[Seuss]

GM/Coach has one day to get his gameplan up. Here's a gameplan template.

Offensive Plan:
Defensive Plan:
Overall Focus:

#7 Milwaukee Bucks:

PG: Maurice Cheeks
SG: Vince Carter
SF: Andre Kirilenko
PF: Pau Gasol
CE: Hakeem Olujawon

BENCH: Don Buse, Sean Battier, Terry Cummings, Lou Hudson, Sam Lacey

#2 Toronto Raptors:

PG: Chauncy Billups
SG: Michael Jordan
SF: Grant Hill
PF: Larry Nance
C: Dikembe Mutumbo

BENCH: Antonio McDyess, Rashard Lewis, Dana Barros, Zelmo Beatty, Brent Barry

[Sharpie]

Milwaukee Bucks:

PLAYING TIME DISTRIBUTION:

F - Andrei Krilenko (30) Lou Hudson (18)
F - Pau Gasol (26) Terry Cummings (22)
C - Hakeem Olajuwon (38) Sam Lacey (10)
G - Vince Carter (28) Don Buse (14) Lou Hudson (6)
G - Maurice Cheeks (34) Don Buse (14)

CRUNCH TIME LINEUP:

F - Andrei Kirilenko
F - Terry Cummings
C - Hakeem Olajuwon
G - Vince Carter
G - Maurice Cheeks

TEAM STRENGTHS: Ideally, everyone on your team would be a great defender, but I had to settle for great defense at the two most important positions on the court with Olajuwon and Cheeks, two above average defenders in Andrei Kirilenko and Pau Gasol, and an average defender in Vince Carter.

Rebounding wise we have a great rebounding center, two forwards who can help him out, along with an above average rebounding guard; all four (Hakeem, Pau, Andrei, and Vince) of those players are above average offensive rebounders.

Offensively, we have playmakers at every single position with great scoring potential from every area of the court; post scoring with Olajuwon, mid-range shooting with Maurice and Pau, and long-range shooting with Vince.

Off the bench we don't miss much defensively with Don Buse defending the guards, Sam Lacey controlling the paint, and Shane Battier holding his own against the swingmen of this league.

On the boards we have another great rebounder in Sam Lacey, an above average rebounder in Terry Cummings, along with Shane Battier they should hold their own against most lineups.

Offensively we won't miss much with Buse running things as he'll make sure Cummings and Lou Hudson get the ball where they like, with Shane Battier and Sam Lacey cleaning up around the perimeter and down low.

TEAM WEAKNESSES: We could use another outside shooter, but we can shoot it from anywhere. We could use a true second star, relative to the second stars in this league, but we do have great depth. We could use a bigger lock down defender on the perimeter, but we do have great help defense to minimize that problem as well.

STRATEGY ON DEFENSE: Starts with Maurice Cheeks and Don Buse pressuring the ball and finishes with Hakeem, Pau, Kirilenko, or Lacey blocking or intimidating shots. Basically, we're going to do what Hakeem's teams always did, pressure the ball and funnel everyone to Hakeem, except this time he's not going to be alone with Gasol and Kirilenko.

STRATEGY ON THE BOARDS: We're good on the defensive boards with Hakeem, Lacey, and all of the forwards, which should lead to the occasional breakaway dunk. Offensively, we're also going to be able to crash the boards, especially against weak rebounding teams.

STRATEGY ON OFFENSE: Overall, we're going to run a quick-hitting fast paced half-court system. Obviously, it's going to be centered around Hakeem, but it won't completely rely on him with Vince, Gasol, Cummings, and Hudson there to take the pressure off of him. Taking the pressure off of all of them are spot up shooters like Kirilenko and Battier, and playmakers like Cheeks and Hudson.

[Sharpie]

The only thing that writeup doesn't cover is Michael Jordan, the way we'll deal (at least minimize his impact) with him is through help defense and going right at him on offense with Carter and Hudson. Jordan, typically, didn't have that many great nights against Houston because of Hakeem Olajuwon, and I think we can continue that here.

Also, I think the Raptors against the Bucks will have to rely on Jordan way too much and it should limit his effectiveness down the stretch. He can't rest on offense because of our help defense and the occasional matchup against Don Buse. He can't rest of defense because of Vince Carter and Lou Hudson. Grant Hill can help him out some and so can Larry Nance, but they don't compare, in quantity and quality, to Vince Carter, Pau Gasol, Terry Cummings, and Lou Hudson helping out Hakeem.

So, I think it's going to come down to Jordan vs Hakeem, Jordan IMO, has to deal with more which I think will limit his effectiveness when it matters most.

EDIT: I altered the playing time so Don Buse can get more minutes as the first line of defense against Jordan. No more Shane Battier, which is good because Shane is not the best one on one defender against uber-talented guards like a Jordan. Trust me, I've seen McGrady handle him while he was at Memphis and Kobe handle him now with Houston.

[ss03]

Strategy on Offense -

Use the triangle or some variation of it which involes Hill & Jordan, and their ability to pass as the centerpiece of the team. The Buck's defense focuses on stealing the ball, and blocking shots by putting pressure on the opposing players. To avoid the pressure defense as much as possible, the key to the Raptors offense will be the ball movement used, since we have a lot of great passers in the starting lineup (Hill, Jordan, Billups, Nance). Of course, more often than not, when Jordan's on the floor the offense will flow through him.

Also, we'll use bench players like Lewis, Barros, and Barry to spread the floor since they have terrific 3-pt-shooting abilities. Their perimeter defense can be a little weak, and when Jordan's on the floor, Carter's not going to stop him, or someone is going to coem over to double team eventually, meaning we'll have an open man. The open man could be anyone.

Mutumbo doesn't have a GREAT offensive game, but Hakeem still has to defend him because if he gets the ball and has enough space, he'll finish the play and score. Nance is atheletic and can attack the rim off quick, and with power to avoid the blocks as much as possible, or to fraw fouls. (Mutumbo has also gotten Olajuwon into foul trouble quite often in the past)

* Sorry, had to mention the triangle, I mean, it works pretty well with this team and it helped Jordan to 6 championships.

Strategy on Defense -

For starters, Jordan, Nance, and Mutumbo were all members of the All Defensive 1st team, and Jordan and Mutumbo are former DPOY. Billups made the all-defensive second team a few times, and overall plays smart, solid defense that should be enough to bother Cheeks. Lastly, Hill isn't a DPOY candidate in any year, but he's not a liability on defense and he's a solid help defender.

The team will either play man-to-man or use a triangle-and-two zone defending on which bucks players are on the floor. When Carter, Olujawon, Jordan and Mutumbo are on the floow, the triangle-two could be quite effective. Billups, Hill and Nance would play zone allowing them to come in on double teams or bother the other players enough that they can not get open looks, or easy points. Jordan would be playing the 1-on-1 on Carter, and Mutumbo on Hakeem, and the zone would try to stop passes inside.

Lastly, no matter what form of defense is used, we would make Olujawon work hard in the painted area, and make it difficult for others to get him the ball. The Bucks aren't a GREAT shooting team, and more often than not will try, or need to score in or around the key, so they're not going to stretch the Raptors defense enough to get their post players easy buckets.

Olajuwon is going to have a hard time with this team on offense as well because he can get into foul trouble a lot, and because the team is quick and atheletic, and has the ability to penetrate or slash to the basket if needed meaning he'll have to work hard on the defensive end, leaving him with less energy on the offensive end.

Overall Focus - Wear the other team down

Quick plays, athletic players, and ball-movement makes the Bucks work hard on the defensive end, and makes it difficult to stop my team from scoring. If anything, players can defer to Jordan, if the bucks double-team Jordan, he defers to the open man.

On defense, we have great defenders so on man-to-man defense, or double teams they would have to work hard, and in the 3-2 zone, the SG and C will have a hard time with the constact 1-on-1 pressure defense, while the other players will have trouble getting them the ball, and will be forced to step up and shoot the ball, something the Bucks aren't that great a team in.

--------------------

PS: How is 32/6/5/3/1/47% called Jordan being ineffective against the Rockets in his career?

[Sharpie]

From 1987-1994 Jordan against the Rockets averaged 31.4 points on 47% shooting, went to the line 7.4 times per game, and averaged 5.2 assists with 2.9 turnovers. During the same time against the rest of the league, Jordan averaged 32.3 points per game on 52% shooting, went to the lines 9.1 times per game, and averaged 5.9 assists with 3.0 turnover. So, he didn't have that many great games against Houston, never said was ineffective, just that he wasn't that great, which is true.

Hakeem vs Mutombo in 1994:

Olajuwon - 41.4 MPG, 31.0 PPG, 51% FG, 12.4 RPG, 2.6 APG, 4.8 BPG, 0.8 SPG, 3.2 TPG, 4.6 FPG

Mutombo - 38.8 MPG, 12.8 PPG, 58% FG, 11.6 RPG, 1.2 APG, 2.8 BPG, 0.6 SPG, 2.2 TPG, 3.4 FPG

Olajuwon vs Jordan in 1993:

Olajuwon - 39.5 MPG, 26.1 PPG, 53% FG, 13.0 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.8 SPG, 4.2 BPG, 3.7 FPG

Jordan - 39.3 MPG, 32.6 PPG, 50% FG, 6.7 RPG, 5.5 APG, 2.8 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 2.4 FPG

[BadBaronRudigor]

quick notes: Lou Hudson is not a terribly creative playmaker, he was a pure shotup shooter and a great one; Larry Nance was not a great passer, he was a great finisher (and a much better defender than Pau Gasol btw).

[ss03]

Originally Posted by BadBaronRudigor

quick notes: Lou Hudson is not a terribly creative playmaker, he was a pure shotup shooter and a great one; Larry Nance was not a great passer, he was a great finisher (and a much better defender than Pau Gasol btw).

Yea I know Nance wasn't a GREAT passer, but for a PF he was a pretty good passer. Wasn't the best at passing out of trouble, but if he needed to, he could get the ball and pass it out to people for an easy shot, or to the center near the basket. Probably hsouldn't have mentioned him with Hill, Jordan, and Billups but the point was that he could move the ball, but you're right.

Sharpie, your stat things keep stretching out the screen, its kind of annoying.

[Sharpie]

Originally Posted by BadBaronRudigor

quick notes: Lou Hudson is not a terribly creative playmaker, he was a pure shotup shooter and a great one; Larry Nance was not a great passer, he was a great finisher (and a much better defender than Pau Gasol btw).

That's fine, as long as Jordan can't take it easy on defense against Hudson. Gasol isn't a great defender, but he's solid, he was the anchor of Memphis' defense when they were making the playoffs as a defense first team.



Is anyone else having the same problem ss03 is having with my coded stats stretching out their screen? It gives me a scroll bar to move left and right instead of stretching it out.

[jericho]

Another close series, and while Hakeem is probably my favorite player ever, I have to like Toronto to win here. The Raptors have a weaker bench, but I think Jordan has just enough help for the team to pull this one out.

[ss03]

Originally Posted by Sharpie

That's fine, as long as Jordan can't take it easy on defense against Hudson. Gasol isn't a great defender, but he's solid, he was the anchor of Memphis' defense when they were making the playoffs as a defense first team.



Is anyone else having the same problem ss03 is having with my coded stats stretching out their screen? It gives me a scroll bar to move left and right instead of stretching it out.

Sorry, when I said "stretched out", it does give me the scrollbar, I just meant it stretches out all the posted message areas.

[Diophantos]

Yeah Sharpie, for some reason Firefox is fine with your tables (putting scrollbars under each table and not stretching the screen) but IE (at least the version I have here at work) messes up. Doesn't put the scrollbars underneath each table and the whole posts gets stretched horizontally. No biggy though...just use Firefox everyone.

As for this matchup, at first glance Toronto seems like it just has too much talent. I'll look a little closer later.

[BadBaronRudigor]

Toronto has an edge in its starters with Jordan/Mutumbo/Billups roughly cancelling out Hakeem/Carter/Cheeks but better forwards. The bench is a big weakness but I think you have to give this one to Jordan though it is much closer than I would have thought before looking at matchups.

[Sunsfan81]

This would be a close series. The Bucks biggest advantage is at center, with Hakeem being far better than Mutombo. I like more Cheeks than Billups, though Billups is a better scorer and has played well in big games. The Raptors biggest advantage is having Jordan, who many think is the best player ever. The Bucks have Carter, who might end up being a HOFer, but he's miles behind Jordan. Toronto has a big advantage with Hill over Kirilenko. And I think Nance is better than Gasol, but not by much. The Bucks probably have a slightly better bench. Lou Hudson is a very good scoring threat, Cummings is another good option off the bench. The Raptors do have Zelmo, who they'll need, because Mutombo is not a good offensive player.

But I like more the Raptors in a close game, they have Jordan, on the perimeter the Bucks have to rely on Carter who I don't trust in a big spot. In the end I don't see Jordan losing here in the 1st round with homecourt.