Coaching moves matter in NBA Playoffs
By Doug Upstone
For a lot of people, even sports bettors, they believe the NBA is a highly paid pickup game (read any number of forums), lacking the understanding of what goes into being a professional basketball coach. This is particularly true this time of year when coaches can pour all their energy into one opponent and have more time between games to assess each situation. Here is a look at what coaching has meant in three Sunday series.
Cleveland at Chicago 3:35E ABC
One of unappreciated aspects of professional basketball is coaching and game study. The head coach and assistants break down tape after each contest trying to find ways to improve or take advantage of defensive weakness.
In the NBA, Cleveland is well known for locking down opponents in halfcourt sets. Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro decided to push the ball up the floor on rebounds and made baskets for Game 3, freeing up shooters before the Cavaliers defense was in place. By getting into offense sooner, this allowed cleaner looks for Bulls players and only a Cavs three-point barrage and Chicago's missed free throws late in the game made the contest interesting.
Chicago is a 5.5-point underdog and is 19-10 ATS after covering two of their last three against the spread and needs Kirk Henrich as three-point scorer in the offense. His long range bombs open up the middle for Joakim Noah and Luol Deng to operate.
Del Negro's other decision was to man-up LeBron James with different defenders and let him get as much as he could earn, without the other players leaving their men for open three-point attempts. This is something James loves to do, have opposing players draw to him like magnet and he skillfully finds open three-point shooter. Chicago stuck with their plan and moved to 5-2 SU and ATS at the "Madness on Madison" location against Cleveland.
It's now coach Mike Brown's time to make adjustments and see if he can send the Bulls to 8-21 ATS at home after covering two or more contests.
Dallas at San Antonio 7:05E TNT
They don't have a NHL team in San Antonio, but Manu Ginobili showed the toughness of hockey player, coming back from broken nose to help the Spurs win 94-90 as 3.5-point favorites. Ginobili's warrior attitude was on display scoring 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter
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The other parts of San Antonio's three amigos, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, scored 48 points in the victory. Duncan turns 34 years old today and has a trio of games over 20 points and Parker appears to be relishing coming off the bench just like Ginobili used to do. The Spurs have covered eight of last 10 as home favorites.
Dirk Nowitzki overcame coach Greg Popovich's move of limiting his looks after Dirk's screens on and off the ball. In Game 2, the Spurs doubled on-ball screens and sent another defender at Nowitzki when he tried to pick and pop. Nowitzki thwarted that strategy as Dallas offense featured more isolation action and used his patented jab-step to total 35 points on 13-23 shooting.
The Mavericks are 6-2 ATS with a day between games and coach Rick Carlisle has explaining to do for benching Caron Butler in the second half. He said J.J. Barea gave them more penetration against San Antonio, (Barea did key a 17-0 run in the third quarter) however he could not replace the 19.5 points Butler has averaged in first two games. Butler had grand total of two points Friday night.
"Coach just goes with whoever is working that night and we went with a three-guard lineup," Nowitzki said. "It was working for a while but we didn't seem to have enough down the stretch."
Ginobili is expected to play and Betonline.com has the Spurs as 2.5-point favorites, with total of 193. San Antonio is 20-6-2 ATS as a playoff favorite and Dallas is 10-4 ATS as postseason underdog of 4.5 or less and 12-4 OVER as playoff pooch. The home team is on 7-3-1 ATS move.
Denver at Utah 9:35E TNT
The Nuggets defense continues to be a non-factor and it is evident this team is adrift. Despite being severely short-handed, Utah has averaged over 110 points per game in this series, shooting over 50 percent.
Utah's motion offense usually sets up a number of good looks at the bucket, however coach Jerry Sloan has noticed how slow and lazy (no other way to describe it) Denver has been on weakside defensive rotations, allowing the Jazz to run what appears to be a layup drill at times.
Utah is 21-10-2 ATS against team that permitted 100 or more points in last outing and Deron Williams is acting like its Thanksgiving, carving up Denver's defense. Utah finished with 27 assists and just nine turnovers.
The Nuggets lack of urgency is unsettling and speaks volumes what George Karl means to this team. The Jazz are the hungrier team and Denver is 1-7-1 ATS in last nine road excursions.
Utah is a two-point pick and is 19-6-1 ATS when favored team by 4.5 or less and is 6-0-1 UNDER off outright win. Denver will attempt to even the series and is 7-1 ATS off a loss by 10 or more. They are 6-2 UNDER in last eight visits to Salt Lake City.