[Seuss]

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

Offensive Plan:
Defensive Plan:
Overall Focus:

#3 Washington Bullets:

PG: Walt Frazier
SG: Fat Lever
SF: Shawn Marion
PF: Bobby Jones
CE: Wilt Chamberlain

BENCH: Mel Daniels, George McGinnis, Dale Ellis, Kirk Hinrich, Tayshaun Prince

#6 Miami Heat:

PG: Terry Porter
SG: Tracy McGrady
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Dennis Rodman
CE: Yao Ming

BENCH: Paul Westphal, Maurice Lucas, Elmore Smith, Calvin Natt, Steve Francis

[Diophantos]

I've posted a general outline of my team here; will spare you all posting it again. Here I'll try and talk specifically about how the Heat match up vs. Washington. This post is another doozy, so I don't blame you if you don't get through the whole thing...again though, I had fun writing it.

On offense, my most comfortable matchup is the 6'9", 210 pound McGrady vs. the 6'3", 170 pound Lever, an option that will be called upon frequently in the post and facing up. Lever simply lacks the size to defend McGrady in these situations and this will be a high-efficiency option. Guarding McGrady with Frazier doesn't help the size mismatch; guarding him with Marion or Jones does, but leaves Lever guarding Bird in the post, or struggling (and failing) to keep Rodman from playing volleyball off the offensive glass. In any case, Lever has a significant size disadvantage, which the Heat exploit.

The other scheme that takes advantage of the McGrady/Lever matchup is involving Wilt in the pick and roll, one with Yao and McGrady at the top of the key. Yao sets a pick and fades to his favorite elbow jumper spot, while McGrady attacks the basket off the dribble, getting to the rack or to the line, possibly putting Wilt into foul trouble.

Finally, there's Bird. He's facing a nice array of defensive players, but he will get his points efficiently and will facilitate from the post. Bird faced and beat Jones's 76ers in the playoffs on a few occasions, and Marion (while a good defender) has in the past struggled with bigger, interior, SF/PF types (e.g. Lamar Odom) and Bird falls into that category.

There's a lot of offensive options for Washington to deal with at once, and something (the pick and roll, the mismatch with Lever, etc.) will give.

Defensively, Wilt clearly poses the greatest challenge. Yao will guard him, and hope that Wilt is intimidated by the novelty of being guarded by (a) a Chinese guy, and (b) a 7'6" guy. More seriously, Yao has the strong lower body base to avoid getting manhandled in the post (much as he has held his ground against Shaq over the years). Doubles will come from Rodman, forcing Bobby Jones or Marion to create with the ball in their hands, something which is neither of their strengths.

On the wings, Rodman will likely switch between Marion and Jones. Marion has been known to disappear from big playoff series when guarded by elite defenders (see Bowen, Bruce) and we expect this to follow that pattern. In addition, Rodman not only limits the scoring of Marion and Jones, he cuts off their offensive rebounding opportunites, a lucrative source of scoring for both of them. Bird guards whoever Rodman isn't guarding; as an all-time great SF rebounder, he too limits the offensive rebounding opportunities of Marion and Jones.

In the backcourt, the size and presence of McGrady dries up any post-up opportunities for Lever, and his long arms limit Lever's jump-shooting, not a great strength anyways. Porter will start off marking Frazier, and will use his size and physicality to keep Clyde out of the paint; McGrady can switch here as necessary to give Clyde some more size to think about.

The defensive idea is to force the ball into the hands of Jones and Marion, guys who are not comfortable handling and creating. Doubling Wilt with Rodman or Bird, and roaming McGrady around the backcourt are the two ways to accomplish this.

A word about the benches: the Bullets bench is strongest up front with Daniels and McGinnis, and expects scoring from those sources. However they are countered on the Heat bench with two bigger, more physical, defensive players in Smith and Lucas, and this will make it very difficult for them to be effective. On the wings, Dale Ellis will never be able to get into this game: since he can't hope to guard Bird, McGrady, Westphal, etc. his shooting is effectively wasted. Prince is a solid defender but works best on guards who like to pull up for mid-to-long range jumpers that he can bother with his reach--Bird is too big and physical in the post for him, while Westphal and McGrady are penetrators of the type that have given Prince trouble (e.g. Wade, Lebron). The Heat's Natt is athletic and tough, capable of guarding either forward spot in this matchup and benefitting from his teammates' great passing. Hinrich's defense, like Ellis's shooting, is not really usable in this matchup, because Porter is not a top-3 offensive threat for Miami, and Hinrich doesn't have the size to check McGrady. Francis, however, has the size, strength, athleticism to guard Frazier and Lever well, using his athleticism to keep them out of the paint. He can also manufacture offense off the bench with his speed and penetrating ability, while Washington's bench has no perimeter player who can effectively create his own shot or a shot for others. This means that when the benches come out, Washington's offense may stagnate, leading to some breaks for Westphal, Francis and co.

So those are the matchups, as I see them: offensively, expose Lever's size deficiencies, involve Wilt in pick and rolls; defensively force Rodman and Jones to create off the dribble; off the bench, expose Washington's lack of playmaking by forcing misses/turnovers and using bench speed to get easy buckets.

One thing is for sure: I would pay to see this matchup. Bird/Wilt? Where do I sign up?

[BadBaronRudigor]

The key to this series is, as always for the Bullets, defense. We have three serious advantages and one serious disadvantage in this matchup. The advantages are as follows:

(1)Team speed. We have a quickness advantage at every position. Frazier quicker than Terry Porter, Lever than McGrady, Jones than Bird, Marion than Rodman, and Chamberlain than Yao. Miami knows this and is a walk it up team, slow it down team but this creates more opportunities for turnovers. We have four starters that average over 2 steals each (assuming Walt does and Wilt doesn't) and we will be taking full advantage of this to disrupt their set offense and create easy fast break baskets running off turnovers, blocks and defensive rebounds.

(2)A dominating mismatch at the center position. Yao is a good but not dominant force even against the weak centers of today; Wilt was the most dominant force ever to play the position. Wilt is stronger, quicker, more skilled and far more mentally tough . . . and, in 14 years of play he never fouled out of a game . . . ever . . . so foul trouble is unlikely. If we don't get a fast break, we will set up our power post offense feeding Wilt for easy baskets or passes to open players when Miami sends help. Even if Wilt sits, Daniels is a two time MVP in a league where Maurice Lucas was never more than a 3rd option; Mel should dominate Yao, Lucas or the weak man defending Elmore Smith.

(3) Higher percentage shooters. Wilt will be our primary halfcourt option . . . he shot .683 and now faces the defensively limited Yao forcing a double team from Rodman. Shawn Marion or Bobby Jones might have trouble getting good shots with Rodman focused on them but wide open? Marion averaged 22 points on .525 shooting as a focus of opposing defenses (no Amare); Jones averaged 15 points on .570 shooting! For that matter Frazier averaged over .500 and even Fat Lever averaged 20 points on over .450. Leaving any of our player alone to double Wilt is a recipe for destruction as Wilt was 3rd in the NBA with 7.3 assists per game! And Frazier and Lever are our creators when the ball isn't in Wilt's hands, Marion and Jones work free for finishing, not creating.

Against this, Miami has one advantages. Tracy McGrady is 6'9 v. Fat Lever's 6'3. That's it . . .height. McGrady isn't a higher percentage shooter, in his great Orlando year, he shot the exact same percentage as Lever and has never shot over that .457 in his career despite being matched up against smaller guards during the half his career he played guard. Lever outrebounds McGrady, Lever gets more assists,more steals, basically Lever outperforms McGrady at everything except getting off a lot of shots and every shot McGrady takes is one less for his more efficient teammates. McGrady will get a lot of points as they try to take advantage of this matchup, but from the evidence, it will be on a lot of shots.

In the rest of the game . . . both teams play very good defense, ours adds the elements of Chamberlain's post dominance and Frazier's pressure on the ballhandler while Jones is at least equal to Rodman and Marion and Lever to Bird and McGrady. Both teams are excellent passing teams, though again, Wilt provides an advantage. On the boards, Rodman is terrific but Marion, Lever, and Frazier all have slight edges over Bird, TMac, and Porter and of course, the Wilt v. Yao matchup should equalize Rodman's advantage. Off the bench, we will use our bigs first; Jones is quick enough to shift to guard and handle TMac and Daniels will take the role Luke Jackson played on the '67 Sixers while McGinnis and Dale Ellis will come in for offensive spark.

This should be a fun matchup. McGrady and Bird will get their points, we will just make sure they take lots of shots to do so. Our quicker players will get theirs too with a a decided advantage at PG and PF. But the difference will be that Wilt will dominate Yao, scoring, getting Yao (and Rodman) in foul trouble, and creating and taking advantage of forced doubleteamming with his athleticism and passing. Miami feels we don't have an answer for TMac, we feel they don't have an answer for Wilt. I go with Wilt.


Wilt Chamberlain 1966-67 PHI 81g 45.5min 24.2reb 7.8ast 24.1pts .683fg/.441ft
In midst of 4 consecutive MVPs, won NBA championship, GOAT

Bobby Jones 1976-77 DEN NBA 82g 29.5min 8.3reb 3.2ast 2.3st 2.0bl 15.1pts .570fg/.717ft
Most decorated defensive player of all time with 11 first team and 1 2nd plus career .550+ shooter

Shawn Marion 2005-06 PHO 81g 40.3min 11.8reb 1.8 ast 2.0st 1.7bl 21.8pts .525fg/.331x3/.809ft
2nd team All-Defense, dominant with or without Nash, with or without Marion, SF or PF, consistent

Lafayette Lever 1988-89 DEN 71g 38.7min 9.3reb 7.9ast 2.7st 0.3bl 19.8pts .457fg/.348x3/.785ft
2nd team All-Defense, Best game was v. Chi: 31pts/16reb/20ast/6st guarded by Jordan and Pippen!

Walt Frazier 1969-70 NYK 77g 39.5min 6.0reb 8.2ast 20.9pts .518/.748
1st team All-NBA, One of 7 1st Team All-Defense awards, NBA Champion

Bench

George McGinnis f 1974-75 IND ABA 79g 40.4min 14.3reb 6.3ast! 2.6st 0.7bl 29.8pt .451fg/.354x3/.724ft
ABA MVP, continued to get better than 24/13/3 for next four years with 76ers in NBA

Mel Daniels c/f 1970-71 IND ABA 82g 38.7min 18.0reb 2.2ast 21.0pts .514fg/.679ft
2 time MVP, one of only 10 players to ever do so, except Nash, all others are top 20 all-time

Dale Ellis g/f 1988-89 SEA 82g 38.9min 4.2reb 2.0ast 1.3st 0.3bl 27.5pts .501fg/.478x3/.816ft
Career .400+ from 3 point range; one of 4 straight years of 24 ppg for Seattle

Kirk Hinrich g 2006-07 CHI 80g 35.5min 3.4reb 6.3ast 1.3st 0.3bl 16.6pts .448fg/.415x3/.835ft 2nd team All-D

Tayshaun Prince f 2006-07 DET 82g 36.6min 5.2reb 2.8ast 0.6st 0.7bl 14.3pts .460fg/.386x3/.768ft 2nd All-D

[Sharpie]

Don't know how the Bullets got a three seed but I'm glad that they did!

After reading the writeups I have to go with Bullets. I'm not convinced that the Heat can slow down Wilt (Yao's strong, but too slow) and Frazier while I do think the Bullets can slow down McGrady (I've seen McGrady try to use his height advantage against Derek Fisher and it wasn't pretty), Bird (with Jones), and Yao (with Wilt).

[Diophantos]

Originally Posted by Sharpie

...while I do think the Bullets can slow down McGrady (I've seen McGrady try to use his height advantage against Derek Fisher and it wasn't pretty), Bird (with Jones), and Yao (with Wilt).

Assume you're referring to the Utah/Houston series this year, in which case we're talking about a far-from-prime TMac with all the injuries. I remember TMac lighting up Fish's Lakers a few times in his prime (with the defender on TMac switching around between Fisher, Kobe, Fox, George, etc.)

[jericho]

This is the toughest call in the first round, to me, given that each team has a legendary difference-maker on it and the teams generally are strong at very different positions. Each squad has matchup nightmares with the other.

I expect Frazier to have a big series and Wilt to have a huge one. And I see some great chemistry between Bird and McGrady, and Westphal when he's on the floor. I may feel differently tomorrow or in an hour, but right now I see Miami winning in a nail-biting upset--McGrady keeping the game close by constantly posting up Lever or kicking out to Bird or Porter for a jumper, and then Bird pushing Miami over the top with a flurry of clutch plays in the final two minutes.

[Sharpie]

Originally Posted by Diophantos

Assume you're referring to the Utah/Houston series this year, in which case we're talking about a far-from-prime TMac with all the injuries. I remember TMac lighting up Fish's Lakers a few times in his prime (with the defender on TMac switching around between Fisher, Kobe, Fox, George, etc.)

David Wesley back in the day did a pretty good job on McGrady, so did Baron Davis, IIRC. Although, Lynch was the primary defender.

Hey, Prince is on the Bullets, he did a good job on McGrady as well.

[Sunsfan81]

Very close series, probably seven games, but the Bullets win it with homecourt and the dominance of Chamberlain. Wilt will abuse Yao. They'll have to double team with Rodman at times. When they do, Bobby Jones isn't a great scoring threat, but they have the option of going to George McGinnis, who is. I'd start McGinnis instead of Jones so Rodman can have his hands full with him. They don't need Jones' great defensive abilities against Rodman who can't score much. They can use Jones to play against Bird, and bring Marion off the bench. But Bird will score anyway no matter who's on him. I'd be concerned with Marion in a big spot, he has disappeared several times in playoff games. The Heat have an edge with McGrady although I think of him more as a forward than a guard, and Westphal over Fat Lever and Dale Ellis. Lever is very good however, and the Bullets have a monster advantage at PG. Frazier is miles ahead of Porter.

The benches are close. The Bullets have two excellent players with McGinnis and Mel Daniels who only played 11 games in the NBA but I think would have been a great NBA player, because he was a dominant force in the ABA. The Heat have two excellent players as well with Westphal and Lucas. The Bullets have sharp-shooting Dale Ellis, and a solid player with championship experience in Prince. The Heat do have Elmore Smith and can use him to foul Chamberlain in big spots because he was a horrible free throw shooter.

But in the end Wilt will be too much and the Bullets advance.