SaungHninPwint
1. Take advantage of Sonic's weaker SF
PJL, LAW, Marcell Dobrovits, Ricaredo Potol and Władysław Smaruj have made a name for themselves both offensively and defensively and you can be sure they will bring their A game for the playoff finals. However, Flyer Sonic's SF Jan Ulvestad and Hamdan Ibn-Bashir are not known at all for defence (Ulvestad- 0.6spg, 0.1Blkpg, Ibn-Bashir- 0.6spg) and SHP can let prolific scorer Mo Xiaochong take advantage of that with isolation matchups. This might force Flyer Sonic to put a better defender on Xiaochong leaving Saglovic and Barro free to showcase their offensive talents against the not so defensive minded SFs.
2. Get Marcell Dobrovits in foul trouble
Władysław Smaruj will highly likely miss game 1 of the finals and might/might not recover in time for game 2 depending on doctor's skill and degree of injury. This means Marcell Dobrovits happens to be the only true PG left on Flyer Sonic's roster. If, say Marcell Dobrovits gets into foul trouble and sits, who else is left to run Sonic's offence? Potol can do it but it leaves a hole in the SG spot filled up by backup G Higinio Villalva who stands no chance defensively against Liad Saglovic, Xosé Barro or even Joe-Max Phillips. Dobrovits doesn't foul much (0.6 PFpg). Therefore, Xosé Barro must draw fouls against Dobrovits by getting him to bite on pump fakes or SHP can, through careful offensive planning, force Dobrovits to rotate against an open Racimir Opoka going for the dunk. Once Dobrovits is out Sonic's offense and defence is disrupted.
3. Get physical during defense
SHP leads the league by a huge margin in both blocks per game (9.7, Hoop Magical 2nd with 7.5) and steals per game (14.5, Kings are 2nd with 10.9). Therefore, the best way to prevent driving guards or just intimating Potol to pass up an open shot is to play physical, go for steals and blocks all game long. Racimir Opoka is not called a monster C for nothing. He averages a whopping 2.2 Blkpg and he will be needed to block both Flyer Sonic's guards and bigmen attempting seemingly easy shots. Once this is done, just his presence will alter clear layup paths in fear of his blind side swat. Baptiste Sola is also a decent shotblocker with 1.3Blkpg. Prime targets to steal the ball from is LAW(3.3TO against SHP) and PJL(3.7TO against SHP). SHP could just play the passing lanes against any player making them unwilling to do risky passes for easy baskets.
4. Move the ball around
Besides Saglovic and monster C Racimir Opoka, SHP does have a pretty balanced roster in which anyone can score and chip in points and is capable of finding an open man(27.6 assists, 2nd in league). So if Saglovic does have a cold shooting night, he can be benched and let maybe Joe-Max Phillips in. Or Opoka can pass out to an open teammate should likely get doubled. This might discourage Flyer Sonic from double teaming anyone leaving Opoka free to go to work against a single defender. And this also leads to the final point....
5. Get Saglovic going with easy baskets
Saglovic, SHP's top scorer, is having a difficult time shooting in the playoffs. He's an uncharacteristic 5-19 against Sugar Ray and 7-22 against NEWBak Ku Teh Kings. Saglovic will still continue to shoot no matter how many he misses but SHP should try to get Saglovic going faster, giving Sonic defence more headaches. Barro should set him up with easy shots. Meaning to say , there's a fast break opportunity, give it up to Saglovic for the easy dunk. Plan offence tactics such that Salgovic ends up close to the basket with a layup. He may draw the foul against one of the twin tower, get the FT to go and boost up his confidence and get him fired up. When he's hot he can chuck down dagger 3s with ease that will put the game away for good against the Sonics. SHP must get their scoring machine Saglovic going if they want to have an easier time dealing with Flyer Sonic defence
Last edited by big_boss_will at 8/13/2012 1:53:40 PM