I also didn't realize how good Boston is at defending the post. Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace are making Dwight Howard look like a guy who hasn't progressed the last 3 years. The fact is that Howard has gotten a lot better in the last year, but the Celtics have exposed his biggest weakness- he can't play with his back to the basket. The great centers would destroy teams that didn't double them with a wide array of low post moves, or with brute strength. Howard doesn't have either right now, so whenever he gets the ball on the block, he faces up whoever is guarding him, and he tries to use his athleticism to get the the basket. Perkins and Wallace are too good to allow Howard to do this.
In all honesty, Howard, and the Magic are better when teams double because Howard does a great job of passing out of the double (one big area of improvement) and that sets up the Magic's 3-point game because they are so good at moving the ball around the perimeter. Orlando's offense has come to a stand still, and Howard isn't efficient enough offensively right now. Mark Jackson has said that Orlando can't win with Howard getting the ball in the low post every time down.
That being said, I think Orlando can still win the series, but Stan Van Gundy has got to be creative with matchups, something is is very good at doing. Orlando needs to get back to unconventional basketball. They have to win game 3, if they can do that, they will only need to split the next 2 games in Boston in order to get to game 7, but that assumes they can win their home games. It isn't impossible, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Prediction before the series: Magic in 6
Prediction after 2 games: Celtics in 6
No comments:
Post a Comment