Schmitz: Injuries Hobble Orlando Magic Forwards Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus
by Evan Dunlap on Mar 20, 2010 8:00 AM EDT
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PrintBrian Schmitz brings us up to speed on injuries to Orlando Magic small forwards Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes:
Barnes already has missed one game, and now he realizes he'll need to play even more minutes with his back-up, Mickael Pietrus, likely out for a week because of a sprained ankle.
"That's a big factor for me with MP out," Barnes said after the Magic's overtime win Thursday night in Miami against the Heat, which followed up their victory Wednesday against San Antonio.
Coach Stan Van Gundy called Barnes' situation "a problem for us" before the game.
Barnes has dealt with the toe problem since undergoing surgery when he played at UCLA. He arrived early for the game against the Heat at American Airlines Arena to warm up.
The Magic had pretty decent luck with regard to injuries lately, but having both small forwards hobbled as the team heads into the playoffs is a bit of a buzzkill. Pietrus and Barnes are never more than the fourth option on offense, but are the team's best perimeter defenders. They've both suffered injuries that could compromise their lateral mobility if they don't heal quickly enough.
With Pietrus out, expect Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter to spend more time at small forward. And, uh, expect a drop-off in defense at that position. Pietrus is one of the league's best there.
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maybe some kind of a zone defense
i don’t know if we have used it all that much though, but it is something they could have worked on in practice for certain situations like this
Carter is probably a better option.
I agree with MagicMark though, zone it up. Going have to play the match-ups, too. Take advantage of Shard in the post when he is playing the 3.
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Probably by putting Carter there first, but if VC's in foul trouble, there's no way around it
Just hope that he can do what Hedo did: direct the offensive player to the help defender.
We need MP back for the 28th vs Carmelo
There are some good SF coming up in the next two games. Igoudala and Joe Johnson.
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joe is a shooting guard
marvin williams plays small forward for atlanta
Yeah, but Barnes/Pietrus would guard Johnson as opposed to Williams.
Vince is usually put on the guy who is less of a threat offensively.
I hate Varejao.
Indeed
MP and MB take the other team’s best perimeter scorer, regardless of position.
I wonder if SG and SF are even necessary terms anymore. “Wing” might be more precise given the fluidity in today’s game.
Big question; but here's another...
Who is going to play SF… Bass, or Anderson? Neither excels in defense, but brings potentially bigger guns than Barnes to the table. Your thoughts on this…
Isn't Rashard a true SF?
So they could move him to SF and use both Anderson and Bass. Or they could move Rashard to SF and try some more twin towers. I would like to see them use that more before the playoffs, because it seemed to work well against Cleveland.
That is impressive. V. small sample size, tho.
by Evan Dunlap on Mar 20, 2010 11:32 PM EDT up reply actions
for sure.
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by Wmillion on Mar 21, 2010 1:41 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Based on that, we should play Shard at the 5
PER of 50 and opponent PER of 0? Yes, please. The 115.2 fouls per 48 minutes might be an issue, though.
(and yes, I know it’s a super-duper ridiculously small sample size, but it jumped out at me)
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
The fouls per 48 made me "lol 4 realz".
I hate Varejao.
Guys, check this out:
Russian dunk contest (James White & Gerald Green):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1tK9WSJIYI
Much much better than the NBA’s.
GoMagicGo nailed it
the Magic are built around defense. Dwight’s the best help defender in the league so imagine Marcin at PF with Rashard at SF, VC at SG & ‘Meer at PG. That lineup would put VC or ’Shard on ’Bron, Kobe, ’Mello, Butler, Johnson, etc. but if we zone it out to Dwight being the best help defender in the NBA and Marcin being a monster at PF, Rashard’s length at SF should essentially have near the same impact that Barnes does at SF (3rd best rebounder in the NBA) so we would control the paint & defensive rebounding while having Dwight, VC & Jameer all commanding double teams or help defense for every set play we run on offense. That doesn’t even account for Rashard at SF (which we know opens up so many things offensively when matched up at the 3) & Marcin at PF (imagine J.J. Hickson cutting to the basket but replace him with Gortat… if it’s done right it’s basically unstoppable and extremely efficient). If this lineup could execute consistently, it wouldn’t even be about stopping ‘Bron, Kobe, ’Mello, etc, it would be about the opposition stopping our offense, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding & paint presence. Dwight’s the most dominant force at C & Marcin would be amoung the most dominant forces at PF. VC & "Meer can get into the paint at will and having Dwight & Marcin camping out there would open up alley-oop’s to both of them from ridiculous angles that ’Meer & VC can hit at a high %. Dwight & Marcin both get waaaaaaay up, how could a defense prepare, let alone stop that group if they are firing on all cylinders?
Rashard’s offense would change the most. He would be able to work the situation on every possession. Posting up would be near the top of the list as opposed to near the bottom like it is currently. With how versatile Rashard, VC, Dwight & Marcin are, if I’m an opposing team, that lineup scares the hell out of me.
That lineup has post-season and championship written all over it. It’s one of my 3 favorite Magic lineups.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
Yeah I've always been annoyed by the "Rashard at 3 is bad defensively"
Because you can’t really judge stuff like that. You must see if defense&offense combined give you a better chance of winning with Shard at 3 than at 4. It’s just that what you MIGHT give up defensively could be superior offensively.
But it’s kinda late in the season for experimenting stuff right now… especially as the team has won pretty well lately. But with these injuries… I don’t know.
It is late in the season and we've been playing our best ball of the season
but given the injuries to our SF it is an opportunistic time to try it (though I doubt we see it). I think we’ll get variations of the Twin Towers in the playoffs but I’m not sure how many, if any, will involve Rashard at the 3.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
sounds good and all
correct me if i’m wrong, but stan hasn’t employed zone at all this season, i believe it was discussed on TNT last Thursday (Friday for me) that he hasn’t really considered implementing it.
though I agree it is a very intriguing line-up
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