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.

Dwight Howard had 9 blocks in Game 1 against the Bobcats.  9!  That is 9 shots at the rim (easy shots since they are in close) that Dwight altered.  Part of it is because Dwight is a fantastic defender (he was announced as the DPOY yesterday), but part of it was the fact that he was able to sit in the lane and just wait for the Bobcats to attack the basket.  If the Bobcats want to get some easy looks in close, they are going to need to force Dwight to move around on the defensive end.

Here, the man that Dwight is covering hangs around the elbow not moving.  This allows Dwight to leave his man with no fear, because he knows where Nazr Mohammed is going to be.  If Mohammed moves around a bit, Dwight is going to have to focus his attention to that (because if he doesn’t Mohammed will get himself a basket) and he might not be able to challenge shots.

Also, if Mohammed does a better job of spacing the floor and Dwight still tries to block the shot, the Bobcats can pass it out to the big man for an open look.  If you make Dwight cover more distance to try and challenge shots, you can make him pay for it.

Again, here is another drive by the Bobcats.  Larry Hughes attacks baseline but since Tyson Chandler is right on the opposite block, Dwight is right there to challenge the shot.  Now, if Tyson Chandler would have faded out along the baseline instead of moving towards the middle, Dwight would have had to make a decision.  Challenge the shot or stay with Chandler.  Here, he can do both because everything is so bunched up.

If the Bobcats are able to get Dwight to move around on the defensive end, he won’t be able to challenge as many shots as he did game 1.