The San Antonio Spurs made fairly fast work of the Lakers in Game 1 on April 21, however they didnat do it in how youad assume. San Antonio didnat carve up the suspect Lakers defense; instead, they used LAas offense in check. A large element of this was the way they managed pick-and-rolls. With Kobe Bryant out and Steve Nash hobbled because of injury, the potency of the Lakers is their big guys a Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard. San Antonio made their pick-and-roll defense strategy around that fact, and forced Laker ball handlers to take a extraordinary number of images in comparison with Howard and Gasol on the roll. Based on the video tracking service mySynergySports, the Lakers concluded 26 plays with a shot, turnover or foul attracted by a pick-and-roll ball handler or spin man. Of those 26 plays, only six were finished by the move person, in comparison to 20 by the ball handler. All in all, Laker basketball handlers finished 3-for-17 from the area. Yuck. The Spurs defended nearly every pick-and-roll the exact same way. The man being screened struggled extraordinary as the big man a whether Tim Duncan or Tiago Splitter a' hung straight back close to the free throw line to stop any possible driving lane. This made a pocket of space near the shoulder, which Nash and Steve Blake a lot more than willingly dribbled into time and time again. With all that apparently open real-estate, Nash and Blake frequently pulled up for mid-range jumpers, usually referred to as the least successful shots in the overall game. Only 22.5 percent of the Lakersa overall field goal attempts throughout the regular period were of the mid-range range, per NBA.com, but that number shot all the way as much as 39.7 percent in Game 1, largely because of the Spurs permitting them to get these shots out of pick-and-roll a 12 of LAas 29 mid-range shots on Sunday were taken by their pick-and-roll ball handlers. Again and again, the Spurs had their big man hang straight back near the free throw line to create that enticing pocket of space. They also made it happen if the Lakers went to their 4-5 pick-and-roll with Gasol and Howard. Duncan, meanwhile, are at the underside of the free throw circle, protecting against both a lob pass and a push to Howard. Therefore Gasol makes exactly the same choice Nash and Blake built over and over again; the mid-range jumper is taken by him, and the Spurs will definitely deal with that choice. Actually on plays where youad generally see virtually every team in the league send their big man to strike the ball handler a' particularly, part pick-and-rolls a' the Spurs put back and forced the Lakers in to dysfunctional pictures. As opposed to adowna or aicea these plays (which, it must be noted, is how they dealt with Chris Paul a' Blake Griffin part pick-and-rolls in last yearas playoffs), the Spurs stuck with their method. The Spurs know better than most about the issues of the game, and if they've to just take their chances with the Lakers finding mid-range jumpers to deny the ball to Howard and Gasol as they roll to the side, theyall joyfully get it done. Though it was extremely effective in limiting the Lakers in Game 1, it might not hold through the entire series. Manhunter shot just 31.3 percent from the subject in the area encompassing the free throw line on Sunday, while 44.2 percent was shot by them from that area throughout the regular season, per NBA.com. Several more makes here and there and the Lakers would have been right in the game in the last quarter, instead of by down double digits.
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