I only caught the second half of Game 1 tonight but it's a good thing that I caught the best parts. It was real inspirational to watch Paul Pierce come back onto the floor to not only stay in the game but to lift his team to the win. Here is what the AP report said about it:

Pierce's dramatic return after being carried from the court and then wheeled down a hallway for treatment will be added to the annals of Celtics-Lakers finals lore, taking a spot alongside Magic Johnson's baby sky hook and Kevin McHale's clothesline of Kurt Rambis.

Pierce's comeback drew immediate comparisons to Willis Reed, the former New York Knicks great who once hobbled onto the court of Madison Square Garden before Game 7 of the 1970 finals against the Lakers. Some of the savvy Celtics fans chanted Reed's name in tribute.

Wow, heady stuff indeed. It was just surreal, the way they carried him off. You kinda had that sinking feeling like the series had suddenly gone sideways for the Celtics. The long faces, the stunned crowd. I love what Doc Rivers had to say to his team when PP went down (though ESPN's 'wired' was recorded live but played after PP came back):

What did the guy from South Africa say about adversity??
All right. He says, nothing can get you down!
OK... this is what we're talking about. Adversity... You overcome it.
We're the better team... we overcome it, all right?
Nothing stops us... that's why we play 12 guys.
Now lets beat this team!!

Here is the speech as well as the ESPN cut up of those decisive moments in the 3rd quarter,



When I turned on the TV and saw the Lakers with the 5 point lead at halftime, with over 50 points, I automatically felt that the pace of the game favored the Lakers. But with PP taking the game over in the 3rd quarter, it totally turned the game around.

There wasn't anything tactically significant about the game. I think the Celtics did a good job (in the second half anyways) of limiting the transition opportunities for the Lakers. The Celtics did a job on the boards, and by simply knocking down shots.

If you're a big Celtics fan and a coach, then you should check out Kevin Eastman's DVDs on Skill Development. Be sure to check out the X's and O's Basketball forum to discuss your favorite coaching topics.

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The game between the Seattle Storm and Detroit Shock last night was a game played between 2 different styles. The Storm are a finesse skill team, emphasis on running the break, shooting, and skill. The Shock are bangers, they play physical, knock you down type basketball. The tough physical style won out, by 10 points.

I took a few clips from the game in which you can see how that kind of style makes an impact. The first clip, is a misdirection stagger screen play which I diagram below, they key to that play is the pick at the end. The next couple of clips are a hard block leading to a fast break, and finally a Katie Smith loose ball scramble,



Mis-direction Double Stagger Quick Hitter:

I like this quick hitter play because like in football, I think mis-direction is a great way to gain an advantage when you wouldn't normally have one. They have the defense going one way first, it looks like a triple stagger for O2 going wing-to-wing,

Except, O2 does a quick change of direction (requires good lateral quickness). O4 and O5 turn around and re-screen setting up a stagger. The key is the last screen, you can see from the clip that she gives an extra pop sending Swoops to the ground,

The last screen might have been an offensive foul, but hey, if the refs don't call it, the play is good.

Summary:

As much as I like the Storm, they could use some of the physical toughness that the Shock have. Like player, like coach. Katie Smith plays the way Bill Lambier used to play. Tough, hard-nosed, take what I want kind of attitude. She's probably tough enough to play in the NBA in my opinion.

For a brand new video on offense, take a look at Lon Kruger's new DVD on his Flexible Offense. Kruger emphasizes offensive rebounding, creating contact in the post, and finishing strong to the basket. Be sure to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to talk about your favorite basketball topics.

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Tomorrow is the big game, NBA Finals, Lakers vs Celtics, Game 1. I wrote last series between the Celtics and the Pistons as well as the Celtics and the Cavs that the key was the play and defense of Rondo and Perkins. Because the defenses will inevitably double-team Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, those 2 guys Rondo + Perkins will be open.

From ESPN, this is their analysis of basically the same thing for this series between the Celtics and the Lakers. That Rondo and Perkins must be able to contribute for the Celtics to be successful,



Unfortuantely, I have to respectively disagree with Mr. ESPN. To me, the key to this series will be whether the Celtics can stop the Lakers from scoring in transition. They Lakers are the highest scoring team in the playoffs. Granted they played 4 games against the defenseless Nuggets, but they've also played 6 against a solid Jazz defense and 5 against the near-top of the league in defense Spurs.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter how well Rondo or Perkins play on offense, if the Celtics are loose with the ball, or don't get back on defense, they don't have enough points between all of them to makeup the difference. The Pistons and Cavs are not an indication of whether they can do it, because neither team was much of a transition team (Pistons kind of, but only with numbers and Billups was not 100%). The clearest indication was against the Hawks, who basically only ran early offense. The Celtics did smoke the Hawks 4 home games, but in the 3 road losses, they gave up 102, 97 and 103.

For more early offense and fast break video info, check out Tom Izzo's new DVD on the Numbered Fast Break. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to talk hoops with other coaches.

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I watched a couple of WNBA games tonight. The Seattle Storm are my favorite team but I decided to switch to take in the Los Angeles Sparks against the Chicago Sky, to take in the Candace Parker hype. I've watched Candace play before at Tennessee, but I didn't realize just how versatile she was when watching her at UT. I knew she was listed as a forward and was extremely long and athletic but she made some moves tonight that some NBA guys can't do. Check it out,



The best one I like is the last one where she goes way up for the rebound, puts the ball on the floor, goes behind the back, and fires a no-look bullet to Lisa Leslie who can't handle the ball. But the 3-pointer was nice, and the drive and hook shot was pretty good too. I think Candace can be the Magic Johnson of the WNBA, she can literally play any position.

I was looking for some plays to break down with the offense the Sparks were running. I know the Sparks want to be more of a running team this year, but the problem I see is that they don't have a lot of team speed. They're long and athletic but they don't have quick guards that can push the envelope, that's going to a problem for their early offense. Also, I don't like it when they have both Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker in the post, they clog up the middle.

The Sparks have a similar problem on defense, they can block a lot of shots, but they get beat on penetration because they lack foot speed. They won the game in OT, to go to 5-1 and clearly they are the team with the buzz that everyone is talking about this season, but the season is still early so we'll see where they stand in September.

If you're looking for a nice video set that has both perimeter and post development, check out Jason Shay's 2-pack DVD on Player Development. Coach Shay is an assistant coach for the Men's team at Tennessee under Bruce Pearl. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to talk hoops with other coaches.

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In case you didn't catch this segment on ESPN, this is the interview with Paul Pierce's high school coach back in Inglewood, CA, Patrick Roy. I like the part about how Paul was almost cut from the Varsity team in his sophomore year, but when he got his chance (due to some other guys not able to make some games), he took advantage of it and never looked back.

A lesson to you younguns out there. Keep working hard on your game and stay confident. When your number is called, be prepared to contribute, play with confidence. Reminds me of the familiar Michael Jordan story about how he was cut from the Varsity team as a sophomore.



For me personally, I always like to keep up a good relationship with former players. I think it's important as a coach to have a connection with a player beyond just the season, winning the championship, etc... You hope that your players feel the positive impact you've had with them which hopefully will last forever.

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A few days ago, we were talking about Kobe Bryant and how he is obsessed with learning more about the 1v1 game, how to beat your defender, what move works best. Today, we'll take a look at a segment from one of Michael Jordan's videos from the Triple Threat, specifically the jab crossover.

When you're in triple threat, you want to see how the defense is playing you. As coaches, we usually teach attacking the front foot. What that means is if the defender is playing you to 1 side (to help usually), you want to go away from the help obviously and so you want to attack the front foot and cross over. If the defender is parallel, then you want to use a jab step first to force the defender to react, then attack the other way. MJ explains it better,



Jab Series From Triple Threat:

Here, the defender is parallel to MJ. So, MJ uses a jab step with his right foot. The defender reacts by side-stepping left, thus the defender's right foot is not higher and the defender is no longer parallel but staggered,

Once MJ has his defender off-keel with the jab step. He can lift his right foot and cross over to attack the defender's lead foot. As MJ says in the video, always protect the ball. He uses his right foot on the lunge, but I still emphasize using the right hand with palm outwards to fend off a potential arm by the defender,


Summary:

Back in the day, we used to call this move a rocker step. You jab, then cross over and attack. It is a very effective move. A question I get sometimes too is, what happens if the defender does not react to the first jab step? If that is the case, then I say make a quick but longer lunge the same way and blow by the defender. As a defender, you should react to a jab step, if you don't, it means the offensive player can just keep going that way right by you.

If you want to learn more about this and many other 1v1 offensive moves, take a look at Ganon Baker's new DVD on his Encyclopedia of Street Moves. Discuss this and the rest of your favorite basketball topics at the X's and O's Basketball Forum.

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I was channel surfing today with the break in between the NBA Conference Playoffs and the Finals and caught the end of this playoff game in the German Basketball Bundesliga Playoffs between Alba Berlin and EWE Baskets Oldenburg (yes, I'm a true basketball nerd).

It was the 4th quarter, EWE was up by about 3-points in the last minute. As predicted, Alba fouled to put EWE on the line for free-throws. One of the things I noticed was how Ruben Boumtje Boumtje (#44 of EWE) used a perpendicular stance and a positional advantage of the trapezoid key to get by his guy twice and grab the offensive rebounds. Take a look,



Lineup Position:

Because of the trapezoid key, the offensive player has the advantage of being in a more direct line of sight to the middle of the basket. Look how Ruben has positioned himself as well, perpendicular to the lane,

From this diagram, you can clearly see, that in the trapezoid key, the offensive player has a much shorter distance to the middle. With all things being equal given size and ability, O5 should be able to get in front of the basket easier than X5, especially since X5 also has the extra responsibility of trying to box out O5,


Summary:

Definitely something to think about when playing international rules. The chance of an offensive rebound from a FT miss I'm guessing is much more prevalent than in the rectangular key in NA. Also, the stance that Ruben is using (might be illegal in NA), also gives him an advantage in going side-to-side and getting to the ball.

If you're looking for more ideas to get your players to become better rebounders, I recommend taking a look at Tom Izzo's DVD on Rebounding and Man Defense. Coach Izzo is the long-time head coach of Michigan State. Discuss this and the rest of your favorite basketball topics at the X's and O's Basketball Forum.

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