Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.

Dirk was phenomenal in game 1 against the Spurs, and while 12-14 from the field isn’t going to happen again, I think  the Spurs need to change up some things when covering Dirk.  The biggest adjustment I would make is I would have the Spurs front Dirk when he is on the post.  When Dirk makes the catch on the post with the defender behind him, he is so tall and so good at that little fade away jumper that it is almost guaranteed that he will get a good look when he makes the catch there.

So how do you stop him?  You don’t let him make the catch, and do to that you need to front him. Not a half-front either, the defender needs to completely front him and get in-between Dirk and the basketball.  The Spurs actually tried that little half over one shoulder front, but Dirk can come out so far and still be a threat it negates that.

So what does fronting do?  Well, first of all it takes Dirk out of his comfort zone.  Dirk is at home on that low block extended, and if you can make him catch it somewhere else he won’t be as comfortable.  Also, if you front him, you force a lob pass to go into him (to get it over the defender), this allows time to send help behind him and get an effective double team.

I think if you can make Dirk work a little harder, he won’t be going 12-14 from the field.  He is still going to put up numbers because he is a great player, but you need the Spurs need to try something different.  Playing behind him with a smaller defender obviously isn’t working.