The Curious Case of the Realist

Waldini:

Just read JA Adande's two columns (left hand side). The first column's for Realist, since he's fallen back in love with the NB er I mean Lebron. A breakdown of Kobe's D on Wade. The second column's for Gangsta and the amusement he's sure to have when he reads that Shaq wants his jersey retired at Staples.

Da Realist:

I hadn't read the article just yet, but I did watch that game last night. Kobe did a good job on Wade. But keep these two things in mind...

a) Kobe played great ball-deny defense on Wade. I saw Kobe on several occasions abandon a sound defensive position (which would have enabled him to play help defense) in an attempt to "shadow" Dwyane Wade. A few of those times, DWade dragged Kobe to the corner and allowed his teammates to drive or shoot barely contested shots. One of the reasons why the Heat stayed in the game despite Kobe's "defense" on Wade.

b) He couldn't play that type of defense on Lebron. Too big, too strong. Kobe's length bothered Wade last night. That won't help him against Lebron.

We'll see. I think Lebron's a better player than Kobe and has a team built for the playoffs. I don't think Kobe and the Lakers want to see Lebron in the finals this year. I could be wrong. That's why I got NBA Season Pass so I can better evaluate all the good teams.

We'll see.

Waldini:

you eerily sound like Charlie Rosen...and that's scary :-). All you need to do is add an antedote about a time in your life when you played ball and it's official

Da Realist:

Kobe played the same type of defense on Paul Pierce in the Finals last year. In this clip, look at how far Pierce pulls Kobe out of the play. That's bad defensive positioning. He didn't need to "hug" Paul Pierce while he was stationed near the halfcourt line. It gives Ray Allen the whole court to work with and all he has to do is beat Sasha to get a wide open layup.

Of course, Kobe wasn't the only player playing hugging their assigned player. Bad defense overall by LA in that game but teams do tend to follow their best player. If the best player is defensive minded, the team will follow. If the best player has mental lapses throughout the game, the team will follow. etc.

That shadow defense worked last night because a) Kobe's length bothered DWade, b) Miami doesn't have any other offensive threats and b) DWade doesn't have a post-up game. Waldini:

Does that mean I should expect to see other Celtics get on the ground like a dog since KG did it?