The Jazz And Finishing At The Rim
The one thing you are guaranteed to hear when you listen to someone talk about the Jazz-Lakers series is the word “length.” Rightfully so, the Lakers have 3 seven-footers on their roster while the Jazz are playing most of the time with two undersized Power Forward’s on the court. This size disadvantage is really presenting the Jazz with some problems, most importantly, they are struggling to finish at the rim. Especially because Mehmet Okur isn’t there to pull a big away from the basket. This means that the Lakers’ big men are allowed to just sit in the lane against the Jazz. As Kevin Arnovitz tweeted last night, the Jazz missed 20 shots in the paint in the first half of Game 2. So what are the Jazz bigs doing wrong? What can the Jazz do when they get the ball in the paint? Let’s take a look:
Why They Got Blocked
Bringing The Ball Down
Big guys in the paint are taught not to bring the ball down when they make the catch the day they start playing basketball, that is how important it is. Usually though, you don’t want to bring it down because you don’t want the smaller players to be able to get their hands on the basketball. Another reason (which is why it is important in this context) is it allows for shot-blockers to gather and get in position to block the shot.
As the pass gets made to Boozer, look at how high he makes the catch. If he just takes it straight from there, he would be able to get the ball at the rim before any of the bigs can alter the shot.
