One of the NBA 50 Greatest Players, ulasan Pippen menjelang final besok. Scottie Pippen: If I Were Coach ... Posted Jun 5 2007 5:48PM If one player best captured the excellence of the versatile, athletic mid-sized player who helped change the face of the NBA in the 20th Century's last decade, that player would be Scottie Pippen. Teaming with Michael Jordan to help the Chicago Bulls win six NBA championships in the '90s, Pippen out of Central Arkansas, was the best defensive player and top passer during those years. Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, Pippen will be offering his insights on a weekly basis throughout the playoffs as if he were a head coach trying to navigate the dangerous postseason waters. Cavs-Spurs: What To Look For I expect Cleveland to continue to try to space the floor and allow LeBron James to attack. He has great athleticism, but I do think in this series he has to be a lot more cautious. The backline defense of the Spurs is a lot stronger, a lot smarter, and more talented than Detroits. Speaking of their bigs, they have guys that are going to step in front of LeBron and take charges. When you look at the Detroit Pistons, they probably only had one guy Antonio McDyess who would step up and take the charge. Webber wasnt likely to take one and neither was Rasheed Wallace. So I think San Antonios defense will play a huge factor against the Cleveland Cavaliers offense because it wont allow LeBron to get to the basket. He has to find that mid-range game in this series because San Antonio doesnt leave the three-point shooters. If I Were Coaching Cleveland Daniel Gibson did a great job stepping up in the last series, but now he is not a new soldier to the camp anymore. Everyone knows who he is and what he is capable of. So I dont think hes going to be able ease into The Finals and have a great series like he did in the Eastern Conference Finals. San Antonio has definitely honed in on this kid. They are a team that really relies on Duncan and their big guys to step up and play that sort of two-on-three-at-the-basket kind of defense and they stay home on their three pointers. The Cavs dont know where Larry Hughes is from an injury standpoint, so this is a great series for Zydrunas Ilgauskas to give them something inside. Not to take anything away from Duncan because he is a great defender, but he is not a great defender on the basketball and I think that is one area where they can take advantage of San Antonio by trying to utilize their inside approach and get some scoring. The Spurs wont give up a lot from a perimeter standpoint. What Can Larry Hughes Provide? Larry Hughes can be an X-factor for Cleveland, but I think right now he is a guy that Cleveland is really hanging on to by the nails at this stage of the season. Theyve played over 120-plus basketball games by now and injuries start to creep in. There is no time for healing. I dont think he is going to be that big of a help judging from the way he was limping throughout the Detroit series. He is capable of doing it, but will his health allow him to do it? San Antonio is a very hands-on, pressure type of defense. Theyre going to be up on him, theyre going to pressure him in the backcourt and theyre going to try to take the Cavs out of their offense and force them to use a lot of shot clock. The Cavs Biggest Challenge Stopping Tony Parker Cleveland is a very good defensive team, but if there is anything that is going to be their Achilles heel in this series, it will be penetration off the pick and roll as far as Tony Parker just breaking guys down. That is a problem they are going to have to face. Give them credit, they are good in a lot of areas, but the fact that they dont have a very strong point guard right now and Hughes ailing, that could hurt them. Parker will be penetrating throughout the game. I think they can stabilize Manu Ginobili with LeBron or utilize their bigs to be able to come over and help, but Parker really hurts teams a lot in their early offense for the fact that he breaks the offense down. Duncan has such soft hands and hes able to drop the ball off and get easy baskets throughout the game. The Mike Brown/Danny Ferry Familiarity Factor With The Spurs You can basically throw that out. No matter how much you try to keep secrets, at this stage every team knows every teams' plays. They know everything about them. They know everything about each individual as a player. This series really relies on the players and how well they can go out and execute under pressure because the pressure has been turned all the way up to the max now. You are going to get a chance to see how a young Cleveland team can handle things from a media standpoint and everything that the NBA Finals brings. For San Antonio its really just another day, glad to be back again, but they understand that they have to block everything out and play basketball. Stopping LeBron The match-up of LeBron and Bruce Bowen is definitely going to be one to watch. It is going to work like a glove and a hand. The Spurs are a team that has faced Kobe Bryant three out of the last five years, so they understand how to play against superstar players out on the basketball court. Bowen understands where his help is. He understands how to make guys drive out of control. LeBron James is not going to be new territory for them. Bowen is going to try to frustrate LeBron in any way that he can. But LeBron has grown so much to the fact that he can still make plays with the basketball in his hands without being an offensive threat. He just has to be patient. Bowen is going to do a phenomenal job on him in not allowing him to get good looks at the basket. He is going to force him into drive mode because that is where his help is. Theyre not going to rely on any other help for his running and double-teaming. They are going to allow Bowen to use his size to try to alter LeBrons shot in any way in addition to having help from the seven-footers or whoever else they have at the four position. How Much Does The Spurs Experience Count? You look at that Cleveland Cavalier team and they have little experience. You talk about Eric Snow, a specialty guy for them whos the only guy that really gives them this type of experience. Its very easy and very helpful for him to try and relate to his teammates, but its not going to help them much. Ultimately, you have to go through it, your body has to go through it, and you have to adjust to it. That is something where San Antonio is going to be able to get off to a great start against them. Not only that, but they have the home court advantage. By the time this Cleveland team really settles in, they may be behind a game or quarter. Playing against one of the better teams in the league, its very difficult to have that comeback in you in the first game. This series reminds me a lot of me being a Chicago Bull when we faced the Lakers in 1991. We were a very young team that had a lot of experience in fighting the Eastern Conference battles but never had the opportunity on the big stage. I feel like that Game 1 really caught us on our heels, but we were ready for the next four games. The Spurs and Their Motivation To Make History Tim Duncan has been a phenomenal player, but its just been a tremendous ride watching Coach Popovich, a guy who was sort of pulled out of the front office and pulled into that coaching slot, and how this guy has turned out to be such a phenomenal coach. Not knowing a lot about him before he became the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, he has really done a tremendous job for that franchise over the last ten years. You never know what else is to come because you look at a guy like Tim Duncan, who still has a lot of great basketball left in him, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, this franchise has a great future still left with some very young players. Its not like youre thinking this team is not going to be together for the next five years. San Antonio is an organization that has longevity in its superstars, starting with a guy like David Robinson who played his whole career there. Prediction I want to give Cleveland a lot of credit and not take anything away from them, but I do think the Spurs will prevail probably in six.
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