khandor’s sports blog

Whenever the Orlando Magic come to town … like today versus the Toronto Raptors … a team is forced to deal with the challenge presented by Dwight Howard, one of the best young big men in the NBA.

From a technical basketball standpoint, however, the best way to play D12 is not to double-team him at all.

The best way to defend effectively against Superman, as a team, is to:

* Meet him early in transition, at the TOTK; bump him hard to let him know that you’re there, and to make him work to get to his post-up spot, in the first place

* DO NOT try to Front or Half-front him in any way, shape or form

* Play Behind Him, exclusively [in all post-up situations]

* Occupy Him Physically, from Behind … at all times … by attempting to push him out/off his spot, in the direction of the post entry passer [on the line of the ball]

* If/when he catches the ball … Gap him immediately, allowing him to face-up if he wishes, and take jumpshots to his heart’s content

* If he tries to back you down with his dribble … Bump him hard on each dribble with your inside forearm in the small of his back [in the kidney area] and then release again until he takes the next dribble, then repeat the process, as many times as necessary

* DO NOT leave your feet, no matter what Dwight does

* Make him shoot the ball OVER YOU … no matter what … whether it’s a J, jumphook, drop-step power layup, or a dunk … You MUST stay down

* When the shot goes up … whether Howard or someone else is the shooter doesn’t really matter … Engage D12 physically by facing him, pushing him, grabbing him, banging into him, etc., each and every time, i.e. forgetting about the ball and possibly getting the rebound yourself … YOUR JOB IS TO NOT LET HIM GET IT

Do these things, in this way … putting Howard in the situation of having to make a lot of shots over your primary defender, repeatedly … and, thereby, making the other Magic players into their team’s primary offensive rebounders … and your team has got an excellent chance to beat Orlando.

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With this in mind …

Andrea Bargnani [PF] SHOULD BE the one taking on Dwight Howard [C], defensively, this afternoon – along with Kris Humphries [PF] & Jake Voskuhl [PF/C] – while Chris Bosh [C] is assigned to check Rashard Lewis [PF], with Joey Graham [SF] & Jamario Moon [OG & SF] rotating on Hedo Turkoglu.

Bargnani has the makings of a young Bill Laimbeer [C-PF] … offensively, defensively, in terms of rebounding, and goonery … and is well-suited for the task, given his [i] physical size, strength & quickness, [ii] mentality, [iii] emotional make-up, and [iv] specific skill set. 

Note: If the Raptors get waxed today … it will stem primarily from: [1] the absence of their Starting PG [Jose Calderon]; and [2] the fact that Toronto [A] does not match-up its players properly with the Magic on the defensive end of the floor, and [B] repeatedly tries to Front/Half-front vs D12.

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Bill Laimbeer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Jamario Moon, Joey Graham, Kris Humphries, Rashard Lewis, Superman

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 11:28 am and is filed under Basketball, NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.