I don’t know if I like that plan. I say single cover him constantly and get under him. Make him beat us by scoring 40 points from the outside. If he goes for 40 and 3 assists, we win.

Jeff said:

We saw how easily Joe Johnson picked us apart when the Celtics over-double teamed him. How much moreso will LeBron do the same? I agree with this strategy.

Don’t forget the players are the ones who have to execute this strategy. Should they fail to execute it well enough, I would hope we don’t end up blaming the coach as we tend to do.

If you guard him one on one he is going to get to the basket…regardless of whether you try and play under him

If Lebron averages 35 a game but isn’t dishing out more than 5 assists or putting everyone in foul trouble, we’re ok. It’s more important to contest his shots, make him work, and prevent others from getting layups then it is to stop him individually. See Boston Celtics against Chicago Bulls circa 1986. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69vkEcc-zfc&feature=related

  I’ve not seen him play much. How is his Defense? When they compare James and Kobe, they always slight Jame’s defense. PP isn’t exactly chopped liver. Can we get James in foul trouble early?

We saw how easily Joe Johnson picked us apart when the Celtics over-double teamed him.

His shooting may have, at times, picked the guys apart, but I don’t believe his passing ever hurt us. Rondo was dropped on Johnson at various times precisely to make him pick up his dribble and force him to pass. Johnson is dangerous as a spot shooter and off the dribble, if he’s passing (especially laterally to a perimeter player and not to the interior) his lost most of his effectiveness.

In terms of James, I think you’ll see the team double team James solely to prevent penetration (not that it will be effective) from the top of the key. The more scoring and less passing James does, the better it will be for the C’s. The more James does and the less he gets his teammates involved the less effective Cleveland becomes in half court. When Cleveland started dominating Washington was when James was penetrating, scoring, and creating assists and open shot for his teammates (Delonte, Wally, Ilgaskus).

No one, anywhere, is going to “stop” or even more humorously “contain” James (as was Sloan’s astute comments regarding Bryant on Sunday). The idea is to make their individual effectiveness limited in it’s capacity to make the team more effective.

Make James pick up his dribble and shoot a 15ft shot, control the defensive glass (5 men rebounding at all times), keep him working on offense (running the man he is garding off continuous screens), and make their other shooters take low percentage shots.

I believe Cleveland is more concerned with how to adjust defensively to the Celtics than Boston is with trying to figure out how to stop James. Look for Ray and Rondo to have a strong series.

Lebron’s defense has improved greatly this year actually. He will often cover a team’s best player in the 4th quarter. He should do a good job against Pierce. He has been known to pick up some silly fouls though as well

This should be a good series…. now that I’ve calmed down a bit since the Hawks series. I still feel you let Lebron be and cover him one on one…

You need to concentrate on everyone else around him. Don’t let him pass or dish off to the open man if he’s being double teamed.

Having Paul on Lebron makes sense, it could be a wash giving the edge to Lebron.

But what we have to do is allow Lebron to score and keep everyone else in check. Don’t let Wally shoot (maybe we want him to shoot), don’t let Delonte West drive to the basket and keep Ben Wallace away from the glass as much as possible.

The one that scares me is Daniel Gibson coming on in the playoffs.

Never thought I’d say this. This is a series which Scal should be pulled out of mothballs for. The crowned prince is going to draw at least 6-8 utter phantom foul calls per game. He’ll foul Paul out if Paul is guarding him more than 15-20mpg. Scal can waste his fouls and actually foul the prince for real while playing better than pedestrian defense for 10-15mpg. He’s not shooting anymore (thank goodness) so he doesn’t hurt us much offensively. He doesn’t board. Which does hurt us. Anybody who attempts to guard the prince will foul out. Even if the officials didn’t call phantom fouls, the prince is allowed to take 3-4-5 steps without dribbling. It makes him impossible to guard. So Doc might as well waste some fouls so he has Paul and Posey for crunch time.

Who do you sit if you do this? Hard to say. I’d say PJ. We’re going to need bangers in the paint this series. But I think Scal would be very useful in this series.

“Make James pick up his dribble and shoot a 15ft shot, control the defensive glass (5 men rebounding at all times), keep him working on offense (running the man he is garding off continuous screens), and make their other shooters take low percentage shots.”
……………….

;D ;D Problem: It really doesn’t matter if you make the prince pick up his dribble. Once he does that, he can still take as many steps as he needs to get anywhere he wants without being called for traveling. Does anybody have a recollection of the prince ever being called for traveling?