The Blueprint to Defeating Orlando!

[Wurider05]

1.We cannot under any circumstances double team Howard. If he scores big he scores big. Its not like he is going to score 100 points.

2. Horf's jumper has got to be on. He can draw Howard out which decreases his rebounding.

3. We have got to have ball movement. That iso-sh*t will not work. They want us shooting jumpers.

4. We have to run and gun against them. Playing a slow methodical game plays right into Van Gundy's hands.

5. Teague/Collins/Smith will have to get some playing time.

6. Don't play scared. We tend to get intimidated by Howard and start chucking jumpers. He will get his blocks but we have to stay aggressive because he will get in foul trouble.

7. Stop Vince Carter!!

8. Let Smoove play some Center with Horf in the game.

This folks is how we will beat Orlando.

[coachx]

Keep 1 of Horford or Smoove on the court at all times while Howard is the game. The only way we can do that is to keep them out of foul trouble. That will be extremely difficult task to achieve.

The Bobcats threw 4 centers at Howard. (Chandler, Ratliff, Diop, & Mohammed). ZaZa and Collins will both need to utilize their 5 to 6 fouls per game.

[Uuus]

All great points. One additional thing I would like our coaching staff to do: if Howard misses his first couple of free throws or goes like 1-6 to begin the game, intentionally foul that dude immediately. I mean right after Orlando throws the ball in or gets a rebound. I saw the Spurs do that to him in a regular season game this year and they totally got into his head. He was barking at the Spurs coaching staff and the official about all the hard fouls he was getting, but then he would miss the free throws. So, in return the coaching staff responded by employing Hack-a-Ho and that messed him up even more. He was so frustrated from that point on. It was brilliant coaching. If he's having a bad day at the charity stripe, you automatically put him there (by getting Bibby or Joe or Jamal to grab him, not Al or Josh or Zaza) and see what he can do. This does 2 things:

1. Messes with Howard's head and possibly gets him even more frustrated. And we all know a frustrated Howard has a tendency to pick up silly fouls.

2. It takes Orlando's offense out of rhythm.

[exodus]

In games 3 and 4 Horford had no luck against Thomas because he kept trying to back him down. In game 7 he actually put up a couple of shot fakes which got Thomas off his feet and led to easy scores. He is going to have to face up, take his open shots and put up some shot fakes against Howard. If he tries to play with his back to the basket he won't get anywhere.

As already mentioned we need more ball movement, but that is a broken record.

Edited May 3, 2010 by exodus

[HawkItus]

I like the trap we employed on jennings. use that on the magics midget point guard to. get the ball in vince's hands. make him make plays against Joe.

[Wretch]

I like the points you made and they echo my MAIN concern. People keep talking about how we're going to defend Orlando...how we'll defend the inside or the outside, which should we pick, etc., etc. It goes without saying that our defense has to be on. No doubt. But defense isn't what caused us to get the brakes beat off of us by this team. No, in all contests this year, Orlando scored right at their average in every game. The difference was our offensive output, the fact that we were well under our average, which accounts for the blowout losses. Break it down however we want, the fact of the matter is those "lulls" that we go through have KILLED us in this year's series with the Magic.

Revisit the Thanksgiving game. We had them STOMPED at the half. They made adjustments (zone I think) and we stuck with "iso dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-shoot." Orlando will BURY us if we do not move the ball. We've got to make them work. I'm ok with ISO Joe and Iso Craw. The sh!t does work. But we've got to have more diversity if we're going to even be competitive in this series.

It will take a world class effort to keep Orlando from going bananas on us. Conversely, it doesn't take much to get our guys to start pounding the ball and throwing up bad shots. If Orlando gets theirs, we damn well better make sure that we get ours.

...on a different note, we have a HUGE advantage coming in. I think they're looking past us - as is the rest of the world. If we go in there and get it done on both ends, we could steal at least one of these games in Orlando and I think we've got a good chance at the series. Especially considering how these guys play when they know that their season is on the line.

[Hoopsterino]

How to beat Orlando :

1) Simple. Score more points.

[Sothron]

I think we should sprinkle Howard with mustard and sick Collins on him. Nom nom nom.

[exodus]

How to beat Orlando :

1) Simple. Score more points.

:slap1:

I can tell you'll fit right in here.

Edited May 3, 2010 by exodus

[Atlantaholic]

Body Blows. Keep taking it in hard, and hopefully put Dwight into foul trouble. We NEVER attack Orlando though, instead we dribble around on the perimeter and take Iso-Jumpshot after Iso-Jumpshot. That's not gonna get it done, and unless we drastically change our offensive philosophy against this team, we won't win a single game unless we hold them under 90 points.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Atlantaholic

[Atlantaholic]

In games 3 and 4 Horford had no luck against Thomas because he kept trying to back him down. In game 7 he actually put up a couple of shot fakes which got Thomas off his feet and led to easy scores. He is going to have to face up, take his open shots and put up some shot fakes against Howard. If he tries to play with his back to the basket he won't get anywhere.

As already mentioned we need more ball movement, but that is a broken record.

This is true, Horf backing Dwight down has shown to be ridiculously ineffective. We need slashing and hard drives to the basket, not stagnant one on one perimeter/post up play. Unfortunately our entire half court offensive gameplan revolves around stagnation.

[LordOfNYork]

I agree with thread starter. #3 especially. From the games i've seen, the hawks don't move the ball around enough. Johnson dribbles too much and shot selection is mediocre. I said in a previous post that Barnes has potential to make him take awful shots also. Although those are all valid points by threadstarter, I still believe it won't be enough with Orlando's 2 A+ players and B talents compared to Atlanta's inconsistent sometimes A sometimes B player in Johnson, and a few B's and C players. I just hope to see some good basketball from both teams and no blow outs

[Kimsey]

I disagree about doubling Howard, Williams has to help out Horford and let Barnes beat the team from the outside. We should play a base zone and again force Barnes to make long jumpshots.

All this doesn't matter when the switching D goes into full effect and Bibby is guarding Barnes because he's the least potent offensive starter for the Magic forcing Nelson to totally abuse Johnson on the perimeter.

[Diesel]

1.We cannot under any circumstances double team Howard. If he scores big he scores big. Its not like he is going to score 100 points.

2. Horf's jumper has got to be on. He can draw Howard out which decreases his rebounding.

3. We have got to have ball movement. That iso-sh*t will not work. They want us shooting jumpers.

4. We have to run and gun against them. Playing a slow methodical game plays right into Van Gundy's hands.

5. Teague/Collins/Smith will have to get some playing time.

6. Don't play scared. We tend to get intimidated by Howard and start chucking jumpers. He will get his blocks but we have to stay aggressive because he will get in foul trouble.

7. Stop Vince Carter!!

8. Let Smoove play some Center with Horf in the game.

This folks is how we will beat Orlando.

The thing about it is that Orlando has a tendency to write Howard out of their offense. He goes off on us because of his rebounding. Still, I think we can definitely slow the 2 man game that they play between Howard and Nelson by trapping the dribble on the pick and roll. I talked about this in another post.

I agree so much with #6. We have to play strong against them. We have to play inside. They have very good perimeter defenders. I think Craw's inside drive can make a difference.

#7. Vince has never been past the 2nd round. The reason is because at the end of the day, he's a folder. He's going to fold. He had a terrible shooting round in the first round.

[Diesel]

I disagree about doubling Howard, Williams has to help out Horford and let Barnes beat the team from the outside. We should play a base zone and again force Barnes to make long jumpshots.

All this doesn't matter when the switching D goes into full effect and Bibby is guarding Barnes because he's the least potent offensive starter for the Magic forcing Nelson to totally abuse Johnson on the perimeter.

Yeah, Marvin is going to have to make good defensive decisions and our goal is to make Barnes beat us. Right now, Carter are suspect from outside so he can be left open too... He's 1 for 17 from outside.

[Blunt91]

Telling Woody not to Double Dwight Howard is like telling him to stop with the Switching defense. He will still do what he thinks will work.

[99PROBL3MS]

Yea. I would play Joe on Nelson straight up. I would put Bibby on Barnes and Marvin on Vince Carter. Nelson would absolutely destroy Bibby.

[TruJerz]

These are the 2 most important things on your list IMO:

1.We cannot under any circumstances double team Howard. If he scores big he scores big. Its not like he is going to score 100 points.

Double teaming Howard just makes it easier for them to score because someone will be open and they are the best shooting team in the league. Play him straight up. cant let their shooters beat us from the outside

5. Teague/Collins/Smith will have to get some playing time.

This is why we got Collins because Horford just doesnt match up with Howard well..numbers prove it..Howard dominates Horford and I dont see that changing now. Collins and Zaza have to play BIG or else...sweep!!!

Edited May 3, 2010 by TruJerz

[Colin]

I think you guys are overrating Collins.

I bet he sees less than 12 minutes in the whole series. He will play 2 minutes in game one, get stupid fouls (one offensive, one on Howard, and then one on a PG) and then go back to the buffet. Then he'll play 2 minutes in game two, when Zaza fouls out. Then he won't play again until game 6, when we're about to win the series, up by 20, and he'll hit a three.

[TruJerz]

I think you guys are overrating Collins.

I bet he sees less than 12 minutes in the whole series. He will play 2 minutes in game one, get stupid fouls (one offensive, one on Howard, and then one on a PG) and then go back to the buffet. Then he'll play 2 minutes in game two, when Zaza fouls out. Then he won't play again until game 6, when we're about to win the series, up by 20, and he'll hit a three.

not overrating but his size can be a factor..he's the biggest player we got and we're facing Howard. He has to see some more minutes