|
BOSTON: We need to talk. Those words, quite scary
when it comes to romantic relationships, sum up the guiding
principle behind the Boston Celtics’ defense, the most successful
in the National Basketball Association, when it comes to silencing
Kobe Bryant.
The Celtics have contained the
NBA’s Most Valuable Player three times this season, forcing peri-meter
shots from the Los Angeles Lakers’ star guard in a 9-for-26 effort
in Boston’s 98-88 victory in Game 1 of the NBA finals.
“Our communication was pretty
solid. We’ve got a system with that,” Celtics scoring leader and
NBA Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett said. “Defense has
to be a consistent thing. We can’t fall back on that.”
Boston shifts various defenders
into Bryant’s path every time the Lakers move down the floor,
helping each other on double-team situations and trying to confuse
Bryant with different challenges every time he touches the ball.
That requires constant
conversation so players can fight through cutback moves and screens
to keep the pressure upon the fleet-footed playmaker who powers the
Lakers’ attack entering Game 2 Sunday.
“It’s not a sense of
over-helping. It’s very important to be in dialogue and talk about
guys cutting,” Garnett said. “This is a very good passing
team.”
Bryant was 6-for-21 and 9-for-25
shooting against the Celtics in two regular-season losses against
the Boston unit that allowed the lowest shooting-accuracy rate by
opponents of any NBA team.
“I just had to tweak a couple
things and see if I can’t put the ball in the hole a little
better, a couple mechanical things on the shot, release and arc and
things like that,” Bryant said.
With Bryant averaging 31 points a
game in the playoffs, there is confidence from the Lakers that he
will bounce back after struggling in the opener.
“He has been an unstoppable
force,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “He usually doesn’t
have two games in a row that are bad. He comes back and plays better
so we anticipate that’s going to be a pattern.”
Bryant is prepared to handle that
pressure. Hey, it beats being already eliminated and on vacation.
“I would much rather have the
pressure of this moment as opposed to having the pressure of
deciding which swim trunks I’m going to wear in Bora Bora, the
Gucci ones or the Yves Saint Laurent ones.”
But Bryant admits a bit of
discomfort at being called unstoppable, a veritable waving of a red
flag in front the NBA’s most bullish defenders.
“It’s awkward, weird,
uncomfortable even,” Bryant said. “To me it has always been
about what the defense does. The defense can take a player out of
the game any time they want. All they have to do is focus on one
guy.
“What I have been trying to do
is make my teammates threats. It makes it a little harder for teams
to key in on me just by moving the ball and making them targets.”
That will just give the Celtics
something new to talk about.
--AFP
|
