that the Shooting over a three forces you to take a lower percentage shot.

2. You can attack a zone (which is what I suggest).

Teams know that we don't have penetrators to attack so they will just play it. However, attacking a zone is the 2nd easiest way to kill it. You allow your player to penetrate and if it's a guard, he draws the foul or scores. JJ is not a penetrator. Josh Smith is not a great penetrator yet.

3. You can imbalance the floor with a post up player (which I also suggest). This is the easiest way to kill a zone. If you have a post player (especially one who can pass) is like stealing free money. You isolate your post player and let him go one on one with the defense until the defense changes. That's what you want in a zone. When the defense changes, if you have a good passing big man, he can find cutters in the lane OR he can score anyway. So you get high percentage scoring or fouls drawn.

Why do you think teams don't run zones on San Antonio??

I can make the call here:

"Tim Duncan sets up in the post. Defense Collapses on Duncan, Duncan passes to the cutting (Parker, Ginobili, or Bowen) for the score plus the foul."

Or

"Tim Duncan sets up in the post. No help comes. Duncan scores with ease over his defender.... Gee Bob, I wonder why ______________ didn't send any help to guard Duncan. That Zone defense is going to have a hard time if it continues to let Duncan go one on one with their defenders"

[HawksFan87]

Diesel where you actually at the game???

[exodus]

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Why do you think teams don't run zones on San Antonio??

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Because they were 3rd in the league in 3 pt shooting % last year.

Everyone knows that teams run a zone to force teams to beat them from the outside. If your team shoots well from the outside then teams won't play zone against you.

In the first 3 preseason games the Hawks were taking it to the basket and getting to the line. Portland went to the zone to prevent that. It worked because the Hawks didn't have enough shooters to break the zone.

[Diesel]

As i said, there are more ways to beat a zone than just shooting over it.

When you don't have a dominant Big or penetrators, then your only out is to shoot over a zone.

However, watch what happens this season when a team like PTL gets a zone applied to them. With Oden, Frye, and Aldrich, I doubt you will see them trying to shoot over a zone.

[exodus]

Why do teams go to a zone defense in the first place?

To prevent guys from scoring inside and force them to shoot outside. It isn't that complex.

[macdaddy]

You lost me at irregardless