Celtics Pack Style Defense on Lebron

The road woes continue for the Boston Celtics as they lost yet another road playoff game last night to the Cavs. For the majority of this series so far, the Celtics have done an excellent job packing the lane and making it difficult for Lebron to get points.

Doris Burke of ESPN does a good job breaking down how the Celtics help and recover and pack the lane to plug the paint area. They're giving Lebron the 15-20 foot jump shot which up until the 2nd half last night, he has been wildly inconsistent. Here is Burke's breakdown at the end of the 1st quarter and at halftime,



Packline Defense:

I wrote earlier how I felt the best way to defend Lebron was to use a packline type defense. The Wizards chose to use hard fouls to pound him, the problem with that strategy alone is that Lebron is built like a rock, and can take that kind of physicality. The Celtics instead chose to use defense in numbers,



Summary:

The key for Game 7 tomorrow will be whether the Celtics can execute offensively. Listening to Jon Barry of ESPN after the game, I agree with him that the Celtics have gotten the job done defensively, Lebron has had an OK series, but he hasn't dominated. The Celtics struggles have been offensively, and when they take bad shots, that actually leads to fast break opportunities for the Cavs. And that gets us back to the playing at home factor, the Celtics, specifically guys like Rondo and Perkins play much better at home. If they play well, like they did in Game 5, the Celtics should beat the Cavs.

For a new M2M defensive video, check out Bob Huggins' DVD on M2M drills. Coach Huggins' Bearcats teams were always known for their incredible defensive intensity. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to talk hoops with other coaches.