When ZBO and GASOL control the paint, the grizzlies are HARD to beat. It's just that the ZBO and GASOL never do that anymore.
I could probably count on my one hand the few times ZBO AND MARC played like that SINCE the SPURS series 2 years ago. DON'T get me wrong, the grizzlies as a whole played terrible last night. BUT Marc and ZBO, at least as it relates to controlling the paint, were their old dominate selves.
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Last Night Was The First Time In A While That I Saw The Old Zbo/gasol Combo
Started by Kevin B Moses, Jan 20 2013 12:11 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
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Posted 20 January 2013 - 12:11 PM
#2
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Posted 20 January 2013 - 02:59 PM
Yeah, that was mainly a function of the Bulls crappy interior defense with Noah out of the game.
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Posted 20 January 2013 - 10:16 PM
Really? Seriously? I wouldn't say they controlled the paint. Boozer had an okay game and Gibson played really well. Marc was good except for foul trouble but, Z-Bo only had 13pts i think. 13pts is hardly the dominating presence we saw in 10-11.
Fact is, Randolph is almost exlusively a face-up jumpshooter now. You rarely see him play with his back to the basket. This is (one of) the reason(s) our offense is sooo out of whack. If he's facing up at 15ft our perimeter players are easily guarded b/c Zach & his defender are right out there with them. No spacing. You can bring cutters to the rim, but that will only work so often. If he's on the block at 10ft. and in, then we have better spacing and a double-team will have a long run-out to the 3-pt. arc. Think how much better Ellington would shoot out of a kick out from the low block.
I think the problem is that Zach lost soo much weight. He doesn't have the strength to establish position any more, and that girth was part of what got him seperation to get shots off. I wish he was fat again. The slimfast thing has clearly work for Kevin Love, but Zach isn't a good enough shooter to make it work for him. Love was actually a better post-scorer at UCLA when he was 280lbs. We, the Grizzlies, need the 1-2 inside punch of Randolph & Gasol to be a real contender in the West. It's that matchup nightmare that will give teams like OKC, Miami, SAS problems b/c we are powerful/dominate where they are thin and weak. Rudy & Conley aren't our advantage.
On the bright side his defense is very much improved.
I give him a ton of credit for the 19 boards, but really it's scoring that we need.
Fact is, Randolph is almost exlusively a face-up jumpshooter now. You rarely see him play with his back to the basket. This is (one of) the reason(s) our offense is sooo out of whack. If he's facing up at 15ft our perimeter players are easily guarded b/c Zach & his defender are right out there with them. No spacing. You can bring cutters to the rim, but that will only work so often. If he's on the block at 10ft. and in, then we have better spacing and a double-team will have a long run-out to the 3-pt. arc. Think how much better Ellington would shoot out of a kick out from the low block.
I think the problem is that Zach lost soo much weight. He doesn't have the strength to establish position any more, and that girth was part of what got him seperation to get shots off. I wish he was fat again. The slimfast thing has clearly work for Kevin Love, but Zach isn't a good enough shooter to make it work for him. Love was actually a better post-scorer at UCLA when he was 280lbs. We, the Grizzlies, need the 1-2 inside punch of Randolph & Gasol to be a real contender in the West. It's that matchup nightmare that will give teams like OKC, Miami, SAS problems b/c we are powerful/dominate where they are thin and weak. Rudy & Conley aren't our advantage.
On the bright side his defense is very much improved.
I give him a ton of credit for the 19 boards, but really it's scoring that we need.
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Posted 20 January 2013 - 10:49 PM
tennesseessio, on 20 January 2013 - 10:16 PM, said:
Really? Seriously? I wouldn't say they controlled the paint. Boozer had an okay game and Gibson played really well. Marc was good except for foul trouble but, Z-Bo only had 13pts i think. 13pts is hardly the dominating presence we saw in 10-11.
Fact is, Randolph is almost exlusively a face-up jumpshooter now. You rarely see him play with his back to the basket. This is (one of) the reason(s) our offense is sooo out of whack. If he's facing up at 15ft our perimeter players are easily guarded b/c Zach & his defender are right out there with them. No spacing. You can bring cutters to the rim, but that will only work so often. If he's on the block at 10ft. and in, then we have better spacing and a double-team will have a long run-out to the 3-pt. arc. Think how much better Ellington would shoot out of a kick out from the low block.
I think the problem is that Zach lost soo much weight. He doesn't have the strength to establish position any more, and that girth was part of what got him seperation to get shots off. I wish he was fat again. The slimfast thing has clearly work for Kevin Love, but Zach isn't a good enough shooter to make it work for him. Love was actually a better post-scorer at UCLA when he was 280lbs. We, the Grizzlies, need the 1-2 inside punch of Randolph & Gasol to be a real contender in the West. It's that matchup nightmare that will give teams like OKC, Miami, SAS problems b/c we are powerful/dominate where they are thin and weak. Rudy & Conley aren't our advantage.
On the bright side his defense is very much improved.
I give him a ton of credit for the 19 boards, but really it's scoring that we need.
Fact is, Randolph is almost exlusively a face-up jumpshooter now. You rarely see him play with his back to the basket. This is (one of) the reason(s) our offense is sooo out of whack. If he's facing up at 15ft our perimeter players are easily guarded b/c Zach & his defender are right out there with them. No spacing. You can bring cutters to the rim, but that will only work so often. If he's on the block at 10ft. and in, then we have better spacing and a double-team will have a long run-out to the 3-pt. arc. Think how much better Ellington would shoot out of a kick out from the low block.
I think the problem is that Zach lost soo much weight. He doesn't have the strength to establish position any more, and that girth was part of what got him seperation to get shots off. I wish he was fat again. The slimfast thing has clearly work for Kevin Love, but Zach isn't a good enough shooter to make it work for him. Love was actually a better post-scorer at UCLA when he was 280lbs. We, the Grizzlies, need the 1-2 inside punch of Randolph & Gasol to be a real contender in the West. It's that matchup nightmare that will give teams like OKC, Miami, SAS problems b/c we are powerful/dominate where they are thin and weak. Rudy & Conley aren't our advantage.
On the bright side his defense is very much improved.
I give him a ton of credit for the 19 boards, but really it's scoring that we need.
Excellent points and observations - gasol was way more dominant offensively than anything I have seen from Zbo in a while. Zbo is just feasting off all the plethora of missed shots we provide night after night.
All I am seeing is that it is just much smarter letting him score on put backs than forcing him to ISO. More and more his forays into ISO are nothing more than jab step mid- range jumper. And they are hitting with same regularity that Rudy's hit. If it wasn't for his rebounds he wouldn't be a factor at all most nights. He is still a gifted low post scorer he just doesn't/can't impose his will anymore.
