Once a week, Maurice Brooks updates his MVP award race page over at ESPN.  For this week’s edition I was asked to list the top 5 coach of the year candidates and explain why in a sentence:

1. Scott Brooks, Thunder: It’s rare that you get a young team to buy in on the defensive end, but the Thunder have (fifth in defensive efficiency), and it is because of Brooks.

That’s obviously just a small sample, so you should go ahead and check the rest out.  There are lists for MVP, Most Improved, Rookie Of The Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and the Sixth Man race. 

This week’s edition features a good amount of TrueHoop Network guys; including Royce Young of Daily Thunder, Jared Wade of Eight Points Nine Seconds, Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroyxysm, and Dan Feldman of Pistoned Powered.  In my opinion, this really shows off the high quality of writing that is taking place here at the TrueHoop Network.

Not only did the Nets avoid infamy last night, but they might have also provided the rest of the Western Conference with a blueprint on how to stop Tim Duncan.  Duncan really struggled last night, scoring only 13 points on 15 shots in 31 minutes and in my opinion it was because of how the Nets defended him.  With Ginobili and Parker out, the Nets were determined to let the rest of the Spurs roster beat them, and they brought a double team just about every time Tim Duncan touched the basketball.

Step 1:  Bringing The Double

When you double team a post player, there you have three options when sending the double.  You can either go on the catch, on the first dribble, or on the first attack dribble.  The Nets decided to bring the double team right on the catch against the Spurs (their strategy most of the season has been to come on the first attack dribble), refusing to allow Tim Duncan to even dribble without two defenders on him:

After Matt Bonner makes the entry pass, he is going to go to the high post to set a screen for George Hill (or at least I think that is the play design here).  The double team will be coming from Yi, the man defending Bonner.

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