Tuesday Breakdown

"Looking back at the last two years, I kind of liked Larry Brown," Marbury said with a laugh. "I kind of liked Larry Brown. I'm like, 'Man, I wish this guy was here to drill me now.'" from Andrew Marchand, ESPN

*In the spirit of the day, Rob Peterson on NBA.com elects Chris Paul and Amare for Pres and VP respectively. He got it right on Secretary of Defense (Garnett), although Josh Smith has his side of the court on lock right now, averaging 3.5 steals and blocks per game (granted, only 2 games). For President...?....forget President. We got a King, in LeBron James, and it's not just the marketing, but the leadership on the court and the locker room, on the Cavs and on Team USA. I'm calling this now. When it's all said and done, LeBron James will supplant Jerry West as the NBA logo. Yea, I said it!

*Great stuff from Forum Blue and Gold about the Laker's Strong Side Zone Defense, basically sounding like a mix between Man-2-Man and Zone:

"Simply put, whatever side of the court the opponents have the ball on, the Lakers do two things: 1) They pressure the ball with that players’ defender; 2) They try to float another defender (usually Gasol or Odom at the four) over to the side the ball is on (or strong side). The team essentially plays a sort of zone behind the man pressuring the ball (although it can look like the Lakers are playing a soft man-to-man, it is more a matchup zone)."

He goes on explaining that this was a result of so many players getting foul calls in the lane, not allowing the defense to be as physical as it used to be.

So how do you combat this? Let's bring it back to the King. Night in and out, LeBron faces the strong side zone defense. The main purpose is to stop him from penetrating (which I'm sure you can understand why). Thinking back on watching him play, you must have noticed how many times he's at the corner 3-point line, and has to jump and throw the cross-court pass in the opposite corner, to initiate the offense. So, in order to compete against this defense you have to have good ball movement and good shooters.

*Dime Magazine ponders who's the next big name to be traded.

*Mark Kiszla from the Denver Post, calling out George Karl as the reason why the Nugget's struggle.

Not a game, Not a game, Not a game. We talkin bout Practice!