West semis: Oregon @ Las Vegas

 
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:01 am    Post subject: West semis: Oregon @ Las Vegas

Top seed Vegas hosts upset winner Oregon in the western semis. The Thomas & Mack Center is the venue, Coville calls the rules.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:45 am    Post subject:

Statboxes

Oregon
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/5334/oregonvk2.jpg

Las Vegas
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/9409/vegasmm7.jpg

Injury risks:
ORE Walton (17) 86 - healhty
ORE Short (18) 9 - injured
ORE Williams (14) 44 - healhty

Purvis Short is injured for Oregon, the Reign have their wand if they wish to use it.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:16 am    Post subject:

Purvis Short will stay injured. No wand for him.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:37 pm    Post subject:

New School.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:48 pm    Post subject:

starters:

baron, ray, stephen jax, kg, yao
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:27 pm    Post subject:

Starters

Mo Cheeks
Thompson
King
Malone
Walton
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:33 pm    Post subject:

Game plans will be in tomorrow.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:39 am    Post subject:

Oregon

1. Minutes by Position
PG: Cheeks 28, Williams 20
SG: Thompson 38, Westphal 10,
SF: King 34, Westphal 6, J. Williams 8
PF: Malone 40, Rambis 8
C: Walton 40, Jones 8

2. Sales Job

Three Hall of Famers (well one is soon to be), five All NBA 1st teamers, four All-NBA Defensive 1st Teamers. Lots of talent for sure but the strength of this team is how they mesh. Malone and Walton are great passing big men, Malone in the conversation as the best power forward of all time. We’ve got an outstanding scorer in Bernard King who can score from 20 or down on the low block. David Thompson is one of the great slashers of all time, one of the most accomplished finishers to ever play the game. And I’ve got Mo Cheeks running the show, playing shut down 1st Team – All-D Defense.

On the bench, I’ve got the role players needed to make adjustments as needed. Gus Williams and Paul Westphal, two All-NBA 1st teamers, bring an uptempo offensive minded change at the 1 and outside shooting and solid all-around play at the 2 and 3, respectively. Kurt Rambis does his dirty work and 1st team All Defense Caldwell Jones mans the middle when Walton needs a break.

Las Vegas is a number 1 seed for a reason. A matchup of KG and Mailman is a lineup for the ages. They have a good team with great balance. However, I believe that Oregon has the superior talent and can take advantage of the talent mismatches such as Thompson-Allen, King-Jackson and Walton-Ming. With the right balance of talent and strategy, I think that Oregon topples Las Vegas.

3. Offense

UCLA High Post Offense – 50%
Flex Offense – 20%
Opportunistic Transition Offense – 10%
2-3 Zone Offense (when needed) – 20%

I’ve decided to go predominantly with the UCLA High Post Offense for the following reasons:

• Takes advantage of the superior passing of my big men
• Allows Thompson to slash and King to spot up.
• Pulls LV’s only stellar defender (KG) away from the basket
• Forces Yao to make a decision on who to cover
• Puts pressure on LV’s weak link defensively (Ray Allen)
• Can keep moving with continuity until good shot arises.
• Lessens reliance on 3 point shot

UCLA starts with the following set. Note that the 4 is out on the wing, pulling KG away from the basket. IF KG switches to the 5 then Malone takes Yao to the hoop.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8823/oregon1la1.jpg

Malone performs an L Cut and receives the ball on the wing. Walton moves to choke post left and prepares to set a screen for Thompson cutting to the hole. Also note that King flashes backdoor in preparation for the reversal.

Finally, if no original cut is there, the pass goes to Walton at the high and either Cheeks or Williams at the one for the reversal jump shot or postup of Bernard King down low.

There are many variations to this offense that can be used out of this set. The basic premise of this set is take advantage of my good passers, pull the big defenders away from the hoop, and make Thompson and King the first option on offense, taking advantage of matchups.

Flex Offense

The flex offense is another set that takes advantage of my wing players ability to cut and the ability of my bigs to pass. While this is predominantly used in college, it can be successful with good passing teams.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8021/oregon2dx4.jpg

The first pass is to Malone at choke post right. Walton backscreens for King who can finish at the hoop. Again, KG is away from the hoop leaving Yao to make a decision. If he commits to King, Walton rolls back and has a layup. In pic 2, Cheeks downscreens for Walton who pops up to choke left who gets the pass from Malone, while Cheeks pops to corner.

King then sets a backscreen for Thompson who slashes to the hole for the finish. This set can continue throughout looking for the open cut. We will use this in spurts when we think the defense is getting lazy. This offense takes advantage of our passing and the slashing abilities of our wing players.

Zone offense

We are anticipating if a zone is used, then it will predominantly be a 2-3 zone with sagging to the middle which we will counter with a 1-2-2 setup as shown in the first picture. If a 1-2-2 or a 1-3-1 zone is used, we will use the same principles but with two lead guards extended past as in the second picture.

The general principle in defeating a zone is attacking its weakpoints. In a 2-3, its free throw line extended and the free throw line area. In a 1-2-2, it’s the middle.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/321/oregon3kx0.jpg

In our 2-3 Zone offense, we will swing the ball between the 1, 2 & 3 with the opposite side big flashing to the free throw line to create a triangle. If that play isn’t open, then the free throw line big slides down to the post, the near side post goes far side and the opposite side wing flashes to free throw line. This put constant pressure on the free throw line area. More often than not, good posting opportunities materialize for bigs in this offense.

In our 1-2-2 Zone offense, our wing players will pass and cut to the middle. This should allow for many opportunities for shots from 12-15 feet or dump off passes to posting bigs or slashing wings.

Opportunistic Transition Offense:

Las Vegas has the transition horses to run with us in this game. We will look for opportunities to push tempo when available but will not make it needed staple for success. When Gus Williams comes in, we will go more up tempo, exploiting opportunities but stay ready to go into our half court sets.


4. Defense

75% Man-to-Man
20% 2-3 Zone
5% ¾ Court Press

Oregon is definitely an offensive minded team. However, we do have 4 1st Team All-Defensive members on our team at very critical positions. The three most critical matchups for defensive purposes are at the 1, the 4 and the 5. We feel that our All-D members will be able to hold their own against their Vegas counterparts.

Our defensive scheme is based on matchups. Mo Cheeks will take the defensive assignment vs. Baron. Mo ain’t Tiny. Baron won’t have the success in backing Cheeks down like he did in his previous matchup. To counter any Baron isolation, I send Walton over to put pressure on Baron.

The guy who I want to really focus on putting pressure on is Ray Allen. The only thing that Ray brings to the table is his ability to score. I’m going to put pressure on Ray first on the offensive end by making him chase David Thompson around the court. While not an all-star caliber defender, Thompson can stay on Ray, focusing on getting it out of his hands. I want their offense to go through Lewis/Jackson and Yao. If those guys are forced to score in a league of this caliber, then I’m in good shape.

KG is one of the best power forward of all time. He can do it all. But as we have seen, he is more of a complementary player, not the guy who takes the big shots to win games. I’ll take my chances with first team all-D Karl Malone going up against KG. If I can force him to either take shots he doesn’t want to or pass out to his other players, then my D is looking good.

If KG and Yao are giving us fits down low, we’ll look to go 2-3 Zone to slow them down. The key will be to extend the zone, giving up coverage at choke post to slant towards Allen so they he doesn’t kill us with the three. These will be used to change the pace rather than a staple.

If my bigs are getting tired or I need energy, I’ll bring Jerome Williams and Caldwell Jones to step things up on the defensive end. When Jerome comes in, we’ll look to ¾ court press to change tempo. Junkyard Dog will give us a nice boost when it looks like we need it.

5. Adjustments
If my offensive scheme of setting up wing players like Thompson, King and Westphal doesn’t work, I’m going to look to pound it at KG with Malone. This has two benefits. It puts our best player in a position to score and it tires KG out for the defensive end. My original intent of using his passing to setup the wing is strictly matchup driven. I don’t mind getting the ball to the big warhorse one bit.

Also, if I’m stalling out offensively, I’m going to use Walton’s mobility against Yao. This isn’t old decrepit Bill Walton, this is the young mobile Rip City Big Red. With Bill’s footwork (no pun intended), he should be able to get around the big fella, creating opportunities for him to score.

Defensively, if Ray Ray is too much to handle, I’ll switch to a freak box and 1 that keeps Ray slowed down. The defender on Ray has one sole responsibility, stay in front of him. The box and 1 lets that defender stay glued while the box offers support if he gets free. A non-scoring Ray Allen is worthless. Thus by staying in front of Baron, deadlocking KG and Malone and focusing the D attention on Ray, we can force the offense through Lewis/Jackson and Ming. I like my chances.

6. Closing

Final five minutes if I’m behind, same five starters. If I’m ahead, Westphal goes in for Thompson. I’m looking for execution and discipline.

Still look to run UCLA high post with emphasis on King and Thompson/Westphal. Need to be satisfied with the open jump shot from King and Westphal as Vegas will really look to close the middle. If KG is killing us on the other end, try to isolate Karl in either postup situations or pick and roll (play defense through offense.) If I have my choice for the last shot, I look to Bernard King in iso or off of a screen. The man is a stone cold killer in the clutch.

On D, Ray Ray will be tired by the end of the game and also not great a master of the clutch. KG will also look to pass. I think Baron and Jackson are both not afraid to take the big shot. I really shade my defense toward getting the ball out of Baron’s hands and daring to have Jackson shoot the three. He’s got no conscience and I think that will hurt him and Vegas down the stretch.

7. Why we win

2 NBA Top 50, 3 Hall of Famers, 5 All NBA 1st teamers, 4 All-NBA Defensive 1st Teamers. A lot of talent for one team. However, Oregon has the balance needed in its stars to put us over the top. The reworking of the offense towards the slashing brilliance of Thompson and the scoring of King focuses on our passing strengths, takes advantage of the matchups and gives us our best chance of victory.

Las Vegas is no joke offensively. However, we feel we match up very favorably at three critical positions with three 1st team All Defensive team members: Baron-Cheeks, Malone-KG, Walton-Yao. If we are able to shut down the only other real scoring threat in Allen, then Vegas has to come up with creative ways to score.

In short, I think we have more talent, match up better and have a winning strategy to take this series.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:56 am    Post subject:

Las Vegas

1. Minutes by Position
PG: Baron 32, Francis 16
SG: R. Allen 34, Stephen Jackson 14
SF: Stephen Jackson 18, Rashard Lewis 30
PF: Kevin Garnett 38, Pau Gasol 10
C: Yao Ming 30, Pau Gasol 10, Emeka Okafor 8

2. Sales Job
My team wins because he simply can not defend my team. Simply put, between the balanced scoring attack and ability to hit the three, midrange, and score on the low post. I will be able to score easily. Can he take out one aspect? Sure, but than we go to another option.

On top of that, my team will look to shut down his team by taking away his strong points. We will outline this further in our defensive section, but to be short we will look to play a match up zone to shut down the elbow – midrange.

Finally, I think my team is just more complete than his. He has no outside shooting, excellent midrange, good low options and good passing big men. We will look to take that away his strengths and make him beat us from the perimeter.

3. Offense
Offensively I will look to clear the paint and run a lot of pick and roll/pop between Garnett and Baron. I will look to open things up for Baron to get into the paint and create for his teammates. Allen will be spotting up strong side of the Pick and Roll. Stephen Jax will be floating weak side for a kick out. Yao will also be that side, mid range, working to keep his defender out of the paint with his midrange.

If we run a pick and pop it will give us a few options at the elbow. Firstly if KG receives the ball in the high post, he will look to enter the triple threat position. Yao will set a back screen for Stephen Jax’s who will than rub off the screen and cut towards the hoop, with KG’s supreme passing skills and length and height advantage, he should be able to find wide open cutters to the hoop. He also has the option of putting the ball on the floor or shooting it over his defender. Of course, Baron can come up, reset, and run it over again.

In addition we will look to run the triangle (first image on the page plz, sorry I couldn’t get it to link): http://www.cybersportsusa.com/hooptactics/triangle.asp

We will change it up a bit, putting KG at the 5 spot, Yao/Gasol at the 4, with Ray Allen playing the’1’ Baron playing the ‘3’ and and Stephen Jackson playing the ‘2’. Basically we will look to isolate KG on the block, with his length he should be able to shoot over Malone (0.8 bpg over his career) and force the defense to collapse, once he does he can kick it to Ray for the 3, Baron for the 3, or work cutters off him. In addition it can be swung back to Yao for midrange, or another back pick can be set for Stephen Jax and he can sneak behind the defense, KG finds him, easy points. With KG’s passing skills the variation of cutters, spot up shooter from the three and mid range we should be able to score points easily.

4. Defense
We will look to play a match up zone. It’ll be a variation of a 1-1-3, Baron up top, KG mid range, Yao behind him, and the wings on the wings. We expect a lot of pick and roll to free up his mid range shooters and slashers. We will look use KG and Baron to aggressively hedge/trap the point on the screen and roll and send our wings pick off forced passes over the middle. KG has the speed to hedge and get back. Yao will act as a zone, but also pick up the opposite big who float mid – elbow to basically stop him as pivot point for passing. He’ll use his size and length to jam that passer, stopping his game mid range.

With KG and Baron up top trapping off the pick and roll, wings shooting the passing lanes for telegraphed/forced passes out of that and Yao coming up on the other big – it’ll give us a lot of opportunities to get into the open court and have some success. In addition, Ray will match up with King while Jackson take Thompson if they do match up. Ideally we want to disrupt ball movement and force them into turnovers.

If they do set up one of their bigs at the elbow to operate, KG recovers (usually switching to defend Malone, leaving Walton to Yao). What we will look to do IF Walton is in the high post is simply use Yao to jam his sight and passing lanes while everybody else basically switches every screen to deny ball. This way we can stop him from getting open shots midrange, stop him from getting clear shot at the basket, while playing effective defense. If he plans at all to shoot threes, we will frankly let him; we’re not worried about, at all.

In addition to that, we feel our big can defend his in the low post, we’re more worried about mid range, that’s why we want to jam the passer while switching screens to deny ball. Our 1-4 are very athletic and should be able to handle switching at that rate.

If we see a running game we will look to send our guards back on defense while Kevin Garnett applies pressure to the outlet, this will give Yao and our team time to set up our defense and get back. Garnett is great at recovery and one of the biggest hustlers in the league – he can get back on defense easily.

5. Adjustments
If for some reason in our match up zone he is carving us up passing over the defense to his wings, we will look to stop shooting the gap and simply let them set up and go into our ‘jammer and switch mode’ and burn time off the clock.

6. Closing
Closing line up will be our starting line up. With our starters rested, we should be fine in the closing department, Baron will have fresh legs, as will Ray Allen and Stephen Jackson, those are the guy we will look to close the game for us. We will look to execute our offense and punish them with our balanced attack.

7. Why we win
We win because our team is balanced. Really he only has one shot blocker on his entire team to stop us, and he will be pulled out of the paint defending our great shooting bigs. Our perimeter guys will than have room to operate, create, and score points not only through out the game, but in the clutch.

In addition by exclusively focusing on packing midrange to paint, our team is looking to shut down his greatest strength, which is great mid range shooting and excellent big man passing. By doing this, we can than force them out of their comfort zone, force them to take threes to spread the floor, which won’t work because he has no one to take threes, and his offense stalls while I create turnovers, get into open court and score.

In the end, my team can close, score points, defend his strengths, score on the block, score from mid range to three. We can’t be stopped. KG takes Malone to the box and shoots over him, Yao pulls Big Bill out of the paint and we win.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:41 am    Post subject:

DB

Old School vs. New School. Class is in session at the Thomas & Mack.

1. Minutes by Position:
Oregon will be playing their two bigs quite a bit, but has opted to cut Cheeks time down to just 28, giving Williams 20. With the athleticism and aggressiveness at the point by Vegas, is it a few too many minutes for Cheeks? Or will the rest help out?

Baron gets a healthy rest, so both starting PGs in this game will have good legs late. Looks like there will be a good chunk of Francis vs. Williams action. Vegas switches up by starting Jackson, but they limit his minutes at SF and allow Rashard a strong 30 against a chunk of Oregon's second unit defenders. Yao, too, is also rested, playing the least amount of time in this game of all Vegas starters. Again, good use of Gasol, splitting time between PF and back-up C.

2. Sales Job:
Pretty straight forward here with Vegas. They say the balanced offensive attack will be hard to stop. And with the new school rules, Las Vegas will feature a zone to take away the elbow/midrange game.

Oregon has an old-school lineup and flashes their credentials, including four All-NBA Defensive 1st Teamers. They do a better job selling the team, but they will need to being the underdog.

3. Offense:
Oregon is a crafty team and looks to pull out Vegas bigs and open up lanes for others with the UCLA high post or with the flex. They will run into a zone which will cause problems with certain goals in the above two offensive sets. Oregon has smartly prepared for various zones.

Unfortunately, they don't quite guess the zone that will be used, and while they look to get the ball into the freethrow line area with constant pressure in their 2-3 zone offense, this is precisely what Vegas is trying to protect against with their zone. So, Oregon's orignal goals to pull KG away from the hoop if they play man D don't materialize and the first zone offense option they choose will be focusing on getting the ball to right where KG will be defending (with occasional help from Yao). Now, in the 1-1-3 that Vegas is playing, KG may have to go to the wing to contest a three, but Vegas states, "If he plans at all to shoot threes, we will frankly let him; we’re not worried about, at all." Vegas will give up perimeter threes in order to protect against the ball going into that area. Teams that are used to facing 2-3 zones may get stuck launching three balls against a 1-1-3 zone. So, Oregon has issues here. What Oregon needs is a deadly long range shooter. A Reggie Miller would feast against this D.

Oregon was also hoping to put pressure on Ray by making him work around screens. Ray will be in the corner and wings defending his space in the zone, so he won't be doing a lot of chasing.

Oregon has one other option they've worked on, a 1-2-2 offense. This will overload that FT line area and could result in some decent looks off quick passing, but Oregon will have to be careful of weakside players jumping the passing lanes.

Vegas on the other end will look to run some BDiddy/KG two-man action. Oregon will do what they can to specifically take this away, so it will likely mean decent looks for SJax/Rashard and Yao on the weakside. Ray's man will stick with him strongside. This will be tricky to defend.

Vegas will also run some sideline Tri, running Ray and Baron off split cuts. KG will likely get some iso's on Malone for his turnaround J's. He'll have some success shooting over him, but won't collapse the D. (Karl can't swat, but watch our for Malone's quick hands on that turnaround, though.) This will see okay success, but I wouldn't rely on it down the stretch.

4. Defense:
Las Vegas gets to go new school rules and use KG to clog up the middle in their 1-1-3. They are putting a premium on defending the midrange area. They anticipate a lot of pick and roll and will trap the point on screens. But their primary concern is defending the freethrow line area. This will be effective in a number of ways as mentioned above.

If Walton is in the high post, Yao may be pulled away to stay on him, everyone else switches if need be. In transition, KG will pressure the outlet and then try to recover. He might get caught in no-man's land on occasion and better hope he can slow things down enough for Yao to get back. I might have preferred seeing him hustle back and hold down the fort while others recover.

Oregon will throw a good defender, Cheeks, at Baron and send help if needed from Walton. Thompson will be on Ray. They will put a premium on trying to slow them down, while letting Jackson/Lewis or Yao do more of the scoring. They will also throw in some 2-3 zone for a change of pace. There will also be some 3/4 court pressing off the bench.

5. Adjustments:
Minor defensive adjustment by Vegas. Luckily, they picked a good defensive structure for the team they are facing. Nothing on the offensive end suggested. They will rely on their balance to solve all problems.

Oregon has a variety of offensive schemes planned out, which will have some issues. They will likely need to go to some of their adjustments here. They've highlighted pounding the ball to Malone vs. KG and trying to feature Walton's mobility against Yao. Defensively, they will look to a box and one if Ray gets off.

6. Closing:
Vegas has fresh legs with Baron, for sure, with the healthy rest. Allen won't have to chase screens on D. His legs will be decently fresh. Where will the quality shots come from for both teams? KG and Malone probably do a double fade job. Bernard King probably finds some midrange shots, but it won't come easy. BD and Ray Ray will likely hurt you if they get daylight. Yao could probably see some big shots down the stretch, and he will be rested. Walton will probably return some of that as he tries to iso on Yao.

The key down the stretch...flaws will be exposed.

7. And the Winner is...
This is an interesting match up. Oregon does some serious game-planning and put some excellent effort into trying to crack this top seed team for another upset. They get out of the blocks slow, however. I think Oregon trails (accidental pun there) early as they run into the 1-1-3 zone and try to cycle through their offensive schemes. The lack of three shooting hurts them. The looks from three will be there and a good long-range shooting team would have found some simple open threes to settle into while they become more versed in attacking this zone. As it is, Oregon doesn't have that luxury and starts pounding some square pegs into round holes. They will try to find their sweet spots in the offense, but see KG as the roadblock in their plans...precisely what they wanted to avoid. The lack of balance is exposed. They are down by double digits at half time. As they return from the locker room, they will probably be in better shape.

On the other end, Stephen Jackson gets the start...and in the ATL against a smart old school team, he finds he's in over his head. Luckily for him the offense is run through the BD/KG combo. He also isn't facing an all-world defender. We got some serious battles going on at other positions and a better player here could have made things easier. Rashard is Rashard and he'd spread the floor and help hit some long-range J's. The two-man game is hard to defend. KG and BD will open some things up for others. Malone isn't a shotblocker and Baron and Francis are very athletic. Getting a step off the screens will mean trouble, and if Walton has to help, Yao is money from the midrange area.

In the second half, Oregon's crafty bigs help set up some scoring at the wings. This becomes the soft spot in the D off quick, good ball movement. Oregon chips away and gets back within striking distance. Down the stretch, Vegas starts to adjust. An occasional jump in a passing lane and things get mucked up again. Again, here is where Oregon will miss a money three shooter. It's a fallback when the lane gets too crowded and the D makes an adjustment. It's also much harder to help and recover to that distance. Vegas is happy to offer the threes all game. Oregon can't expose it. Balance wins the day. Oregon can't beat the odds in Vegas and comes up just short.

Las Vegas 1-0
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:43 am    Post subject:

Candy

Oregon:
Has good talent, great defensive lineup, along with a pretty strong bench.
Las Vegas:
Excellent offense, very modern team.

The game:
I had a nice stay at Ceasar's Palace. I had the hardest time deciding between the Bellagio, the Venetian, and Caesar's, but I saw that Caesar's had someone giving out free cookies, so I went there.

Yao Ming easily won the tip off, and Las Vegas immediately runs a pick and roll and scores. Oregon makes lots of cuts to the basket, but Las Vegas's excellent defense forces them out of the paint, and makes them into a jumpshooting team. On the other end, Yao Ming and Garnett draw Oregon's bigs out of the paint, making it easier for their smalls to attack the basket. Yao Ming has no trouble at all shooting over the 6'11 Walton, and for the most part, manages to hold up against his footwork while on defense.

30-20 after the first.

Pau Gasol leads Las Vegas's bench mob, and along with lots of help from Steve Francis and Okafor, extends the lead to 50-35. Once again, Las Vegas scores at will with Walton and Malone drawn out from the paint.

61-43 after two.

Ray Allen gets hot in the third, scoring three three pointers. Bill Walton can't stop Yao, and the onsalught continues, after three the score is 90-64.

Las Vegas inserts their bench, Oregon manages to cut the lead to 14 with two minutes left, but they don't get any closer.

110-96 Las Vegas.

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:45 am    Post subject:

Sky

Minutes
Both teams give a lot of minutes to the backup 1’s to maintain energy and speed. Not confident about Westphal getting minutes at 3 for Oregon. Vegas has a ton of minutes for Shard with Jack starting and closing. Oregon takes Walton and Malone up to 40 minutes, well above their regular season burn but in the seasons chosen both played at or above a 40 minute workload in the playoffs.

Sales Job
Vegas boldly states that Oregon can’t defend them. Oregon unknowingly answers by listing their all-D credentials. Vegas says here is what we are taking away, Oregon says here are the matchups we are working. We’ll see who can walk their talk.

Oregon on offense/Vegas on defense
The Reign run UCLA with bigs as trigger men for Skywalker finishing and King shooting. Vegas responds with a matchup zone. Yao comes up on Walton to jam the passer. The wings are sinking back and looking to pounce the passing lanes while denying cuts and penetration. Walton and Malone will have difficulty distributing given the length of Yao and KG. Same thing is true with flex. End result is jump shots for the wings.

The passers need to be in motion with freedom to operate, setting up the wings to shoot and finish against a defense that is no longer packed inside.
The Oregon zone offense again looks to optimize the ft line where Vegas is concentrating its defense while sinking wing. Rdog gets midrange jumpers but not the high percentage scores inside.

Oregon adjusts with Malone taking it straight at KG and Walton taking Yao off the dribble. Both adjustments are gold. Malone can back down Garnett, Walton can take Yao off the dribble to score and create. With open passing lanes and 1-on-1 opportunities for the wings with no help behind them now Thompson can attack Ray Allen and finish while King can pump the jumpers, particularly when Shard is in.

Since it’s the adjustments that work and the initial ideas are only producing midrange jumpers, Oregon will be playing catch up.

Vegas on offense/Oregon on defense
Vegas runs pick and roll/pop with Baron and KG. Malone is very adept at show and recover, Cheeks is smart going over screens, both are all-D 1st and can make the right decisions to deny penetration to Davis and the roll pass to KG. End result is Baron jump shots that Oregon is happy to concede all night.

Coville turns to the triangle, great fit with the skills, smart passers and shooters. Ray Allen has open 3’s corner and Jack/Shard have 3’s and a cutting opportunity against Bernard King. If Malone leaves KG to deny penetration then Jack has the passing skills to find him, Shard does not.

Closing…and the winner is…
Oregon rides their successful adjustments to come from behind and build a six point lead with five to go. Las Vegas has the depth to have everyone well rested entering crunch time. Oregon has been relying on Walton to take Yao off the dribble to set up the offense for most of the game and all of the second half. Walton played 40 minutes in the playoffs this season but he’s still getting tired here late. He and Malone have both put in a lot of second half work carrying the offense and are at the limit of their minutes. That hurts Oregon’s rebounding to close.

With the lead Oregon brings in Westphal for Thompson. Both starting 1’s are fresh. Vegas looks to set up shots for Baron, Allen and Jackson. Westphal is fresh but a defensive liability, Allen gets open looks and hits them. Thing is Vegas can’t get stops either, Westphal and King hit midrange. Jackson is fresh but out of rhythm, misses an open 3. KG beats the tired Oregon bigs in the chase for the long rebound, finds Baron cutting to the hoop, slam. Oregon up 4 with two left. Westphal wing….no. KG owning the glass late. Baron gets it to Garnett face up vs. Malone from 12….no. Malone elbow…no. Baron from 3 rattles in. Oregon up 1. Malone ft’s hits first misses second. Allen midrange, no, KG o board putback. Tied up. King gets the pass coming off the baseline screen, he rises up and lets it fly, the ball in the air…buzzer sounds…swish! Oregon wins a thriller.

Las Vegas 2-1
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Sky
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:48 am    Post subject:

L4L

Minutes:
No risk on either side. Oregon stretches their big men minutes, but it’s the playoffs.

Sales Job:
Both team’s make extremely important, and true, statements:
1) Oregon is IMMENSELY more talented overall.
2) Las Vegas has an IMMENSE advantage in floor balance.

Oregon on offense/Las Vegas on defense:
Oregon’s plan to bring the bigs out high creates room underneath for a perimeter full of slashers. Oregon plans to have King and other perimeter players low at times which allows his weak jump-shooting perimeter crew to kick out to big men with quality mid-range. UCLA allows for great passing big men to hit his athletic cutters and finishers going to the rim.

However, he can’t completely alleviate the lack of 3pt shooting because Las Vegas plans to run primarily a match-up zone. By employing a 1-3-1, Las Vegas attempts to take away the mid-range while creating large gaps in the corners. Oregon plans to specifically attack zone weak areas rather than other strategies of zone offense. Malone and Walton both have short corner jumpers, and Yao will be slow in rotating. Either big will also have occasional looks against KG who will be rotating back after trapping on the perimeter. However, none of his perimeter players are capable of sinking the corner three that could break the 1-3-1 quite easily. If Oregon can catch the ball on the perimeter, their slashers will get FTs throughout the game.

Las Vegas plans to play PRESSURE D out of their zone trapping and smothering passers on-ball while his “wings” sit back in the zone looking for overplays. With Walton and Malone at the high post, he’s going to get carved up by the continual back-doors and high rubs of the UCLA (until adjustments kick in shortly). Walton and Malone can find the open man. That said, when the cuts are defended, it forces Oregon to rely on the shooting of their big men in the high post and short corners while the perimeter is choked off. The perimeter guys don’t like the 3pt shot and they would prefer to force a mid-range shot than heave an open 3pter. The passing lane overplay is made feasible by the lack any 3pt shot on Oregon’s team.

Las Vegas on offense/Oregon on defense:
Las Vegas starts out with pick and pop which has success. Cheeks is a great defender, but even great defenders have trouble with Baron’s size and speed. Putting KG in the PnR/PnP utilizes his talent to the utmost. KG is best when he can get his hands on the ball moving towards the hoop. Oregon makes no specific mention of how they will defend the PnR. As such, he is relying on the intelligence of Cheeks and Malone as defenders – both high IQ players. They will slow down the PnR, but with no specific strategy, Vegas gets good looks a majority of the time they feature Baron/KG PnR/PnP.

The triangle is usually successful for one of two reasons: a player on the team MUST be doubled or a team is EXTREMELY good passing, cutting, and shooting the ball at every position. Las Vegas assumes KG is that player that must be doubled, but per Oregon’s defensive plan, KG is left in isolation against Malone. Per Las Vegas’ offensive plan, he is content to let KG shoot jumpers over Malone. While this has some degree of success, Malone is 1st Team All-D and will contest many of KG’s shots. KG gets above average %s from this, but nothing dominating.

Adjustments:
Las Vegas responds to the high post passing of Malone and Walton by giving up on the idea of shooting the gaps. They stay at home, clog the middle, and let Oregon fire away from the perimeter. Oregon states that the big men will start to get the ball if the perimeter game fails, but against the match-up zone, the bigs don’t have room to operate on a consistent basis. They are instead forced to settle for jumpers and passing out to the wings as the original offense states.

Closing:
Vegas’ strategy changes down the stretch placing emphasis on the perimeter going away from KG who has previously been involved in every offensive play as a primary option. Oregon deftly anticipates this shift and focuses his defense on getting the ball out of Baron’s hands. Oregon assumes Allen will be tired, but Sweet Ray is never tired and in the year chosen was one of the best conditioned athletes in the league. He’s ready for crunch time. As the ball is taken out of Baron’s hands, and KG is disappearing, while Yao isn’t mentioned, Captain Jack and Ray Ray are getting open looks and decent looks at 3s and 20 footers respectively.

On the other end, Bernard King is the best closer on either team. His mid-range game comes alive down the stretch and, with the bigs pulled out, he can occasionally slash through the zone against Jack and company. Malone and Walton are still trying to break the zone with jumpers at its weak points.

And the winner is…
In the early going, Las Vegas gets out to an early lead. Feeding off of the Baron and KG PnR/PnP, Las Vegas gets a few finishes of KG/Baron at the rim before the defense starts to adjust to what they are doing (because they coach didn’t lay out a plan for defending this aspect of Vegas). Allen and Jackson get quality looks which they sink at their usual respectable rates.

On the other end, Vegas’ overplays leads to a couple transition buckets for Davis and S-Jack who jump out into the lanes grabbing passes. However, Oregon is able to stay within a few of possession by taking advantage of the overplays. Vegas soon adjusts. The lead expands to a handful of buckets. Oregon is stuck with Malone and Walton shooting jumpers in the short corners and mid-post with a few forced mid-range shots from the myriad of slashers. Oregon’s best form of offense throughout this scenario comes on forced drives resulting in the whistle being blown under new school rules. King and Thompson parade to the FT line at increased rates.

Vegas then begins to run the triangle and the game starts to even out as their efficiency decreases; they go away from team ball and go into iso ball because KG isn’t doubled as expected (Malone isn’t even given help). KG still gets decent %s against Malone on the mid-block even though he’s shooting primarily jumpers. It isn’t crunch time yet, and KG will make those shots at 45-50%. Nothing changes for Oregon who is still staying in the game because of the FT line, jumpers from the big men, a few rare post-ups from Malone and Walton (when they can get the ball and beat the zone before it rotates) and the occasional spectacular play from Thompson and King.

As crunch time approaches, Las Vegas takes a 6 point lead into the last 5 minutes. Vegas starts to go away from KG and Oregon forces the ball out of Baron’s hands. Ray Allen and S-Jack take turns putting up 3s. When Oregon is playing offense, it is time for King to come alive. On almost every possession he makes something happen either getting to the free throw line, sinking mid-range from 16-20 off the dribble, or finding Malone/Walton against the weak-points of the zone.

As the game approaches 2 minutes, and all Vegas has is perimeter jumpers, the superior clutch play of King and Oregon’s better overall defense is taking its toll. The lead has been erased and the game is tied. However, just as King and the Reign think it is their turn to take over the game, Walton misses on one of his patented bank shots and the board is snatched by KG who finds Davis on the outlet. Davis draws attention on the break and finds Allen in the corner. Bang. Allen sinks the 3 ball. King takes his time but responds beating the first man and pulling up from 20 feet before another member of the zone can rotate over to contest. Money.

With just a minute left, the game is within one point. Davis finds Jackson for a big 3pter, but he clanks and Walton grabs the board. Walton hits Cheeks on the outlet. Cheeks looks for King coming off a screen, but Las Vegas switches and denies the ball. This creates an opportunity inside for Cheeks to feed Malone. As soon as Malone touches the ball the zone comes down on him and he kicks out to Thompson at the wing. Thompson steps up and… Clanks. The long board is out and secured by Davis. He slows things down and walks it up with little over one possession left on the clock; the defense can still get a stop and score. As expected Oregon overplays him daring him to get rid of the ball and he does. Jackson is open in the corner and he doesn’t fail twice. Jackson sinks the dagger and Las Vegas advances in a nail biter.

The game came down to floor balance. Las Vegas took away Oregon’s ability to post up their bigs forcing them into jumper after jumper. Because of the early success produced by superior % looks in the PnR, Las Vegas was able to hang on down the stretch with inferior talent and an inferior closing strategy because their defense was too effective to be overcome by the extremely poor floor balance of Oregon.

Vegas 3-1. Las Vegas wins and advances to the western final.
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rdog
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 10:05 am    Post subject:

Congratulations Tim.

A great team with a great gameplan. Do the Western Conference proud.

Ramon
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:04 am    Post subject:

That was a fun matchup. Very close. Looks like most saw Vegas jumping out early, then being reeled back in to make it close in the final minutes.
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coville
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:25 am    Post subject:

rdog wrote:
Congratulations Tim.

A great team with a great gameplan. Do the Western Conference proud.

Ramon


Thanks man, you had a killer game plan and adjustments. I didn't think I would pull it out.

Thanks judges, thanks all.
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