How to win against Orlando

by Djseoh on Feb 1, 2010 11:21 PM EST

There is one word to say this: RUN. When we have a good number of fast break points, we win. Take it to Dwight Howard, may be he won't get into foul trouble, but at least make him conscious of fouls. Tire out dwight howard, and make him move his feet on defense and make him work for everything on offense. I do not particularly want to double team dwight because Orlando has too many shooters to worry about, but i'd rather have hortford play him straight up and play some one on one defense. I honestly trust hortford that much. also a lot of the reason was because of jameer nelson running the pick and roll pretty effectively. i think they need to learn how to stop that particular pick and roll. Also, don't foul him..... I mean it's a great strategy to foul him, but the hawks fouled him too many times in the last game. he took 18 free throws, which is absolutely absurd. also, do your work early. front him and make him get the ball further than he is comfortable with. many players just give up. don't get me wrong, he's going to get the ball but when you make every little thing hard for him, those things build up. one block isn't going to change the game, but 20 poke aways will. it's really about the little things. i think the reason why the hawks lose is because dwight has such a huge presence in the lane, unlike any other defender. so make it hard for him and just take it to him. just straight up attack him and if he doesn't foul out tired him out. give it to hortford in the post and let him just bang with him down there. we have the depth now so just let our bigs bang him up. then on offense play our regular game, but may be a little more aggressive. i think the hawks lack the ability to draw fouls. also since dwight howard is a shot blocker, it's good to pump fake a lot. it either gets him in the air or it will freeze him up, over pump faking is not good though. we also need a lot of ball movement to get the defense moving. may be set up a lot of pick and rolls to get dwight howard moving a lot more than he would like to.

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Zone Defense

Zones are designed to keep guys out of the lane, and that guy we need out of lane is Howard. Also, the Magic get 3’s off of kick outs and double teams not by just passing around the horn and taking shot as a good zone would force them into. The key to beating the Magic in a series would be a good zone defense or picking up a big man with the girth and strength to somewhat combat Howard because as constructed we have no type of resistance to offer, Gortat also is too big for us. We must go zone.

by Truthspitter on Feb 2, 2010 3:09 AM EST reply actions

When we foul Dwight, foul Dwight hard

Joe Dumars put Jordan on his butt about 4 times a game. That is what we are going to have to do to Dwight if we get them in the playoffs.

by Fred Pen on Feb 2, 2010 10:01 AM EST reply actions

plus...

he’s not a good FT shooter. Use 6 Morris fouls, 6 Collins fouls, 6 Zaza fouls.

by Mr. Sanchez on Feb 2, 2010 3:30 PM EST up reply actions

You can't run the fast break off of FT rebounds

by coachkcastellon on Feb 2, 2010 6:01 PM EST up reply actions

If we had someone capable of fouling Howard hard enough to bother him this wouldn't be an issue

by thirdfALCON on Feb 2, 2010 10:27 PM EST up reply actions

Good ideas

Dwight catching the ball to low in the post spells doom for the hawks. Catch him farther out and he’ll force some shots. But one thing I haven’t thought of that could be the reason of the blowouts is the switching defense.

The Switching Defense in theory is a man/zone designed to prevent penetration and account for all the players on the court so that no one is left open. But in the Orlando “situations” they take full advantage of the mismatches caused by moving players (ut of their natural positions. Al horford could be on a point, Bibby could be on a center and so forth. These mismatches are not only taken advantage of in the post (although a lot of teams are not that successful at it) but also on the perimeter. Not only could a big man post up our PG’s they could also shoot 3’s over our PG’s. They also could leave a smaller guard to try and box out a big man from an offensive rebound or leave our front line out of position to grad the rebound.

Atlanta will win a championship....someday

by maxxj3 on Feb 2, 2010 10:54 AM EST reply actions

Two words

Ball movement.

Orlando has good perimeter defenders and a good defender in the post. Our offensive concept of running straight ISOs is not a recipe for success, especially when our guards are afraid to drive inside against Dwight. You have to actually incorporate offensive design to create open shots, space the floor, and sling the ball around.

Any time JJ Redick is on the floor, the man he’s guarding needs to be running pick and rolls with Joe Johnson on every single play. Give him the Mike Bibby treatment. Make them switch or double JJ, pass to the open man, drive to the basket. Make Howard leave the paint to defend so that we’re not getting killed on the boards.

by Bronn on Feb 2, 2010 5:04 PM EST reply actions