Charley Rosen: "Not Even Kobe Can Overcome Detroit's Team 'D' " - More Hate.

He continues to post more nonsense at the start of the article.


http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5290048

Not even Kobe can overcome Detroit's team 'D'
Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 24 hours ago

As Kobe Bryant and Co. prepared to face the Detroit Pistons on Sunday,
there were several questions being bandied about in the media.

Was Kobe's 81 a more celestial achievement than Wilt's 100? Would Kobe
ever register a triple-single? Is Kobe a better player than MJ?
The answers in this particular corner of Sports America are as follows:
No. Who cares? Don't be ridiculous.

The relevant point is that Kobe has become bigger than his team: notice
that in his immediate post-81-point remarks, he never mentioned, or even
acknowledged the existence of, his teammates. But, even worse, Bryant
has become bigger than the game.

If both of these turns of events are OK with Kobe, not all of his peers
are quite as delighted.

The Pistons, for example, who must have gleefully anticipated the
opportunity to lay some forthright defense on Kobe, thereby pulled the
young man down a peg or two.




Forget about the stats that rank the Pistons second (behind San Antonio)
in points per game allowed and 16th in opponents' field goal accuracy,
Detroit is easily the NBA's best defensive team. Forget, too, about how
easily the home-standing Pistons mauled the Lakers (102-93) on Sunday.

Let's dig deeper and investigate what Detroit did, and tried to do, to
prevent Kobe from igniting another massive point-explosion: On Sunday,
Kobe played 42 minutes, had 39 points on 12-of-28 field goal shooting
(12-of-14 in free throws, 3-of-11 from 3-point range), three rebounds
and one assist.


First Quarter
In this period alone, the Pistons assigned three different players to
Kobe. Chauncey Billups was the lead-off defender, and Kobe's first
response was to dribble off a high screen/roll (S/R), then pull, hoist
and draw a foul. Kobe's second attempt to score a bucket was much more
significant: As Kobe caught the ball on the right wing, Tayshaun Prince
moved to a help-position near the foul line. This forced Bryant to
reverse direction and dribble baseline, from where he launched an
airball as Ben Wallace lunged to block the shot. So the Pistons' early
strategy was to try to keep Kobe out of the middle, send him baseline
and then clamp him with a big.

In an early offense episode, Kobe was able to drive baseline and score
an unimpeded layup before the Piston's defense could get coordinated.
This was his first wide-open shot.



In his only other matchup against Billups, Kobe was able to spin into
the middle and draw a foul.

For a couple of possessions, Kobe was next defended by Hamilton. Bryant
was determined to post-up the slender Hamilton, but Rip fought for every
inch, fronting and then three-quartering him. Unable to get the inside
position he desired, Kobe darted to the perimeter and stepped behind a
high-screen that gained a half-step on the dogged Hamilton. But Kobe's
3-ball missed.

Prince is Detroit's best wing-defender, and when he guarded Kobe, the
Pistons tried something different -- a defensive triangle. Again, Kobe
received the ball on the left wing, and this time Hamilton moved to the
help-spot near the foul line. The additional wrinkle was Ben Wallace
assuming a ready position on the left box. There was Hamilton denying
Kobe the middle and Ben Wallace protecting the basket as Kobe's
19-footer missed.

On another possession, Billups made a full commitment to double Kobe and
forced a harmless reversal pass. Next up, Kobe dribbled to the middle
off a soft high-pick, turned the corner and knocked down a pull-up
jumper with first Rasheed Wallace, and then Big Ben flying at him.

Now it was Phil Jackson's turn to call a previously undialed number:
Chris Mihm got the ball on the high-post, and Kobe was the second
scissor-cutter. The hand-off. The drive. The dunk. This was the second
of Kobe's open looks. (But why on earth wasn't this play ever repeated?)

For the quarter, Kobe was 3-of-6 and had eight points as and Detroit led
5-16 after 12 minutes.


Second Quarter
Once again, Kobe was confronted with three different defenders.

Against Prince, Kobe twice aborted the triangle offense, lofting a pair
of long-range shots: the first making the net dance (open shot No. 3)
and the second drawing a foul.

For most of the quarter, Maurice Evans had Kobe-duty with mixed results:


The defensive triangle was formed by Billups and Antonio McDyess, and
Evans needed all the help he could get. A fake drew Evans off-balance on
the left wing, and Kobe bagged an 18-footer. Another fake, a dribble to
the baseline and another jumper. (This was open-look No. 4.) Then a
catch and turn on the right wing, and Kobe dropped a 20-footer. All of
these shots were occasioned by Kobe's being able to dribble away from
the Pistons' defensive rotation.

Now Kobe was presented with high-screens, and Detroit's tactic was to
double him. Still, Kobe managed to split a double and draw a foul. But
another double by McDyess pinned Kobe to the baseline and forced one
more disadvantageous pass. (McDyess left as soon as Kobe pulled up his
dribble.) Rasheed was the doubler on the next high S/R , and his
long-armed defense caused Kobe to miss a 20-footer.

Kobe set Evans up in the low post, and with Billups denying the middle,
turned baseline, faked and was fouled.

After Mihm rebounded a Pistons miss, Evans lingered in the backcourt and
positioned himself between Mihm and Bryant to successfully deny the
outlet pass. Instead of Kobe bringing the ball at full-speed into the
attack zone, the Lakers had to play a half-court set.

Carlos Defino was up next, and for a few minutes, he bodied and banged
Kobe at every turn. Kobe drew a foul on Delfino and then made a nifty
cut off a weak-side screen to knock down a 19-footer. (His fifth open
shot.) But Kobe also misfired on three consecutive shots against
Delfino's resolute defense: a forced 20-footer when Delfino refused to
buy a fake and a pair of long-balls.

In the second quarter, Kobe shot 5-of-9 and registered 17 points, as the
Pistons lead was upped to 56-47.

Third Quarter
Prince was the lone Kobe-stopper here, and Kobe's only two hoops came on
sensational shots: After dribbling off a high S/R, Kobe eluded the
helping Billups, maneuvered around Ben and hit an off-balance jumper
over the outstretched hand of Rasheed. Then came a change of direction
away from a proffered screen, and another high-wire reversal was capped
by an unlikely bank shot. Both of these makes were definitely highlight
material and were also examples of the kind of unexpected brilliance
that Kobe can demonstrate anytime, anywhere, against anyone.

Kobe's other attempts to dethrone Prince resulted in a pair of turnovers
as he was two-timed, along with two bricks fired under extreme pressure.

It should be noted that with Detroit's lead increased to solid double
figures, they abandoned their triangle defense. The idea was to prevent
Kobe (and the Lakers) from getting used to this alignment and to save it
should it be needed at a later time. During the third quarter, Kobe was
only 2-of-4 and tallied six points as Detroit's margin grew to 84-63.


Fourth Quarter
This time Hamilton and Prince took turns.

Against Prince, Kobe bounced away from an S/R that was loosely doubled
by Ben Wallace and missed a 20-footer. Open shot No. 6 resulted from a
rare defensive lapse, when Kobe received a return pass from Odom and hit
a mid-range jumper. Number 7 happened shortly thereafter in an early
offense sequence when Kobe spun away from an attempted double-team by
Billups but missed from 18-feet.



Kobe ran a screen/fade with Hamilton in his face and came up empty from
20-feet. A solo venture into the middle hung a foul on Hamilton. And
Kobe actually missed a pair of mildly challenged layups in transition.

To finish up, Prince once more jumped into the saddle. As Evans did
earlier, Prince adhered to Kobe in the backcourt after Mihm corralled a
defensive rebound, once again denying the outlet pass. In the final
desperate minutes, Kobe missed a trey, made one and dribbled through a
loose double-team only to miss a short-jumper.

Kobe's most outstanding play in the game occurred in the waning moments
with the result virtually decided and in a situation wherein he never
touched the ball: Lamar Odom was shooting the second of two foul shots.
Big Ben had the basket-side position on the right foul lane, and Kobe
was beside him. Even though Ben is two inches taller than Kobe and at
least fifty pounds heavier and despite the fact that B. Wallace is
rightly reputed to be one of the NBA's toughest hombres, Kobe refused to
be intimidated. As the shot went up, Kobe banged Wallace ? then spun
quickly into the middle of the lane. Indeed, Odom's shot was a miss, and
a gigantic gravity-defying leap by Kobe gave him a chance to nab the
offensive rebound ? but the ball bounced beyond his grasp.

Talent isn't enough to make a great player an all-time great player. If
his own defensive efforts were only so-so and if Detroit's ornery
defense made him sweat for every point, the Pistons couldn't make Kobe
Bryant quit.

For the fourth quarter, Kobe was only 2-of-9 and registered eight
points.

Regardless of his skill level and his determination, no one defensive
player can adequately contain a high-powered scorer like Kobe Bryant
(ditto for extravagant point-makers like LeBron, A.I., Melo, T-Mac,
etc).

So, then, whomever was defending Kobe (Hamilton, Billups, Prince or
Delfino), defensive help was always close at hand. And the variety of
help-spots, as well as the soft- and hard-doubles, were aimed at simply
making Kobe as uncomfortable as possible. Detroit showed him as many
different defenders and different schemes as they could muster.

Basic to Detroit's relative success was the speed and agility of the
help-players, who were able to zip over to Kobe from two dribbles
removed and then quickly recover to their original defensive
assignments. The Pistons' efforts here were aided by the fact that those
Lakers players, who were temporarily uncovered when their defenders went
to help on Kobe, never moved to a different spot. This meant that the
doubler could easily find, and return to, his man. Moreover, the lateral
mobility of the Wallaces also allowed the Pistons' bigs to likewise show
and recover.

Sure, Kobe put up 39 points, but only seven of his 28 shots were
uncontested. That's a percentage that any self-respecting defense can be
proud of. Great players make tough shots, and with the ball in his
hands, none of the current crop of super-stars is greater than Kobe
Bryant.

That's why defending him requires a talented, disciplined team that's
capable of implementing a playbook full of extraordinary strategies.

.

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