Why is this team playing zone defense?

Any good professional team can break down a zone.

With the quickness that the Warriors have, combined with a shot blocker in Biedrens, the Warriors should be a good defensive team.

uptempo wrote:Why is this team playing zone defense?

Any good professional team can break down a zone.

With the quickness that the Warriors have, combined with a shot blocker in Biedrens, the Warriors should be a good defensive team.

That's obvious but yet the team is still not a good defensive team!
Where there's athletes, there is the potential to be a great offensive and defensive team but this team is only interested in offensive and the coach has alot to do with that.

With Pietrus, Ellis and Biedrins, there's three players right there that have shown an interest and ability to play very good defense before. Diogu has the body to be a good shot blocker and JRich and Baron both are capable but are offensive minded players

And theres also Dunleavy to draw the charge, thats why everyone loves him. I was pretty impressed with their defense in most parts of the game against the celtics.

uptempo wrote:Why is this team playing zone defense?

Any good professional team can break down a zone.

With the quickness that the Warriors have, combined with a shot blocker in Biedrens, the Warriors should be a good defensive team.

I think their zone is working, so far. The only time I've seen it utterly picked apart was our game against the Suns... and I think it's because they play a lot of zone, themselves.

Nelson's playing more than simply the 2-3 Zone, also. He throws in a 1-3-1 and a 3-2, occasionally. I've even seen a 2-2 Zone where a specific defender (Pietrus, at the time) was following the other team's best player. 4 different zones for 4 different situations is plenty to choose from.

If it wasn't working, Nelly would switch it (we've seen, thus far, he has no problem changing a broken link in the chain). Hey, the Warriors are among the league's best in shot-blocking this season... and they've had a REALLY tough schedule to boot.

that's easy...we're not a defensive team, but we aren't that bad either. biedrens, pietrus, and even dunleavy help us out quite a bit more than i expected. Even the guards have been looking for steals, yep, all of them even mcloud. For a small offensive team, i think we're pretty damn good. the problem is when we stop running and rely of our half court defense which really sucks. When we keep it fast and aggressive, we have a chance to come up with the ball.

I don't really like zone defenses, but with the kind of roster we have, I think it's the best answer. I mean, most of our players wouldn't stand a chance if not...

Great responses from everyone on this thread. I am concerned about the use of the zone for 2 reasons:

1. Any NBA team can break down a zone.

2. The Warriors have the talent to play good man-to-man defense. With a lineup of Davis, Ellis, Richardson, Pietrus, and Biedrens, the team may give up some size on the frontline; however, should be quicker and more athletic than any team that it plays.

Also, why doesn't this team play a more uptempo style of defense with fullcourt pressure after every made basket?

Lastly, Biedrens continued improvement is really nice to see. It would be nice to also see the referees give him some of the borderline calls when he is playing defense. Perhaps it is his young age or perhaps it is because of his European background; however, it sure looks like he does not get any borderline calls his way.

uptempo wrote:1. Any NBA team can break down a zone.

Any team with shooters... which are becoming increasingly rare lately.

uptempo wrote:2. The Warriors have the talent to play good man-to-man defense. With a lineup of Davis, Ellis, Richardson, Pietrus, and Biedrens, the team may give up some size on the frontline; however, should be quicker and more athletic than any team that it plays.

That lineup may be our best defensive unit... but it may work only against certain teams. It's too small to go agains the bigger teams. I can't imagine that unit working against, say, the Spurs or the Heat at full strenght.

uptempo wrote:Lastly, Biedrens continued improvement is really nice to see. It would be nice to also see the referees give him some of the borderline calls when he is playing defense. Perhaps it is his young age or perhaps it is because of his European background; however, it sure looks like he does not get any borderline calls his way.

I'm pretty sure it's just age. He'll get more calls with experience... or, at least, will try to hide the fouls better.

TMC wrote:

uptempo wrote:1. Any NBA team can break down a zone.

Any team with shooters... which are becoming increasingly rare lately.

uptempo wrote:2. The Warriors have the talent to play good man-to-man defense. With a lineup of Davis, Ellis, Richardson, Pietrus, and Biedrens, the team may give up some size on the frontline; however, should be quicker and more athletic than any team that it plays.

That lineup may be our best defensive unit... but it may work only against certain teams. It's too small to go agains the bigger teams. I can't imagine that unit working against, say, the Spurs or the Heat at full strenght.

uptempo wrote:Lastly, Biedrens continued improvement is really nice to see. It would be nice to also see the referees give him some of the borderline calls when he is playing defense. Perhaps it is his young age or perhaps it is because of his European background; however, it sure looks like he does not get any borderline calls his way.

I'm pretty sure it's just age. He'll get more calls with experience... or, at least, will try to hide the fouls better.

TMC, what about the use of a full court press?

uptempo wrote:TMC, what about the use of a full court press?

It may work... at times. I can't see it for long strechtes of the game. Just as another resource to use when needed.

Again, why is Nelson committed to having his team play zone defense. Tonight's game vs. the Hawks was another example of why the team needs to get away from the zone defense.

Is Nelson confused? Judging by his gait and physical appearance, he should be on the zone diet. Judging by his team's inability to defend the three point shot, he needs to get his team off of playing zone defense.

uptempo wrote:Again, why is Nelson committed to having his team play zone defense. Tonight's game vs. the Hawks was another example of why the team needs to get away from the zone defense.

Because Nellie's not confident on our guys being able to play good man-to-man defense. He's already told so.

Now I wonder if it matters, as they don't seem to be able to play better zone defense...

At the very least Monta and Biedrins have to be good defensively because they have shown they can be. If the shooting is not on, the team is horrible and it looks grim right now