With Mike Brown being a defensive head coach, it is my opinion that Messina will be a consultant on the offensive end more than the defensive end, so I thought it would be interesting to look at Messina’s offense with Real Madrid (the team that he coached for the past two seasons), and see if there is anything interesting that he could bring over to the Lakers.

BallInEurope, a great European basketball blog did a great interview with Land O’ Lakers, and in it, he talked about Messina’s offense:

In addition to his preference in the half-court, Laker fans will certainly be cheered by Messina’s specialty of working with the post. Nobody in Europe, where frontcourts tend to be notably smaller but the bigs typically have the complete skill set in shooting, really employs anything like a triangle offense. But if Mike Brown was serious when he implied that some stuff with the triangle would remain in the playbook, you can bet that some of those Gasol-Bynum double post plays will have been tweaked/modified/perfected with Messina’s input.

The numbers certainly back that statement up.  According to Synergy Sports Technology, Real Madrid’s possessions ended with a post up 12.5% of the time, their second most (first was spot-up jumpers) used play type.  Messina ran a few interesting sets that look to get the post that could work with Bynum, Gasol, or any other big that joins the Lakers (specifically if Kevin Love gets traded).  Like everything else we have looked at the Lakers possibly running, it continues the theme of being simple, yet effective.  Here are 2 post up sets that they can bring over.

Cross Screen To Post

One of Ettore Messina’s favorite ways to get the ball to the block was by running a cross screen for him with a guard being the screener and then coming off of a down screen/pindown screen on the weakside of the basketball, turning it into a double low post set (something that Mike Brown knows about).

This is very simple, but it is effective in that it gets the basketball to a post up player in their spot.  By having the man posting up go from block to block (while getting a cross screen set) means his defender can’t stick to his body and push him off of his spot while he is posting up (most of the legal pushing on the block happens without the basketball).  This is something that can benefit a Pau Gasol, who when he seems to struggle has trouble establishing post position (watch this past postseason).  In addition, with a pindown screen getting set on the opposite side, it occupies the weakside defenders and prevents a quick double team (If that double team does come, then it is a simple cross court kick out pass).

If teams commit to taking away the initial post up opportunity the weakside action and double low post set provides a natural second option:

If the initial post entry isn’t there, or the man making the entry pass doesn’t like what he sees, he simply swings the ball back to the top of the key, and it gets swung around to the man who set the initial cross screen, now coming off of a pindown screen.  The second big setting the pindown screen now simply turns and posts his man and gets an entry pass (there are also situations where the man coming off of the pindown screen is open for the jumper).

How does this fit the Lakers?  Well, it helps Pau Gasol establish post position, and imagine if the Lakers run this using Kobe Bryant as the screener.  He sets the screen for Gasol and comes off of a pindown set by Andrew Bynum, looking for the ball (this play can probably be tweaked where Bryant coming off of the pindown is the first option).

Double Screen Post

The second set that Messina liked to run with his Real Madrid team is a play that involves a guard running off of a double screen along the baseline (with one screen getting set at each block).

As the guard comes off of the second screen, he gets the basketball on the wing.  As soon as that happens, the big setting the second screen simply turns around and posts his man.  Again, simple yet effective.

Now, if you are the Lakers, you are probably running Kobe Bryant along the baseline in this set.  Again, the play can be tweaked where Bryant is the first option, but the attention he would bring would also help the low post.  Teams afraid to have Kobe’s defender trailing him through two screens will try to switch the second one in the hopes of keeping the basketball out of Bryant’s hands.  In theory, that sounds good, but the switch creates a mismatch on the block that can easily be taken advantage of:

If you switch that second screen to keep the basketball out of Bryant’s hands, you now have a guard trying to defend a big.  A simple entry pass and you have an easy two points.

With the Lakers running this play, you would probably have Andrew Bynum as the second screener, just because he is a bigger body that gets a better screen set, putting the defense in a tough position.

—

The big theme when looking at the offense Mike Brown has run in the past with Cleveland and with San Antonio is simple.  You don’t see a lot of real complicated or time consuming sets.  The offense that Messina ran fits that mold as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two sets being run by the Lakers this season.

I thought it would be interesting to go through some old San Antonio Spurs’ game tape and see what sets coach Brown can bring from San Antonio to Los Angeles.  Much like the sets we looked at with coach Brown and Kobe Bryant, these are very simple sets, but that doesn’t mean that these sets will be ineffective with Los Angeles.

Note:  For the purposes of this post, David Robinson will be playing the role of Andrew Bynum and Tim Duncan will be playing the role of Pau Gasol.

Positioning/Spacing & Basic Post Principles:

The first thing that you notice when watching the Spurs with Duncan and Robinson is how they were positioned on the court.   In an effort to promote proper spacing, you always had one of the two bigs standing out by the three point line, getting the basketball, and initiating the offense while the other worked the block (early in Duncan’s career, it was Duncan hanging out by the three point line.  Once Duncan turned into a dominating force, Robinson started hanging around the three point line):

There are two reasons for this positioning.  First, it provides the offense with an automatic option in delayed transition:

Look at how smooth the Spurs go from trying to explore a transition opportunity to getting into their halfcourt offense.  There is no time wasted and everyone is naturally in position.  So when the ball goes to Duncan, everyone knows what they want to do.  A dribble handoff straight to a post up opportunity.

In transition, the rule for the two bigs is that the first big down the court heads towards the rim while the second big gets in position at the top of the key.  The fact that the two seven-footers are basically interchangeable allows for transition opportunities:

Having both bigs being able to play both spots is a factor for this offense.  You don’t see either Tim Duncan or David Robinson looking and saying “hey, I don’t go down low on this offense” and stand at the top of the key.  They look around and if they are the first big down the court, they go straight to the rim, and that is exactly what happens in both of the clips above.

Taking things from transition to the halfcourt, let’s look at how the Spurs’ coaching staff set up post up opportunities with two seven footers on the court.  There are two post ups that the Spurs’ liked to run, and I think Los Angeles will be featuring both types next season.  The Spurs either hit a big on the block with the other at the top of the key or they swing it through the big at the top of the key and let him post up:

Again, a big factor in this offense is the Spurs’ ability to post up either Tim Duncan or David Robinson easily.  The team doesn’t have to go out of its way if it wants to post up Duncan vs. Robinson.  This is something that will work well in Los Angeles in my opinion.  In the current era of basketball where teams usually play a stretch four, the Lakers are probably going to have a mismatch with one of their bigs.  Getting the ball to that mismatch easily means that you are able to take advantage of said mismatch more effectively.

Now, once the ball got caught on the block (by either Duncan or Robinson) you probably noticed how the bigs were spaced:

When the ball gets entered to the block, you go from a high low set (with a big at the top of the key and a big at the block) to a double low block set (with each big at a block).  The reason why the Spurs do this is because it allows the big posting to work one on one, because they aren’t going to double off of the other big.  If that happens, it is an easy dump pass:

Duncan and Robinson were very good at playing off of each other, reading what they were going to do and cutting accordingly.  Here, Robinson knows that Duncan is going to make his move to the middle and cuts along the baseline (so much so, he starts out of bounds), once Robinson’s man leaves him to double, he quickly gets inbounds and makes himself available for a pass under the rim.  If no double comes?  Robinson simply stays out of bounds and lets Duncan work.  It might take a little while to get to this point, but I definitely think Bynum and Gasol can get to this point where they are reading the other big and flashing to the rim depending on how the defense plays it.

Another reason why the double low block set when you have a post up works is because it provided the Spurs with a nice quick hitting cut set:

Here, you have a post entry to David Robinson and the man making the entry pass cutting through to the opposite corner.  Tim Duncan cuts right off of the cutter’s back, going through the paint, and looking for the ball.  Robinson hits him and Duncan has a shot in the paint.

The Pick And Pop

Other than post up opportunities, the next most used “set” that the Spurs’ liked to run with their two bigs was the pick and pop (while the Spurs’ ran this with either big setting the screen in the pick and pop, the Lakers probably will be doing this exclusively with Pau Gasol as the screener).  Again, the success of this pick and pop is predicated on spacing.  When running the pick and pop, it is the same basic spacing, but instead of Duncan or Robinson trailing on the play, they come up from the foul line to set the screen for the pick and pop:

The reason why they bring the screener from the foul line instead of the usual trail position is that it provides a better angle for the screen.  The first look in the pick and pop is Tim Duncan (who will be Pau Gasol) popping around the foul line.

Another option that the Spurs liked to run was a pick and pop with the big on the block quickly sealing, looking for a post up opportunity:

Here, Avery Johnson (AVERY!) comes off of a screen set by David Robinson who pops out to the elbow.  As soon as Johnson comes off of the screen, Tim Duncan quickly seals, establishing terrific position (with the Lakers, it will probably be Gasol setting the screen and Bynum sealing hard).  Essentially, this rocks the defense to sleep, seeing the pick and pop, thinking they are not involved, and then BOOM he is getting sealed.

With a shooting threat (Duncan/Gasol) and a posting threat (Robinson/Bynum), this forces the defense to stay home on both bigs, allowing the point guard to get all the way to the rim.

Here, Robert Horry stays at home with Tim Duncan (because he just hit two straight shots) and Shaq is hesitant to leave David Robinson.  This allows Tony Parker to come off of the screen and get all the way to the rim, where he is fouled.

This is what I am talking about when I say spacing is important.  You have a big at the top of the key setting a screen and a big on the block, and with the defense forced to stay at home on both of them, the lane opens up for everyone else.

A Sweet Quick Hitter

While most of the Spurs’ offense when Mike Brown was around was basic stuff revolving around principles and spacing than actual “sets,” the Spurs did have at least one sweet play that they used to run coming out of a timeout.  That play was a pick and roll involving both Duncan and Bynum:

Here, the Spurs bring the basketball up the court and get the ball to Tim Duncan at the elbow.  Instead of Duncan working one on one, David Robinson comes over and sets a screen for Duncan, allowing the Spurs’ to run a pick and roll with two bigs.  This works because Duncan, who is handling the ball, has the size to dump the ball to David Robinson rolling to the basket.

If Robinson isn’t open, that doesn’t mean the play failed:

Here, Robinson sets the screen and rolls, but it isn’t open.  Duncan is a strong enough of a ball handler where to take the basketball from the elbow to the block, turning it into a post up opportunity.

With the Lakers, you could definitely see Gasol getting the basketball at the elbow with Andrew Bynum coming over setting a screen for him.  Gasol is a good enough passer and ball handler and he would be able to replicate Tim Duncan’s actions above.

—

“A lot of teams run bits and pieces of the Triangle Offense, it’s just basketball, it’s spacing, it’s reads…”

That’s how Mike Brown started his answer in the video at the start of the post and when watching through the Spurs’ offense, you understand why he said it as there are a lot of similarities between the Triangle and the Spurs’ offense when coach Brown was there.

We don’t know how often the Lakers will get into this offensive formation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran it every single time down when they were playing Bynum and Gasol together or the entire game all together (they could even run this with Gasol playing the Robinson role and Odom playing the Duncan role).  What I showed you above is what I think Mike Brown will be bringing over to the Lakers and now we have done two posts on the Lakers and their new offense (one on Kobe and one on the bigs), what is going to be interesting is how Mike Brown incorporates the two, giving Kobe Bryant his touches and letting the two bigs work in the offense.  Right off the top of my head, the pick and pop with Kobe Bryant as the ball handler could be extremely interesting (Also, Brown can set it up that the swing pass from the big at the top of the key to the wing can go to Kobe Bryant and let him work one on one).

One of the biggest advantages of the Triangle Offense was that it created terrific spacing, giving Kobe Bryant opportunities to catch the ball with a lot of room to operate.  How will Bryant get his opportunities under Mike Brown?  I think looking at how Brown set up LeBron James in Cleveland could help us determine what sets Brown will use – and have success with – in Los Angeles.

For the most part, I am going to be looking at Brown’s offense during the 08-09 season, the last season John Kuester was on Cleveland’s staff.  Kuester was the de facto offensive coordinator of those Cleveland teams and with rumors that he will be fired by Detroit and that Mike Brown wants to add him to his staff, it makes sense to focus on this season.

Post Up Opportunities

Outside of isolations (which were 30.3% of Kobe Bryant’s possessions), highest percentage of possessions used by Kobe Bryant (14.8%) came in post up situations.  While LeBron didn’t have a reputation for having a strong post up game, he did post up 113 times in the 08-09 season, with Mike Brown running a few different, yet simplet, sets to get him the basketball on the block.

Post off of a Downscreen

Aside from a straight post up, this might be the simplest post set that Brown ran for LeBron James.  As you can probably guess, it involves LeBron James posting after coming off of a downscreen:

Nothing to really explain here, the set starts with James bringing the basketball up, kicking it out to the wing, and getting a downscreen from a big.  Right after coming off of the downscreen, James seals his man and looks for the basketball.

Post Entry From Big

Much like the post entry coming off of a downscreen, this is another simple/quick hitting post up play, and one that fits Los Angeles perfectly in my opinion.  In it, they use a big to throw the entry pass to LeBron James.  The reason why I think this is a fit for the Lakers is because they have a pretty skilled passing big man in Pau Gasol:

On this play, it is a simple 1-4 high set.  The ball goes to the big on James’ side (who flashes from the elbow) and when he makes the catch, James heads down to the block and posts up.  Again, nothing too fancy, but it does a good job of creating space for James to work on the block.

Weakside To Post

Another way that coach Brown liked to post up LeBron James was bring him across to the ballside block from the weakside, usually getting a screen from the highpost:

This was more of an action rather than set roles, but the reason why it works is because this naturally sets up an isolation on the block.  In each of the three plays above, LeBron makes the catch on the block with 3 of his teammates on the weakside (the man making the entry pass clears out as well).  This makes it extremely tough to send a double team, and when you have a guy like Kobe Bryant, who can do a lot of things on the block, this preventing doubles is key.

Cross Screen

Finally, Mike Brown’s most used post up play for LeBron James was again simple, yet effective. Here, coach Brown had LeBron James coming from the weakside again, this time along the baseline with the help of a cross screen on the weakside block.

Here, James moves with the basketball as it goes from one side to the other, timing his cut off of the cross screen to match up with the man making the entry pass catching the basketball from a pass at the top of the key.  Like the play where James dives from the weakside through the high post, this cross screen set has a built in isolation after James makes the catch on the block.

Off The Ball

Much like how coach Brown set up LeBron James on the post, he liked to use simple sets for James when working him off of the basketball.  Again, a lot of it was predicated on spacing and getting James the ball in spots where he can be effective.

Stagger Away

One of the actions that Mike Brown liked to use for LeBron James was run a staggered screen on the opposite side of James, essentially using this option as a decoy, with or without the basketball:

On this particular play, the Cavs are running a staggered pindown for Delonte West as LeBron James is involved in a pick and pop on the opposite side of the court.  What the staggered pindown does here is occupy three Spurs’ defenders as the pick and pop action takes place on the other side.  James is actually open on the catch (and I expect this would be when Bryant would take his shot in this action), but he waits a little while then knocks down the jumper.

In this particular case, the Cavs run a staggered screen that involves a dribble handoff by Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the second screener.  Once again, the purpose is to occupy the defense as LeBron James works on the opposite side of the court, this time, to set up James coming off of a pindown screen away from the basketball.  Again, James holds onto the basketball in a situation where Kobe Bryant would shoot right off of the catch, but the set is an effective one.

SLOB Lob

The next set where Mike Brown used LeBron James on the move came off of a SLOB play where the Cavs seemingly scored at will.  Much like everything else we looked at today, it was a simple, quick hitting, and effective play:

Here, LeBron James is the inbounder and he gets it to a big flashing from the elbow to the wing.  After making the inbounds pass, James cuts to the rim, coming off of a backscreen set by Mo Williams.  They key here is the man setting the screen.  Because Mo Williams is a guy who can knock down a three point shot, his man isn’t going to leave him to hedge, and by the time James’ man recognizes the backscreen, it is too late.

Once again, the reason I think this set can work for the Lakers is because of the passing ability of Los Angeles’ big men.  Both Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol can feasibly make this pass when required, allowing Brown the flexibility to run this type of action.

The Kraken

The final set that we are going to look at today is probably my favorite one out of Mike Brown’s playbook, and a play affectionally named by John Krolik of Cavs The Blog as The Kraken, a play where Mike Brown uses a pick and roll as a decoy, allowing LeBron James to dive to the rim:

Here, you have pick and roll action taking place on the wing as LeBron James stands on watches, standing 30 or so feet away from the rim on the opposite wing.  As Mo Williams comes off of the screen set for him, James takes off, flashing to the rim hard, looking for the pass, one he usually gets and finishes with a strong dunk.  The reason why this play works is because the pick and roll tends to draw the attention of the defense, and with James looking as if he is disinterested in the play, the defense takes their eyes off of him.  As soon as that happens, James makes his dive to the rim.

The original play was just a dive to the rim by LeBron James, taking advantage of his athletic ability.  The next year, Brown added another wrinkle, setting a backscreen for James, instead of just relying on a flash to the rim:

This was a counter to the defense expecting the play coming.  You will notice in the above video, James’ man is face guarding him even though he is standing 30 or so feet away from the rim.  This allows the backscreen to get set without being seen, setting up James’ defender perfectly for the screen and allowing James to get to the paint for the pass and the finish.

I do expect Brown to bring this play over (it works almost every single time) and use it with Kobe Bryant, and I do expect it to be the latter option with the backscreen being set for Bryant.  The reason why is because Bryant is getting up there in age, and he can’t really rely on a straight dive like James could a few years ago.

Late Game Situations

If there is one situation where Kobe Bryant will have similar options, it will be late game situations. As we know, Bryant likes to get the ball up top and work one on one in isolation in late game situations.  When he was with Cleveland, Mike Brown liked to do the same type of thing with LeBron James:

These aren’t the greatest late game sets (as you know, I am more of a fan of team oriented sets late rather than just give it to your best player and watch him work), but it shows Brown’s philosophy in late game situations.  He is going to try to find a way to put it in his superstar’s hands and let him win or lose the game with a buzzer beater.  If Kobe Bryant is uneasy about the Mike Brown hire, it isn’t because of Brown’s late game playcalling, in this sense, the hire is perfect fit.

Random Bullets

• Expect Kobe Bryant to handle the basketball a little bit more this upcoming season.  Something you may have noticed in this clips is LeBron James bringing the basketball up as the point guard sets up on the wing.  This worked in Cleveland because Mo Williams was a guy who could handle the basketball, but he wasn’t a point guard who needs to have the ball in his hands at all times.  When you look at the Lakers’ point guards (Steve Blake and Derek Fisher), they fit the a similar mold, meaning Brown will feel confident leaving one of those two off of the ball as Bryant brings it up.
• In a similar sense, also expect Bryant to be involved in pick and roll sets as a ball handler more often this season.  In 08-09, LeBron James was the ball handler in a pick and roll 21.6% of his total possessions (last year, Bryant was the ball handler in PNRs 14.6% of his possessions).  A Kobe Bryant/Pau Gasol (or Andrew Bynum) pick and roll and a Bryant/Odom pick and pop?  Those two sets could be deadly.
• Mike Brown gets a lot of grief for running isolations for LeBron James every trip down the court, but some of the blame needs to go to LeBron James as well.  In a few plays that we have shown above, Mike Brown is running a set that requires a quick catch and shoot, but instead of doing that, the LeBron James of old (and you can argue that he still does this now) would catch and hold the ball, basically turning the possession into an isolation.  With Kobe Bryant, who is more experienced and more likely to catch and shoot instead of holding it, you will probably see more sets being run (and completed).
• A lot of what Mike Brown did in Cleveland in regard to getting LeBron James the basketball is simple, but it doesn’t mean it is ineffective.  This isn’t the triangle offense, but in terms of relying on spacing, Brown’s offense is somewhat similar.
• These are just ways I expect Mike Brown to incorporate Kobe Bryant next season.  After the NBA Finals finish up, I will complete a second post on Mike Brown, looking at how Brown will plan on incorporating the other Lakers’ and sets that achieve that goal.

Passing Out Of Doubles

Hubie Brown mentioned it during the game, but Dirk Nowitzki did a great job of always being willing to make the right pass when the Lakers sent a double team his way.  Combine his height that allows him to see over just about any double team with that willingness to make the right play and you have a recipe for disaster if you are the defense:

On this play, Nowitzki makes the catch on the wing, just inside the three point line.  He gives a pump fake on his man, and starts to drive.  As this happens, Shannon Brown steps up to him to try and double/help.  This forces Derek Fisher to step up and pick up Tyson Chandler, leaving Jason Terry wide open in the corner.  Nowitzki has the height to see Terry in the corner and hits him with the pass.  Terry makes the catch and knocks down the three.

Despite all the problems the Lakers had switching screens this series, they got caught doing the same exact thing a few times again in game four.  Here, Brown gets stuck in the screen and Odom steps up to pick up Barea.  The Mavericks immediately recognize the mismatch and get the ball in to Dirk.  Dirk quickly gets the ball back to Barea as Odom tries to double on Dirk.  After another quick pass, Jason Terry is able to knock down the three.

On this play, the Mavericks look to get out in transition and Dirk Nowitzki busts it to get out in front.  This is important, because it means the Lakers are forced to cross match, and again Brown is forced to pick up Nowitzki.  As Nowitzki makes the catch, Pau Gasol tries to quickly double down.  Nowitzki throws a great pass to Barea, who then gets the ball to Terry for another three.  Another hockey assist for Dirk.

Here is another switch on the Nowitzki/Barea screen and roll, and this time it is Kobe Bryant making the switch.  Nowtizki immediately takes him to the post, gets the ball, sees the double come (this time from Bynum and kicks it out to the opposite corner).  Terry is again on the receiving end and knocks down the three.  It is important to stress Nowitzki’s size here, because that pass to the corner is a tough one to make for a normal shooting guard/small forward, but a seven footer?  He can see/get the pass to the spot.

Here is Nowitzki’s size on display again.  Here, Nowitzki uses the pump fake and drives baseline with Pau Gasol stepping up to him.  Gasol is a seven footer, and normally Gasol stepping up would prevent the pass to the corner.  But not when Dirk is the man who is getting doubled.  Again, Jason Terry is on the receiving end.

Drawing Attention

In addition to kicking the ball out from doubling teams, the threat of Dirk Nowitzki even catching the basketball drew so much attention that it created passing lanes/openings for Dallas and their three point shooters:

On this play, Nowitzki makes the catch and Derek Fisher leaves his man to dig at the basketball.  DeShawn Stevenson does a great job of spotting up and as Fisher tries to return to him he gets the pass from Nowitzki and knocks down the three.

On this play, Brendan Haywood gets the rebound and takes a few dribbles out.  The closest defender to him, Pau Gasol, sprints to Nowitzki who is standing behind the three point line instead of trying to pressure the basketball.  This allows Haywood to take his time, spot Jason Terry, who knocks down the three.

Here, Jason Kidd has the basketball with Terry behind the three point line and Nowitzki at the elbow.  The way that the Lakers are rotating, Gasol should be stepping up to Terry as he gets the pass from Kidd.  Instead of stepping up and defending the three, Gasol stays with Dirk.

On this play, the Mavericks get the ball out in transition and the ball goes out to Terry in the corner as Nowitzki floats at the free throw line.  As the ball gets kicked out to Peja Stojakovic.  With two defenders on Nowitzki, this leaves Fisher to defend two three point shooters.  He closes out on Stojakovic, but that leaves Terry open in the corner, and he knocks down another three.

On this play, the Mavericks once again use the Nowitzki/Barea pick and roll to their advantage.  This time, Barea goes away from the screen, leaving Lamar Odom (the man defending Nowitzki) to point at Barea as he stays with Nowitzki, giving up dribble penetration.  This dribble penetration gets Terry his playoff record tying three.

We already looked at Nowitzki in transition and here is another reason why he is so dangerous.  In transition, defenses are going to gravitate to scorers, that is exactly what happens here.  Steve Blake sticks with Nowtizki as Peja spots up behind him, knocking down the three.

Hitting Threes

Nowitzki didn’t need to score much this game, but he is always a threat to knock down a three, and that is what happened in game four:

After all of the mayhem that Nowitzki caused, forcing the defense to react and creating three point shots, the Lakers’ defense was all stretched out.  This allows Nowitzki make the catch without a defender stepping to him, giving him a wide open look, and letting him knock down the three.

—

This three point shooting was historic by Dallas and you probably won’t see it from them again this postseason.  However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to get anymore wide open looks from behind the three point line, and when that happens, Dirk Nowitzki will probably be involved.

As soon as the ball goes to Derek Fisher, the trigger man, Kobe Bryant comes off of a staggered screen at the top of the key.

The design of this play is to make the defense think that the Lakers are running the play for Bryant, draw Dirk Nowitzki out to hedge on the screen for Bryant, and then have Pau Gasol slip the screen to the rim.  However, Nowitzki pays no attention to Bryant, keeping his eyes/body locked on Gasol.

In addition to Nowitzki sticking with Gasol, Tyson Chandler sinks into the paint to prevent the ball from getting lobbed over Nowitzki’s head.

With time running out and nobody to inbound the ball to, the Fisher is forced to try and hit Lamar Odom in the corner.  The pass is high however, and the ball goes out of bounds off of Odom.  Here is the play in real time:

You can see that this play didn’t even come close to fooling the Mavericks here.  The way Dallas defended the play shows that and they were willing to give up the pass to Bryant (with Kidd trailing him) if it meant taking away the quick two at the rim.

Speaking of the play, it is a great set and it has worked very well in the past:

The Lakers executed the way they wanted but as you can see, this play only works if the defense isn’t expecting it. Credit the Dallas coaching staff for letting their team know what play to expect and putting them in position to defend it.

The way that the Mavericks got Barea into the paint was by giving him a screen and running pick and pops at the top of the key.  Maybe the most important aspect of the pick and pop was the screener, Dirk Nowitzki.  The Lakers were so worried about leaving Nowitzki open, it messed with their pick and roll defense:

Here, J.J. Barea gets the basketball and Dirk Nowitzki comes over and sets a screen for Barea at the top of the key.  As Barea uses the screen, Lamar Odom (the man defending Dirk Nowitzki) hedges as Derek Fisher (the man defending the screener) tries to fight over the screen.

However, because Lamar Odom is so worried about Nowitzki either rolling to the rim or popping out to the opposite elbow, he doesn’t hedge normally.  Instead, he quickly jumps out to try and cut Barea off, but then returns to Nowitzki.

The problem with that is Odom basically turns into a second screener that Fisher needs to get over, getting in his way and giving Barea the space to get into the lane.

Both Fisher and Odom are now stuck at the top of the key with Nowitzki as the three remaining Laker defenders try to stop four Dallas Mavericks.  Nobody steps to Barea until it’s too late and he is able to knock down the runner.  Here is the play in real time:

On this play, you can see that Lamar Odom is so concerned about staying with Dirk Nowitzki that he doesn’t commit to hedging, instead opting to show quickly and trying to return to his man.  The problem is that Fisher is trying to get over the screen, and Odom’s quick hedge means he will be in Fisher’s path.

This is an even worse example.  Here, Lamar Odom once again hedges out quickly, too worried to leave Nowitzki.  The result is Steve Blake being forced to split Nowitzki and Odom in an attempt to fight through the screen.  By the time he does get through the screen, Andrew Bynum is forced to step up on Barea, allowing him to dump the ball off to Brendan Haywood, who finishes easily with the dunk.

What we had in game two was another quick point guard shredding the Lakers’ pick and roll defense.  Unlike Chris Paul however, the Lakers were more concerned with the roll man than with the man coming off of the screen, and that is what resulted in the open lanes for Barea.

This didn’t look to be an adjustment from the Lakers’ coaching staff (because the man covering Barea was still fighting over the top of screens instead of going under), so it is safe to assume that Odom was doing this on his own.  In his press conference, Phil Jackson said as much, mentioning that the Lakers’ pick and roll defense was off and that he wants his team to play the Mavericks’ pick and pop using their standard pick and roll defense.

It is going to be interesting to see how the Mavericks counter when the Lakers’ are playing the correct defense.  Will that mean Dirk Nowitzki gets a few more looks?  It’s a possibility.

The Lakers tried to defend Nowitzki with two different players, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, and while one had some success, the other failed miserably when trying his hands at defending Dirk:

Pau Gasol – 6 possessions, 5-5 (100% FG), 13 points, 2.17 PPP

With Lamar Odom as the Lakers’ sixth man, Phil Jackson needs to find someone to defend Dirk Nowitzki until he enters the game.  In game one, Jackson went with the size of Pau Gasol to try and stop Nowitzki, however, he didn’t have much success:

Here, you see Gasol’s discomfort on the outside.  When Dirk Nowitzki makes the catch on the outside, Gasol is on him, but instead of getting a hand in Nowitzki’s face, he keeps both hands low, looking to steal any crossover dribble.  With his hands down, Nowitzki is able to rise and fire, knocking the shot down over Gasol.

On this possession, Nowitzki makes the catch out by the three point line, and Pau Gasol is forced to follow him out there.  Gasol is at a disadvantage when trying to defend Dirk on the outside and after a pump faked pass, Nowitzki drives, gets to his spot, and knocks down the jumper.

Finally here, you see Pau Gasol trying to chase Dirk Nowitzki off of pindown screens off of the basketball.  Gasol is at a complete disadvantage here and Nowtizki is able to create enough space, using the screen to get his shot off.

Lamar Odom – 15 possessions, 6-14 (42.9% FG), 15 points, 1.0 PPP

With Pau Gasol struggling to defend Dirk Nowitzki, Phil Jackson went straight to Lamar Odom defending Dirk Nowitzki the second they were on the court at the same time.  Odom had much more success, though he still had his struggles:

The advantage that Lamar Odom has over Pau Gasol is that he has the quickness to stay in front of Dirk Nowitzki.  This allows him to be able to press up on him when he makes the catch on the outside and still be able to get in between Nowitzki on the rim, which is exactly what happens during the play above.

In addition, Odom’s quickness allows him to close out easier on Nowitzki.  Here, Odom sinks into the middle on dribble penetration, forcing the ball to get kicked out to Nowitzki.  Once the pass is made, Odom is able to get out on Nowitzki and contest successfully.

However, despite the success that he had during game one, Dirk Nowitzki was still able to get some really good looks when Odom was defending him:

The problem that Odom has when covering Dirk is that Dirk can back him down to get to his spot.  Nowitzki is unique as a big because he doesn’t need to back down his man all of the way to the paint.  In the play above, Nowitzki only needs to get a few steps in, and he is able to get to that space because he is a little bit stronger than Odom.

—

Assuming that Phil Jackson doesn’t switch his starting lineup around, he needs to find a better option for defending Dirk Nowitzki than Pau Gasol.  There is one other option in the Lakers’ starting lineup, and that option is Ron Artest.  With Artest, there is definitely a size mismatch, but I think Artest could be an option that Jackson turns to in game two.  Will it work?  If you look at the two possessions that Artest played Nowitzki during the regular season, the answer seems to be no:

On both of these plays, Nowitzki is able to use his significant size advantage to get to his spot and simply shoot it over the smaller Artest.  However, I notice the physicality that Artest uses on Nowitzki.

At Nowitzki’s size, he is able to shoot over anyone on the outside, so you want to defend him with someone who can be physical on the outside and yet stay in front of him when he tries to attack the basket.

Now, I am not saying that Artest on Nowitzki should be the match-up all game/series long, but if you want to use Odom as the sixth man, you need to find someone other that Odom to defend him at the start of the game.  In my opinion Artest could be a better option than Gasol.

Go At Him On Offense

Another way to negate Nowitzki on the offensive end is to make him work on the defensive end.  Nowitzki isn’t a good defender and both Gasol and Odom are strong offensively, so if you use the advantages you have on the offensive end to exploit Noiwtzki’s weaknesses on defense.  The Lakers only really attacked Dirk twice during game one.

On both of these plays, they go right at Nowitzki (with Gasol on the block and with Odom attacking on the outside).  The Lakers need to keep doing this if they want to be able to try and neutralize Dirk Nowitzki.

As soon as the trigger man (Matt Barnes) gets the basketball, Shannon Brown comes off of a double screen set by both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

After running off of Bynum’s screen, Brown heads towards the corner, drawing taking his man with him.  After setting his screen for Brown, Bynum comes over and sets another screen, this time for Pau Gasol.

This was a great screen by Bynum, knocking Dirk Nowitzki off balance.  This forces Brendan Haywood to step up and defend Gasol as the basketball heads towards him.  With nobody covering him, this allows Bynum to roll to the rim.

As Gasol makes the catch, Bynum is wide open in the paint with Haywood stepping up towards to him.  As soon as Gasol gets possession of the basketball, he throws a great touch pass to Bynum.

Bynum makes the catch, quickly takes the ball up, and finish with the open dunk easily.  Here is the play in real time:

Just a great set here by the Lakers, taking advantage of both bigs’ strengths.  First, the Lakers are using Bynum’s size and strength to set powerful screens first for Brown and then for Gasol.  Meanwhile, we see Gasol’s ability to move without the basketball and throw the perfect touch pass.  Great design.